Wild North America 1846

Chapter 588 Building Massawa

Author: Portuguese toothless

Chapter 588 Building Massawa

In 1517, the Mamluk dynasty of Egypt was destroyed by the Ottoman Empire. From then on, Egypt became a border province in the territory of the Ottoman Empire. It has been 355 years.

Due to the increasingly corrupt rule of the Ottoman Empire, Egypt has actually separated from the Ottoman Empire since the time of Muhammad Ali Pasha. It has become a fully autonomous independent kingdom, but it is still nominally a province of the Ottoman Empire.

For this reason, Egypt and the Ottoman Empire fought two wars, and luckily they won both.

Ismail Pasha was the true uncrowned king of Egypt. When he heard Sir Lu Pingzhi's request, he suddenly felt like a thunderbolt struck his head, and his heart was twisted with sadness.

No one wants to see their homeland trampled on, but who can blame it?

Although Egypt can compete with the enslavement of the original suzerainty, the Ottomans, it cannot stop the invasion of world powers such as Britain and the Tang Dynasty. The ancient land has long been turned into a playground for the powers and a place for adventurers to explore.

The weak are bullied, this is the cruel law of survival.

After meeting with several senior officials of the Suez Canal Company, Egypt had to admit defeat and formally issued a request for peace talks, with the British mediating in an attempt to reach a peace agreement acceptable to both parties.

The expeditionary army's frequent massacres of cities and bloody suppression methods really frightened the Egyptian Ismail Pasha. He was like a rich man who had never seen the world and succumbed in front of the powerful armies of the world's powers.

The city of Suez is only 130 kilometers away from Cairo. What happened here inevitably caused great panic in Cairo, the largest city. Many officials and wealthy businessmen transferred their properties, wives and families to more distant cities, and more and more soldiers deserted from the army.

Rumors and speculations painted Orientals as flesh-eating demons, and the various versions became increasingly bizarre, which intensified the panic in Cairo.

Eritrea region

massawa

This is an encircling bay area with excellent conditions on the Red Sea and has excellent port conditions. After survey, it was determined to establish a colonial port in this area, thus setting off a vigorous construction movement.

In the wide bay of Massawa, there are dozens of huge cargo ships moored, and they are using small boats to transport supplies to the shore. This has been going on for more than ten days.

Materials on the coast are piled up in categories, like raised hills. On the vast burnt plains on the seashore, charred logs are knocked down one by one, and then transported to the lumberyard by tractors.

it's here

The disc saw driven by the diesel engine cuts the huge wood into sections, divides it into planks and wooden cubes, and stacks them in the open space on one side, waiting to be baked in the wood kiln before being used to build houses or other facilities.

On the leveled land, lines were drawn with quicklime to reserve the locations of streets, city center buildings, municipal buildings, temples, schools, residential areas and other buildings. Now there is nothing here, only tents. district.

The busy bayside is full of people working hard. Many Arab slaves escorted by soldiers are digging trenches. These deep trenches will build the city's main drainage channels, using masonry and cement to build arched drainage channels.

at the seaside

There are many Arab and black convicts who are smashing huge logs into the sea one after another. One end of these huge logs is sharpened and inserted into the sea. At the other end, several people work together to lift the huge stone raft and smash it in one by one.

In the mud of shallow sea areas.

On the already pounded wooden piles, Chinese workers used iron bolts as thick as two fingers to connect heavy I-beams to the logs one after another, creating a cross shape to further consolidate the foundation of the dock.

Thanks to the day and night efforts of thousands of people, in just over 10 days, the pier has extended more than 70 meters into the sea water. It is expected that the wooden trestle will be completed in another two months.

On these wooden piles connected together by I-beams, huge wooden squares 40 centimeters thick are laid, and then poured into reinforced concrete to form a strong and durable dock.

Once the wharf is put into use, the construction process will be greatly accelerated.

Ships and immigration ships that have transported supplies do not need to return along the original route, but sail directly to the Port of Suez. From here, they will enter the Mediterranean through the Suez Canal, cross the Mediterranean, and then pass through the Strait of Gibraltar controlled by the British.

Enter the Atlantic Ocean and cross the Atlantic Ocean to reach North America.

These ships are ocean-going cargo ships or immigration ships owned by major shipping companies. In Europe, they can load return cargo and Italians or Germans who want to immigrate to North America, and start operating the Atlantic route.

This return route saves a lot compared to the long journey of more than 30,000 kilometers. It only takes 7,800 kilometers to reach Houston on the Gulf Coast, less than 4,500 kilometers to New York, and only more than 5,300 kilometers to Richmond.

With the Tang Empire's expeditionary force achieving absolute military victory, it was meaningless for the British to set up further obstacles, and the victors should not be blamed.

There was a lively scene of construction in the bay, and suddenly there was a commotion in the distance. When people looked over, they couldn't help but burst into cheers.

It turned out that a group of imperial cavalry were returning from a clearing mission. Wearing wide-brimmed cowboy hats to protect themselves from the scorching sun, they escorted a long line of black slaves back to the seaside camp, bringing new labor to the construction site.

The new city was built in a valley plain more than ten kilometers away from the sea. The surrounding dense shrubs and forests were scorched black, the ground was covered with thick burning ashes, and the air was filled with a strong smell.

On the land that had been set on fire, the logging team cut down the charred trees, and the transportation team drove the tractor and dragged the trees to the sawmill by the river for processing.

The Arabs or blacks in the hard labor camp had to dig out the big tree roots one by one, and the transportation team drove the tractors to transport them to a special place for stacking, and the operation was orderly.

After drying, it can be used as fuel for brick kilns and wood kilns. The burned plant ash is mixed with human and animal urine and manure and fermented and composted to fertilize the fields.

After removing tree roots and large rocks, the leveling team drove a tractor to plow the entire land, then exposed it to the sun for a period of time, raked it flat, and compacted it, creating a large area of ​​leveled land.

After this leveling, the land was marked with lime lines, and bricks and stones were used to build a building foundation of about half a meter. Then the carpenters came in and began to place logs on the building foundation to build houses one after another.

In Massawa

The construction of ports and towns is advancing simultaneously. There are about 7,000 convicts and 12,300 Chinese immigrants here, as well as a military force composed of more than 3,100 officers and soldiers including the 3rd Royal Marine Division Cavalry Regiment, Division Headquarters Guard Battalion, and Baggage Regiment.

, responsible for the construction and security of the colonial port of Massawa.

The military cavalry regiments and guard battalions mainly focus on hunting down local black tribes and capturing local black tribes. With a cavalry company as the basic combat unit, they take turns raiding the surrounding areas in batches to eliminate local black tribes and arrest slave laborers.

The construction of every colonial port and city required huge labor costs, which could only enslave local black people.

Most of the troops of the 3rd Royal Marine Division still remain on the other side of the Red Sea around the city of Sana'a in Yemen, carrying out colonial occupation of the area. They also transport grain, fruits, chickens, ducks, cattle, sheep, and Arab convicts to Massawa through cross-sea transportation.

, also transporting Arab women.

This is drawing blood from the relatively developed and prosperous Yemen region and feeding it back to the new colonial zone of Eritrea.

The conditions along the Red Sea coast are limited, and it is impossible for the Imperial Expeditionary Force to obtain help from the distant mainland.

Before the European routes are completely opened, we can only make full use of local resources along the Red Sea coast for construction, mainly in Eritrea.

nowadays

The Imperial Expeditionary Force established two colonial towns in Massawa and Asmara, about 175 kilometers inland from Massawa on the Red Sea. The latter had just begun large-scale burning of wasteland, and the only people involved in the construction of the towns were

More than 1,700 people.

Asmara is the original historical capital of Eritrea. It is 1,070 kilometers away from Addis Ababa, the imperial capital of Ethiopia. It is located on the Hamasen Plateau at an altitude of 2,400 meters. The surrounding terrain is easy to defend and difficult to attack. It is a beautiful flower city with cool weather all year round.

.

Because it is located on a plateau, the Tang Expeditionary Army named this new town "Yunzhong City", which means City in the Clouds.

As the colonial governor of Eritrea, Colonel Liu Daqing currently has no energy to take into account the construction of Yunzhong City. His main resources and energy are focused on the Massawa area, especially the port.

Only when the port construction achieves initial results and the transport ships dock directly to unload cargo instead of using small sampans to transport cargo to the shore can the next step of massawa town construction be accelerated and some larger and heavier materials and equipment be unloaded.

.

The empire has rich experience in the colonial field. Colonel Liu Daqing is surrounded by a group of capable officials sent by the Colonial Department, as well as geographical experts who are proficient in surveying and mapping, so the colonial construction work can be carried out in an orderly manner.

Nowadays, most of the urban drainage ditches have been excavated, and the six brick kilns planned to be built have been completed one after another, and mud bricks have been made to bake bricks for construction.

The construction materials delivered by the transport ships are consumed very quickly. This bulk material cannot be imported from the outside, and a series of facilities such as brick kilns, cement kilns, quarries, and sawmills can only be built locally for the construction of towns and docks.

The work of construction and conquest is complicated, and Colonel Liu Daqing is in charge of the overall situation. He divides his subordinates into planning group, construction group, logistics group, materials group and military task force to solve corresponding problems in different categories.

Thus

He was able to find time to resolve the main contradiction and steadily promote the construction of colonial towns and ports.

"Reporting to the chief, there are not enough cement and steel building materials at the city sewer ditch construction site. The ditch construction team wanted to use the cement and steel stored at the dock, but the materials team refused, saying that they could not be diverted."

"How much more is missing?"

"Basically, we are still short of more than 120 tons of cement and 10 tons of steel bars. The subsequent building materials are still on the ship and have not been unloaded."

"The cement and steel stored in the dock cannot be moved. The construction of the dock is the top priority. If the ditch construction team lacks materials, it will be suspended and the personnel will be transferred to other teams. Well... the preparation work for the cement plant can begin."

Colonel Liu Daqing flipped through the documents for transporting supplies, held them in his hand and looked at them carefully before ordering;

"The people from the ditch construction team were arranged to select sites for the construction of cement plants, and their labor force was also transferred to open quarries, repair roads, and prepare for the construction of cement plants. After the dock construction is completed, the heavy cement plant equipment can be

After the transfer, we started immediately to install the equipment, saving extra time.”

"I obey my command, sir."

(End of chapter)