June 20, 1641, Qingfang Port, the second floor of the Executive Committee Administrative Building, inside the Office of the Ministry of Transport.

"What? Do you want ship wood with me? You're not trying to make things difficult for me? Who am I going to go? The wood is so nervous now, and I don't know how to trick me. How can I take out extra wood for you?" Xiao Bailang rubbed his forehead and said to Ding Canlin, the president of the South China Sea Transportation Company sitting opposite him with a bitter look on his face.

"Minister Xiao, the ministry is too biased this time." Ding Canlin said with some depression. "The 2,000 cubic meters of marine wood that was originally scheduled to be given to us was not left at all, and it was all used to process sleepers in the wood processing factory in the north. I just wanted to ask, when will we build a merchant ship for us? The newly established Railway Administration is my own son, and our Nanhai Transportation Company is raised by my stepmother."

The Railways Administration mentioned by Ding Canlin is a newly established deputy ministerial-level unit, and is also under the leadership of the Transportation Commissioner Xiao Bailang. The bureau coordinates the management of domestic railway transportation, maintenance, production and repair of rail carriages, daily operations of the Southern Vehicle Factory (which has been officially allocated from the Ministry of Transport to the State Administration of Railways), and the research and development of new railway locomotives (steam trains), is the second economic department in China except the General Administration of Textile Industry. In the eyes of many travelers who are familiar with the potential of railway development, it is an amazing piece of fat meat. Therefore, many soy sauce travelers who are lingering in ministries and commissions have begun to show their powers and go their separate ways. They have almost broken the head for those limited positions, and the scene is extremely tragic.

"What are you talking nonsense?" Xiao Bailang slapped the table in dissatisfaction, raised his voice and said, "Dayuhe Naval Shipyard is already building a flute-type transport ship with a standard displacement of 650 tons for you? What else do you want?"

"My minister, you said that you only built one." Ding Canlin pulled off the hat he wore on his head. He said anxiously: "The Admiralty is rich and generous. He placed an order for a fast cruiser and an escort gunboat in one go. I heard that he was lobbying the Executive Committee for the leaders to approve funds to start construction of a battleship to complete the bullshit plan of the '44' fleet. Damn, I don't expect to compare with the militarist madmen in the Navy, but at least I can't be left behind so many

Ah. I only have seven flute-type transport ships on hand, and the total transportation tonnage is just over 4,500 tons. Let’s look at our current economic scale, which is completely disproportionate. At least I will add two such big-bellied flute-type transport ships to reach ten. Otherwise, as now, the transportation tonnage is always tight, and I have to hire a large number of French, Spanish, Portugal and even the Netherlands to help with transportation. The rent given every year is sea, which is not economical at all."

The Navy’s '44' fleet plan mentioned by Ding just now was recently proposed by Wang Qinian, which is to use four "August 10" class battleships, four "Yangwu" class prototypes and their improved models (i.e. "Shaoyong" class quasi-slippers, and then magnify the aspect ratio and change the horizontal sail to a vertical sail) fast cruiser as the main battleship, supplemented by a large number of "Madao" class escort gunboats, as the main body of the country's maritime power.

According to this standard configuration, the East Coast Navy fleet has no rivals at least in the South Atlantic. Of course, this size of fleet has also brought extremely heavy financial pressure to the country. After all, the navy has a total of hundreds of artillery pieces, and it will cost about 300 yuan to fire a training ammunition. In addition, the daily maintenance, repair, personnel salary and other costs of ships. The annual cost is extremely huge. This is still a peaceful period. If it is wartime, the cost will be rolling upward, which is even more a bottomless pit. From this, it can be seen that the navy is really a noble army, a giant beast of gold swallowing. If the country's finances are not sufficient or the industrial production capacity is not strong enough, it is better not to play the navy, as I really can't afford it.

"I also know that it is not a good deal to rent someone's boat, but this is an emergency." Xiao Bailang sat upright and said, "I know that the rent is expensive, not a good deal, and it is not safe, but this road has to be taken step by step. I won't say anything else. In the first half of the year, the United Front Work Department recruited more than 600 pirates near the Caribbean Sea to share some of them? I think you don't think about it. These are all prepared by the Navy for the warships that will be launched. If you don't have any trouble with the South China Sea Transportation Company, it's more realistic."

Xiao Bailang said that he hit Ding Canlin's sore spot as soon as he said his words. Yes, those hundreds of pirates are old sailors, who is not jealous? Today, Ding Canlin came to the Ministry of Transportation to seek some benefits, and the other one was thinking about whether he could get some recruited pirates to his merchant ship to be sailors, but now it seems that it is obvious that it is impossible. Xiao Bailang is a central leader and is more familiar with the inside story of many things than him. If he says this, then there will be no chance. Those pirate sailors are kept by the Navy Department for themselves, and no one else can get involved.

Speaking of which, the East Coast people were very worried about solving the problem of insufficient sailors. The United Front Work Department, which was established last year, has the only job in the past year to recruit enough sailors for warships and merchant ships of the East Coast Republic. Therefore, whether it is the pirates of the Caribbean, the wandering down-and-out sailors, or the Malay slaves sent from the New China region, they are their "unified front" targets.

From the beginning of last year to now, the United Front Work Department has "unified front" about nearly a thousand European pirates. In addition, it has also opened a study class to train 200 Malay (Betzimisalaka) slave sailors selected and sent to the Hezhongbao area - these are all prepared for the inland transport companies and the South China Sea transport companies. However, it is obvious that their work is not done enough, at least the number of sailors in the South China Sea transport companies does not seem to be very sufficient now.

"Damn it, it's really unhappy." Ding Canlin was still cursing disappointed, "In the past, people were waiting for ships, but now they were his mother's waiters. It's a weird thing! Forget it, I'm here to complain today. I'll go back first. There are a lot of things on the dock waiting for me to deal with. A batch of weapons transported to Bristol are about to be loaded on the ship and go to sea. Civil war will break out on the British at any time. The representative of the old royal party Abraham has to urge me on the dock almost every day, and I'm so annoyed. Oh, I'll leave first, Minister Xiao."

"It's a big deal." Xiao Bailang cursed and then said, "All your messes are left to your secretary. The British guy's ship of weapons will be sent to people as soon as possible. Supporting the royal party is our country's consistent policy. Don't delay it. Okay, now you can pack up your things, assign some tasks, and then go on a trip with me. Go to the north, Hekou Fort! There are good things for you to see!"

Ding Canlin was stunned for a moment, then walked out and explained the work to his secretary for the next few days. After the explanation, he and Xiao Bailang walked out of the Executive Committee Administrative Building one by one. Soon, they left Dongfang Port in a small passenger carriage surrounded by several policemen of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, heading west.

The four-wheeled passenger carriage was walking lightly on Highway 1. The paved road surface of the asphalt was extremely flat. Coupled with the shock absorbing springs installed at the bottom of the carriage, people could hardly feel any bumps when sitting in the carriage. Well, it would be better if the wheels were replaced with rubber tires. Unfortunately, no one in the chemical department knew how to vulcanize rubber. They are still trying and exploring repeatedly, and it seems that they can't count on it in a short period of time.

The carriage took more than an hour to arrive in Dingyuan Township. After Xiao Bailang refused the lunch banquet of the village head Lin Youde, he and Ding Canlin and others borrowed a few horses from the township government and walked along Dayu Lake toward the cotton-gung Township in the north. After arriving at the cotton-gung Township, he did not stop. He hurriedly ate a few meat pies for lunch and headed north again, and arrived in Zhenyuan Township in the afternoon.

Zhenyuan Township is the most remote town in the capital area. When the local township leader Ouyang learned that Xiao Bailang and others were going north, he ordered the township police station director Ronald to take several police officers to accompany him to protect him without saying a word. In this way, a team of more than ten people had expanded to the north along the railway line under construction. In the middle, he camped in the field activity wooden house of the Fourth Bureau of Communications and Construction for one night, and spent more than half a day to arrive at Meilin Port on the south bank of Lake Milin the next day.

Meilin Port, a port town with a population of less than 1,000, has now shown its vitality as an emerging city. Local residents are working hard to build railway stations and freight terminals under the organization of cadres sent by the Dayuhe Youth Cadre School. At the same time, a group of farmers who were recruited from the north who were in the slack farming period also built residential houses, sewers, drinking water purification facilities, public toilets, warehouses and other living facilities for the city under the command of the foreman of the construction team. It is also with the hard work of these people that the East Coast talents have created one miraculous "East Coast Speed" compared to European countries in this era.
Chapter completed!