Late Ming sea owl

Chapter 276 General Staff
Before the White House dinner started, a Thrupp ship sailed south with the wind and arrived in Tamsui. A short and pockmarked man emerged from the cabin.

As early as when he reached an agreement with Zhu Yifeng on the issue of amnesty, Lin Hai sent Liu Jingting to Nanjing and ordered him to contact Ruan Mei and Zheng Xiaobao.

After Liu Mazi returned to Danshui, he went to the White House without stopping. When he arrived there, it happened to be shortly after the banquet ended. After Lin Hai got the news, he met him immediately.

The latter reported to Lin Hai the situation of Ruan and Zheng in Nanjing. In addition to successfully making friends with Cao Huachun, Ruan Mei also found out the residence of Zhang Pu.

Lin Hai was overjoyed and immediately asked Wang Minzheng to write several visiting cards. Then he ordered Liu Mazi to go to Nanjing early the next morning and send the visiting cards to Cao Huachun, Zhang Pu, Shen Tingyang, and Xie Bingqian together with Ruan Mei. He planned to go to Jiangnan in the first month of the year.

The reason for choosing this time is to pay New Year's greetings, and secondly, the company has too much work to do recently, so we can only find time to go when all departments are on holiday from the Little New Year to the 16th day of the first lunar month.

The next day, Liu Mazi set out again to the north. Lin Hai summoned He Ying again and asked him to take the lead in preparing to set up the Army General Staff Bureau.

Although the bureau is under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of the Army, it is responsible for coordinating the operations and training of the entire army system. It is also responsible for the surveying and management of maps. It is equivalent to the Ministry of the Army leading the General Security Administration in some aspects. This is also to strengthen the joint combat capabilities of both sides.

In terms of function, the General Staff of the Army Ministry is more like the single-type general staff of the later Russian army. It is not responsible for the personnel and logistics of the army, which also ensures that the General Security Bureau remains an independent army.

For Lin Hai, this point must be insisted on at least before the war with the Later Jin, because at this stage his main energy must be devoted to maritime affairs.

Afterwards, Lin Hai went to the Firearms Bureau and the Ship Bureau to inspect and learn about the progress of iron-cast cannons and the construction of cruisers.

At the Firearms Bureau, the iron molds used to cast naval guns are still being produced. The iron molds are also cast from clay molds, and the mold processing also takes three or four months. The advantage is that the cast iron molds can be reused.

To be cautious, the Firearms Bureau only put into production a set of iron molds for casting the ten-jin cannon, intending to make the ten-jin cannon first and then make cannons of other calibers.

Lin Hai decided to suspend the production of clay mold cannons and shifted the manpower of the foundry workshop toward iron molds. The 15-jin and 20-jin cannons were immediately put into production. At the same time, he transferred personnel from the Engineering Bureau to repair the gun casting platform and ordered to buy as much iron as possible from Fujian.

Over at the Ship Bureau, the construction of the Changping and Champion is in full swing, and it is estimated that it will take another half a year before they can be launched.

This cannot be done in any hurry. The amount of shade-dried timber is limited. Even if more slipways are built and more craftsmen are recruited, the production capacity of cruise ships cannot be increased.

Lin Hai could only encourage the Ship Bureau to proceed step by step, and at the same time asked the Navy Department to train more sailors who could drive Western-style full-sail ships to avoid waiting for people on the ship.

During the inspection of the Firearms Bureau and the Ship Bureau, Lin Hai brought with him cadres at the bureau level and above from the Construction Department throughout the entire process, and had many exchanges with Lun Diyi during the period.

After returning to the White House, he immediately signed the chairman's order to remove Lun from his position as director of the First Construction Department and temporarily serve as the head of the preparatory group of the Economic Development Department. Fang Xiu'e, director of the Education Department, will serve as the deputy head, and the team members will be mainly drawn from the Finance Department.

The two of them had a division of labor in the preparatory work. Specifically, Lun was responsible for drafting the system and demonstrating the early steps of decentralizing government and industry, while Fang Xiu'e was responsible for drawing up the corresponding personnel plan. Both of them reported directly to the president of the Civil Affairs Institute. Of course, the final preparatory work report still needed Lin Hai's approval.

This order marks the official start of the preparatory work for the Economic Development Department. The department will draw talents from various departments of the Civil Affairs Academy to serve as backbone personnel, and will also recruit a group of outstanding graduates from charity schools.

Lin Hai specifically told Fang Xiu'e that the department should pay special attention to both moral integrity and ability when selecting people, and anyone with bad conduct will not be considered.

After Lun Diyi was dismissed from the Construction Department, He Liangtao, as the only deputy director, was naturally the best candidate to succeed him as director, and he also had to serve as the director of the research institute. Lin Hai promoted Chen Min, the former director of the Engineering Bureau, to deputy director, who actually presided over the daily work of the Construction Department.

Chen Min was one of the few literate people among the first batch of immigrants. His name indicated that his ancestors were educated people. What was not quite consistent with this slightly literary name was that he was born with a black face, looking like Bao Gong, so he had a nickname in the company called Chen Qingtian.

His character was indeed worthy of this nickname. He acted fairly and impartially, was well-loved by his subordinates, and managed the Engineering Bureau, which had the most difficult organizational and coordination work, in an orderly manner.

Chen Min is definitely more suitable than He Liangtao to be the director of the Construction Department, but in organizational work, promotion beyond one's level is the most taboo, otherwise many problems will certainly arise. That's why Lin Hai made this arrangement and let him preside over the work in the name of He Liangtao's deputy.

He Liangtao was also happy with this, as he was quite impatient with the details of daily management. With this arrangement, he could still focus on his own research, gaining the fame and fortune of a director without being bothered by mundane affairs. In his spare time, he could also go on a flower boat to enjoy the beauty of the flowers. Why not?
What made He Liangtao even more delighted was that Lin Hai also announced a decision that when the technology of casting naval guns with iron molds matures, the Construction Bureau will send a delegation to various places in Jiangnan to recruit all kinds of skilled craftsmen to enrich the talent team of the institute.

The head of the group was naturally He Liangtao, who finally had the opportunity to enjoy the romantic life in the south of the Yangtze River. Moreover, Lin Hai promised him that after the matter was settled, he would seek a military post for him in the imperial court, so that he could realize his long-cherished wish of returning home in glory.

After arranging the work of the Construction Company, Lin Hai presided over the company's year-end summary meeting on the 23rd day of the twelfth lunar month and distributed dividends at the meeting.

This is the last working day before the New Year. Except for the preparatory work of the General Staff and the Economic Development Department, which must continue, and the production of cruisers and naval guns, which cannot be stopped, other company personnel will have a holiday starting tomorrow.

That night, firecrackers were heard in Wanhua, where the captives of the envoys of the Apocalypse 5th year lived. Most of these people were from the north, and they celebrated the Little New Year one day earlier than those in the south.

A small number of these captives had made meritorious contributions and were released from their indentures early and were given land. Some of them had less than a year left on their indentures as official slaves, so this New Year was of special significance to them.

"Time flies so fast. More than two years have passed in the blink of an eye." Lin Hai muttered to himself as he listened to the sound of firecrackers. He turned around and found that Wang Minzheng, who was serving him, had moist eyes.

"Wang Banban, now that I think about it, I may have accidentally saved your life in the fifth year of Tianqi. After all, you were a close confidant of Wei Yan at that time. If I hadn't abducted you to Jinhe, who knows what would have happened to you after the new emperor ascended the throne?"

"My Lord, I will never forget your kindness in saving my life." Upon hearing this, Wang Minzheng hurriedly thanked him and then flattered him, "My Lord, your actions always produce miraculous results. It is truly God's will!"

Lin Hai smiled but said nothing. As his secretary, this old eunuch had access to many of the company's core secrets. It seemed that he had long been aware of Lin's ambitions.

(End of this chapter)