The "industrial park" of Chinese merchants was on a large piece of royal land on the banks of the Thames. In order to obtain higher land rent, Charles I cruelly drove away the tenant farmers who originally farmed here and rented them to Chinese merchants.

The original farmland was replaced by gray-white brick and stone factories, the most conspicuous ones were ironworks and steelworks, with a total of six blast furnaces that were straight up to the sky. From the outside, these terrifying chimneys were 25 meters high, which was very amazing. What was even more terrifying was that these thick and long chimneys were filled with rolling black smoke, which was terrifying. Black, the representative color of the first industrial revolution, was always a bit unknown to people of this era.

A group of merchants from France and the Netherlands visited the factories they built in London under the leadership of Chinese merchants.

Of course, this visit was not to show off to the merchants in France and the Netherlands, but to promote a business.

France and the Netherlands were fighting against the powerful Habsburg dynasty. The Archbishop Richelieu of the Cardinal French king Louis XIII, who served him, raised an army of more than 100,000 people and attacked from all directions in Spain, Germany, Italy and other places.

The frequent and fierce Thirty Years' War has not yet ended, and this catastrophe has caused at least 8 million people to die in the war.

The continuous escalation of war has led to a large demand for steel.

So who is the best steel manufacturer in Europe?

Perhaps no one can say until the iron smelting plants and steel smelting plants established by Chinese merchants are officially put into operation, but after the iron smelting plants that use more advanced blast furnace iron smelting technology and steam blowers officially produce iron, there is no doubt that this is the best steel supplier in Europe.

After learning that the pig iron, ripe iron and steel produced here were cheaper, French merchants and Dutch merchants came to hear the news. If they thought the steel produced here could meet their needs for war, then their cooperation was reached.

Sir Henry, the governor of the Livante Company, learned that the Dutch merchants and French merchants came to find Chinese merchants to buy steel, and became very interested in this matter and also visited the factory. The trade with Chinese merchants helped him save the Livante Company that lost the Ottoman market.

The iron smelting plant is full of the roar of machines in the factory, the noise of the iron smelting furnace, the blast furnace whirring hot flames, and the thick smoke rolling. All of this makes the visitors feel awe.

Although it looks a bit noisy, it is the cornerstone of industry! Swords, muskets, cannons, and these things cannot avoid steel, and even nails, sickles, and kitchen knives for daily use!

"How many tons of steel can these six furnaces produce in a year?" The French merchant was Colbert.

He had dealt with Chinese merchants and helped them go to France to buy wine, which became a bridge of trade between Chinese merchants and France.

If you want to open up the French market, of course you also need to know French merchants, otherwise you can only use force. Using force will lead to ordinary local people boycotting goods. In the final analysis, it is safest to use the idea of ​​local merchants to make profits to enter the local market.

"If coal and iron ore supply are timely, more than 10,000 tons of steel can be produced every year..." Huang Xiushan said.

"One, ten thousand tons of steel!" Colbert and other French merchants were stunned, as if they had heard the most unbelievable words.

That's 10,000 tons of steel! Six blast furnaces operate all year round. What's the concept!

"What an exaggerated output, can iron smelting be so efficient?" Sir Henry also found it unimaginable.

He thought that the factories set up by Chinese merchants on royal land were nothing more than small and medium-sized handicraft workshops like those of London City merchants, but he did not expect that the iron smelting plant established by Chinese could reach an annual output of 12,000 tons!

You should know that in 1720, Britain's coal production was only 20,000 to 25,000 tons!

After the first industrial revolution began, it was 68,300 tons in 1788, 125,000 tons in 1796, and 243,000 tons in 1806!

It can be seen that coke blast furnace iron smelting technology and the use of steam blowers can greatly improve the production efficiency of steel.

No wonder these people were surprised after hearing the output here. The output simply exceeded the imagination of this era.

The blast furnace output using a steam blower can be 3 to 4 times that of an ordinary blast furnace, which can be said to be quite terrible. This is the power of technological progress!

The six blast furnaces here are already half of the current national pig iron production in Britain...

"But our smelter also has great trouble. We are too far away from iron ore production areas, resulting in high transportation costs. If we can set up a factory directly in the production areas with coal and iron ore, the cost can be reduced a lot. That is to say, the ideal output is 12,000 tons, and the actual output depends on the supply of coal and iron ore. If you want to buy pig iron, cooked iron and steel from us, I think our output should meet your needs." Huang Xiushan said proudly.

These factories are a manifestation of industrial technical power. Although the wall bricks are gray and white and black smoke is still emitted, they are indeed extremely desirable in this era! Without enough steel and coal, other industries cannot be developed at all.

"We want to see the quality of your products," said Colbert and a group of French merchants.

Although Sir Henry didn't say anything, his eyes also showed desire.

"Please come with us."

Huang Xiushan took them to visit the blower, smelting furnace, and the steel piled up in the warehouse, which surprised these people even more.

The pig iron produced by this smelter is of better quality and cheaper price!

With such steel in the market, how should other smelters compete with them?

"To be honest, we are very confident about our output, but I don't know if you can digest this steel. After all, if we start construction, we can produce 200 tons of steel in one week. There are 500 tons of pig iron in stock here, with a volume of about 65 cubic meters, which is still produced when we slow down the production." Huang Xiushan pointed to the mountain of steel.

"It's amazing... We plan to import 2,000 tons of pig iron to protect our France." Colbert couldn't help but feel incredible about the iron plant of the Chinese merchants and asked for 2,000 tons of pig iron directly.

It was not for personal use, but for the French Kingdom to buy 2,000 tons of pig iron from the smelter of Chinese merchants.

"We in the Netherlands need 1,200 tons of pig iron, and we also need some steel." The Netherlands businessman also said.

"I wonder if you can make artillery here? If you can produce artillery, we are willing to buy a batch of artillery to deal with the Spaniards." Colber suddenly made an even more exaggerated request.

In addition to buying iron directly, he also wants to buy cannons directly!
Chapter completed!