Chapter 228 Trip to Vietnam (11)
After sending away the gloomy-looking Gu Kai, Tao Donglai didn't take this matter too seriously. There are indeed a few people in the Time Travel Group who have a similar mentality to Gu Kai. They believe that since they have come to this time and space, they should create a more ideal social system, such as equality for everyone, equal pay for equal work, etc. But Tao Donglai knew very well that this so-called absolute equality system was simply impossible to achieve. After all, the vast majority of people abandoned their original lives and came to this time and space not for the great purpose of liberating the working people. The behavior of people like Gu Kai and Raisa who keep talking about slogans such as "equality", "freedom" and "democracy" by later generations of Western politicians all day long will actually have an impact both within the traveling group and among naturalized people. The power is quite limited. The vast majority of people still prefer the existing through group structure, with a very small number of elites as decision-makers, the through people as leaders, and naturalized people as implementers. This pyramid structure is more suitable for their own development needs.
Nothing happened all night. Early the next morning, Tao Donglai went to the canteen alone to check the operating status of the logistics department.
Compared with Victory Port, Heitu Port has a more concentrated residential area and a higher population density. Therefore, the canteen here is divided into two parts, the north and the south. The south canteen where Tao Donglai is located mainly deals with management committee staff, Military and police personnel, a small number of immigrants who moved from Victory Port in the early stage, and some local women and children. The content of breakfast is very simple, rice porridge with pickles, but there are indeed a lot of ingredients added to the porridge. In addition to several common sea vegetables, there is even a small amount of scallops. Chuanzhong's special breakfast is slightly better. Each person has an egg and a half-foot-long sea fish.
Soon a group of people from the management committee also appeared in the canteen. After everyone had breakfast together, Tao Donglai ordered Gu Kai, Zhou Hengxing and Tian Yeyou to go with him to inspect the local residential areas and production areas. District, and Wang Tom is responsible for checking the status of local ordnance and military facilities. Military chief Qian Tiandun is still on the Tushan Peninsula, and the entourage sent to Wang Tom by the management committee is actually naturalized corporal Gao Qiaonan.
Tao Dong came to see Gao Qiaonan and brought a group of militiamen who were standing straight outside the canteen, wearing camouflage training uniforms and carrying a musket almost as tall as him. He couldn't help but joked: "What's the attitude of Gao Qiaonan? Very dignified! Whenever I see him, he always looks ready to go to the battlefield.”
Zhou Hengxing coughed dryly and said: "Corporal Takahashi Minami's performance in the local area is still very good. Since he took charge of the security inspection work in the residential area, the local security situation has improved significantly. I heard that Lieutenant Qian has given The Military and Police Department issued a report and requested that Gao Qiaonan be promoted to a military rank so that he could be given actual duties.”
"It is true." Tao Donglai nodded and admitted the rumor: "The Military and Police Department only has so many people. In the future, a large number of grassroots officers will still have to be selected from naturalized civilians. More capable people like Gao Qiaonan , can be properly trained. In addition, because a training camp will be set up on the Tushan Peninsula in the near future, some of the local militia may need to be stationed there to serve as military advisors, so a company of militia will be added to the Black Tu Port, and the soldiers will be local. The selection will be carried out among the naturalized civilians, and the specific matters can be implemented after Lieutenant Qian returns from Tushan Peninsula.”
This news did not surprise everyone in the management committee. In fact, Qian Tiandun had been more or less angry with them before. In fact, everyone knows very well that the expansion of the army is only a matter of time. If the Cross-Travel Group wants to rapidly expand its territory in the future, it must rely on strong military power. But so far, apart from the military industry, the construction of the army has not brought real visible direct benefits to the Crossing Group. This is also one of the important reasons why the civilian system is opposed to military expansion.
However, in Heitu Port, even the pacifist Gu Kai no longer opposes the expansion of the army, because compared to the base camp, the military and police force here is too small. There are about a hundred military and police personnel stationed in Heitu Port, and they are stationed in several places. The number of mobile personnel in normal times is less than twenty. Once a mass incident occurs, such a small number of people cannot suppress the scene at all, and This is one of the reasons why Gu Kai is worried that the labor treatment of miners will cause dissatisfaction among naturalized people.
The first place Tao Donglai inspected was the naturalized residential area in Heitu Port. After the Kurotsuchi Port suffered a flood, the residential area was moved to a fairly high ground on a mountainous plain in the southern part of the port area. According to the original planning of the Ministry of Construction, public facilities such as bathhouses and toilets were built in the residential areas here according to a certain residential density. Almost all private houses were built according to the model of Victory Port. Large areas of neat and uniform boat-shaped houses formed one after another. Small community.
The residential area here is divided into four areas: A, B, C and D according to the north-south direction. Tao Donglai noticed that each boat-shaped house has a wooden house number nailed on the outside. This house number consists of the area number plus a numerical number, such as A number thirteen. Zhou Hengxing said that this is an ongoing attempt by the civil affairs department. In the future, based on this, household registration files will be gradually compiled for local naturalized residents.
The civil management method of Black Earth Port is different from that of the base camp. The social system of the base camp is based on communes or units, and the residences are relatively scattered. If the civil affairs department wants to establish files on naturalized citizens, it must rely on units to collect and organize information. However, because the industries in Black Earth Port are relatively single and the residential areas are relatively concentrated, there is no base camp commune system. It can be said that it is another attempt at a civil administration system. The experience gained in establishing this household registration system will also be used in the civil affairs work in Sanya in the future to gradually form a standardized management system.
These boat-shaped house communities were basically built after the floods at the beginning of the port. Therefore, the drainage ditches around the communities were dug deep and wide, and all the boat-shaped houses had at least one foot off the ground. Even if the flash floods of that time were to occur again, the damage to residential areas would be extremely limited.
There are tall wooden watchtowers on the periphery of each residential area, and militiamen will stand guard on these watchtowers at night. In addition to fixed-point posts, there are also specialized night patrol teams that patrol around the community from time to time. Speaking of which, the security measures taken by Black Earth Port far exceed those of the base camp. For example, various communes do not arrange any sentries on duty at night. At most, there are two or three people responsible for night duty and regular inspections to prevent the occurrence of fire disasters at night.
The northern end of the residential area is adjacent to the port area. At this time, several fishing boats can be seen slowly leaving the port. The focus of Tao Donglai's inspection today was naturally the cargo terminal area further north.
The design of the terminal here is also based on the cargo terminal currently under construction in Victory Port, but the overall size is only about one-third of that of Victory Port. At this time, there were several coal ships docked at the pier, and workers were loading the coal in baskets onto the ships. Tao Dong looked at it for a moment and then shook his head slightly and said: "The efficiency is too low."
Gu Kai answered: "Regarding this matter, we have submitted an application to the Ministry of Industry for the development of a belt conveyor, whether it is human power, animal power or steam power, but we just don't know when it will be used."
For bulk cargoes like coal that require long-term and large-scale transshipment, relevant departments must consider efficiency issues during the transportation process. To this end, all current coal ships have undergone small-scale modifications to their cargo holds to facilitate faster loading and unloading of cargo. At present, the existing track from the mining area to the port area in Heitu Port and the planned track from the port area to Tiandu Industrial Zone in Shengli Port are all major projects built to improve transshipment efficiency. However, everyone seems to have forgotten to consider the efficiency issue in the process of loading from the dock to the ship. As now, the coal is loaded into the frame at the dock, and two workers lift it onto the ship before loading it into the ship. The coal in the basket was poured into the cabin, which virtually reduced work efficiency.
Fortunately, they have quickly realized this problem in practice, and it is not too difficult to remedy it. Although the Ministry of Industry's current capacity to manufacture steam engines is still relatively limited, it is not difficult to build two sets of animal-powered belt conveyors to improve the efficiency of bulk cargo transfer at the dock. And as long as a suitable interface is left on the power transmission mechanism, it will be very simple to transform it into steam power when the conditions are suitable in the future.
At the west end of the pier, there is a track about one meter wide extending inland. This is the largest project since the opening of the Black Earth Port - the coal transportation track. The actual length of this track is more than 1,500 meters. It is still running on a single line. There is only a section of double-track track built in the middle to facilitate the intersection of rail cars starting from both sides. Gu Kai said that according to the management committee's plan, the construction of a double track will begin early next year, and by then the coal transportation capacity from the mining area to the port area can be doubled on the existing basis.
These coal trucks are shipped by ship after the chassis and wheel hubs are built at the base camp. After arriving here, four carriage walls are built with wooden boards on the chassis and they can be put into use directly. Each coal train consists of four carriages, which can carry about ten tons of coal at a time and can be pulled by only two to four animals. Although the transportation efficiency is not high, the cost of use is extremely low. At the foot of the mountain to the north of the freight port, there are several workshops, mainly brick kilns, lime kilns and cement kilns, whose production is needed for local infrastructure projects. Because these industries are dusty, they are also located far away from residential areas - although it is only about one kilometer away, this is considered to be a humanitarian consideration by the management committee.
The Management Committee also wanted to apply to introduce the glass industry to Black Earth Port, but the Executive Committee rejected this request after consideration. It’s not that the executive committee is worried about the leakage of glass manufacturing process technology. After all, many key technical indicators are in the hands of Chuanchuan’s technicians. The main reason is that the base camp is currently also desperately expanding the production capacity of glass products, and there is no technical staff at all. If you are assigned abroad, there will still be a large number of technical job gaps that need to be filled.
These workshops are the northern end of the existing territory of Black Earth Port. Further north is a large uninhabited mountainous area. Except for hunting teams with loaded guns, generally no one goes deep into these dense forests.
Tao Donglai and his party turned back south and followed the coal transport track. Gu Kai pointed to a mountain pass ahead and said: "Go through that mountain pass and you will reach the mining area."
The current Black Earth Port mining area is divided into three mining sites, all of which are open-pit mining models. One of the mining sites produces coking coal, which is in great demand in the base camp. Before entering the mining area, Tao Donglai saw several charcoal kilns emitting black smoke. This is also part of the coal supporting industry of Black Earth Port. The mining area turns part of the coking coal into coke and transports it back to Victory Port, and extracts asphalt from the coal tar obtained in the process. It's just that the production environment and production equipment here are extremely primitive, and the naturalized people working here are all blackened by soot, and their original appearance cannot be seen at all.
After arriving at the first mining site, Tian Yeyou, as the mining supervisor, began to introduce the production situation here to Tao Donglai: "This mining site was the first place we identified when we came to inspect, so we named it No. 1 Mine. There are currently four hundred workers working in this mine every day, and the daily output of raw coal is approximately 25 to 28 tons.”
Tao Donglai noticed that the diameter of the mine here was about two hundred meters. As it continued to be dug, it took on a funnel shape, and the deepest point was at least about ten meters. The coal excavated by the miners below is continuously brought to the surface by small carts one after another and loaded onto larger flatbed trucks. Every time a cart is filled, it will be pulled by livestock to a designated coal washing site, where the coal will be washed and screened before being loaded onto a cart and transported to a dock or a charcoal kiln for burning coke.
Seeing Tao Donglai frowning, Tian Yeyou seemed to have guessed what he was thinking, and said first: "We will set up a winch-type coal truck here soon to further improve transportation efficiency."
Later open-pit coal mines were transported by large trucks, so there was no problem with transportation capacity. The current Heitu Port mining area obviously does not have such conditions, and the human-powered trolley method is too inefficient, so relevant departments are constantly trying to improve the transshipment efficiency in this process.
Tao Donglai's expression softened slightly upon hearing this, and then he asked about the work arrangements here. Tian Yeyou did not dare to neglect and gave a detailed introduction, including the workers' shift patterns, work remuneration, food supply, etc. Gu Kai had been counting on Tao Donglai to ask him the questions he mentioned the night before, but Tao Donglai obviously did not intend to fulfill his wish. After listening to Tian Yeyou's explanation, he quickly ended his visit in the mining area. Patrol.
In the afternoon of the same day, Tao Donglai convened a meeting with the Black Tu Port Management Committee and the heads of some production units. First, he conveyed the recent executive committee's plans to Black Tu Port, and second, he explained a series of agreements recently reached with North Vietnam. . Wang Tom also made a brief report to Tao Donglai on the military inspection situation.
Compared with the energy spent on the Tushan Peninsula, the inspection team's inspection work in the Black Earth Port area seemed to be a bit fleeting and fleeting. However, there is nothing that can be done about it. Tao Donglai's trip was originally scheduled for ten days, but now eight days have passed, and the main purpose of foreign trade has been achieved. It is time to consider the return trip. In addition, Tao Donglai believes that based on what he saw during his inspection, the order of life and production in the Black Tu Port area is relatively well maintained, development is relatively stable, and the leadership team of the management committee is relatively united and unified. There were no obvious flaws for the inspection team to find fault with. Staying for a few more days would only cause trouble for the management committee.
At the end of the meeting, Tao Donglai announced his decision to return the next day, and then followed the reception banquet the previous night, and this night he continued to practice it for Tao Donglai and others.
Early the next morning, the "Speed" sailed away from Black Earth Port as everyone waved goodbye, but before returning to Victory Port, they had one last inspection place to visit.
At five o'clock in the afternoon that day, Fushuizhou Island appeared in the crew's sight. Because of its location right in the middle of the two coasts, this small island isolated in the Gulf of Tonkin was built by the Executive Committee as a haven and transshipment relay station on this route.
There are currently twenty personnel stationed on Fushuizhou Island, but there are no Chuanzhong among them. There is nothing that can be done about this. Compared with the existing settlements, the living environment here on Fushuizhou Island is indeed worse. Except for fresh water, almost all supplies must rely on passing cargo ships. When we first started building the island's living facilities, a few travelers came to live there for a while, but soon they couldn't stand the boring and monotonous life here, so they applied to be transferred back to Black Earth Port.
When the "Speed" docked and landed on the island, almost all the people stationed on the island rushed to the pier to greet them. These people stationed on the island are all Vietnamese immigrants, and several of them were the first batch of refugees to immigrate to Black Earth Port. They recognized the "Speed" sailing ship that took them out of the predicament. When they met Wang Tom again on the dock, I almost knelt down and kowtowed.
Compared with the people who cross the border and cannot bear the loneliness, these immigrants do have to endure more hardships. However, they had their own reasons for accepting this arrangement - the management committee promised that as long as they lived on the island for half a year, they could immigrate to Victory Port where the living conditions were far better than those of Black Earth Port. With such treatment, the job of stationing on the island has become popular among the naturalized residents of Black Earth Port. It is said that the number of people who have signed up to station on the island has been queued up to 1630.
The living facilities on the island are very simple, with a small pier and several boat-shaped houses. The only major project is to use the terrain to build a large reservoir near the pier to store fresh water. In addition to replenishing practical fresh water for passing ships, the purpose of this facility also has a preparatory function, which is to provide fresh water for future steam-powered ships - those things need to consume more fresh water to travel on the sea than the crew. many.
(End of chapter)