November 2, 1630, light rain. The West India Company's armed merchant ship, the Orange River, had sailed a week earlier, and before leaving, Captain Kuaite politely suggested that he would like to build a formal dock for the people to dock at his next visit.

In the past two days, the industrial zone on the south bank of the Dayu River has been in full swing, and the paper workshop, cement kiln, and lime kiln have been put into operation one after another. Papermaking workshops aside, these two earthen kilns are strictly speaking, in modern times, they are all obsolete enterprises with low production capacity, high energy consumption and heavy pollution, but now the conditions are limited, and they can only start this kind of soil project.

Both kilns are vertical cylinder kilns, which work in the way of top feeding and bottom discharge. Batching, grinding, feeding, and discharging are all done manually. The design capacity of the cement kiln is 10 tons per day, and the design capacity of the lime kiln is 20 tons per day. Of course, this is a theoretical value that can only be achieved with a sufficient supply of raw materials for continuous production. The biggest problem is the labor shortage, especially in limestone mining. One is the shortage of manpower, the other is that there is no machinery and explosives, all by manual mining, the efficiency is outrageously low, when you are lucky, you can mine two or three tons, and when you are unlucky, you can not have a ton.

In this case, the cement kiln and lime kiln can only stop production, and the consumption of tons of coal is amazing, and the coal on the barge is not enough to toss for too long. In desperation, the executive committee temporarily shut down the two earthen kilns after producing some cement and lime to solve the urgent need. After the limestone reaches a certain reserve, it will be re-ignited for production.

Today is a monthly plenary meeting of the Executive Committee, and the general discussion is on important matters.

"The successive commissioning of brick kilns, cement kilns and lime kilns has given everyone a great encouragement." Ma Qianzu, chairman of the Executive Committee, made a generous statement at the meeting, "In the coming period, we should make persistent efforts to strive for greater breakthroughs on all fronts. Now, let's talk about the next work arrangement. ”

"I'll do it first. Some of the seeds of the vegetables planted last month have emerged and are growing well, and they will be ready to be transplanted in a little while, and perhaps in the near future, we will have many more delicious leafy greens on our tables. "But that's not the point, I want to tell Chairman Ma and all the members that it's now November, and it's officially the soybean planting season in South America." However, due to various reasons, the manpower of the Agricultural Bureau (a subordinate body directly under the Agricultural Committee) has not been sufficient, resulting in a very unsatisfactory progress in the reclamation of farmland. As of yesterday, only 400 acres of farmland had been reclaimed. At present, we have 200 bags of soybeans with a total of 5,000 kilograms, and the preliminary estimate is that the sowing area is 1,000 mu. Therefore, I hope that the Executive Committee will carefully consider the situation of the Agricultural Bureau with a scientific attitude, coordinate the relationship between various departments, and implement the Agricultural Bureau's reclamation plan as soon as possible. ”

As soon as Jin Kola said this, the committee members who were eager to try suddenly died down. Indeed, this matter cannot be delayed any longer. There will always be a day when the food brought will be eaten, and it is impossible for the people to sit and eat empty, so the focus of work in the next period of time will definitely turn to agriculture.

The rest of the committee members hastily submitted their own plans. For example, the trial production of refractory bricks proposed by the industrial commissioner vest; the construction of roads in the harbour wharf, residential and industrial areas proposed by Transport Commissioner Siu Pak Lang; the construction of a red brick and cement wall proposed by Army Commissioner Peng Zhicheng; The construction of a formal warehouse proposed by Shao Shude, a member of the material committee, and so on.

Ma Ganzu then coordinated with everyone, and soon, a temporarily mobilized army of 100 people was placed under the command of the Agricultural Bureau. At the same time, irrigation canals were also required to be built at the same time as supporting projects in soybean growing areas.

As the saying goes, after the manpower mobilized by the executive committee was in place, although most of them were new, it only took 10 days, and on November 13, 1,000 acres of land were reclaimed.

At the same time, hundreds of meters of brick-and-cement irrigation canals from the Creek Wetlands to the planting area are almost complete. Not only that, but the construction freaks of the construction team built three biogas digesters and a public toilet in one go after getting enough bricks and cement mortar.

On November 15, soybean planting officially began.

Soybeans contain 20% fat, 40% protein, 10% sugar, and are rich in vitamins. It is also extremely versatile, in addition to oil extraction, it can also be used to make soy milk, tofu, soy sauce, bean sprouts, soybean meal, paint, glycerin and so on.

As the largest and most economically valuable crop currently planted in the country, the cultivation of soybeans has attracted a lot of attention. Many women, the elderly and even children came to help, and by November 17, 1,000 acres of soybeans had been successfully planted, one day earlier than scheduled.

I'm done with the big thing of sowing. The Executive Committee began its second major project, the construction of the wharf.

Although the water depth of the Dayu River is average, the coastal waters on the left and right sides of the estuary are excellent deep water areas, which are suitable for the construction of shore-side wharves. At present, the entire port project formulated by the Executive Committee includes: underwater topographic survey, geological survey, waterway, breakwater, port road, anchorage, warehouse, storage yard, trestle, lighthouse, fort, etc., and the amount of work is extremely huge. Of course, the Executive Committee doesn't expect you to be able to do it in a while.

The port was located on the north bank of the Big Fish River, facing the Atlantic Ocean. Underwater topographic surveys and geological surveys can be directly applied to the data of the 21st century, which is more convenient. Directly outside the harbor is an open deep-water ocean, with an average depth of 8 meters, and the seabed is sandy, so that large ships can directly dock, making it an ideal anchorage. The only fly in the ointment is the lack of protection from natural breakwaters, which need to be built manually.

Siu Pak-lang's Construction Bureau (formerly the construction team) originally had 60 people, but this time it mobilized an additional 100 people to participate in the construction of the port. The planned port warehouse and storage yard are the first to be built, the warehouse is mainly a large red brick bungalow, and the storage yard is behind the wharf, with a depth of 200 meters and a usable area of 50,000 square meters, but it is essentially a flat grassland. The executive committee and accountant will pour cement hardening on the yard when conditions are available in the future.

The construction of the highway is also extremely important, and the initial plan is to use the waste of burning bricks to pave the road surface, and then compact it. Dig drainage ditches on the side of the road to avoid potholes caused by softening of the road surface on rainy days. Again, when the pressure on the materials is relieved, the Executive Committee will eventually convert the road into a concrete road.

As for the construction of breakwaters, lighthouses and forts, there is really more than enough power at present, so we can only leave it for the future.

According to the Executive Committee's plan, the entire terminal will be completed in phases over a period of two years. Phase 1: Yard, warehouse and improvised wooden trestle will be completed in two months; The second phase of the road was to be completed by 15 February 1631 at the latest.