037 Return to China

The Yu Dayou sail frigate took more time to return to Los Angeles than to Alpulco, because from north to south there are trade winds and California cold currents, smooth wind, but when you go back, you have to go against the ocean currents and trade winds, fortunately, Yu Dayou is a Chinese hard sail, although the sail has been inferior to the Western-style soft sail in speed and weight, but it can withstand the wind in all directions, even when the wind is headwind, it can sail freely. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info Coupled with the fact that there is a steam engine that can ignore the direction of the wind, the Yu Dayou can still maintain a considerable speed and return home.

Western-style full-sail loading uses two kinds of sail combinations, crosssail and longitudinal sail, and the sail cannot travel when the wind is headwind, so the speed is greatly affected when going against the wind. In addition, all sailors on Western-style sailing ships have to undergo a lot of training and a lot of work, so they need a lot of crew. On the frigate Yu Dayou, the sailors who operate the sails are only one-third of the sailors who work the same on the Western-style sail battleship of the same size, and the gun positions on the Yu Dayou are relatively small, and only two people are needed to control the artillery. Although there was an additional power unit dedicated to the steam engine and transmission system, overall, there were fewer sailors on the Yu Dayou. This provides more storage space for the Yu to have more food and coal, so the Yu can make a round trip from Los Angeles to Alpulco without adding coal.

When Bai Nan returned to Los Angeles, it was not as sensational as the previous four merchant ships returned. The large amount of cargo brought back by the four merchant ships replenished the reserves in Los Angeles. Although the amount of less than 100 tons of grain is not very large, it still plays a role in relieving the pressure on the staple starchy food.

What caught Bai Nan's attention was that there were many more Indian laborers on the wharf of Long Beach Port, who were responsible for heavy work such as carrying large bags, and there were no overseers wielding leather whips or anything, and it seemed that they had basically integrated into local life.

The big guys didn't come to the dock to pick up Bai Nan, but someone who was quite unexpected came.

"Miss Xu, why are you here?" Bai Nan was a little surprised.

Although she originally worked in the Confucius Institute, she was able to sing and dance, and she was a goblin who was fascinated by death, so she was arranged to work in the Propaganda Department of Culture, Education and Propaganda.

"Why, can't I come? Sure enough, the big guys are very busy today, no one can take care of you, or am I more affectionate and righteous, thinking that it must be very hard for you to go on a business trip, come and pick you up, are you super moved? After all, Xin Xin is still a young girl, and only when she talks to her can Bai Nan feel a little bit of modern youth.

"You have to be moved, I said Miss Xu, don't you have to go to work?"

Xu Xin shrugged her shoulders and looked very cute, "People work at the radio station now, and the radio station doesn't work during the day, so they run to that recording studio at night, sing two songs, and then say something, don't be too relaxed." ”

Los Angeles has been basically electrified, and since the war against the Tunwa people and the seizure of the coal fields around Los Angeles, the Ministry of Industry has organized personnel to use the existing equipment to open the power plant. Although the installed wattage of this improvised power plant is still very large, there is not much electrical equipment in the whole of Los Angeles, that is, electric lights and wired telephones are connected to every house.

As for the radio stations, in fact, they are also tricks. Although the Los Angeles radio station also uses FM broadcasting, most residents now do not have radios at home, so the old man Yao Weichun waved his hand and installed a few loudspeakers in several communities in Los Angeles, and began to play radio station programs as soon as the time came, so that Bai Nan instantly had the feeling of returning to high school and college and listening to the school radio station.

However, the response to the radio station was good, and there is no decent media in Los Angeles now, although the paper mill has been making paper for a long time, but there is no newspaper. The radio station will broadcast a short piece of news every night, basically similar to the news broadcast of the central station of the Celestial Empire, mainly to publicize the policy documents of the Tang Republic, and occasionally there may be one or two real news, such as the return of the merchant fleet from Alpulco.

Xin seemed intrigued by Bai Nan's experiences in Alpulco and Mexico City, asking, "Have you ever met a few amorous Latinas on a trip to Mexico?" What is Mexico City like now, is it as crowded and chaotic as it will be? ”

Bai Nan said helplessly: "My trip is tolerance, and I am not the kind of person who travels under the banner of tolerance, going there is basically just doing things, how can I have time to browse any places of interest or meet a few Latin girls." ”

Xu Xin showed her little tiger teeth and smiled cutely, and said, "It's no better." ”

Bai Nan asked again: "You said that the big names in the cabinet are not available today, what are you going to do?" ”

Xu Xin said: "Yingshan Iron and Steel Group was listed today. ”

Bai Nan suddenly realized that Eagle Mountain Steel is the most important and core enterprise in Los Angeles, and the cabinet has been planning this matter since the beginning of the crossing. After the exploration of coal and iron resources around the Los Angeles area, the establishment of Eagle Mountain Steel, a large steel conglomerate, was officially put on the agenda.

From the factory site selection, plant construction, equipment loading and unloading, industrial rail paving to the official steel plant, it will take half a year at the earliest, and now Yingshan Iron and Steel has only completed the first phase of the plant construction. In order to produce steel as soon as possible, Eagle Mountain Steel is taking a gradual construction path, starting with a small amount of steel to meet local demand in Los Angeles, and as the development continues, the size of the steel plant will continue to expand.

The coal mine is relatively close, southeast of Los Angeles, and is named Alder Ridge, and in another plane, Riverside. The Eagle Mountain Iron Mine is relatively far away, produced in the desert area more than 100 kilometers east of Los Angeles, and the reserves and grades are considerable, but this distance is really a bit painful. Fortunately, the Changmao Ship that crossed the crowd carried rails, and a group of railroad workers, pulling a group of former soldiers of the National Army, as well as some Indian laborers, began the construction of the railroad from Los Angeles to Eagle Mountain.

Although it is difficult to build, as long as Eagle Mountain Steel starts to produce steel, then the rest of the industries around steel can be developed. The machinery industry, the military industry, and the automobile industry, a series of industries that are crucial to the development of the Tang Republic, can all be on the right track.

Thinking of this, Bai Nan couldn't help but feel a little excited, and the sense of accomplishment of crossing the crowd to build an industrial country on this wild land from scratch is indescribable.

When Bai Nan rushed back to the city hall, Zhao Daling also happened to return from the Yingshan Iron and Steel factory, and when he saw Bai Nan, Zhao Daling was also full of smiles, and said: "You kid, I went to Mexico, and I didn't see it darker." ”

"Commander, I'm still in a hurry to report to you. The governor of New Spain was still quite skeptical of our strength, so he did not immediately agree to our request, and as for the territorial negotiations, there was no progress. However, this governor sent a visiting delegation, and he may arrive in Los Angeles after that, and he wants to verify the authenticity of our Datang's strong strength by himself. ”

Zhao Daling sighed slightly: "Sure enough, it is not easy to bluff the Spaniards all at once, but this will not cause us any trouble, we just want to do a good job in our own construction, as for the matter of wanting to demarcate the sphere of influence, when we have enough strength, it will naturally come to fruition." ”

Bai Nan said: "I think that although the Spaniards have not directly negotiated with us on territory, we still have a relatively big advantage on this issue, and Spain absolutely does not have the strength to go on an expedition and pose a threat to us." Not to mention sending tens of thousands of troops, even if more than 3,000 colonial troops were mobilized from Mexico, it was almost unacceptable for Spain, there were no towns and cities that could supply the Western army along the way, and they were not familiar with the local situation, the consumption of military expenses and grain and grass was too huge, and even if it was victorious, Spain would not get any direct benefits. Therefore, even if we were still at odds with Spain, there would not have been a sudden outbreak of war. ”

Zhao Daling nodded: "I trust your judgment, but it is also a good thing to be able to establish our sovereign sphere of influence as soon as possible." In addition, we don't have anything else to trade with for the time being, and Spain is our only option. ”

Bai Nan thought for a while and said: "Actually, now that we have basically passed the stage of food shortage, Los Angeles has been able to achieve self-sufficiency, we don't necessarily have to trade with Spain, our ships have the ability to go to the sea, we can consider going to North Korea, Japan, Vietnam, and even our hometown China, although the transoceanic route takes a long time, but the profit is also extremely considerable." Although Japan and the Qing court were in a period of seclusion, we could conduct limited trade in the port of Guangzhou, and we could follow the example of the black ship to sail and directly knock on their door. ”

Zhao Daling couldn't help laughing after hearing this: "Xiaobai, your ruthlessness has come out, knocking on the door of Little Japan to engage in trade, I didn't dare to think that you could say such a thing before." In fact, the cabinet has long been planning the matter of transoceanic routes, we want to expand the colonies, we must need more people, and it is not enough to expect our population to multiply naturally and the naturalization of the Indians, so now we have only one way to migrate from China. ”