"Although we are nominally the third in the world in terms of steel production, we are not doing enough!" Meng Xiang glanced at the crowd and warned, "Although we now produce more steel than the British, this is mainly due to the impact of the German attack on the British steel mills. Don't forget though, that the British were a huge colonial empire. In Canada alone, steel production exceeded 3 million tonnes last year. Not to mention that we have not yet reached the more than 13 million tonnes of steel produced in the UK itself, even the steel production of the Commonwealth combined is definitely above ours. ”

"Then there is the Soviet Union, although now their steel mills are either in the hands of the Germans or are taken over by us, and their current steel production was only about 7 million tons last year, but let's not forget that before the war they climbed to the second highest peak in the world of more than 18 million tons. Their industrial base is actually very strong as well. Meng Xiang continued to ring the alarm bell, lest some people also their tails.

"If it weren't for the war, it would not be a lie that the industry of the Soviet Russians would have climbed to the second place in the world." Before Zong Li could speak, Song Ziwen nodded in agreement, "Looking at the steel plants we received in Siberia and the Far East and Central Asia, after most of them resumed production, they quickly provided us with more than 3 million tons of steel, and we know that the industrial foundation of the Soviet Russians is very solid." ”

"But they worked hard last year, and they only produced 7 million tons of steel, which is only better than the Japanese. If the Germans go one step further this year, I'm afraid their steel production will be even lower. Yan Xishan said with a smile.

"The Japanese seem to have picked up steel production again last year?" Li Shuchun also joked.

"This year, the Japanese fought to maintain their southward movements. Drive the Koreans to be mine slaves. The mining of iron ore from the DPRK and South Korea has been intensified. Another is that they have transported a lot of iron ore from Myanmar, India and other places in the south, plus the iron ore accumulated in previous years from China and North Korea, last year's steel production has exceeded 6.3 million tons. Zhou Bai nodded.

"The Japanese still have stocks looted from our country?" Li Zongren interjected and asked.

Because this meeting was mainly about the economy, so Song Ziwen, Zong Li and others attended, although Li Zongren's subordinates also had economic experts, but obviously the qualifications to attend the discussion of national affairs, the three giants of the Gui family, Bai Chongxi was inclined to the military, Huang Shaohong was inclined to politics and diplomacy, and Li Zongren had no choice but to go out in person. Besides, there is a Yan Xishan sitting next to it. And he also has a heart to meddle in the economic field.

He has been keenly aware that there are many opportunities in the majestic rise of China's economy.

"The little devils have been lying on us for half a century of blood, and a large amount of plundered iron ore and coal cannot be used up for a while, so they directly accumulate reserves or even reclaim reserves. There's a lot of stock! One day, we will set foot on their soil, not only to take back everything that belongs to us, but also to hollow out everything they have. The words aroused a regret in Meng Xiang's heart, and he couldn't help but say coldly.

The crowd was silent.

Seeing that no one answered, Meng Xiang changed the topic with a smile and said: "Don't underestimate the little devils, their sense of distress began to take precautions early." If it weren't for the resource constraints, their steel production would have climbed. ”

If history had not changed, the Japanese would have been in 43 years. The peak scale of 7.82 million tons will also rise rapidly after World War II, pushing steel production to the second place in the world with a projectile land.

"Whether it's the British, the Russians, or the Japanese, although their production is reduced, their steel production will increase significantly if they have the conditions. And our domestic steel industry has tended to a stable period. Most of our previous new steel plants have already started, which has led to a significant increase in steel production this year. Due to the constraints of talent and other conditions, I am afraid that next year, the increase in steel production will not be so much. Meng Xiang continued to turn back to the topic.

"Hmmm! This year, the focus is on the expansion of 500,000 tons of Chongqing Iron and Steel Plant and the first phase of 500,000 tons of Panzhihua Iron and Steel Plant, and the new production capacity of other local steel plants is only about 1 million tons. We're probably only going to be able to increase production by 20% this year. Zhou Bai nodded.

But Song Ziwen was a little speechless when he heard it, isn't it a small increase of 20% a year? But he also knows that this is still limited by a lack of talent, which has prevented many steel mills from carrying out their expansion plans, otherwise with the expansion of mines in various places, it is now possible to add a few more steel plants.

Meng Xiang nodded slightly when he heard this. Steel production has reached such a scale that it is possible for the time being.

Industry needs to lay a solid foundation, and the current rapid development of steel production is already a bit of a leap forward.

Although there are many iron ores in China. But the bonanza is scarce. At present, the level of science and technology is immature, and some associated mines and poor mines are wasted. Even if there is no shortage of people in Huaxia and the manpower for mining is sufficient, Meng Xiang still leaves more for future generations, or waits until the technology is higher in the future to mine on a large scale.

Not to mention that the iron ore is a little nervous at this time, the environmental pollution caused by the big chimneys and industrial sewage rising from various places is also something that makes Meng Xiang vigilant.

In the next step, the Chinese iron and steel industry should no longer blindly pursue expansion, large scale and quantity.

Meng Xiang has the sharp weapon of the base, and most of the military steel consumption can be omitted, so that the 10 million tons of steel for the main civilian use are temporarily enough.

Meng Xiang hopes that the steel industry will embark on a benign structure from the beginning, and now the quantity of steel has increased, but the quality is still a little worse than that of the Germans. The next step is to work steel quality and steel industry structure.

And as the situation changes, it may be difficult to import steel equipment from the Germans and Americans.

At this time, the scientific and technological personnel of Huaxia were already familiar with the steel equipment of the Germans and Americans, and the next step was to thoroughly understand and produce their own steel equipment.

That's the way to last.

Although Meng Xiang had already made up his mind in his heart, he was still a little envious of the scale of the Germans reaching 20 million tons. If the Germans add in the steel production they have occupied underground, it has reached 35.4 million tons last year.

However, Meng Xiang did not compare with the Americans, and he could only be speechless about the Americans' steel production of more than 78 million tons last year.

Huaxia Industry still has a long way to go.

"However, with the base, it is now enough to fight with the Americans!" Meng Xiang said secretly in his heart.

With more than 6 million tons of steel output, the Japanese dare to argue with the Americans, and China's 10 million tons of steel output is enough to stabilize the country and eliminate the worries of civilian use. Whether it is the remaining weapons or people, Huaxia is not afraid at all.

At this time, Huaxia's heritage is far more than steel, and then Zhou Bai is reading out the achievements in other economic fields to everyone.

"Our existing installed capacity has exceeded 7 million kilowatts, and the power generation capacity has exceeded 50 billion kWh. It also surpassed Japan, Britain and Soviet Russia. Steel and energy are the pillars of industry, Zhou Bai then read out last year's power development, but added a comparison at the end to make everyone laugh.

Japan's electricity has declined due to the loss of China's coal resources, and many places have limited electricity, with only 32 billion kWh of electricity, and the British's power generation has also been affected by the German bombing, only a little higher than the Japanese, 33 billion kWh.

The Russians were the most affected by the war, generating only about 25 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity.

Huaxia imported a large number of generator sets and related supporting facilities from Germany and the United States, and also bought a lot of second-hand goods from all over Europe, and built a 220 thousand volt medium and long-distance power grid, with the support of many power plants in the base, so that the second step of the Suiren plan to bring light to all parts of China - the electrification of the township has been completed ahead of schedule. It is moving towards the goal of spreading more widely and electrifying every village.

Last year, Huaxia relied on sufficient human resources to produce more than 240 million yuan of coal, which is the main guarantee for the significant increase in power generation.

Meng Xiang's cautious use of hydropower has made Huaxia still dominated by thermal power.

In addition to providing energy for the base, the base power plant also solves part of the power problem for areas that lack electricity.

In some remote areas, it is difficult to build power stations, and power equipment is in short supply, so it is difficult to arrange them in a short time.

It is also with the support of the base power plant that Huaxia's aluminum, copper electrolysis and other power-consuming industries have also been greatly improved.

Huaxia's fighter planes can be built directly from the base, although there is no need to build their own aircraft, but the civilian demand for aluminum is also very large, relying on Qidu, Xiaoyi, Xiuwen, Pingguo and other places, and even aluminum ore in Siberia, last year's output of Huaxia electrolytic aluminum exceeded 60,000 tons, surpassing the British and Soviet Russia affected by the war, but slightly worse than the Japanese.

Relying on aluminum ore from Palau, Indonesia's Bintan, Indochina and Malaya, the Japanese produced more than 100,000 tons of electrolytic aluminum last year. Although it is a little worse than the 260,000 tons of the Germans and the 470,000 tons of the Americans, it can be regarded as having the confidence to produce fighters.

Huaxia first had to ensure electricity to solve the problem of lighting and power nationwide, but even so, the output of more than 90,000 tons of refined copper still exceeded that of Japan.