At the Oriental Port Wharf, an inventory work jointly organized by the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Materials is in full swing. Equivalent to about 160,000 yuan of various gold and silver coins, jewelry, the remaining more than 7,000 pieces of fur, 60 tons of cotton, more than 100 Brazilian mahogany, dyes and some textiles, the total value of more than 250,000 yuan. This was the result of this privateering operation, not counting the captured 350-ton battleship "Beagle" and the 320-ton battleship "Sea Writer", as well as more than 400 pirate prisoners.

Such a fruitful result even shocked the Executive Committee. A privateer operation actually got back half a year's expenditure of the budget! According to the sharing agreement reached between the Admiralty and the Executive Committee, the Admiralty will receive a huge amount of more than 75,000 yuan. Excluding the shortfall of more than 30,000 yuan in the construction of the battleship "10 August," the construction expenses of the new shipyard in Zhenhaibao, and the settling-in allowance for the craftsmen of the new shipyard, the Admiralty will suddenly have about 40,000 yuan in the funds for the revitalization. For this reason, Wang Qinian immediately took out from the drawer the application for the construction of the second "Common Market" of the "10 August" class battleships, which had been shot dead at the last meeting of the Executive Committee. After the application was submitted, it was unanimously approved at the executive committee meeting, and the preliminary preparations for the foundation work began immediately, and the construction of the Zhenhai Shipyard will start after the completion of the project.

60 tons of cotton were sold by the Executive Committee at a price of 150 yuan per ton to the machine textile factory under the East Coast Company, and the funds were returned to 9,000 yuan; More than 100 rosewood sticks were allocated directly to the Zhenhai Shipyard, which is under construction, which will serve as the first start-up capital for the battleship "Common Market".

Speaking of Zhenhai Shipyard, we have to talk about Zhenhai Fort, which has begun to take shape. The castle, which was largely used for military purposes, now has nearly 600 permanent residents, and due to its strategic location, the Executive Committee also attaches great importance to this place, and all kinds of supplies are given priority. By mid-May, the construction of the city wall of Zhenhai Fort had been completed for the most part, and the two forts on the top corner of Baser Island and the peninsula had been basically completed, and a total of 24 shore fire guns of various sizes had been installed, which was regarded as adding a safety lock and key to Duck Lake.

The trade situation has also been very stable in the past few months. Every month, the regular export of 200 woolen wool, 1,000 cotton cloth and some hardware products, building materials, refined coal and other materials to La Plata, plus Colonia's taxes and the gradual recovery of arms exports, the Ministry of Finance's monthly income can almost reach about 12,500 ~ 13,000 yuan, and the expenditure is basically controlled within 14,000 yuan, and the financial gap has gradually narrowed to a barely bearable level.

Since March, there has been an increase in the number of European ships coming to the port of Vostochny to trade, especially some old friends from the Baltic Sea region. Their arrival not only put the arms export of the Big Fish River Arsenal on the right track, but also brought hundreds of immigrants.

In April, the Executive Council approved a plan for the establishment of a pasture northwest of Dongfang Port and about 5 kilometers northeast of Dingyuanbao, and allocated 200 new immigrants to live there as shepherds and shearers. The ranch is mainly used for sheep grazing and provides high-quality wool raw materials for the rapidly growing textile industry in the Eastern Republic of China.

In addition to this project, the largest project in recent months is the Changshanbao iron ore project, which has been officially implemented for more than a month. This magnetite located at the junction of Florida, Durasno, Serolago (Spanish: Changshan) and 33 people city has been investigated and verified by the Ministry of Industry and Commerce, and is indeed a relatively rich vanadium-bearing titanomagnetite. The mining area is located in a large hilly area at the junction of four provinces, in the Negro River basin, just a few kilometres from its major tributary, the Yi River. The mined iron ore can be transported by boat down the river of Yi - the Great Olimar - Sevoati River, along the river for about 1890 kilometers and then directly into Lake Milin, then through Lake Milin into the San Gonzalo River, and then along the San Gonzalo River into the Duck Lake, and finally through the Duck Lake to the northern end of the Ping'an Fort Iron and Steel Works.

The whole section of the voyage is about 670 kilometers, and the navigation conditions are acceptable. Some sections of the river may need to be properly widened and dredged, and most of the remaining waterways have sufficient water depth and abundant water, so that the river can be navigable all year round, and flat-bottomed inland river vessels of several tens of tons can sail without any pressure. It only takes 14 to 16 days for a shipload of iron ore to be transported from Changshan Iron Mine to Ping'an Iron and Steel Plant, and the transportation conditions are quite good.

Therefore, the Ministry of Industry and Commerce of the Government Council finally decided in early May that the Changshan Iron Ore Project had entered the substantive implementation stage. The Changshan Iron Mine is located in a mountainous area, with a complex environment, far from the core ruling area of the Traders, so it needs to be developed by an experienced person. The Government Council was elected and elected, and finally recommended Shao Shude, the former head of the coal working group, to the executive committee. The reason is that Shao Shude has experience in presiding over the development of coal mines, and this time the development of iron ore is naturally cooked and not raw. At this time, the coal working group had been disbanded, and the Ping'an Coal Mine had been producing coal steadily for several months, and the results of Shao Shude's work were still obvious to all, so most of the members of the Executive Committee were still willing to continue to let Shao Shude preside over the development of the iron mine.

Shao Shude did not shirk. The development of this iron mine is definitely more difficult than that of coal mines, but this iron mine is of great significance, and it is the cornerstone of the future development of the people, and no matter how big the difficulties must be overcome. By May 20, the Executive Committee had allocated 600 new immigrants to him as the first batch of residents and miners of the Changshan Iron Mine in the plan, and at this time his personnel and materials had been almost selected.

On 21 May, when the Executive Committee and the Joint Staff Headquarters were holding a banquet to celebrate the successful return of the naval privateering formation, Shao Shude took a group of engineering construction personnel, prospecting personnel, management personnel, 72 officers and men of the cavalry battalion, 200 new immigrants, and 100 pirate prisoners, and took four 60-ton inland river shallow water transport ships, carrying a large amount of food, building materials, tools, and weapons, from the Chuyi River (1) into Milin Lake, and then along the Yi River to the Changshan Iron Ore Mining Area.

Lake Milin is located at the junction of Brazil and Uruguay in later generations, and is the boundary lake between the two countries, most of which belongs to Brazil and a small part to Uruguay. The lake is deep, with an average depth of 12 meters and a maximum depth of 30 meters, and is separated from the Atlantic Ocean by sandbanks and marshes, making it a typical brackish water lagoon. Milin Lake has beautiful scenery, rich fishery resources, and is fed by many freshwater rivers, which is a fertile land with abundant water and grass. In previous years, there were some tribes of the Charuya who lived here, but most of them disappeared under the continued capture of the Republic of East Bank's army, and they were either captured or fled into the mountains. This will also become a potential threat that the iron ore working group will face in the future.

After crossing Lake Mirin, the fleet sailed upriver and entered the Yi River, which connects the Changshan Iron Ore Area with Lake Milin (crossing the Yi River, the Great Orimar River, and the Sevoati River, which were unified and named the Yi River). The mouth of the Yi River is a paradise for birds and otters with its slow currents, criss-crossed rivers, and aquatic jungles dotted throughout the swamps and river islands. Some cute otters frolic freely in the water, not afraid of strangers. The European settlers watched with their eyes shining at the giant otters frolicking in the water or chasing schools of fish, already thinking about how to hunt these animals for their beautiful, priceless furs.

Four river transport ships were set sail and slowly paddled by pirate slave oarsmen, who measured the depth of the channel from time to time. The 72 cavalrymen of the cavalry battalion, one man and two horses, divided into two posts, galloped in the grass on one side of the river bank to protect the safety of the fleet.

After four days of advance, the flotilla finally ran aground in a river channel. The migrants, who had been on the boat for several days, went ashore and began to set up improvised camps under the command of the iron ore workers' team managers. The soldiers of the cavalry battalion also took down bundles of thick wire from the boat under Xu Yu's order, which were made by the comprehensive workshop of the Dayuhe Arsenal with several manual wire drawing machines, and were not too suitable for use in the field camp.

200 new immigrants and 100 slaves began to drive piles into the ground and set up tarpaulin tents. And on the periphery of these tents, the brethren of the cavalry battalion pulled up a ring of barbed wire. The barbed wire was fastened with wooden stakes, and the soldiers also took the trouble to hang many barbs and bells on the wire to act as a guard. There is only one entry and exit to the barbed wire fence, and that is the exit to the boat moorings on the banks of the river, from where the settlers and slaves would set off to desilt the river.

When everything was ready, 200 men and 100 slaves from the emigrants went to the river under the direction of the administrators to dig and dredge the sand while the women prepared dinner in the camp. They took out a lot of fuel from the boat, mixed with coal gangue and peat, and then set up a cauldron and began to boil water for cooking. The food is standard: cured meats, salted fish, soy products and some easy to store vegetables, plus a small spoonful of sugar and a little wine per person.

The simple field work meal, which was both delicious and nutritious, brought tears to the eyes of European immigrants who were accustomed to eating black bread and pirate slaves who nibbled on maggot biscuits all year round.

With the expectation of a better life, these people naturally work hard. On June 2, after a few days of hard work by 300 strong laborers, the silted river was finally fully dredged, and the water depth was restored to about 2.5-3 meters.

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