Opening game, American Tycoon

Chapter 1434 Sahara Railway (Second update, please subscribe)

"beep……"

Accompanied by the whistle of the train, a train full of various goods was running on the railway with a "bang, bang".

Between the front of the car and the freight car, there are two passenger cars and a dining car. The passengers in the car are all wearing military uniforms, but their military uniforms are not the green military uniforms of the empire, but dark blue military uniforms.

They are from the Tang Empire, and they are a military investigation team sent by the Tang Dynasty.They appeared here to visit and investigate the French battlefield, and of course to study.

For safety reasons, after Datang's merchant ship sent them to Kenya, they took the train to Tunisia, and then entered France from Tunisia. Compared with the Atlantic Ocean, the sea control of the Mediterranean Sea is now under the control of France and Rome.

Sitting in the carriage, Yuan Shikai cast his sights on the vast desert outside the carriage from time to time. The undulating sand dunes look very spectacular.

"It's beyond people's expectations to actually build a railway in the desert!"

The reason why Yuan Shikai felt this way was because ten years ago, when the Imperial Railway Company signed an agreement with the French African Railway Company to build a railway from Madita at the mouth of the Congo River to Tunisia, the whole world thought it was wrong. Possibly, in the eyes of many people, this is simply a joke.

If he hadn't seen it with his own eyes, who would have thought that he could actually cultivate into such a vast desert.

"This railway is a joke at all. Maybe they can build the railway to Mali, but then what? The Sahara Desert will hinder their ambitions..."

In the UK and in Europe, almost everyone thinks this is a joke. After all, it is simply impossible to build a railway across the desert.The most difficult section of this railway is to pass through the largest desert on earth - the Sahara Railway. Not to mention that there are deserts along the way, most of the roads have no water and coal supply, and what is more deadly?
It is the sandstorm that will push the huge sand dunes across the road over the years, and it is normal that the railway will eventually be swallowed by the sand dunes, making it impossible to open to traffic.

Therefore, from the perspective of the whole world, the construction of the Sahara Railway is simply a joke.

But in the end, with the joint efforts of the two empires, after nine years of hard work, a "China-Africa Railway" with a starting point in Madita at the mouth of the Congo River and ending in Tunisia was finally completed. In the year when the railway was completed, more than One million French immigrants entered French colonies such as Niger, Chad, and Central Africa through this railway, and tens of thousands of French immigrants even entered the colonies of the Ming Empire. According to the immigration decree signed by the Empire and France, the imperial colonies can accept 100 French immigrants every year .

Why did Ming and France build this huge investment railway?

Just to facilitate the entry and exit of immigrants?
Indeed, the completion of the China-Africa Railway and its extensions made it easier for the French to immigrate to the inland colonies. They built plantations there, drove cheap African laborers, immigrated to the colonies, and even increased the fertility rate of France. ——This has long been proven. In the Middle East colonies, the fertility rate of French immigrants is 2.3 times that of natives.

"Before the war broke out, no one knew what this railway meant. When I visited the UK, many people said that this railway was France's ambition to get involved in Africa, but now it seems that this railway is not where the ambition to get involved in Africa lies. , but the key linking France to the vast African colonies!"

Just at this time, the railway meandered through the sand dunes, and Yuan Shikai pointed to the towering railway bridge between the sand dunes outside the carriage and said.

"With this railway, food, meat, and minerals from the African colonies will continue to enter France. With these materials, the French can continue the war. Moreover, the reinforcements of the empire will also pass through the railway continuously. Entering France, if it weren't for this railway, how could the Empire's African Army reach France as soon as the war started?"

Duan Qirui agreed with Yuan Shikai's words deeply.

"That's true. This railway is of great military significance, that is..."

Pointing to the towering railway bridge, Duan Qirui said.

"Look at Weiting, the railway passing through the Sahara Desert is almost all built with wooden railway bridges that are more than ten feet high. Such wooden bridges and wooden beams are easy to be destroyed. If the British send elite troops, easy to be"

Building a railway in the desert does not mean that everything will be fine if the track is laid in place. You must know that the sand is very mobile. A slight wind blowing may cover the track and make the train impassable. In order to prevent the track from being Covered by wind and sand, through some sections of the Sahara Desert, a viaduct was built to keep the railway away from the sand surface, but this also led to a substantial increase in the cost of railway construction. In order to reduce costs, the Imperial Railway engineers fully borrowed from the United States to build the Pacific Railway. experience, using a wooden bridge.

The main reason for using wood instead of steel to build bridges is that there are a lot of forests in central Africa, and the wood needed can be obtained locally.Not only is the construction process relatively easy, but also the cost will be lower compared with steel materials, after all, only the cost of logging.

"Oh, just repair it if it's broken. It's easy to build a wooden bridge..."

It was Cao Yunda who spoke, a colonel who graduated from the Imperial Army Military Academy, pointing to the wooden bridge that came into sight from the car window because of its obvious curvature.

"Several of my classmates participated in the construction of the Sahara Railway. They said that if the railway was destroyed, it would only take two to three days to rebuild it, and the natural environment of the Sahara Desert is also very suitable for wooden bridges, although according to the U.S. According to our experience, the life span of wooden bridges is very short. If there is no maintenance, it can only be used for about 20 years. But in the Sahara, where there is very little precipitation, the life span of wooden bridges is very long. According to their estimates, the life span should be In about 40 years."

This is also true. After all, the amount of precipitation is low, and the rate of wood decay is naturally very slow.

After all, Cao Yunda said in an admiring tone.

"I heard that the tallest wooden bridge on the Sahara Railway has a bridge of more than 63 meters. It's really hard to imagine..."

In fact, such a tall wooden railway bridge is very common in North America, but for these Datang military officers who have just arrived, such a tall railway bridge is indeed very rare.

"Empire's engineering is well developed!"

These officers couldn't help sighing, staring at the desert outside the car window, listening to the praise of their colleagues.Yuan Shikai suddenly had a feeling that perhaps as early as ten years ago, the empire had been carefully preparing for this war. Isn't this railway bridge the proof?

Suddenly, it was like remembering a joke.Yuan Shikai said.

"France can transport materials through the Central African Railway, but what can the British do! Their materials need to be transported from India and Africa to the British mainland, but whether in the Indian Ocean or the Atlantic Ocean, there are fleets of the Empire and France How can the British merchant fleet go around them?"

Although his question is a bit unfounded, it is true that Britain is indeed facing difficulties in this regard...

　The old group is dead, and a new book friend group: 739209015 is welcome to join, discuss the plot together, and deduce the plot.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)