Chapter 762

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Shi Yunshan felt a bead of sweat in his palm as he watched the young man in dragon robes and officials walk towards the iron mine.

He was formerly a member of the Qingzhou Machinery Department. He used to travel north and south with Qian Dafu. When the imperial court decided to establish a steel workshop and iron mine in Laiwu, he actively requested to come to Laiwu.

Because he was a native of Laiwu and very familiar with the area.

As he stood there, nervous and at a loss, the group had already reached him.

Qian Dafu smiled and said to Xiao Ming, “Your Majesty, this is Shi Yunshan, whom your old servant often mentions. He discovered this Laiwu mine.”

On the way, Qian Dafu had already introduced Shi Yunshan. He scrutinized Shi Yunshan, and from Shi Yunshan’s dull expression, he could tell that he was an honest and steadfast person.

“This humble official greets Your Majesty.” After Qian Dafu’s introduction, Shi Yunshan bowed to Xiao Ming.

“Dispense with the formalities.” Xiao Ming’s interest was now entirely focused on the mine’s production. He said, “Qian Dafu says you are shrewd and capable. I will now see how you have managed this iron mine.”

Shi Yunshan nodded. “Your Majesty, please follow this humble official.”

With that, Shi Yunshan led Xiao Ming and a group of officials to the entrance of the mine. This Laiwu iron mine was surrounded by mountains, with low hills in the vicinity.

Glancing at the surroundings, Xiao Ming looked into the mine pit. The originally flat ground had now formed a five-meter-deep pit.

The mine pit was very large, about a thousand meters in diameter. At this time, over six thousand people were wielding mining tools in the pit, chipping away chunks of ore from the rock body.

“Your Majesty, in the half-month since mining began, our mine has provided the steel workshop with a total of sixty thousand tons of ore. On average, each artisan has mined ten tons of ore,” Shi Yunshan said, pointing to the sweating artisans.

“Sixty thousand tons.” Xiao Ming nodded in satisfaction. He picked up a piece of iron ore and examined it.

This iron ore was reddish-brown, belonging to hematite. Generally, hematite has an iron content of seventy percent.

These sixty thousand tons of hematite ore should be able to smelt over forty thousand tons of steel.

Shi Yunshan, fearing that Xiao Ming would be displeased with this output, said, “Your Majesty, mining iron ore is very arduous. Artisans sometimes take a long time to break a single piece of ore with their tools, making mining very difficult.”

“I understand. These sixty thousand tons of ore are already quite remarkable,” Xiao Ming said gently. He sensed Shi Yunshan’s worry.

Shi Yunshan breathed a sigh of relief and continued to lead Xiao Ming on the tour. When he reached the steam engines at the mine, he excitedly said, “Your Majesty, the mine can produce so much ore now thanks to these steam engines. With them, artisans can directly place the ore onto mine carts, and use the steam engine to pull the mine carts up.”

Xiao Ming and the officials then saw the railway tracks leading into the mine pit. Mine carts traveled back and forth on the tracks, loaded with ore.

This scene completely reassured Xiao Ming. His main concern was the application of steam engines. Now that the Great Yu Empire had entered the age of steam, it could only advance by leaps and bounds by relying on steam power.

After inspecting the use of steam engines in the mine, Xiao Ming and Shi Yunshan went to the artisans’ living quarters.

Now, in the desolate wilderness, rows of red brick houses had sprung up, clearly forming a settlement.

In contemporary times, towns often formed around mines. Xiao Ming focused on developing Laiwu into a steel workshop and mine, and this place would also form a town that relied on these industries for its survival.

After a brief look at the mine, Xiao Ming and his entourage then went to the Laiwu Steel Workshop.

The steel workshop was now bustling with activity. The transported iron ore was transformed into molten steel, then into various shapes of steel products.

The supervisor of the Laiwu Steel Workshop was named Chang Fei. He was formerly a technical backbone of the Qingzhou Steel Workshop and was dispatched here for this large-scale steel workshop.

Entering the steel workshop, Chang Fei led everyone on a detailed tour of the six production lines within the workshop. Five of these production lines were currently busy.

“Your Majesty, currently, the Laiwu Steel Workshop mainly produces railway parts, in addition to some agricultural implements, daily steel products, and so on. The six production lines are just barely able to meet orders,” Chang Fei said, wiping sweat from his brow, his eyes looking at the converter as if it were his own child.

The “chugging” sound of the steam engines continuously echoed in the steel workshop. Traditional steelmaking methods saved a lot of labor due to the involvement of steam engines.

Xiao Ming looked with satisfaction at this modern steel mill, filled with various machinery. In his plan, the Laiwu Steel Mill would primarily produce civilian steel products.

The Qingzhou workshop and the Kaiping Steel Workshop were mainly for producing military steel, and only after satisfying military needs would they produce civilian goods.

This inspection of Laiwu gave him an estimate of Qingzhou Province’s steel production capacity. In his opinion, the Laiwu Steel Mill alone could produce one million tons of steel annually.

The Kaiping Steel Workshop was estimated to be similar. Adding the Qingzhou Steel Workshop, the Great Yu Empire’s annual steel output should be two point two million tons.

This output could already completely surpass Britain.

However, the Great Yu Empire had a vast territory and a large population. If calculated in detail, he was still inferior to Britain in terms of average output per capita.

Xiao Ming was not discouraged by this. Surpassing in total output was still a form of surpassing. With such a foundation now, he had already surpassed Britain technologically.

After inspecting the mine and the Laiwu Steel Workshop, Xiao Ming rested in Laiwu for two days, then rushed to the Kaiping Steel Workshop.

As expected, the output of the Kaiping Steel Workshop was on par with Laiwu.

Over the next half a year, during the lull in barbarian activity, he successively inspected other workshops required to be built by the reforms, gaining a general understanding of the implementation of the reforms.

Overall, under the strong impetus of Pang Yukun and Fei Ji, the construction of workshops was progressing smoothly. Most of these workshops were now operational, and a portion of them would soon be put into production.

By then, the Great Yu Empire would have formed an industrial chain with official workshops at its core, and this chain would provide a continuous supply of industrial products to the Great Yu Empire.

And most importantly, the nascent industrial sector would provide resources for war.

After half a year of hard work, time transitioned from spring to autumn. In previous years, officials would be terrified at this time of high autumn and fat horses.

Because autumn was often when the barbarians launched attacks on the Great Yu Empire. For the past six months, the barbarians’ unusual quietness had kept Xiao Ming on edge; this tranquility made him uneasy.

And this worry was confirmed when he returned from Dengzhou to Qingzhou Province.

The barbarian cavalry suddenly bypassed the northern passes and appeared outside Songzhou City from the direction of Tibet. In just one day, Songzhou City was captured, and the barbarian army marched directly towards Yizhou.