Forty-eight years of Qianlong

Chapter 528 The First Railway Section in Beihai Town

On April 1791, 4, just as Deng Fei and his team won the initial victory in Batavia, Beihai Town ushered in an unprecedented event. The construction of the first railway line from Boli Town to Heilongjiang City, which had been under construction for more than a year, The project will be put into operation soon.

Starting from March 3th, as long as there is no important business at hand, all the people traveling through Beihai Town have come to Boli Town one after another, preparing to participate in the opening ceremony.

On April 4st, under the escort of Zhao Xin's half of the guard battalion, Shen Xuan also came with her one-year-old Momo.Accompanying her were A Miao, Miss Wu who was the bodyguard, Erya Chen, and even Wang Zhenyi and Tang Xiao who had just recovered from a serious illness.

Well, Shen Xuan can also see that, although her man is not merciful everywhere he goes, he is not much worse than Huaxin Daluobo.What she is most afraid of right now is that Zhao Xin will put a blond-haired, blue-eyed Rakshasa woman in Beihai Town one day, and it will be even more chaotic.

In addition, Wang Zhong, Duan Yucai, Liu Taigong, Hong Liangji, Jiao Xun, Huang Chengji and others also put down what they were doing and came with Yu Deli, Lao You and others.Serving as their accompanying guards were veteran boxers Wu Zhong, Chai Rugui, Gao Liugeng, Li Qingwen and others.

As for the general public, ahem, the common people are busy with spring plowing and don’t have time to take care of any “trains”. After all, these years they have to guard [-] acres of land without worrying about food and clothing, and their wives and children are at the pinnacle of life. what!

The entire line has a total length of 208.7 kilometers. The starting point is Khabarovsk Station, 24.3 kilometers northwest of Khabarovsk Town, and the end point is Chimuni Town, which is located at the intersection of Aktala Mountain and Buleya Mountain in the Lesser Khingan Mountains.

"Chimuni Town" is a new village and town built on the railway, located in the lowland plain of the Chimuni River, the left tributary of Heilongjiang.There was no name for this place, and hundreds of miles around it was called "Qimuni Woji" in the official map of the Qing court and the Hezhe population, and it belonged to the residence of the Hezhe people in Qileer.

The forests in Jilin and Heilongjiang in this time and space are lush and covered the sky and the sun. Because the fallen leaves have accumulated in the forest for many years, the large swamps formed by poor water flow are called "woji" by the Hezhe people.

In the preliminary survey process, Sima Jianghan from the island country led his students to discover a high-quality coal mine on the left bank of the Chimuni River, 257 kilometers away from the Heilongjiang River. The "Beihai Town Railway Construction Committee" later decided to set up a station here.

Since the survey team only found this coal mine on the nearly [-]-kilometer section from Khabarovsk to Hailanpao, the status of Chimuni Town has become more and more important. The iron and steel factories there need a lot of coal.

If Beihai Town wants to fully develop the vast and sparsely populated Outer Northeast and Eastern Siberia, everything will be out of reach without the railway, let alone timely mobilization of troops.Only the railway can firmly lock tens of millions of square kilometers of land, transport thousands of impoverished peasants in the pass to various settlements centered on the railway station, and truly incorporate this land into the Chinese territory.

When Zhao Xin was in Baiber City (Irkutsk), he heard an interesting story, which can explain the vastness of Siberia and the difficulty of trekking.Of course, this could also be fabricated.

It is said that in the mid-eighteenth century, Empress Elizabeth Petrovna of Tsarist Russia invited six virgins from the Kamchatka Peninsula to St. Petersburg for an audience.Under the escort of Tsarist Russian officials, these chaste girls had just arrived in Irkutsk, and they were already pregnant with the children of the soldiers of the guards.By the time these people traveled more than 1 kilometers and arrived in St. Petersburg, the women were already pregnant with their firstborn children's younger brothers and sisters.

In fact, the Mara Railway has been used for several years in the area under the jurisdiction of Beihai Town, from the gold mine in Solenji Island to the Beiquanzhou Coal Mine in Ezodi, and then to the Lingjia Mining Area.The longest one was used in the North Quanzhou Coal Mine. It was about 1.5 kilometers long, and the three carriages could pull eight tons of coal at a time. They were all Mongolian horses captured in the previous battle against the Qing army.

It is said that it is extremely difficult to build a railway from Boli Town to the west. Although the stones for road ballast can be mined from the mountains eighty miles away, the areas that the railway passes are all swamps in the tundra zone; it is frozen hard in winter and thawed in spring It became a mud pond.

What makes the railway construction committee dumbfounded is that despite the boundless coniferous forests in the Khabarovsk area, the wood resources are extremely rich, but most of them are not strong enough and have poor durability. Paper can be made, but it is useless to make sleepers.If the freshly cut wood is cut down to make sleepers, it will be broken within a year or two. Therefore, the suitable wood has to be transported from the forest farm on the north shore of Xingkai Lake, 300 kilometers away.

To cut down trees, the roots have to be removed, and the roadbed must be dug to a depth of three meters underground, then backfilled with gravel or even cement, and then the roadbed and road cuttings must be repaired, and drainage channels must be built.At the same time, the workers who built the road had to build a road parallel to the railway line that could accommodate four large carriages in parallel.

Since June 1789, more than 6 island workers organized by the Tokugawa shogunate have been busy on this land. Their main jobs are logging, digging and quarrying.

The whole project was very heavy, but Beihai Town did not treat these island farmers and criminals badly.In summer, most of the workers camped and lived in tents. In winter, because they could only repair bridges, build stations and carry out other auxiliary projects, the number of workers was reduced by half. The room can accommodate 10-20 people in the cellar.

From April to September, workers generally have to work from 4:9 am to 6:7 pm, 13 hours a day, with only a two-hour break for lunch in the middle, which is exhausting; even in the cold winter because of Low temperature and heavy snow hinder construction, and these people also work seven or eight hours a day.

The workers in the island country work six days a week, and they also rest during the holidays in Beihai Town. Although the food is not exquisite, it is no problem to manage their fill.The workers' meals are deducted from their salaries. Some of the ingredients come from Beihai Town, while others are fish and prey purchased from the Hezhe people.These years, there are as many fish in Heilongjiang and its surrounding tributaries as there are stars in the sky.For the past two years, the Qileerhezhe people have only relied on providing fish to the railway site, and their monthly income is enough to support their family.

The breakfast of the laborers is usually porridge and steamed buns, served with homemade pickles in Beihai Town.Lunch is usually steamed buns, occasionally brown rice, with river fish stewed in a large iron pot, and a pot of wild boar or roe deer stewed every few days, often with bean sprouts, radish or beet leaves.Dinner is noodles with leftover fish or broth from lunch, and each person gets a stick of butter or lard.

Because the food for laborers from different villages or towns is provided by women from the village or town, the level of food varies widely.Those who cook poorly often cause complaints and even riots, but generally speaking, there is plenty of money.

The "Beihai Town Railway Construction Committee" treats workers from these island countries well.For example, skilled lumberjacks and quarrymen earn 80 Beihai silver dollars per month, while unskilled earth diggers earn [-] Beihai silver dollars per month.Even if the shogunate and the vassals that provided labor had to deduct half of it, the proletarian refugees in the Kanto region still had their heads broken.

To be able to come to Beihai Town to build the railway right now, you have to pay at least 20 taels to the official office of the feudal clan just because of the relationship. In addition, you have to pay 20 taels to Beihai to buy the boat ticket. Those poor farmers who engage in it can only borrow usury.In the past two years, the shogunate has made a lot of money from top to bottom by relying on the business of exporting labor, which has greatly alleviated the economic crisis caused by the forced reduction of interest rates.

Since it is a railway construction, there will inevitably be dangers.Although the "Railway Construction Committee" and Zhao Xin himself have tried their best to provide various advanced tools and equipment, the construction conditions are sometimes unimaginably difficult.

For example, when constructing in the swamp section, it is often necessary to work in the waist-deep mud, and the water must be drained first, and then the silt can be dug out.Mosquitoes and small bites are the most common threats and sources of infectious disease during the warmer months.Last summer, a cholera outbreak broke out among more than 200 laborers from the Morioka domain. Although the medical team from Beihai Town quickly set off from Fuldan after hearing the news, dozens of laborers had died when they arrived.

The most dangerous project is bridge construction. Especially in winter, workers have to work on scaffolding above the river or on the surrounding embankments. The so-called safety protection equipment is only tied with a rope.When they work, their body temperature will unconsciously drop to the point of numbness. As a result, when they slip, their frozen fingers cannot grasp any support in time, and those who are not tied with rope will fall.

According to the calculation of the financial department of the Railway Construction Committee, basically for every 50 Beihai silver dollars spent on construction, one worker will die.As for tunnel excavation, the death rate is even higher. There are 50 to 3 deaths and injuries caused by landslides for every 4 Beihai dollars.

In fact, the most complicated part of the entire railway project is the bridge across the various tributaries of Heilongjiang.It’s okay to go from Boli to Qimuni Town. From Heilongjiang City to the east, you need to pass through six rivers of different widths, including the Hara River, the Kurtur River, the Zhuchun River, the Kuru River, the Sulu River, and the Bizhan River.

The design of the steel bridges on larger rivers was designed by Zhao Xin in another time and space after obtaining the surveying and mapping data.As a result, Pereira, as the chief engineer, also gained a lot, and learned a lot of advanced bridge engineering technology from the blueprints.

Once the design requirements are met, the piers built in the river must be extra strong to withstand the pressure of the railway in spring.You must know that those meandering creeks that originally had a small amount of water will suddenly turn into ferocious torrents after a rain in spring, rushing out of the mountains with melted snow and ice floes, causing great damage. Break down all obstacles.

After all the bridges are completed, they have to undergo compression and bending tests in turn. Trucks loaded with heavy loads have to drive to the middle of each bridge and stay there for two hours. Only if there is no problem can they be accepted.It is precisely because of this that the railway from Heilongjiang City to Kubutlin will be completed last, and it is estimated that it will be next year at the earliest.

Although various difficulties were encountered in the construction of the first railway, it also laid the foundation for the construction of railways leading to East Siberia and Shanhaiguan in the future.Zhao Liang believes that starting from next year, the construction of the railway from Heilongjiang City to Yaksa can be started.

On the night when Shen Xuan and his party arrived, Zhao Xin walked out of a small courtyard in the barracks in Boli Town with his hands behind his back, as if he had just inspected the barracks.Outside the courtyard, Chai Rugui, Gao Liugeng and Li Qingwen had been waiting with a platoon for a long time.

The reason Zhao Xin chose to come back at this time was to avoid confusion.But even so, Chai Rugui and the others thought that it took only three days for King Zhao, who was thousands of miles away, to show up after sending a telegram. a fairy.By the light at the gate of the courtyard, Zhao Xin saw the nervousness of Chai Rugui and the others, and felt amused.

After Shen Xuan and his party came to Khabarovsk, they were arranged to live in a courtyard outside the barracks.Because so many people came, the mayor of Boli Town couldn't arrange too many residences, so Wang Zhenyi, Tang Xiao and the others also lived in the same place with Shen Xuan.

At this time, several women had just had dinner, and they did not leave after clearing away the bowls and chopsticks. They all listened attentively to Wang Zhenyi's story about last year's field survey.As for Zhao Xin's son, he spread his legs and ran around in the house. A Miao opened his hands and followed behind nervously to protect him, for fear that the other party would bump into him.

There was a soft creak in the courtyard, and the heavy wooden door was opened from the inside.Zhao Xin who walked in strode towards the main room without waiting for the guard who opened the door to speak.He had driven for a day, tossing back and forth, and he was already hungry.So when he pushed the door and entered the room recklessly, Wang Zhenyi's voice stopped abruptly, and everyone's eyes immediately changed from surprise to surprise.Except for Shen Xuan and A Miao, everyone else quickly got up and saluted Zhao Xin with blushing faces.

(⊙o⊙), Zhao Xin looked at Yingying and Yanyan in a room, and thought to himself, "Fuck me, why are they all here?" !

Early the next morning, Zhao Xin's family of three, A Miao and others crossed the Ussuri River by official boat, and then took a carriage to the newly completed Khabarovsk Railway Station.

When the carriage passed the bustling stream of people on both sides of the road and passed through a forest, Shen Xuan and A Miao, who were sitting in the carriage, turned their heads to look out the window, and couldn't help yelling "Wow", and immediately put the dozing people in the carriage Zhao Xin was woken up.

As it was the starting station of the first railway in Beihai Town, this railway station in Khabarovsk was designed exquisitely by Pereira.The whole building combines Chinese style and Western European Gothic retro sentiment. Facing north and south, the whole station not only looks like a huge beige stone castle, but also has a unique style with blue glazed tiles on the roof and Chinese-style glass windows.The only thing that hasn't been completed yet is the five-meter-high clock tower on the east side of the station. Pereira's suggestion is to invite some watchmakers from Macau, which he can't handle.

At this time, the square in front of the railway station was already full of carriages and cars, all of which were the cars of the crossing people and other relevant people who had arrived in advance.The railway police and Beihai soldiers patrolling and standing guard can be seen everywhere in the open space, separating the high-level officials of Beihai Town from ordinary people.

Zhao Xin got out of the carriage with his wife and children and A Miao, picked up his son who was about to lift his feet, and greeted Chen Qingsong, Zhao Liang, Yu Deli, Lao You, Wang Zhong and others with a smile , walked into the station together.

Needless to say, everyone went straight to the platform first, and when they got to the heavily guarded platform, several steam train enthusiasts who traveled through the crowd had already gathered there in advance, commenting in front of the front of the train.

"After a while, I have to go up and have a look."

"Okay! Let's go together."

"Forget it, the cab is not that comfortable, it will kill you from the heat when burning coal!"

"The six of us are all going to stay in the cab. Where do you tell the driver and the fireman to go? Why don't you sit on the coal pile behind and let the wind blow."

A few people were talking, when they saw Zhao Xin and the others coming, they stopped discussing, and they all came to say hello, and teased the rich second generation of the rich man Zhao's family by the way.

Whether it was Wang Zhong, Duan Yucai, Liu Taigong and Hong Liangji, or Shen Xuan, A Miao, Wang Zhenyi, Tang Xiao and others, at this time they saw the 20-meter-long, huge masked man parked on the railroad tracks. The "monster" with the black iron plate and the steam on the top was amazed, and the expressions on the faces were colorful.

　The town of Chimuni, which is now the city of Bila in the Obluchensky District of the Russian Jewish Autonomous Region.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)