Chapter 126 Action Preparations
"As long as this market is opened, we can let Ming Dynasty organize a military observation group to Vietnam to watch. Seeing the performance of the Vietnamese army on the battlefield after using our weapons, this should be very useful for us to open up Ming Dynasty's arms market in the future. Help." When it comes to doing business, Schneider's thinking is obviously more flexible than Yan Chujie, and he has already thought of how to use Vietnam's domestic war to open up the international arms market.
Everyone started discussing at once, each expressing their own opinions on how to open Vietnam's arms market. As for what the original topic was, no one cared.
They were obviously discussing how to adjust Xingang's planned military force allocation, but the topic turned to the arms business. This kind of digression has almost become a traditional feature of the internal meetings of the Time Travel Group. This is not the first time that Wang Tom has participated in this kind of internal high-level meeting, and he has gradually become accustomed to this kind of custom.
Finally, Liu Shanxia from the Ministry of Construction spoke up and brought the topic back on track: "As for the passage from the port area to the mining area, I would like to ask if there are conditions to go directly onto the track?"
The use of rail transportation in mining areas is undoubtedly a relatively convenient method of transportation, and its efficiency is much higher than carrying it on the back or using ordinary flatbed trucks. In the mining area of Tiandu Iron Mine, the first ore transport track, about 300 meters long, has been laid and put into use, which is responsible for transporting ore from the mine pit to the ore dressing plant. Moreover, this track is still a double-track construction, and two tracks, one coming and one going, can be used at the same time. If there is a problem with one of them and needs to be stopped for maintenance, the transportation line will not be completely shut down.
However, Chuanchuan Group currently does not have the ability to produce steel on a large scale, and naturally the track is not rolled by large machinery such as steel rolling mills. In view of the current limited pig iron reserves, these tracks are not even made of pig iron. Instead, iron sheets are used to cover wooden rails, which are used by horses first.
This is completely impossible. Even according to the lightest rail standards of later generations, building one kilometer of railway will require at least 70 tons of steel. If double-track construction is adopted, the demand will have to be doubled, and this weight is not even Counting road spikes, fish-shaped plates connecting rails, and supporting devices such as switches are included. If we really want to adopt an all-steel track, then the Tiandu Iron Mine's double-track track, which is only 300 meters long, will require 40 tons of steel to meet the construction needs. Even if there is so much steel at the moment, the executive committee would not dare to use it all at once. on a track.
And what pulled the heavy ore on this track was not the newly invented steam engine, but primitive animal power. Although the speed is a little slow, it has greatly saved human resources. In the past, at least five or six people had to push and pull a cart of ore to transport it. Now only one cow is enough. In the past few months of continuous transactions with the Li people, Chuanchuan Group has obtained seventy or eighty cattle. In addition to part of them being allocated to the Ministry of Agriculture for use as cattle, ten cattle were also allocated to the mine. After the track is built, the amount of work these ten cows can complete is enough to save dozens of labor for iron ore mining.
Because of the efficiency of rail transportation, the Ministry of Industry included rail transportation in the infrastructure projects when planning the Hongji Coal Mine. However, it is easy to establish a project but difficult to construct. It is the Ministry of Construction that really needs to face this problem. Building a track is not as simple as drawing a line between two points on the drawing. Although the expedition team has provided graphic, text, and video materials, Liu Shanxia still needs further explanation from Wang Tom before he can make a judgment. This is not just a matter of the Ministry of Construction. The matter of one family also involves the issue of whether the Ministry of Industry should assign production tasks to the woodworking shop and metallurgical workshop.
Wang Tom frowned and said: "I don't know much about engineering technology, so let Qiao Zhiya do the talking."
Qiao Zhiya stood up and said: "We can see from the picture that with the trend of this river valley, it is not difficult to build a track. The key is that in order to prevent the river from flooding during the rainy season, we must start from the river bank that is higher than the river bed. This may require the use of engineering blasting. If the supply of explosives can be guaranteed, then I think laying tracks directly in this channel is a more feasible solution.”
"Then can you estimate the approximate manpower and construction period required?" Tao Donglai asked.
"If there are five hundred laborers and sufficient tools, I think it will not take more than half a month to open up this river valley channel. As for laying the track from the port area to the mining area, if everything goes well, it can be completed within a month." Qiao Zhiya thought about it. I answered after thinking.
"It's still too slow. Time waits for us!" Tao Donglai sighed: "If we wait for more than a month, I'm afraid that the metallurgical workshop will soon stop working."
"In fact, it shouldn't take that long." Ning Qi interjected: "If we follow what the inspection team said, as long as we have enough transportation capacity, we can continuously obtain labor from the eastern coastal areas of Vietnam, and the construction of the new port will not Like the base camp, we often face a shortage of labor. Qiao Zhiya is talking about the construction progress of 500 people. What if we can invest 1,000 people? "Tao Donglai immediately turned to the shipping department. Seating: "Xiao Yue, Xiao Sun, what do you think?"
Yue Zhiyun and Sun Changmi looked at each other, and Sun Changmi nodded to signal Yue Zhiyun to speak first. Yue Zhiyun then responded: "We currently have three relatively large ships on hand. If we put into this overseas route as soon as possible, in addition to carrying cargo, we can also transport about 300 to 400 people from the east coast of Vietnam each time. Go to Xingang. In addition, He Xi rented three ships from the north. These six ships can transport at least five to six hundred people at a time. The round trip between the two places takes about four days, and two to three thousand people can be transported in a month. The human problem should not be big." Seeing the joy on everyone's faces, Yue Zhiyun added: "Of course, the data I mentioned is just a calculation on paper. It is almost impossible for us to achieve such a goal in actual operation. .”
Sun Changmi continued: "The reason for this is that there is an unavoidable problem - most of the materials needed for the construction of the new port must be transported from the base camp, and because there are many things that need to be transported from the base camp. With continuous production, it is very likely that one trip or two will not be able to complete the haul, so it is impossible to keep all ships running on the route between New Port and Vietnam to haul people. According to our estimates, to ensure the construction progress of New Port, at least one must be divided. Only half of the ships need to be returned to the base camp to transport supplies, so the speed of transporting people may not meet the standards Yue Zhiyun said.”
"Can you give me an accurate estimate of how much transport capacity can be guaranteed?" Liu Shanxia from the Ministry of Construction was already confused by these two guys.
"The maximum number of people in the first half of the month is 800, and transporting 1,500 people within a month is probably the limit." Yue Zhiyun finally gave the answer.
"That's enough!" Liu Shanxia slammed the table and said: "As long as the labor force can reach this number, I can complete the construction of the track from the port area to the mining area within twenty days... Of course, it is only a single-track track, and building a double-track track requires more It’s much more troublesome, but if necessary, the construction of the double track should be completed within two months.”
Next, Tom Wang answered a few questions intermittently, but they were all relatively easy to deal with. Tom Wang completed the answer in a few words. Tao Dong came to take a look and announced that the meeting would move to the next agenda, which would be the final review of the overseas development action plan.
"Let me tell you about the material supply situation." Tao Donglai opened the notebook in front of him and began to explain: "The current material preparation mainly includes four items, namely production tools, construction materials, food supplies and daily necessities."
"The production of production tools is currently handled by the metallurgical workshop and carpentry workshop. As of this afternoon, we have prepared three hundred shovels and hoes, one hundred hammers and axes, chisels, saws, bamboo baskets, poles and other tools. Several. The production department is currently working overtime to produce tools, striving to ship enough tools for the first month of construction of the new port. ”
"In terms of building materials, in addition to a large amount of cement, we have dismantled several prefabricated houses in Base No. 1 for shipment, which will be used to build Xingang's command center and members' residences. As for the housing of immigrants, The model of the second base will be used, mainly with bamboo and wood structure buildings such as elevated boat houses. In addition, we also need to manufacture an additional batch of freight rails. The production plan of this part will be discussed in detail after the meeting. The construction of Xingang Wharf will mainly use bamboo and wooden trestles in the early stage. After the local cement kiln is put into operation, a permanent wharf will be gradually built. ”
"In terms of food supply, the biggest problem now is food, because we may have to provide food and drink for thousands of people locally from the beginning. This pressure is not small. We plan to solve the food problem in two parts. One is to start from the base camp. We can transport enough grain for a thousand people for a month. The second is to purchase some grain locally. After all, it is so close to the grain-producing area. We are not short of money now and can purchase more nearby. This will probably be the main input of grain needed by Xingang in the future. After the local population meets the needs of coal mine production, we can also organize small-scale agricultural development and grow some food and vegetables to supplement it.”
“As for daily necessities, in addition to the personal luggage of the stationed personnel, we have also prepared photovoltaic power generation equipment for living facilities, a set of short-wave military radio stations, more than 20 walkie-talkies, and water purification equipment that can be used by thousands of people. Hot water boilers and pipes. In addition, the metallurgical workshop has also specially produced a batch of briquette stoves. By then, the personnel stationed in Xingang will not have to burn wood stoves to survive like in the base camp. "
(End of chapter)