Chapter 222: Transportation Issues

The forging workshop originally had a crudely built free-fall drop hammer, but its efficiency was low. It was used as a makeshift solution. As the industrial level continuously improved, the madmen at the mechanical factory prepared to abandon this primitive equipment and build a hundred-ton hydraulic press. Later, they realized this goal was a bit too ambitious and decided to start with more primitive methods: manufacturing a steam hammer. This device was not technologically advanced, but it was effective enough. The Jiangnan Shipyard had two steam hammers manufactured around 1880 that were still in service in the 1990s. Even when the foundations were damaged, the Jiangnan factory was reluctant to dismantle them, choosing instead to repair and continue using them.

With a steam hammer, the forging of many large workpieces became much easier. The entire slide rail of the steam hammer stood five meters high, made entirely of steel, and rested on a base of granite and reinforced concrete. The hammer itself weighed one ton and was driven by a steam-powered sliding valve.

Compared to the earlier free-fall drop hammer designed and manufactured by the mechanical factory, this new hammer’s forging capacity and work efficiency were more than three or four times greater. Using the old hammer had been a strenuous task, requiring constant operation of the steam engine to lift the hammer, followed by using a cam clutch to control its descent. The interval between each forging was long, making continuous forging impossible and causing great difficulty for heat treatment.

The forging workshop quickly finished processing the low-carbon steel jaw plate. They then used the same method to manufacture the toggle plate and the eccentric shaft. After the eccentric shaft was completed, it was taken to a lathe for turning and shaping to make it as circular as possible. Finally, they manufactured two large flywheels with a diameter of 1.2 meters to connect to the power source.

These behemoth components were loaded onto ox-carts and slowly hauled to Nanbao. Because the carrying capacity of ordinary four-wheeled ox-carts was limited, they were placed on specially made large flatbed carts with sixteen wheels, pulled by twelve oxen. Regardless of what this thing was for, the convoy itself was enough to attract onlookers and discussions—the people along the road were amazed at how the Australians could be so wasteful with steel.

The equipment was installed in Workshop No. 1 of the newly built mining plant at the Nanbao mine. Workshop No. 1 was a large-span, iron-truss factory building designed by Bing Feng, as tall as a three-story building. The structure was supported by reinforced concrete columns. The floor was poured with concrete and fitted with iron rails for pushing ore.

An overhead crane was installed on the ceiling of the workshop to transport a large skip for loading the crusher. In Zhan Wuya’s opinion, it would have been best to use a conveyor belt, but for now, they had no suitable substitute. Using deerskin would have been too extravagant.

Finally, Xiao Gui came to install the steam engine. The entire system was finally assembled. The massive machine, composed of steel and a huge base, with a total weight of about ten tons, stood in the center of the workshop. Not to mention the native workers, even the transmigrators themselves found it a breathtaking sight.

As Xiao Gui lit the boiler, the steam engine slowly began to turn. Driven by a large gearbox, the final stage transmitted power to the crusher’s flywheel via a belt. As the flywheel’s speed gradually increased, the crusher officially began to work.

Workers used flatbed railcars to transport a cart of large stones along the tracks. The overhead crane on the ceiling, driven by a steam engine, quickly lifted a huge stone and dropped it into the crusher. Clang, clang, clang. The crusher operated at a steady pace. The movable jaw plate slowly opened and closed, and the huge stone, with each movement of the jaw, sank deeper and was squeezed tighter. The stone began to crack, sending out many fragments. With a loud bang, a puff of white smoke rose, and the stone broke into several pieces.

The people present were startled, but the men from the mechanical factory knew that the machine was operating normally.

The jaw plate continued to squeeze slowly and relentlessly. The smaller, broken pieces of stone were squeezed even tighter as they descended, continuing to be crushed between the movable and fixed jaw plates.

Crushed stone and powder began to appear at the discharge outlet. A hundred percent dust began to fill the air. Then, a large pile of gravel fell into the hopper car positioned at the discharge outlet.

Below the discharge outlet was a track, with a train of hopper cars connected end-to-end. They were held in place by a cable connected to a steam-driven winch. Once one car was full, the operator started the machine to pull the train forward, and the next car would move under the discharge outlet. This continued until the entire train of hopper cars was full, and then it was replaced by a second train.

The full train of hopper cars was pulled up a slope to the loading station, where the gravel was directly unloaded into the beds of ox-carts using the difference in height, and then transported away. The entire process minimized the need for manual loading and unloading.

Zhan Wuya calculated that if they were only crushing gravel for construction, the crusher could process about fifty tons of gravel per day. If this work were done by manual labor, it would require three to four hundred people.

Now, including the boiler maintenance workers and the overhead crane operators, a single shift required only twenty workers. The difference in labor efficiency was nothing short of revolutionary.

But for the local people, this roaring stone crusher represented an incredibly terrifying power. If it could crush such hard, giant stones to pieces, what else were these Australians incapable of?

But the surprises were not over. After the first crusher was proven to be usable on the first day, three more crushers were installed in the Nanbao Ore Dressing Plant over the next half month. This had a devastating effect on the local people.

The result was that whatever work the Crossing Group carried out locally went smoothly. The local gentry and common people were practically obedient to their every word. And many who had previously been uninterested in working in the mines now came to work as day laborers. Even the landlord and gentry families sent a few of their household slaves or collateral nephews to work, in order to establish a relationship with the Mining Office.

With enough gravel, the transportation department’s road paving work progressed rapidly. Shan Daoqian used crushed stone to build the roadbed, increasing its load-bearing capacity. The surface was then leveled with coal slag and fine sand. After several rounds of rolling, the road became as smooth as new—even better than some low-grade rural roads in certain places.

In addition to the road rollers from the engineering machinery, Shan Daoqian also collaborated with the mechanical and vehicle factories to develop animal-drawn road rollers. This was simple, just a huge stone roller with a harness for animal traction. Slightly more complex were the animal-drawn road harrows, water sprinklers, and pavers. These could currently be pulled by horses, oxen, or human power. These specialized pieces of equipment not only reduced the wear and tear on the engineering machinery but, because they were self-produced, were not considered too precious. The Transportation Bureau immediately ordered several sets and used them simultaneously on many road sections.

Shan Daoqian applied to Wu De for a quota of several dozen workers and established a road maintenance engineering office. Road maintenance stations were built along the routes, and rules for regular inspection, maintenance, and upkeep of the highways were established.

“There’s another thing: we need to establish traffic rules,” Shan Daoqian said to Wu De.

Originally, Lingao had no need for traffic rules. Besides pedestrians, there were at most a few sedan chairs and some single-wheeled wheelbarrows, with the occasional horse passing by. No matter how narrow or uneven the dirt roads were, there were no traffic accidents. But now things were different. The arrival of the Crossing Group had greatly increased the complexity of the road conditions. In addition to the ever-increasing number of pedestrians, there were ox-carts, livestock, bicycles, cars, and motorcycles. The construction of roads also brought new problems, such as intersections and bridges, which required a certain degree of control—there had already been several traffic accidents recently.

“Let the police handle this,” Wu De said. “Dongmen Chuiyu is in charge of this matter.”

Dongmen Chuiyu, having been in charge of the management of the East Gate Market for a long time, already had some experience with such matters. He said, “I don’t think we need to create overly complex traffic regulations for now. First, the common people won’t be able to remember them, and it will be difficult for us to publicize them. Second, we don’t have enough manpower for on-site investigations and such.”

When Liu Bang entered the Guanzhong region, he only had three laws. Although this was a great regression from a legal perspective, it was easy for the masses to understand and grasp, and thus easily accepted in the initial stages.

The basic principles Dongmen Chuiyu came up with were: “Keep to the right, overtake on the left, separate fast and slow traffic.”

According to the rules, pedestrians, sedan chairs, and livestock would use the slow lane, while horse-drawn carriages, ox-carts, and motor vehicles would use the fast lane. In theory, the speed difference between motor vehicles and ox-carts was significant, but motor vehicles were rarely on the road recently, so it wouldn’t cause traffic chaos.

Herded livestock, such as cattle and sheep, were not allowed on the road and could only walk below the roadbed. Large herds of livestock on the road could easily cause traffic blockages.

Shan Daoqian said, “However, it’s best for motor vehicles not to honk their horns, so as not to startle the livestock. And to expect the heavy-laden ox-carts on the road to give way is simply a fantasy. It’s better for them to just overtake on their own.”

“There should be some penalties, right? Pedestrians are supposed to walk on the side of the road. What if someone just likes to walk in the middle?” Dugu Qiuhun asked.

“Fines won’t work,” Dongmen Chuiyu said, stroking his chin. “First, we need to implement the concept that if you’re hit, it’s your own fault. Those who violate traffic rules and cause injury, death, or property damage will not be compensated—”

“Wait, that’s not the point,” Shan Daoqian stopped him. “I agree with what you’re saying, but right now we need to talk about minor violations first. With our current power, even if we did run over a few commoners, no one would dare to come and demand an explanation.”

“Send them to the labor reform team!” Dugu Qiuhun proposed this method.

“That way, we can also increase our labor force,” Dongmen Chuiyu also thought it was a good idea. Anyway, minor violations were now compensated with labor service, ranging from three days to three months.

Shan Daoqian said, “I think this is a good idea. Anyone caught violating traffic rules will be assigned to our Transportation Bureau.”

The Transportation Bureau had many projects and tasks, so the more free labor, the better. Not only could they be used to build bridges and pave roads, but they could also be used to direct traffic.