Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 1613 Industrial Sprouts

If we put aside the scale and talk about the level of industrial technology, in the entire Far East region, Sakhalin Island is undoubtedly the number one.The other countries, whether it is the Ming and Qing Shun countries, Japan, North Korea, or Russia, cannot compare with it. Perhaps this is mainly due to the strong assistance from the east coast.

Liao Jiangong, commissioner of the Sakhalin Regional Administrative Office, boarded the armed transport ship "Baikal", and set off for Heishui County, an important industrial town, together with dozens of mechanical equipment and steam engines eliminated from the local area.Because it is a cargo ship, there are not many guests in the cabin. Except for Liao Jiangong and his party, there are only one Japanese from the Matsumae Domain, a scholar wearing glasses, and a procurement manager of the Third Fleet of the Navy. and a clergyman in priestly robes.

It seems that Tianzun specially arranged it. The weather in September is so warm and sunny. The sun shines on everyone on the deck, making them feel warm and comfortable. On the right side of the "Baikal" ship's side, Sakhalin Island is glowing with delightful greenery. The coast is full of dense forests and steep cliffs, which are undeveloped areas at first glance; the left side of the ship's side is filled with clear and transparent In the air, the coastline on the mainland is faintly visible, as if reminding everyone that they are in the famous Strait of Tartar at this moment.

The latitude of the southern part of Sakhalin Island is about 46-50 degrees north latitude, which is comparable to that of France in Europe, but the climate is quite different.The cold current from the northern islands is constantly washing Sakhalin Island from both sides (there are even drift ice near these islands in late summer), which makes the climate of this vast island begin to become harsh, and the life of the residents has changed. It's hard.

Among them, the "damage" suffered by the east side of the island is greater, the natural conditions are worse, and the vegetation has more polar characteristics; while the west coast is greatly weakened by the influence of the warm tributary of the Kuroshio Current from the south. The influence makes the climate here warmer and the vegetation more diverse, but it is still not comparable to that of France at the same latitude.It can be said that the cold current from the north is the source of the harsh climate of Sakhalin Island. It is no wonder that the Soviet Union once wanted to artificially fill the Tatar Strait, which is only 7.3 kilometers at its narrowest point, to prevent the cold current from going south. There is an isthmus between the Sakhalin Islands. At that time, the island had a mild climate and rich species, so now some people wonder whether it is possible to reproduce the isthmus, because the water depth at the narrowest part of the strait is very small.

Of course, in the 17th century when engineering technology was low, people on the east coast were naturally unable to fill the Strait of Tartar. Some geographers from the east coast once pinned their hopes on Heilongjiang, hoping that the river would carry Silt was able to fill it up, but then they were all disappointed.Because the river has a small drop, high latitude, and high forest coverage, the river has very little sediment content (even most of the only sediment has been filled in the Sanjiang Plain), and it is intended to fill the Tatar Strait to give The people of Sakhalin Island benefited, but I don't know that it will have to wait until the Year of the Monkey.

On the morning of the third day, the "Baikal" blew its whistle and arrived at Heishui Port in the middle of the island. As soon as he landed, Liao Jiangong saw large expanses of poplar windbreaks on both sides of the pier, as well as wheat fields that seemed to be growing very well.As the first place where people from the east coast landed, Heishui Port has grown to a rather large scale, with a population of 8000 in the urban area, and a combined population of more than 8000 in the suburbs and rural areas, which is quite amazing—— It can be said that on this big island with a relatively low population density, 8000 people is really a very large number. This may be because there are concentrated building material factories, shipyards, wood processing factories, flour mills, Quarries, lumber mills, coal mines, briquettes factories, iron smelting workshops, firearms repair shops, seafood processing factories, leather tanning factories, soap workshops, meat products factories and other powerful enterprises, a large number of workers and their families The population of the entire county has been greatly enriched, making it approach the [-] mark.

Of course, we must not forget that this is the capital city of the East Coast people in the entire Northeast region. The pioneering team, regional administrative offices, and the army have all set up their headquarters here. This has increased the number of civil servants, soldiers and their families in many agencies, so It is not surprising that the population is large.But at the same time, it is obvious that there are 8000 people in Heishui County, among which there are very many civil servants, soldiers, and workers who are not engaged in agricultural production. Considering the local climate, it is not enough to support so many people. A large amount of grain is required to be imported from other places, which can be seen from the large number of granaries in Heishui County's wharf and inland areas. This is a purely grain-importing county.

Another large ship was moored in the pier at this time. It seemed that it was sailing from the south. Shipped rice.In addition, there were also some dock workers—among them both Ming people and North Koreans—rowing up in small boats to help pick up the wooden barrels one after another. They contacted the front to contain rice, and these wooden barrels should be filled with ground flour. Bar.

"When these ships come next year, we can have steam booms." Liao Jiangong looked at it and said happily: "This time, a few old steam engines that were eliminated from Qingdao Port were brought along with the ship, and these cranes can be used." to increase the efficiency of loading and unloading goods at the dock. Although the machines are old, they are usually well maintained. We only need to let the people in the iron workshop make some parts by hand, and these backward manpower or animal power booms can be replaced. It has been transformed. We have no shortage of coal or iron here (the iron material mainly depends on pig iron imported from North Korea), and the potential for developing these things is still good.”

In fact, to some extent, there is nothing wrong with Liao Jiangong's words.Although the industrial development of the East Coast people in the Far East has always been suppressed by the Executive Committee, some basic industries have been established more or less over the years, making it possible to produce musket bolts, process gun stocks, and boring machines. Manufacture gun barrels, repair various equipment, and process a series of tools such as nails, agricultural tools, and hardware tools.

In addition, the students trained by Marshal Mo's wife Lola have now become the backbone of the Blackwater Shipyard, and as the number of students they trained increases, the scale and strength of the shipyard are also growing. Strong, the 250-ton "Yaksa"-class armed transport ship is the masterpiece of the factory, and it has even been praised by some local shipbuilding professionals, and it has specially purchased the patent authorization for the production of this type of ship, which is very illustrative.

Along with the armed transport ship "Baikal" are several old steam dock pumps from the Great Fish River Shipyard, small steam engines that power woodworking lathes and circular saws, several cutting heads, and a complete set of industrial windmills Spare parts are not without small supplements for the Blackwater Shipyard.

Of course, compared with a [-]% new high-precision steam lathe on the ship as a "treasure of the ship", these old equipment and old parts may not be enough.Because only with this well-maintained lathe, the iron smelting workshop in Heishuigang can really "use tools to make tools", that is, use this as the mother machine to process some pedal machine tools with lower precision, Hydraulic machine tools are of great help to improve productivity, so this machine is called a treasure.

"The equipment on board should be loaded and unloaded carefully, especially the good one bought from the No. [-] Heavy Machinery Factory. It is not easy to get it." Liao Jiangong naturally cared about this machine tool at this time, so he immediately reminded: "It's best to be able to load, unload, and install the machine under the guidance of those technicians hired from the local area. Don't mess with it yourself. If it breaks, you won't be able to play."

The local technicians mentioned by Liao Jiangong just came from Erzhong Factory. They were sent here this time to help Heishui County assemble and debug the high-precision machine tool so that it can be used normally.In addition, they also have the important task of training a group of local apprentices. After all, they cannot stay here for a lifetime, and the most important thing is to pass on their skills.

There was a salty smell in the air, the smell of kelp drying near the pier.This local specialty product is still very popular with people in mainland China. Whether it is in North Korea, Shandong or Ningbo, there are not small markets. Therefore, the kelp fishing industry in Sakhalin Island has always been relatively prosperous.

As far as Heishui Port is concerned, although it is not as developed as Dabo County, there are probably thousands of people fishing for kelp along the long coastline every summer and autumn.There are not a few businessmen who come to buy by boat, so that this industry has become one of the important incomes of local residents—to be precise, some old and weak women and children.

Liao Jiangong had a private residence in the city. It was a beautiful two-story stone building built with hundreds of Qing army prisoners.His house is not big, but very grand, and he likes a beautiful house, a comfortable home environment and fine cuisine.A few years ago, it seemed difficult to achieve the above conditions in a place as bitter and cold as Heishui Port, but with the development of the local economy and the gradual increase in productivity in the Heishui area, now Liao Jiangong has already done well here. private chefs (four in total, two from Qingjiangpu and two from Guangzhou), intellectuals who can create poetry, novels and dramas, and painters who can paint (he once created a portrait of an officer flogging an exile ...), this little day is indeed quite good.

However, just after disembarking from the ship, Liao Jiangong could not go home to rest. On behalf of the local officials, he had to welcome some local technicians, engineers, skilled craftsmen (all here to train talents) and 20 corps that came to rotate on the ship. Fort graduate students, the location is set in the county government guest house.

I have to mention one more thing here. With the rapid changes in the situation in the Far East, the mainland has gradually relaxed its technical restrictions on the Far East, allowing some machinery, equipment, and technical personnel to come to the Far East to improve its industrial strength and productivity. However, But it also strictly restricts such technology to stay on the relatively closed Sakhalin Island, so as not to spread to Japan, North Korea or mainland China, causing unnecessary trouble to the strategic deployment of people on the east coast.

The welcome dinner was scheduled for seven o'clock in the evening, by which time it was already dark outside.All the people sat together on the small wooden building of the guest house, listening to the deep roar of the sea outside the window, and began to exchange glasses lively.The wine is the famous Hezhong Daqu—well, it’s actually the Hezhong Daqu mixed with half of the water—the food is hard meat, the meat is roasted and served by the exiled prisoners in the guest house, but it’s not as good as Liao Jiangong in terms of taste A personal chef goes far and wide.

"...I, Liao, are very grateful to all of you who traveled thousands of miles to come to the bitter cold place of Heishui in the Far East. Heishui lacks everything, but everything else can be made up for. Only the lack of talents is short-term. There is an insurmountable gap within the country. Most of you are technical backbones who have worked in local factories and enterprises for a certain number of years, and the level is naturally needless to say. Today, I, Liao Jiangong, hereby implore everyone to actively carry forward the spirit of helping and leading, Help us cultivate more qualified talents here. Our young men are not stupid at all, and they are very hardworking and willing to learn. I hope you will pay more attention, please!" After drinking for three rounds, Liao Jiangong stood up and said After saying these words, accompanied by the secretary, he left the meeting.With him at the head of this area, it is difficult for the people below to let go, so it is better to get out of the way early and leave space for the people below to play.

The starry sky outside looks a bit bleak, which seems to indicate that tomorrow will not be a good weather.Liao Jiangong took off the hat on his head, then looked at the dark sea, and said softly to himself: "The situation in the mainland is changing day by day, whether it is the Qing Dynasty or the Shun Kingdom, the changes in these years are really not small. Especially now Many European businessmen, such as the Dutch East India Company, the British East India Company, Portuguese merchants and even French merchants, coveted the mainland market. Many weapons, technologies, funds and talents were imported into the territory of the Qing and Ming countries, which greatly improved the mainland. The technical level of the various forces and the combat effectiveness of the army. These things are also a lot of pressure on our three major development teams in the Far East! After all, the strength of the enemy is growing day by day. It's not a good day."

In fact, these words of Liao Jiangong are exactly what the officials of the local executive committee are worried about.That is to say, when the strength of the mainland countries is growing steadily, is it still necessary to suppress the three major pioneer teams in the Far East?Will there be any adverse effects?If yes, how to fine-tune it?This is a very complex system issue, and there is no conclusion in the local area for a while.

However, before reaching a final conclusion, it has been agreed by everyone to vigorously assist the industry in the Heishui area and strive to germinate and grow the local industry into a small sapling. The reason for the talent - there is no doubt that this has a profound impact on the future of the Blackwater region.

(End of this chapter)