Scholars in the courtyard

"Tell me about the investigation."

When Mr. Chen saw that no one spoke, he asked aloud.

Upon seeing this, a director who came with us said, "We inspected the explosion site and found from the traces that the explosion was an upper part explosion..."

"We found that the other party did not use much fire protection, and the thickness of the boiler wall was much less..."

Someone spoke again. Yang Xiaotao sat aside, inconspicuously, and scanned the audience. Basically, the people brought by his superiors were talking.

He looked at Mr. Xia next to him again. He was still sitting there, as steady as a rock.

Yang Xiaotao stopped talking and watched and listened quietly.

Seeing that Yang Xiaotao had no intention of speaking, Mr. Xia acquiesced in his heart.

When he was done talking, Mr. Chen, the leader, glanced at everyone present and said, "Continue the investigation tomorrow. Focus on finding out the cause of the explosion!"

"Lao Zhang, please bring someone to confirm again tonight to make sure there are no omissions."

Mr. Zhang nodded, his resolute face full of seriousness, "What about the people in the hospital? Most of them are at the first scene."

"Send someone to guard the area and launch an investigation as soon as there is an opportunity."

"clear!"

After the two of them finished talking, Mr. Chen looked at Mr. Xia again.

"Lao Xia, I leave the on-site investigation to you! If you find anything, you must report it in time."

"yes!"

After explaining the task, Mr. Chen stood up and looked at everyone.

"Comrades, the superiors attach great importance to this accident and must find out the cause as soon as possible to prevent it from happening again."

"At the same time, logistics personnel must do a good job in follow-up treatment, and injured workers must be treated with the best medicine."

"Unfortunate workers must also be compensated and subsidized in strict accordance with factory regulations!"

"Time is tight and the tasks are heavy. I hope everyone can fulfill their responsibilities and not let down the expectations of their superiors."

Everyone below stood up and responded loudly.

After the meeting ended, Yang Xiaotao followed Mr. Xia out of the conference room.

"Mr. Xia!"

The two came to a quiet place at the scene. Yang Xiaotao took out a cigarette and lit it for Mr. Xia, and then said.

"Mr. Xia, we have discovered something!"

"Well, I saw it at the meeting, but you didn't expose it rashly. You can hold it steady, which is good!"

Mr. Xia did not rush to ask Yang Xiaotao what he had found, but said with a little emotion.

Then he put down the cigarette and said, "There are some things that I can tell you!"

Yang Xiaotao stood aside and listened quietly.

"Actually, the Metallurgical Bureau wanted to conduct oxygen converter experiments, but they did not officially notify us."

Yang Xiaotao's eyes narrowed. He knew clearly that Shishan Steelmaking Plant was a steel plant under the charge of the First Machinery Department. This experiment was going to be carried out, so he had to follow normal procedures and report!

"Then they..."

"Speaking of this, it was you who stimulated me!"

"I?"

"Yes! From grabbing other people's talents to being the first to do it, do you think that as an important domestic department, it can save face?"

After Mr. Xia finished speaking, Yang Xiaotao understood what was going on.

In addition to listening to other people's investigation reports, it is obvious that there is not enough preparation in terms of experiments.

Even a little rushed.

Just thinking of these, Yang Xiaotao felt even heavier.

"This is not about drinking water and eating. Is face really that important?"

"Besides, just for the sake of face, you have to accomplish things to earn it. Otherwise, your life will be lost, so why do you want face?"

After Yang Xiaotao finished speaking, Mr. Xia smiled.

"You still don't understand."

"I think back then, in order to grab a main attack mission, those companies..."

Mr. Xia said, but he told Yang Xiaotao the fact that if you don't steam the steamed buns to gain reputation, at this time, face is really more important than life.

"For the sake of face, the Metallurgical Bureau approached Shishan Steelmaking Plant for help."

"It was also to take care of each other's face that Lao Huang and Lao Sun acquiesced to the Shishan Steelmaking Plant!"

When Mr. Xia said this, he thought that maybe Mr. Huang and Mr. Sun regretted it now.

If I knew something would happen now, I wouldn't agree to it at all.

However, no one wants to offend anyone, and everyone wants to save face.

In the end, I have to swallow the bitter fruit alone!

Yang Xiaotao was silent, but Mr. Xia said, "Tell me what you know."

"yes!"

Yang Xiaotao also sorted it out in his mind, "As for the boiler renovation situation, it is the same as what other comrades said. There are indeed serious problems."

"But the main problem is the oxygen factor."

Hearing what Yang Xiaotao said, the cigarette ashes on Mr. Xia's hand suddenly fell. This was unexpected.

His focus was on the quality of the boiler itself. As for oxygen, he only felt that the furnace could not withstand the high temperature and would cause an explosion.

"Tell me carefully."

Mr. Xia threw the cigarette butt on the ground and stamped it out. He reached into his pocket for a cigarette but didn't touch it. Seeing this, Yang Xiaotao quickly took out another one and handed it over.

"We found that the oxygen used by the other party was pure oxygen produced by an oxygen generator, but the purity of this pure oxygen was not high. It could only be regarded as preliminary processing, and there were other gases in it."

"And the containers used for storage in the storage room are not special gas bottles, but large tanks made by steel plants. The job is to use an air-powered pump to drive pure oxygen through the pipeline into the oxygen gun..."

After Yang Xiaotao explained what he had learned, Mr. Xia frowned, "If I remember correctly, your steel plant also uses large cans, which is no different from this!"

"Chief, the biggest difference is that oxygen and liquid oxygen have different forms."

"Liquid oxygen is a liquid with high density, making it difficult for gas to dissolve in it!"

"Oxygen is a gas, and the density of each other is small, so air can easily mix in."

Mr. Xia nodded, and Yang Xiaotao continued.

"The specific situation needs to be confirmed, but what is certain is that the high-pressure gas contains a certain amount of air, and the components in the air are relatively complex, including nitrogen and carbon dioxide..."

"There's even more moisture in the air than usual because of the snow the past few days."

"It's like putting water in a frying pan, and it's dozens of times more intense!"

"It's easy to cause a splash!"

"Previously, some comrades mentioned during the investigation that the abnormal movement of the slag at the bottom of the boiler came from this!"

"These slags can easily explode under the combustion of oxygen during the splashing process."

After Yang Xiaotao talked about it, Mr. Xia understood the general idea, but one thing he understood was that the furnace was partly responsible for the explosion.

But the main reason is oxygen.

"Please sort this out and leave it to me!"

"yes!"

The two left and came to the office.

Yang Xiaotao and An Zhongsheng arranged themselves in a room, and they wrote reports overnight.

When you finish writing, lean back in a chair or lie down on the table and take a nap.

The next day, at dawn, everyone got up and had breakfast. Yang Xiaotao handed over the report compiled by several people last night to Mr. Xia.

Then he went to the scene with everyone to investigate.

The weather is good. There is no wind today and there is plenty of sunshine. It is a clear and beautiful day.

Of course, it would be nice if it wasn't so cold.

Everyone was more purposeful today. Yang Xiaotao also led An Zhongsheng to find relevant personnel of the Metallurgical Bureau and asked about oxygen.

Outside a storage room, Yang Xiaotao obtained the warrant from Mr. Xia, and then the guards opened the door and entered.

There was not only one person in the room, but three.

Two middle-aged men with embarrassed looks, one wearing glasses, and a guard.

Yang Xiaotao stepped forward, nodded to the guards, and then sat on a chair nearby, with An Zhongsheng standing beside him.

"Director Lin, Comrade Jinhua!"

Yang Xiaotao looked at the two people and spoke softly.

The two of them were not surprised when they saw Yang Xiaotao. Similar interrogations had been conducted many times and they did not hide anything.

Perhaps they knew in their hearts that this incident was serious and they had no reason to escape responsibility, so they actively cooperated.

"I am Yang Xiaotao from the investigation team. I have two questions for you now..."

After Yang Xiaotao came out of the house, An Zhongsheng beside him suddenly asked.

"Mr. Yang, do they still have a chance?"

Yang Xiaotao looked back and then shook his head, "I don't know either."

"Whether there is a chance depends on the intention of the superiors. What we have to do is to find out the key to the problem and avoid it happening again."

Yang Xiaotao said, and added, "We cannot let newly developed new technologies die prematurely."

Hearing this, An Zhongsheng nodded solemnly.

He has devoted most of his life to the oxygen top-blown converter. If this ambition cannot be achieved, he will die with his eyes open.

After the two left, they returned to the scene and saw a group of people gathered around.

When Li Junming saw the two men coming back, he immediately stepped forward.

"What did you find? So many people gathered together?"

Yang Xiaotao asked, and Li Junming quickly explained, "Mr. Yang, we have hired a master master who is quite capable."

"He just looked at the boiler and concluded that there was wet iron in the steelmaking feed!"

Yang Xiaotao and An Zhongsheng looked at each other and immediately ran forward to check.

In the center, an old man with a gray work cap and age spots on his face was explaining to Mr. Chen. Yang Xiaotao stepped forward and listened.

"The temperature in this furnace is more than a thousand degrees. A little bit of water can quickly vaporize, and the pressure in it will expand rapidly..."

Yang Xiaotao listened for a moment and immediately connected the two.

The stirring at the bottom of the furnace, the burning above the furnace.

Perhaps it was this series of "coincidences" that came together to cause this accident.

It can only be said that too many accidents have turned into disasters.

Finally, Mr. Chen sent the person away, and the entire investigation team became busy again.

Not only must the cause be investigated, personnel must be properly arranged, and production at the steel plant must be resumed as soon as possible.

Yang Xiaotao followed Mr. Xia and went to visit the injured worker again to understand his appeal.

but…

Facing the workers who were burned by molten iron and forced to have their limbs amputated, the painful faces and the worries about their future life on the faces of their families...

Every time he saw it, Yang Xiaotao felt heavy in his heart.

Some people die without having to bear this pain, but it becomes a thought that the living people can never let go of.

Yang Xiaotao didn't know what guarantees there were, nor how to arrange it later.

He followed Mr. Xia, and what he saw and heard was more sorrow and worry.

Two days later, this visit finally ended, and Yang Xiaotao felt that his heart seemed to have experienced a baptism, and he gradually became more tolerable and calmer.

But the understanding of pain is more intuitive.

It was the fourth day after the accident.

Mr. Chen summoned all members of the investigation team to announce the results of the investigation.

Of course, it only explains the cause of the accident, not the outcome of the treatment of the people involved.

As Yang Xiaotao judged, the main cause of the accident was irregular operation.

Perhaps the use of new technologies has left workers at a loss as to what to do, leaving gaps in their previous experience.

Perhaps the preparations are not in place and there is a lack of measures to deal with emergencies.

In short, in the words of Yang Xiaotao, it was improper operation.

The leadership and technical staff did not anticipate possible dangers and lacked crisis awareness.

Workers failed to perform their duties and problems occurred during operations.

…

Finally, the coffin was sealed, and the investigation team was considered to have completed its mission and was disbanded on the spot.

By the time the investigation team left, the leadership team of Shishan Steelmaking Plant had been selected. When bidding farewell, Yang Xiaotao also saw Mr. Sun.

Only this time, Mr. Sun's face obviously lost the smile it had in the past.

Of course, the original middle-aged factory director Wang was nowhere to be seen. I heard he had been transferred to another place. As for what he was doing, no one asked.

Maybe, if you leave here, you can feel less burdened.