Wild North America 1846

Chapter 588 Building Massawa

In 1517, the Mamluk dynasty of Egypt was destroyed by the Ottoman Empire. Since then, Egypt has become a border province in the territory of the Ottoman Empire. It has been 355 years.

Due to the increasingly corrupt rule of the Ottoman Empire, Egypt has been de facto separated from the Ottoman Empire since the generation of Muhammad Ali Pasha.It became a fully autonomous independent kingdom, but still nominally belonged to a province of the Ottoman Empire.

To this end, Egypt and the Ottoman Empire also fought two wars, and they were all lucky enough to win.

Ismail Pasha is the true uncrowned king of Egypt. When he heard Sir Lu Pingzhi's request, he immediately felt like a thunderbolt, and his heart was stabbed with sadness.

No one wants to see their homes trampled on, but who is to blame?
Although Egypt was able to resist the enslavement of the original suzerain Ottoman, it could not stop the invasion of world powers such as Britain and the Tang Dynasty. The ancient land has long been turned into a playground for great powers and a place for adventurers to explore.

The weak are bullied, this is the cruel law of survival.

After meeting several high-level executives of the Suez Canal Company, Egypt had to admit defeat and formally issued a request for peace talks, with the British mediating in an attempt to reach a peace agreement acceptable to both sides.

The bloody and bloody suppression methods of the expeditionary army really frightened the Egyptian Ismail Pasha. He was like a rich man who had never seen the world, and he succumbed in front of the powerful army of the world powers.

The city of Suez is only 130 kilometers away from Cairo. What happened here inevitably caused great panic in Cairo, the largest city. Many officials and wealthy businessmen have transferred their properties to further cities, and more and more soldiers deserted in the army.

Rumors and speculations portrayed the Orientals as flesh-eating demons, and the various versions became more and more bizarre, which intensified the panic in Cairo.

Eritrea region

massawa

This is an encircled bay area with excellent conditions on the shore of the Red Sea. It has excellent port conditions. After surveying, it was determined to establish a colonial port in this area, which set off a round of vigorous construction.

In the wide bay of Massawa, dozens of huge cargo ships are moored, using small boats to transport supplies to the shore, and it has been going on for more than ten days.

The materials on the coast were piled up in different categories, like raised hills. On the large burned plains by the sea, one after another scorched wood was brought down, and then transported to the lumber yard by tractor.

it's here

A disc saw driven by a diesel engine cuts the huge log into sections, divides it into planks and squares, and stacks them in an open space on one side, waiting to be baked in a wood kiln for building houses or other facilities.

On the flattened land, lines were drawn with quicklime, and the locations of streets, city center buildings, municipal buildings, temples, schools, residential areas and other buildings were reserved.Now there is nothing here, only patches of tent areas.

The busy bay is full of people working in full swing. Many Arab convicts under the escort of soldiers are digging ditches. These deep ditches will build the main drainage channel of the city, and a circular arched drainage channel will be built with bricks, stones and cement.

at the seaside

Many Arab and black convicts are smashing huge logs one after another into the sea. One end of these huge logs is sharpened and inserted into the sea, and several people work together to lift the huge stone quilt and smash it into the sea one by one. In the mud of shallow seas.

On the already smashed wooden piles, Chinese workers used two finger-thick iron bolts to connect heavy I-beams to the logs one after another, presenting a cross shape to further consolidate the foundation of the pier.

Thanks to the day and night efforts of thousands of people, the wharf has extended more than 10 meters into the sea in just over 70 days, and the wooden trestle is expected to be completed in two months.

On these wooden piles connected by I-beams, a huge wooden square with a thickness of 40 cm is laid, and then poured with reinforced concrete to form a strong and durable pier.

Once the wharf is put into use, it will greatly speed up the construction process.

The ships and immigrant ships that have delivered the supplies do not need to return along the original road for thousands of miles, but sail directly to the Port of Suez. From here, they will enter the Mediterranean through the Suez Canal, cross the Mediterranean, and then pass through the Strait of Gibraltar controlled by the British. After entering the Atlantic Ocean, you can reach North America after crossing the Atlantic Ocean.

These ships are ocean-going cargo ships or immigration ships owned by major shipping companies. In Europe, they can load return cargo and Italians or Germans who want to immigrate to North America, and start the operation of the Atlantic route.

This return route is much less expensive than the 3-kilometer voyage when we came here. It only takes 7800 kilometers to reach Houston on the Gulf of Mexico coast, less than 4500 kilometers to reach New York, and only 5300 kilometers to reach Richmond.

With the Tang Empire's expeditionary force achieving absolute military victory, it was meaningless for the British to set up obstacles, and the victor should not be blamed.

The construction of the bay was a lively scene, and suddenly there was a commotion in the distance. When people looked at the past, they couldn't help cheering.

It turned out that a group of imperial cavalry returned from the mission of clearing the land. They wore wide-brimmed cowboy hats to block the scorching sun, and escorted a long team of black slaves back to the seaside camp, bringing new labor to the construction site.

The new city was built in a valley plain more than ten kilometers away from the sea. The dense bushes and forests around here were scorched black, the ground was thick with burning ash, and the air was still filled with a strong smell.

On the burned land, the logging team cut down the charred trees, and the transportation team drove the tractors to drag the trees to the sawmill by the river for processing.

The Arabs or blacks in the hard labor camp had to dig out the roots of the big trees one by one, and the transportation team drove the tractor to transport them to a special place for stacking, and the operation was orderly.

After drying, it can be used as fuel for brick kilns and wood kilns. The burned plant ash mixed with human and animal urine and feces can be fermented and composted to fertilize the fields.

After clearing the tree roots and large stones, the leveling team drove the tractor to plow the whole piece of land, put it in the sun for a period of time, raked it, and compacted it to become a large piece of leveled land.

After such flattening, the land was marked with a lime line, and the building foundation of about half a meter was built with bricks and stones. The carpenter entered the site below, and began to place logs on the building foundation to build houses one by one.

in massawa
The construction of the port and the town is advancing simultaneously. There are about 7000 convicts and 1.23 Chinese immigrants here, as well as a military force composed of more than 3 officers and soldiers from the 3100rd Royal Marine Division Cavalry Regiment, Division Guard Battalion, and Baggage Regiment. , responsible for the construction and security of the colonial port of Massawa.

The military cavalry regiment and guard battalion mainly searched and cleared the local black tribes. With a cavalry company as the basic combat unit, they took turns sweeping around in batches, clearing up the local black tribes and arresting slave laborers.

The construction of every colonial port and city requires huge labor costs, which can only enslave the local blacks.

Most of the troops of the 3rd Royal Marine Division are still staying around the city of Sanaa in Yemen on the other side of the Red Sea, implementing colonial occupation of the area.And through cross-sea transportation, food and fruits, chickens, ducks, cattle and sheep, Arab convicts, and Arab women were transported to Massawa.

This is to draw blood from the relatively developed and prosperous Yemeni region and feed back the new colonial area of ​​Eritrea.

The conditions along the Red Sea were limited, and it was impossible for the Imperial Expeditionary Force to obtain help from the distant mainland.

Before the European route is fully opened, it can only make full use of local resources along the Red Sea coast for construction, mainly in Eritrea.

nowadays

The Imperial Expeditionary Force established two colonial towns in Massawa and Asmara, which is about 175 kilometers inland from Massawa on the shore of the Red Sea. More than 1700 people.

Asmara is the capital of Eritrea in history. It is 1070 kilometers away from Addis Ababa, the capital of the Ethiopian Empire. It is located on the Hamassen Plateau at an altitude of 2400 meters. The surrounding terrain is easy to defend and difficult to attack. It is a beautiful flower city with cool seasons. .

Because it is located on a plateau, the Datang Expeditionary Army named this new town "City in the Clouds", which means City in the Clouds.

As the colonial chief of the Eritrea region, Colonel Liu Daqing has no energy to take care of the construction of Cloud City for the time being. The main resources and energy are placed in the Massawa area, especially the port.

Only when the initial results of the port construction are achieved, and the transport ships directly dock to the pier to unload the goods, instead of using small sampans to transport goods to the shore again and again, the next step in the urban construction of Massawa can be accelerated, and some larger and heavier materials and equipment can be unloaded .

The empire has a wealth of experience in the colonial field. Colonel Liu Daqing has a group of capable officials sent by the colonial department and geographers who are proficient in surveying and mapping, so the colonial construction work can be carried forward in an orderly manner.

Today, more than half of the urban drainage ditches have been excavated, and the planned six brick kilns have also been completed one after another, starting to make mud and burn bricks for construction use.

The construction materials delivered by the transport wheels are consumed quickly. Such bulk materials cannot be imported from the outside world. A series of facilities such as brick kilns, cement kilns, quarries, and sawmills can only be built locally for the construction of towns and docks.

The work of construction and conquest is complicated, and Colonel Liu Daqing must preside over the overall situation. He divided his subordinates into the planning team, construction team, logistics team, material team, and military contingent to solve the corresponding problems by category.

Thus

He will be able to spare time to resolve the main contradictions and steadily promote the construction of colonial towns and ports.

"Reporting officer, there is not enough cement and steel building materials on the construction site of the urban sewer ditch. The ditch construction team wanted to use the cement and steel stockpiled at the dock, but was rejected by the material team, saying that it could not be embezzled."

"How much is missing?"

"Roughly, there is still a shortage of more than 120 tons of cement and 10 tons of steel bars. The follow-up building materials are still on board and have not been unloaded."

"The cement and steel stockpiled in the wharf cannot be moved, and the wharf construction is the top priority. If the ditch construction team lacks materials, it will suspend and transfer personnel to other teams. That... the preparations for the cement plant can begin." Colonel Liu Daqing flipped through the documents for transporting supplies, held them in his hand and read them carefully, and then ordered;

"Arrange the people of the ditch construction team to select the site for the construction of the cement plant, and their labor force will also be transferred to open the quarry, repair the road, and prepare for the construction of the cement plant. After the construction of the wharf is completed, the heavy cement plant equipment can be It was transferred and put into the equipment installation work immediately, saving extra time.”

"Humble to obey, sir."

(End of this chapter)