Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 2290 Unity River ([-])

April 1695, 12, sunny.

After it rained continuously for several days, God finally showed mercy today, no more rainwater was poured on the ground, and people appeared again on the construction site that had been stagnant for a long time.

It's a pity that these roads under construction are not top-level first-class national roads, at best they can only be regarded as second-class national roads.Even after being used for a period of time, it will quickly degenerate into a road between the second and third class, which makes the freight wagons passing through suffer a lot.

Yes, these roads are just gravel roads, but what can be done?A lot of manpower and material resources have been spent to mine stones from the nearby mountains. It is already the limit of the county and township governments in the Tuanjie River Basin to achieve this level. What else do you want to do?Is it possible to transport a large amount of asphalt from coastal ports?This is not an easy task!

It must be known that due to the huge geographical barriers between Brazil's coastal ports and inland areas, transportation is very difficult, and the most realistic way to transport asphalt on a large scale can only rely on railways.That is, ships full of asphalt are unloaded at Ping An Harbor, and then travel all the way north on the Great Northern Railway to their final destination.But the problem is that the Great Northern Railway has been delayed for a long time and the construction period is slow. It has not reached Yanjin Township in Xiangping County until now.From Yanjin Township to the north, the authorities are still arguing, and the local government is also fighting over the route issue. There is no possibility of starting construction in the short term. It is very unrealistic to count on this railway.

In other words, the existence of the Brazilian Shield makes the Brazilian plateau almost geographically self-contained.These counties and towns have no choice but to hug themselves to keep warm. The only ones that may be a bit tricky are the counties next to the coastal ports, such as Pinggu County (under the jurisdiction of Pinggu Town, Yutian Township, Fengrun Township, Dachang Township and Bo Lu Township, the 174th county in the country), Cuiping County (under the jurisdiction of Cuiping Town, Shangcang Township, Sanhe Township and Xiantian Township, the 175th county in the country), Kuqa County (under the jurisdiction of Kuche Town, Da Gan Township, Ashu Township, Futu Township and Guole Township are the 176th counties in the country), Ruoqiang County (under the jurisdiction of Ruoqiang Township, Wushi Township, Jianlong Township and Hongyan Township, are the 177th counties in the country) , Liuchen County (under the jurisdiction of Liuchen Town, Luchen Township and Bizhan Township, the 178th county in the country), etc., because there are some traffic channels with coastal areas, which can be transported.But to be honest, this kind of transportation volume is not very large. They mainly need to communicate with inland areas. This is determined by geography, and there is no way.

Therefore, it has recently been rumored that several regions in Eastern Brazil are planning to jointly form an industrial system to reduce dependence on coastal and southern regions and reduce the huge cost of logistics.It is said that after a meeting and discussion, the Government Affairs Council agreed in principle to their idea, intending to build a complete set of industrial systems including metallurgy, forging, machinery, chemicals, agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry and fishery on the Brazilian plateau, so that they can be self-sufficient initially and reduce construction costs.After all, the central financial transfer payment has been inclined to the Pampa Plain for many years, and even the population is resettled there. In order to appease the neglected Brazilian highlands, it is also necessary to provide certain technical and human assistance meaning.

And to develop industry—especially heavy industry—necessary resources are indispensable.Fortunately, the Brazilian plateau is uniquely endowed with abundant resources in this respect!Last year (1694), when an exploration team from the Ministry of Geology was exploring gold mines, they accidentally discovered an astonishing amount of iron ore in the area east of Renqiu County.After sampling and testing, the technicians were stunned. The iron content of these iron ores has reached an astonishing 70%!In contrast, the minerals produced by the Tieling Iron Mine currently being mined by people on the east coast are simply stones!

Afterwards, the Ministry of Geology mobilized elite troops and dispatched several prospecting teams one after another. After more than half a year, it was finally confirmed that this iron ore area is widely distributed and has amazing reserves, which can be used by people on the east coast for hundreds of years!This conclusion ignited the metallurgical circles on the east bank, and the Government Affairs Council was also very excited when they heard about it. They were afraid that the people below would deceive them (in order to cheat construction funds, this is not without precedent), so they sent people to check repeatedly, and finally confirmed that there is indeed a nearly "taken". "Inexhaustible and inexhaustible" iron ore, with extremely high grade and great value, is the best gift Tianzun gave to the East Coast people!

However, the iron ore reserves are staggering, but the Government Council still maintains considerable sanity.After all, the iron ore produced by the Tieling Mining Bureau is basically enough for the whole country. In fact, the development of new iron mines does not need to be so urgent at all, and can be carried out in an orderly manner, trying not to plan the original overall strategy.

Of course, the Government Affairs Council also took into account that the demand for steel in the entire society on the east coast is rising. Although the Tieling Mine is also expanding its production, if a new mine is opened, the pressure can be effectively shared.Therefore, this huge iron mining area located in the east of Renqiu County has also been included in the development plan.

In the middle of this year (1695), the Government Council approved the first tranche of 20 yuan (a temporary appropriation independent of the financial budget) for the establishment of four local settlements, namely Meijing Township (located in the later Belo Horizonte near Te City), Dunqiu Township (located near the later town of Itabira), Long'an Township (located near the later town of Ouro Preto), Linlu Township (located near the later Lafayette Consultant City), Weixian Township (located near the later town of Sao Joao del Rey), Dengsheng Township (located near the later city of Divinopolis).The location of the iron ore area is generally in the triangle area between Meimei Township, Dunqiu Township and Long'an Township, with a vast area and rich reserves.

Six settlements, no matter how stingy the immigration department and the State Development Bureau are, 5000 people will always be resettled.You know, this is the "iron capital" of the future!Although the Tieling Mine is still expanding its production, its reserves are actually not too large, and the future is foreseeable.All walks of life on the east coast are developing rapidly, and the amount of iron used is increasing day by day. Especially, the emergence of steel ships puts forward new requirements for steel output.Although the Ministry of Industry and Commerce predicts that the Tieling Mine will still be able to pay for it within 15 years, but what about ten years from now?Is it necessary to add new mines?The answer to this question is actually obvious.Now that there is this large mining area and the grade is so high, there is no need for the small iron mines originally planned to be mined in La Plata, Chile and other places. It is better to concentrate on building a big one.

With such a perception, even if the construction of the Pampa Plain in the south is in full swing, the immigration department has to consider reducing the share of immigrants there, and filling more people in the beautiful township.Just as a leader of Meimei Mining Bureau, which is under preparation, said: "...iron has played a decisive role in human history. In ancient times, the people who first used iron had a great advantage in war. With the great development of the machine industry, the importance of iron has further increased. The production cost of iron is much lower than that of other metals. Iron can be made into various shapes (iron plates, iron wires, iron pipes, etc.), and iron can be obtained through different processing methods. Different hardness, hard and wear-resistant properties make iron more popular in manufacturing bearings and machines, and iron can also become an indispensable steel in modern industry and life. Today's east coast, iron used in construction, ships, trains, etc. Large households are constantly appearing, and the consumption of iron and steel is showing a trend of rapid growth. The Ministry of Industry and Commerce predicts that the Tieling Mine can last for ten years, which is really too optimistic, and it may not be enough in less than ten years. Therefore, the production of Meijing Iron Mine is on the verge of imminent development. No! If it is later, it may affect the operation of the national economy and affect the quality of life of the people!"

It should be said that what the Mining Bureau official said was not all exaggeration.People on the east coast still use a lot of iron now, just like building a building, you can use a lot of steel bars within the third floor, but if it is a high-rise building, the amount of iron used will definitely not be less.In addition, the iron bridges needed for the construction of railways, the steel rails needed for the repair of the railway itself, iron-ribbed wood-hulled ships, and even all-steel ships are all heavy iron consumers.Although the Tieling Mining Bureau is still able to supply, people can't just stare at the present, they have to focus on the future, so the launch of Jingjing Iron Mine is indeed necessary!The initial investment of this iron ore can not be too large. Small-scale mining and smelting first solve the demand for iron consumption in nearby areas, and then when the market demand becomes larger, the production capacity will be gradually expanded to meet the demand for iron in domestic production and life.

The Government Administration Council basically recognized this approach.Therefore, building a new steel factory near Meijing Township seems to be part of the plan.This steel plant project will be the fourth heavy industrial enterprise in the country after Tieling Heavy Industry Consortium, Pingan Coal and Steel Consortium, and Heishan Industrial Company. It integrates iron ore mining, iron and steel making, and steel rolling. In addition, there are some supporting facilities Machinery processing enterprises, in short, although sparrows are small, they have all internal organs, and the possibility of growing into a steel giant in the future cannot be ruled out.

To build these projects, both machinery and equipment and personnel materials must be transported from the south, which puts forward new requirements for the road transportation system.There is no need to hope for the railway for the time being, and the road is more realistic, so we can see that the counties in the Tuanjie River Basin have begun to receive funds from the above, and started the construction of the road with great difficulty.Even though it is still the rainy season, the construction is inconvenient, but as soon as the rain stops, the stagnant work will resume quickly to ensure that the road can be completed on time.In addition, the road that was originally crushed by heavy-duty freight carriages is also being repaired repeatedly to avoid delays in the transportation of equipment.

The local people are basically supportive of this, and they are also very proud of it.The Tuanjie River was originally considered a barren land where no birds would shit, but now gold, diamonds, agate, iron, copper, lead and other minerals have been discovered one after another.If there are no major problems in the future, the Tuanjie River Basin will definitely become a well-known and wealthy area in the country.People are looking forward to it!

(End of this chapter)