Colorado River.
Not the one in North America, but the one originating from the eastern slopes of the Andes. Although to a certain extent, it is the dividing line between the Patagonian plateau and the Pampas, it benefits from the connection between the Colorado River and the interior.
Between the Gro River, there is also an endless prairie.
This land can be roughly divided into three zones. The first zone is from the Colora River to the north and is covered with dense grass all the way to Buenos Aires. The second zone is on both sides of the Negro River, just like now.
The land they walked through was full of large areas of alfalfa and atractylodes. Starting two hundred kilometers south of the Negro River, the altitude continued to increase and extended to the Strait of Magellan. At the beginning, it was grassland and not very dense trees and shrubs.
Cong, the further south you go, the more desolate the desert becomes.
In Zhu Xianhai's plan, the grassland between the two rivers was to be the most important agricultural reclamation area in South China in the future, and also the most important buffer zone. In this case, the Colorado River, also known as the North River, which is hundreds of meters wide, became
The location of Nanhua's northern defense line.
The Colorado River, which is hundreds or even hundreds of meters wide, is a natural fortress. It only needs to build fortresses, trenches and barbed wire in key areas, coupled with shore defense artillery to prevent the opponent's fleet from breaking through, it is enough to turn the North River defense line into an unstoppable line.
The defense line that has been surpassed has become a veritable gateway to Nanhua.
Just like in the simulator, just relying on a few fortresses has prevented the Argentinians from taking a step forward for several years. After all, the possibility of breaking through the river for landing operations in these years is almost zero. Of course, it is not
Said there was no possibility.
"The fortress must not only consider itself, but also consider the defense of the river..."
Standing on the unfinished fortress, Zhu Xianhai said to engineer Angelou.
"Although the fortress seems to be very useful, the Colorado River is so long that it is impossible for us to build the fortress along the entire river bank. Therefore, in addition to the land fortress, we also need a river fleet."
"River Fleet?"
Angelou wondered.
"What does this have to do with the fortress?"
He is just a fortress engineer.
"Of course it does matter. Is it possible to consider building a dock with certain defensive capabilities near the fortress?"
Zhu Xianhai smiled.
Although the fortress is very strong, the North River is too long. If you only use the fortress, you can only defend a small area. But like the Great Wall, building a line of defense along the thousands of kilometers of Colorado River is tantamount to a huge waste. Not only
It is unrealistic in terms of financial resources, and it is even more unrealistic in terms of human resources.
And in the simulator, the Argentines did try to bypass the fortress and break through the North River through landing operations. However, their many attempts were defeated - mobile troops were deployed behind the fortress, and they used trains and horse-drawn carriages to maneuver.
Able to repel the Argentinians before they break through.
However, considering the risks involved, Zhu Xianhai decided to build an inland river fleet. To put it bluntly, it means using dozens of small inland river gunboats to block the enemy. What are the current landing crafts? They are small wooden sampans, let alone those things.
It's a cannon, even a Gatling gun can sink it.
Gatling guns are readily available - Nanhua's arsenal has already achieved production. In order to support the Taiping Rebellion, a 20 mm caliber five-barreled Gatling gun was specially designed and manufactured, although it does not fire artillery shells, but ordinary
Lead bullets, but if a 20mm lead bullet hits a wooden-hulled boat, the effect will be absolutely catastrophic.
The "Taiping" sold to the Taiping Army was equipped with two 20mm Gatling machine guns. Such weapons to defeat the enemy can be taken over and used.
"Add a pier..."
Angerson thought for a while and then said.
"Sir, this will probably increase the construction period and require additional manpower."
"That's no problem. It doesn't matter if the construction period is longer. As for manpower, a group of new immigrants will come here soon. Don't worry about it."
The new immigrants will definitely be resettled in the reclamation area. Considering that with the "Great Eastern" and other immigration ships being put into use one after another, the doubling of the immigration speed will lead to a surge in the population of Nanhua, and the demand for food will also increase sharply.
Therefore, it is urgent to reclaim these lands into planting areas.
However, the issue of agricultural production is not that simple. At present, the population of Nanhua mainly comes from Zhejiang. After all, they were all acquired with guns. Even with the Taiping Army occupying Hangzhou and surrounding areas, according to Li Fugui's letter
According to the statement in the Taiping Army, there are millions of people available for trading. The only problem is insufficient transportation capacity.
As long as there are ships, millions of immigrants can be transported!
This seems good, but in fact, these farmers from Zhejiang only know how to plant paddy fields and not dry land at all. For them who lack dry land planting experience, they even need certain training before they can grow wheat. As for changing crops,
It’s not that no one has mentioned paddy fields, but they are definitely not realistic. Firstly, paddy fields require a lot of manpower from transplanting to harvesting. Secondly, the natural conditions here are not suitable for growing rice. Of course, the most important thing is
The most important thing is manpower. For Nanhua, the development of dryland field agriculture that is more convenient for "mechanized agriculture" is the future direction of agricultural development.
But in this way, the immigrants' production experience will conflict with the direction of agricultural development.
"It seems that we still need to increase our efforts to introduce immigrants from the north!"
When leaving the fortress, Zhu Xianhai looked at the vast grassland and said to himself.
Once again, Zhu Xianhai thought of his previous conversation with Sun Muli.
"Perhaps, we can send a recruitment team to those places in northern Shandong and Jiangsu to try."
Nodding, Zhu Xianhai made some calculations in his mind. It is true that the south is currently in war, but life in the north is not easy either. The Nian Army uprising is in full swing. The people in Shandong, Henan, Northern Anhui, and Northern Jiangsu have been there since ancient times.
Life is not going to be easy. If we send out recruitment personnel, we can definitely bring in a wave of workers.
Of course, the arrival of this wave of labor can also solve a problem - the diversification of immigration sources. At present, Nanhua is dominated by people from Jiangsu and Zhejiang. It does not seem to have any impact now, but as time develops, it will definitely
The development of Nanhua has had a certain impact.
"It seems that we need to increase the intensity of immigration from other provinces!"
Having made up his mind, Zhu Xianhai gave instructions to Fang Zhanbo.
"I'll arrive at the telegraph station later and send a telegram to Buffett in London."
With the re-announcement of the Atlantic telegraph line, it only took a mere thirty hours to send a telegram from South China to London. This was simply a "miracle"!
This telegram was not sent to Buffett, but to Li Fugui, but the transfer speed from London is faster. After all, in the past ten years, the UK has built a telegraph line from London to Singapore.
After the telegram arrives in Singapore, it will take up to two or three days to be forwarded to Shanghai by express mail.
Even this speed is already a miracle in this era. After all, it is the 1860s. Science is rapidly changing the world, but it is still far away from the global village.
Thinking of such a "long" communication time, Zhu Xianhai couldn't help but miss the convenient communication in another world.
"When the money is obtained, wireless telegraphy can almost be included in the plan."
In fact, it was not that Zhu Xianhai was unwilling to develop wireless telegraphy. The most important reason was... yes, he was an outsider in wireless communications.
He only has some understanding of electronic tubes. As for the kind of radio stations that do not require electronic tubes, he does not understand at all. After all, the technological gap is really too long, even in books.
He has read a little bit of knowledge in that area. Of course, this is not the most important reason. The most important reason is that he needs to use the Atlantic cable to make a lot of money. If there is an opportunity to make a lot of money, how can he miss it?
This chapter has been completed!