Daming: The system rejected my request for salted fish

Chapter 1143

After Wei Wu received the news, he rushed back to the capital as soon as possible. This was also the first time he returned to the capital in a year and a half.

After a long talk all night, Wei Wu persuaded the father and son to change the route from Nanjing to Haizhou (Lianyungang).

The reason is simple. The distance from Nanjing to Lianyungang is shorter and easier to build. Secondly, Lianyungang is a large port.

Railways are a country's economic blood circulation system, and the Ming Dynasty will definitely develop overseas trade in the future.

Having a railway directly connected to the seaport would make it more convenient to transport troops and supplies for overseas trade and foreign wars.

However, after Wei Wu convened a meeting of the staff of the Academy of Science and Technology for collective discussion, they concluded that the construction would take at least one and a half years.

Wei Wu was a little surprised at first. Logically speaking, given the current situation of the Ming Dynasty, it wouldn't take so long.

It would only take six or seven months at most. After all, the designed route is only more than 300 kilometers long, and it is not that difficult to build.

Under Wei Wu's guidance, Ming Dynasty's steel smelting technology and forging technology had become quite mature.

It is entirely possible to produce "I-shaped" rails with sufficient strength and uniform specifications, and there is no problem with the design.

Wei Wu had also taught Song Zhong the relevant knowledge a long time ago, and the latter quickly mastered it.

Coupled with the full support of the imperial court, whether it is iron ore, coal or timber, they are all given priority and supplied in sufficient quantities.

Moreover, with the existence of illegal households and Japanese slaves, there is no need to worry about labor, because this is the most time-consuming thing.

After some inquiries, we found out that the problem was with the materials, with iron ore and smelting and forging being the most critical issues.

The Ming Dynasty's annual steel production is limited, and these iron ores are consumed by the entire country every year.

If we suddenly want to build a railway, we will need a large amount of steel, and the unused iron ore in stock will not be enough.

Secondly, although there is iron ore smelting technology, the existing iron smelting plant alone cannot keep up with the construction progress.

Wei Wu proposed a solution to this problem, using steam engines as driving force to completely upgrade the ironworks.

Whether it is steelmaking or steel rolling, using steam engines instead of manpower can increase the efficiency of smelting and forging exponentially.

Then a large number of iron smelting plants were built near the waterways, and civilian craftsmen were recruited to work as manpower to maintain the operation of the iron smelting plants.

After all, steel is something that is in great demand even in later generations, and the future construction of the Ming Dynasty cannot be separated from steel.

Building an ironmaking plant now is equivalent to making plans in advance, so as to avoid building them one by one when there is demand in the future.

Secondly, only a portion of the Japanese slaves sent back by Lan Yu were used for construction work in the most dangerous areas of the railway.

The rest were all thrown into the mining area, where they were forced to dig iron ore desperately to supply the future development needs of the Ming Dynasty.

That’s right, it’s about digging iron ore within the Ming Dynasty.

Wei Wu's original plan was to use external resources for development, but the transportation problem became a difficult hurdle to overcome.

In this case, we might as well use domestic resources first and build the first railway no matter what.

As long as this railway line is built first, the subsequent iron ore supply will become much easier!

After all, after the Ming Dynasty vigorously built iron smelters, the speed at which the iron ore was sent from the surrounding small countries certainly could not keep up with the consumption.

But don’t forget that Lianyungang is close to the sea, and Goryeo is across the Yellow Sea. Sea transportation is much easier than land transportation.

Let Goryeo send iron ore to Ming Dynasty by sea, and after the goods arrive, the iron ore can be transported back to the capital directly by rail.