"We can first build a port around the lake, and then start shipbuilding. This lake can become an important transportation hub," a worker replied.

  "Then it's settled." Bei Tianhe also decided to start building ships. Once they had built a few ships, they would be able to easily transport large quantities of goods.

  In this situation, Beitianhe sent a message to Commander Tianyin: "We now need a large number of boats to develop the entire lake. These boats can not only catch local organisms but also enhance transportation capacity. We did not bring any boats with us, so we need to build them locally."

  "Alright, a new batch of immigrants will be transported here soon." Tianyin was currently considering how to expand into the northern regions.

  Theoretically, the northern region has a wealth of mineral resources, but mining from land is quite difficult; they need to carve out a complete road through the forest. However, if they enter through the lakes, they won't have to clear wilderness.

  Therefore, he immediately agreed.

  "Captain, how big of a ship do we need to build?" a worker asked Bei Tianhe.

  "The maximum size of 500 tons is sufficient; anything larger wouldn't be able to leave the lake and reach other water bodies." Aoli Lake is connected to Changjiang by a waterway, which is about 50 meters wide, necessitating restrictions on the size of the vessels.

  Before these workers arrived, construction robots had already started logging.

  It is worth noting that every day construction robots are cutting down large numbers of trees, which are being stockpiled together and are not yet being used on a large scale.

  If this continues for a long time, it might waste these timber resources. Therefore, this wood is being used to build decorative structures, such as parks. The immigrants from the three ships are all doing this.

  However, if they want to build ships, they still need a large amount of iron ore. Currently, the closest iron mine to the base is in the southern region.

  This iron mine was discovered while exterminating beasts, primarily consisting of magnetite.

  Soon, transport vehicles arrived near the iron ore mine, and a large number of unmanned mining equipment were transported down.

  In addition, a smelter was specifically built, equipped with a blast furnace. The blast furnace is a counterflow heat-oxygen exchanger, where the rising combustion gases lose most of their heat during the ascent, raising the furnace temperature to about 200° C (390° F), while the descending iron oxide is completely converted into metallic iron.

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  Solid charge is lifted to the top of the furnace through a hydraulically operated hopper or by using a conveyor belt. In the hot blast furnace, the air blown into the furnace through the tuyeres is preheated to temperatures between 900°C and 1,350°C (1,650°F to 2,450°F), and in some cases, it is enriched with up to 25% oxygen. The main product, molten pig iron (also known as hot metal or blast furnace iron), is

  As for productivity, it is measured by dividing the output by the internal working volume of the furnace; a furnace with a working volume of 4,000 cubic meters can yield 2 to 2.5 tons per cubic meter every 24 hours.

  Of course, it also produces two by-products: slag and gas.

  Slag can be used to reinforce concrete structures, while the gas will be burned in the hot blast stove along with some coke oven gas to heat the air blown through the tuyere.

  Once you have iron, you can use it to build ships. At this point, it's time for industrial robots to step in.

  Industrial robots can control industrial equipment and perform manual labor through pre-designed programs to avoid human workers operating in such hazardous environments.

  The height of industrial robots is approximately two meters, and they are driven by wheels.

  "Our development is going very smoothly." Three days later, Bei Tianhe looked at all of this and knew that things were progressing just as he had imagined.

  He then continued to be responsible for urban construction work, with no other actions for the time being.

  However, their shipbuilding activities caught the attention of Xining.

  The area controlled by the immigrants of the Kavin is located at the estuary, so ships are more beneficial to them. Since the immigrants of the Kai family have already started building ships, they can't fall behind.

  So he also began building a port and started searching for iron ore.

  Through continuous scanning with electromagnetic waves, there are iron ore deposits located upstream of the river.

  The North Star was assigned this task.

  Since this location is outside the range of the beast-clearing operations, she directly entered the area by flying in on a Dragon-type armed helicopter.

  "It seems this is the stronghold of the Maoren." Nan Jixing looked down from the helicopter and saw dozens of Maoren moving around below.

  "Fire a few rockets to test it out," Nanji Xing gave the order.

  Subsequently, the armed helicopter immediately opened fire on them, directly releasing more than a dozen rockets, which flipped the Maoists below on the spot, with many being blown away.

  These people were forcibly evicted.

  Subsequently, the helicopter landed in the clearing created by the rocket fire.

  Four armed personnel and a geologist jumped from the helicopter.

  The geologist directly dug out a piece of ore for observation, and he immediately identified what it was on the spot.

  "This is pyrite. If you want to smelt iron, its performance might not be very good," the geologist replied.

  "Then let's use it for now. There shouldn't be any other large iron ore deposits nearby. We can also keep the sulfur in the pyrite for ourselves." Antares confirmed once more that the Mao people had not returned, which meant that this iron ore site was safe.

  However, just to be safe, she still installed a camera in the surrounding area. If any wild animals try to take over, they will be immediately detected.

  The next day, a specialized Nanfeng-type transport helicopter was dispatched to the iron mine location to begin collecting iron ore.

  However, smelting pyrite and smelting magnetite are not the same thing.

  Pyrite contains a large amount of sulfur, specifically 53.33%.

  In order to separate sulfur and iron, it is necessary to use the two-pot distillation method to carry out the work.

  The essence of this method is very simple: place pyrite in a container and heat it. The sulfur in the pyrite will evaporate and flow through a connecting pipe into another container, where it will cool and form solid sulfur.

  The remaining iron ore will stay in the original container, and then it can undergo further smelting and processing.

  Xining has decided to manufacture relatively large ships, at least over 1,000 tons, capable of conducting oceanic activities. Therefore, the demand for iron ore is very high.

  Under the operation of intelligent mining equipment, thousands of tons of pyrite can be mined every day.

  Most of these iron ores have been used to build ships, but a portion is still used for the production of reinforced concrete.