On March 1, 1649, as the majority shareholder of the Southern Railway Company, another investment in kind from the Government Council was put in place. Unlike the past, it is a large fishing vessel with a standard displacement of more than 400 tons (full displacement of more than 580 tons) - a comprehensive fishing vessel that integrates fishing, processing, and refrigeration.

As you may see, the function of this fishing vessel named "Nantie Yu-001" is more diversified, and it has an additional refrigeration function than the 300-ton fishing product processing ship of the South China Sea Fishery Company. And it seems that the volume of its cold storage is quite large, so that the full load displacement of the ship is much higher than the standard displacement.

That's right, "Nantie Yu-001" is a comprehensive fishing vessel equipped with the latest industrial and technological achievements of the Republic of China on the east coast of China - ethyl/ether freezer, which greatly increases the radius of activity of this fishing boat, and greatly increases the operating time at sea (no need to load a large amount of coarse salt to sea), which has self-evident economic benefits.

This comprehensive fishing vessel is built by a modern special shipyard, and a total of two are currently being built, namely "Nantieyu-001" and "Nantieyu-002" (this boat is still undergoing final outfitting in the dock of Hekou Township, Zhenhai County). As part of the government's in-kind investment in the Southern Railway Company (cash investment of 200,000 yuan), they will be delivered in March, and they will join the Civil Affairs Section under the Ministry of Civil Affairs of the Southern Railway Company to start their marine fishing careers.

In accordance with the articles of association of the Southern Railway, the government granted the fishing rights (southern Chile) obtained from the Kingdom of Spain to the Southern Railway. Moreover, for the first 15 years, the fishing rights in the southern waters of Chile were exclusively held by the Southern Railway Company, and the South China Sea Fisheries Company had to enter the area. A certain fee must be paid to the Southern Rail Corporation to apply for a fishing license. Otherwise, even if they are the largest distant-water fishing group in China. It is also not possible to enter southern Chile to fish at will. Conversely, during this period, the Southern Railway Company is not allowed to engage in fishing activities in the waters south of Puerto Blanca, and they are not allowed to enter the area unless they negotiate with the South China Sea Fisheries Company and successfully apply for a license.

It can be seen from this that the executive committee has divided the territory of the two companies respectively, which can be said to be clear and clear, and each does not suffer losses. The waters from Puerto Blanca south to the vicinity of Harbour Baleen Whale are mature fishing grounds that have been explored by the people of the east coast for many years, and where to catch a large number of hake in several months of the year, where to catch a lot of squid, and where to catch a lot of squid in Baleen Whale Harbor. All have detailed records, and the success rate of fishing is quite high. In addition, the vicinity of the Falklands Baleen Whale Harbor is also a famous whaling resort, and from May to September every year, a large number of whales swim out of the Zhang Yunhai (Weddell Sea) that begins to freeze, and enter the relatively warm waters near the Baleen Whale Harbor to start hunting. Chilean waters are clearly lacking in abundant whale resources, which is a major shortcoming.

However, the southern waters of Chile also have their own advantages, that is, they are backed by the Peruvian fishing grounds, one of the world's three largest fishing grounds, and the total amount of fishery resources is extremely rich, and Chile and Peru in later generations are major fishing countries. Every year, it is very profitable. At this time of the 17th century, although there was no El Niño phenomenon that caused the entire Peruvian fishing grounds to shift southward. However, the number of horse mackerel that migrate to the cold-water area each year is still extremely abundant. If the ships and manpower are complete, the Southern Railway Company can make a lot of money from this business alone, which can be called a large gold mine. Of course, the profits earned by the Southern Railway Company from the fishing industry will continue to be invested in the development of the two-ocean railway and coastal ports, cultivated land, and settlements, otherwise do you think that the executive committee will be so easy to talk and exclude the South China Sea Fishery Company, a domestic trust enterprise on the east coast, and stuff such a large piece of fat into the Southern Railway Company, a large Kang Tse enterprise called a railway company that is actually complicated in business? To put it bluntly, this is just one of the government's compensation for the difficult and costly development of Southern Patagonia, and it is also a little confidence for Southern Railway's investors to encourage more money to pour into Southern Patagonia.

After the "Nantieyu-001" arrived in place, Mo Ming did not delay, and immediately took the ship to the south to bypass Cape Horn and enter the Pacific Ocean. Speaking of which, it has to be mentioned that according to the latest navigation safety regulations, the sailing vessels of the Republic of China on the east coast of China must sail from the waters of Cape Horn when entering the Pacific Ocean from the Atlantic Ocean; Only when entering the Atlantic Ocean from the Pacific Ocean can the Guò Strait of Magellan be opened to avoid danger as much as possible.

Steam-powered ships can cross the Strait of Magellan from the Atlantic Ocean into the Pacific Ocean in summer and autumn, but must also detour through Cape Horn in winter and spring, and it is strictly forbidden to cross the Strait of Magellan to improve the safety of navigation. When entering the Atlantic Ocean from the Pacific Ocean, steam engine sailing ships can pass through the Strait of Magellan all year round, but the Maritime Safety Bureau of the Ministry of Transportation still advises captains to avoid the Strait of Magellan as much as possible in winter and spring, and go around Cape Horn, because it is safer.

On March 15, the Southern Iron Fishery-001 crossed the rough Drake Strait and arrived at the relatively calm port of Araucan, another important port under the Southern Railway Company. The port is now divided into two parts, one is the territory of the Araucans, the independent Free City of Araucan; The other part is the land purchased from them by the people on the east coast, which is about a few square kilometers in size, and is mainly concentrated in the narrow strip of land near the coast, on which the docks of the Southern Railway Company were built.

Before the establishment of the Southern Railway Company, there was already a simple port built by the government, but now the Executive Committee has placed it as part of the physical investment in its entirety, so that the port is now theoretically the property of the Southern Railway Company - at least for 50 years (the Southern Railway Company has the right to operate the ports of Xingnan and Araukan for 50 years, provided that it independently undertakes the subsequent construction of these two ports).

The construction of the port of Araukan is not much cheaper than the port of Hungnan, and even more expensive, because most of the building materials cannot be produced locally, so they can only be transported from the mainland, which undoubtedly increases the cost a lot. Therefore, in the budget drawn up by the Ministry of Engineering, the investment costs of Xingnan Port and Araukan Port, which were started in 49 years, were 200,000 yuan and 300,000 yuan respectively, and the latter's expenses were 50% higher than the former, which is very telling.

In addition to the wharf, a large railway station will be built on the seashore of the port of Araucan as the terminus of the Transoceanic Railway. To tell the truth, in the original plan of the technical department of the Southern Railway Company, there was no railway station in the port of Araucan, and they originally only planned to build the railway near the Rio Turvio coal mine. The reason for this is none other than that the area east of the port of Araucan (including the coal mines) is actually a plateau, and its terrain is generally higher than that of the port of Araucan, which is close to the sea, and it is somewhat troublesome to build a railway.

However, after carefully reviewing the logs and hand-drawn maps of Menghu and others' expeditions in Southern Patagonia, Mo Ming, the newly appointed official, immediately decided to send a survey team to re-explore the route, and finally determined a route with a gentle slope a few days ago. From this route, the railway could have been built from the eastern terrace to the port of Araucan by the sea.

Of course, if the railway is built all the way to the sea, the cost in the middle is also extremely high. Because it is necessary to fill in a lot of foundations with uneven slopes, the earthwork workload is really not small; In addition, whether the power of the existing "Barbarian-6" steam locomotive on the east bank is enough to support the train full of goods to climb up this platform, it is really unknown, if it really can't work, it can only learn from Zhan Tianyou, when the time comes, build a fork road, use two locomotives (one to push and one to pull) together, almost can also get the train up.

In addition, a branch line to the north had to be built from the edge of the plateau, that is, to the later Rio Turvio coal mine, in order to exploit the rich coal resources here. After all, the quality of the coal in this large open-pit coal mine is not bad, and it is also an important property that the executive committee has granted to the Southern Railway Company for 30 years, and it will definitely be developed on a large scale in the future. At that time, it may be possible for the Southern Railway Company to compete with the high-quality refined coal from the Tacheng Coal Mine on Xinhuaxia Island with lower mining and logistics costs, and make the mine an important profit growth point for the company, so as to continue to subsidize the company's huge investment in the construction of railways, roads, ports and new settlements.

Mo Ming spent seven or eight days in the port of Araukan, inspecting the local port construction projects. In the technical department of the Southern Railway Company, there are a group of graduates who have just been assigned this year to major in the Bingtuan Fort, as well as a few second-year graduates from the local Oriental High School, who will work as engineers and technicians to guide the construction workers (most of whom are recruited nearby, mainly Araukan) to level the foundation, build houses, dredge waterways, and erect trestle bridges. In April, a local ship will be sent to the port of Araucan to transport a fleet of engineers and a large amount of machinery and construction materials to start construction in full swing.

It may be nearly two years before the South Pacific route opens, and if the port of Araucan is not ready to take on the arrival of a large number of migrants, it will be a big deal. Railways can be built slowly, but port city construction cannot, especially the houses for the newcomers and the food for their stay, which are almost ready now.

After inspecting here, Mo Ming, accompanied by his entourage, boarded the fishing boat "Nantieyu-001" that had just returned from the open sea, and then sailed out of the bay, entered the Pacific Ocean and headed north, where he also had to inspect many situations in the nearby Spanish-ruled areas. In his plan, it is best to include these areas in the economic circle of the Southern Railway Company in the future, so as to obtain excess profits to support the company's continuous construction of the railway. (To be continued......)