Beijing's pressure on the Western Regions Railway soon reached Lanzhou through a telegram, and seeing Sheng Xuanhuai's tone in the telegram so eager, Zhan Tianyou's thoughts for the New Year dissipated without a trace after reading the telegram. "The Western Regions Railway is related to the security of the country, and the speed of construction of the Western Regions Railway is related to the fortune of the nation." These two sentences are too heavy. The Ministry of Transport's request to the General Headquarters of the Project to evaluate the construction of the entire railway in eight years made him ponder.

Seeing that Zhan Tianyou's expression changed greatly when he read the telegram, his partner Kuang Jingyang saw this and asked, "Dependent City, what's going on in the capital?" ”

"Ah..." Zhan Tianyou was stunned for a moment, and he smiled bitterly: "Master Sheng called, it is estimated that the prime minister is urging the railway again." The Russian army occupies our territory, the railway is not passable, and the army cannot fight, hey..., this way!! ”

"The terrain is too complicated, the standard is surprisingly high, and what is even more bizarre is that the route is still prescribed, how can this be fast." Kwong Jingyang was also born as a child in the United States, and he and Zhan Tianyou have been partners almost for life.

"I have seen the route by airship, it is indeed the most reasonable, with the previous experience of repairing the Shanxi Railway and the Houma Railway, there is no big problem in choosing the line from the economic point of view. However...... "Zhan Tianyou has found that the routes given above are the best routes for this period of time, but the optimal routes are often not the fastest routes to build.

The most prominent example is the selection of the line from Yiwu (Hami) to Luntai (Urumqi), according to Zhan Tianyou's preliminary test, there are two plans from Yiwu to Luntai, one is the southern line of the Tianshan Mountains, and the other is the northern line of the Tianshan Mountains. The southern line passed through Dun, Shanshan, Turpan, and Dabancheng and finally reached Luntai, with a length of 574 kilometers; The northern route plan will arrive at Luntai through Muleihe, Qitai and Jimusar. The total length of the route is 624 km.

The climate and geology of the northern route are good, and the minerals and water sources are abundant. However, the route is fifty kilometers longer than the southern route, and the height of the uplift has increased. The investment will be more than two million taels, at the same time, the geographical location of the northern line is remote, the population is small, the economic benefits are low, and the most important thing is that there is a southern line in the planning of the Western Regions Railway, that is, the Southern Railway, if the northern line is chosen, it is bound to increase the length of the railway to the south, which is extremely unfavorable to the economic operation of the entire Western Regions railway network.

The above is considered in terms of economic benefits. However, if you want to build quickly, you must choose the northern route. Although the southern line has so many advantages, but the southern line has to pass through the 100-mile wind area and the 30-mile tuyere, and at the same time there is a lack of water sources along the way, and the construction of the whole line cannot be carried out, and the paving of this section of the line will be extremely difficult, especially the railway has to pass through the 310-kilometer Gobi and hilly areas, and the construction is difficult, the amount of earthwork is large, and finally it is the section that crosses the Tianshan Mountains. The terrain of the line is extremely steep, with a total length of 4,455.6 meters for the 12 tunnels, 23.9 meters for the deepest trench at the head of the tunnel, and 4.7 meters for the lowest point. It takes at least two years to chisel through.

The different choices of the north and south lines will delay the project for at least a year and a half, except for this route, the route from Yumen to Yiwu and the route of Luntai out of the country have similar situations. Arguably. This unknown route survey team did not choose the route from a wartime perspective, but with a peacetime backdrop. Choosing a route based on economic efficiency is not in line with the current situation. However, the predecessors cannot be blamed. How could people in the past know that China and Russia are now at war in the Western Regions and the front line is extremely urgent?

Zhan Tianyou thought about it, and suddenly stood up and said to Kuang Jingyang: "No, I have to go out for a while." ”

"Are you going?" Kuang Jingyang put down the text in his hand, the two of them were discussing the construction of the Wusheling Tunnel before, "The New Year will be over in two days, and the snow is so heavy, what are you going out for?" ”

"I'll leave it to you." After Zhan Tianyou finished speaking, he took his coat and went out, but was stopped by Kuang Jingyang, and he said, "What about the Wusheling Tunnel?" ”

"You can do the Wusheling Tunnel." Zhan Tianyou said as he got dressed, "If you want to build the road earlier, you have to change the established route, so that you can save several years, but the economic benefits will be damaged." A railway will run for decades or hundreds of years, and once it is repaired, it will be difficult to change, whether it will be fast or economical, this matter can only be decided by the prime minister. ”

"You're going to the capital?" Kuang Jingyang understood what Zhan Tianyou meant, and he asked rhetorically: "But the other route is only a preliminary survey, and there is no specific number." ”

"But I have walked back and forth several times on that road, even if there is something I don't understand, I can survey while constructing, this is a matter of details, and the direction is the big problem." Zhan Tianyou went out as he spoke, and as soon as the quilt was lifted to block the wind, only Kuang Jingyang was left in the room. He recalled what Zhan Tianyou said for a long time, and also put on his coat and lifted the quilt and went to the construction site, where is the major and difficult project of the Western Regions Railway: the Wusheling Crossing Project.

Even if there is an airship, when Zhan Tianyou arrives in the capital, it is already the first day of the new year. He thought that Yang Rui would see him the next day, but he didn't want him to get off the airship, and the carriage from the Prime Minister's Office would come to pick him up.

In the Yin'an Palace, which was as warm as spring, Yang Rui, who was a year old, did not look very good, just last night, because of the westward transfer of the British Army stationed in Singapore, the remaining Indian white militia heard that the Ottoman and the British had declared war on each other, and the Ottoman was the holy land in the hearts of the white people, and they who were about to be transferred to Hong Kong suddenly heard that they were going to be transferred to the Middle East to fight against the Ottoman army, and the devout believers actually rebelled. They captured the Alexander Barracks, and the rebels released some of the captured personnel of the German cruiser Emden, and finally swarmed into the city of Singapore. Although most of the people they killed were Europeans, the main inhabitants of the city were Chinese, and now there were only a few policemen and some expatriates in the city, but the rebel forces numbered nearly 1,000 people, and the whole city was occupied by them.

The white people in India do not regard the Chinese as human beings, and the British do not regard the Chinese as human beings, and if the two sides fight, the result will definitely be the fish in the pond. After receiving a distress telegram from the consul in Singapore and the local overseas Chinese chamber of commerce in the middle of the night last night, Yang Rui immediately ordered the Nanyang Fleet to go to Singapore at full speed, but the Nanyang Fleet was all old gunboats, not only did the speed be less than ten knots, but they also had to add coal and water along the way. After hesitating for a long time, Yang Rui finally let the Shenwu depart from Taiwan and quickly head to Singapore. As for the issue of the secrecy of the aircraft carrier, it can only be avoided by sending planes, as if it were a high-speed transport ship.

"Prime Minister. Tianyou has an idea about the Western Regions Railway...... "Zhan Tianyou doesn't know that Yang Rui is sitting in Beijing, and his heart is floating in the South China Sea." Just said the words he thought along the way, and he knew that the person in front of him hated being polite. So as soon as I came, I got straight to the point.

"Say it." Yang Rui took a sip of strong tea and said in a harmonious voice. He is polite to people who do practical things.

"The Western Regions Railway is a matter of national security, and now it is gathering the strength of the whole country to build it at any cost, just hoping that the railway can be opened to traffic as soon as possible. But there are still many considerations between speed and cost, and Tianyou can't weigh it, so he can only report to Beijing and ask the prime minister to decide. Zhan Tianyou said. After he finished speaking, he saw that Yang Rui was just the first to be judged, and said: "That is, whether the railway should blindly seek speed, or take into account the operational benefits after completion, if it is just blindly seeking speed, then the route after Yumen will have to be replaced." ”

"The route after the Jade Gate has to be changed?" Yang Rui was puzzled. "Then you say, after the Yumen re-selection of the line, the speed can be mentioned in many pieces, can Shenwu be opened to traffic in a few years? And one more, what's the downside? ”

"After the jade gate, the line was re-selected. The ninth year of Shenwu must be passable, and it can even be advanced to the eighth year of Shenwu. Zhan Tianyou said. On the way, he had repeatedly talked about the previous information, and he knew it well. "The downside is that some sections are going to be extended, and a lot of them are uninhabited. You can't connect all the cities along the road. After the completion of the railway, the operating costs and economic benefits will be greatly damaged. ”

"Oh. Then there is no need to worry about this. Yang Ruixin suddenly put it down, "This railway itself is a double-track design. Now the place where the single line is walked is a place where there is no one inhabited, and when the double line is repaired. Can you go around back. Anyway, these two railways are all through the Western Regions. ”

"This ......" Zhan Tianyou thought that the double line was a long-term plan, but listening to Yang Rui's politeness, it didn't seem to be a long-term thing.

"The railway budget is 350 million, isn't it just that the plan is to repair the line?" Yang Rui said. "We are far away from the Western Regions, but the Russians not only have a Trans-Caspian Railway, a Central Asian Railway, but also a Turkish-Western Railway some time ago. These are three railways, one railway is not enough for us, at least two railways, and heavy loads, in order to support Central Asia ... Frontier defense in the Western Regions. Zuo Zongtang of the Western Regions rebelled less than forty years ago, and the young people at that time were still alive, and those white people were ready to move, and I was not at ease if they did not build two railways. ”

Shipping is not possible, and rail is the only option. In order to increase the capacity of the Western Regions Railway, starting from Xi'an, the axle load of the entire railway was as high as 50,000 pounds, nearly 23 tons. Originally, Yang Rui wanted an axle weight of 25 tons, but that was too amazing, you must know that the standard axle load of domestic railway construction is only 35,000 pounds, or 15.8 tons, and the axle weight of railways in various countries is only 35,000 pounds except for special sections.

In Zhan Tianyou's view, the axle weight of 35,000 pounds is enough, the two-axle car is 30 tons, minus the weight of the wooden carriage, it can hold more than 20 tons of goods, if it is changed to a four-axle car, it can bear the weight of 60 tons, even if it is a steel carriage, its load can also reach 45 tons. This will definitely be able to hold two 20-ton containers. But Yang Rui's idea did not stop there, he not only wanted a truck to be able to stuff two 20-ton containers, but also put two more containers on the roof of the car. Four containers have eighty tons, and with the weight of the wagons, that's ninety-five tons.

The cost of a six-axle truck is too expensive to use, and it can only be a four-axle truck, which requires a single bearing to weigh up to 25 tons. Zhan Tianyou bluntly said that twenty-five tons could not be done, and the maximum could only be twenty-three tons, so Yang Rui had no choice but to give up when he heard this. After repeated calculations, it is believed that since it is container transportation, it can be done without a fully enclosed carriage and a flat carriage, so that the weight of the whole vehicle can be controlled within 92 tons; As for the future transportation of heavy tanks of more than forty tons, we will have to think of another way.

Much higher than the axle load of ordinary railways, the whole line is equipped with four-axle carriages, and even the line has to be repaired. Zhan Tianyou didn't know the word 'perverted', but he was reciting the word 'too much' in his heart. It took him a while to react, and he asked a digression question, saying, "Prime Minister, do we really want to fight with millions of Russian troops on the border?" ”

"Although the Western Regions are far away, they are also my land of China. This place is rich in products, and it is the main road of the ancient Silk Road, and we must guard this important road to West Asia, which is related to the national fortune of China for hundreds of years. "Yang Rui is very positive." Can you think like this, if the speed of the railway can reach 400 kilometers per hour in the future, will the Silk Road be more valuable than the sea transport? ”

"Four hundred kilometers?!" Zhan Tianyou was shocked, as far as he knew, the fastest test railway in France was only more than 200 kilometers. Four hundred kilometers, that's just a legend. "Prime Minister, God bless you. There are no locomotives for 400 kilometers for the time being. ”

"Someday there will be." Yang Rui said. "Once the speed of rail transport increases because of the development of technology, then the importance of maritime transport will decrease. Oh my country. When we look at the world, the shipping nodes of the world's oceans are occupied by the great powers, and we are simply unable to compete with the great powers for sea power. Since sea power is not easy to fight, let's fight for land power. What is Lu Quan? Land power is railroad.

Now that Russia is involved in the European war, with its poor military strength and the current situation at home, it will collapse if it continues to fight. The reason why the speed of the construction of the Western Regions Railway is related to the national fortune is because once the Tsar collapses, then we can take advantage of the chaos to occupy the entire Turkestan region. Expand our power to the borders of Persia and the Caspian Sea.

Do you know why you should study the Central Asian Railway? It is studied in order to destroy it, and as soon as the Russians destroy the railway, the purpose of expelling Russian power from Central Asia can be achieved. However, the Trans-Siberian Railway was cut off by us, and Central Asia was again controlled by us, and when the civil strife in Russia subsided, they would definitely counterattack with all their might. The Western Regions Railway must be completely completed before the Russian counteroffensive, otherwise the hard-won opportunity will be lost, and you and I are sinners through the ages. ”

Zhan Tianyou had suspected that the Prime Minister's request for rapid repair was not so simple, and looking at the information on the Russian Central Asia Railway sent by the General Staff Department, he was also wondering whether the country was going to send troops abroad. Now that he heard the prime minister's confession, he was excited and grateful at the same time, and he was an engineer to participate in the century-old plan of the country and the nation. The whole body suddenly floated up.

"Why do you want to rush you to repair quickly?" Yang Rui looked at him, saw him nod solemnly and said, "There are very few people who know about this matter, just know it." Forget about the rest. Let's talk about the railway, if you re-select the route from the section west of Yumen. How much can the construction period be shortened? In addition, what to do with these more than 1,000 kilometers east of Yumen Pass, it has now been repaired for two years. It's not possible to change the route, right? ”

"The more than 1,400 kilometers east of Yumen are also in the Tianshui section of Baoji and the Wusheling section." Speaking of the specific project, Zhan Tianyou replied to the engineer's Qingming from the excitement, "Now all the sections of the road are under repair for more than 1,400 kilometers, and the Baoji Tianshui section will be opened to traffic at the beginning of next year; The construction of the Wusheling side began in July last year, the mountains are undulating, the river valley is continuous, the railway should cross the Daqing River five times, the Longgou River twice, there are seven tunnels totaling 2,645 meters within 47 kilometers, 14 bridges with a total length of 717 meters, and more than 6 million stones and earthwork, and the construction is very difficult, but with the current progress, it will be repaired in the middle of next year.

At that time, from Xi'an to Lanzhou, and then to Yumen Pass, the remaining work of more than 1,400 kilometers is to lay tracks, we now do not need to lay tracks manually, it is to use the newly purchased simple track-laying machine, the test situation is that the fastest track can be laid every day 5.14 kilometers, far exceeding the average speed of 2.4 kilometers per day of manual track laying, more than 1,400 kilometers can be paved in a year, which saves about a year than the original, and the railway Shenwu can pass through Yumen in five years.

When you arrive at Yumen, if you don't go to the south of the Tianshan Mountains and the north of the Tianshan Mountains, you can avoid the water-deficient Gobi Desert and the wind area of more than 100 miles that are difficult to construct, and don't build the Tianshan Tunnel Group, which should not take more than two years to repair the wheel, which is about 20 months less than the original; As for the re-selection of the route from Luntai to the Central Asian Railway, 191 kilometers can be saved, and the most important thing is to avoid the mountainous area of more than 200 kilometers, and not to build 44 tunnels with a total length of more than 25,100 meters. We only need to build 474 kilometers of railways in the flat land to the national border, and then cross the border and build 60 kilometers to connect with the southern end of the Turkish-Western railway, which the Russians are now building a small half, and if there is no war, one year is enough, and this period will save one and a half years compared with the original. ”

Yang Rui has been remembering the time Zhan Tianyou said, the railway to Yumen Pass is Shenwu five years, the repair to Luntai is Shenwu seven years, and the connection to the Central Asian railway network is Shenwu eight years, a total of six years, a total of four years saved. In the middle of the seventh year of Shenwu, it happened to be the Russian Civil War, and in the eighth year of Shenwu, the Soviet Red Army should have defeated the intervening armies from all walks of life, and it could withdraw its troops and go south to Central Asia.

The time for the decisive battle can be caught up, but the abdication of the Tsar and the October Revolution will not be in time. At this time, the train did not even arrive at the wheel, and could only rely on two or three divisions to attack Central Asia. But thinking of the 50,000 or 60,000 Russian troops stationed in Central Asia, Yang Rui wondered if he should release smoke bombs and let the tsar drain the troops in Central Asia a year before the fall......

The prime minister pondered, and the ones that Zhan Tianyou hadn't finished talking about were still blocked in his heart. He stopped talking several times, and was about to speak. Yang Rui said: "Dependent City, can it be faster?" ”

"Prime Minister. This is already the fastest. Zhan Tianyou was shocked, he thought that the prime minister should be satisfied so much time in advance, and he didn't want to be still dissatisfied. There are many rivers east of Yumen Pass, and most sections of the whole line require a slope of less than 6 percent, only the dangerous sections such as Wusheling are relaxed to 12 percent, and the amount of earthwork is more than 50 million, which can be repaired so quickly, or thanks to the use of bulldozers, excavators, and heavy transport trucks. If Shenwu completes the construction of the railway in eight years, it will ......"

Zhan Tianyou took out a list from his arms. "Prime Minister, 1,000 trucks, as well as 100 bulldozers and excavators must be added to the project, otherwise it will be difficult to complete the earthwork." ”

Unexpectedly, Zhan Tianyou still had this one, Yang Rui smiled: "Then what if you give you twice as many heavy-duty trucks and bulldozers, can it be completed a year ahead of schedule?" ”

"This ......" Zhan Tianyou didn't expect the prime minister to increase the weight, he said: "I'm worried that there won't be so much diesel to come up." At present, a small half of the trucks are not hauling earthworks, but diesel fuel, especially in some sections west of Wusheling Ridge. In order to save fuel, the old steam bulldozers used were used. ”

"That's 200 more truckloads." Yang Rui added. "The Yumen Laojun Temple has oil, and now it is also being built there, probably early next year. You can supply oil. ”

"Prime Minister, do you have so many trucks at the Tonghua Plant?" Since diesel is worry-free, then worry about whether there are so many vehicles.

"Now the Tonghua plant works overtime every day. What about trucks. The light ones bought hundreds, but the heavy ones sold less. As long as they are given orders, then they can't stop making them. Yang Rui said. He said it briskly. But my heart hurts, these two thousand two two hundred trucks were smashed, more than 10,000 two, plus 200 bulldozers and excavators, more than 30 million were gone.

"O military city, I gave the things. You have to sell some strength over there, too. Yang Rui said again, "The power of the whole country, regardless of the cost and efficiency, the whole army of the whole country supports you, and the trucks plus the current two thousand two hundred, I am afraid that there are three thousand in total." You say that there are more than 50 million tons of earthwork, and each truck is less than 20,000 square meters. One trip to pull seven squares, five times a day, there are 10,000 square meters this year, I see, it is difficult to find such a road construction team in the world. ”

"Prime Minister, I'll do what I can." Zhan Tianyou has seen the world, and there is no need for people to build roads, dig and transport soil, and the Western Regions Railway has such a treatment, and even the Shanxi Railway does not have so many large machinery.

"It's not about doing it all, it's about doing it! If the Western Regions Railway is not repaired for a day, I will not be able to sleep for a day. 10,000 years is too long, and the battle is over. You have to build the railroad in the sixth year of Shenwu, and I don't care if it goes to the border, but the closer you get to the border, the better. Yang Rui suddenly became stern, and Zhan Tianyou, who was looking at him like a substance, only bowed his head.

"Prime Minister, I, I must have repaired the railway in the sixth year of Shenwu!" Zhan Tianyou's lowered head finally raised up.

"That's good." Seeing that he agreed, Yang Rui's tone became kind, and he said broadly: "O military city, it's not me who forces you, it's time and the whole country that force me, so I have to force you people who do practical things." If you build roads too quickly, there will always be a price, and there will be sacrifices, but these costs and sacrifices are insignificant compared to the timing.

If a person wants to get ahead, in addition to being born, he must also work hard and have opportunities. If we can't grasp this once-in-a-century opportunity, then we can't get out of China at sea or on land, and we can only be a power in East Asia, not a world power. No matter how strong the East Asian powers are, they are also on the safe side, and to be more honest, they are still bullied, and if they want to turn over, they don't know how many hundred years will pass. But if the railway leads to Central Asia, and we control Central Asia, then the world pattern will be different in the future, and the number of countries and nations will be different. Now, it's up to you, it's up to the engineering team under your leadership. ”

Yang Rui's words were heavy, and when Zhan Tianyou was moved, he took out another colorful holy decree and said: "As long as they are sacrificed for road construction, they are all martyrs, and they can enter the temple to enjoy incense forever; Those who have made meritorious contributions will be rewarded; If you are disabled, the state will support you for a lifetime. You go and sue everyone. ”

"Yes!" Hearing that the prime minister had arranged everyone's funeral, Zhan Tianyou suddenly stood up and tidied up his appearance, took the holy decree very solemnly, bowed respectfully, and went firmly. (To be continued......)