Forty-eight years of Qianlong

Chapter 232 The Spring Breeze Rises

Although the brigade of the Qing army withdrew from the south bank of the Mongolian River, a brand new Karen post remained, with a hundred armored soldiers stationed there.This is to monitor the movements of Beihai Town and at the same time tell the nearby border residents that the rule of the Qing Dynasty is still there.

Because the Eight Banners outside the Guanwai still implemented the system of "combination of soldiers and farmers", these armored soldiers not only had to stand guard and sentry, but also opened up wasteland and farmed land on the south bank of the Mongolian River.

At the end of February, Liu Zheng and the newlywed Doctor Hong also came back.At the same time as they arrived in Beihai Town, there were also a large number of pharmaceutical equipment and a list of quotations for a set of small chemical fertilizer production equipment.

Zhao Liang and Fang Hua decided to do some research first. One was to select skilled workers, and the other was to select a site for the synthetic ammonia plant in advance.

In March, as the weather gets warmer, the snow on the outer northeast land begins to melt gradually.Flocks of wild geese returning from the north appeared in the sky, and from time to time they would make the sound of "quack".

In Beihai Town and Fuldan City, a spring plowing preparation no less than a big battle also kicked off.

For the fertile Sanjiang Plain, the first task of the civil affairs department is to ensure the maturity of the reclaimed land.The maturation of the land is actually to carry out the "three connections and one leveling" of the raw land, so that the roads, water, electricity and the site are leveled, so as to ensure the high yield of the cultivated land.

After Beihai Town captured Fuldan City last year, the young Yiding Ba Mangong led the civil affairs exploration team to travel across the vast wasteland north of Fuldan City to the south bank of Xingkai Lake before winter.According to the survey data obtained, Chen Qingsong completed the planning and design of the first batch of [-] mu of high-standard farmland in the three months of winter.

The starting point of everything is road construction.

Under the command of the clerks sent by the Ministry of Civil Affairs, the refugees from all over the Qing Dynasty, eager to eat and wear warm clothes, brandished shovels and hoes, and joined the road construction army.At the same time, Zhao Xin signed an order to send officers and soldiers from the two places to take turns, put down their weapons, pick up farm tools and join in the spring plowing.

After two years of continuous learning and exploration, the agricultural machinery group led by Manzao and Mosuke (these people’s names have been used before, everyone just needs to know that they have been naturalized as Han Chinese) has fully mastered it. use of these machines.They were divided into two teams, each carrying out spring plowing work in Beihai Town and Fuldan City.

Outside the vibrant Beihai Town, more than a dozen 50-horsepower tractors and four 9620RX like wilderness monsters, dressed in eye-catching green paint, dragged a large combined land preparation machine and began to plow the snow.The purpose of doing so is to accelerate the recovery of ground temperature and thaw the surface soil in advance.

A few days later, the large patches of cultivated land finally revealed their true colors, with dark patches and light patches on the surface of the soil.When the waterlogging in the low-lying land flows along the drainage ditch, the color of the surface is basically the same, and the topsoil melts by about three centimeters, you can start planting and fertilizing.

The current spring crops in Beihai Town are mainly wheat, mainly because pasta can satisfy hunger.The wheat seed is a variety that Zhao Xin bought from another time and space. It is more drought-resistant in the early stage and resistant to humidity in the later stage. It grows and develops quickly, and it can mature when the head is bent, and the average yield per mu reaches more than [-] catties.

In order to avoid soil degradation caused by excessive use of chemical fertilizers, Chen Qingsong organized a large amount of organic manure last autumn.These organic fertilizers are cut into small pieces from autumn wheatgrass and shrub branches, and then stacked in a pile in the order of warp and weft, and poured with manure and urine to ferment them.After a few months, the manure has been retting and dried into small pieces of gray-black manure.

The drivers in charge of planting are all the most skilled drivers in the agricultural unit.When a 9620RX is pulling the seeder and fertilizer spreader, the working width can reach 15 meters.The driver in charge of driving should let the planter move straight forward, and the walking track should avoid missing and replaying; it must be consistent when turning in the field.Otherwise, the quality of sowing is not good, which will directly affect the yield.You can't see it at first, but when the wheat sprouts, it will be a shame!

This is a race between people and cruel weather.Due to the short frost-free period in the Outer Northeast and the heavy rain in summer, the spring sowing of wheat must be rushed to ensure the harvest of the year.

Against the background of the sound of rumbling machines, Zhu Dagui, a farmer from Linzhang, Henan, is leading the farmers in his group to spread gravel on the widened road.Looking at the four behemoths in the cultivated field in the distance, Zhu Dagui only felt excited at the moment.He couldn't imagine that the land could be sown like this.

A long whistle sounded, and it was time for a break.The refugees who had been busy for two hours put down their work, and according to the group they belonged to, they gathered together to sit on the side of the road to rest and drink water.

"Mother! It's only been a few days, and thousands of acres of land have been plowed! Brother Dagui, do you think this is a fetish invited by the masters from the sky?"

"What nonsense! That's called a machine. Didn't you all tell ye? It's all built by gentlemen. Someone inside is operating the machine. It can only be turned on after drinking oil!" Zhu Dagui wiped it with the towel around his neck. Sweating, buried his head and drank the warm water in the bowl.

"According to me, the gentlemen are not mortals!" As soon as this remark was made, the peasants who heard it around nodded in agreement.

"Tsk tsk~ You said this thing, how much oil do you have to drink a day? Big brother, can this oil be used for cooking?"

"Huh~! You know how to eat, you can't feed five buns for a meal, you bastard! That oil is not for people to drink!"

In winter, in addition to setting up literacy classes, the civil affairs department also organizes weekly meetings with village chiefs and group leaders of the refugees. In addition to preaching the rules and regulations of Beihai Town, the meeting will also display various mechanical equipment with pictures.Just looking at the pictures didn't make much sense, but when the civil affairs organization organized them to visit the real thing, they almost scared the farmers to death!
Zhu Dagui remembered the first time he saw the machine with big wheels that were almost as tall as himself, he was so frightened that he knelt on the ground and kowtowed on the spot.If it hadn't been for the Civil Affairs Bureau's pictures that it was used for farming, Zhu Dagui would have thought that the old man was going to feed himself to the machine!

Thinking of this, Zhu Dagui smiled embarrassedly.These refugees have been joining the road construction army for seven or eight days, and the civil affairs officials told them that the road is more than 400 miles long and can go all the way to Fuerdan City in the northwest.After the roads between the two places are opened, it will be possible to go back and forth in two or three days.

Zhu Dagui thinks that the job of building roads is quite good. Although it is very hard, in addition to eating three open meals a day on the construction site, he can also receive a salary of five silver dollars a month.Five silver dollars, the civil affairs cadres said in the lecture that these money combined with one tael of silver in the Qing Dynasty can buy almost 100 catties of wheat!
At the end of February, Beihai Town finally began to issue currency internally, and at the same time, shops in the towns of the two cities also began to open.In addition, two savings banks will also open their doors in April.

After Zhao Xin's 300-person "secret agent" team opened the store, he followed Liji's previous instructions and ran in and wandered around every day if he had nothing to do.These old residents not only have their own fields, but also work in workshops. Their income is very good, with an average monthly income of more than 20 yuan.

Buy a frying pan today, and a kettle tomorrow.Some people carried their newly bought lanterns and alarm clocks, and started chatting and joking all the way out of the shop, for fear that others would not know.Influenced by these people, those families who came to Beihai Town in the early days and had someone working in the workshop also began to walk into the door of the store to buy the daily necessities they needed.

The refugees from Henan and Shandong who came only at the end of last year looked at the proud old residents with anticipation and envy on their faces.As long as you work hard for the old men, you will have all these.

With the opening of shops, the size of the canteen in Beihai Town is also shrinking.At present, the canteen only provides three meals a day for the school children and Zhao Xin and others. As for the old residents, they have already bought cooking utensils and went home to cook.

A few days later, some colorful materials and more than a dozen sets of Ming Dynasty-style women's clothing appeared on the shelves.The women in Beihai Town finally began to get rid of the year-round labor insurance uniforms, thinking about how much material to buy to make new clothes for themselves and their families.

Girls like Shen Xuan and Tang Xiao were the happiest about the various materials and styles of clothing that appeared in the store.Shen Xuan is okay, she still has a few sets of clothes she brought, but Tang Xiao and the others are wearing the big labor protection cotton coats from Beihai Town every day, and the girls have long been bored.

In the outhouse of Shen Jingdan's house, the glamorous Shen Xuan was wearing a set of Ming Dynasty Hanfu bought for her by Zhao Xin, and kept looking in the mirror.Shen Jingdan and Oginodo who were on the side also kept admiring.

"I didn't expect to see the clothes of the old country here! How can this Zhao Xin understand this?"

"Yes, master. I didn't expect the clothes of the Celestial Dynasty to be so obsessed. Ah Quan looks so good in this suit!"

Listening to the compliments from the two, Shen Xuan's face showed a bit of shyness, but she was flattered in her heart.She is currently wearing a secretly woven gold gauze skirt in the pattern of lions, balls, cranes, sesame and hibiscus, and a plain white long jacket with a vertical collar and a skirt.Under the light, the long jacket was covered with patterns of broken branches and peonies.Two dark red ribbons with bird cage patterns are tied under the right armpit, and a pair of plain satin bow shoes embroidered with several flowers are on the feet.

At this time, there were a few knocks on the door, and a burst of girls' chattering noises came in.

"Miss Shen, are you home?"

"Father, it's Xiao Tang and the others who are here. They agreed to come over to see this set of clothes."

Shen Jingdan shook his head helplessly, got up and went to open the door.He thinks that Beihai Town is very good, and the worst thing is that there are no servants.When there is a guest at home, many things have to be done by myself or Oginodo.Now Beihai Town has tens of thousands of people, Shen Jingdan thinks it is time to mention this matter to Zhao Xin.

When seven or eight girls walked into the room, they were immediately blinded by the clothes on Shen Xuan's body without even thinking about saluting.The voices of envy and praise began to linger endlessly, and the Shen family immediately became like a vegetable market.Shen Jingdan's brain is buzzing!
"Let's talk, I'll go out for a walk."

At this moment, all the girls remembered that they forgot to salute, and hurriedly said hello to Shen Jingdan.

Shen Jingdan nodded with a smile, picked up a fur coat hanging on the clothes rack, and walked out of the house with a smile.He walked slowly all the way to the beach, and the pedestrians he met on the road knew that he was Zhao Xin's prospective father-in-law, and they all saluted him politely; this made Shen Jingdan very proud.

He was thinking about something, and before he knew it, he arrived outside the factory gate where the dry dock was located.The security police standing guard at the door saw that it was Shen Jingdan, so they smiled and greeted him, and then let him in.

Shen Jingdan has only been here once before, and that was when he first started digging.In the current factory area, a huge dry dock has almost been completed, and another one has just begun to be laid.

At this time, a group of workers were checking the drainage system in the built dock, and no one noticed Shen Jingdan standing on the top of the dock.Looking at the huge dock in front of him, Shen Jingdan couldn't help being dumbfounded.

"Is this the industry that Zhao Xin talked about? It can really change the world, move the sea and move the mountain!"

The two dry docks have the same shape, with three sides connected to the land and one side facing the water. They are composed of dock mouth, dock chamber, dock door, drainage system and irrigation system.Because the current power gap is too large, the planned lifting equipment and power system have not been installed, but only vacancies have been left.

The completed dock is 12 meters deep, 250 meters long and 50 meters wide.In order to ensure the completion of the project as soon as possible, in addition to using machinery and equipment, Beihai Town also mobilized tens of thousands of people to participate in the construction; the steel and cement purchased by Zhao Xin alone cost tens of millions.

"Boss Shen, why are you here?"

Shen Jingdan turned around and saw Chen Qingsong walking over with several people.

"Mr. Chen, I'm free to come and take a look. Beihai Town's uncanny workmanship is truly astonishing!"

After the two bowed their hands, Shen Jingdan curiously asked how to use the dock.

Chen Qingsong said: "To put it simply, we need to fill the dock with water first, and when the water inside the dock is level with the sea outside the dock, open the dock door and use the traction equipment in the dock to slowly pull the Thunder God into the dock. Drain the water in the dock and let the Thunder God sit on the keel pier at the bottom of the dock. After the maintenance is completed, water will be poured into the dock until the water level inside and outside the dock door is equal, and the dock door will be opened, and the ship can go out of the dock.”

"So that's true. Seeing is worth seeing! When I was in the south of the Yangtze River, I also saw the dock for repairing Fuchuan, but it was far less huge than this place." Shen Jingdan turned around and looked at the Thunder God moored on the pier, thinking that the dock would be used at that time. Be sure to stop by sometime.

In the office in Beihai Town, Zhao Xin is planning to go north to Bitter Leaf Island next month.In addition to Zhang Bo, the future head of the oil department, hundreds of workers and a company of troops who arrived earlier will also accompany them.

The oil matter can't be delayed any longer. We must take advantage of the spring flood in Heilongjiang and hurry northward.Even if the Strait of Tartar has not yet thawed, it is better than being wasted here.In any case, without oil, many of the following things cannot be carried out.Just the refueling money for the new ship can make Zhao Xin a pauper!Finally forced him to become a warmonger.

But the inland river ships that can be mobilized at the moment are patrol boats and official boats, which simply cannot accommodate so many people.

"Looks like we'll have to buy two more boats."

Zhao Xin is very familiar with all types of ships because he has bought ships many times.He carefully recalled the various types of ships he had seen, and felt that the most suitable one was the catamaran passenger ship with hundreds of seats.This kind of ship can sail both inland rivers and coastal waters. First, the multi-deck structure will have many cabins, restaurants and sanitation facilities;

The most important thing is that the price of this kind of ship is not expensive compared with that of a freighter. Zhao Xin remembers that a second-hand ship with more than 300 seats is only a few million.

Now the number of sailors in Beihai Town has reached more than 200, and more than 30 of them have initially mastered ship driving.If Liu Sheng or Deng Fei leads the team across the Tatar Strait (the narrowest point in the north is only 7.3 kilometers), it should not be a big problem.

So that night, Zhao Xin returned to Fuldan City.He found Liu Sheng, and after a discussion between the two, Zhao Xin left in a hurry.

In the morning of the next day, Serdan and Erlu received an order from Liu Sheng. They would lead their respective investigation teams to go northward and camp at a place on the south bank of Xingkai Lake. evacuate.

Monk Zhang Erdan, father and son, couldn't figure it out, but he still carried it out resolutely.They packed their bags, prepared their supplies, and set off in two days.Among the accompanying team, the former Yiding Bamangong and Wukanbei were recruited as recruits to accompany them.

(End of this chapter)