"There is a slight crack in the axle, and it is estimated that it will break after another trip, so it is recommended to replace it in time." Menendez, a senior engineer at the Southern Vehicle Factory, who arrived with the car in Rocha Port, carefully inspected the car body, and then said: "The cylinder on the right side is not working very well, maybe there is a problem with the graphite ring used to seal it inside, it is better to take it apart and check it carefully." The rolling bearing is really good, it is much stronger than the old sliding bearing, but maybe we really need to improve the machining accuracy of the grinding machine, you see this bearing, the ball is still grinding problematic. Forget it, this is an old problem, and it won't be solved in a while. Overall, the test run of our steam locomotive was quite perfect, wasn't it? ”

"Of course." The surrounding group of technical personnel and drivers of the Zinan Depot all showed satisfied smiles on their faces. Yes, this is an epoch-making transportation weapon that they have struggled for many years and overcome countless technical problems before they have successfully developed, although there are many problems, but it will be perfected one day. What an exciting picture to think of a steam locomotive produced by the Southern Depot running through the main railway artery that runs through the East Coast.

Xiling District Commissioner Shao Shude also sat in the waiting room of the renovated Luoqia Railway Station with his family, and his secretary graciously brought handmade whale oil cream, perfectly grilled veal steaks, fresh deep-sea cod from La Plata and spiced whale jerky brought back from Baleen Whale Harbor.

After stopping the secretary's suggestion to open him a bottle of brandy imported from France, Shao Shude took a bottle of Daqu in the river and said with a smile: "Support domestic products." It starts with me. ”

Navy Captain Li Yi, who had already set up his home in Luoqia Harbor, smiled lightly when he heard this. Then I also opened a bottle of Xiangshan dry red for myself. He picked up another piece of spiced whale jerky and threw it into his mouth, chewed it and said, "It seems to taste good, it should be because the seasoning is used well." It's been a while since whale meat was put on the market, and the market response is still very enthusiastic. At least in the Rocha market, the small amount of whale meat is almost sold out, leaving the trading companies and distribution vendors who pay a lot of money to import La Plata beef to cry. ”

It is said that since the beef crisis appeared more than a year ago and prices have skyrocketed across the board, the Government Council has stepped up its support for beef cattle farmers in the northern pasture ridge area, and the loan officers of the Northwest Reclamation Bank have traveled from village to village. Together with the agricultural technicians at the agricultural technology station, we solve practical problems for farmers. Among them, the loan officers stationed in the village solve the financial difficulties of the farmers, the agricultural technicians solve the various diseases of the livestock for the farmers, and promote the artificial insemination technique (a sleeve made from the intestines of whales, massaging the prostate of the bull, you know), all of which effectively ensure the reproduction rate and survival rate of young animals.

On the other hand, the Council decided to put a large amount of whale meat on the market, and at the same time ordered the South African Colony to increase the number of beef cattle sent to the central government by 20% each year, and to figure out how to solve the problem. When the Government Council decided to release a large amount of whale meat into the domestic market, it was strongly resisted by liberals led by Bai Siwen. Fortunately, the main leaders of the Executive Committee and the Government Council are still very sober-minded in this matter, and they have resolutely implemented this measure to benefit the people despite the interference of vested interest groups.

Although the people do not have the habit of eating whale meat. But I can't stand the cheapness of this meat, so many people still buy it back and eat it one after another. And as the Southern Ocean froze in the middle of last year in the Southern Hemisphere, a large number of whales swam north in search of warmer waters, which made the whaling fleet led by Zhang Yun (2 whaling ships and 1 transport converted supply ship) a big fortune. More than 10 whales were caught and processed during the five-month golden whaling season, all of which were large and fatty.

The state has obtained a large amount of whale oil, whale skin, whale intestines, cod liver oil, whale meat and other valuable materials from whaling, and in addition to industrial use, whale oil from the east coast people will also be used to make cream, high-grade soap and other luxury goods sold in the country and neighboring La Plata and Brazil, and have made considerable profits. In addition to whale oil, puffy skirts and corsets made of whale baleen were all the rage in the domestic market, and countless female crossers, officers' wives and other owners who were not bad for money almost snapped them up.

The South China Sea Fishery Company, which has officially moved its headquarters and processing workshop to Luoqia Port, has made a lot of money just by relying on whaling and has paid a lot of dividends to the state treasury. At present, Zhang Yun, the captain of the former Hunter No. 1 whaling ship, has no longer undertaken the task of going to sea to hunt whales, and has instead served as the executive deputy general manager of the South China Sea Fishery Company (the general manager is an elderly traverser). This stinky guy once led Hunter 1 into the Weddell Sea, where icebergs floated, last year to hunt whales, and named this undiscovered sea area Zhang Yunhai. This gentleman has now taken off his captain's uniform, put on a white shirt, and officially sat in the bright office, which is responsible for the processing and sales of the company's products, and at the same time orders new whaling ships from the modern special shipyard to expand the size of the whaling fleet as soon as possible.

"The day before yesterday, a transport ship came back from the Falklands Baleen Whale Harbor and brought back more than 100 tons of spiced whale jerky and pickled whale meat. The whale meat will be loaded overnight this evening, and then transported by train to seven or eight densely populated towns along the train line, and then distributed and sold. Shao Shude also took a piece of whale meat and said while eating: "In the past, whale meat or other imported goods were directly transported to the port, and then distributed to inland areas by land or water. Due to the lack of capacity, many goods have to wait for a long time in the terminal warehouse, and the storage cost is already very expensive. Then add to that the cheaper cost of land or water transport, and the price of these goods can often increase by more than 50 per cent on the original basis. Now it is much more convenient to have trains, let's take a large number of whale meat arriving in Hong Kong as an example, the existing train can pull sixty or seventy tons of meat at an average speed of more than 30 kilometers per hour, and then distribute it to various settlements along the railway line. All that is consumed is some coal, well, maybe some wear and tear of mechanical parts and salaries of personnel, but it is certainly much more convenient than the laborious transportation you have in a horse-drawn cart. ”

In fact, the advantages of trains mentioned by Shao Shude may not be particularly obvious in coastal areas with convenient transportation. But when it comes to transporting goods to settlements in the interior, the advantages of trains can be greatly revealed. Because any railway station is built directly on the edge of a densely populated town, it is very convenient to transport a large number of goods directly to the final consumer, and the cost is low, the transportation is convenient, and the advantages are great.

"The Ministry of Communications has set up a number of tax collection checkpoints on artificially excavated and dredged canal sections such as the Yihe River, the Lianghu Canal, the Coal River, and the Dayu River, collecting toll taxes on incoming ships to raise funds for widening the dredging channels and building water lifting stations and sluices." After listening to Shao Shude, Li Yi also talked about a gossip he heard: "I heard that a group of guys from the Canal Department of the Ministry of Communications have a deep grudge against the State Railway Administration, because the canals under their jurisdiction have finally appeared competitors, so much so that they are all meeting to argue whether there is a need to lower the canal toll tax." After all, no one has ever heard of the railroad being able to set up checkpoints to collect taxes, ha, the railway is really a big killer, the bureaucrats at the canal are going to face the competition, and the good old days of sitting on the ground and counting money will be gone forever. ”

At present, the Canal Department of the Ministry of Communications has set up a tax card on the Coal River, a tax card on the Yakuyi River, two tax cards (one-way toll) on the Lianghu Canal, two tax cards on the Dayu River, two tax cards on the Yi River, and a tax card on the Merlin River. Although most of the taxes collected are on the inland waterway steamboats of the state-run inland waterway transport companies, these taxes are passed on to the goods they transport and ultimately paid for by the consumers.

In addition to widening and dredging existing canals, the collected taxes were used to build new lifting stations, sluices and pay the wages of workers who maintained them. Although there is not much money left every year, it is more or less an income, and now that it is being engaged in by the railway, it is inevitable to reduce the canal toll tax in the long run, which is not good news for the people in the Canal Department of the Ministry of Communications, after all, the money flowing into their own department is much less, isn't it?

Of course, they don't have to worry too much in the short term. Because according to the existing national plan, railway lines, highway lines and canal lines are all staggered, that is, where there are canals, railways will not be built for the time being, and new canals or railways will not be excavated or built where there are roads. Railways will only be prioritized where they are most urgently needed, such as the Northwest Rail Plan, which is fully supported by the Executive Committee and the Government Council at this stage. It is only after the saturation of railways in these places that the Executive Committee will consider the construction of railways along canals, such as the Yi River, in order to expand the transport capacity of this transport artery. As a result, the canal will have a good time in the short term, but in the long term it will inevitably face the threat of declining profit margins as the railways enter the competition.

On January 1, 1646, when the first train in the history of the East Coast was overhauled, the workers of the Locha Railway Station Mechanic Class replaced the train with many unusable parts and then refilled it with coal. That night, dock workers (the train station was built next to the dock) loaded more than 60 tons of whale meat onto the train overnight, and the shipment was completed early the next morning.

At seven o'clock in the morning of January 2, with a crisp whistle, seven carriages full of passengers and freight (in the passenger carriage were a group of trainees of the seafarers' training college who went to Zhenhai Port for internship) slowly accelerated under the pull of the steam locomotive and drove out of the Luoqia Railway Station. The train will stop at Bingtuan Station, Rongjun Farm Station, Dingyuan Station, Cotton Farm Station, and Zhenyuan Station on the way, and unload a large amount of whale meat. The final stop is Merlin Station, and the train is expected to arrive at Port Merlin Railway Station the next morning for maintenance, as the 150-kilometer-long Rome Line railway has to stop and unload at every station along the way. (To be continued......)