Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 1128 The Ends of the World ([-])

On May 1657, 5, a whaling ship of the South Sea Fishing Company captured a huge blue whale in Sunset Bay, and then dragged it to the nearby processing plant for processing—according to the Ministry of Agriculture , Whaling in the Sunset Channel (Beagle Channel) will no longer be allowed from January 18, 1658, and all licenses will not be renewed after they expire.

The reason for this is said to be to cater to the preferences of some big shots. Gein State-owned Dongfang Hotel Group has built a bunch of ultra-luxury holiday villas on the hillside behind Shanhou Town, and the sunset glow in Sunset Bay and the whales playing in the water It has always been famous for its beautiful scenery on the east coast, and many bigwigs don't want this beautiful scenery to disappear, so the Ministry of Agriculture introduced such a policy in order to cater to Shangyi. Of course, this was also approved by the Southern Railway Company.

In addition to whaling, the number of fur seals and other sea animals in the nearby waters has exploded, and a large industry has also been formed, with an annual export of nearly 7 yuan to the local area. In addition, there is also the fledgling sea crab fishing and processing industry. This kind of sea crab has a unique flavor. The local area is very popular with dignitaries and dignitaries, and it is very valuable. It has also become a major industry in the local area. At present, the Southern Railway Company employs many naturalized Ona people to specialize in processing in Shanhou Town.

After discussing with the employees of the Southern Railway Company who arrived at Shanhougang, Wang Dali left half of the staff there to assist the company in finalizing the route of the Ningshan Second-Class National Highway (Ningnangang-Shanhougang), while he With the rest of the troops, they continued to go north, and on May 5, they arrived at the small pier in the bay at the west end of Jiehu Lake, and then took a small steamer to Xiaodian Township in the later Porvenir Bay—hence the designation It got its name from a shop that bought special products from the natives.

Xiaodian Township is deep in Xiaodian Bay, the waves are calm, and the geographical location is superior. The Southern Railway Company originally set up a supply and marketing store here. People who settle here can be regarded as returning the immigrants who were "sent" to the mainland by the Southern Railway Company.On the coast of the later San Sebastian Bay, more than 100 kilometers east of Xiaodian Township, the Southern Railway Company also set up a small wharf to transport peat, which is commonly called "peat wharf" by residents and sailors. Was officially named "peat township".

Together with Xiaodian Township, Peat Township, Beech Township and Ningnan Port, it will be the basic base of Ningnan County in the future.This county and Shanhou County basically carve up the entire Tierra del Fuego area, that is, the two counties are bounded by the Strait of Magellan-Lake Fagnano line, and the south of the Shanhou villages (including a series of broken islands) are all divided It is under the jurisdiction of Shanhou County, and the area to the north, including Musk Ox Island (that is, Dawson Island), is the territory of Ningnan County—it is believed that after Ningnan County is established in the near future (currently there are about three residents Thousands of people), will replace Qingfeng County as the country's largest county in terms of area, and it is also estimated to be the county with the lowest population density.

After waiting for two days in Xiaodian Township, everyone chose a good day to cross the strait and arrive at Weihai Port on the other side.This port is located on the original site of the later city of Punta Arenas, so it got its name because the first batch of 300 people who came to this settlement came from Weihaiwei, Shandong.This year, this port has added hundreds of soldiers from the green battalion of the Qing army, and more than 500 Polish female slaves arranged accordingly, plus the naturalized Patagonians. The population of Weihai Port has officially exceeded 1800 People, it can be considered a small town in the South Railway Attachment.

After changing to a large ship at Weihai Port, on May 5, everyone arrived at Heijin, which is less than two days’ voyage west of Weihai Port (of course, this is for steam ships, and the sailing ship’s voyage is definitely more than two days). island.This island was called Lesko Island in later generations, and the Chileans set up a large-scale island ranch on it, which specializes in grazing sheep. Now the Southern Railway Company naturally follows suit.In addition, because there is a coal mine with good quality and reserves on this island, and because the mining is relatively simple, it has been included in the mid-term development plan by the Southern Railway Company.At present, a mining team with more than 30 people has been set up on the island to carry out preliminary preparations. At the same time, a coal wharf is under construction. A township government was set up to govern them, named Heijin Township - it is believed that in time the island will produce enough coal to supply the Southern Railway Company.

After sending a batch of construction equipment to Heijin Township, the ship set sail and headed for the final destination, Araucan Port.

After arriving at the Port of Araucan on June 6, Wang Dali, who was still in good spirits, accepted the banquet hosted by Liu Ang and others in the restaurant of the Southern Railway Branch.The banquet dishes are very rich - Nantie may lack everything else, but there is no shortage of meat, milk, fish and so on, so the whole party enjoys the guests and eats very happily.

On the second day, Liu Ang formally had a conversation with Wang Dali in his office. The content was mainly about their work on this trip, that is, surveying a railway line from Heishan Township to Xuefeng Township.The construction right of this railway has been awarded by the Executive Committee to the Central Railway Company, but the preparatory work still relies heavily on the Southern Railway Company, which is very close at hand. In addition, the rental of equipment, the employment of personnel and the supply of food are also inseparable. Opening the South Railway - the price is that the executive committee will send another 8.3 Ming people and [-] Livonian immigrants to the South Railway subsidiary area this year, bringing the total population of the South Railway subsidiary area to [-]. At this time, Liu Ang asked Wang Dali and others to talk about such a thing.

"Strong!" Liu Ang spit out a smoke ring, and said slowly: "I won't say much about the importance of the Xuefeng Lake area, anyway, the future of our power industry and shipbuilding industry (iron-rib wood-hull boats) is all here. Therefore, this 150-kilometer-long railway line is very important. The coal from the Montenegrin coal mine, the double steel products, and the ship assembly and repair plant that will be built on the shore of Argentine Lake in the future (secret test iron-ribbed wooden hull ship)-of course There are also some special products such as wool and frozen meat along the way - all will be transported through this railway. Well, the railway does not need to repair the line for the time being, a single line is fine, because the transportation volume is not large, of course, our company is also completing it now The dual-track construction of the Liangyang Railway cannot spare too many manpower for the double-track construction. Oh, by the way, the line along this road was not in our control area in the past, and the road along the way may not be very peaceful. I will discuss this point Tell Xu Gang to dispatch a group of police officers to escort you to complete the exploration mission, don't worry."

"I understand, Mr. Liu." Wang Dali took a sip of green tea, and then couldn't help asking: "Mr. Liu, can we not unite against those Tehuelches? There are many of them on Tierra del Fuego." Have the Ona people been brought here by our united front? Aren’t there many Patagonians working for us along the Southern Cone and Ocean Railway? Why are they so cruel to the Tehuelche people? Can’t they get along well?”

Xu knew Wang Dali's virtue, Liu Ang took a puff of cigarette, and said with no surprise: "Da Dali, the matter is not as simple as you imagined, and the natives are also different. In fact, we sent to the united front Several Taoist priests of the Tehuelche people were killed, and many herdsmen grazing in the wild were also attacked. These people are stubborn, and it is useless for you to reason with them. Sometimes you have to resort to thunder Means. Of course, if there are Tehuelche people who are willing to surrender, we will not give them a way out. Anyway, there are not many of them, and they can always continue to live if they migrate to South Africa or New Huaxia Island. "

Wang Dali also knew that under the current circumstances, most people would not understand his appeal to treat the aborigines kindly, so he could only nod silently, and then called everyone to survey the route northward the next day.

There are trains available for the journey from Araucan Port to Montenegro, but most of them are dirty coal trucks with a lot of dust.Wang Dali struggled for a while between the bumpy horse and the dirty coal truck, and finally chose the train—are you kidding, saying that the train is dirty, do you think riding on a horse is not dirty?The strong westerly wind and the windy sand in the sky will teach you how to be a man.

This is a return train, using the latest "La Plata Star-1" locomotive, with 12 carriages attached to it, running at full speed at a speed of nearly 40 kilometers per hour, which is simply unbelievable in the desolate Patagonia region. Transport artifact.The truck compartment is mainly loaded with construction materials, and there are also many sealed barrels of flour, which seem to be urgently needed materials in Heishan Township.In addition, Wang Dali also saw more than a dozen fixed graphite crucibles in a certain carriage. Of course, refractory bricks are also indispensable. In the production stage, these refractory bricks may be used for the melting room. As for the graphite crucible, it is naturally used for the Erzhong workers to smelt molten iron and molten steel with different ratios.

Wang Dali, as a relatively well-informed traveler, naturally knows that the second heavy machinery factory established in Heishan Township focuses on the research and development and manufacture of track/trackless forging machines, hydraulic presses, and hydraulic presses.They have now basically understood the 40-ton hydraulic press delivered to them by Tieling Special Steel Works, and have successfully copied one, which has been tested to perform quite well.At present, the factory is using the only two "Blacksmith-1" hydraulic presses on hand (the other one is damaged and needs to be repaired) to do some processing of incoming materials to subsidize household use (mostly accessories used on trains); while starting training The personnel are preparing for the launch of a hydraulic press with a nominal pressure of 100 tons. I believe that after the successful development of this 200-ton hydraulic press, the technical capabilities of the factory will reach a new level. capture.

At 6:7 pm on June 150, Wang Dali and others arrived in Heishan Township, and the survey of the [-]-kilometer railway branch line to Xuefeng Lake (Argentina Lake) was about to start officially.

(End of this chapter)