1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 31 Hydropower Station Starts Construction

As for whether to implement the time-consuming and labor-intensive project of hydropower station construction in the early stage of the crossing, the executive committee has never really unified opinions, and this topic has become the focus of controversy in almost every meeting before the crossing.The main objection was the concern that the project would take up so much human resources that during construction, almost all other projects had to be stopped in order to take care of its priorities.In the eyes of later generations, this is at most a small project of a small rural hydropower project, but to the people who travel through time and space, it is a bottomless pit that can exhaust all manpower.Some people believe that instead of consuming technicians in various departments as low-level labor on the construction site, it is better to do other infrastructure projects first, and then start the construction of hydropower stations when there is sufficient manpower.Besides, if there is a little bit of trouble in the construction, and the flood season is not over yet, then it will be a major event.

The opinions that advocated the construction of hydropower stations as soon as possible mainly came from several departments of industry, chemical industry and energy. The industrial parties scoffed at the shortsightedness of the liberal arts students - there are no coal resources in Sanya, and even steam engines could not be used on a large scale at first. If hydropower is not engaged in the initial stage, where will the power output required by the construction industry come from?Sharpening knives does not cut firewood by mistake, and concentrate on building the most critical facilities first, in order to drive the subsequent construction of the modern industrial system.Otherwise, step by step, you will have to rely on the manpower of Transcendence to build the infrastructure. Maybe after a year or two, everyone will still be working as a migrant worker in this ravine, farming and moving bricks. In that case, it would take so much effort to cross over again. what sense?

As for the construction period questioned by the other party, in the end, Liu Shanxia from the Ministry of Construction stood up and made a booking, claiming that as long as the personnel and materials are in place, the main project of the hydropower station can definitely be won before the flood season.

In the end, the well-founded Industrial Party prevailed, and the entire initial construction plan, regardless of whether it was the deployment of personnel or materials, was unconditionally inclined to the hydropower station project.When the special working group returned from Lidong to Base No. [-], apart from some members of the military and police department responsible for patrolling the outer borders and the elderly, women and children, the large troops of the Transcendental Congregation were recruited as laborers, and even the executive committee members were recruited. The headquarters also moved from Base No. [-].

Sixty or seventy fishermen recruited from nearby have now become full-time workers on the construction site. In addition to carrying various materials, a few of them with bamboo weaving skills are also responsible for weaving a large number of bamboo cages day and night. After the construction, the cofferdam will be built to intercept the flow.

The Ministry of Agriculture directed the labor camp to open [-] mu of wasteland on the east bank of the Tiandu River. After planting various vegetables, these dozens of Ming army prisoners were also escorted to the construction site of the hydropower station.Although they didn't understand what the shorthairs were going to do, seeing the mountains of various supplies and hundreds of shorthairs coming in and out, the captives knew that these shorthairs were probably going to have a big fight here. .

And the first thought that flashed in Luo Shengdong's mind subconsciously, could it be that these shorthairs want to build a city in this place?But on second thought, it seems unlikely. The stockade built by the short-haired seaside is obviously not finished yet, so why rush to the upper reaches to build the city, and the terrain here does not seem to be ideal for building a city.But seeing the continuous shipment of logs, sandstones, bamboo cages and other utensils, it was clear that there was a major project to be carried out, and Luo Shengdong was also deeply puzzled by this.

Those in the camp were soon assigned to work in a nearby quarry.It is said to be a quarry, but it is actually the location of the Tiandu Iron Mine.The people in the Ministry of Industry can be said to be careful and budget-conscious. While quarrying, they are preparing for the excavation of the Tiandu Iron Mine. Perhaps the hydropower station has not yet been completed, and the iron ore here has already entered the mining stage.This place is only 400 meters away from the construction site of the hydropower station. In the early stage, the logging team has opened a road from the forest, and two wooden carts can pass side by side.Cai Hongzhan, an old carpenter, led people to work overtime and built [-] scooters in five days. Although the workmanship was a little rough, but fortunately, the road was flat and the distance was short, so there was no need to worry about shaking It fell apart.

And almost all the Li people who came here with Fu Li stayed.Fu Li saw with his own eyes that the fishermen could receive white rice and salt from the short-haired Han people after work every day. Isn't that just selling their labor?How can such a good thing be easily missed, we Litong have a lot of labor force to exchange grain for salt!So under the vigorous encouragement of Ning Qi and others, Fu Li also sent people back to Fushandong to inform Dongli to send more young and strong laborers.

After three or four days, there were hundreds of Li people who had arrived from the nearby mountains.With so many Li people coming to the construction site, conflicts are prone to occur if communication is not smooth.Zhou Hengxing had to set up a temporary bilingual teaching class after work in the evening to teach some vocabulary that would allow the two sides to communicate easily.And Ning Qi also set up the first "Hope Primary School in Li District". Eight or nine Li children who came to the construction site with their parents will be admitted to the school first, and Fu Li, the key target of training, is of course included.Of course, it is impossible to impart any knowledge at present. Even if literacy is too difficult for these Li children who have not received basic education, Ning Qi's main teaching task is still the same as Zhou Hengxing, trying to teach them first. Some simple Chinese conversations to ensure smooth communication.

In view of the large number of local laborers who came to participate in the construction, the Executive Committee had to spare some of its staff and built several bamboo sheds near the construction site for these workers to live temporarily.The tasks of the cooking team also increased rapidly, and they had to cook meals for more than 100 people every day.Fortunately, the nearby Li people continuously sent various fruits and vegetables, mountain delicacies and fresh game in order to do business, so the cooking team did not have to worry too much about the lack of sufficient ingredients.

In order to be able to complete its achievements as soon as possible, the Executive Committee also tried its best to transport all kinds of materials to the No. [-] base.Except for the "New World", the diesel generators on all other ships were almost dismantled and transported along with several high-power pumps.Sailors from the Maritime Department even risked overturning by using large wooden rafts to transport two Jessibo multi-purpose excavators and two Lynx multi-purpose vehicles to the construction site by water.With the help of several construction vehicles, the transfer of materials on the construction site has also been greatly accelerated.And this has also become the focus of the local aboriginal people in the next few days - they have never seen such a strange car that can drag things by itself without a horse, the rumor that "the short-haired master will do it". Time flies.

On April 1627, 4, on the second day of March in the seventh year of the Ming Dynasty, Tianduhe Hydropower Station, the first real major project after crossing, finally broke ground.

The gimmick of the leaders cutting the ribbon with scissors in later generations is definitely out of place in this time and space.The members of the executive committee stood on the bank of the river, and together they vigorously erected a sharpened log. Yan Chujie stood on a high shelf and drove the log into the river with a big hammer. Construction began.

Since there are natural river bifurcations at the site of the dam, the construction steps are greatly simplified, and the trouble of building a diversion canal is eliminated. It is only necessary to build a cofferdam at the branching point of the river channel to guide all the river water to the other side. The river channel, drain the accumulated water in the river channel where the dam is located, and then the dam body can be built.And this river with an average water depth of only four to five meters is not very difficult to intercept.

According to the instructions of the technicians, the migrant workers erected wooden stakes more than two feet long at certain intervals, and then used sledgehammers to drive them into the bottom of the river.Worked together from both ends, and soon a sparse fence was built on the seven or eight meters wide river channel.Then, the large bamboo cages filled with stones are transported from the upstream to the fence and cast by small boats, so that the wooden stake fence can stop the bamboo cages and quickly form an underwater dam.

After nearly a hundred large bamboo cages filled with stones entered the water, they have been connected into a simple cofferdam that emerged from the water. At this time, it is obvious that the amount of water flowing through the river has decreased a lot, and the downstream water level has dropped by at least two or three meters. .At this time, the migrant workers began to pile up the fence to fill the gap, and filled the gap with more wood piles little by little.The water intakes of several high-power pumps have penetrated deep into the river bottom, and began to quickly drain the water in the river channel behind the cofferdam. The pumped river water rushes into another river channel through the pipeline, which surprised the migrant workers onlookers. Can't close your mouth.

By four o'clock in the afternoon, eight or nine points of the water in the river near the dam site had been drained, but the silt at the bottom of the river was still a foot or two thick, requiring at least a hundred people to dig for a whole day.However, the engineering commanders were not so impatient to wait for the silt to be cleaned up slowly. Commander Liu Shanxia asked people to lay bamboo and wooden springboards from the bank to the middle of the river, and then asked the migrant workers to step on the wooden springboards and start laying behind the wooden pile fence. A large piece of tarpaulin was then used to wrap the main body of the cofferdam with sacks of soil to block the leaking small strands.In order to build this earth-enclosed weir, the Preparatory Committee added a special [-] burlap bag and several hundred square meters of special tarpaulin to the procurement of materials, which are now useful.

In view of the relatively sufficient labor force, the engineering headquarters decided to start work day and night and implement three shifts. After dark, diesel generators were used to continue to supply lighting, and migrant workers went to the river to clear the river silt.Several LED headlights on both sides of the river and on the cofferdam illuminated the entire construction site brightly, and this kind of lighting device without open flames amazed the newly arrived migrant workers today. The practice", which was originally a little skeptical, suddenly became convinced.

The progress of the project can be described as unusually smooth, and the river bottom dredging started the next day without any major problems.After the silt was removed, a complete rock base was exposed where the dam was located.Liu Shanxia said proudly to Xiang Chinan, "Look, this is the advantage of doing the preparatory work in place! There is no need for too much investigation, just apply the water conservancy project distribution map of later generations."

Xiang Chinan said sternly: "Don't be too happy too soon, the water blocking of the cofferdam is only the first step, and the real project has just begun. Your boy has issued a military order in the executive committee, and you will have to do it before this year's flood season. It's done. Come on, let's go down and have a look too."

(End of this chapter)