Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 345 Preparations before sailing again ([-])

It was another busy day at work, and Laura returned home with a somewhat exhausted body.Aunt Annie hasn't come home yet. Recently, wars are raging in Europe, orders for various military supplies are soaring, and all factories are working overtime.For example, the leather goods processing factory that Aunt Annie went to was said to be run by several senior army officers. Recently, she has been working overtime for three consecutive weeks, saying that it is to complete a large number of orders for ammunition bags and leather boots for the Spaniards.

Speaking of the job of my aunt, it was arranged by Mr. Shinzaemon, the inspector of the Intelligence Bureau.Although this oriental man looks indifferent, he is actually a warm-hearted person. He helped him send that pirate neighbor to the Falklands once before, and this time he helped his aunt with her work again.

In fact, Lola hadn't seen Shinzaemon for a long time. The intelligence agent who walked in the shadows seemed to be very busy recently, and had been chasing several leaks at the Dayo River Naval Shipyard.Laura vaguely heard that the National Intelligence Agency had quarantined more than ten people in the factory, and finally arrested three of them, and lowered the rank and salary of five technicians who disclosed information in violation of regulations.

Speaking of this leak case, Laura, as a new generation technician of Dayuhe Shipyard, also vaguely heard about it.Probably what happened was that when a technician (also a Dutch spy) was transmitting various data of the domestic "Super Brave" fast cruiser, he was broken into by intelligence personnel who had long been suspicious of him. The Dutch spy who joined was caught on the spot.After interrogation, the Dutch spy hidden in the Dayu River Shipyard admitted that he had accepted the employment of the Dutch East India Company, and had successfully delivered information once before, that is, the "Yangwu" class fast cruiser designed by the East Coasters early. design parameters.

This kind of scandal broke out in the factory, and everyone naturally had a hard time.No, even Laura, who has always been low-key on weekdays, was questioned by an intelligence agency agent and was temporarily transferred from a sensitive job because of something that happened before. Feeling suffocated.Therefore, after thinking about it for a long time, Laura decided to change the environment.I heard that the shipyard in the New China colony has just opened and is in urgent need of all kinds of shipbuilding technicians, and they have also offered generous conditions to attract talents.That is to say, every local technician who settles there will get a piece of land not exceeding [-] mu for free, and you are also allowed to buy an additional [-] mu of land, which is extremely generous.

Although I heard that most of the land there is barren brick red soil, the output may not be too much if you cultivate the land, but you can choose to buy some woodland with more money.Not to mention the priceless trees growing on the woodland, even if it is a useless shrub land, after cleaning it, you can plant some fruit trees, tea trees and so on.With the rapid development of the domestic economy and the increasing income level of the people, these investments will definitely get rich returns in the future.After hearing that oriental lychee trees were introduced there, many local nobles began to spend money to buy land there, and then planned to hire people to plant this tropical fruit tree.

For example, a certain leader of the pioneering team in the River Fort in South Africa, who had been pricked by a scarecrow many times by Lola, joined forces with Torricelli and Viviani to purchase a small island with a radius of several hundred meters in Xinhua Bay, and started Plant some flowering fruit trees, and raise bees.I heard that the watch factory jointly established by them is very popular in China, so it is not short of money to buy such a small island with little development value.Not only that, that guy also attracted Frank, the son of the Baron of Toulouse in France, to invest in the corn deep processing (ie brewing) industry in the New China colony, which can be described as a success.

The deputy factory director who decided to recruit Laura into the factory at the beginning, after hearing Laura's idea, boldly persuaded him to go to the Far East Heishui Port for development when it failed to persuade him to stay.Because I heard that there will be a ship repair station built in the early stage, and after the ship repair, it is a high probability event to upgrade to a shipyard later.Therefore, when the ship repair shop does not know where it is, you should squeeze in ahead of others. When the scale of the ship repair shop becomes larger and more skilled, your status will naturally rise. .At that time, find a way to transfer back to the mainland to work, which is much better than you and a large group of people crowded in the three domestic shipyards to dawdle and get qualified.

After a little consideration, Laura agreed to the proposal. In her mind, there was not much difference between New China and Heishui Port, since they were all far away anyway.Hearing her answer, the deputy director was obviously relieved.The construction of a ship repair station in Heishui Port is already a certainty. The Ministry of Communications allocates technicians and craftsmen to the three shipyards under its jurisdiction (Dayuhe Factory, Zhenhai Factory, and Hyundai Factory), requiring each unit to send several people. , to set up the shelf on the side of Heishui Port.How the technicians and senior craftsmen who live well in the local area are willing to work in such a place where the birds don't shit, each of them has a lot of reasons to shirk.And at this juncture, Lola took the initiative to ask to work in an overseas colony. How could the deputy factory director let this kind of good thing come to her door, so after some deception, she deceived Lola to the Heishui Port in the Far East—a still in the middle of the sea. A city in the middle of nowhere.

With a "creak", the door was pushed open, and Laura, who suddenly woke up from her reverie, turned her head and looked outside.Aunt Anne came in with a vegetable basket on her shoulders, and there were a lot of fishy prawns in the basket.Laura knew that the prawns had such a strong taste that my aunt probably went to buy cheap dead prawns from the Dutchmen again.Although I have told her many times that the money is not bad, Aunt Anne is still used to buying some cheap vegetables, and occasionally buying expensive flour makes her feel distressed to death, and Laura is quite speechless about this.

"Dear Laura, who do you think I met today?" the aunt started yelling as soon as she entered the door. "I met Bogdan, by the way, that Albanian! He is now a deputy police chief. Because he won No.2 in the county patrol system competition, he was promoted to deputy police chief. Moreover, it is said that he will soon be sent to the Far East Heishui Port as the acting director of the police station, which is the same place as you. I've already asked him to take care of you."

Listening to her aunt talking like a cannonball, Laura let out a low-spirited "Oh" to show that she knew.But after thinking about it, she reminded her aunt: "Aunt Anne, try not to speak French when you are at home from now on. If you let the neighbors hear it and report it, those disciplinary policemen will come to make trouble again. Oh, yes, They are no longer called disciplinary policemen, they have been included in the military establishment and changed to be called gendarmerie."

The Bogdan they were talking about was naturally the former assistant policeman of the Zhenyuan Township Police Station, Bogdan. Because of his excellent performance in the perennial battle with the Gaoqiao horse bandits, he had killed three people and seized several horses so far. At that time, he was approved by the county police station to become a regular patrol officer.However, once a person's luck comes, it can't be stopped. In a competition of the county's patrol system this year, Bogdan performed well and won the runner-up.Therefore, he was quickly promoted to deputy sheriff, and was assigned to Heishui Port in the Far East to preside over a police station as a deputy sheriff.It can be said that if nothing goes wrong, it will be natural for Bogdan to remove the word "agent" from his head a few years later and be promoted to an official sheriff.

As for the acquaintance of Bogdan and Lola and others, this matter dates back to a few years ago.At that time, this impoverished Albanian man had just smuggled across the border to the east bank. He was penniless and made a living by collecting cow and sheep excrement outside the city.Laura, who was still in school at the time, looked at him poorly and once gave him a few cents.Later, Bogdan left Dongfang Port and went to Zhenyuan Township to make a living, and Laura gradually forgot about it.

It's just that at the end of last year, this Albanian, dressed in a patrol uniform, rushed from Zhenyuan Township to Dongfang Port, and gave Laura one yuan back with interest.At this point, everyone knows that Bogdan's time has come and gone.Don't ask where the so-called hero came from. This Albanian who had fought against the Turks for many years was in the pocket of the east coast system that didn't value blood and value talents. He quickly stood out and stood out.

I met Bogdan by chance on the street today, and after hearing that he was going to work in the Eastern Blackwater Port, Anne, who was worried that Laura would go to the post alone, asked Bogdan to help take care of her niece, Bogdan Naturally agreed.He has clear grievances and grievances. He once helped him in his most difficult time, so what's the point of helping others within his ability now?It's just a small matter!

After the two finished talking, they talked about other things.For example, another group of Ming people came by boat from the New China region on the Dongfang Port Wharf; for example, in recent months, the business of the leather goods processing factory has become more and more prosperous, so that everyone’s overtime wages have also increased greatly; , Dafeng Fort produced the first batch of grain, and the price of rice and flour, which were originally high in the country, dropped accordingly; for example, a batch of high-end fabrics made of vicuña hair were brought back from the southern Baleen Whale Port, and they were sold in state-owned stores in the city, etc. Wait for trivial things.

The two talked while preparing dinner: Braised prawns in oil, clam tofu soup, beef stew with potatoes, sorghum rice. When the delicious meals were placed on the dining table made of Paraná pine wood, Laura looked at the heartbroken eyes of her aunt again. A high-end candle imported from Russia was lit in the middle of the room, and then the two sat together to enjoy dinner.I am going to the Far East soon, and I don't know when I will be back. Laura cherishes the time with her aunt very much.

(End of this chapter)