Nan Railway Company is really worried now, for no other reason. The construction of the Glue Smoke Line Railway has officially started in full swing. When the company was having a headache to soar a lot of construction costs than expected, the Blackwater Development Team actually made another "moment" and asked them to build a railway for them on the Golden Horn Peninsula, which directly leads to Shuangchengzi. If possible, it is best to "invest" the Vladivostok wharf. For this reason, the Blackwater Development Team can give them a certain period of dock franchise.

To be honest, Chen Ke, the captain of the Blackwater Development Team, shocked the inexplicable request of the Nan Railway Company. Xu Xiangdong, the vice president of the company who was still in Shandong to coordinate relations, discuss loans and guide the construction of railways and affiliated areas, had to rush to arrive at Jinjiao Bay on a ship of the Third Fleet in October before the port was frozen, and negotiated with Lu Xiaofeng, the specialist of the Ussuri River Regional Administration and the commander of the security commander of the security officer of Chen Ke.

The Nan Railway Company has studied it on the map before, and has also consulted a lot of information and visited some personnel. It has a preliminary concept of the prospects of the railway that the Hei Shui Development Team unilaterally requested to build, that is, if it really does, it will cause 100% loss and bleeding!

Think about it, the so-called Golden Horn Peninsula (the later Muravyov Amur Peninsula) has only occupied the east coast of the past one or two years. It can be said that it has not yet established a stable foothold and is always invincible. In addition, it is sparsely populated and has no valuable output - that is, some furs, and gold, a good thing that can attract investment, has no shadow. If a railway is built, the utilization rate will be very low. If the utilization rate is low, it naturally means that the company operating the railway will fall into a loss state. How can this make people agree to invest?

Besides, the Vladivostok port where Blackwater can have "fifty years of franchise", Nantec Corporation also believes that the risk is too high and it is not suitable to invest. The reason is also very simple. Although this port is defined as the political center, military center, logistics center and commercial center of the Blackwater Development Team in the future, the throughput of the terminal will be large, and it will definitely make money if you operate the port. But the problem is that this is all about the Year of the Monkey? Nantec Corporation only believes in what you can see, that is, this port city has only three or four thousand civilians settled, and most of them have little consumption capacity.

The powerful Jurchens can't play anything! If the Nantie Company really wants to invest in the port of Vladivostok, I believe that the daily production and life materials required by thousands of local military and civilians can be solved by the way. After all, the local and nearby areas that occupy the most cabin space can find a way to collect some of the food. So in this way, it can be foreseen that the port of Vladivostok is not worth much investment in a short period of time, unless the city has a population of a certain extent, its hinterland is vast to a certain extent, and business prosperity is very high, and these all take time!

If it were normal, the Nan Railway Company would have rejected such an unresolved proposal, and could not say that it would point out the problems and "educate" the proposer. However, the proposed person this time was unusual, but Chen Ke, the captain of the Blackwater Development Team, so the problem was more difficult. In the future, the commercial operation of the affiliated areas relied on the Hei Water, so the relationship could not be broken. Therefore, after repeated consideration, Xu Xiangdong, vice president of Nan Railway, still brought a few confidants and hurried to Vladivostok Port without the cold port, intending to negotiate with Lu Xiaofeng to dispel their "stupid idea".

Today is October 15, 1679. Because the security commander Lu Xiaofeng and an infantry company went out to "shou" (to coerce the natives) and had not returned yet, Xu Xiangdong waited in the city patiently.

At this time, the temperature in Vladivostok dropped rapidly, and the warm wind on the sea was pushed back by the strong land wind from the Mongolian Plateau. The North Korean migrant workers who were engaged in construction activities everywhere inside and outside the city were thrust for a moment. They were as thin as they could not resist the chill, and they felt a little trembling.

Xu Xiangdong asked the officials in the city and learned that the total number was more than 12,000 - 2,500 people were sent this year to supplement the loss - North Korean migrant workers don't care about the East Coast people. They have their own management officials and supervisors, and these migrant workers are not always fixed, and people from all walks of life, counties and counties have rotated. I don't know if it was the North Korean officials themselves embezzling or what happened. In short, the group of North Koreans in front of me lacked enough winter clothes. If there are still no ships from North Korea to distribute winter clothes before the port is completely frozen at the end of next month, these North Koreans are afraid that they will freeze to death and have more than half of them died of illness. You should know that they also have to go out to work in winter (not rain and snow).

At that time, no matter how reluctant the people on the east coast were, they had to open the warehouse and distribute the already small amount of cold-proof clothing to keep the North Korean workers on the construction site. Although the number was definitely far from enough, it depends on how the North Koreans themselves adjusted it. Of course, these good-quality cotton coats will definitely not be distributed for free. The wool is released on the sheep. After the construction of Vladivostok City, then use this as an excuse to let the North Korean migrant workers stay for a period of time. If you build other things, the capital will be returned.

"There is no doubt that the North Koreans are very good laborers. They are hard-working, hungry, very resilient, and capable of heavy physical labor in harsh environments. If these tasks are replaced by workers from Denglai or Ningbo, it may not take too long to escape one after another. It is not an exaggeration." The official who temporarily accompanied the Nantie Company pointed to the construction site outside the city and said: "With these people, we can free up more energy and engage in more

Important work, such as training and preparation for war, expanding influence, etc. In fact, we even hope that these North Korean migrant workers can stay after finishing their work, and we can grant them land for free because they are too docile and capable. If there are tens of thousands of North Korean farmers farming for us under the rule of Vladivostok, then we can simply unify the entire Ussuri River Basin. Of course, this is just a thought. There are too many factors that hinder this matter."

"The Koreans are not good, aren't there any Japanese? I've heard about it in Yantai. Your Commander Chen Ke and Chen recruited a large number of Japanese samurai from Kyushu and Shiguo through the channels of the Japanese company on the East Coast. The ronin came to Hei Shui to enrich the local population and the number of public security troops. Is this just a rumor rather than a true?" Xu Xiangdong smiled after hearing this. He was wearing high-end leather jackets and strolled on the streets in the city, asking while looking at the city wall construction site where a foundation had just been laid.

"Half-true and half-false." The accompanying official said helplessly: "There are indeed Japanese recruits, but many of them were sent to the strongholds of Kitasu and Hiraoka in the back, and the number of people is very limited, with less than 200 people per place on average. These people, saying that they are samurai, is really a compliment. At best, they can only be said to be descendants of samurai. On weekdays, they are hang out in several major commercial cities or ports in Japan, and they are full and hungry. Many people even sold their ancestral samurai swords, which are as down and out, and their wives and children are also frivolous. Letting these people fight in battle should not be very effective, but if they are half-soldiers and half-agricultural Kenting, the effect will be still

It's good. Speaking of Kitasu and Hiraoka and other five towns, they really need such people, so they sent over a thousand people. Currently, there are no more than 200 samurai or ronin who can become qualified soldiers. Some of them have not fought or killed for some years. They have been forced to act as merchant guards or other professions for livelihoods, and their martial arts are abandoned. They still need to be trained for a while before they can be appointed. These people are the main body of the local garrison soldiers in Vladivostok and Shuangchengzi in the future. Now, there are about 100 people stationed in the fortress in the north. They can help a company of the Third Infantry Regiment, shaking flags and shouting, and they can do these tasks."

"The Japanese ronin is indeed a way to dig. I don't know how many people are crowded in Osaka, Kyoto, and Nagasaki. It is a good source of cannon fodder. When you go to the Jurchen area in the future, you can use these people as the pioneers, so that they can consume each other with the Jurchens who are unsubmissive. In addition, I heard that the Northeast vassal led by the Sendai vassal have a good relationship with the Japanese company on the East Coast. You can also contact them to see if there is any extra population." Xu Xiangdong said.

"It's true, but to be honest, there is a relatively small population there, so it's unlikely that we might not be able to focus more on the Kingdom of Korea than there, and we might get a lot of gains," the accompanying official replied.

"North Korea, haha. So the biggest bargaining chip you have for us to build railways is a large number of North Korean workers, right? But I want to say that this is not enough, far from enough! The railway line from Shuangchengzi to Vladivostok is at least more than 100 kilometers, and the places where we pass by are sparsely populated, and it is difficult to mobilize materials and personnel. Such a railway cannot be built without a 3 million yuan! Even if you can squeeze North Korean workers infinitely and enslave them to build railways for free, this money cannot be saved much.

Because people always have to eat, transportation costs and losses are also factors that have to be considered. Coupled with the unpredictable safety environment there, why do we believe that you can persist until the construction of this railway is completed?” Xu Xiangdong said as the Japanese mentioned the topic again. His answer made the accompanying officials embarrassed. He didn't know how to answer, so he could only explain timidly, and wait until Commissioner Lu Xiaofeng and Lu returned.

After hearing this, Xu Xiangdong didn't say anything else and started to wander around Vladivostok with peace of mind. Although he had rejected the possibility of building railways and operating ports here, he was idle. He took the opportunity to learn about the specific situation of Vladivostok and lay a solid foundation for the company's business activities in the future (perhaps twenty years later, thirty years later...) and conduct a good investigation.

Xu Xiangdong noticed that after about a year of construction, the lighthouse on the East Coast Island (i.e., Russia Island) has been built and the lamps have been installed to guide ships to sail at night. However, there has not been a formal lighting yet, because there is no need.

Another major building on the island is the sea-line artillery, which is used to block the narrow waterway between the island and the land. The scale of the fort is huge. The design will have 32 artillery positions and install various types of coastal defense cannons, including 32-pound long-barrel heavy artillery, which will support the turrets on the Golden Horn Peninsula on the opposite shore, forming crossfire. At present, the fort (the turrets on the peninsula on the opposite shore have not yet been built) have been built for about half of the progress, but due to the lack of funds, the artillery has not been purchased and shipped from the local area. It may have to wait until the turrets are completed before talking. But no matter what, I believe that in winter, after a little busy schedule, the turrets on the east coast island can be completed by the end of the year, and the 2,000 North Korean migrant workers on the island can finally set off and return home - of course, this is as planned according to the original plan, and I don’t know whether there will be any changes in the future.

The construction progress on the Golden Horn Peninsula is also not slow. The fortress more than ten kilometers west of the northwest of the main urban area (i.e., the Soviet District of Vladivostok City in the later generations) has been basically completed with the joint efforts of more than 4,000 North Korean migrant workers. A company of the Third Infantry Regiment and some Japanese ronin have used this as a stronghold to inspect the surrounding area to ensure the safety of the main urban area in the south. It is reported that North Korean officials are currently negotiating to take the more than 4,000 people back to their departure Gangwon Road, but it seems that they have encountered some difficulties because the people on the east coast want them to help build an additional road to the main urban area. The two sides are still dead. If there is no agreement before the freezing, it is estimated that the results will not be achieved until next year.

The main urban area (that is, Lenin District, Vladivostok City) was concentrated in half of the 12,000 migrant workers. However, because of the heavy tasks, the progress is the slowest, only the official office, warehouse, and military camp have been completely completed. There is still only a temporary simple dock, fort, city wall, lighthouse, market, hospital, public bathroom, permanent dock and other facilities at the port. They are either limited by the lack of building materials or are trapped in the shortage of labor. In short, it has just begun, and it is too early to complete the work. I believe that if the Blackwater Development Team cannot raise another fund before the port is frozen in the winter and send it to North Korea to pay for the debt for many building materials, the construction progress next year will definitely be very unsatisfactory. This is beyond doubt.
Chapter completed!