In the morning, more than ten miles downstream of the Yellow River Waterfall, and beside the pier on the east coast, there were more than twenty steamships berthed. These ships with oars on both sides of the ship were like giants compared to the wooden boats on the side.

At the dock, Yu Wen Wen looked at these steamships and was very satisfied. This was a ferry used for ferrying, but now he is the "dragon boat" for him and his family to travel. He completed the half-way journey very well. Next, he will take them back.

Technicians are inspecting various steamships to ensure that all ships are still in the best condition when returning. This voyage has accumulated valuable experience for the use of steamships.

Yuwen Wen didn't understand the technical issues, but he couldn't help but imagine them when he looked at these steamships.

Because of the tight time, there are only two types of steamships that appear in Guanzhong area now, one is a ferry and the other is a cargo ship.

Most of the ferry, part of the cargo ship, was temporarily requisitioned by him as "dragon boats" and transformed into passenger ships. The cargo ships were transformed into capable of mixing people and cargoes. These ships would return to the "working position" later, and real long-distance passenger ships or cruise ships are still under design.

When the passenger ship is put into use, it can be used as a troop transport ship at any time. The ships loaded with passengers and cargo can also become troop transport ships loaded with people and horses. At that time, the central court's military strength and material delivery capacity will have explosive growth.

After the route of the middle reaches of the Yellow River is completed, a large amount of materials and troops gathered in the Guanzhong area can be transported to the Hetao area via steamships. The whole journey is nearly 2,000 miles of water, and it is still a boating against the current, but it takes only half a month.

In this way, a large amount of grain is transported from Guanzhong to Hetao area. Unless a shipwreck accident occurs, there will be no much food consumption, because the only thing consumes during the transportation process is coal.

In this way, the strong resources of the Central Plains can be directly used on the frontier, rather than wasting most of the materials during transportation. As long as the route is managed properly, Zhou State relies on its strong national strength to waste the overlord on the grassland.

The Hetao area is adjacent to the southern foot of the Yinshan Mountains, and the Zhou cavalry stationed on the Yinshan Line can launch an attack on the grassland at any time. Yuwen Wen felt that if he was a little cold-blooded, it would be impossible to directly implement the unmanned land strategy on the grasslands in the southern desert.

Thinking of this, his eyes narrowed.

The strategy is very simple. Every spring, summer and autumn, soldiers are sent to mobilize the grasslands in the southern desert, killing people when they see them, and then build fortresses in major pastoral areas and water sources. The defenders are equipped with artillery, and use these fortresses as the center to form blockade areas.

The cavalry hunting on the grassland used these fortresses as campsites, stayed from spring to winter before they returned south.

At the same time, based on the trading company, the trading company hired people to herd sheep on the grassland. Taking advantage of the government army's "seeing the venue", a large number of cattle and sheep were released on the grassland. In the late autumn, they followed the government army back to the Hetao area.

In this way, you can provide food to the government army on the spot and obtain wool.

Trading companies hire people to shepherd sheep, mainly raising fine wool sheep, so as to develop the wool textile industry. At that time, various wool textiles and cheese products will be transported to Guanzhong via the Yellow River, so as to satisfy the huge consumer market and create considerable economic benefits.

Not only that, the Fengshui River channel in Lingzhou upstream from Jiuyuan can also be navigated. With the help of the power of the steamship, the "Ji"-shaped section of the Yellow River (middle stream) can be completely controlled by the imperial court.

Form an arc line of defense to resist the grassland cavalry going south.

In this way, the inside of the character "ji", which is the so-called "inner sleeve", can be vigorously managed by the court.

The inner sleeves are called "Mu Us Sand" as later generations and "Ordos Grassland". The inner sleeves are combined with the outer jackets where Jiuyuan and Suiyuan are located, which are the "Hetao" that "the Yellow River has many harms, only rich ones".

Apart from Hetao, the middle reaches of the Yellow River route is opened, and the properties in coastal areas can be exported through waterways, which is also very helpful to drive local economic development.

As long as you have been serious about operating for more than ten years, the Hetao area will become a granary for the barriers, able to bear the military supplies of the local garrison, and directly stabilize the border line of the Zhou Kingdom on the Yinshan Mountains. At that time, the Longyou and the Bingshuo area will not be harassed by the Turkic cavalry all the time.

For thousands of years, due to the problem of logistical consumption, the Central Plains countries have only rich resources and cannot afford the annual consumption of troops to the frontier. Although the Central Plains is a giant, they cannot send troops to the frontier efficiently and at a low cost.

Now, it's different,

The prospect is so beautiful that Yuwen Wen's happier the more he thought about it, but he was pulled back to reality by the roar from his ears.

Looking in the sound, I saw a steam crane standing on the edge of the dock running. The newly built crane is boom-type, the crane is made of iron, and is suspended with iron cables. It looks taller than an elephant.

This crane has a designed lifting capacity of about 150 hu (stone), but it is actually used according to the lifting capacity of 100 hu. This arrangement is made to ensure safety.

Steam cranes have been in the form of a long time, but because the steam engine was not efficient and consumed a lot of coal at that time, it had no use value. The cranes equipped with new steam engines can already be put into use, but their performance is still being explored, so safety is the first priority.

The weight of one hundred hu is approximately equal to the load capacity of four two-wheeled trucks. It is used for loading and unloading by docks, which can effectively improve loading and unloading efficiency and save a lot of manpower.

Such steam cranes are still slightly insufficient in strength, but with their current metallurgical capabilities, they can only make cranes of this level.

Steam cranes operating by burning coal need to be preheated in advance and need to ensure the supply of coal. There are many restrictions, but the power of the machine is not comparable to that of manpower.

Its existence will greatly improve the transportation efficiency of Yellow River shipping, and now it will improve construction efficiency.

The middle reaches of the Yellow River have existed since ancient times, but due to the Yellow River Waterfall, the benefits are actually not high. The soon-to-be-opened steamship routes must set up waterway transshipment ports in the upstream and downstream of the waterfall, laying railway tracks between each other, and replacing manpower with rail carriages to transport goods.

In order to ensure the construction progress, a steam crane must be used. One is not enough and it must be added. Not only do the docks need to be installed, but also the construction site needs to be installed.

This project was expensive and the court originally had no financial resources to implement it in recent years. However, because the steamship brought confidence to everyone, the establishment of the "Shipbuilding and Investment Administration" was successfully carried out.

The influx of a large amount of private funds has provided strong support for the construction of the middle reaches of the Yellow River route.

With the funds in place, the manufacturing speed of steamships has increased. Soon there was a fleet and sufficient transportation capacity. A large amount of materials were transported from the downstream to the new port downstream of the Great Waterfall. This year, the construction of the transfer railway began, and supporting construction was also underway.

Yuwen Wen looked at the busy dock and listened to the roar of the steam crane, and seemed to hear the sound of the tire movements of the times.
Chapter completed!