Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 299 The Track of Combat Preparation ([-])

In April 1641, since the 4st Company and the 1rd Company of the Army successively shipped to South Africa, the Executive Committee began to formulate a series of plans.After all, they were also worried that if the Dutch suddenly went to war against the East Coast Republic if they couldn't think about it, they would be caught off guard if they didn't prepare in advance.Moreover, as the members of the Executive Committee generally judged that the future eastward advance to the Straits of Malacca would inevitably lead to conflict with the Dutch, it seemed natural to start preparing for war from now on.

From the beginning of April, under the coordination of the State Council, the Trade Bureau under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs began to increase the import of high-quality coal, graphite, mercury, lead, copper, tin, flax, paraffin, horses and other strategic materials from Europe.Of course, the introduction of population is also going on at the same time. The French immigrants who have gradually stagnated have reopened due to changes in the situation. It can be expected that a large number of French immigrants will swarm into the East through various channels in the next few months. within the territory of the Shore Republic.In order to offset the impact of the arrival of a large number of French immigrants, the Ministry of Civil Affairs also increased the introduction of Livonian immigrants. At the same time, it also purchased a large number of Persian, Berber, Greek, Cossack, and Tartan slaves from the Turks to balance domestic ethnic groups.

At the same time, the representatives of the east coast of Colonia City also officially announced to the merchants who came to trade: The East Coast Republic of China will openly purchase all kinds of metal minerals, hard coal, wool, cotton, and ship materials other than iron. , livestock, sulfur and other materials, especially Chilean sulfur, the people on the east coast directly increased the purchase price by 30%, and clearly stated how much they would charge.The local merchants were not stupid either. They smelled something unusual from the actions of the people on the east coast, so they quickly sailed away to collect supplies, trying to make a big deal before the city of Colonia was closed. , make a fortune.

On April 4, the canal project connecting Dongfang Port and Milin Lake, which had been canceled due to the heavy workload of the construction team and the shortage of materials, began to be mentioned again.Everyone is a little worried that if there is a full-scale war with the Dutch, the east coast may be blocked again, and the offshore channel connecting the Zihu heavy industrial area in the north and the densely populated capital area in the south will be cut off.In that case, industrial products such as iron and steel, machinery, coal, and cloth in the north cannot be transported south, while daily necessities such as grain, meat, oil, salt, and fur in the south cannot be transported north. It was transported by land, not to mention that there is no official road from Dongfang Port to the north at the moment.

Therefore, the issue of access to connect the capital area and northern Milin Lake is quite important.Because it is only necessary to connect Dongfang Port with Milin Lake, then the inland steamboat can go directly to Ping’an County in the north through Milin Lake, Lianghu Canal, and Duck Lake, thus maintaining the smooth flow of inland areas and maintaining the north and south poles of stability.Of course, the mention of the canal project at this time does not mean that the canal with a length of nearly [-] kilometers will be dug, but it is mentioned as a foil for the construction of a land transportation line from the capital area to Milin Lake.None of the people here are nerds without practical experience. Digging a canal with a total length of hundreds of kilometers is an extremely heavy burden for the China East Coast Republic with limited national power, and it is unrealistic in the short term.

What's more, in the original plan, the water systems such as Lake Negra, the marsh area of ​​Lake Negra, and Lake Milin that this canal passes through are all brackish water systems.Therefore, once this canal is opened to the capital area, it is very likely to cause pollution to local soil and water sources, which is what everyone does not want to see.Therefore, this costly canal plan was actually shot down as early as last year, and it was replaced by the construction of an overland road from Miannong Township to Milin Lake in the north.

As early as the middle of last year, the engineers of the design institute under the Ministry of Communications planned the route.The whole road was built from Miannong Township to the north, passed through Zhenyuan Township, continued to build 50 kilometers north, and then meandered to the northeast until it reached the San Miguel River near the town of July 80, Uruguay.The width, water volume, and water depth of the San Miguel River are not bad. Except that some sections of the voyage may need to be slightly dredged, the entire river is navigable by inland water transport ships with shallow drafts.The total length of this land road is more than [-] kilometers, and the areas it passes are all flat prairie, and the average distance from the coast is more than [-] to [-] kilometers, so there is no doubt about its safety.

Since last year, the Fourth and Fifth Construction Bureaus of the Ministry of Communications have started leveling the land and compacting the foundation from the north and the south. After more than half a year of hard work, the roadbed has been constructed and the official construction is just waiting to begin.However, to the surprise of everyone, including many cross-travelers, this land transportation line under construction is not an asphalt road like Highway 1, but a steel track, commonly known as a railway.

Tracks are not uncommon in today's East Coast Republic. Whether it is a mine, a dock or a brick kiln factory, many steel tracks are used to transport materials.However, it is the first time that a large-scale railway laying of tens of kilometers is carried out like today. You must know that according to the standards of the East Coast Republic today, steel tracks with a spacing of 1500 mm (different from the standard gauge of 1435 mm in later generations) are Rice weighs more than 40KG, and a 70-80-kilometer-long railway may require more than [-] tons of steel.

This is a huge number. According to the current monthly production of 600 tons of pig iron and 250 tons of steel in Pingan Iron and Steel Plant, laying such a section of railway may require a great deal of reduction in steel demand in other areas, and then it will take a year or two to save enough .

Faced with such practical difficulties, the Executive Committee did not intend to back down.Under the insistence of the construction madman and Prime Minister Vest of the Government Affairs Council, this railway must be launched no matter what.Moreover, the military also strongly supported the vest's opinion from the perspective of national strategic security. Compared with the traditional four-wheeled carriage for roads, the latter is not comparable in terms of cargo capacity and driving speed.After all, the sliding friction between smooth metals is much smaller than that of rough asphalt roads, and it is clear at a glance which is better.

Therefore, starting from the second half of last year, Pingan Iron and Steel Works began to switch production under the order of the Government Affairs Council, that is, to reduce the production ratio of pig iron and increase the production of steel.As for the ratio of rail steel, it is a carbon steel developed by the Institute of Metallurgy of the Academy of Natural Sciences through long-term experiments. The coefficient of friction between rails is very suitable for making rails.

From the middle of last year until April this year, in addition to guaranteeing the steel for casting guns, the Government Affairs Council reduced all other non-essential steel needs, and has maintained a cumulative production of more than 1600 tons of rail steel.The First Machinery Factory used the molten steel to cast more than 3000 I-shaped rails, each of which was 12.5 meters long and weighed about 500 kilograms.At the same time, two timber processing factories located in Henan Township and Xihubao also began to process sleepers according to the standard size issued by the Ministry of Communications, and a machine factory also began to use lathes to process a large number of parts such as connecting parts between rails and fixing bolts. part.

In order to process these products, the wood processing factory and the first machinery factory even added a large number of new machine tools, and the work of training machine operators was also carried out at the same time.In order to provide power for these newly added machine tools, the boiler workshop of No. [-] Machinery Factory also began to work overtime to build large-scale power boilers and transmission equipment for these factories.It can be seen from this that the industry has never been isolated, but a complete system.This system complements and interacts with each other and is indispensable; every industrial technological progress is obtained bit by bit from the entire industrial foundation, and there can be no short boards or any flukes.

At this time, it is not that no one has pointed out that the current animal-powered rail carriages have a limited cargo capacity, and in fact it is completely unnecessary to build such high-standard steel rails.In actual use, it is enough to build a light rail weighing less than 10KG per meter, which can save a lot of steel.However, the Government Council vetoed all this and insisted on using high-standard steel rails.The vest even threatened that even if the steel is not enough for the railway, it should all use heavy-duty steel rails with high load-bearing capacity.

Since the beginning of this year, the Fourth Bureau of Communications Construction under the Ministry of Communications has mobilized some manpower from Miannong Township to the north, and the Fifth Bureau of Communications Construction has started from north to south from the former army post on the shore of Milin Lake, and started to lay the railway in a north-south direction.The connection between the rails and the sleepers is fixed with large bolts, and the rails are connected with specific iron connectors.There is a small gap between every two rails, which is the gap left by the thermal expansion and contraction of the rails when the temperature is high in summer.It is precisely because of the existence of this gap that there is a "click" sound when the train passes by.

From January to April, more than three months have passed. Hundreds of employees in the two construction bureaus under the Ministry of Communications and more than 1 South African laborers worked overtime. While continuing to tamp the foundation, they buried gravel, ballast and sleepers. The rails are then laid over the sleepers.Up to now, the construction bureaus advancing from two directions have laid a total of about 4 kilometers of steel tracks.Based on this construction speed, the Ministry of Communications very optimistically predicts that the first railway in the East Coast Republic of China, which is about 2000 kilometers long, will be completely completed by the end of the year and will be put into use in the first half of next year.

After the railway is built, the Ministry of Communications will continue to build a double track next to it, so that the trucks going south and north can travel opposite each other.In this way, the materials in the capital area can be transported to the wharf of Miannong Township by small steamer through the Dayu River-Dayu Lake water system, and then changed into rail carriages, from Miannong Township to Zhenyuan Township all the way north to the shore of Milin Lake. No longer fear the enemy's sea blockade.

(End of this chapter)