Australian Storm 1876

  Chapter 516 Lake Malawi is here

  Lake Malawi

  On the day before Carl Peters, President of the German East Africa Company, arrived in Seoul City, Li Fushou and his wife boarded the Voyager cruise ship and embarked on the route to Lake Malawi.

Lake Malawi is a typical rift-type lake at the southernmost point of the Great Rift Valley in East Africa. The deepest point is more than 700 meters. There are 14 rivers in the surrounding area where water is injected throughout the year, but there is only one outlet, which extends to the south. Shire River.

The Shire River flows into the lower reaches of the Zambezi River through more than 400 kilometers of rivers. It is also the last large tributary with abundant water before the Zambezi River enters the sea. The lower reaches of the Shire River are deep and wide, allowing large ships to pass.

After the cruise ship Voyager traveled northward along the calm river for more than 270 kilometers, everyone abandoned the boat and landed in Qiqu Town, Tun Town, the new immigrant. .

  In the 80-kilometer section from Matope to Hamilton Falls in the middle reaches of the Shire River, there are tight mountains on both sides, with many waterfalls, canyons and rapids, with a drop of 384 meters. It is known as the Murchison Falls.

The area is not accessible to ships, but because of the large river drop due to the continuous mountains, it is rich in hydropower resources, which can provide abundant electricity for the upstream and downstream plain areas, and it is rich in coal, iron and aluminum mineral resources. , Suitable for in-depth development.

The coal resources in this area have been explored by experts, and the quality is relatively average. It is sufficient for general cargo ship thermal coal, domestic coal and power plant coal, but it is not suitable for the high heat required by warships. The same is true for high-quality coal and iron ore. , The taste is more general, far inferior to the high-quality iron ore produced in Australia.

But then again, this kind of iron ore is also sufficient for producing pig iron and crude steel. After all, Mozambique does not have the machinery industry, munitions industry, and ship manufacturing that require high steel performance. It produces some ordinary construction steel and agriculture. The use of steel fully meets the demand.

  In view of this

Wu Mozhou’s planned industrial center is located in Qiqu Town. He plans to invest 85,000 pounds and import German blast furnace equipment to build a new steel plant with an annual output of 30,000 tons here to provide for the construction of steel in Mozambique. It does not take thousands of miles from Longmen City. Shipped.

It is planned to invest about 53,000 pounds to import a rotary kiln with a specification of 2.25×46 meters from the German Nacker-Chemper Company, with an hourly output of 3.45 tons of clinker and a daily output of 500 barrels of cement (170 kilograms per barrel, Total 85 tons).

In addition, a series of small enterprises, such as oil mills, leather factories, food processing plants, flour mills, hydroelectric power stations, and agricultural implement factories, will be built. The investment ranges from two to three thousand pounds to tens of thousands of pounds to build Qiqu Town into a Mozambique region. An industrial center with preliminary material supply capabilities.

  All this stems from the superior geographical location of Qiqu Town.

It is backed by the central mountainous area rich in mineral resources of the Shire River and faces the calm and wide lower reaches of the Shire River. The manufactured industrial products can be transported through the wide river to connect all the way to the lower reaches of the Zambezi towns in the south. The Zambezi River goes west to enter inland cities and towns, and it can also go deep into more inland areas along the main stream of the Zambezi River, with unique and convenient transportation conditions.

  Except for the rainy season of 3 to 4 months when the Zambezi River is extremely powerful, navigation can be carried out safely at other times, which is an extremely important geographical advantage.

planning;

  Only one place in Qiqu Town, the total planned investment (including the construction of towns and wharves) reached 225,000 pounds, which is a highlight in the development of 24 cities and towns.

  According to Wu Mozhou’s large-scale plan, the investment of one million pounds a year is really not enough. Let alone the Central Avenue, which is expected to be completed by the end of the year, a considerable amount of funds has been invested and progress is made at a rapid pace.

After the completion of   , South Avenue and North Avenue will start construction one after another.

No matter how cheap the black slave labor is, it costs money. Food and construction tools always have to be purchased. Army soldiers have to pay some subsidies to supervise the construction, pay the salaries of official engineers, bridges and culverts need to use cement and steel, and there are some necessary expenditures. Expenses, the scale of the construction of seven to eighty thousand black slave laborers, the annual expenditure will not be less than 280,000 to 290,000 pounds.

Some of the 24 cities and towns are newly built, and some are renovated and expanded. The annual investment is as little as thousands of pounds, and as many as tens of thousands of pounds. , To invest every year.

  Seoul City, as the governing center of the entire Mozambique region, belongs to the expansion of the town. The construction of complete sewer facilities and the laying of asphalt pavement are all planned things, which will cost a lot of money.

  Otherwise, it will rain and be covered in mud and water, and in a dry day, covered in dust, I really can't afford to lose that person.

  The other highlight is housing construction and resettlement. This aspect is mainly solved by bank loans. However, in the first few months after the Chinese immigrants arrive in Africa, they have to spend the first few months in Africa. In any case, they will have to subsidize some, and this money will also require financial expenditure.

  To build a home on the basis of one poor and two whites, there are countless places where money is needed.

  In the early stage of construction

The Red Fort was seized by the war with a return value of 1.4 million pounds in two to three years, which is about 500,000 pounds a year. However, after that, there will be a large vacancy in the finances of Mozambique, and the annual appropriation will drop sharply from one million pounds to The scale of 500,000 to 600,000 pounds is the biggest test.

  The time that Li Fushou spent five years on the head of the African chief executive was to achieve a financial balance by the end of 1891 and reduce blood transfusions in the base camp. This is a very important time node.

  At that time, if Mozambique cannot achieve financial self-sufficiency through taxation, Wu Mozhou will basically declare that the policy has failed and it is time for a replacement.

  After leaving Qiqu Town, he entered the mountainous area.

There are several shepherd trails along the west side of the vast mountain foothills. After abandoning the boat and landing, Li Fushou and his group of more than 400 people rode into the mountain on horse mules. After two days of trekking, they crossed the 80-kilometer mountainous area and suddenly saw their eyes. On the endless plains.

  The lake is quiet and wide, and the mountains are reflected in the clear water, presenting a picture of an extremely beautiful landscape.

   "Look, master, we have arrived at Lake Malawi. The scenery here is so beautiful, it looks like a paradise." Madam Gu Liu couldn't help but exclaimed.

  She rides on a white Arabian horse with a pink wide-brimmed lady's hat on her head. She is tied to her white chin with a silk ribbon to resist the strong sunlight in the plateau area.

  It was a boat ride and a horseback ride. After more than three days of trekking, it finally arrived at the destination. The joyful mood was beyond words.

  She watched the golden sunlight shining on the lake, and the lake water glowed with a dazzling flame-like light, as if the sky was spreading with flames, her lips became o-shaped in surprise, and she couldn't speak in front of her fingers.

  The mountains on both sides of the strait are standing, this scene is really magnificent.

  Li Fushou came to her with a horse, watching the lady riding a white horse like a person in the painting, and exclaimed in his heart; "It's really beautiful, it's so beautiful."

Gu Liuyan noticed the strangeness in his tone, and looked back a little surprised, and saw the master staring at her in a trance, a red cloud flew up on her face, and she said shyly; "Oh, master, What they told you was Lake Malawi..."

   "Hahaha...My wife, this is not Lake Malawi, this is Lake Malumbe, and its size is not even one-thousandth of Lake Malawi."

   "Ah...Isn't such a big lake Lake Malawi?"

   "Hehe...in Lake Malawi you can never see the mountains on both sides of the coast at the same time."

"why?"

"Because the narrowest part of Lake Malawi is 24 kilometers, and the wide part is more than 80 kilometers, and its length reaches 560 kilometers, who can look so far and have a panoramic view of the magnificent scenery of the peaks on both sides of the bank? "

   "Ah... so big? How far is it?"

   "It's not far, just ahead, about 8 kilometers away."

Hearing that the distance is not far away, Gu Liuyan, who is full of joy at the moment, glanced narrowly at Li Fushou, and deliberately said in an old-fashioned tone; "Master, look at this place so beautiful and picturesque. Why don't you and I stand in the way? Swagger and fight against each other and win by going to the shore of Lake Malawi first, isn't it happy!"

   "Heh...I don't know if it's appropriate?" Li Fushou replied with a deliberately pondering look at the vigorous young woman.

   "It's proper, it couldn't be more proper."

   "In this case, being a husband is just like what a good wife wants. How to compare and test can be drawn down as much as possible."

"Then we will count down to 10, ten, nine, eight, seven...zero" Gu Liuyan deliberately stretched his accent when he counted to 7, then suddenly jumped to zero, and took the lead in swinging away. , There was a silver bell-like laughter from a distance; "Gluck... it's going!"

   "Oh, this is not fair..."

  Li Fushou was unwilling to sweep his wife's interest at this time, he was very cooperative and made a surprised look, then laughed and waved his horse and chased after him, sprinkling joyous laughter all the way.

The two of them started running with their horses. The guards around them and the others dared not lose them. They immediately drove the horses to follow closely. More than 400 horse mules spread their hooves on the grassy plain and ran wildly. The sound of rumbling horses' hooves broke the tranquility of the Great Plains, creating a wild scene of cavalry charging, which made people excited.

As an indispensable skill in life, there is no Queenslander who can't ride horses. Gu Liuyan often follows Li Fushou on horseback riding and hunting rabbits in the wild. She has developed a very good riding skill. She is far ahead of her. , The clothes are fluttering like an immortal, and the horse is galloping on the prairie.

   Soon a wide and boundless water appeared in front of him. The end could not be seen to the left, and the end could not be seen to the right. It was as wide and without friends as the sea.

  The golden sun shines on the lake, and it looks like a sea of ​​fire from a distance. The magnificent scenery is hard to see in the world. Compared with Lake Malombe, it is a few grades lower in an instant, which is completely different.

  Lake Malawi, finally here...

  (End of this chapter)