Chapter 251 New Ship Launched
After Ning Qi listened to Tao Donglai's words, he quickly calmed down from his initial excitement. No matter how good this place is, Cam Ranh Bay is still under the control of others. If the Crossing Group wants to occupy it, it must first have enough strength. Even if Cam Ranh Bay could be brought over in the name of joint development using a cooperation method similar to that with North Vietnam, sufficient resources would have to be invested in its preliminary construction.
The Tushan Peninsula that Chuanchuan Group half coaxed and half deceived into the Beibu Gulf is not large in area, and the terrain is easy to defend but difficult to attack. In addition, the labor force and materials can be supplemented nearby, so the difficulty of construction and development cannot be said to be particularly great. At present, military depots, material warehouses and simple docks have been built locally, and nearly a hundred military personnel and almost the same number of civilians are stationed there. The military training business jointly organized with the North Vietnamese Zheng family has completed the first phase of construction, and the first batch of Three hundred trainees also began receiving training from Haihan military advisors ten days ago.
But for the development of places like Cam Ranh Bay, it is difficult to completely copy the experience of Tushan Peninsula, because the area of this place is too large. The inner harbor alone has dozens of square kilometers of sea surface. If you want to ensure that this The security of a place cannot be achieved by stationing a small number of military personnel like the Doshan Peninsula. Moreover, the local harbor formed by two peninsulas is actually very similar to Victory Port - only by erecting powerful coastal defense guns at the narrowest part of the harbor can the port be truly safe. At present, the coastal defense artillery fortifications in the base camp are still in the construction stage. The coastal defense artillery has just been finalized and the number of artillery is seriously insufficient. No matter from any aspect, it is unlikely to build large-scale coastal defense artillery fortifications at overseas bases in the short term.
There are no special minerals in the area, and it is also impossible to build it as an industrial base like Black Earth Port. According to later data, the only valuable mineral raw material in the Jinlan Bay area is silica sand ore. This stuff can be widely used in the production of glass, ceramics and metallurgical industry. But the problem is that Wenchang and Danzhou in Hainan both have silica sand production areas. The reserves are not small, and there is no need for the Cross-Travel Group to sacrifice the near for the distant.
"Cam Ranh Bay can be listed as one of the strategic points to pay attention to in the future, but there is no need to rush to occupy it in the near future. Even if Champa gives us that place, we will not be able to devote enough resources to development now." Tao Donglai made a conclusion about Cam Ranh Bay: "We can first establish a trade relationship with Champa, and then try to convince the other party to let us set up a commercial terminal for cargo transfer in Cam Ranh Bay, and then slowly expand it. Scale.”
"Sell arms to them?" Ning Qi blurted out.
"I would like to sell, but there is nothing to sell recently!" Tao Donglai rarely showed a sad expression: "The production capacity of the military industry department is not enough! There are still unfinished orders in Fujian and North Vietnam, and the militia Expansion also requires additional weapons and equipment. The production speed of arms cannot keep up with the consumption speed, and there is no inventory in the warehouse to sell to Champa.”
"Can't we let the military industry department speed up production?" Ning Qi was very puzzled by this behavior of not doing business.
"We have been working in three shifts for a long time. The problem is that we have no skilled workers at all. Almost all workers only started to receive production training after entering the production workshop. If you think about it, the craftsmanship of making guns only takes a few hours. Can you train it? Every time I talk about speeding up production, the scrap rate rises sharply. Have you ever been to Tian Du’s military factory? The scrapped parts are piled up like a mountain. How can the military industry achieve the current output? Those people have worked very hard." From the dual standpoints of the Military and Police Department and the Industrial Party, Tao Donglai had to defend the military industry department.
"Hire more workers..." Ning Qi felt it was inappropriate only halfway through his words and stopped himself.
The military industry department is no better than other units. It does not mean that naturalized civilians with physical strength and obedience will be qualified. This is a real technical department, and people with stupid minds will definitely not be able to get in. This one has already eliminated quite a few people. labor. Moreover, because military technology is involved, there are also certain requirements for workers' "political background." Only naturalized citizens who come from poor backgrounds and have a positive view and gratitude towards the Crossing Group can be qualified to become workers in the military industry. In addition, these people have signed employment agreements for at least ten years. During this period, they cannot leave the areas controlled by the Crossing Group for any personal reasons. This is also to ensure that the technical advantages of the Crossing Group in military technology are not leaked.
With various conditions restricted, the selection of labor in the military industry department is not that easy. Each time the list of naturalized laborers is transferred from Ning Qi, they can finally pass the review and become the official technical workers of the military industry department. Less than one tenth. From a certain perspective, the military industry department is even more stringent in selecting personnel than the military and police department in selecting militiamen. This situation is reflected in the expansion of arms production capacity, and the effect is even more minimal. If we want to expand production capacity, we can only hope that the group of industrial workers will gradually increase. There is no need to rush.
"I'll have a good talk with Zhan Gui later to see if he can be used for us. We can't sell arms now, but we can sell other things! We opened such a large salt farm, isn't it just to expand our reach in all directions? Selling salt?" Tao Donglai didn't seem to be very concerned about being unable to sell arms for the time being, because the Cross-Travel Group still had salt as a tried-and-true stepping stone.
Although the salt orders currently received by Chuanchuan Group have exceeded the monthly supply of 200,000 kilograms, the executive committee is no longer worried that this output cannot be completed. With the completion of the renovation of the Shengli Port Salt Farm and the development of the Tielugang Salt Farm, salt production is expected to achieve a step-by-step leap in the next two to three months, from the previous monthly output of 100,000 to 120,000 jins to 400,000 jins. More than kilograms. Anxi optimistically stated in the project report to the Executive Committee that when the first anniversary is reached in April next year, the total output of the two salt farms is expected to exceed ten tons per day, which translates into a monthly output of approximately 600,000 kilograms - —This has exceeded the combined production capacity of all Daming salt fields in Fujian and Guangdong provinces plus Qiongzhou Island.
The price of private salt sold by Chuanchuan Group to the outside world is extremely low. The wholesale price obtained by first-class agents such as Luo Shengdong and "Furuifeng" from Shengli Port is about 100 yuan per ton, which is almost only 60% of the market price in Ming Dynasty. One-eighth to one-eighth. This price seems very low, but the executive committee has been aiming at small profits but quick turnover from the beginning, leaving generous profit margins for agents so that they can develop more sub-agents in their respective regions. , and can use lower selling prices to seize the market share of official salt. Moreover, although the wholesale price is very low, the production cost is even lower, which is more than enough to maintain the operation of the salt field and feed the salt field workers.
The Executive Committee does not expect to make a lot of money from the private salt business, because there are various other high value-added industrial products on hand that can fulfill the task of making profits. The main purpose of running a private salt business is actually to expand business routes. To put it bluntly, it is to pave the way for future sales channels for industrial products. As long as dealers enjoy the benefits of the initial private salt business, their acceptance of future Haihan industrial products will also increase a lot, which can save a lot of effort in building local sales channels for Haihan products.
According to the information currently available to the Executive Committee, salt production in "backward areas" like Champa is still in the primitive stage of boiling salt, and its production efficiency and production costs are far behind those of the Chuan Chuan Group. If the Chuan Chuan Group intends to If we want to bring this business into the local area, we will definitely be able to easily gain a competitive advantage in terms of price. And Boss Zhan, who claims to be familiar with the situation in Champa, seems to be the best agent candidate at the moment.
So when Zhan Gui left Victory Port and headed south three days later, there were five thousand kilograms of Haihan refined salt on the ship. Because the situation in Champa was unclear, the Executive Committee did not send a ship to accompany it, nor did it send a group of travelers to travel on Zhan Gui's ship. It only sent a few naturalized civilian crew members to board the ship to let them confirm the voyage first. and the condition of Champa. Of course, Zhan Gui has also received a promise from the Executive Committee. If everything goes well and the private salt trade window in Champa can be opened, then from now on he can serve as Haihan’s only designated agent for the private salt trade in Champa and monopolize this embarrassing business. Called a profitable business.
In mid-November, the two Daguang ships originally ordered by He Xi at the shipyard in Qiongzhou Fucheng were finally delivered for use. For this purpose, the Executive Committee also sent a team composed of the Military Police Department and the Shipping Department, as well as dozens of returnees. A team of Huamin sailors went north to pick up the ship, and made a wide circle to the west of Hainan Island, recruiting a group of laborers in Danzhou and transporting them back to Victory Port. Just a few months ago, in Danzhou, a large number of civilians were requisitioned to the mainland to participate in quelling the She'an Rebellion. There was a serious shortage of labor in the coal mines, which led to a sharp rise in coal prices across the island. It also forced the Chuanchuan Group to advance its coal supply in order to maintain a stable coal supply. The colonization operation of Black Earth Port was launched. But after just a few months, the situation in the She'an Rebellion was extremely favorable to the Ming Dynasty. A large number of civilians began to return to their places of origin. At this time, Danzhou's lignite had become a slow-selling commodity - almost all of Yazhou in the south was using it. The company has developed “Haihan coal” with lower price and higher calorific value.
Many coal mines with insufficient capital closed down immediately after two or three consecutive months of sluggish market conditions. As a result, miners who originally belonged to small local coal mines began to experience large-scale unemployment. The local government seriously lacked guidance to guide employment. effective measures. The Executive Committee, which learned this information from Danzhou merchants, would not miss this opportunity and immediately increased the speed of introducing immigrants from Danzhou accordingly.
November 25, 1627, October 18th, the seventh year of the Great Ming Dynasty, was a memorable day for the Traveling Group. Later Western historians even called this day "the beginning of the Eastern Dragon becoming the overlord of the sea." Because the Maritime Transport Department spent several months integrating various advanced concepts to build the first test ship, it was finally launched on this day for sea trials.
All the executive committee members in Victory Port attended this significant launching ceremony, and several units stationed abroad also sent congratulatory messages via radio, expressing their best wishes for the smooth progress of the launching ceremony. The shipyard specially built a colorful shed for this purpose and placed many red cloth flags. Paper colorful flowers were also tied on the pointed bow of the test ship, creating a festive atmosphere.
Tao Donglai and other executive committee members and heads of various units involved in the development shook hands one by one and expressed their gratitude and congratulations to them. Zhang Tiangui, the director of the naturalized civilian shipbuilder who received such "high-level treatment" for the first time, was so excited that he almost gave The executive committee members knelt down. In fact, during the development process of this ship, except for the Ministry of Agriculture and a few logistics units, almost all departments were directly or indirectly involved in the development and construction of this ship. Therefore, the launch ceremony caused The attention is also extremely high, no less than the grand occasion when the Black Earth Port colonization fleet set off.
In addition to attracting a large number of local people to the port to watch, the executive committee also specially invited some outside observers to participate in the ceremony. For example, Li Nai who is still staying in Victory Port, Zhan Gui who just returned to Victory Port from Champa yesterday, Wei Xin inspecting the Yulin Inspection Department who has performed well recently, and Luo Sheng who specially led the fleet from Yazhou to express his congratulations. Boss Dong Luo. And this time Luo Shengdong didn't come empty-handed. He very "considerately" sent 30 little girls to the crossing group, and attached a deed of betrayal, which cost more than a thousand taels of silver. Of course, no one in the executive committee dared to keep this gift for themselves, so they quickly changed hands and threw this hot potato to Ning Qi - placing these little lolita, the oldest of whom was less than fourteen years old, in school first, and waiting for them to come back. Find an opportunity to discuss how to deal with this "trouble."
Luo Shengdong is not a layman like Li Nai. Out of professional sensitivity, after getting permission from the Executive Committee, he will go to the shipyard to see the construction progress of the test ship almost every time he comes to Victory Port. It can be said that this The ship didn't hold many secrets for him. At most, he couldn't understand some of the technical details. Therefore, his understanding of the ship was much deeper than that of Li Nai and others.
Luo Shengdong was completely impressed by Haihan's ability to build ships and his whimsical ideas in design. Especially the shape of the bow, the steering wheel system and the design of the mast rigging made Luo Shengdong applaud. But at the same time, Luo Shengdong also knew very well that most of these advanced shipbuilding technologies could not be replicated in the Ming Dynasty, because the hull reinforcements, mechanical transmission devices and thick hollow steel masts made of fine steel were not What the craftsmen of the Ming Dynasty could only imagine - even if you see the actual objects, it is difficult to imagine how the Haihan people made these parts.
Luo Shengdong believed that the only thing that Ming shipbuilders could imitate was the sail made by the Haihan people. However, he also heard from people in the Ministry of Shipping that there was not a large enough sail area. Even if the traditional Chinese hard sail was Changed to this "Haihan sail", the actual effect on sailing is still very limited. If you want to increase the sail area, the ultra-high hollow stainless steel mast used by the Haihan people seems to be the only solution, so the only possibility Copying the technical details can only lead to a dead end.
Regarding the actual performance of this test boat, Luo Shengdong was full of expectations but also very conflicted. On the one hand, he wanted to see how much better the sailboat that the Haihan people spent so much resources to build than the sailboats of this dynasty. , On the other hand, the Haihan people's growing strength at sea also made him feel a faint sense of panic. Luo Shengdong is not one of those officials in the temple who can only talk nonsense. He has been in the Navy for many years and has a very intuitive understanding of the importance of sea control. The ship built by the Haihan people is obviously not just for carrying cargo. Just cargo and immigrants - no civilian ship will be equipped with so many artillery, no, not even the warships of the Ming Navy have such strong firepower!
After the Haihan people gain control of the sea, will they still be as harmless as they are now and just focus on making money and doing business? Luo Shengdong didn't even have the slightest confidence in this guess, but he really couldn't muster the courage to question the Haihan people face to face - if the Haihan people really wanted to rebel and do something, then the cliff closest to Victory Port The state navy was the first unlucky target!
"No matter what, we need to see the performance of Haihan's new ship first before we can decide whether our future attitude will be war or..." Luo Shengdong thought silently in his mind, trying not to think about the worst possibility. He really couldn't imagine the Yazhou Navy's pile of tattered wood dealing with the Haihan gunboats at sea, and he could only hope that this day would never come.
Li Nai's perspective on this matter was different from that of Luo Shengdong. Although he didn't quite understand the technical advantages of the Haihan people's ship, judging from the Haihan people's cautious attitude, the ship's Going into the water has a special meaning for them. With the construction capabilities of the Haihan people, Li Nai has no doubt that in the next few years, the Victory Port Shipyard will flood the ground with a large number of such ships like dumplings. Moreover, the Haihan people can even build large iron ships that are dozens of feet long. It seems to be a foreseeable trend to build bigger and bigger ships in the future.
Tao Donglai raised his hand to check the time and said to Yue Zhiyun: "Let's start!"
"Mr. Tao, why don't you say something?" Yue Zhiyun asked in surprise. Usually on such occasions, the leader will say a few words casually, summarizing the past and looking forward to the future. As long as everyone works hard, there will be candy.
Tao Donglai smiled slightly and said: "Those who understand the meaning of this ship to our collective will naturally understand it, and those who do not understand do not need to explain... Is the launching ceremony with Chinese characteristics just a speech by the leader? We should use facts Come and talk!”
Yue Zhiyun nodded vigorously, and then walked onto the slipway with Sun Changmi. As the leaders in the development and construction of this ship, they were given the important task of cutting the ribbon by the executive committee. The two of them took out the sabers from their waists, exchanged glances, and then swung their sabers together to cut off the red silk hanging in front of the bow from one side to the other. The deafening sound of firecrackers sounded immediately. Several strong cattle were driven by the civilians to move forward slowly, pulling the winch, and then the 32-meter-long wooden sailing ship was slowly pulled by several pulling ropes connected to the winch. Get out of the slipway and slowly slide towards the sea along the slide rails laid on the ground.
(End of chapter)