Chapter 38

Seeing Robert, who looked full of hope and wanted to solve the Hanyang Iron Works problem at once, Yang Yuanzhao felt reluctant to disappoint him. After thinking for a long time, he still asked, "Robert, has the problem at the Hanyang Iron Works been resolved?"

"I have already informed Mr. Sheng, and I believe he will soon give me a reply on which solution to choose!"

Seeing the confident Robert, Yang Yuanzhao smiled bitterly. After all, Robert was a foreigner and not very familiar with China's current situation. Even though he had been in China for 12 years, if he had not delved into the Chinese bureaucracy to understand and observe, he would never have grasped the essence of China. According to what Robert had just said, Sheng Huaixuan probably just gave him a casual response, saying he would "study it." This is a part of Chinese language and culture. "Study it" from officials usually means "not approved." It was hard to believe he was still so excited. He wouldn't know how to react when he heard the news of rejection.

Yang Yuanzhao had thought about profiting from the Hanyang Iron Works, whether it was the employees or the blueprints of various machines, all of which he coveted. But he was unwilling to take over this steel plant. It was definitely a hot potato, and no matter how much he invested, he couldn't turn it around.

They talked for a long time, and Yang Yuanzhao noticed that the officials beside him were showing signs of impatience, clearly reaching their limit.

Robert noticed Yang Yuanzhao's gaze. Having been in China for 12 years, he understood a bit of Chinese social customs. Realizing that his casual chat had put the officials in an awkward position, he took the initiative to say goodbye to Yang Yuanzhao, expressing his reluctance to part.

Robert returned to the officials. His task was to improve the existing blast furnace, increase efficiency, and improve quality. He had designed a plan to enhance the blast furnace's efficiency and, most importantly, improve the quality, which was a significant innovation for the year. Therefore, the entire Hanyang Iron Works was highly concerned, investing about 50,000 taels for the technical upgrade. They were currently in the testing and renovation phase, so most of the officials from the Hanyang Iron Works were present.

Yang Shixun, seeing Yang Yuanzhao return, said helplessly, "Yuanzhao, do you know who was among the officials just now?"

"Who? Could it be Sheng Huaixuan?"

"Exactly, it was him!" Yang Shixun said with a sigh. At first, he hadn't noticed Sheng Huaixun among the officials, but Yang Shixun recognized the officials' badges. As the head of a large city, dealing with officials was a must. In the feudal era, the power of officials was immense, and every influential and wealthy family had someone standing behind them.

While Robert was chatting with Yang Yuanzhao, he carefully observed the officials and noticed a badge with a golden pheasant, which was a second-rank badge for Qing dynasty civil officials. In the Hanyang Iron Works, seeing a second-rank badge, it could only be the general manager, Sheng Huaixuan. He had heard that Sheng Huaixuan had been the Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Works several years ago. Although he had never met Sheng Huaixuan, he knew many things about him. Offending the Sheng family in Wuhan would make life very difficult. So when Yang Yuanzhao was chatting happily with the foreigner, he was very nervous, observing Sheng Huaixuan's expression, but couldn't read anything.

"Let's go, continue. Wu San, how many more factories are there?"

"Not many, about three more!" Wu San said respectfully. They had spent the entire afternoon touring the Hanyang Iron Works, and there were only two or three more branches left, which would take about one or two hours.

After saying goodbye to Robert, Yang Yuanzhao continued to tour the factory. The 14 branches looked impressive, but in this era, even a large factory was just a small workshop. The rolling mill and cold rolling workshop, as well as the rail production workshop, had relatively new machines. The rails from the Hanyang Iron Works were not all junk. In the future, some of the rails from the Hanyang Iron Works were found to still be in good condition, having withstood over a century of weathering and still functioning.

Exiting the last workshop, Yang Yuanzhao looked into the distance and saw several small hills. He was puzzled, as they didn't seem to be natural formations. He turned and asked, "Wu San, what is that place?"

"Master Yang, that is the slag hill."

"Slag hill?" Yang Yuanzhao's eyes lit up. "Let's go and take a look!"

Yang Yuanzhao walked over, and Wu San smiled bitterly. Master Yang was generous with money, but his interests were truly peculiar. He didn't want to touch the rusty machines, yet he looked at them as if they were treasures. After a while, he would discard them like old shoes. Now he was interested in the slag hill, which was essentially a garbage pile. Over 18 years, the slag had accumulated into a mountain.

The slag hill was not far from the last branch, and they reached it in about ten minutes. Due to the long accumulation and rain erosion, the slag hill was black and dirty.

They spent most of the afternoon touring the Hanyang Iron Works, and what excited Yang Yuanzhao the most were the large slag hills. To others, they were waste, but to him, they were treasures.

In any steel plant, the slag produced from iron smelting was a difficult problem to solve because of its massive volume. Whether it was transported away or cleared, it was challenging. Generally, it was piled in one place. In the future, slag hills were sometimes turned into parks or used to make building materials, but in the 1890s, it was still a global issue.

Over 18 years, the Hanyang Iron Works had accumulated a lot of slag. To people of this era, it was waste, but to Yang Yuanzhao, it was a rare treasure. The slag contained many trace elements. The low-grade iron ore used to form the slag might have had impurities like phosphorus and sulfur, but it also contained trace elements not utilized in this era, such as rare earth elements and valuable elements like nickel and cadmium, which were crucial in alloy steel. These were treasures to Yang Yuanzhao.

Before leaving Baotou, Yang Yuanzhao had replenished his gold ore, but it had been used up during the journey. Yesterday, he had collected some rocks, mainly granite, but the metal content, especially the precious metal content, was very low. The remaining material was not much.

To upgrade the all-in-one machine and for the mysterious gift from Dangdang, Yang Yuanzhao had to continue the decomposition. However, the random materials he found had little value. Fortunately, he encountered these slag piles.

He silently issued the command to scan.

The Dangdang sound rang out, and indeed, the slag began to show its components in the all-in-one machine's scan. The main component was iron, about 5%, the most abundant element. There were also some aluminum and nickel, common metal elements found in any stone. Yang Yuanzhao didn't care much about these. He focused on the trace elements, just like in gold ore, which, though minimal, had significant value.

Sure enough, among the smallest trace elements, Yang Yuanzhao saw niobium, tantalum, and other rare earth elements. China had a vast amount of rare earth elements, and many ores contained them. In the past, they were considered waste and could degrade the quality of steel. However, as the development of new elements increased in the future, people realized they contained many treasures.

The total content of rare earth elements was less than 1%, but it was much higher than in northern ores. Yang Yuanzhao excitedly selected all the valuable elements he knew and continued scanning. At the bottom, among the more trace elements, he saw a familiar name: tungsten.

Yang Yuanzhao felt a bit frustrated and said, "How could I forget about this!"

---

**End of Page**