In other words, in the future, whether it is coal-fired power or steam ships, their coal consumption will be reduced by more than 30%.
Well, this is quite scary data.
Using a simple calculation formula, it can be concluded that the range of steam ships can be increased by more than 30% in the future.
Of course, even if this elastic compound can be put into production, transportation such as bicycles will not be distributed to the troops for a while.
After all, just building a chemical plant takes a lot of time.
What's more, Xinghai Kingdom's manpower and material resources are now required to be invested in the construction of hydropower stations as a priority.
Under such a request, the five thousand Qing troops that Sun Xuebin had just captured were hurriedly caught up in the merchant ship originally transporting immigrants and transported back to the South China Sea Island before they were even warmed up.
With these five thousand prisoners, the construction speed of hydropower stations can undoubtedly be accelerated a lot.
At this time, an artificial ditch was being excavated next to the upper section of Changjiang River.
Since the road problem on Nanhai Island has not yet been solved, and most of the modern engineering equipment is used in the construction of Xinghai City, the upper section of the Changjiang River Hydropower Station can only use manpower to solve these problems.
Five thousand prisoners were hurriedly transported to the upper section of the Changjiang River. Without even taking a breath, they were driven into the ditch by the vicious overseers with whips.
Well, these overseers were those who performed better among the various captive coolies before and were selected to serve as overseers.
There is no doubt that after such a long period of hard work, they cherish their happy life as overseers even more, so they become more and more cruel to the new prisoners.
"Whoever delays our group's work by failing to complete it will never be held back by me!"
This is what most overseers say when faced with captive coolies.
And they did.
Whenever any prisoner wanted to be lazy, he would be whipped immediately, causing him to fall to the ground and writhe in pain.
However, in Fang Xiaoyue's opinion, these prisoners were still too few.
Only five thousand prisoners were completely insufficient.
According to his design, in order to build this hydropower station, in addition to using a large amount of chemicals and without using modern construction machinery, at least 50,000 people would need to work non-stop for three months.
Drainage ditches, dams, etc. can be built.
Therefore, the Ministry of Industry immediately asked the Ministry of Military Affairs to capture more prisoners.
Well, although immigration is possible, high-intensity work like this can actually easily kill people.
Not only are the medicines easy to kill, the collapse of earth and rocks can also kill people, but fatigue can also kill people. What's more, this area is located in deep mountains and old forests, where there are many mosquitoes and flies. In addition, the weather is humid and hot, which makes it easier to cause diseases.
Every time an epidemic occurs, a few unlucky ones will be dealt with.
Here, the lives of prisoners are worthless at all.
The Ministry of Military Affairs has also been involved in heated discussions regarding the requirements of the Ministry of Industry.
The question is whether the Fourth Division stationed in Chaozhou has the ability to enter Hujian and attack the Qing army there?
The result of the discussion was that the Fourth Division could enter Hu Jian and defeat the Qing troops stationed in Hu Jian. However, the attack on the flanks by the Qing troops on the Ganzhou front line must also be taken into consideration.
However, it is not recommended that the Fourth Division enter Hu Jian. One of the more troublesome points is that the terrain in Hu Jian is dangerous and mountainous. This is not a very good combat environment for the Star Navy, which relies heavily on logistics supplies, and will make unnecessary
There has been a huge increase in casualties or illnesses.
However, it is not suitable to go to Hu Jian, but it is no problem to go to Ganzhou.
Ganzhou was the main stronghold of the Qing army's southward march. Although the previous battle with the Nanming New Army had resulted in the loss of armor and a state of embarrassment, the general Dorobele Lekedhun, the general who went south, guarded the camp gate tightly and sent Geng Jingzhong and others
After all the surrender troops were mobilized, the number of soldiers and horses in the camp reached 150,000.
In addition, Geng Jingzhong and other surrendered troops were professional firearms troops in the Qing army. As a result, the situation between the two sides suddenly reversed and entered a stalemate stage.
Although the Nanming New Army could occasionally use the range of the Thunderbolt 1646 to bully the Qing army that showed up on the camp, the red cannons brought over by the Qing army with great difficulty gave the Nanming New Army a lesson.
No way, although the New Army of the Southern Ming Dynasty had Napoleon cannons, the Qing army had many cannons!
Although most of the Qing army's cannons were small cannons such as Thunder cannons and tiger crouching cannons, the only dozen or so cannons were captured from the Ming army's red cannons and the Folangji purchased from the Folangji people.
Cannons, etc., but there are hundreds of them in total.
Even though most of these artillery had insufficient range, the lives of the surrendered soldiers in the Qing army were not worth much. They pushed the artillery with all their strength, fired after reaching the range, and exchanged heads with the Nanming New Army. The Nanming New Army could not bear this.
Casualties.
As a result, the Nanming New Army was beaten so hard that they did not dare to leave the camp. They only relied on the support of the brothers' troops to prevent them from collapsing.
When he received the news from the instructor team, Sun Xuebin happened to send the Fourth Division on the road to the Ganzhou front line.
On the Chaozhou side, two regiments of the Third Division were transferred from Nanhai Island, and ten 88 field guns from the Third Division were transferred to the Third Division.
The 1st Regiment of the 3rd Division is stationed in Chaozhou, while the 2nd Regiment of the 3rd Division is advancing in the direction of Hu Jian, hitting as far as possible. Its main purpose is to assist the immigration working group to collect as many refugees as possible.
If most of Hu Jian's population could be robbed, it would be a heavy blow to the Qing army.
After all, whether it is raising troops or restoring order, money and food are needed to support it.
The Qing court far away in Yanjing is now unable to provide much help. It all depends on the Qing army itself.
As for Sun Xuebin himself, he returned to Xinghai City by boat. As Military Affairs Commissioner and Minister of Military Affairs, this was probably his last chance to lead troops in a war.
From now on, with his status and identity, he can only take charge of the overall situation instead of going to the front line to fight.
Time flies by, and three months have passed in the blink of an eye.
In these three months, Xinghai Kingdom has undergone earth-shaking changes.
First, after arriving at the Ganzhou line, the Fourth Division, after two days of repairs, launched an attack on the Qing army camp under the cover of the Nanming Army.
Regarding the Star Navy's attack, Dorobel Lekdehun had received news of the defeat of Hu Jianqing's army, but he did not think that this army of three thousand people could pose much of a threat to him.
You know, by this time, there were 100,000 troops in the Qing army camp under the command of Geng Jingzhong and others alone, plus the 1,000 Guanning cavalry dispatched by Wu Sangui. If it were not for the lack of food and grass, they would be able to do it casually.
Defeat the Nanming army on the opposite side.
You know, in this era, although firearms are on the rise, cavalry is still the king of the battlefield.