June 10.

The inner harbor of the Harbour City, the shipyard, inside two large military docks.

"Open the floodgates and release the water!"

As many as four ironclad warships were completed and launched at the same time today, and will soon carry out sea trials and enter service with the naval fleet.

It was announced that the number of ironclad warships owned by the Xu Navy would increase from twelve to sixteen, and that there would be four more every six months in the future, doubling the output than before, and doubling the growth rate of the strength of the Xu Navy.

And that's just the development of military vessels.

The production of the civilian 'Marine Type 1' steam cargo ship has now increased to one ship every ten days and 36 ships a year.

Not long ago, the number of ship-1 steam cargo ships exceeded 100, and the annual cargo capacity increased to 5 million tons.

But it's still a little insufficient.

Therefore, the no-load displacement of about 2,200 tons, made of steel keel + wooden hull, driven by two three-cylinder steam engines, can be transported in modular containers, and the maximum load can reach 5,000 tons.

The only drawback is that the economic speed has dropped to about fifteen knots.

However, with the rapid development of naval and civilian shipping, it has also brought a problem.

That is the lack of talent.

In particular, professionals such as seafarers, sailors, and navigators are in short supply every year, and there is a talent gap.

Although from the Zheng family in Fujian, a large number of Fujian sailors were recruited.

Although the Navigation Academy was established, thousands of qualified seafarers were trained every year.

Even some of the captured sailors of the West, who had learned Chinese, were recruited and allowed to serve on sea cargo ships, numbering about two thousand.

Even with all the measures taken, there is still not enough talent at sea.

After all, the warships and cargo ships of this era were not the kind of highly automated modern ships, as long as a dozen seafarers were enough, in the late Ming Dynasty, taking the maritime Type 1 cargo ship as an example, there were nearly 20 boiler workers on the ship to shovel coal, 30 or 40 ordinary sailors, 30 or 40 escorts, plus repairmen, navigators, radio liaisons, cooks, cleaners, etc., a total of 100 people.

In the case of a traditional sailing ship, there are dozens of sailors who control the sails alone, and the crew is even larger.

Therefore, at present, running boats at sea is a talent-intensive industry.

Therefore, the senior management of Xujiazhuang, after some discussion, made the decision to "train 50,000 professional sailors within three years", which will increase resource investment, improve the attractiveness of treatment, and completely solve the problem of insufficient talents.

Besides!

The decision to expand the navy by 20,000 was also made - mainly the Marine Corps, because the number of marines of 20,000 was a bit insufficient, even if there were innocent troops from all over the country as auxiliary forces, but with the increase in the number of ports controlled by Xujiazhuang, the number of indigenous forces facing more and more will increase, and the risk and probability of conflict will increase, and over time, it may be overstretched.

It is extremely necessary to expand the army by 20,000 and increase the number of marines to 40,000.

Nature.

After the announcement of the expansion of the Marine Corps recruitment.

Inside Xujiazhuang, the response was not very enthusiastic, and there were not many young people who signed up, and only 10,000 people passed the assessment.

Although the Marines are more difficult, they often have to travel thousands of miles overseas to perform tasks, and they can't return home several times a year, but the welfare is too attractive and is an opportunity to change fate.

For example, the whole family is allowed to settle in Xujiazhuang.

Annual income of not less than 300 silver dollars.

There are two months of vacation every year.

and other benefits and so on.

Enthusiastically.

The young people of Daming who applied for the application were extremely enthusiastic, and there was a scene of dozens of people competing for a place.

By mid-June.

After the recruitment was completed, they began to participate in a three-month recruit training in the naval barracks southeast of Harbour City.

The expansion of the Marine Corps has naturally led to the transfer of a number of naval officers and the rise in ranks.

Zhang Fugui, the former commander of the first battalion of the first brigade of the Marine Corps, is now also promoted because of his outstanding performance in all aspects, and has become the brigade commander of the fifth brigade of the Marine Corps, and the number of officers and men under his command has increased to more than 5,000 people.

……

Navy barracks, next to the military community, single-family villa No. 19.

At the end of last year, he took his wife Tong Xiuer, a son and a daughter, and hired a nanny, and then moved in to live a more comfortable and rich life.

His wife, Tong Xiuer, also quit her job, and in the future, she will concentrate on taking care of her children at home and be a housewife.

In addition, the adoptive parents of the collective estate No. 31 would occasionally come to visit, help with the housework, or send back some souvenirs from there.

There are also four younger sisters who make Zhang Fugui more concerned, and now they all have quite a good life.

The eldest sister Zhang Daya married a chef with superb cooking skills, and then resigned from her job in the public canteen, and opened a restaurant with her husband, the business is very prosperous, she can earn thousands of silver dollars every year, and she has become a successful proprietor, but her body is a little fat, and she is developing towards nearly two hundred catties, and she is even more ruthless, hoping that her brother Zhang Fugui will help, take her into the barracks, participate in extremely hard recruit training, and want to lose the fat of her body, but the business in the store is too busy, and it will slowly disappear.

The second sister Zhang Erya has not worked in the duck factory for a long time, but relied on the funds provided by her brother Zhang Fugui to set up her own chicken and duck factory, but her breeding technology is average, the survival rate of chickens and ducks is not high, the breeding scale is small, and she earns three or five hundred silver dollars a year, and occasionally loses money, in addition, she is also married, and recruited a tall and handsome son-in-law outside Xujiazhuang, who is very good to her, and she is also hardworking and capable, so even if she is not very rich, but she is also very happy.

The third sister Zhang Sanya is sixteen years old this year, and soon after graduating from primary school, she found a job as a factory clerk and served an iron rice bowl, and she saw that the second sister's life was so happy, and she also moved the idea of recruiting a handsome and diligent son-in-law who was good to her, and her parents expressed their support for this.

The youngest sister Zhang Siya (formerly known as Siya), is a seedling of study, and was admitted to middle school with excellent results, and her future plan is to be admitted to university and become a scientific and technological worker, and her future is even brighter.

Although these family members now go their own ways and have their own careers, and it is rare to reunite and get together several times a year, Zhang Fugui is still very pleased and satisfied, and feels that it can be called the word 'consummation', and there is no need to be too demanding.

At six o'clock in the afternoon, we will finish today's recruit training.

Back home.

"Sir is back." In the living room, Aunt Lian, a nanny who was taking care of her two children, was busy bowing to him slightly.

"Husband, you're back."

Tong Xiu'er, who has a half-sized belly and is pregnant with three children, is busy in the kitchen, she holds a spoon in her hand, cooks a pot of delicious seafood soup, and frees her hands, carefully and gently, to help the man take off the sweaty military uniform jacket.

"No, I'll go take a shower first."

Zhang Fugui shook his head, went to the bathroom to take a big shower, washed away the smell of sweat on his body, and changed into a set of home casual clothes.

Then sit down at the dining table in the dining room and start eating today's dinner.

By the way, we also talked about some topics.

"Husband, how is my brother's performance in the army? Have you been punished today? ”

Tong Xiu'er asked with concern, she has a seventeen-year-old younger brother, named Tong Daxing, who is quite stubborn, and the village where her mother's family is located is remote, and it has not been incorporated into the Xu family manor, and she has not changed much over the years, she is still poor, and Tong Xiu'er misses her mother's family, sends money and things every year, and slowly helps her mother's family up and gets rid of poverty.

It's kind of a back door.

"It's okay, under my key care, this kid is doing okay today, and he hasn't been punished."

Zhang Fugui smiled slightly and said, although Tong Daxing is stubborn, he has an advantage, that is, he has a sweet mouth and can pat on the back, every time he sees him, he is a 'brother-in-law and brother-in-law', Zhang Fugui likes this kid very much.

But the army is not a place to talk about human feelings!

Zhang Fugui helped him open the back door, and if the fair system is broken, then he must have stricter requirements to train Tong Daxing to be better in order to make up for the damage caused to fairness.

So the recent recruit training period was a nightmare for Tong Daxing.

The request to live in the villa of the brother-in-law's house was denied.

The idea of wanting to be taken care of by my brother-in-law was indeed satisfied, but who knew that it was the care of being often doubled on the training ground.

If you make a mistake, you will be punished more and more severely, and you will be stared at by Zhang Fugui every day, as if you are tortured by the devil, so that Tong Daxing has many times that if he didn't come in through the back door, he would definitely be more relaxed, and he felt very regretful.

But he also knows that his brother-in-law is for his good, in order to be able to convince the public, if his performance is not good, the most humiliating is his brother-in-law Zhang Fugui, not himself, so Tong Daxing did not have resentment in his heart, he can only work harder, after passing the most difficult stage in the early stage, he has now basically adapted, and has received a lot of praise and recognition, and people have gradually grown and matured, with a sense of responsibility and responsibility, as if reborn.

"That's good, then I'll be relieved."

Tong Xiu'er nodded, breathing a sigh of relief, and at the same time hoped that her younger brother would be more competitive, so that she would have an explanation to her parents, and she would not feel difficult in the middle.