"As long as this market is opened, we can completely let Daming organize a military observation group to go to Vietnam to watch. Looking at the Vietnamese army's performance on the battlefield after using our weapons, it should be very helpful for us to open up the arms market in the Ming Dynasty in the future. When it comes to doing business, Schneider is clearly more flexible than Yan Chujie, and has already thought about how to use Vietnam's domestic war to open up the international arms market.

Everyone began to discuss how to open up Vietnam's arms market, but no one cared about what the original topic was.

Obviously, they were discussing how to adjust the planned military force allocation in Xingang, but the topic turned to the arms business, and this kind of digression has almost become a traditional feature of the group's internal meetings. This is not the first time that Tom Wang has participated in this kind of internal high-level meeting, and he has gradually become accustomed to this kind of atmosphere.

In the end, it was Liu Shanxia of the Ministry of Construction who spoke out to bring the topic back on track: "Regarding the passage between the port area and the mining area, I would like to ask if there are any conditions to go directly to the track?"

The use of rail transportation in mining areas is undoubtedly a relatively convenient mode of transportation, and the efficiency is much higher than that of shoulder-carrying or ordinary flatbed carts. In the mining area of Tiandu Iron Mine, the first ore transport track about 300 meters long has been laid and put into use, which is responsible for transporting ore from the pit to the concentrator. And this track is still a double-track construction, and two tracks can be used at the same time, and if one of them needs to be stopped for maintenance, it will not completely stop the transportation line.

However, the crossing group does not currently have the capacity to produce steel on a large scale, and this track is naturally not rolled by large machinery such as rolling mills. In view of the current limited pig iron reserves, these tracks are not even made of pig iron, but are made of iron sheets and wooden rails, which are used for use first.

This is completely unavoidable, even according to the lightest track standards of later generations, the construction of a kilometer of railway would require at least 70 tons of steel, and if the construction of a double track is adopted, then this demand will have to be doubled, and this weight does not even include the road spikes, fish-shaped plates connecting the rails, and supporting devices such as switches. If we really want to use an all-steel track, then the Tiandu Iron Mine, which is only 300 meters of double-track track, needs 40 tons of steel to meet the construction needs, even if there is really so much steel at present, the Executive Committee does not dare to use all its brains on this track. (Baidu search update is the fastest and most stable dìng) (.)

And it was not the newly-developed steam engine that pulled the heavy ore on this track, but the primitive animal power. Although the speed is a little slow, it has greatly saved manpower, and in the past, it took at least five or six people to push and pull a cart of ore to transport it, but now only one ox is enough. In the past few months of continuous trading with the Li people, the crossing group has obtained seventy or eighty head of cattle, of which part of them has been allocated to the Ministry of Agriculture for use as farming cattle, and ten cattle have also been allocated to the mine, and after the construction of the track, the amount of work that these ten cattle can complete is enough to save dozens of labor for iron ore mining.

It is precisely because of the high efficiency of rail transportation that the Ministry of Industry included rail transportation in the infrastructure project when planning the Hongji Coal Mine, but it is easy to set up a project and difficult to build, and it is the Ministry of Construction that really needs to face this problem. Although the expedition team has provided graphic and video materials, Liu Shanxia still needs to get further explanations from Tom Wang before he can make a judgment, which is not only a matter of the Ministry of Construction, but also involves the issue of whether the Ministry of Industry wants to issue production tasks to the carpentry workshop and metallurgical workshop.

Tom Wang frowned and said: "In terms of engineering technology, I don't know too much, let's let Qiao Zhiya talk about it." ”

Qiao Zhiya got up and said: "We can see from the map that with the trend of this river valley, it is not difficult to build a track, the key is to prevent the river from the rainy season, we must start from the river bank that is a cut higher than the river, which may require the use of engineering blasting." If the supply of explosives can be guaranteed, then I think it would be more feasible to lay the track directly in this passage. ”

"Then can you estimate the approximate manpower and construction period required?" Tao Donglai asked.

"If there were 500 laborers and sufficient tools, I don't think it would take more than half a month to open up this valley passage. As for laying the track from the port area to the mining area, it can be completed within a month. Qiao Zhiya thought for a moment before replying.

"It's still too slow, I can't wait!" Tao Donglai sighed: "Wait for more than a month, I'm afraid that the metallurgical workshop will be shut down." ”

"Actually, it shouldn't take that long. Ninh Ki interjected: "If, as the expedition team said, as long as we have enough capacity, we can continuously obtain labor from the eastern coastal areas of Vietnam, the construction of the new port will no longer face the situation of labor shortage as often as the base camp." Qiao Zhiya is talking about the construction progress of 500 people, so what if we can put in 1,000 people? 2,000 people?"

Tao Donglai immediately turned his head to the seat of the shipping department: "Xiao Yue, Xiao Sun, what do you think?"

Yue Zhiyun and Sun Changmi glanced at each other, and Sun Changmi nodded and motioned for Yue Zhiyun to speak first. Yue Zhiyun replied: "We currently have three relatively large ships on hand, and if we do our best to put into this overseas route, then in addition to carrying cargo, we can probably transport 300 to 400 people from the east coast of Vietnam to Xingang at a time." In addition, He Xi rented three ships from the north, so these six ships could carry at least five or six hundred people at a time, and the round-trip voyage between the two places would take about four days, so it should not be a big problem to transport two or three thousand people in a month. Seeing the joy on everyone's faces, Yue Zhiyun added: "Of course, the number I mentioned is just a calculation on paper, and it is almost impossible for us to achieve such a goal in actual operation." ”

Sun Changmi continued: "The reason why this is the case is because there is a problem that cannot be bypassed, most of the materials needed for the construction of Xingang must be operated from the capital, and because there are many things that need to be continuously produced by the base camp, it is very likely that one or two trips will not be completed, so it is impossible to let all the ships keep running the route between Xingang and Vietnam to pull people." According to our estimates, in order to ensure the progress of the construction of the new port, at least half of the ships must be allocated to return to the main operation to deliver supplies, so the speed of transporting the population may not meet the standard that Yue Zhiyun said. ”

"How much capacity can you guarantee, can you give an accurate number?" Liu Shanxia of the Ministry of Construction was already stunned by these two guys.

"In the first half of the month, there were at most 800 people, and it is estimated that 1,500 people can be transported in a month. "Yue Zhiyun finally gave the bottom line.

"It's enough!" Liu Shanxia slapped the table and said, "As long as the labor force can reach this number, I can complete the construction of the track from the port area to the mining area within twenty days...... Of course, it is only a single-track track, and it is much more troublesome to build a double-track track, but if necessary, the construction of a double-track track should be completed within two months. ”

Next, Tom Wang answered a few more questions intermittently, but they were all relatively easy to deal with, and Tom Wang completed the answer in a few words. Tao Dong saw that it was about the same, and announced that the meeting would enter the next agenda for final deliberation on the overseas development action plan.

"Let me tell you about the supply situation. Tao Donglai opened the notebook in front of him and began to explain: "At present, there are four main items in the preparation of materials, namely production tools, building materials, food supplies and daily necessities. ”

"The production of production tools is currently in charge of the metallurgical workshop and the carpentry workshop, and as of this afternoon, we have prepared 300 shovels and hoes, 100 hammers and axes, and a number of tools such as chisels, saws, bamboo baskets, and flat poles. At present, the production department is still working overtime to produce tools to be able to ship enough tools for the first month of construction of the new port at the beginning of the operation. ”

"In terms of building materials, in addition to a large amount of cement, we have already dismantled several prefabricated houses in Site 1 for loading, which will be used to build the command center of the new port and the residence of the members. As for the housing of immigrants, it will follow the model of the No. 2 base, with bamboo and wood structures such as elevated boat-shaped houses as the mainstay. In addition, we need to manufacture an additional batch of freight tracks, and this part of the production plan will be discussed in detail by the relevant departments after the meeting. In addition, the construction of Xingang Wharf will mainly use bamboo and wood trestle bridges in the early stage, and then gradually build a permanent wharf after the local cement kiln is put into operation. ”

"In terms of food supplies, the biggest problem right now is food, because we may have to feed thousands of people locally from the very beginning, which is not a small pressure. We plan to solve the grain problem in two parts, one is to first transport enough grain for 1,000 people for a month from the base camp, and the other is to purchase some grain locally; after all, it is so close to the grain-producing area, and we are not short of money now, so we can purchase more grain nearby, and this will probably be the main import channel for the grain needed by Xingang in the future. After the local population can meet the needs of coal mine production, agricultural development can also be organized on a small scale and some grain and vegetables can be planted to supplement it. ”

"As for daily necessities, in addition to the personal luggage of the stationed personnel, we have also prepared photovoltaic power generation equipment for living facilities, a set of short-wave military radio, more than 20 walkie-talkies, water purification equipment for 1,000 people, hot water boilers and pipes. In addition, the metallurgical workshop has also specially produced a batch of honeycomb coal stoves, and the personnel stationed in Xingang will not have to burn wood stoves like the base camp to survive. ”