Chapter 187 A dazzling visit (third update, please subscribe)
In the following days, Zuo Zongtang and his companions became ordinary visitors. However, after just two or three days, they got used to the roar of the steam engine. From their initial surprise when they saw the lathe cutting metal like mud, they eventually got used to it.
However, when they visited the farm and witnessed the efficiency of the horse-drawn harvester, they were still stunned by the novel modern farm tools.
While they were amazed, they felt that this was the right way to go, focusing on agriculture.
It has to be said that the Chinese people have a special affection for the land and farming. When they see the steam tractor plowing the vast land easily, they will naturally be surprised at the fertility of the land.
When they learned that this vast grassland actually covered hundreds of millions of acres, they were so shocked that they were speechless. After leaving Nanhua and heading north, after getting used to the farms along the way, before they could regain some familiarity with the pastoral life, a smoke-breathing monster broke into their sight.
"beep……"
Amid the deafening whistle, a train loaded with iron ore drove into a large factory. The large factory area, residential areas and black smoke rising into the sky from the chimneys all entered their sight unobstructed.
"This is Nanhua Steel Company, the largest steel company in the entire southern hemisphere!"
Ding Bing’s introduction is quite interesting. In the Southern Hemisphere these days, besides Nanhua, are there any other steel companies?
Do small factories that produce a few hundred tons of iron a year count?
Looking at the continuous factory areas in the distance, Zuo Zongtang and others have already experienced the magnificence of industrial culture.
"Brother Zuo, although Nanhua Iron and Steel Company currently only has one 100-ton blast furnace and one 50-ton open-hearth furnace, with an annual output of only 50,000 tons, once the company's No. 2 and No. 3 blast furnaces and the new open-hearth furnace are put into production, the production capacity will be nearly 150,000 tons, of which steel and steel products will exceed 100,000 tons!"
At the end, Ding Bing emphasized it specifically.
"The current annual steel production in the UK is only 150,000 tons!"
In this era, steel mills all over the world mainly produce iron, either pig iron or wrought iron. As for railways, they are also made of wrought iron. Why? Because the production process of steel is still mainly based on crucible steel, which is expensive and has extremely limited production. Take the UK for example, the production of iron is as high as 4 million tons, but the steel production is only 150,000 tons, and the quality is uneven!
Nanhua, with its Siemens open-hearth furnace, not only produced steel at a price similar to that of iron, but also achieved an “astonishing” annual output of 30,000 tons of steel! In this era, this was simply a miracle!
Of course, this miracle could not last long. When Europeans discovered that steel could be produced by switching from open-hearth furnaces to gas or heavy oil, the steel industry in European countries would soon develop rapidly, and cheap steel would further promote the development of the industry.
What kind of era is this?
To sum it up simply - "Steel is the country"!
In this era, the British Empire became the most powerful empire on the planet with an annual output of more than four million tons of steel, or iron.
At present, this small ironworks in Nanhua is certainly unable to compete with those giants in the UK. But what is certain is that when Zuo Zongtang and others learned that the output of this steel company was "100 million catties", they were dumbfounded when they had no idea about "50,000 tons".
"A factory like this can produce 100 million catties of iron!"
"Almost! But it's not all iron. Most of it is steel, top-quality steel! The kind that can be used to make guns and cannons!"
Instantly, they were all dumbfounded.
"What? Fifty million kilograms of steel!"
"How is this possible? How many people would it take to refine that much steel?"
Looking at the astonishment on their faces, Ding Bing spoke with some pride.
"This is the power of industry, my friends."
What is the power of industry?
More than an hour later, when they stood in the large steam hammer workshop of the steel plant, they saw the steel ingot weighing more than ten tons amid the deafening "bang bang" sound. As the hammer head of the large steam hammer fell, the red-hot steel ingot on the anvil was kneaded like dough, and sparks flew, and it soon turned into a long round tube.
"What are these thick steel pillars used for?"
Zuo Zongtang asked curiously.
"This is for making 10-inch cannons."
The factory technician at the side did not hide anything and answered directly.
"The Arsenal is currently testing the manufacture of a 10-inch cannon. We have ordered six barrels here."
How thick is ten inches?
Zuo Zongtang didn't know, but when he looked at the steel pillar that was as thick as a man, his face became extremely unnatural. He immediately thought of another possibility... This cannon might be used against the Qing Dynasty!
In fact, Zuo Zongtang was definitely overthinking it. A ten-inch breech-loading rifled cannon would not be needed to deal with the Qing Dynasty. In other words, such high-end goods would be a waste to deal with the Qing Dynasty. Compared with the expensive, labor-intensive and time-consuming breech-loading rifled cannon, only the Dahlgren smoothbore cannon would be enough to deal with the Qing Dynasty. In order to produce this cheap artillery, the arsenal deliberately spent a "high price" of 5,000 US dollars to introduce the corresponding technology from the United States.
This muzzle-loading cannon, cast using the Rodman casting method, has simple technology and low cost. Although it is destined to be an obsolete technology, it has a large caliber!
Wouldn’t it be great to have ten-inch, eleven-inch, twelve-inch, or even fifteen-inch cannons?
It is certainly not a good idea for Nanhua, but for the Taiping Army, how could such a huge cannon that can both bombard infantry and attack cities not be a good idea!
It doesn’t matter whether it smells good or not, the most important thing is that it can be sold at a high price.
Especially after the success of the "Mosquito Gun Boat" and the Heavenly Kingdom placed an additional order for ten "Mosquito Gun Boats", such a huge cannon would naturally be very popular in the Heavenly Kingdom.
As for Nanhua, it is naturally dominated by breech-loading rifled cannons.
“Mr. Zuo, I’m afraid it’s definitely not a blessing for the court to have such a huge cannon to help us!”
This is definitely not a blessing for the court, it is clearly doomed!
With such a huge cannon, even if there are solid city walls, they will still be destroyed by one cannon.
At this moment, Zuo Zongtang's expression was complicated. Nanhua had given him too many shocks, too many for him to accept. And the discovery he made now made him so shocked that he couldn't sleep at night.
Perhaps his loyalty to the court was quite limited, but faced with such a "blow", it was naturally difficult for him to accept it for a while.
After visiting various places in Nanhua for almost a month, Zuo Zongtang finally returned to Nanhua City. Just when he was fully confident that he would be able to meet the Lord of Nanhua after returning to Nanhua, who would have thought that the Lord did not even see him!
It seems like I have forgotten about him!
(End of this chapter)
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
