Seeing Zhang Yunfei in the office, Fang Zheng said respectfully: "Commander-in-chief, this is the construction plan of Baotou Iron and Steel Plant, I have organized experts and technicians in our base smelting and civil construction, and have repeatedly demonstrated, this is a preliminary general plan, Commander-in-Chief, you will see it first." ”

Today, the rough plan sent by Founder is very simple, only a thin dozen pages, Founder means to take this preliminary rough plan to Zhang Yunfei first, and then come up with a detailed plan after soliciting Zhang Yunfei's opinion.

To be honest, Fang Zheng still has a lot of questions in his heart, and he also wants to take advantage of today's opportunity to ask Zhang Yunfei for advice.

Zhang Yunfei took the founder plan and looked at it roughly, although it was a rough plan, a bit like an outline, but some important issues and matters were still mentioned, for this plan, Zhang Yunfei was very satisfied, and he was able to come up with such a comprehensive general plan in just a few days, Zhang Yunfei was still quite satisfied.

After reading it, Zhang Yunfei nodded with satisfaction and said: "Old Fang, I basically agree with this plan, you can improve it according to this plan, but there are two points I want to explain."

First, in order to ensure the progress of the project, I think that 20,000 or 30,000 of our tens of thousands of prisoners of war can be transferred to Baotou to participate in the construction of the Baotou Iron and Steel Plant.

The second point is to set up a steel research institute in Baotou to organize all the metallurgical experts and technicians in our base area, and everyone will concentrate their efforts to provide technical support for the Baotou Iron and Steel Plant. ”

Zhang Yunfei set up Baotou Iron and Steel Plant with the aim of refining high-quality steel, not some crude steel, so it was necessary to concentrate special technical forces. Now in Datong base, after the development of the past two years, all kinds of talents have gathered, and William's talent company has collected a large number of talents from all aspects, so there is no shortage of talents in steel smelting.

Secondly, the steel plant in Xin'an County, which has been in operation for almost two years, has not only produced a large amount of high-quality steel, but also accumulated a lot of experience in steel smelting and production.

Because of this, Zhang Yunfei dared to start such a large steel plant, with a large number of iron ore in Baiyun Obo, with the strong technical force of the base, and with the participation of 20,000 or 30,000 free laborers of little devils, Zhang Yunfei believed that the steel plant in Baotou would be successfully completed and put into operation.

Comrade Fang Zheng next to him, seeing that Zhang Yunfei had finished reading his plan and was quite satisfied, Fang Zheng's heart was also very happy, and he thought to himself, the hard work of the past few days has not been in vain.

Fang Zheng saw that Zhang Yunfei's evaluation of the plan he sent was okay, and Zhang Yunfei's mood was also good, so Fang Zheng took the opportunity to say: "Commander-in-chief, I have always had a question, why is our such a large steel plant located in Baotou, there is not enough iron ore there." ”

Fangzheng's worries are completely correct, the current Baiyun Obo iron ore has not been valued and mined, so even Fangzheng is also full of doubts in his heart, and has been worried about the problem of this iron ore.

Hearing this, Zhang Yunfei smiled slightly and said: "Old Fang, the problem of iron ore will be solved soon, do you know Baiyun Obo in the north of Baotou?" I heard some Mongolians say that there is a large amount of iron ore there, and I checked some information, as early as more than 10 years ago, the Sino-Swiss Northwest Scientific Expedition discovered the iron ore in Baiyun Obo, but it has not attracted people's attention, I think it is a huge iron mine, and our Baotou Iron and Steel Plant transported iron ore from there to make steel. ”

"Really?" I heard that there is a large amount of iron ore in Baiyun Obo, and Founder was pleasantly surprised.

Looking at Fang Zheng's surprised expression, Zhang Yunfei smiled slightly and nodded lightly.

Fang Zheng saw that Zhang Yunfei was sure, and he admired it very much, Fang Zheng thought in his heart, there is a large amount of iron ore in Baiyun Obo, and the commander-in-chief also knows, it is really a god.

In fact, Zhang Yunfei is not as amazing as Fang Zheng thought, Zhang Yunfei only knew that there was a big iron mine there according to the memory of his later generations, and there was a big iron and steel plant in Baotou, and then Zhang Yunfei still vaguely remembered that in 1927, a geologist named Ding Daoheng discovered this iron mine, but the prediction of the stock at that time was much smaller than the actual one, so it has not attracted people's attention.

With these memories, Zhang Yunfei dared to build such a large steel plant in Baotou, so he made up an excuse, saying that he had heard from some local Mongolians, and then checked some information himself, and then concluded that there was a large amount of iron ore in Baiyun Obo.

Zhang Yunfei was very happy to see that Fang Zheng was also very happy, and immediately suggested: "Old Fang, you organize a group of geological experts and technicians to go to Baiyun Obo for specific surveys in the past two days, I think, it will bring us a great surprise."

By the way, for the sake of safety, we can send a battalion of fighters to escort these geologists and technicians, and we can also send some trucks and off-road vehicles for these personnel to use, and report to me as soon as we have any news. ”

"Okay, I'll arrange it right away." Regarding Zhang Yunfei's words, Fang Zheng obeyed his words and always implemented them firmly.

Watching Fang Zheng leave happily, Zhang Yunfei walked to the huge map hanging in his office, looked at the location of Bai Yun Obo and was distracted, and remembered a lot of things about Bai Yun Obo in his heart.

Before the discovery of the Baiyun Obo iron mine, some local children often played and frolicked in the mine, the mountain of the Baiyun Obo main mine is still very high, and there are few people in the mining area, so there are many stone chickens on the mountain, hit with a slingshot, and there is a harvest every day. The iron sand has a large specific gravity, and it is washed into the shape of pebbles by flowing water in the ditch, which is simply an excellent bullet. Back then, it was this kind of iron sand used by naughty children to hunt birds that led a young geologist to discover the Baiyun Obo iron ore step by step.

In June 1927, when the northern country was being plagued by spring cold and dust, a huge camel caravan had appeared on the horizon of the steppe, winding up to the sky. When the locals saw this huge procession, armed with guns and some strange items that they had never seen before, they couldn't help but suspect that they would take the treasure of the town.

This is indeed a treasure hunting team: the Sino-Swiss Northwest Scientific Expedition. They were stationed at the Bailing Temple, where the political axe of today's Darhan Maomingan United Banner was located, and then prepared to continue westward from the south of Baiyun Obo Mountain.

In the midst of this group of visitors from afar, there was a handsome young man, 27-year-old Ding Daoheng, who was just a university teaching assistant at that time. As if attracted by some inexplicable magnetic force, or out of the innate sensitivity of a geologist, he discovered that this dark and mysterious mountain range in the distance was extraordinary more than ten kilometers away from Mount Kinabalu.

He approached the local residents and inquired about it, and picked up an oil lamp to check the information. After a sleepless night, he decided to get up early in the morning and go to find out.

At dawn the next day, while his companions were still asleep, he ran on foot to Baiyun Obo. The closer he got to the bottom of the mountain, the denser the iron sand in the ravines became, and the more excited his heart became, this is iron ore, big iron ore! The day was July 3, 1927.

July 5th, Sven? Hedin officially received the good news from Ding Daoheng, reporting the discovery of a huge iron ore in Bayinboktu (i.e., Baiyun Obo), "Although the mineral quality has not been analyzed, the whole mountain is made of iron ore." The ore was formed by the exchange of limestone and then by the iron in the diving. It is washed out by magma, and other impurities are vaporized, so its plastid is extremely pure. It is speculated that the ingredients will be more than 10 points. The full amount is exposed, and it is very easy to mine. ”

Another member of the expedition, the Swedish geologist Erik? In his letter of July 3, Nalin also said: "The sacred mountain, Bayin Boktu, is worthy of its name, and the whole southern half of the wall is pure ore, iron and manganese, and the ground of the mining area has expanded all the way to the temple of Chahan Obo, which has been painted by me. "Sven? After receiving the report from Ding and those two, Heding responded in his account: "The discovery of a huge iron ore mine is the blessing of China. ”

A lot of knowledge, a lot of experience and a little bit of luck are the three primary colors of a prospector's success. At that time, Ding Daoheng continued to travel west with the collected specimens, hand-drawn drawings and a large number of written materials, but he never forgot this "national treasure". It was only after three years that he was able to record what he saw in the "Suiyuan Baiyun Obo Iron Mine Report", which was the first time in history that Baiyun Obo, a magical place unfamiliar to the world, was made public.

Zhang Yunfei stood in front of the map and thought a lot, and his heart was also slightly excited, thinking in his heart that if Baiyun Obo was established as a mining area, as long as it was mined a little, it would be able to fully meet the ore needs of the 300,000-ton steel plant in Baotou.

With so much high-quality steel, the scale of Datong's major factories can also be expanded, and the Tongpu railway between Datong and Taiyuan should also be re-expanded, the current Tongpu railway is all narrow gauge, which is very inconvenient.

Because it is a narrow gauge, only a limited number of trains can run on this section of the railway, the transportation capacity is very limited, and now the cement road from Datong to Taiyuan has undertaken a lot of transportation tasks.

After having a large amount of steel, Zhang Yunfei planned to build the Tongpu Railway into a standard track, and after having a large amount of steel, Zhang Yunfei also planned to choose a site to build a train manufacturing plant.

With the abundance of steel, the production of tanks, armored vehicles, trucks and even airplanes will also increase dramatically.

Standing in front of the map, Zhang Yunfei was a little distracted for a while, and even Comrade Deng Wenping, director of the General Political Department, knocked on the door and came in, but Zhang Yunfei did not notice it.

(To be continued)