It is not easy to expand a country thousands of miles.
But more importantly, keep this land!
In fact, even as the king of Araucania and Patagonia, Zhu Xianhai nominally owns a large area of land including the Pampas, but in fact, the actual scope of control is nothing more than the area around Nanhua.
An area of two hundred kilometers and several fortresses near the North River, and then the seaside city of Araucania.
Without him, population shortage 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 stone of Nanhua's first railway was laid! In the following
In a few months, tens of thousands of workers worked on the construction site.
The sound of horse hooves trampled down the grassland, and dozens of cavalry came from a distance on horseback. The person who came on horseback, escorted by cavalry, was none other than Zhu Xianhai. As usual, he was wearing a green military uniform.
In front of him is a busy construction site.
There are about five to six hundred people on this construction site. These workers, without exception, all live in tents. Among them are new immigrants who are registered in the education camp, as well as "old immigrants" who have left the new education camp. However, in
On this construction site, there is no difference in the work they do. It is just that the new immigrants receive a monthly allowance of 2 yuan, while the old immigrants receive a monthly salary of 6 yuan.
Other than that, there is no difference in what they eat. Whether they are Zhejiang people, Jiangsu people, or Anhui people, they are all devouring stick noodles and steamed buns. As for rice, it is definitely not available here, and I am not used to it.
You have to get used to it, otherwise you won’t eat. Workers are almost always grouped together in a group. On a construction site under military management, there will never be a gathering of fellow workers. They all eat in squads, companies, and camps.
Rest. While they were eating, the squad leaders were still shouting:
"Eat quickly, you still have to work when you are full! The emperor has decreed that the railway must be laid to Neuquén before the end of the year, otherwise no one will be able to enjoy the good fruit!"
Hearing the frightening words of the squad leaders, Mr. Zhu showed a wry smile on his face. He is the "Emperor" in the mouth of the squad leaders. Now his identity as "King" is no longer a secret.
From the perspective of Chinese people, a king is definitely an emperor.
Of course, his wry smile was not because the laborers were burdened with heavy errands. In fact, the section from Nanhua to Neuquén was basically on the grassland. There was no need to climb mountains and ridges, but only needed to level the land and lay a solid foundation.
Where is the real difficulty? After passing Neuquen, you enter the Andes Mountains. That is the most difficult road!
Build a railway from Nanhua to Linhai City on the Pacific Coast!
Must be completed within 1864!
This railway is not only responsible for immigration, it is also the second line of defense in the north of South China.
Railways can not only run trains, but also armored trains. It is not realistic to bring a bunch of steam tanks to the battlefield, but there is no problem with dozens of armored trains. Having armored trains is equivalent to having mobile fortresses.
, combined with the Beihe Fortress, they form a complete defense system. No one in this era can break through this defense system!
It is precisely because of this that extra requirements are placed on the construction period.
But if it can't be completed on time, what can Zhu Xianhai, who is called "the emperor" by the team leaders, do with these hard-working workers?
At most, it's just that the battalion commanders of each battalion are unlucky.
Different from 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 was to divide the thousands of kilometers of railway from Nanhua to Neuquén into 20 sections, each with one battalion.
Through the simultaneous construction of 20 sections, we can speed up the progress of railway construction!
The quality of the railways in this era is definitely not comparable to that of later generations, so the construction is also fast. If everything goes well, the railway will definitely be built to Neuquén by the end of the year. However, this is only to complete the roadbed, and it will take some time to lay the tracks.
Just as Zhu Xianhai and his team were walking on the construction site with their horses, the work bugle sounded 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 civilian clothes and glasses stood next to the roadbed, holding an abacus from time to time, as if he was calculating something. Just as he was calculating the results, there was another man over there.
The company commander wearing a blue long-sleeved shirt trotted over.
"The progress of the third company was 5% behind yesterday. It must be completed today, otherwise, today's meat meal for the third company will be cancelled."
The man did not question the order of the supervisor. There was no need to question it. On a construction site under militarized management, it is necessary to complete the work on time, otherwise it would be a matter of military law!
That will make you lose your head!
Even if he loses his head and is demoted, his salary will be reduced a lot. For someone who has finally got a flower on his collar badge, who is willing to be demoted? A company commander is an official, no matter how big or small! He can manage hundreds of people.
official!
Looking at the supervisor assigning tasks to each company from a distance, Zhu Xianhai nodded slightly. Now these people are almost used to militarized management.
This is a good thing!
Habits become natural!
The railway construction site is the best place for militarized management. Workers here adapt to collective life, accept militarized management, and develop habits so that they will naturally not resist Nanhua's mass militarization in the future.
After spending more than ten minutes assigning the day's work to the four companies, Hu Xueyan was about to go find the foreign technician and ask him to check the route. When he turned around, he saw the group of cavalry coming. So he took the initiative to step forward.
He said enthusiastically while cupping his hands.
"Fellow military lords, you have a safe trip, but you have 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 the cavalry to train or mobilize on the grassland and rest on the construction site.
But as soon as he finished speaking, Hu Xueyan discovered that these people were not cavalry, because the leading young man did not have a title on his collar badge.
Young man, no title...
In an instant, Hu Xueyan recognized the identity of this gentleman - he must be the "Emperor" in the mouth of the common people and the "Lord" in the mouth of the senior officials, so he quickly changed his hands and bowed.
"Oh, little Hu Xueyan has met my lord and wishes him well!"
Zhu Xianhai's identity in Nanhua is quite complicated. Because of his status as king, he is called "Emperor", but he is also called "Lord" by company executives, while foreigners call him "Boss". The complicated identity actually depends on the title.
Who is the target of.
The reason why Hu Xueyan calls himself "Lord" is simply to elevate his status - after all, this title is tantamount 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 the truth truthfully. After listening to his report, Zhu Xianhai said.
"The progress is pretty good. As long as we maintain this progress, we can almost complete the foundation construction by the end of the year. It should be no problem to try to open it to traffic in the first half of next year, by the way..."