I am an industrial worker during the War of Resistance

Chapter 55 Chen Changzai's Eager Desire
Right in the team's controlled area, everyone was celebrating Commander Chen's annihilation of a Ningma regiment.

Master Zhang, who was in charge of smelting, casting, and forging, also brought Chen Changzai some good news.

"Director Chen, good news! The main beams of our three 500-ton forging presses are ready to be used."

Covered in snow and wind, Master Zhang arrived at Chen Changzai's cave dwelling and spoke loudly.

Chen Changzai, who was working on a drawing at his workbench, heard the news that Master Zhang had told him.

She exclaimed in surprise, "Really? It really works?"
Oh, Master Zhang, please sit down, please sit on the kang (heated brick bed), sit down and let's talk.

Let me pour you a bowl of hot water to warm you up first.

Chen Changzai went to the outer kitchen, took a bowl, and picked up the kettle of warm water on the stove.

I poured some water to rinse the bowl, then poured in about half a bowl of warm water and brought it inside.

After taking a sip of hot water, Mr. Zhang felt much warmer.

"Director Chen, this time it's a real success."

It took us a lot of effort to relieve the stress on these three main beams.

We bombed it for over two months before finally getting it to submit.

I dare not say more about these three major pillars.

"I guarantee that within five years, its deformation will be absolutely within the safe range," Master Zhang said with a smile.

Upon hearing Master Zhang's assurance, Chen Changzai slapped his thigh and exclaimed, "That's great!"

That's wonderful.

We have everything ready now.

We're just waiting for these three main beams.

Once these three main beams are usable, our 500-ton forging press can be started.

As long as this 500-ton forging press can be started.

We can smash out the barrels of heavy machine guns and anti-aircraft machine guns.

That way, you can smash out the barrels of small-caliber cannons and anti-aircraft guns.

That way, the crankshaft of a medium-sized engine and the main shaft of a generator can be smashed out.

This is wonderful, hahaha, wonderful, wonderful!

After saying that, Chen Changzai picked up the cotton-padded jacket from the kang (a heated brick bed), put it on, and said to Master Zhang, "Master Zhang, come on, take me to see those big guys."

These unruly fellows have finally been brought under control by you, Master Zhang.

The two men laughed heartily and quickly walked out of the cave dwelling.

After locking the door, Chen Chang and Master Zhang walked together toward the valley where the stress on the three large beams would be released.

Although the place where Chen Changzai lived had the highest level of security.

But the last lock still needs to be locked.

In the valley where stress is released using the explosive aging method for large castings, there are other large castings besides the three main beams that also require stress release using the explosive method.

With the rapid development of the industrial sector.

The demand for various workpieces is also increasing.

Similarly, the demand for steel is also increasing.

Currently, within the team's controlled area, aside from still working on iron powder along the banks of the Yellow River.

They also found five large iron ore mines of considerable size.

Nowadays, collecting iron powder by the river no longer involves people using iron rods to extract the iron powder from the soil.

Chen Changzai had already arranged for the machinery factory to produce a wooden-framed roller magnetic separation ore beneficiation machine.

That thing is a wooden frame with a hopper, a sorting trough, and a scraper recycling trough.

There is a smooth, hollow, thin sheet metal roller on the shelf, with a magnet fixed inside.

This is how a manual magnetic separator came about.

The three people in the ore beneficiation team each had one person responsible for putting the river mud into a large vat and turning it into a thin mud with moderate fluidity.

One person was responsible for relaying information.

Another person was cranking the handle on the roller with one hand.

One hand passed the mud that the material handler had poured into the wooden trough to the hopper next to the roller, scooping it out one scoop at a time.

The mud in the hopper falls into the sorting trough below the magnetic roller. After the roller rotates through the mud, the iron powder in the mud is adsorbed onto the roller surface. After rotating half a circle, the iron powder is scraped into the iron powder recovery trough by a scraper.

Three people working like this for a day can produce 700 to 800 to 1,000 kilograms of iron powder.

This is much more efficient than rowing along the riverbank with an iron bar.

And in those iron ore mines...

They were constantly blasting and mining ore, day and night.

Then, a ball mill powered by a steam engine was used on-site to grind the small ore pieces that had been crushed in the crusher into powder.

The subsequent procedures are the same as those for ore selection in the muddy water along the Yellow River.

The machine was much larger and required a steam engine to power it.

After magnetic separation, these mineral powders need to be sintered in a sintering furnace before being put into a blast furnace for smelting.

With the continuous support of these iron mines along the river and in the mountains.

Only with so many factories under Chen Changzai's control could they operate in an orderly manner.

Chen Changzai was able to see so many castings thanks to the iron mines and miners.

He followed Master Zhang, circling around a sliding beam.

As he walked around, Master Zhang kept tapping the cast steel slide beam with his small iron hammer.

And let Chen Changzai listen to the sound.

Master Zhang wasn't just randomly tapping.

Instead, it occurs at the stress points where stress is most likely to occur.

By listening to the different changes in sound, extremely experienced craftsmen can discern the stress changes within the internal structure of a casting.

This skill cannot be learned in a day or two; it requires years of accumulated experience.

"Director Chen, what do you think of this?" Master Zhang asked Chen Changzai.

He knew that Chen Changzai could also tell the quality of a casting by its sound, which is why he asked Chen Changzai the question.

If he were an outsider, he wouldn't even ask.

To the untrained ear, all they can hear is a tinkling sound.

"The sound is very good; it feels like the internal workings are very clear," Chen Changzai said.

Master Zhang nodded and said, "That's what I feel too."

Now I think it's ready to get to work.

Chen Changzai nodded and said, "Then let it get to work. I'm waiting for it to smash out the cannon barrel for me."

Just as Chen Changzai and his team were working overtime to slowly assemble the 500-ton forging press that he had placed great hopes on,

It was already late December 1936.

What was destined to happen in history has happened.

Xiao Liuzi was pressured by his subordinates.

Finally, they managed to place his sworn brother, the bald-headed elder brother, under house arrest.

After much negotiation and maneuvering by all parties.

The bald man had no choice but to agree to stop all internal warfare and unite all forces to target the Japanese invaders who had invaded Northeast China.

A few months later, the unit where Chen Changzai was stationed also changed its name.

These things are all important, but they cannot interfere with Chen Changzai, who is doing everything he can to ensure the successful completion of the 500-ton forging press in one go.

Because he was constantly worried about aerial bombing, when there were no planes capable of keeping the enemy outside the country's borders.

The only way to ensure air safety in the team's controlled area is through ground-based defenses.

This is a form of passive defense.

However, it plays a significant defensive role in key areas, such as headquarters, industrial bases, oil wells, oil fields, and so on.

What Chen Changzai is most anxious to get right now is a 12.7mm anti-aircraft machine gun and a 37mm anti-aircraft cannon.

As for the fact that we cannot yet obtain alloy steel suitable for anti-aircraft machine guns and anti-aircraft artillery, we cannot smelt alloy steel.

However, he still had ways to solve it using other methods.

　Thank you to all my friends who have supported me.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)