June 20, 1641, fine. Oriental Port, 2nd floor of the Executive Committee Administration Building, in the office of the Ministry of Communications.

"What? You want marine lumber from me? Aren't you embarrassed for me, who am I looking for? Now that the wood is so tight, and I can't play tricks, how can I bring you extra wood? Xiao Bailang rubbed his forehead and said with a bitter look to Ding Canlin, the boss of the South China Sea Transportation Company who was sitting opposite him.

"Minister Xiao, the ministry is too partial this time." Ding Canlin said a little depressedly, "There is nothing left of the 2,000 cubic meters of marine timber originally scheduled for us, and all of them have been misappropriated to the wood processing plant in the north to process sleepers." I just want to ask, when will we be able to build a merchant ship? The co-author of the newly established General Administration of Railways is his own son, and our Nanhai Transportation Company is raised by his stepmother. ”

The General Administration of Railways that Ding Canlin said was a vice-ministerial-level unit that had just been established, and it was also under the leadership of Xiao Bailang, a member of the transportation commission. The bureau coordinates and manages domestic railway transportation, maintenance and maintenance, the production and repair of rail carriages, the daily operation of the Southern Rolling Stock Plant (which has been officially transferred from the Ministry of Communications to the General Administration of Railways), and the research and development of new railway locomotives (steam locomotives). In the eyes of many people who are familiar with the development potential of the railway, it is a great piece of fat, so many soy sauce crossers who are in the ministries and commissions and depressed have begun to show their magic and go their own way, and they almost broke their heads for those few limited positions, and the scene was extremely tragic for a while.

"What are you talking about?" Xiao Bailang slapped the table dissatisfiedly, raised his voice and said, "Isn't the Dayuhe Naval Shipyard already building a flute-type transport ship with a standard displacement of 650 tons for you, what do you still want?" ”

"My Minister. You also said that you only built one. Ding Canlin pulled off the top hat he was wearing on his head. Said anxiously: "The Admiralty has a lot of money. I placed an order for a fast cruiser and a frigate gunboat in one go, and I heard that the Executive Committee was still lobbying the leaders to approve the appropriation for the construction of another battleship to complete that bullshit '44' fleet plan. Damn, I don't expect to compare with the militarist madmen in the navy, but I can't be left behind so much. At the moment I only have seven flute carriers on hand, with a total tonnage of just over 4,500 tons, and if you look at the scale of our economy today, this is completely disproportionate. At least add me two more of these pot-bellied flute-shaped transports. Make my fleet size ten. Otherwise, as it is now, the tonnage of transportation is always tight, and a large number of transport ships from France, Spain, Portugal and even the Netherlands have to be hired to help run the transportation, and the annual rent is not economical at all. ”

The plan for the Admiralty's '44' fleet mentioned by Ding just now was recently put forward by Wang Qinian, that is, four "10 August" class battleships, four "Yangwu" class prototypes and their improved fast cruisers (i.e., the "Chaoyong"-class quasi-clippers enlarged in length-to-width ratio and changed the crosssail into a longitudinal sail) fast cruiser as the main warships, supplemented by a large number of "Mashima"-class frigate gunboats, as the main body of the country's maritime strength.

The naval fleet on the east coast, configured according to this standard, has no rivals at least in this part of the South Atlantic. Of course, a fleet of this size also puts extremely heavy financial pressure on the country. After all, the navy has hundreds of artillery pieces there, and it will cost about 300 yuan to fire a training shell. In addition, the daily maintenance, repair, personnel salaries and other expenses of the ship. The annual cost is enormous. This is still peacetime, and if it is wartime, the cost will have to roll up, and it will be a bottomless pit. It can also be seen from this that the navy is really an aristocratic military branch and a gold-swallowing monster, and if the country's finances are not rich enough or the industrial production capacity is not strong enough, it is better not to play the big navy, and I really can't afford to play.

"I also know that it's not cost-effective to rent someone's boat all the time, but it's not an emergency." Xiao Bailang sat up slightly straighter and said, "I know that the rent is expensive, it's not cost-effective, and it's not safe, but this road has to be walked step by step." I won't say anything else, the more than 600 pirates recruited by the United Front Work Department near the Caribbean Sea in the first half of the year can be assigned to you? I don't think you should be delusional, these are all prepared by the navy for their warships that are about to be launched, and there is nothing to do with your South China Sea transportation company. I see you, it's better to fight more of those Malay slaves, it's more realistic. ”

As soon as Xiao Bailang's words came out, he hit Ding Canlin's sore spot. Yes, those hundreds of pirates are all old sailors, who doesn't look at them? Today, he Ding Canlin came to the Ministry of Communications to do some good, and on the other hand, he also wanted to see if he could get some recruited pirates to be sailors on his merchant ship, but now it seems that it is obviously impossible. Xiao Bailang is the leader of the central government, and he is more familiar with the inside story of many things than him, if he says so, it will definitely be no fun, those pirate sailors are kept by the Admiralty for himself, and no one else wants to get involved.

In other words, the people on the east coast have a lot of brains to solve the problem of the shortage of sailors. The United Front Work Department, which was established last year, has only been working to recruit enough sailors for the warships and merchant ships of the Eastern Coast Republic, so whether it is Caribbean pirates, wandering down-and-out sailors, or Malay slaves sent from the New China region, they are all the targets of their "united front."

From the beginning of last year to the present, the United Front Work Department has "united front" about 1,000 European pirates, and has also set up workshops to train 200 Malay (Bezimisaraka) slave sailors selected from the Fort of River area and sent to them -- all for the inland waterway transport company and the South China Sea transport company. But it is clear that they have not done enough, at least the number of sailors of the South China Sea Transport Company does not seem to be very sufficient at the moment.

"Damn, that's unpleasant." Ding Canlin was still scolding in disappointment, "It used to be people waiting for ships, but now it's damn boats and waiting for people, it's evil!" Forget it, I'm just here to complain today, I'll go back first if there's nothing to do. There's a bunch of things on the docks waiting for me to deal with. There was a shipment of weapons to Bristol that was about to be loaded onto ships, and a civil war was about to break out on the British side, and the representative of the old royal party Abraham had to go to the docks almost every day to urge me, and I was annoyed. Alas, I'll go first, Minister Xiao. ”

"Hurry up." Xiao Bailang scolded, and then said, "All your will be handed over to your secretary." The British guys' boatload of weapons was quickly distributed, and it is our country's consistent policy to support the royal party, so don't delay. Okay, now go pack your things, give some tasks, and then go on a business trip with me. Go to the north, Fort Kawague! There's good stuff for you! ”

Ding Canlin was stunned for a moment, then walked out of the door and explained to his secretary about the work of the next few days. After explaining, he and Xiao Bailang walked out of the executive committee administrative building one after another. Soon, the two of them, surrounded by several police officers of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, left the port of Vostochny in a small passenger carriage and headed west.

The four-wheeled carriage walked lightly on Route 1, the asphalt pavement was unusually smooth, and the shock-absorbing springs installed at the bottom of the carriage made it almost impossible to feel any bumps in the carriage. Well, it would be better if the wheels were replaced with rubber tires, but unfortunately no one in the chemical department knows how to make rubber vulcanized, and it is still repeatedly tested and explored, and it seems that it is impossible to count on it in a short time.

It took more than an hour for the carriage to arrive at Dingyuan Township. After Xiao Bailang declined the lunch invitation of the township chief Lin Youde, he and Ding Canlin and others borrowed a few riding horses from the township government and went along the big fish lake towards the cotton farmers in the north. After arriving at the cotton farmer township, he did not stop, hurriedly ate a few meatloaf as lunch, and then went north again, arriving at Zhenyuan Township in the afternoon.

Zhenyuan Township is one of the most remote townships in the capital region. When the local Ouyang Township Chief learned that Xiao Bailang and the others were going to continue north, he didn't say a word, and ordered Officer Ronald, the head of the township police station, to bring several police officers from the police station to accompany him for protection. In this way, the team of more than 10 people swelled all the way north along the railway line under construction, camped for one night in the field activity wooden house of the Fourth Bureau of Communications and Construction, and then spent most of the day the next day to arrive at Meilin Port on the south bank of Milin Lake.

Port Merlin, a port town with a population of less than 1,000 people, is now showing its vibrancy as a new city. Local residents, organized by cadres sent by the Dayuhe Youth Cadre School, are working hard to build a railway station and a freight terminal. At the same time, a group of peasants who had been requisitioned from the north during the slack period also built residential houses, sewers, drinking water purification facilities, public toilets, warehouses and other living facilities in the city under the command of the foreman of the construction team. It is precisely because of the hard work of these people that the East Coast has created one miracle after another "East Coast Speed" compared to European countries in this era.

There was a Southern Vehicle Factory in Port Merlin under Xiao Bailang's supervision, but he didn't have the heart to visit it. On June 23, Xiao Bailang and his entourage boarded a 72-ton inland river steamer that returned from Meilin Port to transport steel rails and headed north. After passing through the beautiful Lake Mirin, the steamer entered the canal connecting Lake Milin and Duck Lake with a gentle current, and finally disembarked at the pier of Fort Hekou (near the later Pelotas) near the exit of Duck Lake on the northern section of the canal. Here, the modern special shipyard, also under his supervision, is quietly located on the banks of the canal. (To be continued......)