Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 1762 Tentacles

The motion to build a railway in the Nghe Seng area actually started a long time ago.

That was more than ten years ago. At that time, Qiu Haiyang had only been working in Yicheng area for a short time, and Yicheng County had just been established, with a population of less than [-]. Chenggao County had no shadow yet, and felt that the traffic in Yicheng area was extremely inconvenient. Mr. Qiu made a big determination to build a road transportation system connecting Yicheng Port and Chenggao Township, completely changing the appearance of Yicheng area.

It's a pity that at that time, the Yicheng area could be described as a wasteland, and the heavy land reclamation work overwhelmed the people, and even many cadres felt exhausted; the relationship between the aborigines who gradually deteriorated brought greater security. Although the Xinhua Island next door has sent some soldiers from the Eight Banners of the island to help in the battle, everyone knows how pitiful the combat effectiveness of these guest soldiers with poor morale is, so you have to do everything yourself; The bad influence brought about by the much higher incidence of malaria. It was really a difficult and dark time in the history of the establishment of the Nghe Seng area. What about the ability and ambition to build a 152-kilometer railway?

What's more, they were still trying their best to build a road marked on the map as "Yicheng Second-Class National Road" at that time!Moreover, the construction of this road was not easy. It was completely under the condition that the New China Pioneering Team received orders from their superiors, donated tens of thousands of yuan in cash and a batch of building materials, and at the same time sent thousands of Malay prisoners of war to Yi After the area was established, it was difficult to break ground.Therefore, where did the funds come from, where did the manpower come from, and where did the materials come from to build the railway?

The construction of the Yicheng Second-Class National Highway continued intermittently until the spring of three years ago (that is, November 1674), and it was finally completed with its own efforts and the assistance of all parties.This 11-kilometer-long second-class national highway took almost ten years to build, consuming a lot of money, materials and manpower. Even in order to build this road, thousands of Malay prisoners of war died and fled for three minutes due to various factors. One, the local people who went to the construction site to level the foundation also died hundreds of people due to labor, disease and barbarian raids, which can be described as a road soaked in bones.

But these efforts are not without gains!After the completion of the Yicheng Second-class National Highway, the indigenous Swazis, Tonga, and Zulus in Yicheng and Chenggao counties have been cleared up (at least they have been driven away from the road and the people living on the east coast) In the wild land of the district), the population and economy have developed, and the circulation of goods has begun to slowly speed up.Coupled with the discovery of a large coal mine in the north of Chenggao County, all these have greatly improved the utilization rate of the Yicheng Second-Class National Highway, and its importance has also increased day by day—especially for Chenggao County, which is located in the western inland area. Said that this highway is a veritable lifeline.

Today, in early December 1677, Yicheng and Chenggao already owned nine settlements with more than 12 residents. The extensive use of labor (from previous "bandit suppression" operations) has also made labor-intensive enterprises such as two brick and tile wheel kilns, a lime kiln, and a cement kiln established by the East Bank Building Materials Company slowly operate. Standing up, it has strongly supported various constructions in the region.

Therefore, Qiu Haiyang, the former commissioner of the Yicheng District Administrative Office, who has always had a good evaluation (it seems that great success is the label of many local officials on the east coast, has almost become the brand of the times), and at the beginning of this year has been shelved for almost [-] years. The idea of ​​Ng Seng Railway that has been around for many years, and wants to implement it from paper to reality.

Make no mistake, this is a crazy plan!Even Xiao Jingzong, his close comrade-in-arms for many years, deputy commissioner of the district administrative office, and magistrate of Yicheng County, felt that it was too unreliable!Because he feels that the second-class Yicheng National Highway can play a great role now. After the local South Vehicle Factory donated a full hundred heavy-duty freight carriages, the transportation of various war supplies between the two places is no longer a problem. A big problem is that even some private goods can be transported back and forth by these convoys belonging to the state-run Yicheng Land Transportation Company.Therefore, Xiao Jingzong felt that there was really no need to plunge himself into the construction of a new project just after a short three-year respite. You must know that this is not a small burden. Only 150-200 million yuan can be repaired across the board.

However, Qiu Haiyang changed Xiao Jingzong's mind with just one sentence, and instead actively supported the construction of the railway.Commissioner Qiu’s original words, Xiao Jingzong, can’t remember very clearly, but the meaning is quite clear, that is, he, Qiu, who did not know which big boss he followed, got the opportunity to set up a new small-scale company in Yicheng area. It has been approved by the State Council, officially issued by the Ministry of Industry and Commerce, and issued by the United Industrial Credit Bank.

When Xiao Jingzong was stunned by the appearance of this kind of "miracle" project, he was equally excited to the extreme.You must know that the Chenggao coal mine in Yicheng area has large reserves, shallow burial, and high quality, which can stably provide vital energy and even raw materials for basic industries. If an ironmaking plant is really set up and operated stably, the local economy will Literally about to take off as the market is all off the shelf!There are hundreds of thousands of nationals in Hezhong, New China, and Yicheng, as well as an even larger number of non-national laborers. If you count the Swahili coast, the Ottoman Empire, Persia, and even India, such a market is not big enough. Then There is nothing more to say.

Of course, with the establishment of an ironmaking plant in Yicheng, the Kanghua Iron and Steel Plant that Xinhua Island has dreamed of is basically out of the question (in fact, the project has been shot down), because it is obviously impossible for the executive committee to do so in the adjacent area. It is uneconomical and not in line with the country's deployment to set up two ironworks in the two nearest places.In the future, the Kanghua Iron Mine—to be precise, there is an iron-gold associated mine, located near Suarala in later generations, and a small amount of silver is produced at the same time—is most likely to be the ironworks to be established in Yicheng area Raw materials are provided.Therefore, this ironworks, which has been preliminarily decided to be located by the seaside of Nghe Seng Port, has the supply of iron ore and coal at the same time, and the distance is not far away. The conditions are quite good, and the future prospects are optimistic by many people.

Of course, the most dissatisfied with the establishment of this ironworks is undoubtedly the Xinhua Development Team. They sent a large-scale delegation back to the mainland to fight for it, but in the end they only fought for the accelerated development of Kanghua Port Sulphur. Investments in iron ore, gold, and silver resources have frustrated them greatly.The reason, apart from Qiu Haiyang Lu Ziye, who was the commissioner of the Yicheng District Administrative Office at the time, may be one of the important reasons why Xinhua Island is a colony and Yicheng District is an official land, that is, the local bigwigs do not want to smelt steel and so on. Sensitive enterprises in the country were established in the colonies to compete with local enterprises for business—even, if Qiu Haiyang did not try his best and the conditions in Yicheng area were indeed good, this small-scale ironworks probably would not have been able to be built, after all Although the Hezhong and Yicheng areas are local in name, they are actually second-class citizens in practice.

However, Commissioner Qiu Haiyangqiu, who was cursed by 20 people in Xinhua Island, has also been "punished" because after he single-handedly introduced the Yicheng Iron Works, he was announced to be the captain of the New China Development Team.The irony of the world probably couldn't be more ironic than this, but perhaps he himself, Qiu, didn't care too much.

After the project of Yicheng Iron Works, the construction of Yicheng Railway is no longer an insignificant matter, but has become a necessary and imminent matter.No, Xiao Jingzong, who has recently acted as the commissioner of the regional administrative office, has already started active planning, gritted his teeth and squeezed out 5 yuan of funds from the not-so-well-off regional finances, and at the same time organized teams to continue to go into the mountains to clean up and arrest people including Aboriginal people, including Canadians, Zulus and Swazis, were captured and served as the main force in the construction of the railway.

Otherwise, the entire planned mileage of 152 kilometers can drag down the finances of the entire region. You must know that the Central Ministry of Finance, the State Railway Administration and the Central Railway Company add up to less than 30 yuan in railway construction funds each year.Calculated at this speed, it may take at least five years for the entire line of the Yicheng Railway to be opened to traffic. How can this teach people to wait!Therefore, Xiao Jingzong recently asked his old superior, Qiu Haiyang, who had been transferred to be the captain of the New China Pioneering Team, to ask him to help him think of a way and give him some support, but there was no one else.

But speaking of it, Captain Qiu is indeed righteous to his old subordinates!Now that he is a high-ranking official, he not only promised to donate food, tools, medicines, tents, building materials and other materials worth 5 yuan to the Yicheng area every year, but also provided a large amount of black labor for the construction of the Yicheng Railway. "Consumables".

These promised "consumables" New China has not yet.However, considering that their army and navy will head north against the wind in a few days, they will go to the waters near the island of Boba, and it is inevitable to land somewhere on the Swahili coast and plunder. Therefore, there is no need to worry about the arrival of a large number of slaves.The Ue Seng District Administrative Office only needs to prepare food, labor tools and enough supervisors, and then wait for the arrival of these free laborers. This will greatly reduce the construction cost of the entire railway.

Xiao Jingzong also took a heavy carriage to the inland Chenggao County today.This second-class national road has been in stable operation for three years now, and the road condition looks pretty good. Although there are some potholes and unevenness, it is not far from the standard of the second-class national road. A special fund of 2 yuan for maintenance and repairs can almost last forever.

On the road, there is a group of convoys transporting gunpowder, projectiles, gun parts, military boots, quilts, tents and other combat readiness materials to Chenggao County.He knew that this was a team delivering supplies to the officers and soldiers of the police brigade who were suppressing bandits in Chenggao County. Recently, it was very urgent to arrest the natives, and the fighting became more frequent, so the consumption of various supplies also increased sharply. The county urgently transported a batch of supplies to support.

From this point of view, the Yicheng Second-class National Highway also plays a huge role in military combat readiness. It can be regarded as the tentacles and blood vessels that the people on the east coast extend to the inland Swazi settlements, continuously transporting soldiers and military supplies. Go in, and then continue to sweep the native settlements, while expanding the territory for the country, they also looted back a large number of labor and materials, which strongly supported the construction of the local area. Overall, it is still a relatively cost-effective business.

Of course, with the continuous advancement of people from the east coast to the inland areas and the increasing population of pioneers, the tentacles and blood vessels of Yicheng Second-class National Highway seem to be somewhat insufficient at present. Chenggao County needs a thicker blood vessel and The outside world is connected, especially when the coal resources and grain in the interior have been gradually exported over the years.

Therefore, the construction of Yicheng Railway is imperative!Among other things, Guangchenggao Coal Mine's abundant reserves and easy mining of a large amount of high-quality coal is something that major domestic shipping companies and navies are very coveted. The demand is huge, and it is not reliable to rely on freight carriages. Still have to get on the horse railway.

"The construction of this railway will become the top priority of the regional administration in the next few years. Compared with this important tentacles that go deep into the inland, everything else seems to be less important, including Mao Jun and Tang Moyu's gang. Colonial activities in the area of ​​Yiyang Bay in the south. Alas, it’s also their bad luck. It’s not that I, Lao Xiao, don’t help them! There are almost no competitors for that broken land. When will it be occupied? Compared with the official commissioning of the ironworks and the completion of the Yicheng Railway, these are nothing!" Sitting in the rickety carriage, Xiao Jingzong sighed softly and said to himself: "After all, railways and factories are the future of a region, not anything else. If you are vigilant, capturing more natives there to build roads is the best help for the development of the region."

In fact, as Xiao Jingzong said just now, after the project of the Yicheng Iron Works was approved, the administrative offices of the entire district almost went crazy. The construction of the Gao Coal Mine was carried out, and even the new immigrants every year were artificially arranged around the coal mines and national highways to reclaim wasteland in order to provide the necessary food nearby in the future.

In this way, Mao Jun and Tang Moyu, who were carrying out colonization activities in the south with some people, were indeed more embarrassed.Their original "unrestrained" actions had to be restrained, because the replenishment of soldiers and supplies would become extremely slow, and the original plan to go east and west with Yang Liang's troops and penetrate South Africa almost came to naught. I don't know how Commander Yang will feel after learning about this situation.

(End of this chapter)