Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 92 New Development ([-])

The smooth output of coal from the Ping'anbao Coal Mine has provided a strong impetus for the various developments of the East Coast Republic of China.

Since December 12, the daily output of Pinganbao Coal Mine has gradually increased, from 7 tons at the lowest point to nearly 140 tons at the peak, and then generally stabilized at around 200 tons.This alone can create an output value of more than 180 yuan per day, and save 300-1500 yuan in coal import costs per month in the future.

However, such a huge benefit and production capacity of coal mines has encountered an embarrassing fact at the moment, that is, the current coal transportation capacity is seriously insufficient.The six inland flat-bottomed boats numbered 331-336 that have been handed over to Pinganbao have an average load of only eleven or two tons each, and the six boats can pull 70 tons of coal at a time, which is more efficient than coal output. It was too shabby.

Moreover, these six ships are not only for transporting supplies and coal back and forth from Ping'an Fort to the coal mine, they also undertake the transportation task between Zhenhai Fort and Ping'an Fort.Only half of the ships assigned to transport coal back and forth between the coal mine and Pinganbao, that is, 3 ships, can transport about 35 tons of raw coal at a time.

The problem of coal transportation capacity made Shao Shude scratch his head, and this was the reason why he went back to Dongfang Port to ask the Ministry of Finance for money to build ships.However, the long-distance water cannot quench the near-thirst. Although four inland river shallow water transport ships with a displacement of 60 tons are currently being built in the Naval Shipyard, the tasks of the shipbuilders are also very heavy. The battleship "August [-]" occupied almost most of the manpower.Therefore, it will take at least three or four months for the completion of the four inland shallow water transport ships. During the blank period of three to four months, I am afraid that we can only rely on the existing six small transport ships.

In order to ease the transportation pressure and carry out the next step, Ai Cha, who is currently guiding coal mining, suggested that Shao Shude build a simple coal washing plant near the coal mining area to select the mined coal.Those coal gangue with extremely low combustion calorific value can be used to make bricks and burn cement after being selected, and the remaining clean coal can be pulled back to coking or used as fuel.According to Aicha’s estimation, the proportion of clean coal is about half of the coal produced in Ping’anbao Coal Mine. After coal washing, only about 90 tons of clean coal need to be shipped out every day.Of course, the coal washing plant may not be able to handle such large-scale raw coal at the beginning, but that would be better. Anyway, the current manpower and transportation capacity are insufficient, so let’s pile up the unprocessed ones first.

The two did what they said.The next day, Shao Shude took a group of people to the coal mine for field inspection.At present, there are 545 Tatan residents in the mining area, including about 249 young and middle-aged men. Among these people, in addition to transportation and loading personnel, about 150 people are directly engaged in coal mining, and they can dig about 180 tons of raw coal every day.The unearthed raw coal is piled up everywhere in the mining area. At present, the three transport ships No. 331-333, which are currently responsible for transportation, run back and forth twice a day, and can only transport 3 tons of raw coal. The remaining raw coal can only be temporarily transported. Stacked aside in the open air.

"I think the coal washing plant can be built." After looking at it for a long time, Shao Shude finally said: "Ai Cha, you have worked in a coal mine before, and I remember that coal washing generally consists of crushing, screening, coal preparation and other processes. Isn’t it? It’s too late to handle it manually, isn’t it too inefficient?”

Aicha scratched his head. He had only worked in the black coal mine for a while before, so he was not an expert, so he said with some uncertainty: "It is easy to break large pieces of raw coal or gangue. This side is next to the river. The hydraulic hammer is used for crushing, which is very efficient. The crushed raw coal is then screened with a mesh screen, and the fine coal that has been screened is then sorted. This... this may need to build a chute for sorting with water, specifically I can’t tell now, let’s see when the time comes.”

Shao Shude was speechless.But thinking about it now, there is really no better idea.There is a shortage of talented people across the world, Shao Shude thought with some regret, he can only take one step at a time.If it is impossible, then ask how the British did it. Their coal industry is very developed, and there should be something they can learn from.This is not a shame, as a time traveler, you are not omniscient. After all, the current flintlock guns and warships are imitated, and this time is not bad.

In fact, at present, the industrial sector has not put forward any excessive requirements on the coal mines. They have not even required the coal mines to conduct preliminary washing of the excavated coal. It is mainly used as fuel.

After all, although the quality of these coals is not high, there is no problem in using them as fuel.After the "Galicia Flying Fish" pulled back the first batch of 200 tons of raw coal, the brick kilns, cement kilns and lime kilns under the East Coast Company finally stopped saving coal. For the first time in three years, they started 24 hours a day Production.While the coal consumption per ton has been greatly reduced, it has also completely reversed the current shortage of construction materials, and there is even a surplus that can be exported to Brazil and the La Plata region in exchange for foreign exchange.

At the same time, wood drying kilns, dry distillation kilns, major canteens, bathrooms and other units have also begun to gradually reduce the proportion of firewood in fuel and increase some coal appropriately, which will help free their hands. Manpower is required.However, limited to the relationship of coal production, it is still impossible to completely replace traditional fuels such as firewood.

In mid-December, under Shao Shude's insistence, the Executive Committee finally decided to build a coal washing plant near the Pinganbao Coal Mine.Ai Cha of the former expedition team served as the director of the newly built coal washing plant. The investment in the whole plant exceeded 12 yuan, most of which were used to purchase six sets of hydraulic breakers from Dongan Company. Some workers in the coal washing plant were dispatched by Pinganbao. The next part will be played by those Tatan women. The designed daily processing capacity of the entire coal washing plant is 700 tons of raw coal.

The chief of the coal mine is Bai Shui, a policeman from the Ministry of the Interior. He is also the director of the newly established coal mine police station.He is in charge of commanding 249 miners in the entire coal mine, 20 police officers from the police station, a platoon of the army and a small number of technical staff.Shao Shude's request to him is to only look at the output, and not to ask about anything else.

On the banks of the Kai River, which has been renamed the "Coal River" for the transportation of coal, a simple wharf is also nearing completion with the efforts of the Charuya construction team.Several animal-powered tower cranes were installed on the wharf to load and unload goods. Compared with the human-powered pulley block, the efficiency can only be said to be passable.Anda Fifteen was holding his katana, wearing a black Ministry of Internal Affairs police uniform and cowhide military boots, walking with his head upright and patrolling the pier, behind him were two fellow Japanese, also wearing police uniforms.

At this time, the infrastructure of the terminal has been basically completed, and the construction team only left a small number of people here to finish the work.Most of the rest were divided into two teams, one team was building the sewage discharge pipeline of the coal washing plant, and the other team was laying a simple track from the coal mine to the riverside wharf.The coal washing plant produces a large amount of sludge-containing sewage in the process of washing clean coal, and the sewage is directly discharged into the coal river after a period of initial sedimentation in the dug sedimentation tank.At the same time, the water-containing coal slime in the sedimentation tank can be used not only to fire refractory bricks, but also to make briquettes.In short, the utilization rate of these coals is indeed very high.

As for another simple track from the coal field to the wharf, it was laid for the convenience of transporting coal.Referring to the coal mines in Britain at that time, the track was made of hardwood, covered with a layer of iron sheet, and the transport vehicles pulling coal passed through it back and forth, and the efficiency was much higher than that of pure hard roads.Even better, the construction team took advantage of the fact that the coal field is located near the remnants of the Gerard Mountains and has a slightly higher terrain, and laid a track with a certain slope.It can also save a lot of energy by fully loading coal when going downhill and empty when going uphill.

There are many more Guarani employees in the construction team. They are all from the nearby Guarani village. The relationship between the two parties is not bad, and the coal mine sometimes buys some supplies from the other side.These Guarani workers are really cheap, you can hire them for 7-10 days with a metal knife, provided you provide them with three meals a day.

Of course, the construction team welcomes these cheap workers very much. Therefore, with their help, the construction progress here can always be completed ahead of schedule.Of course, the arrival of these Guarani people was not without some disadvantages. At least during the period of their arrival, the construction team and coal mines had lost a lot of tools such as shovels, hoes, hammers and so on.Even the clean coal that has been washed, many Guarani people come here with bags every day to secretly pack a little away, because they find that the clean coal is much more powerful than the wood and firewood they use, and the dust is also dusty. not very big.This kind of theft was only an individual behavior at first, and later even developed into a large-scale collective theft at night.

After Baishui consulted Shao Shude in Pinganbao, he decided to compromise with these Guarani people, that is, to supply them with a small amount of clean coal every day, in exchange for them not to steal anymore, and at the same time, to bring the relationship closer.As for the Guarani temporary worker who stole the construction team and coal mining tools, Baishui dispatched a detective team headed by the deputy director of the police station, Aivani, to take charge of the matter.

Anda fifteen and others are members of this detective team.In the past two days, he has captured several Guarani people who came to steal tools at night, and there were even some small conflicts between the two parties.A Japanese fellow in Anda Fifteen almost killed a Guarani man with a knife, but fortunately, both sides were more restrained and did not intend to continue to investigate.

In this way, the coal mine has finally been producing tenaciously despite stumbling, and has contributed a lot to the construction of the East China Republic.

(End of this chapter)