Things in Europe now affect Dong Shuheng's heart, but the distance is too far, so Dong Shuheng can only leave the matter to his brothers.
He believed that Wang Tao would safeguard China's interests diplomatically, that Ji Mingshan could establish China's intelligence system in Europe, that Liu Qingnan could serve as a powerful force for the Chinese army in Crimea, and that Xu Shou would bring back the current forefront of Europe
technology.
As for him, he wants China to quickly enter a stable state. He wants China's people to have enough to eat. He wants China's army to have the strength to defend its motherland.
The sixth month of the Western calendar is the fifth month of the Chinese lunar calendar. The land in the Northeast is already full of spring.
The land that had been covered in ice and snow for a winter gradually regained its vitality.
In the Sanjiangkou area in the lower reaches of Heilongjiang Province, the Beidacang Farm, which was built here last year, has begun spring plowing.
Late spring cold occasionally occurs in the Northeast, so now is not the time to plant seeds.
The farm workers took the cattle and draft horses out of the pens that had been idle all winter and gave them some exercise.
They will soon be put into labor. Most of these cattle and horses were transported by ship from the upper reaches of Heilongjiang last year.
The cattle and horses raised by these herdsmen cannot plow the land, and they need to be trained by experienced cattle handlers before they can be used to plow the land.
Sanjiangyuan is an alluvial plain, and the land is very flat, but the terrain is low and there is water accumulation in many places. In the past, these places with water accumulation formed swamps.
When the farm was established last year, farm workers had divided the land into neat grids with ditches.
Now that the ice and snow have melted, all the water in the fields has flowed into the river along the ditches.
What they have to do now is to turn over the land with plows to expose the dark, fertile soil underneath.
When the weather warms up, farm workers will plant corn and soybeans on the land.
Beidacang is very large, and it has not yet been fully measured how much farmland can be cultivated.
Last year, only a total of more than 10,000 immigrants came here, and they were divided into ten branches. Each branch cultivated about 100,000 acres of land. The land of the entire farm has exceeded one million acres, which can equal a county in the Guannai Plain area.
of land.
In fact, this farm is at the same level as the county. The farm also has public institutions such as police stations, courts, schools, hospitals, etc. The place where these institutions are concentrated is where the farm department is located.
There are also operation stations below the branch site, which are like small villages. Each branch site is scattered like a small town, and the field headquarters is like a county town.
The entire farm is too big to house all the workers together, so it would take a lot of time just to travel to work in the fields.
Today, the farm director Xi Baotian convened a meeting with all the people in charge at the operation point and above and announced an important matter. The farm will allocate 100,000 people to the farm this year.
Superiors required the farm to build simple housing for 100,000 people by July.
This will be a very arduous task. This means that Beidacang will expand tenfold at once.
The migration of these manpower is both a huge burden and an opportunity for the entire farm.
With these people joining Beidacang Farm, we can do more things. For example, we can repair the embankments along the river, or build a main channel to connect to the river.
Previously, the farm only built some small drainage canals, and many low-lying areas could not be cultivated.
If a main channel can be built, the land that can be cultivated by the farm will be increased several times.
Moreover, with the main channel, the field department can directly connect to the ship, and the transportation of materials will be more convenient.
The materials of Beidacang Farm are mainly transported from Khabarovsk, which is located in Jilin Province. Khabarovsk is now the capital of Jilin Province.
Through the convenient water transportation of Ussuri River and Heilongjiang, Khabarovsk can reach a large area.
The materials are transported by sea to Vladivostok, and then transported by land to Shuangchengzi and then transported by river to Khabarovsk, which is much faster than the detour through the Heilongjiang mouth.
In the entire Jilin Province, Khabarovsk and Vladivostok are currently the most developed places.
Vladivostok is the most important port city in Northeast Asia and the main base of the Beihai Navy of the Renaissance Army.
Khabarovsk will be built into an important industrial and commercial center and political center. The local medicinal processing, wood processing, mining, fishery, and fur industries all have great development potential.
If a city wants to develop, it must find its own role and perform certain functions so that it can develop sustainably.
In the eastern coastal region, along the narrow strip of land along the coast, one farm after another seems to be waking up from hibernation and is now rejuvenated.
Perhaps the biggest change in a winter is the large number of pregnant women on the farm.
Now that spring plowing is about to begin, the labor force on the farm will decrease.
Fortunately, the superiors have already informed me that a large number of people will come to the farm soon.
Finally, new people came in. There is a long and narrow hilly mountain range between the Binhai area and the Ussuri River.
Fortunately, the altitude of this mountain range is not high, but the mountains are basically still in a primitive state. There are virgin forests everywhere, and this is a paradise for wild animals. Black bears and Siberian tigers are the overlords here. Humans must be careful when entering, otherwise it will be very dangerous.
It is possible to become prey.
Farmers must carry muskets when entering the woods, and are never allowed to enter the woods alone.
This year, the coastal farm area will build a road passage leading to Khabarovsk. This passage must pass through the virgin forest and requires a lot of manpower.
After the newcomers arrive, the Binhai Government will prepare to start this project. In the future, new towns can be formed along this avenue.
In the original Kamchatka Peninsula, Petropavlovsk Port. The Far East Province established Kunpeng Mansion here to manage the entire Kamchatka Peninsula all the way to the Chukotka Peninsula.
Petropavlovsk Port is now renamed Kunpeng Port, and Kamchatka Peninsula is also called Kunpeng Peninsula.
The reason why it is named Kunpeng is because there are a large number of whales here, and the Chinese government is planning to build a home port for whaling ships here.
In the past, a large number of Tsarist Russian whaling ships were active here, but now the Tsarist Russian whaling ships have disappeared.
How could China give up this important treasure?
Moreover, if Dong Shuheng wants to develop industry now, he will need a large amount of whale oil, unless Schoenby can extract practical lubricating oil from petroleum in the future.
However, Dong Shuheng knew that excessive whaling would have serious consequences, so he set up a hunting area and a whale sanctuary in Kunpeng Bay.
Because that place is the North Sea area, an important calving place for whales.
In the fifth month of the lunar calendar, a fleet of six steamships arrived at Kunpeng Port, and they brought a large number of building materials and construction workers.
The task of these men was to expand the docks in the bay and build four forts to protect the harbor.
Five thousand of these migrant workers will settle here. Most of them are fishermen from the coast of Shandong.
Because the area around Kunpeng Port is not very suitable for farming, and the resources here are mainly obtained from the sea, fishing will be the pillar industry here.
At the same time, another fleet, escorted by the North Sea Fleet, headed for the Three Saints Bay in Alaska, which was previously the largest stronghold of the Tsarist Russians.
Last year, when the Beihai Navy moved north, the Renaissance Army occupied it, and now only one battalion of Marines is stationed there.
However, Tsarist Russia still has thousands of mercenaries in the Juneau area. After the spring, if they obtain ships, they will counterattack at any time.
The Gulf of Alaska and the Aleutian Islands have a temperate maritime climate, with the highest temperature in the summer reaching more than ten degrees Celsius and the lowest temperature in the winter never falling below minus ten degrees Celsius.
This was Bao Youzhi's first time here. When the fleet came last year, he was still leading the local residents in Jiangdong to resist the invasion of Tsarist Russia.
It's funny to say that I, a naval admiral, did not fight in the naval battle, but ended up directing the battle on the road.
He fought a land defense battle and won the battle. As a result, he earned himself a serious daughter-in-law and a housekeeper. Bao Youzhi's career as a sea king was officially over.
The next winter, Bao Youzhi stayed in Vladivostok to prepare for the establishment of the newly established Beihai Navy. He worked as a junior for more than a year. Now that he finally came out to work alone, Bao Youzhi had to prepare his own team.
As the home port of the North Sea Navy, Vladivostok still needs to build a lot of infrastructure.
Bao Youzhi's home was settled in Vladivostok. One winter, he not only had to build a new home for himself, but also built a new home for his fleet.
There are no changes in the Beihai Navy's capital ships, which are still two cruisers that captured the Russian army, and four light cruisers. There are also six steam gunboats produced by the Renaissance Army, responsible for cruising in the coastal waters.
In addition, the fleet has also added four 3,000-ton auxiliary ships. These steamships produced by the Shanghai Shipyard have average cruising speeds, average protection, and only some defensive firepower.
Equipped with both ocean-going navies.
Their main role is to provide accompanying supplies.
The role is somewhat similar to that of Western armed merchant ships.
Don't look down on armed merchant ships. The British Navy still has the habit of recruiting armed merchant ships to assist fleet operations.
The reason why Dong Shuheng did not continue to purchase sailing battleships for the fleet was because these sailing battleships would be eliminated in two years.
When the time comes, just keep a few ships as training ships.
As far as the shape of a cruiser is concerned, it is difficult to change it into a merchant ship.
It's not as good as this kind of steamship. When ironclad ships are launched in a few years, they can be used directly as merchant ships.
At the same time, these steamers can also train sailors very well, so that they can quickly get started after receiving the ironclads.
Bao Youzhi didn't like these supply ships very much. They slowed down the entire fleet.
He likes the feeling of speeding on the sea very much.
Thinking of this, he thought of the eight frigates in Gaoyou. By then, at least four will be obtained for the Beihai Navy. Although the Nanyang Navy is the eldest brother, the Beihai side will have to compete with the Russians in the future.
According to the intelligence of the military department, the Russians still have dozens of battleships. Those big battleships can fire more than a hundred cannons at every turn. They have thick skin and flesh and are very difficult to chew.
If you just rely on these old things in your hands, you will have no choice but to run away.
The fleet passed through the Aleutian Islands and left supplies on an island next to the waterway.
There is a guard post here. A company of soldiers is stationed here.
Bao Youzhi went ashore to express condolences to the soldiers standing on the island.
After all, staying on this uninhabited island for a whole winter is a huge torture to the human spirit.
The good news is that these islands with acceptable climate conditions will all build farms this year.
In this way, the island will become popular, and soldiers stationed on the island will not be so lonely in the future.
Dong Shuheng planned to relocate one million people to the Far Eastern Province, the Arctic Province, and the unoccupied Alaska region in 1855.
Form a de facto occupation here.
This time Bao Youzhi escorted the fleet to Alaska to build a permanent stronghold in the Gulf of Alaska.
Dong Shuheng named this place Jincheng.
Bao Youzhi was very confused, why was it called Jincheng instead of Yincheng?
Could it be that there is gold in that place? If so, some soldiers must be sent out to look for it after the fleet arrives.
If there really is a gold mine, then the Admiralty will have to allocate more new ships to the North Sea Navy.
The fleet continued to move forward. Being dragged down by the transport ship, Bao Youzhi and the others were not sailing very fast.
The fleet moved along the Alaska Peninsula, and there were some small strongholds along the way. Bao Youzhi dropped off the people and materials he wanted to leave behind.
After walking and stopping all the way, we finally arrived at a natural harbor.
As an old navy man, Bao Youzhi could tell at a glance that this was an excellent port. The exit of the harbor was flanked by raised rocky mountains, which were very suitable for building permanent forts.
At that time, relying on these forts, the port can block the enemy's attack even if there is no fleet garrison.
There are simple dock facilities built on the port, which are built using thick logs.
This was left behind by Tsarist Russia’s American Company.
There is a small town on the shore, and most of the buildings in it are wooden spires.
After the fleet docks, all materials and workers must be unloaded.
This time the fleet brought more than 5,000 construction workers and 20,000 immigrants with their families.
The immigrants had to quickly build farms and stockpile food. Some of them had to cultivate fields, some had to go to sea to fish, and some had to cut down trees and hunt wild animals.
The purpose of migrating here is to make this place self-sufficient, so that we can permanently occupy this place.
The construction workers in these ports will go to build other ports after the work is completed.
After the domestic unification war ended, Dong Shuheng proposed an army-building policy that favored the navy.
In the future, the regular army of the Renaissance Army will not be temporarily maintained at less than 500,000, and will mainly be placed in the Western Regions.
It is necessary to continue to strengthen the construction of cavalry on the northern grasslands. Dong Shuheng plans to build five dragoon brigades and five mixed dragoon and light cavalry brigades. They will be responsible for protecting the grasslands.
Except for the instructor division of the Renaissance Army who will be guarding Xinjing, the first to fifth main divisions have all moved westward.
Local security work was left to the garrison and militia.
The Renaissance Army's naval construction does not start with the construction of warships, but with the construction of ports.
Starting from Qinzhou Port in western Guangdong (it used to belong to the province of eastern Guangdong, but Dong Shuheng assigned it to western Guangdong and became the only outlet to the sea in western Guangdong).
It goes southeast to Yazhou in Hainan, then northeast to Taiwan Port, where Taiwan is located, and then to Keelung Port in the north of the island.
Continuing to the north is Naha Port in Ryukyu, Kagoshima Port leased by Satsuma Domain to the Renaissance Army, and then Uraga Military Port leased in Edo Bay, which is also the garrison base of the Renaissance Army in the shogunate.
Continue north to the port of Sakhalin on Sakhalin Island and then to the Aleutian Islands, Alaska.
Dong Shuheng is planning to build a chain of military ports. There will be a military port almost every five hundred nautical miles.
In this way, even the more than a thousand-ton frigates of the Renaissance Army can rely on these ports to cruise uninterrupted.
No matter which country wants to break through this port chain and break into China's offshore waters, it will be discovered and will have to pay a heavy price.
In 1855, Dong Shuheng was preparing to complete the construction of these ports. Some places already had ports, but new fort defense facilities needed to be built.
The Huai Ke Arsenal in Jiangning is continuously manufacturing coastal defense artillery.
Krupp Jr.'s Jiangning Steel Plant is also about to be completed.
This will be the second heavy industry base after Xuzhou.
As for the third heavy industry base, Dong Shuheng plans to place it in Luanzhou, which has coal mines, iron mines and ports. It has unique conditions.
ps: Let’s sort out the post-war construction of the Renaissance Army.