Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 2344 Trivia in South Africa ([-])

"What did the people who planned the route learn? A piece of shit! I don't know how to do it! It's a scam!" In a mountain valley east of Union Township, a railway official was jumping and cursing.

The railway promoted by the South African River District Administration has been extended to Union Township.In this riverside town with a settled population of 4500, the railway line will be divided into two parts, all the way to the north, through the valley and the lowlands between the mountains, all the way to Beiwei Township; all the way to the east, through Liuquan Township Town near) arrived at Guangcheng Port, all passing through the coastal humid areas, with a large population, developed agriculture, and greater economic value than the former.

However, the two split lines have not yet started construction, for no other reason. The central government and the state-owned railway company temporarily withdrew their investment in this railway, and instead used all funds for the construction of the Eastern Marching Railway. above.Therefore, Union Township Railway Station is currently the terminus of this railway.

However, the Administrative Office of Hezhong District seems to have difficulty accepting this status quo.They quickly stated that the regional administrative office can take part of the funds to build the railway for the time being, and the investment from the central government can be "owed first", and the proportion of the shares of the railway parties will remain unchanged. under construction.

The Hezhong District Administrative Office is willing to use its own money to repair it first, so the central government has nothing to do with it.Therefore, the Central Railway Company quickly transferred some engineering and technical personnel from the local area to Union Township to continue to support the local government in road construction.However, on the first day of their arrival, a sudden autumn flood flooded the train station, which made them very annoyed, and they scolded the person who planned the route at the beginning, why did they build the station by the river?Just playing the piano.

However, it seems that it is difficult to blame the road builders in front.Because the local terrain itself is very problematic. It is narrow and long from east to west, and the width from north to south is less than one kilometer. It is a typical river valley. How do you ask the designer to design it?He didn't really have a good choice.Not to mention, Yuning Township, located on the edge of the Little Karoo Plateau, has relatively little rainfall and has not experienced floods for many years. It is really difficult for people to raise this awareness in their minds.

"Okay, Liu Mazi, don't complain. Think carefully about how to convince the leaders of the Hezhong District Administrative Office that the coastal railway is more valuable." Another person in the uniform of the China Railway Company came over. , patted "Liu Mazi" on the shoulder, and said.

The coastal railway is actually the branch line of the railway from Union Township to Guangcheng Port. Because it runs roughly parallel to the coastline and passes through the humid coastal areas, it is called the coastal railway.The role of this railway branch line is still obvious. One is because the local population is densely populated and the economy is developed. The other is because there are few good ports on the southern coast. A railway is needed to connect various places and then connect them to Guangcheng Port— ——Actually, Guangcheng Port is not a good port. It is deep enough to berth large ships. However, the bay is open and unobstructed, and the overseas wind and waves are strong enough. It is really not a good safe haven.But the local conditions are like this, so it can only be said to make do.

The branch line north into the thirsty interior was less urgent than this railroad.However, the Hezhong District Administrative Office did not know what went crazy, and requested to extend northward first. It is said that it was the result of pressure from the local soldiers.Now a large number of soldiers are stationed in Zhongshan County, intending to continue to chase north and crusade against black forces.If you ruin their great opportunity to make contributions, they will definitely be in a hurry with you!Therefore, this is probably the reason why they urged the Hezhong District Administrative Office to build the Northern Line Railway first.Considering that the current commissioner is from a military family, although I graduated from the Capital Youth Cadre Academy, I have no ties to the army and navy, so it is normal to be inclined to them.After all, it was good for him too.Expansion of territory has always been one of the important assessment criteria for a chief official in a border area like him.

There are currently more than 1600 members of the Hezhong Garrison Regiment of the local army in the Hezhong area. This department is a cavalry regiment suitable for fighting in a sparsely populated area like South Africa.In addition, the security regiments in the various counties of South Africa are really well-trained. Not only are they adequately staffed, but they also train hard. To be honest, they are much better than most of the security regiments in the wealthy local areas.These troops can also be pulled into the battlefield at critical moments, and their combat effectiveness is good. They have always been an important reliance in fighting against the natives in various parts of South Africa.

The main force of the Hezhong garrison is stationed in Zhongshan County.They have been training here for more than two years, and step up to a higher level from time to time-in terms of altitude, the southern coastal humid area is the first step, the Little Karoo Plateau is the second step, and the Kalua Plateau is the second step. The Lu Plateau is the third level, and further north is the fourth level - wanton expulsion of the remnants of the Karma Kingdom, forcing them to flee north, and then reduce the population due to thirst, and lose people in the tribal vendetta Ding, as the so-called drive away tigers and devour wolves.Generally speaking, when the cavalry of the Hezhong Garrison Regiment dispatched, they would also be accompanied by infantry from at least three security regiments from the southern and western counties. Therefore, the scale of the operation was still very large, and the cost was naturally high.

At the beginning of this year, after accumulating a considerable amount of combat supplies, all the 1600-odd cavalry of the Hezhong garrison were mobilized, plus 3000 security corps from the three counties of Tianxiong, Hezhong, and Cape. Those who went north, established Maocun Township (located near the later city of Craddock), Jiakou Township (located near the later town of Takastad, and the east of this place is temporarily under the jurisdiction of the Yicheng District Administrative Office), Beitang Township ( Located near the later town of Hofmeer), Hejian Township (located near the later Middelburg City), Three Rivers Township (located near the later New Beitster Township), North Ridge Township (located near the later Morrisburg ), Xitang Township (located near the later West Victoria City), and the seven settlements are expected to house more than 1 people.

In addition to the normal task of cultivating land and grazing cattle and sheep, the tasks of these new immigrants, because they are located near the river, they also have another important task, which is to build reservoirs one by one with the help of materials allocated by their superiors.In this kind of semi-arid land where the rainfall is only more than 300 millimeters, the reservoir is definitely a life-threatening infrastructure, and it must not be sloppy.The reason for the large and small reservoirs in South Africa in later generations is to prepare for drought and famine.

In addition to the seven settlements jointly established by the State Development Administration and the Hezhong District Administrative Office, the Ministry of Justice has successively built some prison settlements in the more northerly and westward arid lands, namely: Happiness Prison (located in Later, near the small town of De Aar), Black Cloud Prison (located near the later town of Britstown), Quicksand Prison (located near the later town of Fort Castle), New Ridge Prison (located near the later city of Caernarfon), Bitter Ergou Prison (located near the later town of Loxton), Hongyuan Prison (located near the later town of Kenhart), Three Castles Prison (located near the later town of Priska), and Paradise Prison (located in the later Marydale near the small town of Erle), Jiashan Prison (located near the later town of Griqua), Bitterwater Prison (located near the later town of Postmarsburg), Sweetwater Prison (located near the later Douglas City), Junliang City Prison (located in the later Hopeton Township), Stone Dam Prison (near the later town of Petersville), South Dam Prison (near the later Norval Spent Township), a total of [-] prisons, each of different sizes It is very large, except Junliang City, Shiba, and Nanba Prison.

Of the three prisons, the former is positioned to produce food, fruits, and meat, while the latter two are used to build reservoirs by taking advantage of the favorable terrain in the mountains, so there are relatively large numbers of people, more than 2000 in each place.As for the other eleven prison colonies, counting the family members who followed them, the number is only about 500-1000. The scale is very small, and it is incomparable with the prison colony in southern Chile. The main reason is that the climate is dry. ,no way.

With so many settlements, although quite a few of them have been built in the past few years, the overall construction efforts are still very large.Correspondingly, there are also a large number of building materials that need to be transported there.Some prison settlements in the west are mainly based on the newly established Hanhai County (under the jurisdiction of Hanhai Town, Shengdong Township, and Shengnan Township, which is the 191st county-level administrative unit in the country), Fuyuan County (under the jurisdiction of Fuyuan Town, Shengxi Township , Shengzhong Township, and Shengbei Township are the 192nd county-level administrative units in the country) for transportation, but the east and south sides can only be transported by Zhongshan County and Qisi County, so the railway line extending northward The priority of the service has suddenly become higher, and even overwhelmed the demand for access to the port-commodity transportation in Lishan, Changqing and other counties does not necessarily need to rely on Guangcheng Port, you can go to the free port Cape Town .

"The railway goes north, and we can't get back on this matter." Liu Mazi said angrily after getting angry: "The new leaders in the Hezhong area still pay more attention to regional balance. The coastal area has a humid climate and is near the sea. Conditions It is already very superior, so he thinks that people in the northern interior of this railway need it more. Moreover, there will be military operations against the remnants of the Xhosa blacks in the future, and the large-scale construction activities that will follow, which is not good If we fix the infrastructure and break through the transportation bottleneck, we may have insufficient stamina in the future. Let’s not get involved in this matter. The Hezhong District Administrative Office is also a major shareholder of the railway, so we have to respect their opinions.”

"I also heard that the newcomer intends to reorganize the wool textile industry. Doesn't this require the grasslands in the semi-arid inland areas? The railway also has the heavy responsibility of wool transportation. Moreover, the coastal areas I've done all the exploration, but there's nothing left. I'm about to start exploration in the inland area. What if I find any great mineral deposits? Will this railway come in handy?" Liu Mazi finally said: "There are mines in Yicheng, and there are mines in Hezhong. There is no iron and no coal, does it make sense?"

(End of this chapter)