For the mysterious Ark of the Covenant, the system's hint is that the mysterious energy is being converted into energy in order to be used, although the system has no more hints, but at least the current situation is favorable to Lin Hong, maybe the mysterious energy of the Ark of the Covenant can help him unlock a higher level of technology.

A large sailing ship with a signboard of "China General International" on its hull slowly sailed into the Walvis Bay Harbor, which has been renamed "Shanghai New Port". Ahead of the ship's bow, the Atlantic harbor sunk into the coastline is visible, and a simple but busy colonial dock is hidden in the shadow of green hills, and behind it, low green hills loom overlook. (It is wrong to say that Walvis Bay was British, but it should be noted that in 1878 the British occupied Walvis Bay as a trading post and coaling station under the jurisdiction of the Cape Colony.) So Walvis Bay Harbor in the book is supposed to be imperial. ）

This important port city of Namibia is now on the administrative map of the Chinese Empire in the 19th century, and it is the "new Shanghai, the capital of the southwest administrative region of Africa", this colonized city surrounded by pristine nature, has 12,247 relocated imperial nationals (mostly unemployed) and 3,185 non-Chinese immigrants (mostly family members of the Foreign Legion). In addition, there is also a division-sized Foreign Legion to serve as a garrison defense mission, and it can be said that the current role of New Shanghai is similar to a military base, after all, the number of troops is almost the same as the number of immigrants (the establishment of the Foreign Legion is larger than the establishment of the regular army of the Empire, and a division is about 15,000 people).

When Zeng Guofan was building a new Shanghai, it can be said that he mobilized all the forces that could be mobilized, not only brought a large number of materials and personnel from Li Hongzhang in East Africa, but he even personally went to the British Cape Town colony to lobby a group of immigrants (in fact, most of them were Boers of Dutch descent who were not tolerated by the British). This has also enabled New Shanghai to achieve great development in just three years.

A small dhow fishing boat has just returned from fishing, and I watched the big ship of General Motors, a pot-bellied sailboat with a full load displacement of nearly 2,600 tons, entering the port. A number of fishermen on the small sailboat stood excitedly at the stern of the boat and waved frequently.

Closer and closer to shore, the sailors could already see the Colony Pier clearly in the distance. A few hundred meters away from the pier, simple concrete or stone mixed timber houses line the shores of Xinshang Bay. On the western slope of the hill is a small army military base of mixed timber construction, with the only observation tower and defensive gun emplacements built of pure concrete.

From Mogadishu (known as Xijing in China) in the heart of East Africa, even a slow sailing merchant ship can sail along the current in just over a week, a distance that provides a more immediate and convenient shipping turnaround. Since the official opening of the new Shanghai in early September, at least one merchant ship has arrived in the new bay every week, and the supply of nearly hundreds of tons of various materials every week is far more substantial and powerful than that in the early stage of Mogadishu's development.

New Shanghai residents who were temporarily working as dock workers surrounded the merchant ship with anticipation, and with the help of several medium-sized steam cranes, sailors on the merchant ship helped to unload the cargo. Several heavy pack horses, a large number of prefabricated building materials, boxes of grain, and all kinds of daily necessities or production tools have been landed one after another, so that Guan Ruzhong, the acting mayor of Shanghai, who has taken stock of the goods, is smiling.

"What a beautiful city! I believe that in the near future, it will definitely become better here. ”

"Hehe, I like this sycophant." Guan Ruzhong was quite pleased to pat the manager of China General International Transportation, who he didn't actually know, and was very satisfied with the efficiency of the other party's performance of the contract, "This time the community construction and the leveling of the surrounding wasteland need you to bother to hurry, in addition, you will go to the acting finance director Qin Li later, you should know, there is also a shopping transportation contract and a community medical clinic that your company needs to take over." ”

"Of course, our company is the most professional!" When the European manager heard that there was more business, he quickly puffed up his chest. In order to better undertake international business and open up the European and American markets, many imperial companies either hire European employees or find agents in Europe and the United States, Guan Ruzhong is not surprised by the European manager in front of him.

Today, the transportation branch of Zhonghua General Corporation and another Dayang Logistics company in the empire are competing for cargo transportation or urban construction business in the new city. Not only did both sides fight hard in terms of price, but even urban construction projects that did not belong to their business scope, they tried their best to eat them in a way that was convenient for customers, and then temporarily hired a construction team to carry them out.

In less than a month, Zhonghua General Motors obtained more than 2 million Chinese yuan orders for the company through domestic relations and this very capable business manager. The net profit is close to one million yuan. In addition, the company secured contracts for supplies and small urban construction projects in New Nanjing (Windhoek, later the capital of Namibia). Although the profit of each contract does not seem to be much, it adds up to more than 100,000 Chinese yuan in a monthly profit.

There was a pleasant greeting. Looking at the busy and fulfilling work of hundreds of citizens, Guan Ruzhong slowly walked back to his "new Shanghai mayor's official residence", which was too small to be small, and prepared to complete today's established government affairs. First, he signed a decree on the distribution of cash benefits for citizens on the National Day, and then Guan Ruzhong opened his notebook and began to carefully consider the future development of the new Shanghai. Of course, the general direction of development is that Zeng Guofan, the governor of Southwest Africa, and Guan Tianpei, the commander of the Southwest Military Region, that is, his uncle Guan Tianpei, make decisions, such as further driving out and exterminating the indigenous people in the interior. What he has to think about is how to develop New Shanghai better.

Historically, Walvis Bay Harbor was a commercial station and coal filling station under the jurisdiction of the Cape Colony, so the function of the new Shanghai is basically the same, refueling and overhauling the hulls of merchant ships from various countries in the past. But now, with the rise of the new city of Shanghai, the Walvis Bay has become more and more an important trade hub, and with more and more imperial companies moving in, the Empire's Southwest African Territory has also achieved significant growth.

A livestock breeding company was set up with a loan from the colonial government of the new Shanghai municipality to encourage local citizens to become shareholders. The climate is pleasant, the coastal plains are fertile, the pastures are luxuriant, and animal husbandry is at its best.

Thanks to the small hills that have been almost completely bulldozed in history, as well as the natural geology of the new bay area, stone, sand, limestone, and clay are easy to obtain. The nearby forest area is also rich in peat resources, so fuel is not a problem. The production of many basic building materials can be solved on the spot, and a small building materials company that attracts residents to invest behind the scenes can save a lot of money.

Taking advantage of the natural high-quality harbor geographical conditions, Xinshanghai will become the second port after Mogadishu to directly establish ocean trade with Europe in the future (after the opening of the Suez Canal, the development of Mogadishu will be better, but the capacity of the Suez Canal is limited, and large ships cannot pass through, so the new Shanghai Bay will become the main docking point for large European and American merchant ships, of course, Cape Town is in a better location). There is also abundant primeval forest resources here. The quality of the tree species is better than that around Mogadishu, especially the oak trees. Domestic Beiyang Shipbuilding Company will welcome shipbuilding timber from New Shanghai. If possible, it is not impossible to jointly invest in the construction of a small shipbuilding enterprise with the Beiyang Shipping Company.

In addition, Guan Ruzhong also asked Zeng Guofan for instructions to build a school, but he has not planned it for a long time, and will talk about it later.

In total, Guan Ruzhong has listed a number of the most advantageous economic development projects in the coastal area of New Shanghai. In his opinion, as long as the Imperial Colonial Department and the African Colonial Bureau do not be too stingy in their financial allocation to the Southwestern Territory. Five years is enough to build the new Shanghai Bay area into an economic powerhouse in southwest Africa, so as to lay a solid foundation for the development of the entire country on the southeast coast of the Atlantic