Chapter 1012 The Empire's Layout
"Where is it? Bring it here for me to see."
Hearing the letter from the leader, Qu Bing hurriedly called out. The soldier quickly handed over the bamboo tube. Qu Bing opened it and took a quick glance. He was relieved. It seemed that the leader had already thought about the food problem.
He handed the letter to You Ye and said, "Uncle You, take a look. The leader told us not to worry about food and to focus on fighting the war. Food will be delivered in the spring of next year. We don't have to worry about food next year."
You Ye also quickly read it and was relieved. Then he said, "Well, the food problem has been solved. The leader also asked you to report the battle situation. You should write back quickly. By the way, you can also send some of the photos taken on the battlefield to the leader so that he can rest assured."
"Yes, if you hadn't said it, I would have almost forgotten that our team has been outside all the time, and even I have a delay in receiving the battle report. It must be even later to report the situation to the leader. It seems that I have to send battle reports back frequently in the
future." Qubing nodded when he heard this. He did bring several cameras with him on this expedition. At least each camp had one, and he also brought one here. He also brought a lot of negatives. There was also a photo enlarger on the ship when he came here, and there was also a darkroom on the ship, so the negatives could only be sent back to the valley camp for development. Fortunately, when sending prisoners and ammunition during this period, he had brought back a copy.
So Qubing wrote a detailed report on the recent battle situation, with many photos attached, and explained each photo. After writing it, he stuffed it into a bamboo tube and asked someone to send it back to Luo Chong.
When Luo Chong received this reply letter two days later, he was also relieved. According to Qubing's report, the war in the north was going smoothly. It also wrote his prediction of the direction of the war in the next few months and his own response methods. The rest was to report the results of the battle.
There were some photos in the letter. One was taken at the Yanchi blocking position. There were dozens of giant ape corpses lined up in front of the position. Soldiers were holding guns and showing off their power. This was a real record. Since there were photos, they could not be faked. Otherwise, where would they get so many giant ape corpses? And they were killed by spray guns, with blood holes all over their bodies.
There was also a group of photos of the hunting camp. The three companies of the first battalion each brought back a group of prisoners. Judging from the clothes of the prisoners in the photos, they were definitely cannibals. In addition, there were many wild animals captured by the first battalion, such as yaks, wild donkeys, big-horned deer, alpacas, etc.
Finally, there was a group of photos of the river valley camp. There was a prisoner concentration camp in the river valley camp. The prisoners captured by the three battalions of the Shen Ce Guard were finally sent here. There was also a group photo of more than 4,000 prisoners gathered together, standing in the ice and snow, and there were many soldiers with guns guarding them.
This was to show Luo Chong the total number of prisoners they captured, which looked quite a lot.
I have to say that the camera is a really good thing. In ancient times, if you want to report your achievements, you must cut off the enemy's head and bring it back. In the Han tribe, you can just take a few photos to prove their achievements. It's so convenient.
"Come here, copy and reprint the battle report and photos, and send them to the whole tribe so that the people in all counties and prefectures will know." After reading the battle report, Luo Chong immediately arranged for the guards outside the door.
The guards quickly agreed and went out to arrange with the things.
This is a good thing to increase the confidence of the people in the tribe. It represents the powerful military force of the Han tribe. Appropriate display can enhance national self-confidence.
Although there is no such thing as a nation now, there was no such thing as Han people before Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty. National self-confidence is something that needs to be gradually condensed. It is through such foreign wars and the achievements of the entire tribe that all the people are proud of being a member of the Han tribe.
At that time, they will proudly say, "We are Han people!" '
After the guards took away the battle report and photos, Luo Chong was still thinking about whether to wait until the spring to write a report about the trains and various agricultural machinery, add photos, and then send it to the counties for publicity and exhibition, so that the people can know the strength of the Han tribe.
He wrote this matter down in his memorandum and began to think about his layout for the Han tribe.
The war in the north is going smoothly and it is expected to end the fighting completely next year.
I have also started to prepare the grain for the north next year. When the time comes, I will mobilize some from various counties and plant some in the experimental fields. It will definitely be enough.
The production of trains is still proceeding step by step. The first batch of orders has not been completed yet. At present, the Han tribe has opened the Xinwei Line Railway, that is, the railway from Xingang County to Weishan County. There are two trains running on this circular track.
There is also the Pingdong Line Railway, which was opened in the late autumn of the first year of Da Ming, that is, the railway from Pingyao County in Dongxin County to the county seat of Dongxin County. This is also a railway dedicated to transporting coal and is part of the mining transportation system. There are currently two trains running on this Pingdong Railway.
At this point, the layout of the mining railway in the north has basically been completed, and the next step is the railway in the south.
The most important line in the south is the Jingtuo Line, which is the railway line from Takuhai County to the capital. This line is mainly used to support the construction of the capital. Of course, this is a short-term use.
The capital is still a wasteland. Whether it is the construction of the palace or the capital, a large amount of building materials and large equipment are needed. However, the capital cannot produce these materials by itself, so they can only be sent from Takuhai County, the largest base in the south of the Han tribe.
For example, the reinforced cement produced in the north, as well as various steam-powered equipment such as mixers, and the stones mined from the Tang tribe, whether it is bluestone for making millstones, white marble for construction, or stratified rock for making inkstones, most of these things need to be shipped to Takuhai County across the river by ship, and then transported to the capital.
However, after the construction of the capital is completed, this railway will still be the traffic artery connecting the capital to Takuhai County, an economic highway, and will never be eliminated.
After the Beijing-Tuo line was completed, the next railway line in the Tang tribe was built. The most important railway in the Tang tribe was the Pantang line, but this line was a bit complicated.
It started from the stone quarry in Panshi County, and on the way it needed to pass through the iron-producing Taigang County, the water-rich Ganquan County, the rubber-rich Longxi County, and the grain-producing Jinpu County, passing through sixteen counties, before reaching the east bank of the Liuyang River opposite Takuhai County.
It was a little troublesome, but it was definitely very useful for the future development of the Tang tribe. The Tang tribe already had a large population, which was the foundation of development. As long as the output of these places could be connected, the future would be absolutely limitless.
Isn't there a saying that if you want to be rich, you must first build roads? The meaning is here. The Tang tribe has many specialties, whether it is food or rubber, or high-hardness manganese steel, they are all materials urgently needed by the Han tribe.
However, this is only the first phase of the construction plan. The second phase is to extend the Pan-Tang Line railway to Haizhou County and Ningbo County of the Tang tribe. Once these two port cities are connected to the inland, they will be able to transport countless marine resources to the inland.
If the Han tribe discovers other countries or human civilizations overseas in the future, these port cities can also become foreign trade ports.
Another railway is from Taigang County of the Tang tribe to the north, leading to the coal mine discovered by You Fugang. This railway is also indispensable, but the Han tribe’s demand for manganese steel is not very urgent at present, and it doesn’t matter if it is built for two years at night.
After the construction on the mainland is completed, Qiongzhou Island will also build a railway that runs through the east and west ends of Qiongzhou Island, and then cross the strait from Jiahai County at the northwest end to the mainland, through the grassland, through the narrow corridor south of Honghu Lake, and finally to the capital.
This railway may be longer than all other railways combined, but it must be built because it is the foundation for the Han tribe to rule Qiongzhou Island for a long time in the future. As long as this railway is still there, even if Luo Chong dies and the Han tribe changes dynasties, Qiongzhou Island will not be able to split from the mainland.
But it's too early to say this now. Luo Chong is going to spend his whole life to complete this railway. Apart from anything else, at least he has to complete the cross-sea bridge first, otherwise it will be impossible to cross the sea even if the railways on both sides are paved.
Then there is the cross-sea bridge project. This bridge is still under construction. There are no unsolvable difficulties in the process. It will definitely be completed in three or four years at most. Luo Chong is not in a hurry.
Another thing is the development plan of the grassland. Now the power of the Han tribe on the grassland is only the three counties of Honghu. The reason why they are called the three counties of Honghu is that these three counties basically control the central and southern regions of the west bank of Honghu Lake. These three counties account for half of the most abundant water and grass in the entire Huxi grassland.
This is the largest livestock base of the Han tribe. In addition, it is backed by the Honghu water system, and the water transportation is convenient. It is very convenient to go anywhere. On land, because there is no shortage of cattle and horses on the grassland, and it is all flat land, it is also very easy to walk.
But this will not be the end. After defeating the cannibals, in two or three years, when the Han tribe has recovered, they will definitely take back the northern part of the west bank of Honghu Lake. The Han tribe must occupy all the lakeside areas of the entire grassland, so as not to leave hidden dangers behind the capital.
As for whether to include the entire grassland in the territory, it depends on whether there are benefits that the Han tribe can see in the western part of the grassland.
Of course, the more land, the better. No one knows what is hidden under the ground. Some minerals cannot be developed by the current level of technology of the Han tribe, but it does not mean that they cannot be developed in the future. Just like the deserts in the Middle East, no one cared about the land there in ancient times, but now they are breaking their heads to grab it.
In a few decades, if the population of the Han tribe can grow to hundreds of millions, Luo Chong will definitely push the border of the territory to the west of the grassland.
After sorting out the situations of various places one by one in his mind, and finding that the layout was very good, Luo Chong focused on the construction of the capital.
At the beginning of the year, he sent You Zhi, the commander of the Jinwu Guard, to be in charge of the construction of the capital, but in fact, it was only the imperial palace that was built. The scale of the capital was too large,
so it was better to build the imperial palace first. Construction must be built from the inside out, otherwise it would be difficult to transport materials inside if the outer city was built first.
The imperial palace was modeled after the Daming Palace of the Tang Dynasty, supplemented by the Chinese and Western garden architecture of the Old Summer Palace. One in front and one in the back, one public and one private, separating the court and one's own home, with a grand scale. Once built, there would be no worries for hundreds of years.
At present, due to the lack of manpower, You Zhi has more than a thousand Jinwu Guards and about three thousand cannibal slaves. These slaves were transferred from various places, and are now doing the first phase of the project.
The first phase of the project is actually very simple, that is, digging soil and laying the foundation.
Dig a pit in the open space in the backyard to get soil, pad it on the foundation of the front palace, and then divert water to the big pit in the backyard to turn it into an artificial lake.
This is what Youzhi is doing now, but because there are few people and the tools are not powerful, the progress is very slow.
Their excavation mode is to dig one shovel at a time, and then use carts, horse carriages and ox carts to transport it. When it is transported to the foundation of the palace, it needs to be pushed up manually, and then the platform foundation is compacted by manpower.
The foundation of the Hanyuan Hall in the outer court alone is 15 meters high, 200 meters long, and 100 meters wide, which is almost 300,000 cubic meters of earth. It has to be compacted and compressed. If it is just excavation, it will definitely be more than 300,000 cubic meters.
This is just one hall. The rest are Xuanzheng Hall and Zichen Hall. The foundations of these two halls are also not short. There are dozens of other side halls, attics, pavilions, and terraces. Together, digging and laying the foundation is a big project. This is the so-called first phase of the project.
According to Youzhi's report a while ago, they have not even completed the foundations of the three main halls. It is really too large.
Although it was said that the chief built a house for his family, the people would have complained about such a large house, but in fact, there was no complaint, because Luo Chong did not mobilize many people to participate in the construction. He only used slaves and a few craftsmen.
Other counties of the Han tribe were also responsible for providing some materials, but that was their livelihood. Even if Luo Chong did not build a palace, they still needed to work.
After communicating with You Zhi again, Luo Chong found that the construction of the palace was still very slow. Now the construction of the palace mainly focused on two aspects, one was digging the soil and laying the foundation, and the other was to reserve building materials.
Not to mention digging the soil and laying the foundation, there was also a lot of reserve of building materials. In order to reserve bricks and stones, a brick kiln was specially built here, producing various bricks day and night, and various woods transported from the surrounding areas and other counties. Some were used to make pillars, and some were used to make doors, windows and furniture. The required wood was also a large amount.
You Zhi couldn't help but complain in the letter, wondering when the palace would be finished. Seeing this, Luo Chong felt very embarrassed. After all, they were building a house for their own family, so it was a bit embarrassing to mobilize so many people. So he had to write back to You Zhi to comfort him.
At present, the tribe has developed some engineering machinery and more slaves, which will be sent over next year. The construction speed of the palace will definitely be accelerated, so he should calm down.
(End of this chapter)
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