I'm playing whack-a-mole in Siberia

Chapter 262 The underground nest

George's original intention in developing Amur was to protect himself, and to retain a place to live after the building was demolished.

Now it seems that this goal is a bit conservative, and George can definitely do more.

Compared with Vladivostok, Khabarovsk does not have a bustling entertainment city, an advanced subway, or fireworks shows at the Yuriev Palace every now and then. The city has strict planning, and the railway that passes through the city divides the entire city into two. One side is the transshipment yard, and the other side is the residential area. They are clearly separated.

The mayor of Khabarovsk, Ilya, is a military officer who just retired last year. He is only 30 years old this year. He strictly implements George's orders and builds Khabarovsk into a military city.

Khabarovsk is the transportation hub of Amur, connecting Vladivostok to the south, Yuriev to the north, and Europe through the Trans-Siberian Railway to the west.

In view of the important position of Khabarovsk, basically all the officers and soldiers who retired from Fu Tuan last year were assigned to Khabarovsk, providing a strong guarantee for Amur's traffic safety.

Like Vladivostok, Khabarovsk's biggest dilemma is manpower shortage.

There are only a pitiful 2500 staff and family members in the entire Bolli Company, and almost all staff are engaged in work related to railway transportation.

The only areas in Amur that can currently be called cities are Vladivostok, Khabarovsk, Yuriev, and Temple Street at the northernmost end of Amur.

Vorontsov has been in Vladivostok for the past few months.

In Vorontsov's view, Khabarovsk is still the transportation hub of Amur and the second largest city in Amur. Even if it is worse than Vladivostok, it will not be much worse.

Vorontsov never expected that the population of Khabarovsk was only 2500——

Can't say the same.

If the Korean workers employed are included, the total population of Khabarovsk still exceeds 4000.

Almost all of the extra 1500 people are porters at the railway station.

Specifically for Russians, Khabarovsk has only 800.

"Last year we relaxed population restrictions and allowed free movement of people. So this year, Khabarovsk's population not only did not increase, but actually dropped by more than 200 people compared to last year."

Ilya has no choice but to retain people, which is a dilemma faced by all cities in Siberia.

"why?"

Vorontsov didn't quite understand the situation.

"Who doesn't yearn for the colorful world of Vladivostok——"

Ilya's resentment.

Vladivostok is so nice, there are things to eat and things to do.

Compared with Vladivostok, Khabarovsk is like a big prison. Especially in winter, life is very difficult. Who knows who can survive.

In the past, the Amur people would flee back to Europe whenever they had the opportunity, or simply flee abroad, trying every means to leave Siberia.

Now with Vladivostok, Siberians finally have a better choice. If they had a choice, Ilya would not want to come to Khabarovsk.

Vorontsov was speechless and asked him to choose, and he also chose Vladivostok.

The only thing George can do is to provide better protection for Burleigh.

In fact, as long as the problems of education and medical care are solved, many problems will be solved.

Now Khabarovsk already has a primary school and a hospital. As time goes by, Khabarovsk’s security will become more and more complete, and more and more people will be willing to settle down in Khabarovsk.

There are actually signs of this happening now.

Although the Russians are unwilling to stay in Khabarovsk.

But for the Qing people and Koreans, Khabarovsk, where they had food, drink and a place to live, was paradise.

Khabarovsk is a material transfer station for Amur. There is definitely no shortage of daily necessities. Although there are few fresh fruits, there are enough potatoes and fish. What else is there to ask for?

In other words, Amur did not relax restrictions on Korean immigrants.

If Amul relaxes the restrictions, it will be Gaozong and Concubine Min's turn to worry.

Gaozong and Concubine Min hope to be protected by Amul.

We absolutely do not want to see large numbers of Koreans immigrating to Amur.

Therefore, Amul only hired workers from Goryeo and restricted immigration to Goryeo, so as not to cause concerns to Emperor Gaozong and Concubine Min.

There is not much to say about the Qing Empire, everything is due——

Collect everything you can.

In a town of 2500 people, there isn’t much to see.

The Korean workers here live in underground huts. A pit is dug in the ground and reinforced with logs. As long as it is waterproof and warm, a hut can accommodate twenty or thirty people.

Many formal residents live in diwozi. Vladivostok has begun to try to build residential buildings with central heating, but Khabarovsk does not yet have such conditions.

Siberia has cold winters and heating is the most important issue.

There is no shortage of coal in Siberia, and the underground house can be heated using the recommended equipment. A simple briquette stove, plus a few iron pipes, is not complicated.

Once the city develops to a certain extent, this heating model will no longer work.

Diwozi takes up too much space, the efficiency of distributed heating is not high, and the waste of resources and environmental pollution are serious.

George didn’t want Vladivostok to turn into a foggy city in a few years.

To solve the heating problem in winter, only central heating is the way to go.

Therefore, simple concentrated residential buildings have become the most helpless and most reasonable choice.

To build such a residential building requires a large amount of reinforced concrete, which is another shortcoming of Vladivostok.

Vladivostok's steel production is insufficient and a large amount of imports are still needed to meet the needs of Vladivostok's industrial development. It is simply unable to take into account urban construction. Therefore, in Vorontsov's view, Khabarovsk, the most important transportation hub in Amur, can only be described as "desolate".

George and Vorontsov only stayed in Khabarovsk for one day and continued north to Yuriev.

There are still some sporadic traces of development between Vladivostok and Khabarovsk.

Apart from the railway to the north of Khabarovsk, there is really only boundless virgin forest left, with no trace of human activity at all.

Shortly after George's train left Khabarovsk, it hit and killed a Siberian brown bear.

"Duke, please don't get out of the car. There are many wolves here, as well as tigers and brown bears. They are very dangerous."

Yuri is very careful, hundreds of people die every year in Amur due to wild animal attacks.

Let alone tigers and bears, one on one in the wild, humans are lifeless.

Siberian plain wolves can walk more than ten kilometers at a speed of about 10 kilometers per hour. When chasing prey, their speed can increase to nearly 65 kilometers per hour. When sprinting, the distance of each step can be 5 meters.

These things still go out in groups and even know how to cooperate with each other when hunting prey. If they are targeted by plains wolves, the consequences will be equally tragic.

George's eyesight was quite good. When the guards were cleaning the railway tracks, George discovered several plains wolves on the hills not far from the railway.

The Siberian plain wolf is the ancestor of the husky. It is indeed handsome, but it is also dangerous.

Vorontsov had nothing to say. He already wanted to return to Vladivostok now.

At least it's safe in Vladivostok.

This is too dangerous in the wild!

In order to prevent wild animal attacks, the Amur people have indeed thought of many ways.

So when the special train arrived in Yuriev, Vorontsov was not surprised by the city walls outside Yuriev.

It is really a city wall, and it is not a low rammed earth wall, but a city wall that is five meters high, wrapped with city bricks on the outside, and even has a bunker on top.

Yuriev's top administrator is also Bakayev, a retired officer of the Fu regiment.

Unlike Khabarovsk, Yuriev's population has exceeded 2, of which there are more than 3000 workers in the steel plant alone. The only entertainment facilities here are clubs opened by the factories themselves, and schools and hospitals are also just in their infancy.

Yuriev's population is prohibited from moving. You can only enter but not leave, and you don't even have the opportunity to visit Vladivostok.

When Vorontsov knew this, his expression changed.

What is the difference between this and going to jail?

different.

The minimum sentence is jail time.

Working in Yuriev is equivalent to a life sentence, and it is the kind where I sit down and my son sits down.

There are certainly benefits to this model.

In Yuriev, wages are basically useless. Even if you have money, you have nowhere to spend it.

Therefore, Yuriev's factory does not pay wages, but various coupons.

Don’t worry about food, clothing, housing and transportation, the factory covers everything.

If you want to consume something that the factory does not provide, such as wine, you need special redemption coupons that can be redeemed from the workers' club.

Whether this model is good or not, the only hidden danger is how long it can last.

The workers in the factory now have all experienced hunger and know what it feels like to be hungry, so they are very satisfied if they have enough to eat.

When the next generation grows up, will they be able to accept this model and work peacefully in Yuriev for the rest of their lives?

It would be too cruel if a person's life range was limited to only one city from birth to death.

"What will happen in 20 years, who knows -"

George is not worried about this problem.

If the situation does not improve, the world will be in chaos within 20 years.

If Amur can get 20 years of stable development, even if the restrictions on Yuriev are relaxed by then, who else can pose a threat to Amur.

"George, although I don't agree with this model, I must say that you are doing a great thing-"

Vorontsov's impression of George completely changed.

In St. Petersburg, all Vorontsov heard were rumors about George, about being rich and unkind, being cruel and tyrannical, having evil intentions, and so on.

What Vorontsov saw in Vladivostok was not the real Amur.

Vorontsov was fascinated by the vitality of Vladivostok. Judging from the population structure of Vladivostok, Amur did have a yellowing trend.

Only after traveling from Khabarovsk to Yuriev did Vorontsov know the true situation of Amur.

In a place where there are more wolves than people, Amur would never be able to build a city like Vladivostok in a hundred years without relying on external population.

"If anyone wants to give it a try, I can send him to Nikolayevsk. If he is so interested in Amur, I think he will definitely fall in love with Nikolayevsk."

George is full of malice.

Nikolayevsk is Temple Street, the former headquarters of the Siberian Fleet.

"George, you are too cruel——"

Vorontsov laughed.

(End of this chapter)