Chapter 181 Railway Construction Site (3rd update, please subscribe)
It is not easy to expand territory thousands of miles.
But more importantly, we must protect this land!
In fact, even as the king of Araucania and Patagonia, Zhu Xianhai nominally owned a large tract of land including the Pampas, but in reality, the actual control area was only an area of 100 to 200 kilometers around Nanhua, several fortresses near the North River, and the coastal city of Araucania.
There is no other reason, the insufficient population cannot be effectively controlled.
In order to form effective control, in addition to population, transportation is also extremely important. With a railway planning map obtained from the system, on April 3, 1862, the foundation of Nanhua's first railway was laid! In the following months, tens of thousands of workers were involved in the construction site.
The sound of horse hooves trampled on the grassland. Dozens of cavalrymen on their fine horses came from afar. The one who came on horseback, escorted by the cavalry, was none other than Zhu Xianhai. As usual, he was wearing a green military uniform.
In front of him was a busy construction site.
There are about five to six hundred people on this construction site. All of these workers live in tents without exception. Among them are new immigrants who are on the list of the education camp, as well as "old immigrants" who have left the new education camp. However, on this construction site, there is no difference in the work they do. The only difference is that new immigrants receive a monthly allowance of 2 yuan, while old immigrants receive a monthly salary of 6 yuan.
Other than that, there was no difference in what they ate. No matter if they were from Zhejiang, Jiangsu, or Anhui, they were all wolfing down cornmeal steamed bread. As for rice, there was definitely no rice here. You had to get used to it, or you wouldn't eat. The laborers were almost all in groups. On a construction site with military management, fellow villagers would never gather in groups. They ate and rested in groups of squads, platoons, companies, and battalions. While they were eating, the squad leaders were still shouting:
"Eat quickly. You still have to work after you're full! The emperor has issued an order that the railway must be built to Neuquen before the end of the year, otherwise no one will be happy!"
Hearing the threats from the squad leaders, Mr. Zhu smiled bitterly. He was the "emperor" in the squad leaders' mouths. Now his identity as a "king" was no longer a secret. In the eyes of the Chinese people, the king must be the emperor.
Of course, his bitter smile was not because the laborers were burdened with heavy workload. In fact, the section from Nanhua to Neuquen was basically on the grassland. There was no need to cross mountains and ridges, only to level the land and compact the foundation.
What is the real difficulty? After Neuquén, you enter the Andes Mountains, which is the most difficult road!
Build a railway from Nanhua to Linhai City on the Pacific Coast!
It had to be completed by 1864!
This railway not only carries the task of immigration, it also serves as South China's second line of defense in the north.
Railways can not only run trains, but also armored trains. It is not realistic to have a bunch of steam tanks on the battlefield, but there is no problem in having dozens of armored trains. Having armored trains is equivalent to having mobile fortresses. When combined with the Beihe Fortress, they form a complete defense system. No one in this era can break through this defense system!
It is for this reason that special requirements are placed on the construction period.
However, if the task cannot be completed on time, what can Zhu Xianhai, who is called "the emperor" by the team leaders, do with these hard-working laborers?
At most, it's just the battalion commanders who are unlucky.
Unlike the construction of this era, in order to speed up the construction progress, Zhu Xianhai deliberately chose the "segmented construction" technology of later generations, which is to divide the thousands of kilometers of railway from Nanhua to Neuquen into 20 sections, with one battalion in each section, and through the simultaneous construction of 20 sections to speed up the progress of railway construction!
The quality of railways at that time was definitely not comparable to that of later generations, so the construction was fast. If everything went well, the railway would definitely be built to Neuquén by the end of the year. However, this was only the completion of the roadbed, and laying the tracks would take some time.
Just as Zhu Xianhai and his team were walking on the construction site with their horses, the call to start work rang out over there, and the workers hurriedly carried their tools and continued to work.
While the workers were busy building the roadbed, a middle-aged man in cloth clothes and glasses was holding an abacus next to the roadbed, seemingly calculating something. Just when he figured out the result, a company commander in a blue long-sleeved shirt jogged over.
"The progress of the third company was 5% behind yesterday. It must be completed today. Otherwise, the meat for the third company will be cancelled today."
The man did not question the supervisor's order. There was no need to question it. On a construction site under militarized management, it was required to complete the project on time. Otherwise, the person would be subject to military law!
That would cost you your head!
Even if you lose your head, if you are demoted, your salary will be greatly reduced. For those who have finally got a badge on their collar, who would want to be demoted? A company commander is still an official! An official who can manage hundreds of people!
Watching from afar the supervisor assigning tasks to each company, Zhu Xianhai nodded slightly. Now these people have almost become accustomed to the militarized management.
This is a good thing!
Practice makes perfect!
The railway construction site is the best place for militarized management. Workers adapt to collective life here, accept militarized management, and develop habits. Naturally, they will not resist Nanhua’s universal militarization in the future.
After spending more than ten minutes assigning the day's work to the four companies, Hu Xueyan was about to look for a foreign technician to check the route when he turned around and saw the incoming cavalry. So he took the initiative to step forward, bowed enthusiastically and said.
"My fellow soldiers, are you safe along the way? Do you want to rest at the construction site?"
There are no settlements on the grassland itself, at most there are only a few Mapuche tribes. It is normal for cavalry to rest on the construction site during training or mobilization on the grassland.
However, as soon as he finished speaking, Hu Xueyan discovered that these people were not cavalry, because the young man in the lead did not have any flower titles on his collar badge.
Young people, no flower title...
In an instant, Hu Xueyan recognized the identity of this gentleman - he must be the "Emperor" in the eyes of the people and the "Lord" in the eyes of the top leaders, so he quickly bowed and then bowed.
"Hey, I am Hu Xueyan, the humblest man. I greet you, my lord!"
Zhu Xianhai's identity in Nanhua is quite complicated, because as a king he is called "Your Majesty", but he is also called "Lord" by company executives, and foreigners call him "Boss". His complicated identity actually depends on who the person being addressed is.
The reason why Hu Xueyan called himself "Lord" was simply to elevate his status - after all, this title was equivalent to calling himself a "subject".
Hu Xueyan!
This name sounds a bit familiar!
Looking at the middle-aged man in front of him, Zhu Xianhai asked about the progress of the project. Hu Xueyan naturally reported it truthfully. After listening to his report, Zhu Xianhai said.
"The progress is pretty good. As long as we keep up this pace, the foundation construction will be almost complete by the end of the year, and it should be no problem to open to traffic in the first half of next year. By the way..."
Nodding slightly, Zhu Xianhai asked casually.
"Where are you from?"
Hu Xueyan replied quickly.
"Replying to the Lord, Jixi, Huizhou, Anhui."
(End of this chapter)
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