Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 1533 He Jian (25)

The new settlements are still set up along the river, because the transportation is convenient, which is conducive to the transportation of personnel and all the materials necessary to settle down. Of course, it is more conducive to the entry and exit of construction machinery and special ships. These are extremely important in the sub-region of the estuary delta.

There are six newly established settlements, namely Guangrou Township near the later town of Asencamp, Jinya Township near the later town of Bovril, Shiquan Township near the later town of La Paz, and Shiquan Township near the later town of Fei Dinglian Township near the town of Delal, Tonghe Township near the town of Hernandarias in later generations, and Mapan Township near San Gustavo in later generations.

The establishment of six new settlements marks that the reclamation actions of the people from the East Bank in the sub-region of the estuary delta in the south of Hejian have reached a new stage. This has started from the recent establishment of Guazhou County (the 77th county-level administrative district in the country) Unit, under the jurisdiction of Guazhou Township, Yizhen Township, Anding Township, Baisha Township, Qingmen Township, and Hongmiao Township, with a total population of about 5000, which is also a large county), Jixing County (the 78th in the country The county-level administrative unit has jurisdiction over five townships, Jixing Township, Baitian Township, Yingfeng Township, Qixin Township, and Guihu Township, with a total population of about [-]).So far, nine counties and dozens of settlements have been established in the four major sub-regions of Hejian, with a population of more than [-]. It has become another important area on the geographical map of the Eastern China Republic—a warm climate, relatively Areas with humidity, convenient transportation, and excellent agricultural prospects are generally areas that support people and are conducive to rapid population growth.

I don't know how the Spaniards will feel when they see this scene.Before the people from the east coast came, they had countless opportunities to preemptively develop this fertile (although there is no small risk of flooding) land, but they all gave up, and their eyes were only focused on a small piece of Paraguay, perhaps because The first Spanish colony was established there.

In the entire Parana River basin that stretches for thousands of miles, they have only established a few towns. Perhaps if it were not for the stimulation of the East Bank people, the entire Buenos Aires Prosecution Court District (which is also in the East Bank people) The product of stimulation) the number of white people is even smaller, there may only be thousands of people, which is even more incomparable with the present.

Therefore, it is the Spaniard himself who gave up the opportunity of history, so that he was left to the yellow-skinned pagans from the East. God, if the old man knows, he does not know what to do, because the lamb that could have been given to him The land under the sun of life has lost such a large piece, and it will further shrink in the foreseeable future.

The settlements established by the people on the east bank in the north of Weirong County this time also faced quite a lot of problems, the first of which was the local flooding and muddy swamps.To put it more bluntly, the pioneer residents who migrated have to clear out the farmland they need for their future life from the so-called "bad land".The agricultural department has carefully inspected the barren land, and there are endless swamps and water pools, dotted with grassland, woods and slopes in the middle. If you want to level the farmland, everything must start with drainage, just like ancient China. Like the development of the Jiangnan swamp and water town in the Tang Dynasty, water conservancy facilities are the top priority!

Several ships in the fleet coming from the south this time are 72-ton inland riverboats of the Messenger Liner Company—in view of the fact that the state-owned inland waterway transport company has begun to use 150-ton inland riverboats on a large scale in some places with better river conditions. Therefore, the original 72-ton ships began to be phased out for sale, and the buyers were mostly self-employed or companies who transported construction materials.

However, these building materials are not used to build houses for the pioneer residents, but are used to build water conservancy facilities such as reservoirs and canals.In the newly established settlements such as Shiquan Township, many of the small tributaries leading to the Parana River have deep channels, which allows them to obtain a considerable amount of water from the Parana River even in the dry season when there is less rainfall. The water of the river irrigates the land on both sides of the river.Such a tributary is of great value from the perspective of shipping, because it only needs to be slightly widened to allow larger ships to navigate, and it will greatly promote the economy of the two sides of the strait.

However, such rivers also have some problems, such as the problem of flood season.Because the river channel is very deep, the entire river has a much larger amount of water than normal during the flood period, which leads to the extremely slow flow of water leading to the irrigation canal, and a large amount of sediment is deposited at the bottom of the canal for a long time. impact on agricultural production.

The only way to solve these problems is to build reservoirs and dams, that is, to adjust the water level gap between the Paraná River and the small rivers, small streams, and small lakes near the settlements through the reservoir, and to control the water volume reasonably. The dredging job should be much easier.

"If you want to build a reservoir, the situation here in Shiquan Township seems not difficult. After all, the natural lakes and ponds here have been built for many years, and many small reservoirs can be rectified with a little modification. But the reservoir is not difficult, and the construction of a dam is possible. Isn’t it easy? The building materials needed for this can go to the sea. It can’t be perfunctory like the water diversion wall of the small river in front, which is tied up with thorns. It’s just a tofu project.” Just arrived Captain Ventura on the shore put his hands on his hips and said in a pointing tone.He is now a senior manager and captain of the courier liner company, so his tone and demeanor are naturally quite different.

The "bramble water-conducting wall" he just mentioned was seen at the mouth of a small stream leading to the Paraná River near Shiquan Township.Perhaps because of the lack of building materials, the locals tied the thorns into bundles, pressed them with clay or turf, and piled them up near the river mouth, making the height of the river bank about half of the peak.

Newcomers—such as Captain Ventura—are always surprised or even incomprehensible about these thorny water-conducting walls, but according to these pioneer residents, their approach was approved by the higher-level water conservancy department approved.After all, building materials are limited, and there are too many projects, it is impossible to use good things in every place, and the cost is too high, so we can only make do with it - in fact, according to the The government affairs council found that the total amount of the projects reported by the local government had already reached 150 million yuan, so they had to slash and slash all the non-essential projects. Necessary projects under construction should also be reduced to control expenditures.Otherwise, at the rate of 150 million yuan a year, the total investment quota set by the central government for 50 years can be spent in ten years, what a fart!

So, you see, some of the less important projects have to find ways to cut costs, such as these thorn wall projects.However, the local pioneer residents are very confident. The person who came up with this method is a non-national from Ireland who once worked in England and learned that this kind of thorn water-conducting wall is often used in some swamp areas in England. , the effect seems to be pretty good.The water-conducting walls of the local six-foot-long and three-foot-thick brambles are bundled and piled up, because the brambles are intertwined and sunk into the river silt, and the Englishmen have opened up a lot of farmland and pastures—to be honest In later generations, more than half of the farmland in England was "looted" from the swamps. Because of the wet and rainy climate and the extensive water network in the UK, swamps are particularly easy to form. If you don't do this, you won't get much land. How many people live, then the rise of Britain and the development of industry and commerce will be out of the question.

From this perspective, people on the east coast are also constantly absorbing some knowledge and good things from the old continent. Just like the British stole technology and smuggled contraband from the east coast, the people on the east coast also sent people to England to investigate the local The crop rotation system, the main points of breeding Sharma, the traditional craft of wool processing (need to refer to when designing machinery) and the swamp water conservancy project, the harvest is not small.In this world, after all, we still need to learn from each other!

"The thorn water guide wall is also a last resort, and the funds are insufficient, and these water conservancy facilities must be built." The deputy head of Shiquan Township who came to deliver the goods with Captain Ventura, a young student cadre who graduated from the Bingtuanbao Said: "There are many swamps here, and the river beds of many rivers are not even fixed. In many cases, the topography of the river beds and river bends changes due to sedimentation and blockage of sediment, which in turn changes the direction of the river course. This is for us. It's terrible, the water guide wall, the sluice, the reservoir are all necessary, and of course the pump you brought along with the building materials."

The water pump is really the most indispensable machine in the swamp area. It is used for pumping water, transferring water, and irrigating. Without it, the people in the water towns on the east bank cannot live.At present, the most popular steam pump is 30 horsepower. It has strong power, high pumping efficiency, fast speed, and good reliability. At present, Tieling Boiler Factory has mass-produced it and sold it to various parts of the country. Some of them are closer to the local area. Overseas colonies (such as Xinhua Island) also bought some, and none of the used ones were praised.

It is worth mentioning that the size and cost of this 30-horsepower steam water pump are also much lower than before.Thanks to the advancement of material science and the enhancement of mechanical processing capabilities, the steam engines of the East Coast people are getting smaller and lighter, but the horsepower has not decreased or even increased. This depends on the overall industrial level. improvement.In fact, Bibi already knew that once upon a time, people on the east bank used this 30-horsepower steam engine for irrigation canals or water transfer stations, and the boiler room was full of various equipment.As a result, now, whether it is boilers, cylinders or other equipment, the size has shrunk a lot. This is entirely due to the improvement in the efficiency of steam engines, and the source lies in the progress of basic industries.If the British want to build a steam engine with a higher horsepower, it is not impossible to build it, but the size and weight are much larger than those on the east coast, and the cost is also much higher. This is the gap in the basic industry. law to make up for.

Therefore, when the price of the 30-horsepower steam pump dropped to an astonishing level, more and more places in the country began to use this kind of machine representing the industrial level.In today’s east coast, except for some industrial windmills pumping water in Patagonia and some windy places near the sea, most of them have been replaced with 30-horsepower steam water pumps. Tieling Boiler Factory has made a lot of money for this. The bowl is full, which makes people envious.

However, they didn't just lie on the credit book and sleep on it.In fact, they poured the resulting profits into the research and development of new machines, such as the centrifugal pump that had just come up with an idea.This new type of water pump relies on the rotation of the impeller to generate centrifugal motion of the water to pump water. The technical content is much higher than that of the traditional steam water pump. It was only at the World Expo in 1851 that the British introduced it to the world for the first time. and they have spent a lot of time researching and improving it.

The pump was unanimously welcomed almost as soon as it was tested, and was immediately applied in swampy areas. It was officially launched in 1851. In the fall of 1853, in Whittlesimmere alone, more than a thousand acres of swamps were transformed into golden fields. It can be called a drainage tool and has an unparalleled effect on agricultural production.

Of course, the pumping principle of the centrifugal pump is quite different from that of the traditional water pump, and the structure is relatively complicated. The strength of the Tieling Boiler Factory alone may not be enough to handle it. This piece of fat is destined to be eaten by everyone.Therefore, under the leadership of the Ministry of Industry and Commerce and the Ministry of Agriculture, Dafeng Agricultural Machinery Factory, Engineering Technology Research Institute, Tieling Boiler Factory, No. [-] Heavy Machinery Factory, Railway Machinery Processing Factory, Tieling Special Steel Factory, Western Rolling Mill and other units participated Come in, jointly develop and design this extremely important equipment, and share the patents generated by everyone, so as to speed up the research and development progress.After all, whether it is in Hejian, Bac Ninh, Hue or any other area or colony, the market demand for this kind of water pump is very large, and the sooner it is developed, the sooner it will benefit the society.

In fact, it’s a bit funny to think about it. Now the British and Dutch are trying to steal the steam pump technology—England has the need to develop swamps, and the Dutch have the need to reclaim land from the sea. They are the greatest in recent centuries. The project is to use windmills to drain the accumulated water after reclamation to create a lot of polders-in the eyes of scientific researchers on the east coast, it has become an outdated technology.Although they developed a new 30-horsepower steam water pump on this basis, it is obvious that they have focused their work on the research and development of centrifugal pumps, a new thing that represents the future development direction.

What happened to the water pumps is actually a microcosm of the reality of the gap between today's East Coast industry and the faltering European industry.That is to say, after three or 40 years of accumulation, the East Coast Republic of China has already reserved a large amount of scientific research funds, trained a group of scientific research personnel, and trained a group of mechanical processing and maintenance technicians. The Europeans have just started, and the Chinese have only half-opened their closed eyes.

(End of this chapter)