Undoubtedly, in addition to these three men, the first to hear the news was Her Excellency Duchess Margaret, who soon subscribed to several plots on either side of the Governor's House, and since it was only an undeveloped area at present, the amount subscribed was only symbolic - one thousand taels of silver, which was exactly twice the rent paid by the Commonwealth of Australia to the Governor's House of Dili every year.

However, after only two or three years, the price of these plots has increased tenfold! Ten years later, it has risen a hundredfold, and it is still impossible to buy! Of course, that's another story.

During the period when the infrastructure construction of Xin'an City was in full swing, the skills of Hou Xianglin and Zezilia also improved by leaps and bounds.

During this time, Hou Ge sent countless telegrams to the Red Mansion, and the content of the telegrams was very complicated, in addition to the various situation reports on Timor Island and the progress of mining development in Pimont, it also included detailed progress of engineering projects and the progress of Wei Hong's military training.

Red Mansion sometimes replies to the telegrams sent by Brother Hou from time to time, after all, everyone is very busy, unless Hou Xianglin clearly asks the people in the family to hold a meeting to discuss a certain project of his, or asks the professional bigwigs in the family to provide advice by name, he generally just casually replies with a few simple words:

Very good......

Got it......

Do it yourself......

The reply was nothing more than a few words: Please send someone to find out how much ore is piled up in Dili Port today?

We can't provide what you said on telegram for the time being......

Ask Pimont, how much wood did he promise to collect for us?

I'm sorry, I'm too busy at home, so you can make do with it yourself......

At the beginning of April, however, a telegram from Hou Xianglin elicited a lengthy reply from the Red Chamber.

Hou Xianglin's message was simple and clear:

"To the Red Mansion, due to live-fire training, there are only more than 4,000 rounds of ammunition left in the garrison's Type 57 rifle, please send the bullets as soon as possible. Hou, Wei ......"

It's just that the two didn't expect the first reply to come, but the pride number in the distance:

“...... It is understandable that live ammunition does cost bullets, but if you shoot like this, it is estimated that they will scold their mothers in the chemical group.

Also, Brother Hou, how are you preparing for your marriage? Your new house in the Doge's Palace won't be in time for the wedding, right...... From: Pride, Zhu Beiguo. ”

Hou Wei and the others were very happy to see that the Pride had also received the telegram, which showed that the Pride had completed Macao's trade and entered the distance of sending and receiving telegrams.

However, at this time, Hou Xianglin suddenly realized that in fact, everyone's communication frequency is the same, and the password is the same, so the telegraph communication in several places today is no different from shouting on a public channel.

So Hou Xianglin replied:

Wei Hong said, they are all very economical, there are a total of 392 people in the garrison, a total of 8,000 rounds of ammunition, less than 4,000 rounds, do you calculate how many rounds each person shoots on average?

The point is that these guards showed great interest in the Type 57 rifle, and the soldiers spoke highly of the gun, and everyone was vying to be gunmen.

What Hou Xianglin didn't make clear in the telegram was that this gun could indeed enable many people to realize their dream of being a sharpshooter - including Captain Wei himself.

Because Wei Hong himself personally fired at least hundreds of bullets, and then spread the remaining bullets evenly on the ordinary guards, each team member really didn't shoot much......

After a long time, the Red Mansion finally sent a long telegram, the telegram said that in view of the actual situation in Xin'an City, Mr. Zhao and they have already discussed, and will send Gui Xianning to follow the Nicole to Timor Island on a business trip, and his task is to come and teach your subordinates how to be black**.

To this end, the plenary meeting held an emergency meeting, and finally decided to establish a reinforced black ** processing factory in Xin'an City, which will produce paper shell fixed ammunition and 57 hand ** for you to produce Type 57 rifles.

Later, Hou Xianglin received a telegram from the Pride to the Red Mansion, questioning whether this would reveal our technical secrets.

However, Mr. Zhao immediately called back and said, first of all, the black ** processing process itself is not high-tech, let alone a technical secret, because Master Song's "Heavenly Creation" is written in black and white.

The production technology of black ** has a long history, and the production process adopted by the chemical group itself is a mature technology from a folk handicraft workshop, so there is no problem of technical leakage.

Mr. Zhao then clearly explained that in fact, the nitride additive added to the black ** is the core technical secret of the transformation of the black ** into "enhanced black **", but this key chemical can only be produced by our Lian Alkali Chemical, even if outsiders know the name nitrate.

Because in this era, only Europe has just seen the germ of chemistry, and the whole world is still in the historical stage of equating chemistry with alchemy, which is a world that does not even know what the periodic table is, so please rest assured that there is no problem of technology outflow at all.

Also, we will not and do not have the conditions to engage in Lian Alkali Chemical Industry in Xin'an City, at least for a long period of time, it is impossible, therefore, the key additives of "Enhanced Black **" will be provided to you on a regular basis, anyway, the amount of this nitrate is not large, and it is enough for you to produce more than a dozen barrels of nitrate powder at a time for two or three months.

As for the warhead of the paper shell bullet and the bullet body of the hand **, it is not high-tech, and it can probably be made by finding a few blacksmith workshops in Dili City.

Of course, for the time being, these parts will also be supplied by our side, but in the future, the production of these things will definitely be transferred to you, and it doesn't matter if you feel that you can, even outsource the work of making warheads and bombs.

Now there is a trend, that is, because of the high cost of labor, we may only be able to engage in core technologies in the future, and transfer these low value-added rough work, including first-class factories and bullet processing plants.

All in all, please rest assured, this so-called black ** processing plant does not have any technical content, in essence, you are just doing some manual work and assembly work.

Of course, we also have to admit that the reason why the family does this is also a helpless choice, because the chemical team really has no spare time to make black ** for you by hand.

Mr. Zhao's telegram was very long, and in addition to giving a detailed description of the situation at home, he also said that he hoped that you would introduce a small part of the labor force to the family.

Now, the chemical complex, including three acids and two alkalis, is under intense construction, and the stall of coal and coke chemical industry has also been rolled out......

The telegram concludes:

"By the way, Boss Luo has made 7,000 round warheads for you in one go in the past two days, and he will be able to produce 30,000 for you in the next few days, and 2,000 of the projectiles of the hand **, and let the Nicole bring it to you immediately, this is produced by the mechanical team for you, don't waste it......"

An hour later, Wei Hong called back in person:

"Thank you to all the big guys in the family, you have worked hard, please rest assured, I won't waste the bullets, those metal bullets that were shot, I have people pick them out and gather them together, and I plan to find a blacksmith shop to rebuild the ......"

In this way, the telegram exchange between the two ships lasted from morning to evening, and at last, Hou Xianglin sent a telegram to Mornington Island at the reminder of Zeziria:

"Duchess Margaret asked Mr. Sun if he was coming to Timor to attend the wedding of Hou Xianglin and Zezilia?"

So the telegrams from Mornington Island and the Pride became frequent again, and everyone was talking about it, the duchess was actually very lonely, and Sun Lao had been single for many years.

In the end, Sun Lao asked Hou Xianglin to tell the Duchess that he would attend the wedding of the two, and hoped that His Excellency the Duchess would agree to his proposal......