Chapter 965 Preparations
"Dang - Dang - Dang -" As a sound of metal knocking sounded, indicating the end of work and a break, the shipwrights left their workstations one after another and came to the dining area to receive their meals. Although it was getting dark at this time, they could not just go home from get off work. The new ship currently under construction has entered the final outfitting stage, and according to the schedule, it needs to be delivered to the military before April 1 so that It can appear in the naval parade of the celebration. All personnel responsible for the project at the shipyard could only adjust their work arrangements and work overtime every day in order to complete the construction task before the time limit.
This ship is the sixth ship of the Majestic class battleship. The previous five ships were all built and launched at the Victory Port Shipyard. The construction speed of six ships in four years is not particularly fast, but if you consider that during this period There are also two levels of exploration class, a total of more than 40 warships, more than ten comprehensive supply ships and several light reconnaissance ships have been launched into service. The ability of the Victory Port Shipyard to build military ships can indeed be regarded as the best in the Far East in this era. A leader in the region.
Compared with the previous five battleships of the same type, this sixth Majesty-class battleship has been improved to varying degrees in many aspects. The power and transmission devices of the steam propulsion system have been replaced with the latest models. The propulsion power converted by thermal energy It has been increased by 30% on the original basis, and the top speed will also be increased accordingly. The number of artillery pieces equipped on the ship has been reduced, but the new guns have been upgraded in terms of range and accuracy, and will have stronger combat effectiveness. In addition, this is also the first ship in the Haihan Navy to be fully equipped with explosive ammunition. This expensive new artillery shell will cause great trouble to the future enemies of this battleship. According to calculations by the military industry department, the lethality of this kind of artillery shell in actual combat is at least five times that of the old solid artillery shells. In particular, the effect of bombarding the artillery deck and waterline of the opponent's ship will far exceed that of the currently used solid artillery shells. Cannonballs.
In addition, the designer originally planned to cover the sides of the middle section of the ship with a layer of iron armor to enhance the protection of the artillery deck. However, judging from the current progress of the project, it is estimated that it will be difficult to complete this part before the celebration. The construction task is over, and we can only wait until the celebration is over before returning to the shipyard for additional installation.
At present, the slipway and dock of Victory Port Shipyard are basically fully booked with orders until the end of next year. However, in the near future, this tense situation is expected to be resolved with the gradual commissioning of Zhoushan Shipyard, Kaohsiung Shipyard and Cam Ranh Port Shipyard. get relief. In the planning of the Ministry of Shipping, these shipyards will have the ability to maintain and build Majesty-class warships in the future. Of course, the artillery and key steam propulsion systems, steering wheel systems, etc. equipped on the battleships still need to be manufactured in Sanya and then transported to the local assembly for assembly. On the one hand, this is done because of the limited production capacity of the industrial sector, and on the other hand, it is also to maintain Sanya's control over various places and try to avoid the chaos of armed separatism after the Haihan territory expands to a certain extent.
The overtime meals provided by the shipyard are actually quite good. Two meat and two vegetarian meals are enough. For foremen, technicians and higher-level cadres, their meals are better. The most important thing is that they are free. This is suitable for those who need to go out after get off work. For a single person who just eats out or cooks something to fill his stomach, staying in the factory and working overtime is not necessarily a bad thing. Not only can he save money on meals, but he can also get overtime pay based on time.
Although Zhang Tiangui is now the general consultant of Shengli Port Shipyard, he still stays in the factory and works overtime like ordinary workers. However, his food standard is naturally much better than that of his subordinates. He eats the same special meals as the chief. Usually there is not much work that requires him to do it himself. Generally, he only needs to move his mouth, and his disciples will naturally understand the technical issues. Take care of it. He will only be busy for a while when discussing the shipbuilding plan with several senior officials of the Shipping Department.
Zhang Tiangui's eldest son, Zhang Qianren, is currently the director of Haihan's office in Quanzhou. His second son, Zhang Qianxiang, is the newly appointed director of Zhoushan Shipyard. His youngest son, Zhang Qianzhi, is a senior cadre of the Security Department. Only the third and fourth sons are still with him. By his side, he helped him take care of his apprentices and manage shipyard affairs. However, Zhang Tiangui has already reported to the superiors and applied for assignments for his two sons. He hopes that the Ministry of Shipping can arrange for them to work in the shipyards of Kaohsiung Port and Cam Ranh Port. With the experience they accumulated at the Victory Port Shipyard, they can basically stand alone when going to these newly opened shipyards.
Zhang Tiangui has made a very clear calculation. With Haihan's expansion speed and method, if he sticks to Sanya, he will only become a technocrat in the future. But if he can allow his sons to go out and spread their wings, the Zhang family will be able to expand in the future. Even if one of them does not develop well enough, the others still have the opportunity to move up, and they will not all be stuck in Sanya competing for limited resources. Whether you go into politics, do business, or continue to work in shipbuilding, you will definitely have more opportunities than you do now.
His view is also echoed by his younger son Zhang Qianzhi. Zhang Qianzhi has been working with the time traveler since the establishment of the Guangdong Guangdong Office. His vision and thinking are closer to those of the time traveler, and the level of information he understands is also far away. More than his father's generation, he knew more or less what kind of long-term plans the chiefs had. As long as the old Zhang family can seize the opportunity in the past few years, they will definitely be one of the founding heroes of the Haihan Dynasty in the future. Not to mention the unfashionable Haihan rules of conferring kings and titles, but becoming a high official of a party, or Being above the court, you have a great chance. In the future, the glory and wealth of our descendants may fall on these two generations. During this period, it was indeed an excellent strategy for the Zhang family's long-term prospects to send several brothers of the Zhang family to various places for development.
Zhang Tiangui is also accustomed to calling his youngest son to discuss any major issues. However, Zhang Qianzhi seems to be busy with official duties recently and rarely returns home. Zhang Tiangui has not seen him for several days. In the upcoming founding ceremony of the People's Republic of China, Zhang Tiangui also wanted to hear the opinions of his youngest son, who was usually the most insightful, on what he should do and what he should pay attention to as a naturalized backbone.
"Lao Zhang, let's eat!"
As soon as Zhang Tiangui heard the greeting from behind, his butt immediately bounced off the stool: "Minister Yue is here! Oh, Minister Sun is here too!"
The visitors were none other than Yue Zhiyun and Sun Changmi, the two bosses of the Shipping Department. After they asked Zhang Tiangui to sit down, Yue Zhiyun said: "At this point in the meeting, I was already very hungry. Fortunately, they reminded me. I think the shipyard is putting out food at this time, so I thought I might as well come back here to eat and take a look at the progress here.”
Zhang Tiangui knew very well what Yue Zhiyun meant by "progress". He didn't care about eating at the moment and quickly reported the work: "The installation of the sail rigging has started today, and it is expected to be completed in three to four working days. But the installation of the artillery in the cabin is still a little troublesome. The new artillery base is a little inconsistent with our previous gun position, and it will take some time to modify..."
It wasn't until the cooking team served Yue and Sun two hot meals that Zhang Tiangui took the initiative to write a paragraph of his report so as not to affect the two leaders' meal.
"The construction period will not delay the delivery to the military, right?" Sun Changmi asked: "During the meeting just now, Mr. Yan and Commander Wang specifically asked about this matter. There is only one majestic-class warship in Victory Port. Stop, the Navy still hopes that this new ship will be able to participate in the inspection.”
"Please rest assured, chief, as long as the fine weather can be maintained recently and sudden rainfall does not affect the outfitting, it will be completed by early March at the latest, and more than half a month will be left to debug the ship." Zhang Tiangui is confident. Full response.
The first five Majesty-class battleships were all supervised by him on the front line. He has a relatively clear concept in his mind about the construction process and required construction period of such battleships. Although the construction details of this sixth ship have changed, the construction period required is basically within the controllable range. The shipyard has arranged for workers to work overtime every night during the recent period, just to ensure that more time can be left to complete the final construction and debugging work before delivery to the military.
"With Lao Zhang keeping an eye on us, we will definitely feel at ease." Sun Changmi opened a bottle of wine, poured a glass out and handed it to Zhang Tiangui. Zhang Tiangui quickly declined and said: "The chief can't help me, I have to work later."
Sun Changmi slapped his forehead and said: "I'm used to having a drink with you after work, but I forgot that I have overtime arrangements now. Forget it, let's wait until the ship is completed, and then I'll ask you to take care of yourself. ”
"By the way, Lao Zhang, this time your youngest has made a meritorious service again!" Yue Zhiyun said while chewing crispy peanuts: "During the meeting today, Mr. Tao praised him by name for his meritorious service and outstanding performance in handling the case. .”
Zhang Tiangui asked: "No wonder he hasn't been home much these days. I'm still wondering what the hell he is busy with outside... Is he handling a big case this time?"
"Just the two murder cases a few days ago!" Yue Zhiyun said: "He didn't even mention it to you?"
Zhang Tiangui shook his head and said: "I wasn't there when he came home. He wasn't there when I came home, so I couldn't touch him at all. The murder case... was it the case of the corpse floating on the dock last month?"
"That's right, that's the case." Yue Zhiyun nodded and said, "Your youngest is a member of the task force this time. It is said that after solving the case this time, the investigators will receive corresponding rewards, and I am afraid they will be promoted again!"
Zhang Tiangui didn't believe Yue Zhiyun's ridicule: "If this murder case can be solved, it should be mostly due to the police. My youngest is not from the Ministry of Justice. At most, he is just doing odd jobs. How can he be rewarded based on his merits?" He has many things.”
"Hehe, you don't know this..." Yue Zhiyun wanted to say something, but he shrank back in the middle of his words: "It's not convenient to talk about the case publicly, so you should ask your youngest in person later! ”
One of the contents of the meeting Yue Zhiyun and Sun Changmi attended at Fort Victory before their arrival was the briefing on the Spanish spy case that occurred a few days ago. There was no direct participation of time travelers in the investigation of this case. It was all led by several naturalized cadres. The result was quite satisfactory, and their performance was highly praised by Ren Liang and Hao Wanqing at the meeting. . The most rare thing is that among the three people who took charge of the case, Fu Li and Zhang Qianzhi were both young men in their twenties, but they had already demonstrated strong professional abilities during the investigation of the case. This also fully proved that Haihan The results achieved in the past few years in the training of young naturalized personnel.
However, regarding the inside story of this espionage case, Haihan’s internal report and external publicity are completely different. Although there is no doubt about the loyalty of Zhang Tiangui’s family, it is not a big deal to let him know the inside story, but talking about the case in such a public place It was indeed a bit inappropriate, so Yue Zhiyun stopped mid-sentence.
Zhang Tiangui also knew to some extent the nature of his youngest son Zhang Qianzhi's work. After hearing Yue Zhiyun's words, he knew that the facts of the case were probably somewhat different from the notices posted outside, so he wisely stopped asking further questions. You can talk about this kind of thing slowly when you get home and close the door as a family, and you don't have to worry about leaking the secret.
After Yue Zhiyun finished chatting, he returned to business: "Old Zhang, you also know the special arrangements for this anniversary. The most important task of our Shipping Department is to ensure that all the ships participating in the Navy's review are in place. Don’t blame me for being verbose, this is not only related to the reputation of our shipping department, but also the navy. If there is any mistake, we will have no shame to meet the military people.”
"I understand. Please rest assured, two chiefs. The brothers from Beizhi and the shipyard will definitely fight for this face for the Ministry of Shipping!" Zhang Tiangui listened to Yue Zhiyun repeat the matter and emphasized it. Naturally, he also understood the weight of this matter. Multiple, express your position immediately.
Sun Changmi, who had never spoken much, also added: "This time there will be guests from many countries coming to Sanya to watch the ceremony. Our shipping department is holding our breath to take advantage of this opportunity to get more export orders, so that we can apply naturally. The next phase of the shipyard’s expansion is underway. Lao Zhang, you will have at least one or two thousand more people.”
Yue Zhiyun also answered: "This time, each production unit will use its special skills to strive for more foreign trade orders. This is not only our founding celebration, but also the largest in Haihan's history." A trade fair. Which department speaks more forcefully and gets more support from the Executive Committee will depend on who has done more solid and perfect preparations during this period.”
For the South China Sea Trade Alliance that was reached on Ambon Island some time ago, the contracting states will send representatives to Sanya this time and sign a series of cooperation details. For such a rare international event, Haihan people, who started their business as businessmen, will certainly not miss the opportunity to make money.
(End of chapter)