Chapter 296: The Jiazi Coal Mine

After the initial wave of public interest subsided, the large ship purchased from the Hai family—christened the Qionghai Coal upon its departure from Lin’gao—weighed anchor and moved to the Hai family’s pier. The pier was already piled high with building materials like timber, bricks, stone, and lime, all purchased by Chen Tong under Lin Baiguang’s instructions for the construction of the pier itself.

Zhang Xingpei had secretly arrived in Qiongshan County a few days earlier, bringing with him a construction team. This team had been personally trained by the transmigrators of the Lin’gao Construction Company. In terms of skill, they were even better than a 21st-century rural construction contractor, and they had been taught a skill that those contractors lacked: assembling wooden-frame houses.

Zhang Xingpei had studied architecture in the United States and had a great interest in the all-wood-frame houses common in American residences. He had therefore put a lot of effort into studying this type of construction. These wooden houses mostly used prefabricated components, which were transported to the construction site and assembled on the foundation. A two-story wooden house of over two hundred square meters could be completed in four or five days with an all-out effort, much faster than laying bricks and raising beams. It could be put into use immediately after completion, without having to wait for cement mortar to dry.

Mei Wan, the general manager of the Lin’gao Construction Company, was very interested in this type of building. The Executive Committee had always demanded that the construction company be able to build houses as quickly as possible, and the use of prefabricated houses would greatly increase the construction speed. After several experiments, Zhang Xingpei had finalized six types of houses. The Lin’gao Construction Company had specifically opened a prefabricated house processing plant to produce and stockpile these houses, ready for assembly whenever needed. They had played a huge role in building refugee camps after the recent typhoon disaster.

The manual cranes on the Qionghai Coal began to lift bundles of prefabricated wooden components, wrapped in straw ropes, from the cargo hold and onto the pier. The pier itself was also made of prefabricated components, which had been transported earlier by a cargo ship from the Gao Guang Shipping Company. Zhang Xingpei had spent less than five days completing this neat and sturdy wooden pier.

The wooden planks, cut to a uniform width by a saw, were nailed down tightly with broad-headed nails, making it as smooth as level ground to walk on. Two wrought-iron rails were installed on the pier to accommodate the immediate need to transport a large amount of building materials and the future need to transport coal. The prefabricated house components were unloaded onto flatcars and then pushed directly to the storage yard on the shore.

Cement and sand were also lifted out of the cargo hold bucket by bucket. To speed up the construction, Zhang Xingpei had brought a small cement mixer, driven by a small diesel engine. This machine was carefully placed in a newly built house and guarded by a dedicated person to prevent the hired local workers from seeing it and spreading rumors.

The local workers hired by Chen Tong had already cleared and leveled the foundation according to Zhang Xingpei’s requirements. The ground was compacted with a mixture of lime and sand. Then, the construction company’s team began to build the houses. All the prefabricated houses were elevated, with the bottom suspended, eliminating the trouble of laying foundations.

With the help of a simple derrick crane, the wooden-frame houses were erected one after another, at a speed that surprised even Zhang Xingpei. The houses were all an ugly gray-black color, the result of being treated with creosote for preservation.

The biggest problem with these houses was their lack of resistance to typhoons. A typhoon would surely cause them to collapse. However, Zhang Xingpei believed this was not a major issue. The typhoon season had passed, and based on their experience in Lin’gao, the northwestern part of Hainan Island was not heavily affected by typhoons and would not suffer from wind disasters every year. Once the situation stabilized, they could gradually replace them with brick and stone buildings.

A week later, the Hai family’s pier had transformed from a piece of wasteland into a complete coal transport terminal with a pier, more than a dozen buildings of various types, an open-air storage yard of several thousand square meters, and three cranes. Then, the hired local workers dug a trench around the entire pier and built a brick and stone wall, complete with battlements and watchtowers. When completed, it became a fortified compound. This was not surprising in this era; it was perfectly reasonable for the Hai family to build a fortified compound in such a remote place to protect their pier.

Zhang Xingpei then directed the construction of a three-story blockhouse near the pier to guard the terminal and defend against attacks from the sea.

After the pier was fully completed, the four flat-bottomed transport boats unloaded from the Qionghai Coal were filled with building materials and began to travel up the Nandu River against the current, heading for the Jiazi Coal Mine.

The transport boats soon established a temporary pier on the banks of the Nandu River and unloaded the first batch of supplies.

It quickly became apparent that although Qiongshan County was the prefectural capital, its public security was just as bad. As soon as the four flat-bottomed boats landed, they were confronted by a group of ragged mountain bandits. Fortunately, there were plainclothes guards on the boats. They opened fire, felling several of the bandits and dispersing the crowd.

The flat-bottomed boats made another round trip that day, bringing more building materials, living supplies, and guards. The guard captain was Huang Xiong. This former junior officer of the Ming army carried a Minie rifle and a leather document pouch. Following what he had learned in the officer crash course, he directed his men to set up cheval de frise, dig trenches, and fortify the camp.

This level of vigilance proved to be absolutely necessary. That night and for the next few days, suspicious figures were constantly seen lurking around the camp. It was only because of the tight security and their fear of the firearms that no one dared to attack.

“The security situation in Qiongshan County is not good,” Lin Baiguang said, having also come to the temporary pier. He was there to see off Shan Daoqian and his road construction team. The Qionghai Coal had made a second trip to Haikou, bringing a large shipment of wooden rails, spikes, crushed stone, and the road construction team. Four more transport boats had also been added.

The mining site was about 9.3 kilometers from the riverside pier. This was a mountainous area with poor transportation. To facilitate mining and transport, a fortified compound had to be built at both the mining site and on the bank of the Nandu River, with a railway connecting the two.

Although laying nearly 10 kilometers of track was a huge investment, without it, transportation by either manpower or animal power would be miserably inefficient.

The route from the mining site to the riverside pier was mostly flat, with very little difficulty for construction. There was also a slope of about ten degrees, which meant that heavily loaded ore carts could slide down to the river by gravity, saving a lot of effort. Otherwise, the coal mine would have to spend a lot of resources raising a large number of cattle.

“There won’t be any bandits here, will there?” Shan Daoqian was a little scared. He was used to organizing construction in peaceful places. This was the first time he had to build a road in a place where people were ready to kill at any moment.

“There will be, and probably quite a few,” Lin Baiguang warned him. “This is a mountainous area. The authority of the Ming government doesn’t count for much here.”

“As soon as you leave Lin’gao, you realize how bright the sky is in the liberated areas,” Shan Daoqian said.

“Actually, bandits are not the main problem. We have a guard team, and I don’t believe bandits can stand up to Minie rifles. The key is to guard against the local mountain people.”

“That’s right.” Shan Daoqian had participated in railway projects before. Wherever a railway project went, theft would become rampant. Theft, looting, and extortion of the project unit were commonplace in the road construction industry. Even the proletarian dictatorship of the 20th century couldn’t eradicate it, let alone the Ming dynasty of the 17th century.

“That’s why I proposed to continue using iron-clad wooden rails here, instead of wrought-iron rails. If we laid those, we’d attract a whole gang of dismantlers. We wouldn’t be able to build the road fast enough.”

Lin’gao had already started using wrought-iron rails. Wooden rails were much worse than iron rails in terms of load-bearing capacity and durability, but they could maximally prevent the theft of the rails. In Lin’gao, the punishment for stealing public property was severe; six months in the labor camp was enough to be an unforgettable experience for a lifetime.

“It’s indeed troublesome. If we really kill someone, and the other party complains to the authorities, it won’t be easy for us to handle,” Lin Baiguang said. Here in Qiongshan County, the transmigrators had no law enforcement power and could not use force indiscriminately. Even with the Hai family as a protector, it would be difficult to deal with a situation where the law does not punish the masses.

“Fortunately, I don’t have to manage things here,” Shan Daoqian said, looking at Lin Baiguang with some sympathy. “You’re going to have a tough time.”

Lin Baiguang said nothing, contemplating the problem.

The Executive Committee had spent a lot of time selecting a manager for the Jiazi Coal Mine. This person had to have some knowledge of mining technology, know a bit about blasting, and have military skills sufficient to command his men against any potential hostile actions. He also couldn’t be too young, lest he be impetuous and act on impulse.

In the end, they chose Tang Menglong from the Far-Range Exploration Team. He was over thirty, old enough to be considered mature. He had a background in mine geology, so his expertise was somewhat relevant. He was also used to working in the field for long periods, was hardworking, and in good health. He also knew some martial arts, making him a relatively suitable candidate.

However, this overseas assignment was extremely arduous. The Far-Range Exploration Team was tough, but they could always return to Lin’gao for a break and enjoy modern life. This was not the same as being sent alone to an “Orange Zone”—as defined by the Transmigration Group, a relatively dangerous area in enemy-occupied territory, second only to a “Red Zone” with constant hostile actions. To command several hundred natives in mining in a desolate mountainous area, far from their base and comrades, with almost no modern comforts, required considerable mental fortitude.

Tang Menglong expressed his willingness to accept the assignment, but he requested a battery and charging equipment—otherwise, it would be too boring.

“No problem, that’s as it should be,” Xiao Zishan nodded repeatedly. “We’ll also arrange a ‘personal assistant’ for you.”

“A personal assistant?!” Tang Menglong thought. The matter of personal assistants had been discussed for over half a year, but apart from a few people who had been assigned secretaries for work-related reasons and then shamelessly claimed them, no one had received this benefit. It seemed the Executive Committee was really sparing no expense for this coal mine. That was quite decent of them.