Volume 2 Sail, 38 to 39] Chapter 725 The Rise of Steel

Chapter 725: The Rise of Steel

"Nothing is impossible!" Zhou Bai said proudly, "We invested heavily in the steel industry last year. The steel mills in Baotou, Qian'an, Wuhan and Ma'anshan have expanded to an annual output of one million tons. Qidu, Laiwu, Jinan, Handan, Jiuquan, Shijingshan, Xuanhua, Taiyuan and other places are also built or renovated according to the scale of 500,000 tons.

The rest of Liuzhou, Shaoguan, Xiangtan, Panzhihuā, Wuyang, Lüyang, Shuicheng and other places are also planning to build new steel plants, not just in Kunming.

Twenty sets of 800 cubic meters of blast furnaces and four sets of 1,000 cubic meters of blast furnaces imported from Germany and the United States have all been put in place. Another 30 sets of 500 cubic meters of blast furnaces have also been put in place. The scale of electric furnace steelmaking in Tianjin, Shanghai, Guangzhou and other places has also been expanding, and last year more than one million tons of scrap steel were purchased from the United States and other places.

Although the production capacity of iron-smelting and steel-making in some regions has not yet been fully utilized, it is still no problem for more than a dozen steel mills to break through the output of five million tons. ”

No problem indeed. In the past two or three years, Meng Xiang has been importing steel equipment from Germany and the United States, and the equipment in exchange for a large amount of arms has been installed in place, and only the human factor is restricted.

If it weren't for the fact that there were too few steelworkers, engineers, and technicians in Huaxia, those equipment would have been running at full power long ago.

Since the beginning of the European War, all kinds of craftsmen from the Czech Republic, Belgium, Bōland, France and even Germany have come to China. The United States spares no effort to attract high-end talents, but the Americans still reject ordinary technicians who may steal the jobs of their own workers.

In the talent robbery in Europe, although the high-end lost to the Americans, the middle and low-level talents grabbed a lot. Together with the Jews who were not welcome around the world, the foreign population in China by this time had exceeded 3 million.

Although there are less than 800,000 talents among these fleeing foreigners with their families, it is these people who have consolidated the industrial cornerstone of China in the early days and trained nearly 10 million rigorous skilled workers for China.

Over the past three years, the 1.5 million iron and steel workers who have been gradually raised and trained in 11 metallurgical technical schools and 32 factory night schools across the country have been able to take on the steel industry in China.

It is all kinds of talents in Huaxia who have gradually grown up and made up for the shortcomings of talents in various industries. This is the accumulation of China's iron and steel industry, creating a miracle of nine-fold steel output in a year.

"So, not counting the steel production in Siberia?" Li Zongren listened to Zhou Bai's introduction, couldn't help but move in his heart, and asked. You must know that the vanguard army quickly occupied Siberia, so that the Russians did not have time to destroy most of the factories there, at least Li Zongren knew that the Soviet Russian steel plant in Magnitogorsk near the Ural Mountains fell into the hands of the vanguard army relatively intact.

The plant, which later became the largest steel complex in Russia, is now one of the largest steel mills in Soviet Russia, with steel production reaching 1.63 million tons in 40 years.

After the sudden airborne takeover of the Vanguard Army, there were basically no major losses. I heard that now that the blast furnace has been repaired, it is ready to resume work.

"Not included!" Zhou Bai smiled and said with certainty, "The production capacity of several steel plants we have received in places such as Siberia and Central Asia has exceeded four million tons, although some have been damaged, but we will take advantage of this winter to repair them, and a large number of professionals will also rush over to receive and familiarize themselves with the relevant cào." It won't be long before production resumes. Although it will not be fully recovered, it is no problem to increase production by 2 million by the end of the year, and maybe more.

In addition, in the previous operation, we also received a batch of steel industry equipment from the western part of the Urals and other regions, and we intend to expand the production capacity in Siberia. The production capacity of newly built steel companies and expanded steel companies in China will continue to expand, although I dare not say that it will double, but it is absolutely no problem to surpass the Japanese in an all-round way. ”

"More than the Japanese?" Lin Sen inhaled again.

When he was studying in Japan, he was deeply impressed by the sight of the chimneys of the Japanese steel factories, and he once envied the idea that China would one day reach the level of the Japanese steel industry, but he did not expect this day to come so quickly.

"The Japanese have less and less iron ore, and they don't produce iron ore locally, so it's easy to surpass them!" Zhou Bai smiled.

Last year, the United States imposed an economic blockade on the Japanese, cutting off the export of scrap steel from the Japanese, which also cut off the largest source of steel production for the Japanese. The Japanese could not obtain iron ore from Huaxia Daye and other places, and steel production did not reach a historical high of more than 6.8 million tons. After intensifying the plundering of the puppet Manchurians, the steel output was only about 5 million tons.

Because the Bohai Sea and Yellow Sea areas were blockaded and disturbed by the vanguard navy, it was difficult for the Japanese to transport large quantities of iron ore back to the mainland, so they had to transfer a blast furnace and steelmaking equipment from the mainland to the northeast.

Meng Xiang had long been instructed that the Chinese undersea assassins in the Yellow Sea and the East China Sea would not intercept cargo ships destined for the Northeast from the Japanese mainland. Just like when the Japanese helped Zhang Xueliang and his son build the industrial cornerstone of Northeast China, which was convenient and smooth to accept, Meng Xiang also had such an idea.

The Japanese successfully placed the equipment in Anshan and other places, expanded the production capacity of Anshan Iron and Steel and other places, and made the historical production capacity of Anshan Iron and Steel exceed 1.5 million tons. A large number of weapons production equipment was also manufactured in the vicinity of the puppet Manchurian areas, and the finished products were directly produced to arm the troops trained in the puppet Manchurian region. This has also led to the further expansion of the industrial scale of the Northeast.

However, the steel production of the Japanese has not increased much, but Huaxia does not have the corresponding information in its hands, and only last year's output value data exceeded 6 million, so it is just said to catch up. However, this year, although it is impossible to break out in a big way, Zhou Bai is absolutely confident that he will surpass the Japanese.

"Now that the Japanese have occupied the South Seas, maybe they will get more iron ore from there. For example, from Burma, the Philippines and even from India, I heard that the Japanese army was moving towards India! Long Yun restrained his surprised expression, and brought more and more into the horns of the vanguard army.

When Meng Xiang heard this, he sneered in his heart. Southeast Asia is now rich in resources, but it does not include iron ore. Those large-scale iron ore resources have not yet been discovered, and although there are some small iron ore mines in Myanmar, Thailand and other places, they are simply not enough to cope with large-scale mining and production.

The super iron ore mines in Australia have not yet been discovered, and India is relatively rich in iron ore resources, and it is also relatively famous in this era, which has indeed become a reason for the Japanese to move westward.

Without iron ore, there would not be enough steel to produce warships, artillery, tanks, guns, etc., and there would be no industrial food.

After weighing the difficulty of China and India, the Japanese had already decided to attack India first and obtain iron ore.

As we entered the New Year, three Japanese divisions were already on the Indian border.

But the Japanese seem to have overlooked the fact that their transportation capacity is simply not enough to support long-distance transportation.

In particular, the submarine forces of the Americans, which are being greatly expanded, have made their transport lines a primary target.

This imitation of the Germans to seal the British worked well. In later generations, the Americans, with the help of their submarine forces and the Air Force, allowed the Japanese to have a large amount of oil stranded in the South Sea, but they could not transport it back to the mainland, resulting in a crushing defeat.

Now the Japanese have added another huge shipment of iron ore, and they still have to cross the Strait of Malacca, which is very easy to attack. I will also face double interception from the United States and China, and I am afraid that I will die even worse at that time.

"They don't have much ore to transport. According to the current transportation capacity of the Japanese, under long-distance transportation, the iron ore obtained is not as good as the new steel plants we have put into production, and it is absolutely no problem to surpass them. Zhou Bai said confidently.

He has also estimated the production capacity and transportation volume of the Japanese, which is by no means faster than the industrial train that has been started in China. With more talents, major steel plants still have more room for improvement.

"The little devil doesn't have that chance anymore!" Meng Xiang also sneered in his heart. As long as the Japanese cut this kitchen knife on the cow tuǐ, it is not a pity to abandon it. The army of the vanguard army will soon go south to pick fruits, where will it be the turn of the Japanese to slowly develop with peace of mind? It's just that such a high-level meeting, the secrecy is not strong, and Meng Xiang and Zhou Bai will not easily leak their plans to march south.

……

Sure enough, by the next day, the headline of Huaxia's steel production of more than 5 million tons appeared on the headlines of many newspapers.

"A breakthrough in history! We have equaled Japan, surpassed France, and even challenged the English empire on which the sun never sets. "The headline on Ta Kung Pao and its sensationalism.

After the German occupation of France, steel production plummeted. From nearly 10 million tons in 30 years, it has fallen to more than 4 million tons in 40 years. This old empire, which was still a behemoth in the hearts of the people, was surpassed by China, which made the people ecstatic.

In this era, the steel included in the list of strategic materials means that it is strong, and the rise of China's steel industry also means the rise of China. Although it is much worse than the UK's output of more than 13 million tons, the Chinese people have secretly ranked China's status into the world's top five seats, and even ranked in the top three.

"Little devil? If we lose our armor, how strong can we be? Old máozi is also our defeated men. Even the British, it's already the Twilight Empire! ”

……