Taihang Mountain looks like it has towering peaks, but in fact there are many roads connecting it.
Since ancient times, there has been a saying about Taihang Baxing.
The Eight Passages refer to the eight passages connecting the east and west sides of Taihang Mountain from north to south.
In fact, this is just an overview.
There are more roads in the mountains than imagined, although most of them are small roads and most of them are criss-crossed. However, this place has been developed for thousands of years, and there are traces of human work everywhere.
Under the influence of Dong Shuheng, the Huaihai navy was a group of road-building madmen. In the past year, the Taihang column took prisoners of the Qing army and continuously repaired roads in the mountains. The scattered strongholds were connected by roads.
The results are remarkable. The Taihang Column built roads with the help of gunpowder and cement, making them much more efficient.
He led his men on horseback and walked on the road in the mountains.
Dong Shuheng could see many traces of new construction and chiseling.
The road in the mountains was rugged, and although we walked for half a day, we actually didn’t cover much distance.
The destination of their trip was Jingxing County, where the Second Regiment was based.
The soldiers of the guard regiment could continue on their way, but their horses were already somewhat exhausted.
The war horses were timid and wandered all the way on the ship. They were always in a state of tension and had not had a good rest. In addition, they were already exhausted from running wildly with the soldiers.
Dong Shuheng could feel that the steps of his big dark horse were obviously a little pretentious.
The scenery on both sides is pretty good. It's winter now, and the mountains in the north are inherently lackluster, if I have to describe it.
That is, the mountains are dangerous, with sheer cliffs, dangerous peaks and rugged rocks.
Most of the roads are dug out on the mountainside, and occasionally there is a section of road that passes through the valley, which makes people feel a little more at ease.
Xu Yue and the others were very familiar with the roads here, and he named some mountain names and allusions from time to time.
Perhaps it was because of Dong Shuheng's sudden arrival that the young general from Taihang Mountain was excited.
It may also be because you want to show off in front of your boss.
Xu Yue kept talking all the way, and Dong Shuheng thought that someone was acting as a tour guide for him.
"President, the road we are walking on is still on the outskirts of the Taihang Mountains, so you won't see many people. Except for the short-term repair of the road, there is basically no development here."
"You should be able to see Jingxing County if you walk a little further ahead."
"That's where the headquarters of our Second Regiment is located." Xu Yue said as he walked.
Sure enough, after walking for a while, Dong Shuheng saw a large river. The water was not deep and it was completely frozen.
"President, this is the Yehe River. It runs east-west and basically coincides with Jingxing Road. We need to go up the river to go to the commander's side. In the summer, the river is very deep and the current is fast. But in the winter, there is basically nothing. It’s water.”
"Well, Jingxing is a good place with mountains and rivers!"
Dong Shuheng knew that rivers in the north have strong seasonal characteristics. In summer, the rainwater in the mountains will gather and cause the river water to surge, sometimes even causing flooding downstream.
Dong Shuheng still has an impression of this place in his memory.
In previous lives, the Shitai-Taiwan Railway entered Shanxi along Jingxing Road.
Every time the train passes through Shijiazhuang, it enters many mountains. It passes the famous Niangzi Pass on the way. After passing Yangquan, the mountains on both sides gradually become less and less.
Most of the way the train travels is along the edge of a river valley.
Therefore, Dong Shuheng must have seen this river many times.
After walking along the river for a while, we arrived at Jingxing.
This is a large area of mountain valley bottom. It is rare to see such a large flat land in the Taihang Mountains.
Just like the name Jingxing, this place is surrounded by high mountains, and the flat land in the middle is like a well, and everyone seems to be at the bottom of the well.
According to "Taiping Huanyu Ji", King Mu of Zhou Dynasty came to this place when he was on a hunting tour in the east. He saw that it was "high on all sides and lower in the center, as deep as a well and as deep as a stove", hence the name "Jingxing".
Jingxing County is not a big city, but the outer walls have obviously been repaired. And Dong Shuheng saw that they were repaired with cement. Even the streets in the city were hardened with cement.
Dong Shuheng looked at Xu Yue and asked: "Your cement factory here has a large output?"
Xu Yue said quickly: "Yes, President, look at the mountains to the north. It is an important mining area in Jingxing. It is rich in lime, coal, marble and clay."
"So we have built several cement plants here, but they are not big. But because the materials are nearby, the cost is very low."
Dong Shuheng knew that it would be too far to transport the cement produced here to Jiangsu, and it was not easy to sell in the areas controlled by the Qing army. So most of it had to be digested by himself.
If you use earth to build roads in these mountains, the potholes will be washed away by rain soon. It would be much better to use cement.
Anyway, this is a mountain of rocks, so it’s very convenient to collect gravel.
Well, concrete can be made without long-distance transportation, which is good.
Standing in the county seat and looking around, you can see stretches of wheat fields. Winter wheat can also be grown here.
This field is also the only green patch left in the world.
When a large group of people arrived, the people living in the city couldn't help but stop and look at each other.
When Dong Shuheng and others got off the ship, they all changed into the black military uniforms of the Taihang Column.
So the people were not panicked.
These people have already developed a sense of belonging to the jurisdiction of the Taihang Column.
Just low taxes can bring people back, not to mention the various policies introduced to benefit the people after the Taihang Column moved in.
After more than two thousand people entered the city, they drove directly into the military camp inside the city.
The soldiers of the Second Regiment stationed in the city lined up behind the camp gate to welcome him.
A middle-aged man in casual clothes trotted forward.
"Welcome the president to Jingxing County, under the supervision of Wang Hongming, the head of Jingxing County."
"Hello, County Magistrate Wang." Dong Shuheng greeted him and shook hands with him.
Wang Hongming, the county magistrate, Dong Shuheng naturally knew. He had a reputation as a scholar before, but his family was poor and he had no money to continue studying for the imperial examination.
Later, he was hired by the Huaihai Navy, and he entered the military government of the Huaihai Navy relatively early.
But now he doesn't look like a scholar at all. His skin is dark, and when shaking hands, you can feel that his palms are covered with calluses.
Dong Shuheng was brought to the county military government by County Magistrate Wang, which was the original county government. The conditions there were better than those in the military camp.
Xu Yue is here at the military camp helping to arrange for the guard regiment to be repaired. Especially these war horses, which need to be fed and rested.
Dong Shuheng took Wei Yuxiang and the inner guards and followed Wang Hongming towards the county government office next to them.
There are only two city gates in Jingxing County, and a street runs from east to west. If you stand at the east gate and look up, you can see the west gate.
It's really small.
There are some shops on both sides of the street. Most of them sell ceramics.
Seeing Dong Shuheng looking around, Wang Hongming quickly explained.
"President, our Jingxing County is rich in clay, and ceramics is an important industry for us."
"But the Taobao kilns are all in the Beishan mining area. The shops here in the county serve as display areas. The ceramic products here are mainly sold to the Great Wall Company, which sells them to various places in the north."
This is actually the one-stop production and marketing path of Huaihai Navy.
"Where do all the kiln workers here come from?"
"Oh, there was an official kiln here, and the kiln workers were still here when we took over."
"The remuneration of kiln workers must be improved. This is a technical job. Don't treat kiln workers as harshly as the imperial court." Dong Shuheng warned.
"Well, President, please don't worry, we are doing everything in accordance with our practice."
Dong Shuheng nodded.
In the Manchu Qing Dynasty, kiln workers were also considered lowly.
Obviously, the export of ceramics every year brought a large amount of silver to the Qing court. But the court just didn't know how to treat the kiln workers better.
Without hope, how can people be creative?
For many years, China's ceramic wages have been stagnant.
"Later, you can make a report to the Ministry of Commerce and ask them to send a few masters from Jingdezhen to come and have exchanges. You can also send people to visit Jingdezhen."
Jingdezhen is the capital of porcelain and the leader in the field of ceramics in China.
After Huai Haijun took over Jingdezhen, he integrated resources and established a ceramic R&D center.
A situation has been formed in which a number of private ceramic companies, led by the ceramic company directly under Huai Haijun, develop and compete together.
This is a benign state. Now Jingdezhen has trial-produced bone china. Historically, it was the emergence of bone china that caused China's ceramic exports to plummet.
Bone china is crystal clear and strong, which is more in line with Western aesthetics and is especially suitable for use as dinner plates.
The Chinese domestic market is more in pursuit of gorgeous products.
As for the herdsmen in the west and north, they are not so picky. Most of the herdsmen still use pottery.
Dong Shuheng believes that whether a product is good or not depends entirely on the needs of customers. Only good products meet customer needs.
"President, it would be great if this could be done." Wang Hongming's eyes lit up after hearing Dong Shuheng's words.
The quality of the ceramics they produce in Jingxing is average and they follow the low-end route.
Most of the customers are ordinary people, as well as Mongolian Tatars from the north.
Everyone knows the reputation of Jingdezhen as the capital of pottery. It would be great if I could get some advice.
It would be best if the masters in your hands can learn a few unique skills, so that when the time comes, the porcelain from their Jingxing side can also sail out to sea.
These days, the most profitable thing is sea trade!
"Your Taihang team is also part of the Huai Haijun system. Moreover, Jingxing belongs to the Northern Porcelain lineage. Exchanges with Jingdezhen are a good thing for mutual promotion."
Dong Shuheng thought so. However, Wang Hongming felt that he was simply taking advantage of Jingdezhen.
At this time, everyone had already entered the county government office. The county government office only had two doors, and in front was the office of the county government. There were not many rooms, and there were five or six people working together in one room.
The house at the back is a dormitory. Many staff members are sent from Jiangsu and have no family here, so everyone lives in the dormitory.
Dong Shuheng will not stay in Jingxing for too long and will leave after lunch.
So he did not go to rest, but sat in Wang Hongming's office, drinking tea while listening to Wang Hongming's report on the basic situation of Jingxing County.
"President, our Jingxing County now governs seven towns and one mining area."
"The current population totals 76,400. Half of them are concentrated in the mining areas in the northwest. More than 30,000 of them are refugees who fled from Zhili in the past year."
"The county has a total of 106,000 acres of cultivated land, of which 23,000 acres are newly cultivated this year. We can barely be self-sufficient in terms of food."
"The county's main income comes from mining coal and lime mines, as well as firing porcelain and pottery."
"There is little vegetation in the Taihang Mountains, so we have promoted the use of briquettes throughout the county, and the effect is very good."
"The annual sales of ceramics in the county have exceeded 200,000 silver dollars."
…
From Wang Hongming's introduction, Dong Shuheng could see the achievements made by the military government after its arrival.
At the beginning, Dong Shuheng asked Lu Feiyan and others to station in Taihang Mountain, and they were ready for long-term blood supply and transfusion.
Because there is too little arable land in the Taihang Mountains, considering the current grain yield per mu, so many people have poured in, plus the refugees absorbed.
There is simply no way to feed so many people.
However, Dong Shuheng was really surprised by the creativity that these people in the mountains unleashed after living a stable life.
Under the leadership of military government officials, they gave full play to their diligence and wisdom.
Because of the availability of cheap cement, small reservoirs were built one after another in the mountains.
It turns out that the rivers in the Taihang Mountains flood in summer and dry up in autumn and winter.
Now that there is a reservoir, part of the water can be retained, which can not only alleviate the flooding downstream during the flood season, but also irrigate more land and increase the area of cultivated land.
According to Wang Hongming, it is very simple to build a reservoir in the mountains. There are many seasonal rivers in the mountains. As long as you have investigated the hydrological conditions upstream and downstream, you can choose a place to build a dam.
This is building a dam into a lake.
Because these rivers are located in valleys, the mountains on both sides serve as natural river banks.
This reminded Dong Shuheng of many small hydropower projects in the mountains in later generations.
Unfortunately, Huaihai Navy's current power research has not reached that level. Otherwise, it would be a good choice to build some small hydropower projects here.
Electricity is a good thing. If the use of electricity is mature, it can also play a role in promoting metal smelting.
Dong Shuheng remembered that when he went to Shanxi in his previous life, he heard from his classmates that there were many large electrolytic aluminum factories in Linfen and Jincheng in the south of Shanxi.
Didn’t you know there are aluminum mines in the Taihang Mountains?
If available, the hydropower here can be used to develop the electrolytic aluminum industry.
Well, that's a good idea, but how to electrolyze aluminum? Sorry, he doesn't know.
There is no system, and there is no time travel with Du Niang. Dong Shuheng doesn't understand this.
Now he is still counting on Xu Shou to return from Europe as soon as possible. He expects Xu Shou to promote the development of China's electric power revolution.
First of all, there must be a mature and durable generator. Then there must be basic electrical equipment such as motors and lights.
In this way, electricity can be promoted.
There was not much time, and Dong Shuheng could not go to the mining area to have a look.
I could only walk around the county town, see the schools and hospitals here, visit a few residents, and go to a farm outside the city.
At noon, the team, which was almost rested, had lunch at the station of the Second Regiment.
For lunch, we had squid, which is a bit similar to gnocchi. This kind of pasta is shaped like a small fish, and is topped with meat and vegetable sautee, which will stimulate your appetite.
The main reason is that the flavor is good, and a little chili is added to make it appetizing.
Dong Shuheng also tasted this delicacy with local characteristics. In Dong Shuheng's heart, big fish and meat can't compare to this.
ps: It’s the end of the month, are you still worried that the monthly ticket in your hand is about to expire? Let me teach you a trick and vote for this book＾0＾~I don’t mind it at any rate.