Chongming is surrounded by rivers on three sides and faces the sea on one side. The islanders live and die by the water. While enjoying the rich resources of the Yangtze River and the East China Sea, they also suffer from the ravages of river waves and sea tides.

Especially during the typhoon season, the strong winds and huge waves can swallow up hundreds of acres of sandbars day and night. It is no wonder that the sandbars in Chongming are constantly separated and combined, gathering and dispersing.

No matter how many scattered and unstable sandbanks there are, they cannot support the livelihood of the people. Only large tracts of connected land can provide a basis for people to thrive.

Although the Great Prophecy told Zhao Hao that starting from the Long Wannian period, Chongming would end its crazy collapse period. Multiple sandbanks would gradually connect into one piece, and after a few decades, the prototype of Chongming Island in later generations would appear.

But the Great Prophecy also told Zhao Hao that it was far from enough to rely on God's blessing. The reason why Chongming could become the third largest island in China in later generations was inseparable from the countless embankments and seawalls built by generations of officials, gentry and common people with the spirit of Yugong moving mountains.

In fact, large-scale construction of seawalls began in the middle of the Wanli period.

Over the next four hundred years, the people of Chongming continued to struggle against the tides, building countless seawalls, which were destroyed countless times by the tides.

It was not until the end of the 20th century that a concrete embankment around the island and a complete set of water conservancy projects were built, which finally ended the flooding in Chongming.

Zhao Hao thought that although the quality of cement was becoming more and more stable, the current engineering level was still far from being able to solve the problem once and for all.

Moreover, Chongming is about to enter a period of rapid expansion. We can't just focus on the land inside the seawall and ignore the newly silted-up tidal flats outside the embankment, right? With a little improvement, those areas can become fertile land.

Therefore, it is necessary to build a new seawall outside the dike every ten to twenty years so as to continuously expand the area of ​​Chongming.

Therefore, Zhao Hao suggested setting up a special "Chongming Development Company" to be responsible for the "collapse prevention and siltation promotion" work of the entire Chongming Island in the long term.

~~

"Chongming Development Company?" Chen Huaixiu repeated, and asked softly, "It seems that there is a Kunshan Development Company in Kunshan."

"Yes." Zhao Hao nodded and pointed at Jiang Xueying and said, "Jiang's sister is the president of Jiangnan Company. She basically has the final say in the company. Let her introduce the specific situation to you."

"Brother is used to being a hands-off boss." Jiang Xueying's pretty face turned slightly red, but she did not deny her position.

Chen Huaixiu opened her mouth slightly in surprise when she heard this. She had always thought that Miss Jiang was Zhao Hao's cousin or some other lady from a wealthy family.

Unexpectedly, this seemingly weak little girl is actually the general manager of Jiangnan Company.

Chen Huaixiu could not help but stand in awe and greeted Jiang Xue again. "I am so sorry, I didn't expect my sister to be so capable."

"The boss's sister is more capable." Jiang Xueying bowed in return and then explained the functions of the development company to Chen Huaixiu.

"The development company is committed to local infrastructure construction, including but not limited to the design and construction of various livelihood projects such as water conservancy, bridges, roads, houses, water supply and drainage."

"Kunshan Development Company is the first local infrastructure company under the group. Relying on the group's sister company, Jiangnan Building Materials Company, we completed the construction of nearly 150 miles of rough stone concrete embankment within two months, and withstood the test of typhoons. The performance is even better than traditional stone embankments, and our cost is only half of that of traditional stone embankments, but the construction speed is more than ten times theirs!"

Jiang Xueying's narrative style is not as inspiring as Zhao Hao's, but it is calm and objective. Speaking with detailed data actually sounds more credible.

Chen Huaixiu had personally seen the river embankment, which looked ordinary but was solid and tall. He also knew that it was built by the people of Kunshan within a month.

At that time, she imagined how great it would be if such a miracle could happen in Chongming.

Unexpectedly, a miracle was about to happen in Chongming.

Now she no longer cared about being reserved and cautious, and she grasped Jiang Xueying's hand, her heart surging, "Sister, tell me quickly, what should we do in Chongming?"

“As my brother suggested, Chongming can also follow the Kunshan model and use Chongkaisi as the operating entity of the entire project and be responsible for the entire Chongming water conservancy infrastructure.”

"The specific distribution of shares can refer to the method of Kunkai Company, but of course it must also adapt to the specific situation." Jiang Xueying continued to explain with a faint smile on her face:

"Sister Gang Leader naturally understands that shareholders must invest capital first so that they can enjoy continuous returns in the future."

"Of course." Chen Huaixiu nodded and said, "I wonder how much capital we have to pay?"

"Not a penny is needed. All the money and grain costs, including cement, stone and other building materials, will be paid by Jiangnan Company." Jiang Xueying said to Chen Huaixiu:

"As for the Sand Boat Gang, they will naturally provide manpower for repairing the dike."

"How many people are needed?" Chen Huaixiu asked anxiously.

"I did some calculations with my brother yesterday. The first phase of the project will start at the end of October and end in February next year. We need to build about 150 miles of seawall, which can basically stop the collapse." Jiang Xueying replied softly.

Chongming Island generally shows a trend of "rising in the north and collapsing in the south", so by solving the urgent problem in the south, the territory can be basically stabilized.

Chen Huaixiu nodded and estimated silently in his mind that this length could circle the entire Sansha. If he wanted to finish the repair in four months, even with the help of cement, the number of workers required would be quite terrifying.

And this is precisely Chongming’s lifeblood.

"How many people will this take?" she asked anxiously.

"At least 50,000 strong men, and 50,000 laborers." Jiang Xueying replied: "The seawall is more difficult to construct than the river embankment, so more people are needed."

"This..." Chen Huaixiu said with difficulty: "My Sand Ship Gang has less than 10,000 people. If you count the old, weak, sick and disabled, there are less than 40,000 people. It is far from enough."

"Yes." Jin Xuezeng also chimed in, "Currently, the entire Chongming population only has about 80,000 people. If we deduct the old and the young who cannot move, and send them all to repair the seawall, we can only gather 20,000 able-bodied men and 30,000 laborers at most."

"Ah." Jiang Xueying's face was full of surprise and she asked, "There are only so few people in Chongming?"

"Originally, there were more than 200,000 people, including those who were not registered as residents. But when Dongsha and Yaoliusha collapsed and the Chongming salt fields were withdrawn, they all left their homes and went to the inland areas to find a way to make a living."

Jin Xuezeng sighed and complained: "As long as the seawall is not repaired, the population will continue to flow out. But with so few people, we can't build a seawall. We can only watch the population decrease. Life is simply unbearable..."

Chen Huaixiu nodded in agreement.

"Is that so..." Jiang Xueying thought for a moment and said, "Then Jiangnan Company will have to be responsible for recruiting a large number of workers. In this case, our company will have to hold 60% of the shares. The remaining 40% will be distributed between the county and your gang. Is this plan acceptable?"

"For our Shachuan Gang, do we really only need to send as many people as possible and not worry about anything else?" Chen Huaixiu was a little unbelievable.

Chen Huaixiu thought that the other party had the absolute initiative and would definitely ask for a high price this time. Unexpectedly, they did not want money or land, but only wanted them to provide people.

And they even gave the Sand Ship Gang shares. This kind of bargain is hard to find even with a lantern, right?

"Of course." Jiang Xueying nodded affirmatively.

Chen Huaixiu could no longer care about being reserved and nodded heavily, "Then we will definitely agree."

ps. This is the first of four consecutive updates. Please give me your monthly votes!