Seeing Yang Fan and Chen Xi playing in the sand, Xiao Niangpi, Lin Yueru, and Mei Xiang also ran over.
"Master, you are so old and you still like to play in the sand. You are so shy." Mei Xiang scratched her cheek with her green fingers. Mei Xiang was often teased by Yang Fan, but now she let go.
Yang Fan patted the sand on his hands and said with a smile: "Master is not playing around. This is an experiment in turning desert into soil."
"What, sir, you don't have a fever, do you? How could the sand turn into soil?" Xiao Niangpi's eyes widened immediately.
Chen Xi said: "I don't believe it either, but it's really magical. Look, madam."
The sand in the enamel basin was mixed with a liquid by Yang Fan, and after stirring, it became like clay and could be shaped by hand. Just like plasticine.
"Not only do you not believe it, but I don't believe it either. Now it is confirmed that this is true. After mixing with this kind of thing, the sand can actually absorb and store water like soil. If it can store water, it can store fertilizer. Sand is the largest
The problem is that water and fertilizer cannot be stored and are leaking out. That’s why plants don’t grow,” Yang Fan said.
Gansu is not within Yang Fan's sphere of influence. It is a long way to build a railway there, but the difficulty is low. There are residential areas and cities along the way. Construction is easy.
The main problem lies in the land acquisition and the cooperation with the government. Yang Fan doesn't want to cause too much trouble.
The straight-line route from Alxa to the west to Yili is the shortest distance and requires relatively little investment. There is also wilderness along the way, eliminating the need for land acquisition and other troubles.
Yang Fan checked it out. Railways have been built here in later generations. All he had to do was bring the road map information. Exploration and field investigation, and the difficulty of choosing and planning the route were greatly reduced.
Yang Fan's road is simple, and the 762 narrow gauge does not require a high-grade roadbed. In order to open up this key road section through the desert, Yang Fan decided to build a cement road in this section at the same time. Anyway, cement must be paved on the sand. That is, the paving should be wider.
That's all.
That is, there is a railway in the middle of the road to reserve the location for future repair lines. It is also the width of the two railways.
There are four-lane cement roads on both sides. Green belts are built one hundred meters outward on both sides of the road. One hundred meters outward, straw grids are made to block the flow of desert.
This place is a traffic bottleneck. After Hami, continue westward until Europe, and the journey is easy. Therefore, it is necessary to spend a lot of money to solve the road and railway problems here. The reserved railway roadbeds are all designed according to the 1435 standard track.
Because the compacted sand roadbed can replace the ballast, it will be easier to replace the track in the future.
From the east of Linhe to Tianjin Port, the roads are easy to repair. Even if there is no road, once the land is leveled, you can use carriages and horses. But this is not possible in this desert, so you can only use camels.
It takes a little effort to fix this area to a high standard, and the arteries between the East and the West will not be blocked at all in the future.
The wives happily grabbed the plasticine in the basin and played with it with their little hands. Lin Yueru also poured a bowl of water on it.
"Ah, it has really become as absorbent as the soil." Lin Yueru opened Kazilan's big eyes and said in amazement.
"There is also this thing. Wrap the roots of the saplings with this ball and plant it in this modified sand soil. The nutrients in the ball are enough for the small tree to use for one or two years. As long as the small tree grows up, the root system
You can survive if you dig deep. The sand is wet even under ten meters, and there is groundwater underneath." Yang Fan explained.
Xiao Niangpi frowned and said: "The roots of the tree can't reach ten meters in two years, and it still needs to be watered. But where can I find water?"
Yang Fan said: "There is no way around this. We can dig wells every fifty meters, install water pumps on steam trucks, and send people to pump water for irrigation every day. In addition, there is this thing."
Yang Fan said and took out a color picture. On it was a mushroom-like thing, about five meters high and fifty centimeters in diameter. The bottom seemed to be a large jar. The upper umbrella cover was about three meters in diameter.
Lin Yueru asked strangely: "What is this? It looks like iron paint. It looks like a mushroom."
Yang Fan smiled and said: "It does look like a mushroom. This is a desert water collector."
The wives looked at each other in confusion. They didn't know how this thing could collect water. This was not a well that could pump water.
"Actually, it's not that it doesn't rain in Alxa. It just rains less. The desert also has transpiration at night, and water vapor will evaporate. When the water vapor rises and encounters the umbrella cover, it will condense into water droplets and be collected into the water storage cylinder below.
Just bury this thing in the sand and expose the umbrella cover. You can get fifty kilograms of water in a day and night."
"Wow, what a magical thing." The wives exclaimed.
"Master, how do you get the water out?" the little girl asked like a curious baby.
"You can have this. Wouldn't it be nice to add a manual water press?"
"It's a roar, it's a roar." Xiao Niangpi exclaimed, this method is simple and crude.
"One is buried every fifty meters along the road. There are travelers who need water along the way, or livestock who need water. Even steam cars can add water. If the collection is full, whoever collects it can use it to water and grow vegetables.
It’s okay to plant small plots of crops.”
Chen Xi interjected at this time: "Master, our steam engine condenser has been built. From now on, the water vapor discharged by the steam engine can be condensed, recycled and reused. Adding water once can last 1,500 to 2,000 kilometers."
"This is good news. As long as the fuel problem is solved, the steam truck can cross the Gobi Desert in one go. If it doesn't work, just burn gasoline and kerosene for the steam engine. If you want to save money, fuel oil can also be used. It will emit black smoke and smell.
In this way, there is no need for supplies along the way. After all, poplar trees in the desert also need to be protected. Cut them as little as possible. If you can, don’t cut them down. Dead ones can also protect against wind and sand.”
"Master, if this kind of liquid is used to transform sand in the desert, and if there is water, then the desert can be used for farming." Xiao Niangpi asked.
If the desert can be farmed, it can greatly reduce the financial burden on the family. It is best if the local area is self-sufficient.
Yang Fan nodded and said: "In a hundred years, we don't have to consider the problem of over-exploitation of groundwater. In theory, you can plant if there is water, but there are not many nutrients in the sand and lack of organic matter. We still need to use a lot of guano fertilizer to mix it in the transformation.
Only in the sand can crops be grown.”
Xiao Niangpi said: "There is coal near Alxa, and now the water problem has been solved. There are also railways and highways, and materials are easily transported. At that time, we can consider letting the road guards grow small plots of crops and vegetable fields by themselves, as long as they have enough food.
.”
Yang Fan said: "Yes, this road that is more than a thousand kilometers long needs to move a family every fifty meters to live on both sides of the road. They are responsible for taking care of the green belt, cleaning the road surface, taking care of the railway tracks and other tasks. You can give
They improved ten acres of land to grow their own crops, and we provided free coal and guano fertilizers, seeds, etc."
"It is forbidden to burn crop straws, and they are allowed to continue to cut grass squares in the desert on both sides during the slack season to fix the sand."
Xiao Niangpi nodded and said: "It's 1,500 kilometers and requires 30,000 displaced households. It's easy to raise people. But the upfront investment is not small. From building houses to various production tools, daily necessities, and even clothes, we have to invest.
