Standing at the dock, looking at Du Dazhuang, who was counting his luggage at the end, Li Mo took a deep breath, after half a month of waiting, while finally ushering in the good news, he also had to set off back to Honolulu immediately.

Fortunately, Tang Jingsong's excerpt telegram on the construction of the railway had already been approved by the imperial court, and laborers could be recruited from the southeast coast. Huang Zichen, who got the news, immediately established the Taiwan Railway Company in the name of Dadong and Tang Jingsong, the governor of the company, led by Qiu Fengjia, and at the same time purchased a large amount of railway equipment and materials from France.

In addition, in order to raise funds, Li Mo also asked the Government Council to contribute 500,000 pounds for the first time to open a Taiwan bank in the name of Grand Orient Bank, which was also the first time he opened his own bank.

The construction of the railway also means that the industrial zone, which was gradually depleted of human resources, can also take this opportunity to recruit craftsmen from the coastal cities in an open and honest manner, and in order to transport people over to start work as soon as possible, he also ordered Lin Yongxiang to set up a branch in Taipei to fully cooperate with the transportation of people on both sides of the strait.

Seeing that a vigorous construction wave would begin in the northern part of the island of Taiwan, Li Mo had to leave for Honolulu immediately, and the original plan to go to Guam suddenly died.

"Young master, it's all right."

"Let's go." Li Mo looked back at Keelung New Port, which was becoming more and more vibrant, turned his head and walked towards the passenger ship that had been on standby, and just as he was about to walk up the gangway, a familiar voice suddenly sounded from behind.

"I heard that the young master is going back to Honolulu, can you let Yan take a ride with a tailwind?"

"Yan Fu!"

Hearing the voice, Li Mo's footsteps stopped suddenly, and he hurriedly turned around, and saw Yan Fu on the dock wearing a green shirt, wearing glasses, and holding a rattan box looking at him with a smile.

"Haha......." Looking at Yan Fu, Li Mo suddenly burst out laughing, forgetting even the unfavorable news he had just received, and hurriedly stopped making a gesture of please, saying, "Of course you can, sir, please." ”

With a long whistle sounding from the top of the bridge, the passenger ship that came to pick up Li Mo slowly left Keelung Port under the eyes of Huang Zichen and Qiu Fengjia.

The whistle was long, and the smoke was billowing out.

With the boom in construction in the Ryukyus, the number of ships traveling to and from Pearl Harbor seems to be increasing, and after more than a year of expansion, the terminal has been nearly doubled, with more than 30 deep-water berths alone, and the throughput capacity has officially surpassed San Francisco, becoming the largest seaport in the Pacific region. There are more than 10 ships of goods transshipped from here alone.

Tan Wang stood on the deck, excitedly looking at the contiguous dock area, he couldn't believe that after two years, this place had grown from just a wharf that could only dock four or five large cargo ships to the current scale. And that's not counting the dedicated docks for the Navy! If it weren't for the old man next to him who had been frowning his brows since he set off from the Ryukyus, I am afraid he would have been tempted to jump off the boat and have a good time.

Although it suffered losses for the first time, the Nanyang fleet still brought a full seven ships to Honolulu, tens of thousands of tons of pig iron raw materials, in addition to thousands of tons of rubber and tobacco leaves, if not two of the goods left in the Ryukyus, this number will increase, greatly alleviating the situation of Honolulu's raw materials, and the fleet that arrived from Australia and Liaodong at the same time, although the scale is not as large as the Nanyang fleet, but it also makes the staff of the Government Council and the Equipment Department who received it on the dock scratch their ears and cheeks.

After getting off the boat, Long Guozhang immediately said goodbye to the Tan family father and son, sat in the car that came to greet him, and drove towards the island in a puff of smoke. Tan Wang, who saw the car for the first time, was stunned, pulled his father, opened his mouth wide and asked, "Dad, what is this?" ”

"Cars!" Tan Xiaozeng glared angrily, as if he was very unhappy with his son's lack of knowledge, and said, "Let's go, I haven't been back for a few years, and your mother misses you too." ”

"Look at what! It's not promising, just this thing, the old man has it too! Seeing that his son was dripping saliva and looked at the car in the distance and didn't leave, Tan Xiaozeng was annoyed and dragged it hard and kicked his foot again. Dad, really! Why don't you lend me a few days? As soon as he heard that the old man had also got one, Tan Wang suddenly smiled, and he didn't forget to flatter the old man.

Although Oahu is not big, since the equipment department made a sample car, the navy and the army have not been able to get a few cars, with the most advanced means of transportation, Long Guozhang soon came to the Pacific Army Staff Headquarters located in the center of the island.

Although the General Staff Headquarters of the Pacific Army has not been established for a long time, it is the brain of the entire Pacific Army.

Since the construction of this staff headquarters connected to the underground fortifications has only recently been completed, there are still many traces of construction around it, and there are even many workers putting the finishing touches on it, but the guards and security guards are already very strict, and you can see vigilant sentries wearing rifles along the way.

As he gradually deepened, Long Guozhang found that there were more and more staff officers and confidential secretaries coming and going, listening to the sound of footsteps like a drum, he suddenly felt as if even blood was boiling, and as Tsarist Russia suddenly sent warships to the Far East, the smell of gunpowder that had just dispersed seemed to become strong again.

"Oh? Guozhang is back, great, go. ”

Long Guozhang pushed open the door and didn't open his mouth, when he saw Chen Ping holding a document and preparing to go out, he immediately dragged him out. "I said Yuanshou, you won't be a vegetarian for a long time after I leave, just wait for me to come back and open meat, right? Let me tell you, there is no door, I have to go to the young master for dinner, and my salary this month has been searched by your sister-in-law. ”

"Come on, I'm the kind of person who loves to eat?"

“…… Be! Long Guozhang thought about it and said decisively and affirmatively.

"Fuck off! Even if I want to rub it, I will only go to the young master! Chen Ping despised the iron rooster with a hairy hair, handed him the document in his hand and said, "Take a look." ”

"The young master hasn't come back yet?" Long Guozhang took the document, but before he could read it, he remembered the telegram he received not long ago, and asked about it.

"The telegram said that it has been ten days since we left Keelung, and it is estimated that we will be able to arrive in these days."

"Did he get the message?"

"Rogered, but ......." Chen Ping shook his head: "There is no reply so far." ”

Long Guozhang pondered for a while, and then temporarily put aside this topic and opened the document, but before he could look twice, he stopped suddenly, ignoring the strange eyes of the staff officers around him, and pulled Chen Ping's eyes wide: "This thing really came out?" ”

"Hmmm! When the young master comes back, he can conduct sea trials. Chen Ping nodded: "Now it's a commander, who do you think is the most suitable?" Long Guozhang closed the document excitedly, thought about it, and reported the answer: "Just Qin Shou's kid." ”

"Hehe, I'm going to be with me. Let's go, he's still waiting in the conference room. Chen Ping laughed, and dragged Long Guozhang towards the large conference room.

Sitting in the large conference room, Qin Shou always felt a little uncomfortable, he didn't like this solemn atmosphere, as the captain of the Sturgeon destroyer, at this moment he should have led the Sturgeon to patrol the Chilean route, and stayed on the ship with the soldiers to brag and fart, but he didn't expect the staff to send an order, and he forced him to end the mission and rush back.

Unlike those mainstays in the fleet, he is not an old man of the fleet, but later joined the fleet when it was expanded, neither from the background of the North Ocean, nor the magnificence of returning from the ocean, the only resume that can be used is when he was in Mas Teiji, he interned in the Chilean Navy for half a year.

However, it was this internship that allowed him to meet General Simmons by chance, and participated in a Chilean naval combat exercise on his recommendation, and it was because of this exercise that his fate was changed.

Soon after returning to Hawaii, he was selected from the destroyer captain selection with a solid score and became one of the first captains to go to Chile to receive destroyers.

Qin Shou admits that he is not the kind of genius captain, nor is he a staff officer who can grasp the overall situation. For him, it is already very remarkable that an ordinary person who came out of a Chinese family with only a secondary education and lived in the United States can become the captain of the fleet that everyone envies, and even his uncle, who has always looked down on him, immediately moved from San Francisco to Hawaii to settle down after hearing about it.

Of course. As a captain, like all captains, his biggest dream is to be able to lead a battleship, but he also knows that becoming a battleship captain is not a simple matter, not only requires qualifications and military merits, but also requires years of accumulation, so doing his job well is the first thing.

It's just that he didn't expect that the chief of staff would suddenly transfer him back at this time? Could it be that you have made a mistake recently?

Just as he was pondering, he was worried about it, the door that had been closed for a long time was suddenly pushed open, and the chief of staff and the commander walked in at the same time, so frightened that he hurriedly got up and saluted.

"Sit down."

Seeing Qin Shou's nervous face, Chen Ping hurriedly patted him on the shoulder, and Long Guozhang also smiled and joked: "Tell me honestly, have you done something wrong recently?" Targeted by our chief of staff? ”

"Fuck off!" Chen Ping almost wanted to smash the document in his hand on Long Guozhang's face, and hurriedly said, "Don't listen to his nonsense, sit down." The chief of staff and the commander joked, Qin Shou didn't dare to mix blindly, scratched his head and smiled, and sat down.

"Do you feel like it's a bit sudden?" After taking a seat, Chen Ping spread out the documents in his hand and looked the young captain up and down with Long Guozhang.

To be honest, being able to become a captain at the age of twenty-six, in addition to Simmons' recommendation, is inseparable from his own efforts, although he is not the kind of genius commander, but he has a solid style, bold thinking, and courage in doing things, especially the heart of being able to endure hardships and be willing to start from the bottom, which is the main reason why he entered the eyes of the General Staff.

Seeing that the commander and chief of staff had been looking at him, Qin Shou's heart trembled even more, and he couldn't help but swallow his saliva quietly. Long Guozhang smiled when he saw this, took out a cigar and lit it before solemnly saying, "Qin Shou, have you heard of submarines?" ”

"Submarines?" Qin Shou thought for a moment before he said, "Is it the kind of submarine that can dive underwater?" I heard that the French are working on this, and I also listened to it, but I don't know about the rest. ”

"Yes, that's it."

"Let's see." Chen Ping pushed the document in his hand in front of Qin Shou and said, "I transferred you back this time for the submarine you said." We intend to form a new submarine force, with you as the commander. ”

"Me? Commander! Qin Shou's eyes suddenly lit up, but soon dimmed again, and the corners of his mouth collapsed slightly: "Chief of Staff, Commander, I don't understand submarines?" ”

"It doesn't matter if you understand it or not." Long Guozhang held his cigar and said slowly: "I don't understand either, but if you don't understand, you can learn." Now that the first submarine developed by the Armament Department is about to be launched for testing, we need not only a tester, but also a person who can lead the soldiers, find out how to use the submarine, and become the commander of the submarine force in the future. ”

"That's you." Chen Ping took over the conversation, and suddenly pointed his finger at Qin Shou.

Qin Shou looked at the detailed submarine information in his hand, his heart beat violently, and even Long Guozhang's words were almost not heard clearly, until the chief of staff pointed a finger at himself, he came to his senses, and said with some hesitation: "Commander, chief of staff, do you mean to let me lead the submarine force?" ”

"Yes. But....... Chen Ping nodded, paused for a moment and continued: "But that also depends on your own performance, we just want to give you a chance." ”

"It's all men running horses at sea, let's say, do it or not." Long Guozhang took a puff of his cigar and stared at Qin Shou's face and said.

Pinching the document, looking at the detailed data on it, it is false to say that he does not hesitate, after all, he is now the captain of a destroyer, and if he behaves well, he may be able to lead a cruiser or even a battleship in the future, but compared with the captain, this information in his hand brings him two worlds!

Qin Shou is not a fool, although he doesn't know much about submarines, it doesn't affect his general judgment, a new kind of warship, an opportunity to rise to the commander's position and become the core of the fleet!

Fight!

"I'll do it!" After saying this, Qin Shou seemed to feel that the whole person was relaxed, even Long Guozhang smiled, glanced at each other with Chen Ping and said: "You go to find it yourself, the second officer of each ship and the officer are at your disposal, there are a total of sixty places, we only have one request, pull up the team as soon as possible, and prepare to receive the first submarine." ”

"Yes!" Qin Shou saluted.

"Okay, Lao Long sign the document, our submarine force is about to open." Chen Ping quickly signed his name from the result document in Qin Shou's hand, which also means that the formation of the submarine force has taken effect.

"Qin Shou, beast ....... I said, your name is ......, interesting! Long Guozhang took the document and was just about to sign and approve it, when he suddenly read Qin Shou's name twice and laughed.

The laughter made Qin Shou, who had just become the commander of the submarine force, full of black lines, and he was eager to snatch the thick cigar and then step on it hard. Even Chen Ping, who was next to him, was amused and said with a smile: "Coincidentally, the young master said that the submarine is the sea wolf that will be potential underwater in the future and crisscross the ocean!" Aren't they a bunch of beasts?! ”

Sea wolf!

Qin Shou's eyes lit up.

(To be continued)