Zhu Jingyuan asked a craftsman from Royal Agricultural Machinery to take him to see some sample tractors.
The overall structure of these machines was designed by Zhu Jingyuan, and of course they look very similar to tractors from previous generations.
The most distinctive thing is the tire that is as tall as a person and the large tread pattern that is a few centimeters deep.
This design makes it easier for the tractor to grip soft soil.
There is a hydraulic suspension at the rear of the body, and a horizontal screw port in the front of the chassis, which can connect various combined agricultural equipment.
The six four-wheel tractors in front of us use different numbers of cylinders, with different weights and powers.
The lightest is a single-cylinder with sixteen horsepower, and the heaviest is a four-cylinder with sixty-four horsepower.
This power is not low among tractors of this era.
Among them, the four-cylinder tractor was tentatively equipped with a blank bomb starter.
Blank starters are a by-product of Turbine Labs.
Blank rounds are artillery shells without warheads, only the cartridge case, primer and propellant inside.
When a blank bomb is activated, the propellant inside burns at high speed, and a large amount of gas is generated that bursts out instantly.
Originally, this gas pressure pushed the warhead to fly out.
Without a warhead, the gas is released as an instant thrust, which can be used for other things.
The turbine is equivalent to a fan. Using the thrust of gas to blow the turbine can make the turbine rotate quickly.
The Turbine Laboratory designed a small and simple turbine whose main shaft is connected to the engine main shaft through gears.
The gas from the blank bomb is used to drive a turbine, which drives the main shaft of the internal combustion engine to rotate.
While the main shaft is driven by the gas from the blank bomb, control the throttle of the internal combustion engine to provide oil, and the internal combustion engine will start accordingly.
This kind of starter has a simple structure, low failure rate and fast starting speed, and is very suitable for use in emergency situations.
This startup method was actually very common in Zhu Jingyuan's previous life. It was the emergency startup method for many military equipment. It was used by everyone from F4F to B52 to J-20.
After this method was invented in this world, it has quickly begun to be promoted on various military machinery, and is also planned to be used on some large agricultural machinery in the future.
Zhu Jingyuan also drove a tractor in his previous life, but he had never experienced a blank ammunition start.
Now I confirmed the condition of the machine with the craftsman, and then started the blank ammunition operation myself.
Take out a blank bomb of the corresponding model and insert it into the blank ammunition slot of the four-cylinder tractor starter.
Use the corresponding special nut to tighten it on the outside, and finally pick up the hammer and tap on the back of the nut. This process is equivalent to firing the primer of the shell, and the effect is similar to pulling the trigger.
Along with a violent puff of smoke, the diesel engine on the tractor began to tremble violently.
"Tu tu tu tu..."
Zhu Jingyuan immediately reached out to pull the accelerator. The diesel engine speed immediately increased again, and thick smoke came out of the chimney.
The tractor started.
Zhu Jingyuan sat in the driver's seat, depressed the clutch and shifted into gear, and began to slowly circle around the testing site.
Zhu Jingyuan drove a tractor all morning and became familiar with the simple essentials of tractor driving.
In the afternoon, Zhu Jingyuan followed Lin Zexu to see the temporary site of the textile factory.
According to Zhu Zhongliang's original idea, it was suggested to place textile factories and petrochemical plants in oil mining areas.
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That is, the northernmost part of Nanyinzhou, the Maracaibo Lake area in western Venezuela in later generations.
But then the two looked at the map and studied the situation of Xintianfu, and finally decided to separate temporarily.
The oil producing areas are all raw land, and the composition of the surrounding residents is very complex.
The petrochemical and textile industries are currently highly monopolized and highly profitable industries, and they must be placed in as safe a place as possible.
Therefore, personnel and equipment from textile-related industries came to Xintianfu together.
For the time being, only oil extraction bases will be built in the Maracaibo area.
There are a large number of houses waiting to be allocated in Xintianfu City, and there are also some workshops outside the city waiting to be used.
The Royal Construction Company allocated the two remaining factories closest to the city gate to the Dashi Textile Factory and the Garment Factory.
As the future factory director, Hao Zhongyi is directing the workers to transport the mechanical equipment in and prepare for installation and commissioning.
Zhu Jingyuan even went to have a chat with Hao Zhongyi:
"How do you feel now? Are there any difficulties?"
Hao Zhongyi said very honestly:
“I don’t think it’s difficult at all. They are all veteran workers, have used equipment, and have done the same work before.
“As soon as this machine is installed, everyone can start production immediately and start bringing in new people.
"It's much simpler than when I first went to Mengxian County and tossed around various new products there."
Zhu Jingyuan smiled and nodded:
"How is that person living? Is the family still used to this place?"
Hao Zhongyi said immediately:
"It's great here. It's indeed Xintianfu. It's much cooler than Meng County. I haven't experienced autumn in two years.
"I heard from people here that the hottest temperature in summer is usually 30 degrees, and the coldest temperature in winter is usually 7 or 8 degrees.
“With four distinct seasons, warm winters and cool summers, this is truly Tianfu, even though the sun and seasons are reversed from those in my hometown.
“Although the house we are allocated now is not as good as the big manor in Meng County, it is only my family who can live there by themselves.
"Two floors, eight rooms, two large living rooms, most of the places are empty, my wife and children are all satisfied."
Zhu Jingyuan smiled and nodded and said:
"As long as you are satisfied, this is not a house that will be officially allocated to you in the future. Our factory will build a residential area ourselves in the future.
"They are all built outside the city, together with the school in the factory area, so that everyone's yard can be larger and more convenient."
Hao Zhongyi said cheerfully:
"Okay, okay, great..."
Zhu Jingyuan went to each warehouse and each factory where equipment was installed and debugged in order to greet the craftsmen and workers. The afternoon passed quickly.
On the second day, Zhu Jingyuan went to the agricultural machinery factory again to learn how to install and replace various supporting equipment on the tractor.
At present, they mainly include corn harvesters, plows, harrows, planters, and tractors.
…………
Zhu Jingyuan's team heading to Yinzhou was actually divided into two groups.
Zhu Jingyuan himself, as well as the personnel and materials going to Xintianfu, all took a boat to go around the Western Cape and go directly to Xintianfu.
The personnel and equipment related to oil drilling and mining led by Zheng Fuguang set out from Liusha City and entered the Red Sea.
The West Sea Canal, which connects the Daqin Sea and the Red Sea, was only seven meters deep when it was first opened. It could only pass ships of six to seven thousand tons, and capital ships could not pass through.
Before the World War, the Ming Dynasty had always wanted to expand the canal, but due to the resistance of the European and Western countries, it had not taken action.
At that time, Ming Dynasty even promised to deploy cruisers only in the Daqin Sea.
After the end of the world war, this promise became invalid.
As a matter of course, the Ming Dynasty began to deepen and widen the canal without any scruples.
In order to control the canal area more firmly and stably, the Ming Dynasty established a directly-administered chief envoy around the West Sea Canal.
And continued to immigrate to the local area, responsible for opening rivers and maintaining canals.
Although the Xihai Chief Envoy is the Chief Envoy, its management model is actually similar to that of Huangzhuang, or a canal operating company.
Migrant workers are not high-intensity disposable workers, but regular employees of operating companies.
Employees' salaries are good, the work intensity is not very high, and they can work normally and continuously for a long time.
They continued to dredge and deepen the existing canal while digging a new canal not far away.
Zhu Jingyuan's preliminary plan is to reach a water depth of 16 meters, allowing two-way traffic of 100,000 tons of ships without interfering with each other.
After more than two years of dredging, the water depth of the original canal has deepened from seven meters to 12 meters.
Passenger ships of 30,000 tons and all cargo ships of 20,000 tons can already pass.
Zheng Fuguang's fleet passed through the West Sea Canal, entered the Great Qin Sea, and then passed through Gibraltar from the Great Qin Sea into the Atlantic Ocean.
The fleet crossed the Atlantic and entered the Caribbean. After repairing on the island of Haiti, it set sail for the Gulf of Venezuela.
The fleet sailed all the way to the deepest part of the Gulf of Venezuela and anchored more than ten kilometers away from the coast.
The workers and equipment led by Zheng Fuguang transferred to the small flat-bottomed river boat that was towed over and continued to "sail to the shore"
At the southernmost end of the Gulf of Venezuela, there is a semi-open lagoon called Lake Shinamayinka.
The natural waterway between the bay and the lagoon is less than a kilometer wide.
The water in the water channel is six or seven meters deep, but the water on both sides of the water channel and behind the sand bar of the lagoon is very shallow.
In many places it is less than one meter, and when the tide goes out it turns directly into land.
Above these dives, there are sparsely scattered stilt houses on the water, which are the houses of the local indigenous Yin people.
Zheng Fuguang's fleet, led by local guides, slowly moved along the waterway and cautiously entered the lagoon.
Continuing southward along the waterway in the lagoon, the water under and around the boat begins to slowly become deeper.
After sailing slowly for twenty kilometers, the lakeshore that was originally invisible to the east reappeared slightly unexpectedly.
The width of the water area immediately narrowed from nearly thirty kilometers to less than ten kilometers.
According to the guide, this is the boundary of Lake Shinamayinka.
The fleet continued to sail into a water area less than ten kilometers wide and entered the final destination, Lake Maracaibo.
After the fleet continued to sail forward for a few kilometers, they saw a group of Thai and Western-style buildings on the west bank of the water.
This is the town of Maracaibo, the destination of our trip.
If you continue southward along this stretch of water, the lake will become deeper and deeper, and the salt content in the water will continue to decrease.
After sailing thirty kilometers south, the waters will become wider again and the lake will basically become water.
Then we arrive at the main body of Lake Maracaibo.
Lake Maracaibo is the largest lake in Nanyinzhou. It is located in the northwest of Nanyinzhou and is the westernmost point of Venezuela.
The lake is 190 kilometers long from north to south and 115 kilometers wide from east to west.
The water area is 14,344 square kilometers, which is about six times that of Taihu Lake.
Lake Maracaibo is a tectonic lake formed by the collapse of faults in the Andes Mountains. The depth of the lake in most areas exceeds 20 meters.
However, the lagoon connected to the ocean outside is too shallow, and large ships cannot sail directly from the Gulf of Venezuela into Lake Maracaibo.
The area where the lake is located is surrounded by mountains on three sides. The tall branches of the Andes capture a large amount of water vapor from the Caribbean Sea, forming abundant orographic rain on the surrounding slopes.
This rainwater flows into Lake Maracaibo through dozens of rivers, forming the main source of water for Lake Maracaibo.
The lake as a whole is always in a state of outflow.
In addition, the lagoon outside is shallow and the water channel is narrow, making it difficult for seawater to penetrate inward.
Only small amounts of sea water can flow in through the lagoon during high tide.
This will only slightly increase the salinity of the water in the northern part of the lake, but will not turn the entire lake of Maracaibo into saline water.
Therefore, although Lake Maracaibo is actually connected to the ocean waters, it is still a lake, not a bay.
Even Lake Maracaibo is often regarded as a Danshui Lake.
It can be regarded as the Danshui Lake closest to the ocean, and the water body is directly connected to the ocean.
But for Zhu Jingyuan, the more important thing is that this is one of the earliest oil-producing areas in history.
Second only to the Persian Gulf, it can be compared with the Caspian Sea and is called the two largest oil lakes.
Someone discovered obvious oil seedlings here very early on.
In 1876, some people began to use indigenous methods to extract oil, and in 1917, large-scale industrial oil extraction began.
Venezuela, which owned Lake Maracaibo in its previous life, is nominally the country with the largest oil reserves in the world.
It has the largest reserves in name, because many people doubt the "hidden strength" of Saudi Arabia, which ranks second.
At the same time, many people know that most of Venezuela’s oil is heavy oil, even super heavy oil.
The extraction of heavy oil is difficult and costly, and it also requires smelting technology.
However, this mining cost is high, relative to the Gulf and Lucia, and not high compared to other regions.
Moreover, although most of Venezuela’s oil reserves are, almost 75% are heavy oil.
But it is not without conventional oil, and its total reserves are too high.
Even if three-quarters of the heavy oil is removed and only the remaining one-quarter of normal oil reserves are taken into account, it still ranks ninth in the world.
It is on par with eighth-placed Lucia and double that of tenth-placed Nigeria.
These countries are not without heavy oil.
At the same time, Venezuela’s heavy oil, which is the most difficult to extract and use, is mainly concentrated in the Orinoco heavy oil belt in the east, where exploitation only began in the 1980s.
The Lake Maracaibo region in the west happens to have light oil, and the heavy oil here is relatively easy to mine and use.
Otherwise, Lake Maracaibo would not have become the first large oil field.
Now the small town at the mouth of Maracaibo Lake has been taken over by the Xintianfu Palace of the Ming Dynasty.
After Zheng Fuguang and the craftsmen came ashore, they settled his family in the cleared house.
Zheng Fuguang spent a day getting used to it and then took the craftsmen out to survey the environment.
Zheng Fuguang originally planned to look for oil here based on his own experience and the equipment he prepared.
As a result, they soon discovered that this was not necessary for the time being.
The oil seedlings here are too obvious, much like Baku on the Caspian Sea.
Zheng Fuguang looked at the companions he had brought:
“Let’s drill the well first, right behind this town called Mara, I guess we can produce oil directly.
"Let's drill out the oil first and start a continuous and stable supply of oil, and then go to other areas to verify the technology."
