Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 654 New Qingdao, New Life ([-])

On January 1648, 1, when Pei Qin led more than 15 Far East reinforcements to board the ship and went to Buenos Aires to change clothes, the former Central Executive Committee and Minister of Civil Affairs who replaced Shao Shude as the Commissioner of Xiling District Xiao Mingli also took a boat to Qingdao Port, which is under construction.

Nowadays, the number of construction personnel in Qingdao Port is increasing day by day, and the number of settled people is also increasing day by day.Among them, there are more than 2300 original residents in Qingdao Port, and the newly built Guiyi Fort and Xinxiang Fort add up to about 5100 residents (including soldiers from the volunteer team).From the data, we can see how the Ministry of Civil Affairs "frantically" filled Qingdao Port with a population of 8000 to [-], which is unprecedented in the history of the East Coast Republic of China. for the first time.

"Immediately, the Fourth Bureau of Communications and Construction will send about [-] black laborers here to try to renovate more docks before the Autumn Commodity Fair in May. It doesn't matter even if it is a temporary wooden dock. We will replace it gradually in the future. It is a Yonggu Wharf with a masonry and concrete structure." Xiao Mingli boarded a horse-drawn rail car specially used for transporting people, and his secretary, entourage, guards, and the newly appointed mayor of Qingdao Town, Minghui, also followed. car.

At the beginning of this month, Minghui just defeated many competitors and became the mayor of the newly established Qingdao Town. At the same time, he also took charge of the nearby Guiyi Fort, Xinxiang Fort and Sifang Fort (La Paz City, still under planning) ) of these three settlements.This gentleman burned bricks and made tiles with Shao Shude at the beginning of his travels, and later served as the general manager of the building materials company.

After sitting in this position for more than ten years, Minghui, who was still somewhat ambitious, searched for people everywhere, defeated many competitors, and seized the hot position of mayor of Qingdao Town.You know, this so-called mayor is not only in charge of Qingdao Port, but also in charge of the three nearby new settlements (directly under the jurisdiction of the Second Fort Executive Committee of the Corps). According to national practice, the mayor of Qingdao Town will sooner or later become the Future Qingdao county magistrate.

Where is Qingdao County?That is the national trade center, shipping center, and financial center built by the Executive Committee. The position of the county magistrate is much better than that of the boss of a construction material company, and he will win whatever he wants!

"Well, I understand." Minghui nodded lightly, and said, "Next, I will organize the residents of Guiyibao and Xinxiangpu to build brick and tile wheel kilns, lime kilns, and cement kilns first. The construction site should be set at Sifangbao. How can there be no shortage of building materials for this construction? Now that the domestic transportation capacity is so tight, it is unrealistic and even more unscientific to transport all building materials from other places, because it will definitely delay precious time. Construction time. It’s just that these kilns are easy to set up, and there is no technical content, but the number of workers required is not small. The three add up to at least 800 people. I am afraid that these people will need you, Commissioner Xiao, to help coordinate and coordinate .”

"I'm not Monkey King, so I can't conjure many things for you. Don't look at the ships returning from Xinhua and South Africa saying that there are more immigrants this year than last year, but people are needed everywhere in the mainland, so there are not enough people. Yes." Xiao Mingli said with a smile, and saw that he stopped Minghui who was about to speak, and then continued: "Of course, the construction of Qingdao Port is of great importance and is the top priority. I will also ask the superiors to send some people to come down , but it may not be too much, so don’t expect too much.”

According to the sailors on the colliers who returned from South Africa and Xinhuaxia last month (December) and November respectively, the number of immigrants from the Ming Kingdom in the Far East who gathered on Xinhuaxia Island this year has greatly exceeded that of last year.According to the usual data comparison, it is very likely that about 12 Ming immigrants will arrive on the east coast this year.These migrants had already disembarked in Xinhua Port before August last year. After resting for several months, they were transported to South Africa in early November, and finally came to mainland by boat. The orphans were among the first to arrive in the mainland.

"By the way, the No. [-] Machinery Factory in the Yazihu ​​area in the north has recently developed an automatic brick (adobe) production line. It has been in trial operation for almost half a year at the brick kiln factory in Meihe Township, Ping'an County. I heard that it works well. Not bad. At present, the first machine factory is making the final improvement according to the problems reflected in the use, and then it will be finalized for production. By then, um, counting the brick and tile wheel kiln under construction in Sifangbao, all six in China This kind of automatic brick making machine is used in the wheel kilns, which can save everyone a lot of manpower and time in making bricks, which is very cost-effective." Xiao Mingli said after suddenly remembering something.

"Automatic brick making machine? Sounds good." Minghui nodded. This is indeed what he wants. If the effect is as good as Xiao Mingli said, then it will save him at least two hundred labors. Really Yes it helped a lot.

Horse-drawn rail cars run lightly on cast iron tracks.This kind of rail vehicle has low friction and can be pulled by two horses. It is at least 5-6 times more efficient than road transportation. Whether it is freight or passenger transportation, it is the best choice for the East Coast at this time.

The carriage soon arrived at the Sifang Fort under planning.Sifangbao is located in the city of La Paz in the north of Montevideo in later generations, and is a famous agricultural production area.In this place, except for the wild grass, there is only a boxy wooden fortress standing alone in the grass. Inside the fortress is a flagpole with a flag of the East Coast Republic of China hanging on the flagpole. There are about a dozen people in the fortress. The individual is moving about and appears to be at work.

"Sifang Fort will connect itself with Guiyi Fort and Xinxiang Fort on both sides through the cast iron light rail in the future, so that it will be more convenient to transport personnel and supplies." Xiao Mingli got off the carriage, pointed to the fortress in the distance and said: " A railway station will be built outside the Walled City. This railway station can be used not only as a light rail station for horse-drawn rail passengers/trucks, but also as a heavy rail station for steam trains leading to inland areas. In the future, Qingdao Port, Corps II The light rail network between the five settlements of Qingpu, Xinxiangbao, Sifangbao and Guiyibao should form a ring network. Well, this ring network is called the first ring. If Qingdao Port develops in the future and the existing area is not enough, Then continue to expand outside the first ring, and the new settlements are also connected by this light rail, called the second, third, and fourth rings..."

Hearing Xiao Mingli's wicked plan, Minghui couldn't help but sweat coldly on his forehead. Should he build a house on a piece of land in the first ring road ahead of time?

"Sifangbao will be the only industrial town near Qingdao Port for a long time to come. Not only brick and tile wheel kilns, lime kilns, cement kilns, and vehicle repair shops will be built, but the higher authorities plan to set up two additional towns here. One of them is a flour processing factory, yes, it is the kind of machine in the Dafeng Food Processing Factory in Xihu County in the north. In the future, various food crops (mainly wheat) grown in nearby agricultural towns will be processed here Refined white flour, and even some wheat that is too late to be processed in Xihu County in the north will be shipped here, processed to finished products, and then exported to foreign countries.” Xiao Mingli said, “The soil fertility here is also good, and the climate and precipitation are also good. There are many ready-made rivers, and the development of agriculture in the future should be very promising. Besides, the south really lacks a grain deep-processing enterprise now, and all the grain that cannot be grown must be transported to the northern Yazihu ​​area for processing. "

"In addition, people from the Machinery Institute of the Academy of Natural Sciences have recently designed a silk reeling machine. Well, it is a machine used to extract silk from silkworm cocoons. According to the agreement we reached with the Genoese, the silk industry It is a must. The Genoese have shared with us some of the silk reeling and weaving technologies and techniques they have mastered. To be honest, the technology as a whole is not very good, but there are also some remarkable things. Now they ask us to design brand-new silk reeling and weaving machines as soon as possible, and then set up a brand-new textile enterprise specializing in the production of various silk, silk-linen blended, and silk-cotton blended products. They have a wide range of sales channels, saying that as long as the quality is no problem , then they will be able to sell. Just like what they did in the silk industry center of Lyon, we only need to beat Lyon, and maybe Venice, otherwise no one in all of Europe will be able to sell in silk. It competes with us in the weaving industry." Xiao Mingli said.

"The design of the silk reeling machine is not difficult. With the level of the people in the Machinery Institute of the Academy of Natural Sciences, it should take a few months to come up with a preliminary design plan and hand it over to a machine factory for production. By then we will Then we can organize trial production, and the problem should not be big.” Minghui commented, but after saying this, he changed the subject and said: “But the problem is that we are engaged in the silk weaving industry. Where can we get the raw material? Silk is such a thing. Unlike cotton and wool, which are everywhere, at least in Central and Western Europe, how to solve the source of raw materials is actually a headache.”

"You don't have to worry about the problem of raw materials. Anyway, you just need to be responsible for cooperating with the technicians who come here to install and debug the machine." Xiao Mingli waved his hand, and said with a look of "I don't know the situation": " The supply of raw materials is indeed somewhat troublesome, but it is not impossible to solve. Maybe the Doria family can get us a batch from France or Italy, or maybe we can import a lot of cocoons from Ottomans. The main channel for obtaining raw silk. Of course, the sericulture industry in Persia is huge and has a long history, which is worthy of our attention. Perhaps the Executive Committee will eventually order the New China region and the Second Fleet stationed there to organize a voyage to Persia, If we can open the door to trade with the Persians in this way, perhaps the problem of raw materials that plagues our silk industry will be solved."

(End of this chapter)