The sun never sets in America

Chapter 94 Domestic Construction

Xijing Shipyard...

As the largest and oldest shipyard in Han Dynasty, Xijing Shipyard was born out of the Los Angeles Shipyard. In terms of the shipyard address and shipbuilding style, it follows the original style of the Los Angeles Shipyard...

Because it turns out that during the Spanish rule, the most important thing in the Americas was to dig out the gold and silver from the Americas and transport them to Europe and Asia.

This also leads to the fact that the predecessor of Xijing Shipyard, Los Angeles Shipyard, is a shipyard derived from shipbuilding technology based on transport ships.

And because of the current huge immigration demand in Han Dynasty, it has led to the transformation of Xijing Shipyard from transport ships to ocean-going immigration ships.

If you ask where else in the Han Dynasty there is a steady stream of government orders and strong demand, apart from the well-known infrastructure, it is the shipbuilding industry.

In fact, in order to support Han's shipbuilding industry, Liu Peng once led the Ministry of Commerce to organize a large-scale seminar, at which important representatives of Han's current shipbuilding industry were invited. Among them, Lin Zhaolong, currently the director of Xijing Shipyard and with many years of sailing experience, once He said this at the conference:
"As we all know, the current world situation is dominated by Western powers represented by Britain and France...while we in the East seem to have a large population, but our actual influence is limited."

"The importance of the ocean is unquestionable in today's era. The British Empire was able to grow into a highly influential power in the world by occupying the world's most important colonies and controlling several important trade routes in the world. Super empire..."

"Even if our Han country doesn't want to dominate the world's oceans like the United Kingdom, we at least want to dominate the American oceans... Only in this way can we be sufficiently safe and no enemy can defeat us."

"Imagine what it would be like if our fleet appeared in the Gulf of Mexico and New York..."

When he said this, Lin Zhaolong was in an inexplicable state of excitement.

"To sum up, without a strong navy, there is no strong country, and the strength of a country's navy starts from its shipbuilding industry. For a maritime power, its shipbuilding industry must be strong!!!"

This was the last sentence Lin Zhaolong said at the conference, and it was also a psychological sentence that he had been holding back for a long time.

(The theory of great powers was first proposed by Liu Peng, and it was widely used by all walks of life in the Han Dynasty after it was proposed)

We even ranked these powers. The first-rate ones are of course Britain and France, which currently occupy the largest number of overseas colonies.

The second-rate empires were large empires with large populations such as the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the Tsarist Russia. (Later, Liu Peng deliberately added Prussia to the second-rate powers, which puzzled people at the time and thought that a country in a How can a small country in central Europe, whose international influence is suppressed by Austria in the same German region, be considered a second-rate power? But Liu Peng insisted on this, and the person who was responsible for ranking the great powers at the time agreed... Of course, he did not admit it in his heart. , that’s two different things!!).

The third-rate powers are, of course, declining countries like Spain and the Netherlands.

Of course, among them, there are some more complicated and unpredictable countries, namely the Ottoman Empire and the Qing Empire.

According to their current population and national strength, no matter how you say it, they should at least be counted among the great powers. Even the Qing Empire during this period was the world's largest economy. In any case, it should be regarded as a big country and a great power. In fact Regarding the evaluation of the Qing Dynasty.

It was a lively topic in the entire Han Dynasty. Most people who didn't like it wanted to degrade the Qing Dynasty into the mud and then step on it.

But other people's evaluation of the Qing Dynasty was very pertinent. One of them, an official named Sun Changcheng, pointed out:

"Although the Qing Dynasty was out of touch with the general trend of the world because of its complacency, there were also a lot of internal problems and various bad habits..."

"But it still does not hinder its emergence as a powerful country, and may even become the most powerful country in the world. Because of its huge population and vast territory that is like a continent, it has laid the foundation for it to eventually be reborn like a phoenix from the ashes. , the return of the king will make the whole world tremble...or it will be torn apart by huge internal conflicts first..."

When he said this, it was obvious that Sun Changcheng still had some unfinished thoughts, maybe because some words were difficult to say.

But Liu Peng's evaluation of the Qing Dynasty was one sentence: "It will eventually be swept into the garbage dump of history. The war that is happening now is the best proof." (And Liu Peng's words were not heard at the beginning. You can understand it, so the news of the Opium War, due to distance and time constraints, has not reached the Americas so far.)
As for the Ottoman Empire, Han's attitude was very ambiguous, that is, it did not recognize it as a second-rate power, but at the same time it also put the plan to establish diplomatic relations with the Ottoman Empire at the forefront, even ahead of the United States.

The reason for this is because of the natural distrust of the United States from top to bottom in Han Dynasty. In fact, you only need to look at the history of the United States to understand.

A country that has grown from a 13-year-old British colony on the eastern coast to a country that now borders a large area of ​​​​the Republic of Mexico and has seized millions of square kilometers of land in central North America. A country that continues to expand westward and massacres Indians, even if The Americans told the Han people that they had no ill intentions, and the Han people must also speculate on the United States with the greatest malice...

This is a kind of vigilance, or a kind of fear, of the weaker party towards the more powerful party.

Moreover, some Han military officers discussed every day and during their military training, in addition to simulating the war against the Republic of Mexico, they also simulated the war in the United States and looked for ways to defeat the United States.

Under what circumstances does a hedgehog curl up into a ball, exposing its dense and sharp short spines to protect its soft abdomen? The answer is when it encounters a natural enemy! !

At present, the mainstream view of Han Dynasty, especially the view of the military, is that after defeating Mexico, they will definitely have to fight the United States in the future.

This depends on whether Han will directly border the United States after this war. If it does, it will be a matter of time before the war breaks out. If it does not want to border the United States in advance, it will have to make changes in its expansion direction.

This is also an issue that has been debated endlessly in the Han Dynasty... There is a lot of quarrel in the entire military and political circles.

Of course, the most important thing now is not this, but how to defeat the Mexicans! !
.............................................

Swish...swish...

In the Xijing Shipyard, hundreds of shipwrights of different colors are polishing the hulls of the ships that will be sent to the slipway for construction.

Inside the huge shipyard, you can still see a huge hull keel. The keel of this ship has been cast. Even the hull part is nearly completed. All that is left is to add other materials needed on the ship. , spliced ​​together, if the keel hull is compared to the base of a building block, then other materials that need to be spliced ​​are part of the splicing of this huge building block.

"Bring it up..." On the slipway, the workers above shouted to the workers below, followed by a wooden bracket from inside the hull. This bracket didn't look very thick and had wooden hooks on it. , it doesn’t look like the support material of a certain cabin, more like a clothes drying rack.

In fact, this piece of wood was specially used to dry clothes, or to be more precise, it was used to dry clothes for immigrants.

During a long journey, in order to avoid widespread disease outbreaks, the best way is to take care of personal hygiene, and bathing and changing clothes have become the most important prevention methods...

In addition, every immigration ship like this has a bathroom that looks small but can actually accommodate a dozen people at a time. There are two such bathrooms, divided into two public bathrooms for men and women. Every week, I will take baths in order.

This kind of bathing is often collective, and the most important purpose is to save water resources.After all, although it is said to prevent infectious diseases and protect personal hygiene, on ocean-going ships, resources are relatively scarce. After all, although seawater can be simply desalinated, there is not much firewood to heat hot water...

And storing large amounts of firewood is dangerous in itself.

Therefore, it has become a necessity to centralize things like bathing.

In addition, each person will be given a small piece of simple soap for body cleaning.

The significance of these is to reduce the mortality rate of immigrants to the lowest standard.

And for every immigration ship like this, Han has specially issued regulations. If an immigration ship arrives at the port and finds that the personnel do not match, or even large-scale deaths occur on the road, then the immigration officials of the ship will Taking the main responsibility is actually the deputy in charge of health on the ship...

It can also be seen from this point how much the Han Dynasty attaches great importance to immigrants.

After all, for the current Han State, the arrival of a large number of Chinese immigrants not only means stable rule, but also accelerates the assimilation of Indians and whites.

It can be said that immigrants represent the future of Han State. The more immigrants there are, the stronger Han State will be in the future, and vice versa! !
"Director Lin, look, this is the living cabin we built for the immigrants..." Kursk, a skilled worker from the former Los Angeles Shipyard who was responsible for the construction of this immigrant ship, took Lin Zhaolong, the director of the Xijing Shipyard, and walked in A cabin that requires bending down to enter.

I saw that there were four bunk beds inside the cabin, and eight people could stay in one cabin.

In addition to the space occupied by the bed, there are only aisles and small cabinets for storing personal belongings. The cabinet is not big and can only store some coats and shoes. As for paying large sums of money, these immigrants do not have it at all. .

After all, many of them were born poor. They took money from their hometown associations and boarded the immigration ship. Some even left their money, the belongings they had saved through frugal living, and even food before boarding the ship. My own family... I was even more willing to spend dozens of pennies to find a scholar in the town who could write documents on my behalf, write a suicide note, pass it on to my family, and then go to the immigration with a few salutes. Boat.

Most immigrants, when it comes to immigrating to America this time, have the mentality of selling themselves and going for the ten taels of silver. As for going to America to divide the land and live a good life.

They don't believe it. They didn't even live a good life in the Qing Dynasty. How can they live a good life after going to sea? ?
Of course, there are still some naive people who believe that they can really live a good life in America.

Not only did he take the ten taels of silver on the boat and hide them on his person, but he also took the ten taels of silver and exchanged them for some Chinese dollars to buy cattle seeds, farm tools, and allotment of land after arriving in America. , do something big! !

(Of course, in the eyes of these honest and honest immigrants who have never seen much of the world, having dozens of acres of land, owning their own cattle and farm tools, and having a full warehouse of food every year is a good life, a good life that has not happened in thousands of years. Of course, It’s better to have a wife.)
"This cabin is still too small..." Because Lin Zhaolong was tall, he felt very aggrieved in such a small cabin. "Can't it be made bigger?" Lin Zhaolong couldn't help but ask.

"Mr. Factory Director, this can't be expanded any further." After hearing this, Kursk shook his head and replied to Lin Zhaolong, "The space on the ship is inherently limited. We still have to bring so many immigrants. How can we do this? It's already very good." Kursk explained to Lin Zhaolong helplessly.

"Well..." Although Lin Zhaolong was a little uncomfortable, he still agreed with Kursk's idea. After all, the facts were exactly what he said. In the case of limited space on the ship, it was already very good to achieve this level.

"How many immigrants can this kind of immigration ship carry?" Lin Zhaolong lowered his head. After walking out of the cabin, he turned back to Kursk who was following him and asked about the specific number of immigrants on the ship.

"If it's not an emergency, it should be about 150 people. If the number of people is tight or supplies are sufficient, one ship can carry two hundred immigrants." Kursk replied to Lin Zhaolong with some pride.

"Well, it's not bad." After hearing the number of people, Lin Zhaolong nodded with satisfaction. After all, with such a number of people and a reasonable configuration, the design of this ship is still very good.

After hearing what Lin Zhaolong just said, Kursk on the side showed a very proud expression on his face. For these Westerners, this is the case. If others praise you, you should be happy and show your feelings to others...

It is in sharp contrast to the restraint and deepness of the Chinese.

"Then what is the specific cost of this ship?" Lin Zhaolong then asked a relatively sensitive question, that is, the cost. After all, no matter how reasonable and convenient the immigration ship is, if the price is too expensive or exceeds the cost of the Han Dynasty, With such a budget, it is impossible to mass-produce such an immigration ship.

After all, cost is the first factor! !
"The initial construction cost of this new immigration ship will be relatively high. The ex-factory price of the first batch of immigration ships should be around [-] yuan." Kursk replied to Lin Zhaolong without hesitation, "But as the number of constructions increases, With the increase, the final cost should stabilize at around [-] Chinese yuan. After all, it is just an immigration ship, not a warship." Kursk then told Lin Zhaolongji about the final price of the immigration ship.

"Thirty thousand is still a reasonable price." After hearing this, Lin Zhaolong said to Kursk with satisfaction, "But in this way, can our shipyard still make money?" Lin Zhaolong asked Kursk with some doubts road.

After all, in this shipbuilding industry, whoever has the lowest price is better, especially a shipyard like Xijing Shipyard that is responsible for manufacturing warships and requires a lot of research funds, even if there is no profit margin specified above.

However, when Lin Zhaolong made a quotation to the navy and the Han government, he would basically add at least 15.00% to 20.00% of the profit, because only in this way can the Xijing Shipyard be able to develop.

Only then can we have enough funds to research other shipbuilding technologies.

After all, in today's scientific world, in addition to geniuses who create theoretical knowledge, the so-called leaders, money is also needed, a lot of money.

Without money, R&D funds, research materials, space, labor, etc., it is impossible to talk about the things needed for R&D.

Even bringing a certain technology to the market and conducting large-scale manufacturing cannot be separated from one thing, and that is money! !
Unconsciously, science and technology have been bound together with money, a seemingly unrelated thing.

"Mr. Factory Director, I just said that we are building civilian ships, not warships. Our actual cost is actually only part of the material cost and labor wages..." Kursk smiled and replied to Lin Zhaolong, "And you Have you forgotten that our materials are very cheap?" Kursk continued to smile at Lin Zhaolong.

"You mean, that batch of wood??" Hearing what Kursk just said, Lin Zhaolong immediately thought of the oak forest left by the Mexicans that could be cut down. It was also because of this oak forest that The shipbuilding industry in Han Dynasty started so quickly...

In addition to the wood left over from the Spanish-Mexican period, the first thing to bear the brunt is the gold mine, which played a decisive role in the development and strength of the Han State. It can be said that without gold mines, the debts of the Han State government may have already reached the sky. It is not an exaggeration to say that Mexicans are money-giving boys! !

"What is the approximate construction period of these immigration ships?" Lin Zhaolong finally asked Kursk the question he was most concerned about. After all, no matter how good or cheap the product is, it will be substandard if the manufacturing time is too slow.

"If it were the original, we would need at least three years." Kursk immediately replied to Lin Zhaolong, "But I heard that a new batch of British dryers have arrived, and we are confident that this time we can reduce the construction period to about a year. ." Kursk replied to Lin Zhaolong confidently.

Previous warships were all built with wood that had been dried by the Mexicans. The only machine that could be used for drying was damaged during the war. Due to the lack of large-scale drying machines, the Xijing Shipyard We dare not expand production on a large scale.

But this loan provided a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Among the machinery imported from the UK, there was a machine specially used to dry wood. This was also part of what was obtained after the original agreement was reached.

In addition, there are many mechanical equipment that Han State is in urgent need of, which were obtained in the last agreement.

(End of this chapter)