The early summer in Oriental Port is cool, the temperature outside is only fifteen or sixteen degrees, coupled with the fresh evening breeze, which makes people feel particularly relaxed.

In the cannon casting workshop of the arsenal on the bank of the Big Fish River, the fire in the smelting furnace is still burning, and nearly 20 graphite crucibles are lined up inside, which is for the molten steel that the cannon is smelting. As the oldest arsenal in China, the Dayuhe Arsenal, although it is far inferior to the Northern Arsenal located in Ping'an Town and relying on the Ping'an Iron and Steel Plant in terms of the scale of workers and the advanced degree of equipment, its monthly production capacity of 20 guns is still not to be underestimated.

Especially after the data of smelting various special steels that have been tested by changing the distribution ratio of each component in the graphite crucible, it is becoming more and more important in smelting special steel as the only plant that uses the flexible steelmaking method of graphite crucible as the main steelmaking method.

This time, the Spaniards bought hundreds of thousands of yuan in arms, and the whole country was involved, and a vigorous large-scale production campaign was launched. Building a warship is a systematic project, which requires not only the participation of shipyards, but also many other supporting manufacturers.

For example, the naval guns used on the ship, which require the cannon casting workshop to start casting; And the casting cannon needs steel, which involves the steelmaking department; It is not enough to have a cannon, but also to match the cannon with gunpowder and shells, which in turn requires the gunpowder factory to provide gunpowder and a comprehensive workshop to manufacture shells; Gunpowder kegs are required to fill gunpowder, which requires the participation of barrel-making workshops.

Canvas and cables were needed on warships, which in turn involved textile mills and rope mills, which were supplied with cotton and flax farmers; Anchor chains are also needed on warships. Therefore, the anchor chain factory can't run away. And the anchor chain factory needs molten iron to cast iron anchors.

Furthermore. The boiler shop of the No. 1 Machine Factory, which powered all of the above factories (which produced steam engines), and the Ping'an Coal Mine, which provided fuel, were also counted. If we add in the manufacturers who provide miscellaneous items such as glass, skin, tar, dyes, and other items on warships, there are more than 20 manufacturers and design and R&D departments involved in the planning of the construction of warships.

It can be seen from this that building warships actually has certain requirements for a country's industrial base, and it is not just a cat or a dog that can build a warship, but it tests a country's industrial comprehensiveness and system integration capabilities. Of course, if you can build a qualified warship, then congratulations, its promotion effect on the entire national industrial system is also quite obvious.

Some people may say. It took a lot of effort to build a warship, and it took so much money to make it, so it is better to vigorously research and develop how to burn porcelain. First of all, no matter how the traversal people know how to fire porcelain, even if they really study it, so what? What's the use of it other than making some extra money? First, it cannot drive the upstream and downstream industrial chain like shipbuilding, including many brother manufacturers, drive a large number of employment opportunities and improve the industrial technology level of the whole country; Second, it is not possible to cultivate the industrial atmosphere of the whole country, which is to some extent more important to the traversal than to make money.

Recently, in order to share the big cake of the next ten warship orders, domestic factories have begun to vigorously expand manpower and production scale. At this point, you know only a few hundred common words, simple arithmetic, and become proficient in using some tools. Then you can easily find a job in some factories that are not so strict. If you know some math and physics on top of that, congratulations. You can apply for a job in the arsenals, shipyards, machine factories, textile factories, etc., and from then on you can become the middle class of the East Coast Republic, which is no pressure.

It was in the recent recruitment tide that Henry entered the cannon casting workshop of the Big Fish River Arsenal. Except for his poor Chinese (he can basically speak simply), he is very good in other aspects. He knew some mathematics and some cannon casting, which he learned for a while when he was in France. Although it stands to reason that Henry will not be able to work in the arsenal until he has lived on the East Coast for three years, who let the arsenal experience a serious shortage of people for a while, so with the tacit approval of the higher authorities, Henry was recruited to the cannon casting workshop and was directly promoted to a third-level craftsman.

Today, Henry's job is to forge cannons with other craftsmen and apprentices. He was very serious in his work and studied very carefully, and he kept in mind what kind of steel was used to cast various types of artillery. Moreover, he is very helpful at work, and sometimes he volunteers to help when there is a shortage of people to make steel. It only took him a few days, and then he quickly mastered how to refine different specifications of steel from crucibles of different proportions. Seeing that he was so smart and studious, Wu Jun, the leader of the factory, had already thought about it for a while and would give him a higher level and salary.

Today Henry is on the night shift, and he won't be home until eight o'clock tomorrow morning. At this time, in the family area of the arsenal, several secret police officers of the Ministry of Internal Affairs wearing black tweed coats and wide-brimmed hats had quietly opened the door of Henry's residence and sneaked inside. At the entrance to the road leading to the family area, several construction workers disguised as secret police officers have set up barricades at the intersection and are pretending to be digging road sewer facilities. They are here to keep people from approaching, and to keep out the wind.

Inside the room, five or six secret policemen with candles had searched the small bachelor dormitory, but had not found anything of value. The furnishings in the room are also very simple, a bed, a desk, a chair, a box of goods, and the floor is poured with cement, and it seems that there is no place to hide anything.

The intelligence agent Shinzaemon walked around the room with a blank face, then turned to the secret police who were waiting for his order and said, "Maybe he didn't hide all the important things in the room, now close the team and eliminate all traces." When I get back, I'll ask someone to secretly follow this guy, and I won't believe that I can't find his tail. ”

The General Intelligence Bureau has always attached great importance to strictly guarding the secrets of domestic technology, and has not only dispatched a large number of professional investigators to take charge of this matter, but has also established a strict secrecy system and surveillance system, effectively stopping the leakage of technology. In addition, they have also communicated and coordinated with the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and at special moments, ordinary patrol police, secret police, special agents, and local militias of the Ministry of Internal Affairs can be called upon to better carry out their work.

Maybe these systems can't completely stop the leakage of the technique, but as long as the leakage of the technique can be delayed by one day, the East Coast can make an extra day, which is a very clear thing.

Shinzaemon's report also attracted the attention of higher authorities. In line with the principle of preferring to believe in what he has and what he does not believe in him, his immediate boss Liu Yun assigned several professional investigators of the intelligence bureau to his command, and at the same time gave him greater authority to mobilize the police of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

In the next few days, the new Zuo Guard goalkeeper arranged for his subordinates to keep an eye on Henry in batches, and he always felt that there was something wrong with this guy and decided not to stop until he found out. Anyway, his superiors didn't put any pressure on him, so he kept an eye on it until the guy showed his flaws. If he was really a spy sent by another country to steal the secrets of the technique, he would definitely try to find a way to pass on the valuable technical information he came into contact with, and maybe he still had some accomplices in the local area, so he would take this opportunity to catch them all.

The stalking operation continued until early January, during which time Henry lived in seclusion and rarely even went out. Anyway, as an intermediate craftsman in the arsenal, the food and lodging factory was all covered, and there were no entertainment facilities on the east coast, so he stayed in the dormitory all day to sort out the materials. If this seems to ordinary people, this person must think that this person is diligent and studious, but in the eyes of Shinzaemon, who has long suspected him, it is very suspicious, is this to sort out the confidential information he came into contact with during this time and prepare to pass it on?

The secret tracking has lasted for more than half a month, and although there is still no gain, everyone does not dare to relax in the slightest. Intelligence work is like this, boring, tasteless, and cookie-cutter, and as for those thrilling, murderous, and powerful so-called agents, they basically only exist in novels.

Things finally took a turn for the better on January 10. This day was Henry's first rest day in a month, he did not stay in the dormitory as usual, but first spent a lot of money to buy some fruits shipped from Brazil to visit Lola's house to visit relatives, two hours later he went out of Lola's house, took the letter of introduction issued by the unit (without the letter of introduction personnel can not move freely) boarded a small steamer (steam paddle steamer) to the Big Fish Lake area.

This small steamer is a fixed passenger and cargo flight between the county town and Cotton Farmer Fort, and the journey takes three and a half hours. The starting point is the Nancheng Wharf of Dongfang Port, and the middle stops at the Dingyuan Township Development Brigade, Harvest Brigade, Hope Brigade, and Dayuhu Fishery Wharf for ten to fifteen minutes, and the end point is the Cotton Farmer Fort Wharf on the north shore of Dayu Lake.

The scouts who were watching him immediately reported the situation, and Shinzaemon immediately made a decision, sending two scouts disguised as Henry to board the same small steamer, and at the same time, Kuaima sent a messenger to ask the agents of the Dingyuan Branch of the General Administration of National Intelligence to send someone to cooperate with the operation.

At the same time, the scout who had been sent to the arsenal to check the stub of the letter of introduction also returned, and he found that the destination on Henry's letter of introduction was the harvest brigade of Dingyuan Township. After receiving the exact information, Shinzaemon personally galloped along the north side of Highway 1 with four scouts and ten secret police officers towards the harvest brigade, making sure to get there before the small steamer arrived, and make all preparations. (To be continued......)