Chapter 570 - New Tiandu Town
Ji Runzhi, director of the Sanya Special Zone Planning and Construction Office, set up a folding table in the shed beside the foundation stone—which doubled as construction site headquarters—and spread his architectural planning drawings across it. A gas lamp filled the dim shed with bright light.
Ji Yuan and Ji Shu bustled about inside, tidying the space until it was clean and orderly, much to Ji Runzhi's satisfaction. Having apprentices was indeed a blessing. These two served him perfectly in every way—except they couldn't meet his physiological needs. They'd reached the point where a single cough from him would bring them rushing with paper for spitting.
Ji Runzhi wasn't inclined to hoard knowledge. His apprentices pleased him so thoroughly that he taught with genuine diligence—despite having no natural interest in education.
Under his guidance, these two had now mastered simple terrain and topographical surveying along with basic cartography. Ji Runzhi planned that once the Sanya development project stabilized somewhat, he'd concentrate on teaching them more specialized content. In the future, routine tasks could go directly to them without requiring his personal involvement.
"All right, you may step out now." Ji Runzhi heard distant voices calling "attention" and "salute"—the main military and civilian leaders of the Sanya region had arrived. They would review Tiandu's construction plans here.
He walked out of the shed. Sure enough, at the station platform, Meteor No. 2 stood venting steam. Laborers scrambled onto the flatbed cars to unload cargo. A group of Elders descended from the platform while sentries presented arms.
"Very nice setup you have here." Xi Yazhou was first to duck into the shed, plopping onto the long bench. "Better furnished than my command post."
"That's all Ji Yuan and Ji Shu's doing—the kids do good work." Ji Runzhi greeted everyone while instructing the two apprentices waiting outside. "Go brew a pot of tea."
"What tea," Wang Luobin waved his tempered travel mug. "We all brought our own. Just have them fetch hot water."
Ji Shu retrieved two thermoses from the hot water station—luxury items only Elders could enjoy—and poured for everyone. He turned up the gas lamp's valve, then withdrew.
Outside the shed, laborers and vehicles streamed past continuously, generating considerable noise. But it didn't disturb the meeting underway. All the main military and civilian leaders of the Sanya region gathered around Ji Runzhi, studying the Tiandu planning diagram he'd just completed and listening to his concepts.
This originally humid subtropical valley would house over ten thousand miners and their families in the future Tiandu Iron Mine. Ji Runzhi had to plan not only the layout for this emerging town but also account for future development.
Tiandu's iron ore quality was excellent, but the absolute reserves were limited. Given the transmigrator industry's enormous demand for steel, Tiandu extraction wouldn't continue beyond one generation. So from the outset, they needed to consider what would happen when nearby mineral resources were exhausted.
From an urban development perspective, the Sanya Bay coast was far more suitable for a large seaside city. It possessed sufficient coastline as a tourism resource, local sea salt production potential to support urban development, and the Sanya River provided ample water.
By comparison, Tiandu's development potential was limited. First, the area was constrained. Second, once mineral products were exhausted, the town would inevitably decline. Mining towns typically suffered severe pollution, making industrial transformation difficult and potentially requiring substantial environmental restoration. Thus Tiandu had weak sustainability, and its water reserves—essential for any city—were also insufficient, rendering transformation to other industries quite difficult.
Therefore, in the Sanya development plan, Ji Runzhi designed Tiandu as a purely functional mining town, without separate industrial or commercial districts. The town would have only three parts: the mining company administrative district, the miner living district, and the mining industrial district. The latter was simply a mechanical repair shop for the mine, also providing simple repair services for mechanical equipment throughout Sanya.
The city and mining district's water would come from a small reservoir on the Tiandu River. According to surveys by Bai Guoshi and others, combined with hydrological data from the old timeline, the Tiandu River's flow—like all Hainan rivers—varied dramatically between dry and wet seasons. Though the railway now made river navigation unnecessary, domestic water demands for the town and industrial water demands for the mine were substantial. The transmigrators also planned basic agricultural production near Tiandu. Combining all factors, a reservoir for flow regulation was essential. Hydroelectric generation was secondary; small hydropower was unstable with insufficient output—useful only for enriching Elders' lives.
Tiandu's main energy would come from coal. Transport ships would carry iron ore away from Sanya and bring coal on return trips. Part would directly power steam engines; the rest would be converted to coal gas for lighting, cooking, and fueling local small industry.
"Too few supporting facilities," Wang Luobin said, studying the planning map. "The commercial district is also too small." He continued his critique. "Miners will eventually have wives and children. Where will they be accommodated? Surplus labor also needs arrangements... According to your plan, this town is a typical bachelor town."
"Precisely." Ji Runzhi explained his reasoning. "Putting too much effort into this town is pointless; its development potential is limited, and Tiandu's ore reserves aren't that large either. Tiandu serving for twenty to thirty years is sufficient."
"If that's the case, the future Tiandu Town will have no women or children."
Ji Runzhi nodded. "In my view, this should be a labor camp model, similar to Jiazi Coal Mine. Miners, administrative personnel, and technicians would all use contract rotation systems—single male assignments. Work here three or four years, then go home. Food through cafeterias; no individual cooking. Fully socialized logistics management—food, housing, clothing, and travel all covered by the mining bureau. Life service facilities minimized: at most a few small restaurants and taverns for variety, plus a sports field and brothel for miners to blow off steam when idle."
He continued: "There's also Sanya City. When miners rest, they can go there for entertainment. This would drive local tertiary industry as well. With the train, travel between the two is quite convenient."
As for Tiandu's future function, Ji Runzhi believed that once ore extraction was complete, it could serve for military garrison purposes, as a land fortress surrounding Yulin Harbor.
"Forcing miners to stay single for several years—isn't that somewhat inhumane?" Zhuo Tianmin looked worried.
"I'd say this is too militarized," Qian Shuixie interjected, instinctively recoiling from such military-style management, though he'd resolved to speak as little as possible.
"Call it whatever you like—if it works, it works." Ji Runzhi explained: "This achieves maximum intensive management and reduces social costs. If you let them bring families, we'd have to arrange employment for the families. Without employment, labor is wasted. With families, they'd certainly cook for themselves. This isn't like Lingao, which has at least basic commercial circulation and agricultural product supply. There's nothing here."
The greatest advantage of military-style management was convenient uniformity: food, clothing, tools... even women would be uniformly allocated. For supply logistics, this massively simplified procedures.
"No, I don't think this approach is sound." Wang Luobin shook his head. "First, miners without families won't feel any sense of belonging here. People come and go, nothing permanent remains. This place would always stay a labor camp. We're investing massive manpower and resources to develop a town—we can't be as wasteful as Americans or Russians, abandoning cities and moving on when resources run out. Second, women themselves are a labor resource. Arranging their employment isn't a burden for us. The timber processing factory, coconut drying factory, and food factory in the Sanya development plan all need substantial manpower. There's no reason to force miners to use prostitutes for physiological needs while importing labor from outside." He leaned forward. "Final point: what we need most is population, especially children. Such forced bachelorhood wastes large numbers of child-bearing-age people. It's disadvantageous for population expansion, particularly the new generation."
Children born in the coming years in transmigrator-controlled areas could be educated entirely according to transmigrator wishes. In twenty years, they would grow into the native backbone of the transmigrator nation.
"I agree—our priority should be expanding Sanya's population cluster. That's how we form a stable ruling base." He Fanghui nodded. "To put it bluntly, without their own women and children here, when you ask miners to fight and defend the mine, that'll be difficult."
The final decision was to moderately expand the miner living district. Miner housing wouldn't consist purely of collective dormitories anymore; besides dormitory buildings, some family-unit corridor apartments would be constructed. Living district support facilities would correspondingly increase, adding an elementary school and kindergarten. Besides cooperative commercial premises, some commercial space would be reserved for future merchants to open shops.
As for the stringent defense system Ji Runzhi had originally planned, Xi Yazhou felt it unnecessary.
Ji Runzhi's defense system was essentially the same as Sanya's—ditches and earthen ramparts. But Xi Yazhou believed Tiandu's defensive pressure was actually much less than at Yulin Harbor. From Tiandu further inland lay Li territory. The Li's military capabilities were quite limited—a people who had to purchase all their iron externally were at a great disadvantage in warfare. And according to Hu Xun's testimony, the Li occasionally raided but rarely launched large-scale armed incursions.
"If we wanted to fight, our several thousand miners equipped with standard spears and safety helmets, having received military training, would be sufficient to advance to the foot of Wuzhi Mountain."
"This is already the most simplified defense facility. How can it be further simplified?" Ji Runzhi was unhappy to see his plans successively rejected.
"Use the village model that German colonizers used in their eastward expansion." Wang Luobin suggested. "Use the buildings themselves as defensive works."
The specific approach was to arrange individual buildings in square or circular clusters, with each household's doors and windows facing the central courtyard. Walls facing outward would have no windows. Buildings would be connected by log or brick walls. Only one fortified main gate would be maintained for entry and exit.
"This is too crude." Ji Runzhi found it inconceivable. He'd seen this method before—when building enclosed residential communities, the outermost ring of apartment buildings was simply sealed together with walls.
This approach might work against petty thieves, but against armed enemies? Ji Runzhi thought it completely unreliable.
"Back then, German settlers used this method to resist Slavs and expanded German territory from Swabia to the Oder River, deep into East Prussia. And their buildings and walls were made of wood. The Li we face don't even possess Slavic-level armaments—the Slavs at least had iron weapons."
"Besides the Li, we should also consider Ming troops or pirates."
"If they can cross mountains and traverse Li territory, then they're neither Ming troops nor pirates." Xi Yazhou was confident. "Even if they had that ability and persistence, reinforcements from Yulin Stockade would arrive by train in at most thirty minutes. A few thousand armed miners resisting for twenty minutes should be manageable, right?"
"Actually, looking at your planned building designs," He Fanghui interjected, "most buildings are two-story or higher brick structures. Two stories would be five or six meters tall, correct? Lingao's city wall isn't much higher. Besides eliminating windows on the first floor facing outward, second floor and above could still have windows—at most add tin shutters."
The final decision was to cluster all buildings, then add several blockhouses at strategic points as defensive cores. Each blockhouse would be garrisoned by core militia. The administrative district office building would be fortified like the Sanya City public hall. Finally, a ditch would be dug around the entire Tiandu Town as basic defense.
At the meeting, Xi Yazhou raised the concept of armored patrol cars for security. He suggested requesting Lingao to build several flatbed railcars equipped with Suichao-type steam engines or—better yet—single-cylinder diesel engines. The car bodies would have simple armor on all four sides and be equipped with a typewriter. The railcar would conduct scheduled patrols on the Yulin Stockade to Tiandu track. When encountering enemy attack, it could reach any point along the line at maximum speed and strike enemies with concentrated fire.
"Given the technical level and fighting will of enemies in this era, I believe at least in the South China region, no enemy can sustain an attack under typewriter sweeping fire." Xi Yazhou was quite confident.
Besides serving as a mobile force for reinforcement, the armored patrol car was mainly intended for regular surveillance along the railway. Xi Yazhou wasn't worried about enemies attempting sabotage—he was concerned that so much railway track might attract local covetousness, triggering a large-scale rail theft wave.
(End of Chapter)