1127, Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway opened to traffic
Today is a good day, but also an important day. This day will go down in history.
Yang Fan bought six 762-gauge small forest train railways from Hyundai, as well as six locomotives and supporting carriages. Two of the railways were placed in the city and built as bus loops. The remaining four were used to build buses from Daxing.
The railway goes from Gukou Wharf, through Tianjin and Beijing, Huailai, Zhangjiakou, Jining, and finally to Guihua City.
In order to speed up the construction, this section of the railway was divided into more than 60 tender sections, and construction started at the same time.
Among them, the section from Beijing to Zhangjiakou is progressing the fastest because it is the closest to the new city and has convenient water transportation. The Beijing-Zhangjiakou section of the railway, which was originally planned to be fully opened to traffic by the end of the year, has been opened ahead of schedule. Today is the first day of trial operation.
The benefits of small trains are very obvious, because they do not require the same high-standard roadbed as standard gauge railways. Therefore, the construction speed is six times faster than that of standard gauge railways, and the investment is ten times less. The requirements for bridges are very low. If not repaired, they must be built.
Specialized railway steel bridges are the most suitable choice for the current situation of Ming Dynasty.
Early this morning, 100,000 road construction workers and their families on the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway gathered at stations and work points along the way, waiting excitedly for the train to pass. This is the result of more than a year of hard work.
Although most of them have never seen a train, this does not prevent them from imagining it in their minds.
They are all refugees in the past two years. In the past two years, the land has been drought and production has stopped. A large number of farmers have been displaced and fled to Zunhua to find a way to survive. When they were desperate and starving, they were all recruited by the railway.
Hu Qingxiang's home is a shack built next to the railway line. He lives here with his wife, three children, and his father and mother. More than a dozen township party members from the same village who were recruited as workers have been living here for a year.
In this migrant workers' village, there are more than 2,000 families like his, making a living here.
The strong laborers went to build the roadbed, transport materials, and lay the ballast. Fifty people, in groups of two, used wooden poles to carry a rail. They shouted slogans and moved with difficulty, placing the rail on the
On the sleepers, skilled workers fixed them with road spikes.
The elderly, children, and women smashed stones at home and processed the stones brought by the caravan into cat's claw stones, which were used to lay the track bed. Special caravans came to buy these broken stones, and they paid 30 yuan per ton.
processing fee.
The adults, women, children, old and weak all found the man. This made them excitedly kowtow to God.
Here, apart from the harsh living environment, the pay is really good. Everyone can make money.
Moreover, free rations and pickles are provided on the railway. Road construction workers are given four sets of clothes, shoes, gloves, and wicker helmets a year.
Let these migrant workers, who have nothing but a handful of strength, grin happily all day long.
The food here is all corn, and the vegetables are cabbage and wild vegetables. Basically, they are boiled with some salt. However, no one complains. They can't afford salt even in good years.
Although the soup is clear and watery, with little fat, the food is filling. Their ancestors have never had the opportunity to eat freely throughout the year. And they also get copper coins.
Even though I was as tired as a dead dog every night and couldn't wake up even after being kicked, no one complained.
Last night, Hu Qingxiang left work and returned to his shack carrying three kilograms of fat meat, one silver dollar, and fifty kilograms of cornmeal for each person on his back. This was a reward after the construction of the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway was completed.
He and his wife, Yu Shi, stewed a pot of fatty meat and radish stewed with golden iron pancakes, which the whole family almost swallowed.
After the child and the old man went to bed, they carefully counted the copper coins they had earned over the past year. They shed tears while counting the money.
Food and accommodation are taken care of on the construction site, and it is in the wilderness, so there is no place to spend money.
After more than a year, I have saved a total of 15 guans and 863 guans. Add in the bonus of one silver dollar issued today, which is more than 16 guans.
These days, clerks and craftsmen in the city only earn two or three taels of silver a month. Only literate accountants and other professions can earn a salary of more than 3 taels of silver.
You can't make much money by working hard, and it's difficult to feed a whole family.
The couple counted the money and cried at the same time.
Yu cried and said: "What a good job. After working for more than a year, it was enough to buy four acres of dry land. The remaining money was enough to buy a full set of farm tools and seeds. It's a pity that the railway has been opened to traffic. I don't know if it will still be used."
There is no need for us. If we are demobilized, where will we go to make a living tomorrow? It would be great if the railway could continue to be built."
Hu Qingxiang said: "Today, we will not be dismissed."
Yu asked in surprise: "Didn't you say it would open to traffic tomorrow? If there is no work on the railway, are you still willing to support us in vain?"
Hu Qingxiang said excitedly: "The railway will continue to be built. I heard from our section chief that this road will continue to be built towards the grassland and the Western Regions. The next step will be to extend to Guihua City, Jiuyuan City, and Linhe City."
I also heard that this railway will go all the way west along the Alxa area, pass through Heishui City and Juyanhaicheng, and end at Hami. It will also go to the Yinli Valley, I don’t know where it is."
Yu said excitedly: "Then we can continue to work. We will always have jobs and make money."
Hu Qingxiang said excitedly: "That's not all. As mentioned above, railway construction is a technical type of work. It is not easy to train skilled workers. Not only will we not be dismissed, but what kind of railway construction company will be set up to make us regular employees? Yes.
Once you have established the establishment, you can work until you retire at the age of sixty. After retirement, you will still receive a pension, which will be paid at 80% of your salary until your death."
Mrs. Yu shed tears of joy and said: "Master, let's just say we don't have to worry about the future anymore. We can just keep working on the railway. The income here is high, enough to raise our children."
Hu Qingxiang said: "The meeting was held yesterday. Mr. Yang wants to build family compounds near each station, and also build a large number of houses called Tongzi buildings, which can be purchased with loans or rented at low prices. Each family compound has a
We need to build schools so that the children of railway employees can study and become literate for free. We also need to open medical clinics, markets, and some workshops and factories to provide employment for their families."
"In the future, when we men go out to build railways in the wilderness, your family members will not have to endure the hardships in the wilderness. You will be placed in the family compound to live and work. The children will go to school. The children will also study.
How to build railways? When you grow up, you can also work in a railway construction company."
Mrs. Yu was already crying bitterly, happiness came so suddenly.
The Railway Construction Company not only clearly arranged their lives, but also arranged the future of the next generation.
Building railways, highways, and building bridges are all very hard and dangerous field work. Not only is it heavy physical labor, but it also requires certain skills. Now, students from Xinghe Academy serve as technicians, and these workers are recruited by the refugees.
, is the absolute main force in construction.
Only by giving them no worries can they be able to work seriously in the wilderness with peace of mind.
Through the construction of this railway, these people have become completely familiar with the construction of narrow-gauge railways. Each of them is a skilled worker, very precious, and naturally cannot be dismissed.
Yang Fan was very ambitious. He wanted to unify the Mongols, launch a western expedition, penetrate Central Asia, destroy the Kazakh Khanate and various small countries in Central Asia, and take the Mongols to Europe.
Similarly, he wanted to build a railway all the way along Central Asia to Tsaritsyn (Stalingrad). He wanted to build Tsaritsyn into a strong fortress to block Tsarist Russia's southward path.
There he will annex the two khanates that still exist among the Mongols. One is the Crimean Khanate located in eastern Ukraine today, and the other is established by the tribes of the Turgut people who have moved westward, located in the lower steppes of the Volga River and Ural.
The Kalmyk Khanate.
And build a port on the Black Sea to open up the Black Sea and Mediterranean trade routes with Europe. This railway starting from Tianjin Port in the east and reaching the Black Sea Port in the west is the land power that Yang Fan relies on to dominate the Eurasian continent.
From now on, the Ural Mountains, Tsaritsyn, and the Volga River will be the eastern borders of Europeans. This will completely strangle Tsarist Russia's ambition to expand to the east.