Although the large Qing army evacuated from the south bank of the Mongolian River, a brand-new Karen post remained and was garrisoned by a hundred armored soldiers. This is to monitor the movements of Beihai Town and to tell the border residents nearby that the Qing Dynasty's rule is still there.
Because the Eight Banners outside the Pass still implement the system of "integration of soldiers and farmers", these armored soldiers not only have to stand guard, but also open up wasteland and cultivate land on the south bank of the Mongolian River.
At the end of February, Liu Zheng and the newly married Dr. Hong and his wife also came back. At the same time as they arrived in Beihai Town, there were also a large number of pharmaceutical equipment and a quotation list for a set of small fertilizer production equipment.
Zhao Liang and Fang Hua decided to study it first, firstly to select technical workers, and secondly to select the location for the synthetic ammonia plant in advance.
In March, as the weather begins to get warmer, the snow on the outer northeastern land begins to gradually melt. Groups of wild geese began to return north, and from time to time a "quacking" sound would be heard in the sky.
In Beihai Town and Fuldan City, spring plowing preparations that were no less than a big battle also kicked off.
For the fertile Sanjiang Plain, the first thing the civil affairs department should do is to ensure the maturity of the reclaimed land. The maturation of land is actually to "three connections and one leveling" of raw land, including road access, water access, electricity access and site leveling, so as to ensure the high yield of cultivated land.
After Beihai Town captured Fuldan City last year, the young Yidingba Mangon led the civil affairs exploration team before winter and traveled through the vast wasteland from the north of Fuldan City to the south bank of Xingkai Lake. Based on the survey data obtained, Chen Qingsong completed the planning and design of the first batch of 50,000 acres of high-standard farmland in the three months of winter.
The starting point of everything is road construction.
Under the command of clerks sent by the Ministry of Civil Affairs, the Qing refugees from all over the country joined the road construction army with shovels and hoes in mind, eager to eat and clothe themselves. At the same time, Zhao Xin signed an order for the troops in the two places to send officers and soldiers to take turns, put down their weapons, pick up farm tools and join in spring plowing production.
After two years of continuous learning and exploration, the agricultural machinery team led by Wan Zao and Shiosuke (these people’s names have been used before, everyone just needs to know that they have been naturalized as Han Chinese) have completely mastered the use of these machines. They were divided into two teams, each carrying out spring plowing work in Beihai Town and Fuldan City.
Outside the vibrant Beihai Town, more than a dozen 50-horsepower tractors and four 9620RXs, which are like monsters in the wasteland, are dressed in eye-catching green paint, dragging a large combined soil preparation machine, and begin to work in the snow. The purpose of this is to accelerate the rise of ground temperature and cause the surface soil to thaw in advance.
A few days later, large chunks of cultivated land finally revealed their true appearance, with patches of darker and lighter colors on the surface of the soil. When the water in the low-lying land flows away along the drainage ditch, the color of the surface is basically the same, and the topsoil is about three centimeters away, you can start sowing and fertilizing.
The current spring crops in Beihai Town are still mainly wheat, and pasta can satisfy hunger! The wheat seed is a variety that Zhao Xin bought from another time and space. It is drought-resistant in the early stage and wet-tolerant in the later stage. It grows quickly and matures when the head is down. The average yield per mu reaches more than 400 kilograms.
In order to avoid land degradation caused by the extensive use of chemical fertilizers, Chen Qingsong organized staff to prepare a large amount of organic manure last autumn. These organic fertilizers are made from autumn wheat straw and shrub branches cut into small sections, and then piled up and down in a longitude and latitudinal shape into a pile, and excrement and urine are poured on top to ferment. After a few months, the manure has been dried into small pieces of gray-black fertilizer.
The drivers responsible for sowing are all the most skilled vehicle commanders in the agricultural machinery unit. When pulling a 9620RX seeder and fertilizer spreader, the working width can reach 15 meters. The commander responsible for driving must keep the seeder moving straight and avoid missing or re-seeding; it must be consistent when turning at the edge of the field. Otherwise, poor sowing quality will directly affect yield. You can’t tell it at first, but when the wheat sprouts emerge, it will be a huge embarrassment!
This is a battle between man and cruel climate. Due to the short frost-free period in the outer Northeast and the heavy rainfall in summer, spring sowing of wheat must be done quickly to ensure that year's harvest.
Against the background of the rumbling sound of machines, Zhu Dagui, a farmer from Linzhang, Henan, is leading his fellow farmers to spread gravel on the widened road. Looking at the four behemoths in the farmland in the distance, Zhu Dagui felt only excitement in his heart at the moment. He couldn't imagine that the land could still be cultivated like this.
A long whistle sounded and it was time for a break. The refugees who had been busy for two hours put down their work and gathered in groups according to their groups to sit on the roadside to rest and drink water.
"Mom! It's only been a few days, and thousands of acres of land have been plowed! Brother Dagui, do you think these are the gods that the gentlemen invited from the sky?"
"What nonsense are you talking about! That's called a machine. Haven't I told you all about it? It's all made by gentlemen. There are people inside who are operating the machine. It needs oil to run!" Zhu Dagui wiped it with the towel hanging around his neck. He sweated and drank the warm water from the bowl.
"According to me, gentlemen are not mortals!" As soon as he said this, the farmers around him nodded in agreement.
"Tsk tsk~ Talk about this thing, how much oil do you need to drink in a day? Brother Dagui, can this oil be used to cook vegetables?"
"Eh~! You know how to eat, but even five cornbreads in a meal can't feed your turtle grandson! That oil is not for people to drink!"
In winter, in addition to opening literacy classes, the civil affairs department also organizes weekly meetings for the village chiefs and group leaders of the refugees. In addition to explaining Beihai Town's regulations and systems, pictures will also be used to display various mechanical equipment. They didn’t feel much just by looking at the pictures, but when the civil affairs organization organized a tour of the real thing, these farmers were almost frightened to death!
Zhu Dagui recalled that when he first saw the machine with a wheel that was almost as tall as himself, he was so frightened that he knelt on the ground and kowtowed. If the Civil Affairs Bureau had not used pictures to promote that this was for farming, Zhu Dagui would have thought that the gentlemen were going to feed themselves to the machine!
Thinking of this, Zhu Dagui smiled sheepishly. They, the refugees, have been joining the road-building army for seven or eight days. People from the civil affairs told them that the road is more than 400 miles long and can go all the way to Fuldan City in the northwest. Once the road between the two places is opened, a round trip will be possible in two or three days.
Zhu Dagui thinks that the job of building roads is quite good. Although it is very hard, in addition to eating three meals a day on the construction site, he can also receive a salary of five silver dollars per month. Five silver dollars. The civil affairs cadres said at the lecture that this money, combined with one tael of silver from the Qing Dynasty, could buy almost 100 kilograms of wheat!
At the end of February, Beihai Town finally began to issue currency internally, and at the same time, shops in the towns in both places began to open. In addition, two savings banks will also open in April.
After the store opened, Zhao Xin's 300 "secret agents" began to follow Li Ji's instructions and run in every day to hang out. In addition to having their own fields, these old residents all work in workshops, and their income is very good, with an average income of more than 20 yuan per month.
Buy a wok today and a kettle tomorrow. Some people carried newly bought lanterns and alarm clocks and started chattering and laughing all the way out of the shop, for fear that others would not know. Affected by these people, those families who came to Beihai Town early and had people working in workshops began to enter the doors of shops and buy the daily necessities they needed.
The refugees from Henan and Shandong who arrived at the end of last year looked at the proud old residents with faces full of expectation and envy. As long as you work hard for the masters, you will have all these things.
With the opening of shops, the large canteens in Beihai Town are also constantly shrinking in size. Currently, the cafeteria only provides three meals a day for school children and Zhao Xin and others. As for the old residents, they have already bought cooking utensils to cook at home.
As the shops opened for business, colorful materials and more than a dozen sets of Ming Dynasty-style women's clothing also appeared on the shelves. The women in Beihai Town finally began to get rid of the labor insurance clothes that remained unchanged all year round, and were planning how much material to buy to make new clothes for themselves and their families.
Girls like Shen Xuan and Tang Xiao are the happiest among the various materials and clothing styles that appear in the store. Fortunately for Shen Xuan, she still had a few sets of clothes she had brought with her, while Tang Xiao and the others were wearing Beihai Town's labor protection cotton-padded clothes every day these days.
In the outhouse of Shen Jingdan's house, the dazzling Shen Xuan was wearing a Ming Dynasty Hanfu that Zhao Xin bought for her, and kept looking in the mirror. Shen Jingdan and Oginoto on the side also kept praising.
"I didn't expect to see the clothes of my motherland here! Why does Zhao Xin even know this?"
"Yes, sir. I didn't expect that Tianchao's clothes are so fascinating. Ah Quan looks so good in this!"
Listening to the two people's compliments, Shen Xuan's face showed a bit of shyness, but she felt happy in her heart. She was currently wearing a secretly woven gold gauze skirt with a pattern of lions playing ball, cranes, and hibiscus, and a plain white long coat with vertical collar and partial lapel. Under the light, the long coat was covered with peony patterns of broken branches. Two dark red bird-living cage pattern ribbons were tied under the right armpit, and on her feet were a pair of plain satin bow shoes embroidered with several flowers.
At this time, there were several knocks on the door, and the sound of girls chirping came in.
"Miss Shen, are you at home?"
"Dad, it's Tang Xiao and the others who are here."
Shen Jingdan shook his head helplessly, stood up and went to open the door. He felt that Beihai Town had many good things, but the worst thing about it was that there were no servants. When a guest comes to your home, you have to do a lot of things yourself or Oginoto. Now that there are tens of thousands of people in Beihai Town, Shen Jingdan feels that he can mention this matter to Zhao Xin.
When seven or eight girls walked into the house, they didn't bother to salute, but they were immediately blinded by Shen Xuan's clothes. Voices of envy and praise began to circulate, and the Shen family immediately became like a vegetable market. It made Shen Jingdan's brain buzz!
"You guys talk, I'll go for a walk."
At this moment, all the girls remembered that they had forgotten to salute and hurriedly said hello to Shen Jingdan.
Shen Jingdan nodded with a smile, picked up a fur cloak hanging on the clothes rack, and walked out of the house with a smile. He walked slowly and leisurely towards the seaside. The pedestrians he met on the road knew that he was Zhao Xin's prospective father-in-law, and they all greeted him politely. This made Shen Jingdan very proud.
He walked slowly all the way and arrived at the factory area where the dry dock was located. The security police standing guard at the door saw it was Shen Jingdan, so he smiled and said hello, and then let him in.
Shen Jingdan had only been here once before, when he first started digging the earth. In the current factory area, a huge dry dock is almost completed, and the laying of another one has just begun.
At this time, a group of workers were inspecting the drainage system in the built dock. No one noticed Shen Jingdan standing on the top of the dock. Looking at the huge dock in front of him, Shen Jingdan couldn't help but be stunned.
"Is this the industry that Zhao Xin talked about? It can really change the world and move mountains and seas!"
The two dry docks have the same shape, with three sides facing land and one facing water. They are composed of dock opening, dock chamber, dock door, drainage system and irrigation system. Because the current power shortage is too large, the planned lifting equipment and power systems have not been installed, only empty spaces have been left.
The completed dock is 12 meters deep, 250 meters long and 50 meters wide. In order to ensure completion as soon as possible, in addition to using machinery and equipment, Beihai Town also mobilized tens of thousands of people to participate in the construction; the steel and cement purchased by Zhao Xin alone cost tens of millions.
"Boss Shen, why are you here?"
Shen Jingdan turned around and saw Chen Qingsong walking over with a few people.
"Mr. Chen, I just came over to take a look. Beihai Town's miraculous craftsmanship is really amazing!"
After the two of them bowed their hands in greeting, Shen Jingdan curiously asked how to use the dock.
Chen Qingsong said: "To put it simply, you must first fill the dock with water. When the water inside the dock is level with the water outside the dock, open the dock door and use the towing equipment in the dock to slowly pull the Thor into the dock. Then bring the Thor into the dock. The water in the dock is drained and the Thor is allowed to sit on the keel pier at the bottom of the dock. After the maintenance is completed, water is poured into the dock. When the water level inside and outside the dock door is equal, the dock door is opened and the ship can be undocking."
"That's it. Seeing is better than hearing a hundred times! I also saw the dock for repairing Fu Ship when I was in Jiangnan, but it was far less huge than here." Shen Jingdan turned around and looked at the Thor docked on the dock, thinking that the dock would be used at that time. Be sure to come and take a look.
In the office in Beihai Town, Zhao Xin is planning to go north to Bitter Leaf Island next month. In addition to Zhang Bo, the future head of the oil department, hundreds of workers and a company of troops who arrived earlier will also accompany him.
The oil matter can no longer be postponed, and we must take advantage of the spring floods in Heilongjiang to head north quickly. Even if the Tartar Strait has not yet thawed, it would be better than wasting time here. In any case, without oil, many things later would not be possible. Just the refueling money for the new ship will turn Zhao Xin into a pauper! Finally, he was forced to become a warmonger.
But the inland river ships that can be mobilized at present are patrol boats and official boats, which cannot accommodate so many people.
"It looks like I have to buy two more boats."
Because he has bought boats many times, Zhao Xin is familiar with various types of boats. He carefully recalled the various ship types he had seen and felt that the most suitable one at present was a catamaran passenger ship with hundreds of seats. This kind of ship can sail in both inland rivers and offshore waters. First of all, it has a multi-deck structure with many cabins, sufficient restaurants and sanitary facilities; secondly, it has good sinking resistance; and the ship's speed and power are large enough.
The most important thing is that this kind of ship is not expensive compared to cargo ships. Zhao Xin remembers that a second-hand ship with more than 300 passengers only costs a few million.
Now the number of sailors in Beihai Town has reached more than 200, and more than 30 of them have initially mastered ship driving. If Liu Sheng or Deng Fei leads the team, there should be no big problem if they cross the Tartar Strait (the narrowest point in the north is only 7.3 kilometers).
So that night, Zhao Xin returned to Fuldan City. He found Liu Sheng, and after the two discussed it, Zhao Xin left in a hurry.
The next morning, Serdan and Elu received orders from Liu Sheng. They would lead their respective reconnaissance teams north to camp somewhere on the south bank of Xingkai Lake until the first advance team arrived next month. Evacuate.
Serdan and his son, Monk Zhang Er, were confused, but they still carried out the plan resolutely. They packed their bags, prepared supplies, and set out two days later. Among the accompanying team, the former Yidingba Mangon and Wukanbei were also recruited as new recruits.
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