The jeep came at high speed, passing through the bustling sulfur mine, and then rushed through the wasteland full of mugwort stalks.
The original no-man's land had completely changed. As Salinchkin looked around, there were people working everywhere. Even the place where the car was driving had begun to form a path, and the mugwort stalks had been pressed into the black mud by the carriages coming and going.
.
He glanced left and right, gaining the most personal understanding of the situation in the new settlement.
"Comrade Lyudbarev, you support the construction of new collective farms here. It seems that the people are very serious about their work. Look at the woods, which will be the future residential areas."
"Hopefully the forest here can provide a good camouflage for the house, but now that we dug up salt, I'm worried!"
"What are you worried about?"
"A sulfur mine is obvious, and a salt mine is even more obvious. If we don't do a good job in air defense, the working people will be harmed."
"No! We can't stop eating because of choking, we need salt too much."
Yes, as long as the salt mine can produce salt stably and efficiently, its impact will not only protect the health of the military and civilians and improve food preservation. Salt has a strong cultural meaning among the Slavic people. It can represent friendship, and in this world
In dark moments, salt and food can become the dual material and spiritual motivation for soldiers and civilians to continue fighting.
The jeep drove to the place with the most people. Salinchkin got out of the car and shouted wantonly: "Berekov, where are you?"
Because the diggers present at the excavation were all officers and soldiers of the 1st Guerrilla Brigade, most of them did not know Salinchkin.
A few soldiers gave some kind guidance. Salinchkin walked through the crowd and saw him in a huge pit. He rolled up his sleeves and personally directed a group of soldiers to lift an extra-long steel pipe in a reasonable manner.
He had just learned that this thing was an exploration tool from China. After personal testing, there was no doubt that the tool was reliable. It was just pieced together with steel pipes, which really shocked him.
Salinchkin simply threw his leather jacket to his deputy, ignored his bulging belly and went down into the pit. He accidentally slipped on the wall of the pit and slid directly to the lowest level.
A large number of soldiers lined up in pairs to form an assembly line, transporting baskets of excavated earth and rocks. There were also several human-powered cranes to remove soil from the pits.
Obviously, the soldiers were expanding the size of the pit on a large scale. At first glance, the pit looked like a large crater caused by a super-heavy bomb, and its depth was still increasing. What were the soldiers going to do? Salinchkin immediately understood——
Yang Mingzhi must have given the order to dig down until the salt deposit was reached.
He patted the soil and stood up, then walked over and slapped Yang Mingzhi hard on the arm.
"Hey! Comrade Berekov! How's the situation?"
"Ah, it's you? Comrade Commissioner, I knew you were coming, why? You actually thought of going into the trap."
"I'm not an arrogant bureaucrat. The fact that you dug up the salt mine will be a great proof of our country's guerrilla movement. Without further ado, tell me, how long do you estimate it will take to dig up the salt mine?"
"This..." Yang Mingzhi hesitated. This matter was indeed embarrassing. He did not hide it: "Currently, the salt mine is measured to be 26 meters underground. After measurement, the mineral layer is at least three meters thick. I don't know its true thickness.
Know."
"Twenty-six meters, this is really a terrible project! Do you plan to keep digging like this?"
"No!" Yang Mingzhi shook his head, "The soil currently being excavated is still a bit soft. When the sludge is hard enough, a vertical hole will be dug."
"Okay, how long do you think it will take for the salt to be produced stably?"
"Oh, I don't know! Besides, even if we can move out the salt mine ore on a large scale and turn it into edible salt, does this require a process?"
"What? What process is needed? I really hope that we can supply salt on a large scale now. I really hope that we can give every Soviet citizen one kilogram of salt to satisfy everyone."
"There will be bread! Comrade Salinchkin, follow me to the ground and we will talk slowly."
The ore in the salt mine is by no means the same as table salt, and the salt crystals dug out are not pure sodium chloride crystals. Because of the constant hammering of the Luoyang shovel, the original crystal structure of the ore changed, and they were squeezed into small particles in a narrow space.
Use the shovel head to turn it into flower white.
The ore is actually a slightly pink translucent crystal. In addition to sodium chloride, it also contains potassium chloride, gypsum, magnesium-containing halide, alum and other magnesium. Therefore, the taste of the ore is salty, and the aftertaste is bitter.
Has a bitter taste.
Humans need sodium chloride and potassium chloride. Although alum is inedible, potato starch can be processed into strips of potato flour, while gypsum can turn soy milk into tofu. Other impurities are all waste.
.To separate the sodium and potassium salts in the ore, I am afraid that the chemical laboratory located in Catfish Village needs to have separate manpower to operate.
Salinchkin tasted the mine, and the strange feeling made him conclude: "Can this thing also be called salt? The soldiers had to curse everywhere if they ate too much!"
"Yes! There are a lot of debris in it, and we must remove the things that are harmful to people. Of course, under special circumstances, eating salt ore directly is a way to save life."
"So, do you have any strategy in this regard, Comrade Berekov?"
"Yes!" Yang Mingzhi nodded solemnly: "I believe that Ivanov, the director of the chemical laboratory, and the chemistry students from Moscow University who have penetrated from the rear, they will definitely be able to use the existing tools and materials.
, to separate the salt from the ore. To do this, we must build a salt refining plant."
"Okay! We must build this factory immediately, and I fully support it."
Sarinchkin and Lyudbalev fully supported this matter, and it was up to them to decide on the location of the salt refinery.
It is also their job to select the location of the factory, recruit workers, and assign technicians and supervisors to the chemical laboratory.
As the military director, Yang Mingzhi was really worried that the two of them would not be able to accomplish their goals well. Since the various departments of the Guerrilla Republic had already clearly divided their responsibilities, he really should not get involved beyond his authority. Even in the matter of mine excavation,
Yang Mingzhi doesn't need to keep staring.
After all, the salt mine will bring about a revolution, which attracts Yang Mingzhi to continue to stay here.
Now, Sarinchkin and Lyudbalev have a new task. Considering that the newly dug salt mine will soon be mined, the current small-scale work of precipitating sodium chloride from brine in the fertilizer plant is no longer appropriate.
Since the fertilizer factory has the ability to produce experimental salt using the ancient brine precipitation technology, and led by the chemical laboratory, the newly established salt refining plant should be able to mass-produce salt and ancillary products on a large scale. There are no technical obstacles, and the factory must be built immediately.
get up.
They left in a hurry, but Yang Mingzhi still stayed in the mine and planned to spend another night with great interest. After all, the meeting was held on the 15th. He had written some manuscripts about what to say at the meeting, and most of the content was engraved in his mind, and he would be there when the time came.
Playing your part is definitely more exciting than writing a manuscript.
After all, the upcoming meeting is a summary of the past two months of battle. The process of the battle is really vivid in my mind, and Yang Mingzhi also has better insights into future development because of his foresight.
None of this is a problem. The only problem now is that like a groundhog, it is digging all the way down to the salt mine.
To dig out salt crystal ore on a large scale, it is not enough to dig downwards resolutely. The troops have to use shovels to dig out a pit, which requires digging an astonishing amount of earth and stone. It is simply unrealistic to dig a pit the size of a sulfur mine.
, open-pit sulfur mines exist naturally, and were later frantically bombed by the Germans, thus forming their current scale.
To start mass production of salt crystal ore in the shortest possible time, the best way is to dig a mine, just like a traditional salt mine.
There is a huge underground salt mine in Poland, and workers began to excavate it hundreds of years ago. When the German army occupied Poland, they naturally obtained this salt mine of great strategic significance.
There is no doubt that building a deep underground mine, whether it is digging for salt or coal, is much more economical than digging a huge "crater" like an asteroid impact.
Now that you have decided to dig a pit as deep as 26 meters underground, you have to consider many issues.
According to Luoyang Shovel's exploration, as the excavation deepens, the excavated soil is made of hard salty sapropel, and its structure is quite strong. There is almost no need to worry about collapse in the mine.
Yang Mingzhi has the most basic understanding of mining. There are two biggest threats to miners - landslides and lack of oxygen.
Landslide is impossible, but lack of oxygen is very possible!
Mass production of salt has become a political task. Salinchkin will personally supervise the establishment of a salt refinery, which will be built in a short time. If the factory is built and the ore cannot be produced in large quantities, it will be his own fault.
"I have taken on a new position. Even though it has nothing to do with the military, I must complete it! This is related to my honor!"
At the excavation site, Yang Mingzhi squatted on the ground, holding a wooden stick. Antonov and brigade commander Fyodorov squatted beside him with serious faces.
"Comrades, you are responsible for digging the hole. Now you must dig according to my plan. We will dig deep to reach twenty-six meters. This will be an arduous task."
"These are not problems, my people are strong enough."
"I don't doubt you, Comrade Fyodorov! Now listen to me, let's dig a hole like this..."
Yang Mingzhi decided to dig the pit in steps. He planned that the first step should be below the horizon, forming a large pit with a diameter of at least fifty meters and a depth of five meters.
The second step is a pit with a depth of ten meters and a diameter of forty meters.
The depth of the third and fourth steps increases by five meters, and the diameter decreases by ten meters for each step.
Up to the fourth step, the pit has reached 20 meters underground, and the landing platform is 20 meters in diameter.
This is still the beginning, because the soldiers will continue to dig the fifth step, and the final destination is the body of the salt mine!
"We have to reinforce the walls of each step with tree trunks. We have to build multiple ladders all the way to the bottom. We are going to build a vertical mine, and we even have to build permanent cranes in the mine to move the salt
The ore keeps coming up!"
"Wonderful!" Antonov praised, "Actually, I think we can expand the diameter of the foothold of the first step. We currently have enough manpower, even if we only have shovels and draft axes, thousands of people can work together, and the efficiency is very high.
amazing."
"Haha, it depends on the comrades of the guerrilla brigade."
Fyodorov immediately took the initiative to respond to the commander's look: "We will do it. It's just digging a hole. What's the problem?"
"If it's just digging holes, children can also participate. But..." Yang Mingzhi sighed, "We must consider the problem of hypoxia. We are digging shafts. If the ventilation is not good, miners will suffocate to death."
This question was quite acute, and Antonov, who looked embarrassed, couldn't help but ask: "We...do we have any solution? We don't have a blower, but if we dig out a huge structure like a sulfur mine, we don't have to worry about ventilation problems."
"No! I believe the arsenal will complete this matter." Yang Mingzhi has always been full of confidence in Liguschkov. He patted his pants and stood up, confidently saying: "We need a batch of engineering machinery and equipment. The arsenal can independently manufacture small-scale
Steam engines can theoretically solve all the problems we encounter. In the future, steam-driven impellers will continuously supply air to the bottom. Steam-driven winches will continuously pull baskets full of ore to the ground. We are not that poor, we
Technology must be used to mine.”
The excavation work was adjusted according to Yang Mingzhi's new plan.
He also deliberately wrote down an excavation procedure in his notebook, tore off the paper and handed it to Antonov, the "excavation supervisor".
Even if they received a new mission, the 2,000-strong 1st Guerrilla Brigade officers and soldiers were simply not satisfied with digging a pit with a diameter of only fifty meters. As the first step, the pit naturally had to be large, so they adjusted their work and began to have
Excavation of key points of planning.
Hundreds of sweat-soaked soldiers gathered in one place. They were holding shovels and draft axes and sweating like rain, showing the beauty of strength. A large amount of earth and stone was taken out of the construction site by soldiers pushing wheelbarrows, and several types were piled up in one place.
Yang Mingzhi has no doubt that these people's work enthusiasm must be because their experience as puppet soldiers has left them with a lingering sense of guilt. Isn't working hard in front of the commander a way to atone for their sins?
They will dig until they are exhausted before finishing today's work.
The guerrilla brigade was in charge of its brigade commander. After Yang Mingzhi completed the planning, he sent an urgent telegram directly to the arsenal.
On August 13, the last rays of the setting sun also dipped below the horizon. The stars in the sky were brilliant, and the moon shone brightly. The night sky was clear, but the forest was not silent, especially the area where the arsenal was located. All the machines were under the cover of night.
Turn on the maximum horsepower. As usual, more than a thousand night shift workers are producing ordnance with the highest efficiency throughout the day.
A telegram was hurriedly delivered by the communications corps to the office of the arsenal director Liguschkov. Because it was signed by Commander Berekov, everyone was immediately in awe.
That special shovel has successfully detected the presence of salt mines 26 meters underground. Is the commander eager to mass-produce this shovel?
The curious Liguschkov read the telegram word for word and immediately understood the seriousness of the situation.
"Is our work progressing so fast? Or does our Soviet model require such high efficiency? There is no problem in producing steam-powered blowers and splicable pipes with a length of more than fifty meters. In addition,
Produce at least two steam-powered winch crane systems. Well, Comrade Commander, you really found a good job for me."
Just today, because of the discovery of the salt mine, all the workers on the day shift were excited! The good news of the salt mine spread throughout the guerrilla republic. For this reason, smiles appeared on the faces of the workers on the night shift. Liguschkov felt that their
My motivation for work is much stronger than yesterday.
The commander issued a new order, which was still related to the production of salt ore. He arranged for people to produce related engineering parts. I am afraid that the workers will rush for it for the sake of honor.
If the 1st Guerrilla Brigade risked their lives to demonstrate their high efficiency in digging soil, the subjective initiative of a group of workers in the arsenal is definitely not bad either.
Regarding the manufacturing of steam engines, the technology in this area is already very mature. To produce several more small steam engines based on the previously produced steam engines for small steam trains and radar electric steam generators is nothing more than adjusting the blast furnace workshop according to the process drawings left over from the past.
Work tasks, sand casting can start on the same day!
The technology is so mature! Liguschkov has come up with a bold idea - the steam-powered blower will be rolled off the production line before the sun rises, and the fifty-meter-long splicable ventilation pipe (slit steel pipe) will be produced immediately.
As for whether he could complete the task within twelve hours, Liguschkov was not fully confident, but he was willing to give it a try.
He tightened his belt and rolled up his sleeves, and explained his bold decision in his reply to the commander.
He gathered more than a hundred workers, who were "high-end talents" selected from various production lines. Looking at them, he announced a great attempt, and the huge production workshop rang with amazing roars.
Who would not be shocked by the cry of the working class?
Liguschkov waved his hand: "Comrades! Let's take action! When the sun rises, we will give a great gift to the commander and the people!" (To be continued)