It suddenly rained outside the car, slightly soothing the sweltering heat.

Orderly pull up the canopy of the carriage.

The canvas canopy is coated with a layer of rubber juice, which is a traditional Indian craft, and the rain protection effect is okay.

The Army Verification Battalion, which is a half-shelf unit, is mainly used for the verification of various new weapons, new equipment, and new tactics. The battalion was a small number of ponchos made of glue applied to the cloth, which the soldiers praised very much.

Rubber is a promising cash crop, but there are not many rubber plantations in the federal territory at present. This is because the rubber nowadays is raw rubber, which is squeamish by nature, and when it is heated, it becomes large and soft like wet dough. When the weather is cold, it becomes glass-like, hard and brittle, and its use is very limited.

Skipping hundreds of years of experiments, the institute searched for a process to heat sulfur and rubber to obtain the ideal material. The principle is not difficult, and the cooked rubber can be obtained by heating the sulfur and hot rubber juice in a pot. The key is to obtain the appropriate raw material ratio, heating heat and time and other specific processes through experiments. Cooked rubber products for different purposes require different processes, which must be documented through experiments.

The most urgent need for rubber in the order was not for industry, but for the military.

The army's consumption of shoes is too great. Daily training, marching battles, and consuming military shoe reserves at every moment. The temperature in the Nanyang region is high, and straw sandals can be worn most of the year, and despite the heavy training, the army can hold on for the time being.

The army will not always fight in warm regions in the future, and straw sandals will not be available in many places in autumn and winter. If all the boots were equipped, the cost would be unimaginable. Thick-soled cloth shoes are also costly, and both leather and cloth shoes can hardly withstand the wear and tear caused by heavy training and long marches.

If you find the right vulcanized rubber, you can produce military shoes with rubber soles and cloth surfaces. Of course, only natural sulfur and natural rubber can be used as raw materials, and the cost is certainly higher than that of Jiefang shoes, but it is the best solution under the existing conditions.

The carriage came to the city gate in orderly contemplation. The neighborhood is somewhat crowded, and the capital has a larger population than usual due to the convening of the Federal Assembly.

Looking out, the new city wall project is under construction, and the area of the capital is still expanding.

The expansion of the city walls was contracted by the father-in-law of a certain senator, with a total budget of 30,000 pesos. The walls are just over 3 meters high, thick, sloping on the outside, and focused on artillery defense. It is estimated that the contractor will not make much money from this project, and it depends on his cost control.

In civil engineering, labor costs account for the lion's share. Thanks to years of continuous immigration, the federal shortage of human resources has eased.

But in the tropics, the death rate of immigrants is still high, and all the patriarchs, plantation owners, and mine owners in the country are looking forward to more immigrants.

Orderly leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes.

The war in China has profoundly changed the economic structure of Asia, and the cost of manufacturing in China has risen sharply.

The Spaniards in the Philippines originally had two pillars of economy. Abandoning Tidore meant that they lost their last spice source. The soaring price of raw silk has caused trade between China and the Philippines to shrink. The income from the Spanish trade was slowly dying. After negotiating peace with the Dutch, they may be able to try the trade of Hong Kong's feet in the South China Sea, but this cannot be expected, and the Philippines will have to rely on digging in the soil after all.

The Dutch were sitting on sea power, and they were rapidly adapting their trade networks. The Dutch chose Bengal raw silk instead of Chinese raw silk, and merchant ships set sail from Bangladesh to ship raw silk to Japan, and the cost was still 30% lower than that of Chinese raw silk.

At present, only the Federation and Zheng Cai can get some low-cost raw silk from the mainland, and the amount is not the same as in previous years. Bangladeshi raw silk and Southeast Asian raw silk are driving Chinese goods out of the market.

It is clear that Chinese raw silk is still the best quality commodity in Asia. Many people in the federation smell business opportunities from this, and domestic raw silk production is steadily increasing.

Mulberry orchards are being promoted and silk reeling factories are being built locally. Even at the Great Council, there were already many members of the lower council who told the Order that they needed more mulnons, more women reelers, and more silk machines.

Sugarcane plantation owners are also in demand, and they are close to crying out that they need more territory. Borneo has poor soils, and only the mainland and Houjiang are suitable for the development of sugarcane plantations.

The mainland Andaman Sea coast is still underdeveloped. On this ground, Orderly suppressed the advice of some that it was not the right time to expand on the home peninsula.

For a number of reasons, heavy industries such as shipbuilding, steel, and military industry, which are controlled by the government and the military, are not very profitable. Industries closely related to life, such as textiles and sugar extraction, are stable cash flows. Especially in the textile industry, the order knows better than anyone the power of the textile industry, which is the source industry of capitalism.

The cotton textile industry is relatively small in the Nanyang region, and the only small cotton fields are mostly in a small and scattered production state, and the big businessmen are not interested. Cotton cultivation on Hainan Island can be concentrated, but it is still in its infancy and still needs some time to develop.

The hemp textile industry has a certain scale and is developing steadily, but this market is relatively limited, and the future imagination space can be predicted.

The silk industry is different. Silk is a traditional Chinese fist product, and it is also a hard currency that passes through the world. Although the raw silk industry has expanded globally, Chinese raw silk is still the best quality product in the world. The federation is copying China's silk industry, and the high profits are making everyone jealous.

Something follows the inertia of nature, what Grotius calls the laws of nature.

The technology is already there.

At this stage, the demand is for people and production capacity, then for raw materials, and finally for the market.

The demon in the box is waiting for the day when the level will be broken.

There were cheers outside the car, and Shou Xuan broke open his eyes.

The people on both sides of the road fell to their knees in the rain.

Lift the canopy in an orderly manner.

For a number of reasons, the word "hooray" is forbidden in the Commonwealth itself. In addition, all kinds of eulogies came into the ears of the order, leaving him speechless.

"What are they thanking me? I brought them out of the continent and maybe saved their lives. But the fate of the capitalist workers is no better. ”

Orderliness is allowed to wash away by the rain, just like the people on the earth.

The carriage continued.

After leaving the city, the cavalry of the guards asked, "Your Excellency, do you need to pull up the canopy?" ”

"No need, it's too stuffy to lock up," Shou Xu smiled wryly and pulled up the hem of his soaked clothes, "It's useless to close it again." ”

The convoy crosses a Chinese-style arch bridge over the Jincheng River. The capital city government has plans to dig a canal to dredge the nearby estuary. The rainy season can't do this project, so you have to wait until the dry season.

The naval base Fort of Order is right in front of you.

After several expansions, the Fort of Order has become a large fortress on a par with the Fort of Geranza, at least in Asia.

Built on a sandbar, the Fort of Geranza is expensive to build, the foundation of the wall is constantly washed by the waves, and the maintenance cost is also high. Outside the fort, there was high ground within the range of the siege guns, and the Dutch only had a large round battery on the high ground, which would have become the Achilles heel of the Dutch in Tainan. The amount of earth and stone in Fort of Order is similar to that of Geranza, and its defensive capabilities are much stronger than that of Geranza.

The Commander of the Fortress is still an old friend of Order, Fraser. Lieutenant Colonel Gail.

Shou Order, who greeted him with a smile, and Fraser married the daughter of a wealthy Chinese businessman with 2 children. He still has illegitimate children outside, and the number is a secret.

Marriage is very welcome.

The conquerors were a minority, after all, and only marriage could unite them with the native powers. As far as Shou Xuan knows, many of the conqueror's families have now arranged marriages with local Chinese and even the next generation.

Shou Order, joking with Fraser, walked into the naval headquarters.

The most prominent feature in the room is a map that takes up an entire wall.

The generals are there.

Fleet Vice-Admiral Lynn. Major General Stirling.

Commander of the First Squadron of the Battleship Grenville. Collingwood, Commander of the Second World Fleet, Philip Brown. Edward, President of the Naval Academy, Cotinho. Morality. 3 Commodore generals of Norania.

Greet everyone in order.

Within the Federation, there is a fierce exchange between the civilizations of the East and the West, and language is one of them.

Chinese has become the dominant language in daily communication in the army, and only some military drills are still German passwords. English still has some advantage in the native navy, and officers must master two languages.

Shou Xiang first asked the Navy about the progress of the redress.

Lynn. Stirling had led the fleet only once in all his years, and he spent most of his time training officers and men and building the navy.

Although the two long-class old ships could not sail far, they trained batch after batch of sailors for the navy to master the operation of all-sail warships.

After three years of service, most of these sailors were hired by a steady stream of merchant fleets. The merchant fleet was dominated by Chinese hardsails, but they were in high demand for seafarers who were trained and navigated.

Sterling: "The Federal Assembly has authorized the Navy to mobilize merchant sailors, and we have plenty of manpower."

"Where's the battleship?"

"The battleship will take a little more time."

Walking to the window, the three cruisers purchased from the United Kingdom had changed flags, raising the Confederate Star Bird flag and the Bendu Navy flag.

The Navy named the ships after the three goddesses of fate in Greek mythology, the Croto, Laxis, and Atropos.

The three Goddess-class battleships are of the same shape, with three masts and full sails, and two continuous gun decks.

The keel is 33 meters long, the lowest gun deck is 40 meters long, 11 meters wide, the draft is 4.8 meters, and the deadweight ton is 764 long tons.

Each cost 12,000 pounds, and Kim Philby spent a total of 200,000 taels of silver on the purchase of these three warships and the recruitment of crew members to return home, accounting for half of his expenditure in England.

After England withdrew from the war in 1640, many of the timber, production capacity and workers that had been prepared for the war were idle, and he found the three semi-finished ships on the slipway, and after paying for them, the shipyard took two years to complete.

"When will these 3 ships be able to form combat effectiveness?"

Sterling: "The bottom of the ship has been cleaned up, some of the minor shortcomings found during the transoceanic voyage need to be improved, it won't take long, we are mostly waiting for the gun. ”

The Goddess-class battleship can accommodate up to 20 18-pounder guns on the lower gun deck, 20 9-pounder guns on the upper gun deck, 6 6-pounder guns on the reduced aft deck, and 4 6-pounder guns in the forward bow tower.

Double gun deck, ships of the line.

The Goddess-class battleship has already crossed the threshold of battleships, and the fourth-level battleship has just entered the entrance.