The Mermaid, a steam-powered sailing ship with a white body and a speed of up to 18 knots, has completed all commissioning and sea trials, and has been preliminarily determined to be fully engaged in transportation tasks.

But then came the question of ownership, which also annoyed everyone, in the navy, Wang Tiehammer had already included the Mermaid in the sequence of naval ships when it was captured, and for a long time, the Mermaid undertook the training task of naval recruits, which was completely regarded as its own within the navy.

But just when Wang Tiehammer was about to happily go to the shipyard and look for You Nanze to ask for a ship, Hu Xijing of the Ministry of Foreign Trade suddenly came out and wanted to drive the ship away and belong to the Ministry of Foreign Trade, the reason is very simple, now the trade volume is getting bigger and bigger, and there are only two ships in Australia, one is the Sea Blue, and the other is the captured Mermaid, which should naturally be included in the civilian ships.

As far as the current situation is concerned, it is indeed somewhat unreasonable to assign all the only two ships that can carry long-distance transportation capabilities to the navy, and the navy has a sea blue that can already reach the entire Dutch East India Company fleet in Batavia, and it is completely unnecessary to equip a sailing ship of this modification.

Although the Mermaid surpassed the fastest ships of its time in terms of maneuverability and speed, and was equipped with carrier-based guns that are currently ahead of Europe, it was a ship of epochal significance in every way.

This is not just an ordinary steam-powered modification, but also the experience of relying entirely on centuries of shipbuilders and designers from various countries, only to be stolen by You Nanzhe, a time-traveler.

Although Hu Xijing and the Ministry of Foreign Trade's reasons are very sufficient, Lao Wang's reasons are also sufficient, the Hailan is being transformed, the entire navy is training in the land barracks, and it has not been to sea for almost a month.

Therefore, this ship must still be given to the navy, the navy is an important part of defending everyone from maritime threats and undertaking foreign trade tasks, and the strength of a navy is related to the security of the country.

The two sides argue and argue, Lao Wang, the cadre, the admirals, where is the opponent of foreign traders, what people do is foreign trade work, and what they move is lip service, if the verbal work is not good, there is no need to mix.

Lao Wang really had no choice, he quarreled with people for more than an hour, and the people were stunned and disagreed, so he had to wave away angrily, leaving a group of young men and girls from the Ministry of Foreign Trade behind to shout the slogan of victory happily, yes.

"I don't think Lao Wang will give up so well, we have to hold a meeting as soon as possible to determine the ownership of the Mermaid." Zhao Shijie walked to Hu Xijing's side with some worry and said.

"Well, like my thoughts, Brother Wang will definitely not give up like this, we have to find helpers, otherwise we are not the opponents of those naval soldiers if they launch an armed force to seize the ship," Hu Xijing frowned and glanced at the cheering foreign trade staff around him, relying on such a powerless guy and girl under his own hands, it is better to stand here by himself, looking at Zhao Shijie, although he is relatively strong, but I am afraid that he will not be able to deal with more than a dozen people.

"Well, then I'll go to the National Guard to find foreign aid," Zhao Shijie asked tentatively.

The reason why the garrison is mentioned instead of the army when he opens his mouth, the relationship between this, as long as it is Manchester City, knows that the difference is too great, the army has always regarded itself as the Australian Republican Defense Force, and it is very disdainful of the National Guard, although both teams are recorded in the War Department, but the difference is very large, the army must be more than the National Guard in terms of weapons and equipment, and the army is more in attendance when performing tasks, and the National Guard is less in attendance.

This has caused the treatment of the National Guard Corps to be worse than that of the Army, and many young people who have invested in the garrison are very regretful, these are all soldiers, why is the treatment so different, people eat meat and white rice for army meals, and the garrison only has meat once a week, and white rice is still available every day.

As the new commander of the garrison, Lin Hansheng has proposed more than once at a meeting of the Ministry of War that the two armies should be equal and that no special treatment should be given, and he even said to Liu Dongshui, the minister of the army, that you are from the garrison, and you should speak for us, but helplessly, the army attendance is due to your own excellent ability and good performance, and there are too many recruits in the garrison, and people dare not hire you to take on the task of protection.

Lin Hansheng was like a wronged little daughter-in-law, crying to the War Department every day about how the garrison was treated differently and that the treatment was not as good as that of the army.

I happened to run to Liu Dongshui's office once today, and I happened to be met by Zhao Shijie, who came to look for help.

"Lao Lin, what are you doing, you came to beg Minister Liu again, I have a task here I don't know if you dare to take it, we can discuss the price." This is because the two units are not only financed by the Executive Committee, but also to a large extent by the employment of various enterprises.

Lin Hansheng, who was worried about improving the treatment of soldiers, was like a wolf seeing meat, and his eyes were shining, "What do you say, the task, does the Ministry of Foreign Trade need labor, there is no problem in handing this over to us." ”

"No, we have a ship in foreign trade that needs to be guarded, I think you have also heard, in recent days, the Navy and the Ministry of Foreign Trade have been fighting for the ownership of the Mermaid, and the ship is still in our hands, we want to hire your garrison soldiers to guard the ship before leaving for Batavia, so as not to be robbed by the navy."

"This matter is a bit tricky, Lao Zhao, this is against the navy, and it will be difficult for us to talk when we meet in the future." Lin Hansheng said that it was a little difficult, but his expression was not embarrassed at all.

"Don't worry, I won't let you keep it in vain, and the price will definitely give you a satisfaction."

After negotiating the issue with Lin Hansheng, Zhao Shijie did not stay longer, but asked him to hurry back and summon people to be stationed in the shipyard to guard the Mermaid now, and he walked like the executive committee to handle another important matter.

In the large meeting room of the Executive Committee, Hu Xijing has already come here first, and has made a brief statement about the current situation of the Mermaid and the importance of the allocation to the Ministry of Foreign Trade, and is now waiting for everyone to vote.

"Since Xiao Zhao is here, let's raise our hands to express it, I still maintain my original opinion," Zhou Aiguo raised his hand, indicating that his views remained unchanged and still agreed to belong to the navy, and then Ren Shuangxia also raised his hand.

After a few minutes, seeing that no one was raising their hands, Zhou Aiguo had no choice but to announce that the Mermaid belonged to the Ministry of Foreign Trade, but the Ministry of Foreign Trade compromised Hu Xijing to allocate one of the ten new Western sailing ships to the Navy Department next year, which could be regarded as a kind of compensation and comfort.