On December 17, 1639, just a week after the Spaniards had asked the Republic of the East Coast for warships and army equipment, Alvarez sent the first payment of about 200,000 yuan on behalf of the Spaniards. At this time, the arsenals and shipyards on the east coast had already started to produce all kinds of weapons and equipment and warships at full capacity.

The steam transformation project of the Big Fish River Arsenal (changing all machinery and equipment to steam power) also had to be put on hold in an effort to survive the peak production season. In order to meet the considerable demand for steel after the start of the arsenal, Ping An Iron and Steel Plant, which has been accumulating iron ore for a period of time, officially ignited and started trial production. As a result, 22 tons of iron were born on the same day, and the trial production was a great success.

In addition to the arsenals, two shipyards in the East Coast Republic, which are the contractors of naval vessels that are the largest purchasers of military goods, have also begun to expand urgently. First of all, the Zhenhai Shipyard, which has more than 700 regular workers, received a special loan of 6,000 yuan from the United Industrial Credit Bank, which added two new slipways in one go, and began to vigorously recruit shipbuilding apprentices throughout the country, and then began to train.

At the same time, a group of trainees in the shipyard vocational school also graduated early and began their careers as industrial workers. There is no way, talents cannot be cultivated overnight, and now there is a special shortage of people, so they can only go to work first, and then slowly learn on the job. Of course, the number of students in vocational schools should continue to expand, but now people with a certain amount of cultural knowledge are treasures on the east coast, and vocational schools in various factories are competing for them, and shipyard vocational schools are facing a lot of competitors.

The action of the Zhenhai Shipyard is so big. The Big Fish River Naval Shipyard is naturally not far behind. They are also full of energy with the backing of the East Coast company. Not only was a new slipway built. Their factory manager frequently went to various schools to fool those graduating junior high school students to come to work in their shipyard, and offered a high salary of five yuan per month plus performance salary, which attracted a considerable number of students who graduated at the end of the year to choose to sign contracts with them (East Coast school system: March to June each year for the first semester, September to December for the second semester).

Compulsory primary education, which has been vigorously implemented for seven or eight years, is about to bear its first fruits this year. At the end of December, more than 100 students from Dongfang Middle School, the country's first middle school, will graduate. Most of the first batch of junior high school graduates in these republics will go into society, with the exception of a few lucky ones who have been given the opportunity to study at the high school affiliated to the Academy of Natural Sciences because of their excellent academic performance.

Of course, there is no shortage of places to go on the East Coast, where talent is scarce. The government, the military, and businesses are now rushing to get them. In this graduation season, they are happy.

……

It's getting late. Lola hugged her school bag, glanced at the school with nostalgia, and then walked home without looking back. Today is December 20th, which is also the day of Lola's graduation, she is 17 years old this year, and she has been on the East Coast for more than 4 years. Because she had studied knowledge for a period of time when she was in her hometown, Lola skipped a grade directly after coming to the East Coast, starting in the fourth grade of elementary school. Now, a few years have passed, and she has also reached the time of graduating from junior high school.

Let's be honest. Lola excelled in her studies in junior high school and consistently ranked in the top 10 of her grade. It's just that her father Hugo died indirectly at the hands of the East Coast a few years ago (Mo Ming gave it to the Baron of Toulouse. Later, she was hanged), and when the high school affiliated to the Academy of Natural Sciences came to enroll students, she failed the political examination, so she regrettably lost the opportunity to continue her studies.

However, Lola is not discouraged, although she can't continue to study in the legendary high school, she is ready to enter the Big Fish River Naval Shipyard to learn shipbuilding knowledge. Her math and physics grades are quite good, the shipyard director fell in love with her at a glance after getting the teacher's recommendation, and now the treatment has basically been negotiated: the first year into the shipyard vocational school to learn ship design theory and related mechanical knowledge, the monthly salary is three yuan; At the end of the one-year study period, after passing the assessment, he became a technician, and his salary rose to six yuan and was accompanied by a performance salary. Lola was quite satisfied with the treatment, after all, it was more important than anything else to be able to continue to learn the physics knowledge she was interested in.

Her home is located in the southern city of Oriental Port, just minutes from the school, and Lola is quickly at the door.

The door was open, and a man in a black uniform stood in the doorway, and Lola couldn't help but stop when she saw him, and then looked at him with a complicated look. Behind him, Lola's aunt, Anne, was standing cowering, doing her job lightly.

"Hello, Lola." The man in black uniform spoke, "Congratulations on your graduation." What, aren't you happy? ”

"No, I'm glad, Mr. Shinzaemon." Lola walked sideways past Shinzaemon and into the house, holding her school bag. Lola has a mixed impression of Shinzaemon, who was a subordinate of Mo Ming, who had secretly stabbed a straw man a hundred times, and had personally participated in the action of hurting her father.

Not long after he arrived on the East Coast, this intelligence agent named Shinzaemon was also transferred back to China, and then every few months this man would quietly appear in front of him and ask about his life and study. Although the questions are all about trivial matters in life, Lola has a chilling feeling every time she talks to this man. She always felt that this guy was investigating, spying on herself, and understanding her own thoughts through this conversation, which made Lola very uncomfortable.

However, this person has also helped him solve many troubles. For example, there was a neighbor who was a pirate who always talked to him, and then found out that he was weak and could be bullied, and then he tried to do it further. Once Shinzaemon found out, he cleaned up the old pirate fiercely, and then the pirate never appeared in front of him again, and it is said that he was sent to the Falklands. Because of this incident, Lola's impression of this spy suddenly improved a lot, at least not as repulsive as before.

Shinzaemon, dressed in black uniform, stood in the shadows behind the door, not knowing what he was thinking, and had not spoken since Lola had said hello when she entered the door, and had been standing there quietly, as if looking out through the crack in the door.

Lola ignored him and ran to the kitchen to start helping her aunt wash the vegetables and cook. Her aunt, now her only relative, came to the East Coast from France more than three years ago and is now working at home to earn money to support the family.

Today's dinner was lemonfish and shell soup, plus a small plate of steak and the main dish was sorghum rice. In today's Port Orient, fish and beef are probably the two cheapest foods. Thanks to the Dutch, who were fishing all over the world, they would often bring some unused fish to the port of the East to sell at a very low price; Similar to the Dutch, the neighbors of the East Coasters, the La Plata, have too many cattle on hand, and exporting beef to the East Coast has become a stable business in recent years. Although the profit margin is not high, it is better to win in large volume and stable. After exporting these beefs to the East Coast, on the one hand, they have solved the problem of the backlog of beef on hand, and on the other hand, the people on the East Coast have also benefited, which can be described as a win-win situation.

Lola's family was not very wealthy, so they could only eat some fish, beef, and sorghum rice exported to the mainland by Hezhongbao on weekdays. As for the expensive vegetables and flour, she would only go out of town with her aunt to buy some from the farmers for tooth sacrifices.

In fact, Lola's life would not have been so difficult, and her father had left her a huge fortune of about 150 francs, which was still in the coffers of the General Directorate of National Intelligence, but it was stipulated that it would not be given to her until she became an adult next year. 150 francs is equivalent to about 750 yuan, which means that on her birthday next year, Lola will be a little rich woman who should not be underestimated in Oriental Port.

"Has anyone been looking for you lately?" Shinzaemon suddenly reappeared in the kitchen and asked Lola coldly.

Lola gave him a blank look, she was not afraid of this man, although he looked gloomy and fierce, but he had always taken good care of her.

"Nope." Lola said dryly, then after a pause, she said, "Except for Cousin Henry." ”

"Who is Cousin Henry?" Shinzaemon asked.

"It was a relative of mine when I was in La Rochelle, and I didn't see it a few times. It seems that when I was a teenager, I went to Paris, and then I rarely went home, and I met him four times in a row. Lola said cautiously.

"Why did he come to the East Coast?" Shinzaemon asked.

"I don't know." Lola shook her head and said, "According to him, he failed to run a business in Paris, and he owed a lot of money to others, and then he came to the New World to try his luck." When my cousin came, he was really down, his beard had not been shaved for a long time, and his clothes were in tatters, and he looked like he had suffered a lot. ”

"Did he do anything to you?" Shinzaemon felt that there was something wrong with this, so he asked in detail.

"He asked me to borrow a dollar." Speaking of which, Lola looked at her aunt carefully, this yuan was the pocket money she had saved for a long time, "and then asked me where I could find a job, the best ...... It is better to go to the arsenal or the textile factory, because he has heard that the wages of the workers there are the best. ”

"Did he say that?" Shinzaemon's eyes lit up and he asked.

"Hmm." Lola nodded earnestly, "That's what he said. I don't know how my cousin is doing now, whether he has found a job, I hope he has good luck......" (To be continued......