Video spoilers history, starting with the blitzkrieg on Poland

Perhaps because we just talked about the Western Theater, the new sky curtain is somewhat related.

The picture slowly zooms in from the perspective of the vast universe.

From the perspective of space, the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau looks like the uplifted spine of the earth.
The camera swoops down, passing through the thin clouds, and the snow-capped mountains rise and fall.

But in this scene of snow-capped mountains on the plateau, a long steel railway extends from the edge of the picture...

Outside the sky, the Qin Dynasty.

As an infrastructure fanatic, Ying Zheng was dazzled when he saw this railway on the plateau for the first time!
I was deeply shocked again!
Ying Zheng naturally knew the importance of road construction, as well as the difficulties of it.

The road in front of us is actually built on the snow-capped mountains on the plateau!

Built at the height of the roof of the world!

Look at the scene on the sky and the natural scenery.

You don't need to explore it yourself, nor do you need an introduction to it, you can imagine how difficult it is to build this road.

It is definitely very difficult!

It’s so difficult that it’s terrifying!

But how was this road built?
Ying Zheng found it hard to understand.

It feels incredible again.

I can only sigh: "Heavenly Road, this is really a Heavenly Road!"

"Can future generations actually... build railways on this kind of plateau?"

"I don't know how this road to heaven was built."

The sound of the video also slowly sounded:

[That is a magical road to heaven...]

【I believe many of you have heard this song. 】

[This song is about a steel road to heaven - the Qinghai-Tibet Railway. ]

[In the history of world railways, the Qinghai-Tibet Railway is a miracle and also an "impossible task". ]

[This railway passes through the forbidden zone of life and spans the roof of the world. ]

【From Xining, Qinghai to Lhasa, Tibet. 】

[The total length is 1956 kilometers, of which more than 4000 kilometers are above 960 meters above sea level, and the highest point, Tanggula Pass, is 5072 meters above sea level.]

[The railway was fully opened to traffic on July 2006, 7.]

[It has become the highest altitude and longest plateau railway in the world. ]

[It is also one of the four major projects in China in the new century. ]

[In order to build this railway, China not only invested tens of billions of dollars, but also paid the wisdom and sweat of countless builders. ]

[So why is China trying so hard to build the Qinghai-Tibet Railway? ]

[How difficult is it to build this railway? 】

How did China overcome these difficulties?

[Before the Qinghai-Tibet Railway was opened to traffic, Tibet was the only provincial-level administrative region in China without a railway. ]

[The transportation here mainly relies on the Qinghai-Tibet Highway, Sichuan-Tibet Highway and air transportation. 】

[But road transport capacity is limited and costs are high.]

[Air transport is unable to meet the demand for bulk cargo. ]

【Tibet’s minerals, tourism, agricultural and animal husbandry products and other resources cannot be efficiently transported out, and it is difficult to import large quantities of industrial products and daily necessities from the mainland.】

[According to statistics, around 2000, the transportation cost of transporting materials from the mainland to Tibet was as high as several thousand yuan per ton.]

[This poor transportation situation has severely restricted Tibet’s economic development, leaving Tibet relatively backward for a long time.]

【More importantly, Tibet is located in the southwestern border of China. 】

【It borders India, Nepal and other countries, and its strategic position is extremely important. 】

[Without a reliable railway, Tibet’s material transportation, national defense mobilization, and people’s livelihood security will be greatly restricted.]

【Therefore, building the Qinghai-Tibet Railway is not only an economic issue. 】

[It is also a strategic issue concerning national unity and border stability.]

Outside the sky.

Tang Dynasty.

Emperor Xuanzong of Tang, Li Longji, who had fought against Tubo for half his life, deeply sympathized with this.

"The road to the plateau is really hard to walk on."

"The Tang Dynasty and Tubo have been at war for many years, and before we even reached the core area of ​​the plateau, we have already incurred huge losses and suffered countless casualties."

"If my Tang Dynasty border troops are really allowed to attack Lhasa directly."

"How much sacrifice will be required along the way?"

"Even a heartless person like me finds it hard to imagine!"

"But if there really is a smooth road in our Tang Dynasty, we can transport soldiers and supplies to the plateau."

"The strategic significance is too great." "The strategic advantage is too great."

"I can even guarantee it 100%."

"With this railway alone, we will be able to completely solve the Tibetan problem!"

"Let our Tang Dynasty never have to face the Tibetan enemy on the western plateau again!"

……

Li Longji imagined how beneficial it would be if the Tang Dynasty had a railway directly connecting to Tubo.

At the same time, I am more curious.

How was this road to heaven built?

……

【Everyone knows that building roads has many benefits.】

[But how easy is it to build a railway on the roof of the world? ]

[The construction of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway is considered a world-class challenge by the international engineering community.]

[It faces three fatal challenges: frozen soil, lack of oxygen, and fragile ecology. ]

[The permafrost on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau is not ordinary permafrost, but high-temperature permafrost. ]

[Its temperature is close to freezing point, and it will melt if the temperature rises slightly, causing ground subsidence;]

[In winter, the frozen soil expands, causing the roadbed to deform.]

[This repeated freeze-thaw cycle can cause rail tracks to twist and break, and even cause train derailments.]

[The history of building railways in permafrost regions around the world has been hundreds of years. ]

[But almost all frozen railways are plagued by diseases. ]

[Russia's Siberian Railway has a disease rate of up to 45%;]

[The Alaska Railway in the United States also faces the threat of permafrost melting all year round. ]

[The Qinghai-Tibet Railway crosses a 550-kilometer continuous permafrost zone, which is longer than any other permafrost railway in the world.]

【Building a railway requires a large number of workers. 】

[The average altitude of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau is over 4000 meters, and the temperature is extremely low. The average temperature in winter can reach more than minus 20 degrees Celsius, and in some areas it can even drop to minus 30 degrees Celsius.]

[Extreme temperatures can reach minus 40 degrees Celsius! ]

[The oxygen content in the air along the route is only 50%-60% of that in the mainland.]

[In addition, strong winds are frequent along the Qinghai-Tibet Railway, with strong winds reaching 50-150 days per year, with wind speeds often exceeding 20 meters per second.]

[In such an environment, ordinary people would be out of breath even when walking. ]

【Not to mention high-intensity construction. 】

[In the past, when my country was building the Sichuan-Tibet and Qinghai-Tibet highways, an average of one person died for every kilometer built.]

[Not only can people not bear it, but the lubricating oil of the construction equipment will solidify and the mechanical parts will be easily damaged. ]

[In railway construction, how to ensure the safety of workers will become the most severe challenge. ]

【The third biggest problem is the ecological problem. 】

[The ecological environment of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau is extremely fragile and cannot withstand too much disturbance.]

[If the railway construction destroys the ecology here, it may cause irreversible consequences.]

[There are mostly grasslands and mountains along the railway, and laying rails will damage the grasslands. ]

[The grass on the plateau grows very slowly. It may take decades or even hundreds of years for a thin layer of grass to grow. Once it is destroyed, it is extremely difficult to recover.]

[The Qinghai-Tibet Plateau is also the source of the Yangtze River, the Yellow River, the Lancang River, etc.]

[Once ecological damage occurs, it will even affect the environment of the entire country. ]

[Some countries in the world have used this as an excuse to launch unprovoked attacks on my country's construction of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway.]

[It brought huge public pressure internationally.]

The sky screen presents many difficulties, especially when combined with three-dimensional maps.

It also allows people to see clearly how dangerous the railway line is.

Barrages of comments also flew out.

"Paul Theroux, an American traveler and writer, once said: As long as the Kunlun Mountains exist, the railway will never reach Lhasa."

"Based on the thinking at the time, it was indeed impossible to build it."

"I know this route. Hu Bayi dug a tunnel here."

"This topographic map looks so scary, how was it created?"

"I was shocked when I saw the model. It's hard to imagine how the on-site staff built it. Tribute to them."

"Construction fatigue, lack of oxygen and low temperatures mean that it will take 50 years to repair it."

"Soon after the founding of the People's Republic of China, thousands of soldiers died on the Qinghai-Tibet and Sichuan-Tibet highways, but the construction of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway was fully guaranteed."

"I'm familiar with this question. It's really difficult, but next... let's see the railway team show off!" (End of this chapter)