Chongzhen's domineering

Chapter 251 Liaodong's Great Victory and Minor Success in the Americas (Part 2)

With the passenger railcar now available, traveling in winter is much more convenient.

However, no bridge has been built across the North Canal yet, so if they want to take a bus to the Haihe River, they have to cross the river to catch a ride.

After everyone arrived at the Tongzhou Canal Wharf by car, Zhu Jue didn't order anyone to prepare any carriages. He directly led the group on foot to the ferry terminal on the other side of the river.

At this time, the goods from America had not yet arrived, and the area from the outer wharf of the Haihe River to the Tongzhou ferry terminal was not very busy. There were only some horse-drawn carts carrying timber and steel ingots on the river.

If goods from the Americas were to arrive, who knows how many horse-drawn carriages would be needed for transshipment.

Seeing this, Zhu Jue thought about it carefully and then decisively said, "Lord Meng, we need to build a bridge as soon as possible. It's too troublesome to transfer goods across the river by horse-drawn carriages or ferries."

Upon hearing this, Bi Maokang cautiously replied, "Your Majesty, the section of the canal at the Tongzhou shipping dock is over a hundred zhang wide. If we want to build the bridge, it will take at least one or two years."

The key issue is that once this area is unblocked, freight transport will become extremely busy, and the river will likely be packed with ships. If we build a bridge here, we might block the entire North Canal.”

What you're describing is a stone arch bridge.

Zhu Jue shook his head slightly and said, "You can't always think about using stone to build bridges. We already have cement and steel. You can consider using cement and steel to build bridges."

Building a bridge with cement and steel is much simpler than building one with stone. You can even order people to start right now, chisel open the ice at the location of the pre-designed pier, and then use wooden planks and rubber sealing strips to create a frame for the shape of the pier, which can then be inserted into the riverbed.

Next, simply scoop out the water, hammer the iron pillars used for the foundation down, and then pour concrete into the wooden frame. Cement can harden to the point of being as hard as stone within ten days.

In other words, you can build all the bridge piers in about half a month. You can also insert some steel into the uncured concrete beforehand, so that the steel and concrete become one, making it very convenient to connect the components on top.

As for the above, casting steel beams that are five or even ten zhang long is very simple. You can cast the steel beams in advance, then place them directly between two bridge piers, and then reinforce them with triangular supports underneath.

Think about it, isn't building a bridge much simpler this way? As long as you design it beforehand, and then build the piers and cast the steel beams simultaneously, it should take less than two months to build such a bridge.

Yes, you can build a bridge using cement and steel!
Why didn't I think of that?
Upon hearing this, Bi Maokang nodded excitedly and said, "Your Majesty, I understand. I will design it tomorrow, and the bridge will definitely be built before next spring."

I'm not asking you to build a bridge.

Zhu Jue shook his head slightly and said, "Don't just think about this one bridge. There are many rivers in the capital region. You have to build bridges wherever railways and pipelines pass through. This will make land transportation more and more convenient."

Bi Maokang nodded repeatedly and said, "I understand."

After the group crossed the river on foot, three passenger railcars were already waiting at the ferry dock. A group of over a hundred people boarded the cars, and the warhorses pulled them galloping towards the Haihe River.

The horse-drawn railcart wasn't actually slow; it could easily travel a hundred miles in an hour. The key issue was the limited horsepower. A warhorse pulling the railcart at full speed could only travel about fifty miles before needing to be replaced.

Fortunately, there was a station every fifty miles or so along the way, so changing horses and continuing the journey wasn't too difficult.

Around 9:00 AM, they had already arrived at the Haihe River shore.

The Haihe River is much wider than the Tonghui River. The widest section of the Tonghui River is only about 50 zhang (approximately 25 meters), while the narrowest section of the Haihe River is more than 50 zhang (approximately 25 meters).

The key point is that this place is already very close to the inland sea, and they have also built a port and wharf north of the mouth of the Haihe River. If ocean-going ships are built here, they can quickly enter the inland sea by going downstream.

Zhu Jue scanned the area with binoculars until the convoy stopped near the port. Then he solemnly said, "We are going to build a large shipyard on the north bank of the Haihe River, specifically for building ocean-going warships."

In the future, small Weiyuan warships, small Zhenyuan warships, medium Weiyuan warships, medium Zhenyuan warships, and large Zhiyuan merchant ships, etc., will all be built here. On the Tonghui River side, we can focus on building small and medium Zhiyuan merchant ships while simultaneously researching and developing other warships.

what?
You also want to build a large shipyard here!
No wonder you brought us all over here.

Upon hearing this, Wang Zheng exclaimed excitedly, "Your Majesty is wise! The docks and waterways on the Tonghui River are indeed a bit too small. Only one ship of 3,200 liang can be built in each waterway."

Moreover, the river there is too narrow, and there are too many ships coming and going. It would be very troublesome to get the 3,200-ton ships out after they are built.

This is a good place. The river is so wide, and apart from ships going out to sea, there are basically no other ships that go this way.

The key is that there's enough water here, so even if we dig a long or wide waterway, we don't have to worry about it affecting the river's water level.

You don't even need to worry about affecting the river's water level. Don't you consider how difficult it is to dig a waterway that could affect the river's water level?

Upon hearing this, both Lu Xiang-sheng and Yuan You couldn't help but show a solemn expression on their faces.

This is because the work of building docks and waterways will most likely fall to them.

Zhu Jue nodded with interest and asked, "Then how long and wide do you think the waterway should be dug?"

Wang Zheng said with great interest: "I think it would be best to dig a waterway that is one mile long and twenty zhang wide, and then build docks on both sides."

In this way, ten small Weiyuan or Zhenyuan warships can be built simultaneously on one waterway, and even five medium-sized Weiyuan and Zhenyuan warships can be built at the same time.

As for the large Weiyuan and Zhenyuan warships, we probably shouldn't consider them. Timber over twenty zhang in length is hard to find, and we probably can't build many anyway. "Hmm, you make a good point."

Upon hearing this, Zhu Jue nodded without hesitation and said, "Yes, then we will dig a waterway that is one mile long and twenty zhang wide, and first build it all over the north bank of the Haihe River. If that's not enough, we will build it all over the south bank of the Haihe River as well."

Oh, that's wonderful!

Upon hearing this, Wang Zheng excitedly clapped his hands and exclaimed, "Your Majesty is wise!"

Upon hearing this, Lu Xiang-sheng and Yuan You's eyes widened in surprise.

This Haihe River is not the Tonghui River. The Tonghui River is only about forty li long, while the Haihe River is more than one hundred and forty li long!
Why don't you build the north bank first, and then build the south bank if that's not enough?

Yuan You hesitated for a moment, then cautiously asked, "Your Majesty, if I may be so bold, the Haihe River is over 140 li long. How many of these docks and waterways would we need to build?"

I know, of course, how long the Haihe River is.

Zhu Jue pondered, “This waterway needs to be dug to be twenty zhang wide, and the docks on both sides must also be built to be twenty zhang wide. In addition, there will be a place to store timber, so two docks and waterways can be built side by side within a mile.”

Furthermore, we need to build a city near the port. If we exclude the space occupied by the city, the north bank of the Haihe River can only accommodate about two hundred docks and waterways. Let's round it up to two hundred and fifty.

Should we round it up first?
These 250 waterways are 250 li long. How many people would it take to dig these waterways and build these docks?
Yuan You thought for a moment, then cautiously asked, "Your Majesty, when would you like the dock and waterways here to be completed?"

The sooner the better, of course.

Zhu Jue pondered, "Let's hurry up and finish it before next spring."

How many people would that require?
Yuan You glanced at Lu Xiang Sheng and then cautiously said, "Your Majesty, at present, the number of soldiers stationed in the capital is only about 80,000 to 90,000. The artisans in the capital can only recruit a maximum of 10,000 to 20,000 able-bodied men. With so many docks and waterways, it would probably take 100,000 people a year to complete them."

Don't you have enough manpower?
Zhu Jue pondered, "Didn't Jizhou Town attract nearly 800,000 artisans? That's almost four million people. We've built four cities with populations of over a million."

The ironworks, steel mills, and foundries over there mainly employ blacksmiths. We can bring over other craftsmen, especially carpenters; we need to bring them all over to build ships.”

Well, the artisans over there aren't exactly unemployed.

Yuan You cautiously said, "Your Majesty, it's true that the ironworks, steelworks, and foundries over there mainly employ blacksmiths, but they also need a lot of people to mine. Right now, most of the able-bodied men in the craft households are mining, so I'm afraid we can't spare many people."

How can artisans be taken to mine?
Zhu Jue shook his head repeatedly and said, "Craftsmen can't go mining. How about this, you ask Tian Guozhang to recruit more able-bodied farmers to replace all the young carpenters and build the shipyard."

Furthermore, we will conscript all able-bodied farmers from both sides of the Haihe River to dig waterways, paying them two taels of silver a month. We'll conscript as many as we can; that should be enough manpower, right?

Are we manpower enough?
Carpenters are the most numerous among craftsmen. There are more than 200,000 carpenter households in Jizhou Town alone. Add to that the young and strong farmers conscripted here, and that's at least 100,000. Add to that the soldiers of the Beijing Garrison, and that's 400,000.

It would take about a year to build for 100,000 people, and about three months for 400,000 people.

It's only November now, and there are at least four months until next spring, which is plenty of time.

Upon hearing this, Yuan You thought about it carefully and then nodded repeatedly, saying, "That's enough, that's enough, Your Majesty is wise."

That'll do.

Zhu Jue nodded slightly, then carefully instructed, "Zhongxian, I'm afraid I'll have to trouble you again. Hurry up and take over the land here. Start taking over tomorrow. Take over all the land within a three-mile radius of the north bank of the Haihe River."

Also, we need to build a city between the port and the shipyard that can accommodate over a million people. You can decide how much land we need; it should be about the same size as the four new cities in Jizhou Town.”

This is nothing hard; having something to do is better than having nothing to do.

I'm not afraid of hard work, I'm just afraid of having nothing to do.

Wei Zhongxian nodded repeatedly and said, "This servant understands. This servant will bring people over to collect the land tomorrow, and I guarantee that it will be collected within five days."

In this freezing weather, you can't kick people out and let them freeze to death.

Zhu Jue pondered and said, "Jian Dou, send people over tomorrow to set up tents. Set up the simplest five-person tents, according to the scale of 1.5 million people. Also, bring over ten sets of heating boilers to provide heating for all the tents."

Upon hearing this, Lu Xiang-sheng repeatedly cupped his hands and said, "Your humble servant obeys the decree."

Zhu Jue then instructed, "Zhongxian, let the farmers here stay in tents and help with cooking, boiling water, and so on. I will also pay them wages, one tael of silver a month for the old, young, women and children."

Is cooking and boiling water paid for?
You're practically giving them money.

They were scrambling to carry it into the tent.

Wei Zhongxian nodded repeatedly and said, "Your Majesty is wise, this servant understands."

(End of this chapter)