allonlinenovel Chapter 303 Our steel is finally forged!
Chapter 303 Our steel is finally forged!
Zhou Chuanyi wanted to invite Zhou Rong back to Zhoujiawan to celebrate the New Year.
Zhou Rong said: "We are still far from the leapfrog target set by the street. I don't know if we will be fined during the year-end evaluation. I can't say if I can take leave now. I will most likely have to work overtime."
Zhou Chuanyi: "It's not easy for you to work and take care of three children at the same time. Why don't you send the three children back to school? We will help you take care of them, so you won't be so tired. Their food rations will be borne by the village."
Zhou Rong smiled and said, "Thank you for your kindness, uncle. My three children are very obedient and can take care of themselves. I don't have to worry about them. Da Wa and Qi Guang study very hard and have already skipped a grade and entered the third year of junior high school. They can even invent a radio."
Zhou Chuanyi: "Really?! These two kids are really promising and will definitely become pillars of society in the future!
Especially Qi Guang, he used to be like Jiaxing in my family, hated by everyone in the village, but I didn’t expect that after a few years in the city, he has changed so much and even invented a radio by himself. If I tell everyone about this, I guarantee no one will believe it. "
Zhou Rong: "There is no electricity in the village now. The radio invented by Da Wa and his friends needs to be plugged in to work, otherwise I would have brought one back.
When we get back to the city, I will discuss with them whether we can invent a battery-powered radio so that everyone can quickly receive the latest news from the outside world."
Zhou Chuanyi: "I wish them all the best and immediate success!"
Zhou Rong: "Thank you for your good words."
Zhou Rong did not spend the night in Zhoujiawan. He said that he had a lot of work to do at work, so he went to the county to try his luck. If he could find a ride, he would go straight back to the city.
Zhou Chuanyi knew that all units were striving for the goal of leap forward. If anyone was not active, once someone took it too far, the consequences would be disastrous. So he did not try to keep Zhou Rong, but asked her to write back often to keep in touch with each other...
If the farmers can make steel, the city workers will have no problem doing so.
The higher-level leadership directly issued steel targets to each enterprise, and all walks of life quickly formed their own steelmaking teams and actively participated in the steelmaking task.
Larger units build their own steel furnaces, while smaller units work together among three or five people to build one.
Zhou Rong's shop was tasked with delivering 300 kilograms of steel, but the cloth shop and clothing store together had only to people, and there were some cloth and other flammable materials piled up in the backyard, so they had no way of building a steelmaking furnace.
Zhou Rong negotiated with several nearby shops, and in the backyard of a ceramics shop, he set up two small earthen furnaces, connected bellows, ignited the coal, threw in some scrap iron collected from everywhere, and started "making steel"...
Everyone only knew how to do business and knew nothing about steelmaking. The coal was clearly lit and the fire was burning brightly, but they could not melt the scrap iron and instead burned down the earthen furnace.
Everyone looked at each other, not knowing what to do. They could only go out and ask others for advice on steel-making methods. They learned that there were many units in the same situation as them, where not only did they not produce steel but their furnaces also exploded. They felt a little relieved.
The task had not yet been completed, so everyone had to send a representative to the steel plant to ask the master who was familiar with steelmaking technology how to make steel. It turned out that the earthen furnace needed refractory materials to prevent it from exploding.
After learning the trick, everyone went to collect materials and rebuilt the earthen stove.
This time there was indeed some success, as we finally managed to sinter the scrap iron together.
All units were busy making steel and no one went shopping. Only one or two people were left in each shop to look after the shop, and the rest were all devoted to steelmaking.
When everyone saw the scrap iron react, they cheered: "We succeeded! The steel has been refined!"
Xu Man hugged Zhou Rong, jumped up and down, and said excitedly: "Our steel is finally made!"
Zhou Rong: “…”
Because scrap iron and coal are mixed together for burning, the steel produced is in the shape of tofu dregs. The comrades in charge of recycling steel in the branch did not say that it was unqualified, but weighed and counted it instead.
Now that the higher-ups have approved this kind of "steel", we will continue to smelt it to complete the task.
But raw materials and fuel are a big problem. All the scrap iron that everyone could find was thrown into the furnace, and there was still a long way to go to achieve the target task.
Xu Man got a batch of coal through Wang Chengnan's relationship, temporarily solving the fuel problem.
Wang Chengnan had no idea about the raw materials. He himself was worried about the steelmaking targets of his unit and could not help Xu Man.
In order to complete the steelmaking task, each unit is trying every possible means to find scrap iron. If they are slow, they will find nothing.
When they couldn't find any scrap iron, they smashed iron pots, ironware, iron doors and windows. Anything containing iron was confiscated and thrown into the furnace.
The iron doors, iron windows, iron chains, iron pots, etc. of the "wealthy families" in the city were all searched and taken away.
The big iron gates of Chen Mansion and Xu's family have been dismantled by the Cultural Troupe and the Federation of Industry and Commerce. After being melted into molten iron, they solidified into iron lumps...
Xu Man whispered to Zhou Rong: "If we had known that the organization would require us to make steel, we would not have lent out the Chen Mansion and the Xu Family's yard. As long as we take down the large iron gates of the two houses, we can meet our 300 kilograms of steelmaking target."
Zhou Rong: "...Starting tomorrow, I will ride my bike around to see if I can spend money to buy some scrap metal."
Xu Man: "Okay, no matter how much you spend, just ask the finance department to reimburse you. We are here to complete the organization's mission and we can't pay for it ourselves. Besides, all the profits have to be handed over every month, so there is no reason for us to suffer losses."
Zhou Rong: “Yeah.”
The neighborhood committee also built its own steelmaking furnace. In order to find raw materials, all the families in Chang'an who had iron doors and iron windows were searched to make "contributions" to steelmaking.
Anyone who is unwilling to do so will be deemed to be sabotaging the organization's steelmaking plan and will be considered a member of the Y faction, and will be brought directly to the meeting.
The family member of a former soldier was dissatisfied with the mess his home had been turned into. He grumbled a few words under his breath and was taken away for a two-day meeting. He returned home covered in wounds.
With this "previous lesson", no one dared to raise any objections.
Several iron windows in Jiang Wenjuan's home were also forcibly removed by the neighborhood committee. They had no complaints and even helped remove the windows.
The doors and windows of Zhou Rong's house were all made of wood and were not affected...
Not only do each unit have steelmaking targets, but schools do too.
Primary schools, middle schools, high schools, and universities all built their own steel furnaces.
After the school runs out of scrap metal, it mobilizes students to go home and look for scrap metal, and everyone has to complete a task.
Zhou Rong went home after get off work and prepared to scoop water to wash his hands. He searched for a long time but couldn't find the enamel basin. He asked Erwa who was doing homework in the lobby: "Where is the basin in the kitchen?"
Erwa: "I took it upstairs. I have to hand it in to school tomorrow. I'm afraid I'll forget it, so I put it next to the bed."
Zhou Rong: "...There are three basins in the kitchen. Did you take them all?"
Erwa: "My elder brother, my younger uncle and I each took one. Nini also had a task to complete. She thought the wash basin was too big to carry, so she put the iron locks of the main door and several rooms into her schoolbag and planned to hand it in to the school tomorrow."
Zhou Rong: “!!!…”