In terms of business, He Qiang really admires Schneider, all kinds of strange ideas emerge in his head, and some business ideas are even much more clever than his own shopkeeper, and I don't know where he learned these tricks. He Qiang doesn't know what a "win-win" is, but he understands that if this agreement is reached, it will be of great benefit to both parties. But He Qiang was still a little hesitant about the price to pay for this agreement, and Schneider wanted to know more information about the maritime forces in the Fuguang area, which was beyond He Qiang's purview.

He Qiang pondered for a moment before he spoke: "The most favored treatment that Mr. Shi said is naturally excellent, but what Mr. Shi wants to know, it is inconvenient to disclose too much in the future, so it is better to arrange it for Mr. Shi in the next and discuss the details with the big shopkeeper in person?"

Schneider didn't expect to succeed in one fell swoop, and getting such a breakthrough was already a surprise, since He Qiang intended to help Schneider arrange an interview, there was no need to rush it anymore. Schneider nodded with a smile and said, "Then trouble Steward He!"

More than 20 laborers brought by He Qiang took two hours to unload the goods on the "Haixun 02". He Qiang's men counted correctly, and then submitted the manifest to the supervisors of both sides for signature. After He Qiang finished signing, he bowed his hand and said: "What I said before, after the time is set by the chief treasurer, I will send someone to the house to inform Mr. Shi." ”

After sending off the people of "Fu Ruifeng", they began to unload their own cargo from the ship. After arriving at the wharf yesterday evening, everyone's luggage had been loaded ashore and sent to the Guangzhou Office, and what was left on the ship was daily necessities and some building materials sent from the base camp. And the most important of them are hot water boilers and ceramic sanitary ware.

Because the Guangzhou Office has more people and the place is more spacious, the hot water boiler ordered by the Guangzhou Office this time is much larger than that used by the Cliff Office, so Schneider and He Xi have already asked people to dismantle the backyard door outside the rear cover room in advance in order to transport the thick and long boiler in, and vacated two empty rooms in the back cover room, a slightly smaller one is used as a boiler room, and the larger one is used as a public bathhouse. In order to improve the efficiency of use, there is no distinction between male and female bathhouses, but directly divided into time periods.

As for sanitary ware, in accordance with the requirements of the Guangzhou Office, a large number of toilets, squatting toilets and wash basins have been produced, which are not only enough for personal use, but also can take some samples for marketing. However, the arrival of these things is only the beginning, and the subsequent installation work is a troublesome matter.

Although it is good to buy this house in Guangzhou, but due to the limited current standard of living, there is no complicated sewer structure in this house, and the bathing water and domestic water are good to say, just discharge directly into the ditch outside, but to install sanitary ware such as a flush toilet, then you can only dig a septic tank. And this thing definitely can't be placed in the yard, Schneider and He Xi took a long time before deciding to set up the septic tank outside the east wall, this side is close to the reeds, and no one usually passes by here, so when the time comes, cover a few wooden boards on it, and let people clean it regularly.

He Xi even wanted to build the septic tank into a biogas tank in one step, and in the future, he could also use the biogas to make a fire, which can come in handy for cooking, boiling water, and lighting. However, Schneider believes that the amount of work is too large, and just laying the biogas pipeline is a rather troublesome matter, which is almost equivalent to completely renovating the Guangzhou Office. After the opinion was submitted, the Executive Committee quickly made a decision, and anyway, it was not bad for the money, and the GWA could build sanitation facilities according to the specifications of the digester.

In fact, the biogas digester has been put into use as early as the beginning of the landing, after the establishment of various communes, the biogas digester has become the main energy used in the commune canteen and bathhouse, and the relevant construction technology has been tested in practice, which is nothing more than a larger investment in infrastructure, but in the long run, the benefits are far greater than the expenditures. Even the Black Earth Port on the other side of the Beibu Gulf has used the biogas digester as one of the basic energy facilities, although there is no shortage of fuel in that place, but a large amount of human and animal manure must be treated in a scientific way, and there is not much arable land to develop, so the construction of a biogas digester has become the best choice. （.）。

At the beginning, due to the surrounding environment, the Cliff Office was not in a position to dig and build facilities such as biogas digesters outside the yard, and the Guangzhou Office was not located in a prosperous area, since the objective conditions permitted, the Executive Committee did not hesitate to fire a little more ceramic pipes, and sent a few trained plasterers to the Guangzhou Office to assist them in building the biogas digester.

However, no matter how much the Executive Committee takes care of it, it can't let the CIF install a set of sanitary ware in every room that passes through the crowd, so it really has to dig up the courtyard of the CJO and relay the sewer pipes. In desperation, this toilet can only be built into a communal form. Fortunately, everyone has lived in the base camp for a few months, and they have long been accustomed to the storage of various public facilities, and they will not feel that there is anything wrong.

The outside of these ceramic fixtures and pipes are tightly tied with extremely thick straw ropes, and it is impossible to see what is included inside until you open them. However, when the boiler was unloaded from the ship, it was really troublesome, and the large iron can, which was more than one meter in diameter and more than two meters long, was not light, and the springboard was also built in two layers for safety purposes to avoid breaking under heavy pressure. It took a long time for a group of laborers to move the thing from the deck to the dock.

In addition, there are several large Nanmu boxes containing the weapons of the security personnel of the Guangzhou Office. In addition to the new flintlock muskets issued by all eight militiamen, there were also two long and two short four guns for Xiao Liang and Yu Yao, of course, these long guns were usually locked in the confidential room and only taken out when necessary. Schneider and He Xi have always been running around the city of Guangzhou with their bare hands, and they have no scruples at all, and the two pistols issued to them have been sleeping in the safe of the Guangzhou Office for a long time. The newcomers Xiao Liang and Yu Yao are much more vigilant because of their work, except when they sleep, the pistol is basically in the holster under their armpits.

It was already noon when these things were transported back to the Guangzhou Office from the wharf, and after a brief lunch, everyone split up to start the renovation project of the Guangzhou Office.

The renovation of the Guangzhou Office is divided into two parts, one is the renovation of security and defense facilities, including the reconstruction and expansion of the back door, the security doors and windows of the confidential room, the glass slag at the head of the fence, and the lookout position on the roof of the main house. The reconstruction and expansion of the back door is because in addition to the two rooms that have been designated as a bathhouse, the other rooms will be converted into warehouses for storing goods, and the personnel in and out of the back cover room may be more frequent, so in addition to expanding the back door to facilitate the entry and exit of goods, it is also necessary to transform the portal of the back cover room in and out of the third courtyard to prevent outsiders from mixing into the residence of the crossing public.

The confidential room located in the third courtyard is mainly used to store radio stations, weapons, money and important documents, etc., which can be said to be the core area of the entire Guangzhou Office. In addition to the door of the house itself, all iron security doors and windows specially ordered from the base camp will be installed, and two stoneware water tanks filled with water will be placed at the door to prevent fire. As for installing glass slag on the wall, there is no technical content, as long as you build a ladder with good cement, the layman can easily complete this work.

The second part is the renovation of living facilities, mainly the construction of public bathhouses, toilets and biogas digesters. Compared to security measures, this is the real "big project". After seeing the site, the plasterer foreman sent from the base camp said that it would take at least five days to carry out the work. The main challenge was in the construction of the digester, where a pipe had to be laid to the boiler room in the rear hood room. In order to make the most of the biogas, it was decided to make another room next to it as a kitchen, so as to save the time of laying another pipe to the existing kitchen.

He Xi had already organized laborers to dig outside the wall in advance, and now he only needs to apply cement to the bottom of the pond and connect the pipes. But at this time, everyone found a new problem: the foundation of the wall was actually very deep, and a large section of it was still bluestone when dug down along the root of the wall. However, the pond outside the wall had already been dug up, and it was very troublesome to change the place, so I had to bury my head and continue to dig down, and when I dug to a foot and a half, I finally saw the soil under the bluestone.

"Look at the quality of this building!" Sha Xi sighed beside him: "Even the foundation of the wall is so deep, this house in the Guangzhou Office is worth buying!"

"It's just a small courtyard!" Schneider's life before crossing over was a luxury for ordinary people, and he was a little disdainful of Shaxi's exclamation.

"Small yard? I worked hard to save for several years to buy a kitchen in a big city, even a small yard is a dream for people like me!" Sha Xi said with emotion: "If it is really developed in the future, I want to be able to buy a piece of land to build a yard by myself...... Well, of course, you have to marry a few beautiful daughters-in-law to go home. ”

"Don't worry, there will be a house, and so will a daughter-in-law. He Xi patted Sha Xi on the shoulder and comforted: "In the future, these places will be ours, if you are willing to do it, you can set up your own real estate company like Mr. Tao in the future!"

That night, "Fu Ruifeng" sent someone over and spread the word that the shopkeeper Li Da would invite Schneider to come over tomorrow. Schneider knew that the other party was probably moved by the conditions he offered, so he agreed first, and after the people left, Schneider called He Xi, Xiao Liang and Yu Yao to his room and told him about the discussion with He Qiang today.

The distribution of maritime forces along the southeast coast is one of the important tasks assigned by the Executive Committee to the Guangzhou Office. This task is completely different from other trade promotion, material procurement, and immigration organization, because the personnel of the Guangzhou Office have almost no direct contact with those pirate groups, and the Guangzhou Office does not have its own ships to carry out reconnaissance activities in the southeast coastal areas, so it is extremely difficult to obtain relevant information. At present, "Fu Ruifeng" is the most likely channel for the Guangzhou Office to obtain intelligence information, and Schneider needs more advice on how to make good use of this rare opportunity.

After listening to Schneider's story, He Xi pondered for a while before asking, "Then where are you not sure about now?"

Schneider said: "I know very well the general direction, and the executive committee must aim to crack down on hostile forces and control the coastal areas. But I don't know exactly what kind of intelligence collection your military police department wants to achieve. For example, what information do we need to have, what kind of process is this information detailed to be useful, what is our next goal after mastering this information, and what kind of requirements should we put forward for 'Fu Ruifeng'. I must clearly know what we want to achieve before I can find a way to bargain with Li Jifeng. ”

He Xi nodded and said, "I understand." Let's put it this way, the military expansion plan of the military police department on the southeast coast is not carried out independently, but is gradually carried out along with commercial activities. We don't have any armed forces at sea at the moment, so it's unlikely that we will use military means to expand northward, so we still have to focus on gathering intelligence first, and if possible, establish contacts with other maritime powers. As for the details of the intelligence, at present, we only need to know the general distribution of the areas of activity of these forces, the scale and their style of operation, although it would be better if we could be more detailed. ”

"In other words, our main focus now is on trade promotion, along with the collection of military intelligence?" Schneider asked rhetorically.

"That's right. Mr. Shi, you can concentrate on the marketing you are best at, and the information will naturally appear. Regardless of their size, these pirates are not independent of the mainland. With the exception of a few large forces, the vast majority of pirate gangs do not produce, and all supplies must be purchased from the mainland, and they have no sales channels, and the goods they loot and the hostages they have kidnapped must be exchanged for cash and supplies through guò intermediaries. He Xi paused, and said in an aggravated tone: "These merchants who partner with pirates to do business are definitely some guys who see money, as long as there are enough interests to drive, they will sell out, including former partners!"

"Makes sense. Schneider nodded again and again: "As long as there is economic activity, there must be traces to follow." The reason why the ship of 'Fu Ruifeng' can travel between Fujian and Guangdong all year round without accidents is because they have some secret relationship with the pirate group, and maybe they can really get a lot of inside information from them. ”

"Regarding the strategic objectives of the Military Police Department on the southeastern coast, I would like to add. Xiao Liang signaled that he had something to say.

"At present, we have neither the capacity nor the sales channels for the coastal areas east of Hong Kong, so there will be no one of our ships there in the near future, let alone any military means, so the initial goal of the Military Police Department is to control the waters of the Pearl River Estuary. Xiao Liang said as he turned on the computer and called up the map of the sea area of the Pearl River Estuary for display: "Boats coming out of the Pearl River are going to Fujian, generally speaking, they pass through the strait north of Lantau Island, through Ma Wan, Victoria Harbour, Tseung Kwan O, and out of Fotangmen. And there are many Ming army water villages from Lantau Island to Fotangmen, and it is unlikely that we will directly occupy the stronghold in this area by military means. ”

"And there are Portuguese deposits in the waters near Macao on Lantau Island, and it is difficult for us to get involved for a while, so we don't have many options. Xiao Liang's finger drew a circle on the map: "The Wanshan Islands are very close to the Pearl River Estuary, Hong Kong, and Macao, and there are no garrisons of the Ming Dynasty, if we set up a small military base in the Wanshan Islands, it is unlikely to cause hostility from the local government in Guangzhou." ”

Schneider frowned and said, "If the scale is too small, does it make sense to set up a stronghold? Besides, we don't have warships now, so what's the use of putting some soldiers on a small island far away." ”

Before Xiao Liang could reply, Yu Yao had already hurriedly replied: "How can it be useless? These garrisons can disguise themselves as Ming Dynasty fishermen to monitor the ships coming and going between Macao and Hong Kong for a long time, and collect the sea conditions in this area to prepare for the future naval stationing." It doesn't mean that we can start fighting right away, and it may take five years, ten years, or even more before we start to really attack the continent, but the preparations actually start before we cross. The various military materials we have collected, military maps, and those of us who have served as soldiers are all preparing for this goal, and the continuous establishment of military bases in the coastal areas is also one of the pre-war preparations!"

"These preparations may never work until the day the war breaks out, but what needs to be done must be done. Xiao Liang took over the conversation, pointed to an inconspicuous island in the Wanshan Islands and said: "This is Baili Island, maybe Mr. Shi has never heard of this island, but this place has always been the largest military base in the Pearl River Estuary." In order to defend the mouth of the Pearl River, the later republics completely hollowed out this island, and the island was built with a hidden dock that could defend against atomic bombs, a large granary that could feed hundreds of thousands of people for several years, an arsenal, an oil depot, and all kinds of facilities. Until the end of the twentieth century, when the place was opened as a tourist area, it did not really play a role, but no one can say that its existence is meaningless. The role of preparations for war is often not something that can be seen in front of the eyes. ”

Schneider was stunned and said: "I have been to Shenzhen, Hong Kong and Macau many times, but I never knew that there was a military base so close...... A hollowed-out island...... I should have found time to visit that place before I crossed over!"

"If you have a chance, the next time you go back to the base camp, you should pass by there, and you can ask the boat to dock there. Xiao Liang said with a smile.

Schneider shrugged and said, "What I want to see is Baili Island after the military fortress is built, and now this desert island is nothing to see." ”