After the talks between the Crossing Crossing and Li Huamei, Li Huamei obtained the first maritime trade license issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for a period of three years. During this period, Li Huamei's "Hangzhou" could sail into Bopu Port at will, and the authorities were exempted from berthing fees and water diversion fees, and all goods transported and sold on the Hangzhou were exempt from import duties. Export duties are exempt from export duties, except for goods that are not on the "controlled export" list.

Under the agreement, Li Huamei was granted a monopoly on the Lingao-Goa trade for a period of one year. Crossing the group's import and export trade with Goa, the transport trade had to be carried out through her ships.

The Crossing Group has imposed restrictions on this clause, that is, the goods transported by Li Huamei to the High Crossing must be trafficked in accordance with the requirements of the Crossing Group. The price of the nominated goods is fixed by the crossing group, and the maximum carrying capacity of the specified cargo shall not exceed one-fifth of the carrying capacity of the vessel, and there is no limit if Li Huamei voluntarily carries more goods.

She can repair ships in Bopu and replenish all kinds of supplies needed for navigation. The Crossing Group will supply it with foodstuffs, gunpowder, artillery and necessary repair materials at a price. She also has the right to a long-term rental of the house in Bopu for her sailors and all the people she approves. The maximum number of occupants in the rented house is 12 people.

In addition to undertaking the obligation of specifying the cargo, Li Huamei also made a promise to train sailors for the crossing navy in Lingao for three years every year during the waiting period of departure before the monsoon season. During the training of sailors, she and all her men were exempted from rent in Bopu.

If necessary, Li Huamei must bear. For the tasks specified by the traverser, the traverser will be paid according to the nature of the task. The mission was to be carried out only while she was waiting for the monsoon, and did not include military hostilities of any nature, and she had the right to abandon the traverser's cargo for safety if she encountered danger during her mission. If she voluntarily participates in the conflict or if her ship is damaged during the mission, she is compensated by the crossing group.

These complicated terms are all in the vest. Designated under the guidance, this can also be regarded as applying what you have learned. Although he did not become the president of the Shanghai Court, he became the director of customs. Naturally, the authority is limited to Bopu, and there is not much work to do, because the number of people who have really signed a trade agreement is Li Huamei, whether it is Gao Ju in Guangzhou or Huang Shunlong in Macau, they are all sitting on the ground, and they are not buying or selling.

Li Huamei happily agreed to everything. The conditions, in general, seem to be more favorable to her. In particular, the Lingao-Goa trade monopoly. As Li Siya expected, the Australians were eager to seek a breakthrough in foreign relations, and offered quite attractive conditions.

As for the mirror and glass, Li Huamei didn't take it too seriously. There are also in West Goa, and the market in Goa is much smaller than that of Daming, Kao can't make a fortune with this, but there is another thing she sees that makes her tempted.

Snow-white sugar.

Sugar trade is the most lucrative trade on international routes. Li Huamei knew that as long as she could transport such white sugar to Goa, it was basically a business that would sell a boatload to make a profit, and she would not lose money, not to mention that the samples they took out were far better than ordinary products in terms of whiteness, and they were in demand when they arrived in Goa.

Not long after the agreement was signed, she received her first appointment. service, driving the Hangzhou, with the team to participate in the exploration around the island.

The fleet consists of the Zhenhae. and the Hangzhou, the Hangzhou was pulled to participate in the operation to make up for the lack of capacity, and the traverser calculated that he had to collect all kinds of urgently needed industrial and agricultural materials along the way, and many ships were always haode.

In order to ensure the Kao of the Hangzhou, the traverser sent a fleet of sailors on board in the name of protecting the safety of the Hangzhou. Li Huamei also agreed. In addition to Li Huamei's old acquaintance Li Haiping, Gao Xiaosong, a former coast guard instructor, was also sent on board as the captain of the dispatch team. He was selected because this is a soldier with a wife, and he is not as easily deceived by women with ulterior motives as otaku. The Navy Corps is a mix of four traversers from the Special Reconnaissance Team and two squads of sailors. 24 to 11, that's more than enough to prevent anything from happening.

Unexpectedly, this careful deployment fell through, and Li Huamei took the initiative to ask herself to take the Zhenhai on the grounds that she could help steer and teach everyone how to sail by the way. As for his own Hangzhou, he can let the first officer of the Hangzhou go to pilot. On the contrary, the executive committee seemed a little stingy -- Li Huamei undoubtedly felt that she was not trusted and wanted to suspect herself by making this request. Some people began to secretly accuse Wen De of being small-minded, and some even suggested that because he had been kidnapped by local women in the past, he might have left some psychological shadows, so he had an attitude of rejection of such women.

The executive committee naturally ignored these rumors, but since Li Huamei was willing to go on the Zhenhai, she had to be well received. She was given a separate room in the back of the ship, and the first rain was specially transferred from Ude's side to serve her on the ship, which was for the purpose of surveillance in addition to taking care of daily life.

Wang Luobin served as the commander-in-chief of remote exploration, because he had learned a lot and had a wide range of knowledge: he was born in a farmer's family, he knew the industry very well, and he was also a close comrade-in-arms of Mr. Wen, who was low-key and friendly, so all aspects had a good response to Wang Gong. In fact, Wu De and Xi Yaya are also suitable candidates, but the former has heavy civil affairs and can't drag it out, and the latter is said to have deleted a lot of posts that have crossed the public recently, which has caused a lot of public anger.

As for the Zhenhai itself, the people on board were very complicated, and the captain of the Zhenhai appointed Lin Chuanqing, and he accepted the appointment very happily. Compared to the previous Deng Yingzhou, this ship is more than twice as large. It's more rewarding to drive. Sailors were selected from within the navy. The Zhenhae itself only needed 10 sailors to pilot, and for the sake of insurance, the number of sailors was set at 16. There were also six naval cadets in the military and political training course of the national school - they were on board as trainees to receive the first voyage of their naval career.

Personnel from various departments such as military, foreign affairs, trade, resources, and labor were transferred to the ship, and there were also some interns on board. Mainly students in biology and exploration. There are more than 80 crew members on the Zuihou Zhenhai, of which one-third are crossers, many of whom are experts in various fields, and also bring a lot of professional equipment and equipment.

In order to prevent accidents to the greatest extent, each crossing group was allocated a life kit, including an inflatable life jacket, a number and emergency life-saving supplies, and a GLOCK pistol per person, although it was not a war, it was also fully equipped.

The Zhenhai had a fixed radio station to keep in touch with the base, and the Hangzhou also installed a temporary radio station to ensure communication between the two ships.

At the moment when everyone was busy preparing nervously, a fat black man wearing a camouflage uniform, curly hair, small eyes and muscular muscles came to the door of the executive committee building, and he signed a registration to meet Wen Desi.

"What's the matter?"

"Mr. Wen, I'm here to talk about the Zhenhai."

"Weishenme is not equipped with a steam engine on the Zhenhai?" Li Chiqi is straight to the point.

"Oh? Weishenme wants to install a steam engine? Wen Desi felt strange that Li Chiqi was the person in charge of the vehicle factory, and he couldn't fight with the navigation eight poles.

"It's a big deal!" Li Chiqi was a little excited, "Mr. Wen, you never thought about what Zhenhai would do when he went to sea like this and encountered the enemy?" ”

"If you have a cannon, you can just hit it, is our rifled gun not as good as the enemy's smoothbore artillery?" Wen Deji knew that the guns on the Zhenhai not only had solid shells such as armor-piercing shells, but were also equipped with grenades, and that ships that could withstand its shelling did not exist in the East Asian seas.

"It's boat-to-boat. But if you go out and run into the enemy's fleet, it will be too late to regret it," Li Chiqi said anxiously, "Zhenhai only ran two doors, if he ran into four or five boats of the other party, and he was a veteran of boating, he couldn't run away, after all, our people were very poor at sailing." Several ships seized the upper hand and took turns approaching the bombardment, and our guns were far away, but they couldn't hit accurately. Even if we hit accurately and kill one or two ships, we won't be the same dead when people rush to kill us! There was not even a chance to escape for your life. ”

"And this is our first self-shipbuilding, something happened, the morale was too bad, and the death was even worse - the life of the traverser is above all else!" Li Chiqi continued to advise hard, "If we put the Mozi 1 steam engine on the ship, whether it is paddle wheel or propeller propulsion, the 50-horsepower engine will run more than 8 knots without sailing. If you really want to fight, you will fight if it is advantageous, and if you can't win, you will run directly in the direction of the headwind, and no one will be able to catch up. ”

"It's too late now. The cargo was loaded on, and the personnel were ordered. If you want to install an engine, it involves the problem of ship modification, and the project is very large. A boiler and a steam engine are still trivial matters to build, the key is the boiler, steam engine and coal, as soon as these are on the ship, the counterweight of the hull is completely wrong, and the hull structure has to be greatly changed. He shook his head, "It's not going to end in a few days. The expedition will set off in another day, and if it is changed now, it will have to be postponed for at least a month. Time waits for no one. ”

"But this—"

"Let's talk about it again. You have a point. Although Wen Desi did not directly approve his proposal, he knew that Li Chiqi was right, and the executive committee did ignore this point.

It is indeed unlikely that the situation mentioned by Li Chiqi will happen, but if it encounters the enemy's fleet, it will lose miserably. This is no better than the ship going to Canton, as long as there are sailors who are familiar with the sea conditions, there are harbors everywhere along the coast to take refuge, and even if they are sunk or captured, the loss of personnel is limited. The Zhenhai has gathered a large number of professional jishu traversers, and if the ship is destroyed and killed, it will be a major blow to the great cause of traversing.

After half an hour of arduous ideological struggle in the office, he made a phone call to the Standing Committee of the Executive Committee and the members of the Workers' Energy Committee.

"Come to the office, I have something to discuss."