The Ming Dynasty did not revolutionize

Chapter 219 Students' Spectacular Engineering Plans

Zhu Jianxuan arranged a lot of things and asked his ministers to write them all down and then handle them separately.

Before announcing the end of the meeting, Zhu Jianxuan first looked around at everyone present, mainly to see if they had any questions that required his direct decision.

Zhu Jianxuan's disciple Wang Lai attended the meeting as a representative of the craftsmen. He raised his hand and asked for instructions:
“Teacher, students previously participated in a meeting of the Northern Industries Corporation, mainly to discuss the water resources development plan in the Northeast region.

"The students proposed a rather bold plan, but the Northern Industries Corporation does not dare to adopt it, so we need to consult you."

Zhu Jianxuan asked back with some curiosity:

"What's the plan? How bold is it? Tell me about it."

Wang Lai explained his plan in one sentence:

"Teacher, build a dam in the lower reaches of the Heilongjiang River to form a multi-year regulating reservoir in Sanjiangze for power generation and inland navigation."

Zhu Jianxuan was silent for half a second after hearing this, not fully understanding what Wang Lai meant:
"Are you talking about Sanjiangze in the northeast? Isn't that a large plain? How can you build a reservoir in a plain?"

Sanjiangze is the Sanjiang Plain, the Great Northern Wilderness in history and the Beida Granary after development.

Wang Lai went on to explain:
"Teacher, it is very likely possible. Sanjiangze is surrounded by mountains and is a completely isolated valley in the mountains.

"As long as we block the main channel of the Heilongjiang River, the entire Sanjiangze can slowly become a large lake."

Zhu Jianxuan seemed to understand, but was a little bit unconvinced:
"You mean, turning the entire Sanjiang Lake... into a complete lake? How big is that?"

Wang Lai immediately replied:
"Yes, teacher, according to the Qinglu exploration data, the total area of ​​the valley where Sanjiangze is located is approximately between 100,000 and 120,000 square kilometers.

“If the dam is high enough, it can also flood the valley where Lake Khanka is located, and the total area will increase to 150,000 square kilometers.

“That way, the Heilongjiang River can flow out to the sea from Vladivostok, which means that in the future, the valley next to the Jinghai Mansion will flow into the Jinghai.

"The temperature in Jinghaifu is higher than that in Nurgandusi, so building a hydroelectric power station here will be more effective, and it is also closer to North Korea and Liaodong.

“The huge reservoir can serve as a natural transportation line, enabling the rapid transportation of supplies and personnel using large ships.

“It will be easier to control and develop the surrounding lands and control the indigenous population in the deep valleys of the northeast.

“At the same time, Sanjiangze was originally a swamp. If the water from the three rivers converged here to form a lake, the silt brought by the three rivers would settle here.

“After storing water for decades, if all the water is drained, a large plain should form on the ground.

“The soil in a plain where rich humus accumulates will be very fertile.

"So this reservoir can also be seen as a large-scale, long-term land reclamation project.

“We don’t need to develop this cold and wet swamp in the short term. We can let it accumulate over a few decades and then release water to restore it when needed in the future.

"NORINCO believes that the area flooded by the dam is too large, so it dares not adopt the proposal."

Zhu Jianxuan just heard the beginning and subconsciously wanted to reject Wang Lai's idea.

This concept is too fantastical, the kind of spectacular project discussed on the Internet.

It's like blocking the Three Gorges of the Yangtze River and turning the entire Sichuan Basin into a lake.

Block the Bohai Strait and turn the Bohai Sea into a freshwater lake.

It would be strange if Norinco could accept such a plan.

Not to mention the Northern Industrial Company, no company in the future would accept such an outrageous idea.

It would have been impossible to consider such a project in previous lives.

The Heilongjiang River Basin involves three countries. This kind of major project will only benefit the southern Central Plains, and the other two countries in the basin will not agree to it.

Even if they agreed, they would not be able to handle the industry and population in the Northeast region.

However, Zhu Jianxuan immediately realized that this project was different from blocking the Three Gorges Dam on the Yangtze River, and this was not the 21st century as in his previous life.

The Sichuan Basin is warm and humid, and is the land of abundance of the Ming Dynasty. It is impossible to directly flood such a place.

The northeast of this world, especially the Sanjiang Lake mentioned by Wang Lai, is still almost in a wild state, a desolate and uninhabited area.

The local climate is cold, the evaporation is very low, and the surrounding areas have heavy precipitation. A large amount of precipitation remains on the ground, forming large areas of swamps in the plains.

In addition to the entire Sanjiang Plain area that Wang Lai was preparing to flood, the area around the confluence of the Nenjiang River and the Songhua River in the middle of the Northeast Plain was still a large area of ​​cold swamp at that time.

The total area of ​​the swamp area is at least over 200,000 square kilometers, almost equivalent to the size of the entire Southern Zhili.

These places are only suitable for fishing and hunting, and there is no way to farm.

The Qing Dynasty only had a few strongholds here, which were mainly responsible for collecting furs from hunters in the mountains.

Although the Northern Company has a plan to develop possible minerals here, how to do it is a big problem, and building a road is also a big problem.

There are mines in other parts of the Ming Dynasty.

Developing and transporting directly from Australia, where the climate is comfortable, may not necessarily be more expensive than mining in such a place.

What's more, there are also mines in Liaodong and northern Zhili regions.

Zhu Jianxuan asked the Northern Company to develop these places, and his real purpose was to control these places.

How to bring these indigenous people living in the mountains and valleys under the jurisdiction of the Ming Dynasty court has always been a headache.

If the swamp turns into a large lake, it will reduce the space for the indigenous people to move around.

It was possible to force them to leave the valley and concentrate in areas designated by the court to live in factories or military farms.

Even if a small number of indigenous people are still unwilling to leave and decide to continue going deeper into the mountains and forests, they will be isolated from each other by large areas of water and will not be able to unite to fight against the imperial court.

The Ming warships and transport ships sailing on the vast waters can easily control the surrounding large tracts of land and forests. From a social perspective, this plan does have many advantages.

It's just a reservoir covering an area of ​​hundreds of thousands of square kilometers...

I always feel it's too outrageous.

Lake Superior, the largest freshwater lake in the world and one of the five Great Lakes in North America, covers a total area of ​​only more than 80,000 square kilometers.

How much water does it take to fill it?
Is the water from Heilongjiang enough?

Zhu Jianxuan vaguely remembered that the annual runoff of the Heilongjiang River was about a little more than one-third of that of the Yangtze River and slightly more than that of the Pearl River.

The annual runoff of the Yangtze River is about one trillion cubic meters, and that of Heilongjiang is about 350 billion.

Zhu Jianxuan did a simple calculation on the notebook in his hand.

Based on the reservoir area of ​​100,000 square kilometers and the water storage depth of 10 meters, the reservoir capacity is approximately one trillion cubic meters.

It is exactly the amount of water in the Yangtze River in one year, and about 70% of the amount of water in the Bohai Sea.

If not a drop of water from the Heilongjiang River flows into the sea, it will take about three years to fill up the sea.

It doesn't seem unacceptable.

But the problem is that the reservoir is only ten meters deep. Can it still be used as a hydropower station?

Zhu Jianxuan asked Wang Lai with a very serious expression:

"Can such a large area of ​​water form a sufficient drop in height?"

Wang Lai noticed that Zhu Jianxuan had started to think seriously, and his emotions became even more excited:
"Teacher, according to the rough survey we conducted when we took over the Northeast, the Sanjiangze area should be at least 50 to 60 meters above sea level, and the Xingkai Lake Plain may be 60 to 70 meters above sea level.

“The bottom of the Heilongjiang River valley near Nurgandusi and the bottom of the valley river behind Jinghaifu are only a few meters to more than ten meters above sea level.

“The surrounding mountains are at least several hundred meters high.

“Even if we adopt the most conservative estimate, we should be able to build a dam at an altitude of more than 120 meters.

"However, if the dam is high enough, it may cause the Songhua River to completely reverse and flow back into the interior of the Northeast Plain, and then flow southward through the Liaohe River into the Bohai Sea.

"The reservoir is 120 meters above sea level. Building a hydroelectric power station in the river valley at the end of the river, which is about 10 meters above sea level, can achieve a height difference of at least 100 meters.

"This height is more than enough to build a large hydroelectric power station."

Zhu Jianxuan couldn't hold it in anymore after hearing this:
“Sanjiang Lake is 50 to 60 meters above sea level, and you need to store water to a height of 120 meters, which means the total depth of the water storage is at least 60 meters.

"A reservoir covering hundreds of thousands of square kilometers and 60 meters deep, have you ever calculated how many years it will take to fill it up?"

Zhu Jianxuan himself calculated that it would take about three years to reach a depth of ten meters.

The accumulation at a depth of sixty meters is eighteen years.

It seems very long, but it is not unacceptable as it can be built while storing water.

The Three Gorges Project has been under construction for more than ten years.

However, as the depth increases, the reservoir area will continue to increase.

If the reservoir area increases to 150,000 square kilometers, it may take more than 20 or even 30 years to fill it up.

If this water can be delivered to the North China Plain, North China will no longer be short of water.

Wang Lai continued:
"Teacher, I don't have the runoff data for Heilongjiang River, nor do I have an estimate of the exact area of ​​the reservoir, so I can't make an accurate estimate now.

“However, the order of magnitude should be between a dozen years and several decades.

“The construction of hydropower stations and reservoirs can be carried out in parallel with the normal filling of reservoirs, and power generation can begin without the reservoir being full.

"Our future electricity demand in Daming will definitely increase with the increase of power equipment.

“It is just right that the power generation can be increased as the reservoir capacity continues to increase.

"Because the reservoir is so large, even if all the water from Heilongjiang is collected throughout the year, the water level may not rise by more than 10 meters.

“So after the Heilongjiang dam was built, it could almost always operate at the maximum drop, and it could operate stably all year round, without any waste.

"The power generated by this reservoir should be able to supply the entire Ming Dynasty forever.

"This is a one-time project, and it's worth it even if it takes decades to build."

Zhu Jianxuan really...actually calculated the theoretical maximum installed capacity.

With a height difference of one hundred meters and a runoff of 11220 billion cubic meters, the theoretical installed capacity limit should be around million kilowatts, which is about five times the installed capacity of the Three Gorges Dam.

After deducting various energy and efficiency losses, the installed capacity should actually be four times that of the Three Gorges Dam.

It is far from enough to last forever. The total power generation of my country in my previous life was equivalent to that of more than one hundred Three Gorges Projects.

But it is indeed enough for decades.

When the reservoir is large enough, it can collect all the inflow for a year and only increase the water level by three or four meters, and its operation is incredibly stable.

There is no need to consider the difference in annual runoff, no need to consider flood season and dry season, and no need to consider abandoning water and transferring water to reservoir.

Just release water at a fixed speed and the turbine can always operate at the most efficient state.

But this incident still makes people feel particularly panic, as the changes to the natural environment are too huge.

Zhu Jianxuan didn't consider environmental protection or anything like that, he was just worried that such a spectacular project might trigger natural disasters such as earthquakes.

(To reach the inundation range of 120 meters water level, a dam needs to be built in the canyon where the Heilongjiang River flows into the sea and in the valley next to Vladivostok. The dam on the northern main stream does not generate electricity, so it can be directly blasted and piled with rocks to build a simple earth-rock dam. For power generation, it is best to build a normal concrete gravity dam.)
(End of this chapter)