Chapter 809 - Ignition

Directly developing Hongji would require a major investment. On the military side alone, they would need to deploy at least one full-strength infantry battalion. Northern Vietnam was nothing like the desolate reaches of Sanya or Hong Kong Island, where naval protection could suffice. Here they would directly confront a North Vietnamese army with considerable numerical superiority in land forces. The Northern Court's military had been armed with Portuguese and Dutch assistance; in terms of professionalization, firepower, and combat experience, it stood a cut above Guangdong's Ming forces.

Establishing a port and mining coal at Hongji would inevitably provoke armed expulsion from the Northern Court. Without at least one infantry battalion plus artillery and naval support, they couldn't secure the mining zone. The General Staff had drafted plans for occupying and defending the Hongji area: permanent garrison strength would exceed three battalions. For the already stretched Army and Navy, this was pure fantasy.

The Army's five battalions were currently dispersed across the entire northern half of Hainan Island, from Danzhou in the west to Wenchang in the east, conducting large-scale pacification operations. Except for one battalion stationed at Ma'ao as the general reserve, every unit had been deployed. Mobilizing additional troops would seriously impact both agricultural and industrial production.

After much deliberation, Wu De decided to proceed with caution. They would begin by expanding trade—striving to employ the armed-trading-post model and rely on local powers for extraction. This approach also required increased investment. At minimum, the Vietnam Trade Company's establishment could no longer remain under the Leizhou Station; it would need direct investment and management from the Council of Elders.

The steelworks' stockpiling of raw materials proceeded faster than either Ji Wusheng or Wang Luobin had anticipated. The Planning Commission organized ships for a crash transport effort, and refined ore from Sanya, coking lignite from Qiongshan, and lignite from Leizhou flowed continuously to Bopu and Ma'ao. Although a third of the Navy's vessels had been pulled ashore for repairs—temporarily reducing cargo capacity—the freed-up sailors were plentiful. The Navy adopted a "rotate crew, not ship" approach, keeping some vessels running around the clock. Though this accelerated wear on the ships, for a Navy about to receive new toys, the sacrifice was worthwhile. Steel expansion would benefit both Army and Navy, but in the long run, the Navy stood to gain more: after all, the steel consumed by one hundred thousand rifles couldn't match a single ironclad, and one large-caliber naval gun used as much steel as ten M1857 field pieces.

With the Navy's all-out transportation effort, Lingao Steel Company's raw-material reserves reached the baseline seven-day target ahead of schedule. Ji Wusheng decided there was no time to waste—they would begin smelting immediately. The second drying process would take approximately forty-eight hours before they could begin charging, which would add several more days to the stockpile.

The Steel Company had already trained Lingao's first generation of steelworkers at the old converter workshop. Some had come from various smelting operations in Guangdong or possessed backgrounds as blacksmiths, with at least some ironmaking experience. The shift foreman was surnamed Li—originally the only blacksmith in Lingao town. Traditional blacksmiths were more manufacturing workers than metallurgists and weren't truly familiar with smelting. Most blacksmiths recruited by Lingao ended up in the Machinery Department. But this particular man's skills were so poor that even Lu Youtian shook his head after watching him work. He was sent directly to the Metallurgical Department as a furnace-front worker at the melting furnace.

Still, Blacksmith Li did possess basic smelting and casting ability—more than most others could claim. Ji Wusheng had noticed during work that the man was reasonably diligent and willing to learn. But learning required a skilled master and a competitive environment—both in short supply in Hainan.

No one in this timeline had ever witnessed a blast furnace or open-hearth furnace. The steelworkers' only experience with modern steel technology came from the melting furnace and converter. For this reason, Ji Wusheng personally took charge of training the future steelworkers. He had scale models of the blast furnace and open-hearth constructed specifically for teaching smelting principles. Theoretically, the workers only needed to know what to do. But Ji Wusheng believed they should also receive some theoretical knowledge to deepen their understanding.

These workers came to the Steel Company daily to work and study, participating in the steelworks construction. When they beheld the magnificent blast furnace and open-hearth rising from the ground—beyond anything they could have imagined—their excitement was palpable. To them, the small converter and melting furnace had already been miracles. How much more so this enormous tower!

"Can this blast furnace really make good steel?" Every day Ji Wusheng had to affirm this doubt from workers more than a dozen times.

Now the blast furnace stood fully complete. The workers had carried out the first drying, gaining some understanding of charging. Ji Wusheng scheduled the official ignition for February 6.

He personally supervised the workers loading charge—after the preliminary round, they had gained experience. But the second drying demanded even greater care. In effect, the second drying meant entering formal production; any problem would seriously impact blast-furnace operations.

Ji Wusheng inspected the prepared coke powder—made from the finest coke sent from the Bopu coal-coking combined plant. Workers mixed tar into the powder, stirring it evenly, then added a proper amount of water to give it the necessary moisture. Coke powder served as lining material during drying; it needed sufficient moisture to adhere to the furnace wall, but excess moisture would compromise furnace temperature.

After applying the lining, Ji Wusheng personally crawled inside the furnace chamber, checking the thickness and moisture meter by meter, ensuring every step had been executed correctly. Wherever thickness fell short of twenty millimeters or moisture levels were off, everything was torn out and redone.

Once the lining was complete, wood shavings arrived from the woodworking factory—shavings made excellent kindling: bone-dry and easy to ignite. Several dozen large bales were loaded into the bottom layer of the blast furnace, followed by firewood stacked in a grid pattern. Additional shavings were placed near each tuyere. On top of the wood came coke, layered at three hundred millimeters per layer, with limestone added to the upper courses. The coke was arranged loosely for optimal airflow. Charging continued until the entire shaft was filled up to the throat.

Once charging was complete, it was time for the official ignition. Lighting a blast furnace was a major event even in the original timeline—large and super-large blast-furnace startups had warranted evening news coverage. For the transmigration enterprise, blast-furnace ignition represented a significant leap forward in "the great cause."

On February 6, a simple but solemn ignition ceremony was held beneath the towering roof of the blast-furnace workshop. Steelworks laborers, construction workers who had built the plant, students, and Army and Navy soldiers crowded beneath the steel-truss canopy. Though this behemoth before them had risen by their own hands—brick by brick, beam by beam—seeing it complete and looming over them still left everyone marveling. This enormous thing could actually smelt iron. It defied imagination.

The sight amazed not only the naturalized citizens but also the Elders themselves—most had never seen a blast furnace in person. Standing at the foot of the structure, which stretched nearly a dozen meters into the air, they were awed. From the depths of their hearts swelled immense pride—they were about to possess a "divine artifact" of this era. The roaring flames of the blast furnace and the streams of molten iron it would pour forth would sweep the old world clean, leaving behind a new world that belonged to them.

The Executive Committee's key figures and active members of the Council of Elders naturally wouldn't miss this chance to appear and turned out in force. Fang Fei, who specialized in organizing large-scale events, was also the main planner for this occasion. He asked Ji Wusheng if he wanted to hold a reception or something similar.

"The Industrial Sector has no budget line for receptions."

Under the reimbursement system established by the Cheka, only a very few external-facing departments possessed the authority to record and reimburse reception expenses. Other departments weren't even permitted to list such expenses in their accounts.

Fang Fei offered, "The General Affairs Office can cover this expense. Just submit an application."

"No thanks. The blast-furnace ignition is significant, so we're holding a ceremony. But using that significance as an excuse to eat and drink—let's not." Ji Wusheng had always despised the original timeline's practice of holding receptions to commemorate Pavlov's birthday and the like. This ceremony therefore only issued announcements, not invitations. The site featured no decorations beyond banners, and no beverages, cigarettes, or food were prepared—the announcement specified that attendees should bring their own refreshments.

Despite the steelworks' lukewarm hospitality, the Elders came in droves. Besides the Executive Committee's top leadership, many from the Industrial and Military sectors appeared. Both were major steel consumers.

The Elders gathered beneath the blast furnace, excitedly discussing steel production capacity and applications. Inevitably, militaristic talk of building ironclads arose, and railway construction became a hot topic. A minor debate even broke out over whether to build meter-gauge, standard-gauge, broad-gauge, or super-broad-gauge track. The female servants observed the blast furnace and their masters below it with curiosity—gesticulating animatedly, faces flushed with excitement.

Some Elders invoked their privileges to approach the blast furnace for closer inspection, scrutinizing the body, base, and tuyeres. Occasionally someone would excitedly point out that this or that component had been designed, manufactured, or sourced by their department or workshop. For the Chemical Sector Elders, their contribution had been enormous—solving the blast-furnace refractory materials alone had required tremendous effort.

The blast-furnace workshop already possessed a decidedly "modern" appearance. Not only was the entire building's structure made of steel, with overhead cranes on the roof and rails on the ground, but the stairs, corridors, walkways, and most internal structures consisted of industrial-style wrought-iron grating. It looked rugged and powerful.

Wen Desi and Ma Qianzhu had both arrived on site, as if by prior agreement. Wen Desi circled the blast furnace several times, then suddenly remarked to Ma Qianzhu beside him: "Director Ma, I hear that in ancient times, furnace openings were consecrated with human sacrifices."

(End of Chapter)