Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 1145 Hejian ([-])

"The double-tracking project of the Northwest Railway has been started for some time, and now the people of the China Railway Company have reduced the proportion of wood imported from New China, Brazil and other places, and instead purchased a large amount of acacia wood from the Hejian area, just to save money. For this reason, Ma Wanpeng and Blanco have already complained to me once.” Peng Zhicheng, a veteran of the army, former member of the executive committee, and current national railway supervisor, stood on the land on the other side of the Wujiang River (that is, the Hejian area) in casual clothes, truthfully Said.

"Not only the railway, but now the higher-ups plan to use the hydraulic resources of the Lower Daxing Waterfall (that is, the Grande Waterfall) to build some hydraulic-driven machines nearby. Anyway, the water here is abundant and never runs out. After the hydraulic machines are repaired, they can start working all year round. The cost It’s still not high. Have you seen the Pelton turbines at the Shipu Reservoir? The horsepower is as high as 98, but it’s a pity that it can’t be fully utilized), and although the cost of the reservoir is slightly beyond the budget and reached 800 yuan, it is very cost-effective in the long run.” Said Tang Yuan, a commissioner of the Wujiang District Administrative Office who has been very effective in weight loss recently.

The total investment of Shipu Reservoir and its affiliated water turbines and hydraulic hoists exceeds 60 yuan. It has been built for several years and has created considerable economic benefits.At present, there are many enterprises that use water turbines to drive machines in this area, such as Shipu Armory (Part of the Dayuhe Armory was relocated here, specializing in the processing of armor and other cold weapons), Shipu Mint (the First Mint has all been relocated here), Wujiang Food Factory (noodle grinding, oil pressing, etc., to digest the massive local agricultural products), Tieling Special Steel Factory branch factory, etc.

In addition, the area has continuously mobilized the right to collect corvée over the years (each person has 15 days per year, overdue wages must be paid), and the Wujiang District Administrative Office has also recruited residents from neighboring Fuguo and Yong'an counties to serve in corvée. After several years of construction, They have built a large number of irrigation canals between Shipu Township and Suihua Township in the neighboring county. One of the main irrigation canals (using the original river channel to widen, dredge, and serve as a canal) is more than 40 kilometers long. It has already connected Suihua Township to Suihua Township. The existing river course in Sanhekou Township is more than 50 kilometers (it can be used for navigating small boats, and it has been widened and dredged). The Wujiang area will then connect this river course with more than 50 kilometers of irrigation canals upstream, and the 45-kilometer section of the Three Forts of the Bingtuan-Shipu Township. Together they are collectively referred to as the Wujiang Irrigation Canal.

This main irrigation canal (which also serves as a canal, uses turbines to lift water for irrigation, and some river sections use steam to lift water) has a total length of 150 kilometers. It has multiple functions such as flood storage, flood discharge, irrigation, and shipping (shipping only reaches Shipu Township). The large tracts of farmland opened up on both sides of the strait suddenly became high-quality irrigated land.Under the organization of the regional administrative office and the county and township governments, the local residents began to plant a large number of grains with high economic value such as rice to obtain benefits. In addition, they also transplanted a large number of local wild acacia trees. Dikes, on the one hand, are used to extract essence—just like what many people do on the acacia trees on the other side of the Wujiang River.

"The higher-ups saw the sweetness in the construction of the Shipu Reservoir, so they wanted to build a flood storage reservoir near the Daxing Waterfall. Otherwise, the counties below would always complain that the threat of floods was too great. In years with heavy rainfall, many lands along the river, The fish pond will be submerged, and there is nothing I can do about it..." Tang Yuan said, looking at the white water in front of her with some depression.

The Uruguay River winds its way from the source of the mountains in the north, and then the river widens suddenly, forming a large section of wide water surface, which is called "Baishuidian" by the residents of Daxing County living nearby.The water demand of Baishui Lake is extremely large, and it is an available resource most of the time. However, in some years with a lot of rain, there will inevitably be a surge in the water level here, which will lead to flooding downstream. matter.Therefore, in order to completely eradicate the downstream floods, the regulation of Baishuidian is an unavoidable hurdle, and it is impossible to complete without investing huge sums of money.

"Building a flood reservoir near Daxing Waterfall?" Peng Zhicheng shook his head when he heard it, and then said: "Although the narrowest section of this waterfall is only about one kilometer, the drop is not small, and the local geological conditions are not clear. To be honest, The manpower and material resources that need to be mobilized for this reservoir are huge. Back then, the construction of the Shipu Reservoir required mobilization in three counties near the left. If Daxing Reservoir was to be built, wouldn’t it be necessary to mobilize the whole country? How is this possible! Our current national strength I can’t afford such a large-scale project, and there are insufficient engineering equipment, construction materials and funds, so I can’t do it. Let’s be realistic, it’s more important to develop the forests on the west bank of the Wujiang River now. The double-tracking project of the Northwest Railway is at a critical moment. The demand for wood is extremely huge, and there is cheap Hejian wood for use, so there is no need to use New Huaxia wood shipped from afar.”

The two of them walked along the river bank while talking, and there were some crooked mane hills everywhere under their feet, occasionally mixed with a large number of water pools or swamps.Peng Zhicheng estimated that the location where they are standing now may be a water town on the map of later generations. The construction of the Geing Grande Falls Dam led to an increase in the water storage of Baishui Lake, which flooded many swamps, mane hills, and sandstones that existed at that time. Dam and more.The terrain of these swamps or mane hillocks is winding and winding, and the large and small water pools form an interesting contrast. During the period of reeds and forests, there are many kinds of wild ducks and water birds, and occasionally capybaras can be seen. Duandi is a land of fish and rice, and it looks like a land of abundance. land.

"Look at these zigzag hills. Agriculture is very problematic." Peng Zhicheng pointed his finger and said, "Not to mention anything else, let's just talk about the floods surrounded by the hills, the depressions inside sandbars or islands It takes several weeks to evaporate in the water, so it’s still farming! Even if we can organize manpower to dig ditches through mane hillocks to discharge the accumulated water, and then expand the planting area of ​​many varieties of crops, the problem is that we have such Is it necessary? A lot of wasteland in our country is empty there, and it is still virgin land that has not been developed for tens of thousands of years, why bother to go to Baishuidian to wade through the muddy water?"

"Old Peng, don't get me too far, who said you're going to build an agricultural base here?" Tangyuan blushed a little when she heard that, and only heard him say, "All I'm thinking about is the Hejian area on the west bank of Baishuidian. Set up a few more formal settlements and develop the rich local forest resources. There are a lot of pine trees, willows, and acacia trees here. The paper mills in Jingjiang County in the lower reaches of the Wujiang River are in great need of this kind of raw material. Now you can see here There are more and more lumberjacks. Can’t all the food be transported abroad? It is still necessary to develop local agriculture to save resources as much as possible. But it’s strange to say that the Wujiang River and the Hejian area are only separated by a river, but the West Bank But there are dense forests all over the place, and there are only sparse small forests on the east bank, most of which are grasslands. It's really strange, and I don't know what's going on..."

"But speaking of Lao Peng, don't underestimate Baishuidian." Tangyuan continued, "The whole lower reaches of the Wujiang River suffered a severe drought the year before last, and the farmers in Daxing County drove their livestock to the Baishuidian area for pasture in groups. At that time, the water in the depression surrounded by Zonggang saved the lives of a large number of livestock. Besides, according to the experience summed up by the Ministry of Agriculture, in the area of ​​Baishuidian, if we build a lake like the one in the United Province With dike reclamation protection projects, the hinterland of these sandbars or islands can also be used as standard agricultural land. Well, the projects that need to be built include strengthening the mane hillock facilities and preventing flooding. We have some in the lower reaches of the Wujiang River. The grape plantations on Jiangxin Island or Jiangxin Island have a strong guiding significance, and Baishuidian can do these things gropingly. There are not many requirements, as long as they can provide the daily consumption of food, vegetables and meat for a large number of local loggers, In addition, plant some fast-growing trees according to local conditions to supply downstream wood processing factories, wooden handicraft workshops and paper mills. "

In recent years, Jingjiang County in the lower reaches of the Wujiang River has developed a series of wood processing-based industries. Among them, Jingjiang Paper Mill is a large wood consumer, and a large number of folk wooden handicrafts/furniture workshops, wood processing factories and other enterprises are interested in Songke. The consumption of trees, willows, acacia, and acacia trees is also quite large, and this can only be found in the Hejian area. Gein, the trees on the east bank of the Wujiang River are very sparse, and it is too late to protect them. How can they be cut down indiscriminately? Indiscriminate logging.

As a result, some smart people in the country began to contact famous labor brokers such as Mendez and Valentino to recruit workers in the Old World, and then cut down forests in the inter-river area.This kind of activity has lasted for seven or eight years, and the number of loggers active in the Hejian area (mainly concentrated near the Wujiang River) has reached 2 (including many Kelandi workers). Downstream Jingjiang County and the Northwest Railway double-track project and Southwest Railway under construction provided a large amount of timber, and the credit is not small.

A large number of people will naturally require many full-time farmers to farm for them to provide food. Acacia Township on the other side of Daxing Port is a place, and Songliu Township on the west side of Baishuidian (located in the area of ​​​​Fedración, Argentina in later generations, is a spontaneous formation. The settlement) is also a place - this place mainly focuses on the felling and rough processing of pine trees, willows, and acacia trees that are not found in Acacia Township. Many old Italian and Scottish laborers could not cut down trees, so they settled down and planted land to provide food for the surrounding large and small logging camps.

These old and frail loggers are basically proletarians who can't get along in Europe. After they are single or bring their families across the sea to the river area, they cherish the land they can get (in fact, no one cares about it. , you can develop it is your land), many people have built many dams on the Zonggang terrain near Baishuidian to enclose their own land or ponds to avoid floods (and also to deal with the impact of dry weather).Tang Yuan and others saw the efforts of these people, so they moved to invest in the existing dams they built, and build larger-scale and higher-standard dams to completely turn Baishuidian into a land for the east bank. The idea of ​​a reservoir for the benefit of the people - it may take ten years or even decades, and the investment is huge, but some things will never be completed if you don't do it, and the lower reaches of the Wujiang River will also be disturbed by irregular floods , what to do is still up to the members of the Executive Committee to make up their minds.

The second update today, making up the chapter that was not updated yesterday. . .After finishing this chapter, the one at [-] o'clock tomorrow morning is still not available... I will continue to bury my head in typing. I'm not sure if I can update it tomorrow morning. I've been too busy recently, everyone forgive me.

(End of this chapter)