At the end of April 1651, at the construction site at the junction of the Sánchez River and the Black River, less than twenty kilometers east of what would become New Berlin, a large group of river slaves were working bare-chested for the construction of the walls of the new settlement under the supervision of black laborers (all of whom had served more than three years on the east bank and were basically promoted upon their return to South Africa).

The building materials were brought from the port of Guide in the west, later the city of New Berlin on the Uruguay River, named after the fact that most of the first settlers were sold by the Yuyuan Army to the farmers of Guide Province on the east bank. In the port of Guide, a town that has only been established for only two months, a number of small river steamboats have brought in piles of building supplies and supplies through the rudimentary wooden piers of Guò, which are then transported elsewhere by horse-drawn wagons, which have strongly supported the development of these areas.

Located at the confluence of the Shipu River and the Heihe River, Shipu Fort has a rare forest on the prairie on the east bank - the abundant water in the bend ensures that the trees can thrive in the slightly dry summer - and the people on the east bank have cut down a forest to use as a building material in the early stage. Beneath the forest is brown forest soil, and a thick layer of humus suitable for plant growth has accumulated on the inaccessible land for thousands of years, and if the remaining shrubs and weeds on the ground are cleaned up, I dare not say that in the first year or two, the yield of this field will reach a surprising number from the third year.

The city of the people on the east coast is planned above the deforested forest, and the area is not very large, but fortunately it is mostly flat. It can save a lot of time in leveling the land. At present, the city has only just entered the initial construction stage, and a large number of river slaves are working hard to build the city walls. They struggled to carry bricks, lime, cement, and gravel, and if they were lazy, they would be whipped in the face by black artificial heads. They didn't dare to resist, because the group of patrolmen who were maintaining order outside were not vegetarians.

The slaves were building the city walls and buildings in the city, while the 1,500 peasants from Guide Province, who had just emigrated by boat, were led by the soldiers of the Corps Fort and some veterans to build water conservancy facilities - dams and reservoirs - dams and reservoirs not far outside the city.

As we all know, Shipu Fort is located at the confluence of two major rivers, and the nearby forest area is relatively large, and the swamp and wetlands are also dotted, if you don't make great efforts to transform and improve the environment. Not to mention that you can't farm here, I'm afraid it's not even suitable for people to live - because the environment is conducive to the reproduction of germs; Of course. On the other hand, if a lot of effort is made to renovate and build complete farmland and water conservancy facilities, it will be a potential agricultural production base. It's almost comparable to the Duck Lake basin in the north. Therefore, the root cause of the problem comes down to the farmland water conservancy facilities that need to be built, and this is exactly what the people of the East Coast are currently trying to build.

When the Heihe River reaches the lower reaches (flowing into the Wujiang River), not only the river is wide and deep, but even the water volume is abundant, and the water flow speed is not generally fast, and this is undoubtedly a valuable wealth, and it is really a pity not to make good use of it. The East Coasters are currently planning. In fact, it is to use the existing rivers and wetlands to transform them into an artificial reservoir with a large capacity, and then build irrigation canals around the reservoir in all directions. This is a good foundation for agricultural development.

To the south of the reservoir, the dam is built with bricks as the main body of the large city wall produced by the Jingjiang branch of the building materials company (which is currently a brick and tile kiln, and only partially completed and put into operation), supplemented by cement and lime mortar, which are also transported from other places. The dam type is a buttress dam, that is, the dam consists of a retaining wall and a large number of buttresses supporting the retaining wall. Initially, technicians from the newly established Ministry of Water Resources used special cast-iron piers to support the retaining wall, but due to the cost and difficulty of installation. This design was rejected and replaced by a reinforced concrete pier design.

This reservoir is an extremely advanced design of its time. It is also an idea given by a traveler who has many years of experience in rural life based on what he has seen and heard, and it is very suitable for small and medium-sized reservoirs such as Shipu Reservoir. It was not until 1800 that this type of dam was built in India, which shows that it was a precursor.

There are many drain holes in the retaining wall of the reservoir, and the biggest function of these sluice gates is to discharge the flood safely, so as to ensure that when the water level of the reservoir reaches the warning line, the excess water can be discharged to the riverbed below the water level of the reservoir. But then again, given the current cement markings, the strength of the steel bars, and other construction or material problems in the East Bank Republic, the warning water levels and flood vents of these reservoirs must not be set too high, otherwise there is a high risk of tragic levee failures, which will affect the farms or industrial workshops downstream, causing undue losses.

Of course, the Shipu Reservoir has only just started, and most of it is still only on the Zài design drawings. To put it in jest, the only thing that more than 1,000 settlers have done to build the reservoir is probably planting trees around the reservoir. Some of these trees were transplanted from nearby forests (mainly acacia trees), while others were introduced exotic species, such as the oak tree (used for shipbuilding, although it has a long growth cycle...... ), such as eucalyptus, known as the "plant pump", and some fruit trees.

The purpose of afforestation is to beautify the environment, balance the water in the reservoir area, conserve water and soil, and reduce pollution, and at the same time, it can also prevent large livestock from entering the reservoir area to gnaw on grass. Experts from the Ministry of Water Resources have suggested that it would be better to plant some coniferous trees in the reservoir area, and the Wujiang District Administration has seriously considered this and has now contacted the Spaniards to import some coniferous seedlings from Chile.

But with such abundant water resources, if you don't do anything to make the most of it, then is this still the style of the East Coast people who want to break a penny in half and spend it? Apparently not! Don't look down on hydraulic machinery, which are no different from steam engines, but they are usually limited by the multiple adverse effects of unstable flow rates and lower water levels in the dry season, and they are a little inefficient. But in Shipubao, where there is a reservoir and fixed drain holes, this disadvantage is greatly compressed, and in this place, water power is a high-quality energy source that can be used steadily.

The use of hydraulic power of small hydraulic presses and water trucks to lift water is not to mention, this is not new, whether in the East Coast or the Old World at this time, these use of hydraulic machinery is still very common, we will talk about the East Coast people in the hydraulic stone grinding and other technologies in-depth research of water turbines. The prototype of this kind of machine appeared very early, and it can be said that the water mill and waterwheel used this principle, and it was on the basis of this technology that the people of the East Coast began to develop the water turbine with a small amount of theoretical foundation (they did not know much about this knowledge) and the vague impression of later generations.

To put it bluntly, a water turbine is to take the kinetic energy of water and then convert it into mechanical energy so that it can be used by humans. In general, the greater the energy of the water flow (potential energy, kinetic energy), the greater the force generated by the impact on the turbine blades, and the faster the speed of the turbine (impact turbine). At the beginning of the 19th century, the British and French used these turbines to grind flour, and in the middle of the century, the Americans began to use these turbines in their mines.

As more and more people began to work with hydraulic turbines, the performance and efficiency of this machinery have been continuously improved, and the axial turbine invented in 1843 has reached an astonishing 83% efficiency. According to the estimation of a technician from the Ministry of Water Resources, if the Shipu Reservoir is normally impounded, each turbine is likely to produce more than 1,000 horsepower when the water flowing out of the flood water hits the turbines (buried below the outlet of the flood hole).

The concept of 1000 horsepower is extremely amazing for the East Coast! This number is so large that they can't think of where they need such a large horsepower output, should they use a powerful machine of 1000 horsepower to grind noodles? This is also ridiculous, because it is more than enough to grind almost the entire Wujiang region with wheat. For example, it can be seen that a mine in Alaska, USA, later used a 500-horsepower water turbine, and as a result, this water turbine drove 240 pounding hammers, 96 ore mills and 13 ore crushers, which shows what an amazing power and a huge wealth of 1000 horsepower!

It may be possible to build a series of small factories near the Shipu Reservoir, such as a mill, a weapons processing workshop, a mint, a water lifting station, and so on. The armor manufacturing workshop of the Dayuhe Arsenal in Dongfang County, the capital, had long been tired of the outrageously smooth flow of the Dayuhe River, so it should not be difficult to persuade them to move to the vicinity of the Shipu Reservoir in general; Mints, mills, oil mills, and other workshops can also be moved here to take advantage of the abundant and stable water resources here throughout the year (the lower reaches of the Heihe River maintain an abundant amount of water almost all year round, and the Shipu Reservoir is almost in danger of drying up, except in the extreme weather of successive droughts).

Of course, the most suitable battlefield for high horsepower is hydraulic irrigation. Large turbine-driven pumps can pump fresh water elsewhere and into a dense network of irrigation canals (where the water loses kinetic energy and therefore needs to be continuously pumped), especially in the planned orchards on the nearby highlands, which need to be pumped for irrigation during the dry summer season.

All in all, although the Shipu Reservoir is only a small reservoir with a capacity of only two million cubic meters, it is of great significance. If the Ministry of Finance's plan to invest 350,000 yuan in the reservoir and its ancillary hydro turbines and hydraulic presses (powering winches, cranes, etc.) systems are fully completed and in good working order, the Executive Committee can even invest 3.5 million yuan, 5 million yuan, or even 10 million yuan in the future to build larger reservoirs and turbine systems in the Neiheluo Reservoir not far upstream and in the waterfall area near Daxing Port in the north, so as to provide more sufficient power for this country that is developing more and more rapidly. (To be continued)