Australian Storm 1876

   Chapter 57

  January 13, 1878

  "Welcome, Mr. Fischer, you are the most distinguished guest of the Red River Valley. I am very glad that you are here and make my place shine."

   "Thank you, Lee, my friend."

  The gray-haired old Mr. Fischer is very energetic. He came to Australia as soon as he smelled of money. The high-quality coking coal is worth 20 US dollars per ton. Li Fushou knew, and Mr. Fischer knew better.

  Li Fushou was originally in North America. Why is old Mr. Fischer not in a hurry and didn’t talk about the business of coking coal?

  The heavy industry in the North American market today is centered on the Great Lakes region, and steel output occupies the top two-thirds of North America. Together with other iron and steel smelting companies on the east coast, the overall steel output accounts for almost four-fifths of the United States.

  Relatively speaking, the West Coast steel companies are much weaker, and the demand for high-quality steel is not large.

   different now

  After the US 10-year shipbuilding plan was thrown out, the Pacific Fleet got 1/3 of it. These battleships and cruisers need to be built on the west coast, and the contradiction in demand was immediately highlighted.

  An armored battleship needs thousands of tons of high-quality steel at every turn. The same is true for cruisers and fast coal ships. The annual demand reaches tens of thousands of tons, all of which require high-quality coking coal to produce.

  Calculated by producing one ton of steel from one ton of high-quality coking coal, the annual gap is more than 60,000 tons, worth more than 1.2 million US dollars.

North America does not lack coal resources. The world-famous Appalachian coal field is located in the northeastern part of the United States. Because of its vast area, it does not belong to one or two separate states, but is scattered in nine major states in the eastern United States. , Almost encompassing the entire eastern United States.

  And in the West Coast area of ​​the United States, sorry...Without high-quality coal resources, there will naturally be no high-quality coking coal.

  If it is transported by the 4,500 kilometers of Central Pacific Railway, plus the thousands of kilometers of railway branch lines from the coal mining area to the Central Pacific Railway, the high cost can make the West Coast Steel Plant vomit blood.

  Steel companies are privately owned, and railway companies are the same. There is no reason to make contributions without making money.

  Relatively speaking, ocean freight is much cheaper, and the cost is completely affordable.

  This dilemma was also encountered in the Qing Dynasty. Although there are a lot of coal resources in the country, it cannot produce high-quality coking coal. It can only import high-quality coking coal from Germany for thousands of miles, which is worth 25 taels of silver per ton.

  The high-quality coking coal on the east coast of the United States is $16.7 a ton, but the price to be transported to the west coast has to be multiplied by 2. This is why the old Mr. Fischer traveled across the ocean just after Christmas.

  The charm of money is unstoppable. Even a small bite in this transaction is enough for the Fischer family to be full of brains and mouths.

"In order to welcome the distinguished guests, we prepared a feast in the evening. The Red River Valley Ranch is a vast area with many unforgettable magnificent scenery. I sincerely invite you to take an unforgettable hike. Maybe we are here. On the way, we can also hunt wombats, a cute Australian specialty animal..."

   "Uh...wait, Lee, I'm not in a hurry to hike."

  "Then we can hold a grand carnival and invite some prestigious upper-class people..."

   "No, don't bother."

  "Listen to Fischer, in order to show the warm welcome of the Red River Valley, I plan to hold a series of welcome banquets and unique picnics. You will see groups of kangaroos..."

"OK, thank you very much, but I'm not here to see anything nasty, Kangaroo." Old Fischer was really offended by Li Fushou's Tai Chi. As long as he could transport the high-quality coking coal to Auckland earlier, every Minutes are money.

   "Let's talk about a big deal, Li, I desperately need your high-quality coking coal, as much as you want."

   "But I have already sent it to Normandy Import and Export Company. I just sent two ships a few days ago, um... a total of 11,000 tons."

   "Gosh, **** it."

  Old Fischer's heart is cut like a knife, as if the green dollar is flying away from his eyes with wings, how can he bear it?

  The production equipment of the Red River Valley Coking Coal Plant was still sold by him. One-month full-load production is equivalent to five or six thousand tons of output, and this 11,000 tons is two months of output.

  No way, no matter how fast the old Fischer is, it is impossible to have a telegram, let alone he spent another warm Christmas at home.

  Big and small newspapers from New York to San Francisco all published the US government’s large-scale naval expansion plan. Fan Asheng, manager of the Normandy Import and Export Corporation, could not think of this. Hu Chaoshan, one of the five tiger generals of the Secretariat, would never miss this big business opportunity.

  Otherwise, Li Fushou’s thoughts of cultivation will be lost in vain.

   Then why reuse the mediocre Fan Asheng?

   is very simple, with checks and balances of power.

"Listen... Lee, while I was taking a fast cruise to Australia, I sent you two sets of coking coal plant equipment from Auckland. It is estimated that they will arrive in half a month. We are responsible for the whole process of debugging and installation. My equipment, as long as you fill me up with coking coal and take it home."

   "How big is the ship?"

   "Uh... 8,000 tons, dear Li... please don't worry, I also brought you 1,500 tons of cane sugar, which is a high-quality cane sugar produced in Cuba."

  Is this almost the same?

  Li Fushou’s expression eased. The two sets of coking coal equipment can greatly increase the output from 70,000 tons per year to 200,000 tons per year, which greatly eases the contradiction between supply and demand.

  In addition to 1,500 tons of very tight cane sugar, the raw materials for the production of milk candies for one year are available, and other cheap lumpy candies, fruit candies, cookies and packaged sweets can also be developed.

  In terms of value

  Fischer gave the 8,000 tons of high-quality coking coal equivalent to US$14.6 a ton. Don’t forget that this was taken from the Red River Valley.

  If you add the freight to Auckland for miles and miles, it will be almost US$18.5 a ton, which is not far from the market price of US$20, demonstrating full sincerity.

  After all, such a large quantity of cane sugar is also very in short supply. In addition, two sets of coking coal equipment are now also in demand, so it is a good deal from any angle.

  Don’t think that the United States only needs such a small amount of high-quality steel to expand the two-ocean navy. It is purely blind.

  As the United States vigorously builds its navy, it will be followed by subtle changes in the national development policy, which is more aggressive and expansive. With its powerful naval power, it protects trade interests, promotes open markets, and escorts American businessmen to go overseas.

  The introduction of a major policy is by no means determined with a single shot.

  There is no doubt that there are profound strategic considerations behind the changes in national policies.

  The large-scale shipbuilding plan will definitely promote the rise of overseas trade. Factory needs equipment, ocean trade needs ships, and the production of high-quality products cannot do without steel. This is a great benefit to Red River Valley.

  Old Mr. Fischer possesses the usual astuteness of Jews, and keenly smells the huge business opportunities in it.

  If you want to take it, you must give it first.

  He really succeeded, and Li Fushou nodded and agreed.

  The two-month production plan allocated 8,000 tons of coking coal, which can be regarded as a return to Fischer Import and Export Company, no more.

  With the current channels and capabilities of the Normandy Import and Export Company, such a tight coking coal can only be sold at a price of US$212, which is impossible to sell higher.

  The coking coal was in the hands of Old Fischer, but he was able to sell it at a high price of $25 a ton. No matter how high he was, he wouldn't dare to make money or enjoy it.

  Don’t look at the Fischer family who has a congressman. Which one of those large steel companies does not have a congressman?

   Anxious the steel mill tycoon in the West Coast region. It is easy to spend a few hundred dollars to hire a gunman. A large number of poor Irish people are willing to fight, maybe Italians or other people.

  To be honest, the law and order in the United States is not much better than that in Australia. As long as you don’t get caught on the spot, you can leave the crime scene safely.

   Obviously, the 8,000 tons of coking coal has not yet satisfied Old Fischer’s appetite, and he wants more.

  "Li, your plant and coal resources are readily available here, and there is no shortage of electricity. The newly arrived coking coal equipment workers can start production after two months of overtime, and they can produce green oil at full capacity."

   "Fischer, I am very worried that excessive coking coal resources will depress prices."

  "No, no, the North American continent's appetite for high-quality coking coal is far beyond your imagination."

   "Oh, only part of the West Coast."

"Hey hey... I'll tell you that, in this part of the west coast you call it, in just over a month, you have ordered 6 sets of open-hearth steelmaking equipment from Fischer Trading Company, which will add 600,000 additional units each year. The production capacity of tons of high-quality steel is just the beginning. It is just me, an importer of steel equipment. As long as the smell of money smells, all capitalists will go crazy."

   "Does this also include you?"

   "As you can see, yes, this is an opportunity given by God, and we can all make a fortune."

  Li Fushou smiled and did not say anything. The opportunity is always reserved for those who are prepared. The most critical driving force for the operation of coking coal plants is electricity. In the entire Australian continent, only the Red River Valley has this condition.

  Hundreds of thousands of tons of finely washed coal are smelted into coke through a blast furnace every day. It is a fantasy to rely entirely on human or animal power.

  The high-temperature smelted coke reaches thousands of degrees Celsius. Who can go up and take it down?

  Steam power is also impossible, because the entire production process of a coking plant requires power. If dozens of sets of steam power equipment are sufficient, the cost will increase to an alarming degree.

  Coking coal plant from coal unloading, fine washing, coal conveying trestle to transport into the coal tower, the coal loading car travels to the bottom of the coal tower, the coal tower shakes the feeder to feed evenly layer by layer...

  The following process is also crushed, stratified and tamped to make briquettes. The pounded briquettes are loaded into the carbonization chamber and subjected to high-temperature dry distillation at a temperature of 950 to 1050°C.

After more than 20 hours, the mature coke was pushed out by the coke pushing car, pushed out through the coke guide grid, and dropped into the coke quenching car, then sent to the coke quenching tower to be sprayed with water for coke quenching, and finally sent to the coke cooling station, where the coke was released by the scraper. The machine pushes to the focal field.

  In particular, it should be emphasized that the production of coal raw materials can easily reach thousands of tons.

  This series of production processes all need to consume a lot of electricity, and the cost of electricity is one of the main costs.

  Generally speaking, thermal power plants will be built near coal mines, specifically for the production of coal mine machinery and coking and other chemical products.

  Coking plant is not only a product of coal and coke, that is a misunderstanding.

  Coke can be used as fuel for blast furnace smelting, it can also be used for casting, non-ferrous metal smelting, water gas production, producer gas for the production of synthetic ammonia, and calcium carbide to obtain raw materials for the organic synthesis industry.

  The chemical products produced in the coking process can be recovered and processed to extract tar, ammonia, naphthalene, hydrogen sulfide, crude benzene and other products, and obtain clean coke oven gas and coal tar, all of which are very useful chemical products.

  After refining and deep processing of crude benzene, benzene, toluene, xylene, carbon disulfide, etc. can be produced. These products are widely used in chemistry, medicine, refractory materials and military industries.

   Touching his conscience, Li Fushou insisted on building the huge Red River Valley Reservoir. He had never thought of this aspect at all, and he could not have thought so far, he just wanted to develop an industrial base.

  I did not expect the U.S. government to cooperate in this way and unveiled an ambitious ten-year shipbuilding plan. It was really a big pie on the head.

  The high-quality coking coal in hand is now a rare commodity. Looking around the Pacific, from East Asia to South Asia, from Kolkata to Sydney, from Havana to Buenos Aires, the capital of Argentina, no one can provide high-quality coking coal in large quantities.

  Unless the industrial powers in Europe pass through the Suez Canal that has just passed through, bypassing more than half of the earth and sending high-quality coking coal to the west coast, there will only be the Red River Valley.

  (End of this chapter)