Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 676 Gradually recovering economy ([-])

On March 1648, 3, it rained moderately.

In the old dock of Zhenhai Shipyard, the piercing sound of machine tools sawing wood can be heard one after another. In the processing workshops on both sides of the dock, dozens of woodworking machine tools are lined up, continuously processing the ship materials from above into various sizes. Standard Parts.The processed standard parts are then pulled to the dock by horse-drawn trucks and assembled by shipbuilders.

At this time, five large ships lined up on the berth, and more than 600 workers were fighting intensely.In December last year, they shared the order of ten flute-shaped ships ordered by the Ottoman Empire with Dayuhe Factory, five for each factory.The five ships built by the Zhenhai Factory will be ready to launch in a month or two. At that time, a sea trial will be carried out to transport a batch of materials from Zhenhai Port to Blanca Port.After the sea trials are completed and there are no problems, these ships will wait until July and August in the second half of the year, and set off for the Mediterranean Sea with the naval escort fleet.

The order of five flute-shaped ships brought the Zhenhai factory from a semi-stopped situation to a state of full-capacity operation.The workers who had received the basic salary for half a year showed unprecedented enthusiasm. They did not need to emphasize labor discipline by foremen, team leaders, squad leaders, and workshop directors. They worked extremely seriously without any laziness. The work of his men is also very delicate, which effectively guarantees the quality of this batch of ships.

They are really tormented by the days without orders!Since the completion of the construction of several naval supply ships, the three major shipbuilding enterprises of the East Coast Republic have collectively fallen into the Great Depression.Domestic manpower is tight, and many sailors have been recruited to serve on naval supply ships. Therefore, the South China Sea Transportation Company has also adjusted its investment plan—in fact, the Ministry of Communications has no money to allocate—from October 1646, except for three flute ships. Apart from orders for transport ships, there are no new shipbuilding plans.

The Nanhai Transportation Company has no orders, and the Navy does not have any new ship plans.Except for a batch of orders for supply ships and medical ships in 46, no new ships were built throughout the 47 years.It stands to reason that the east coast is at war with Spain, and the navy should increase its shipbuilding efforts. However, there is a shortage of domestic manpower, and even more experienced sailors. Coupled with some financial difficulties, the navy actually failed in 47. There is no new ship plan, and some sailors trained or recruited have urgently supplemented the naval battle damage, so even if a new warship is built, there are not enough sailors to control it, so it is better not to build it!

After the three major shipyards silently completed the orders at hand, they divided the three ships of the South China Sea Transportation Company into one, and there was nothing else to do.During the period, some small jobs such as ship repair and steam transformation may be taken over, but the general trend cannot be changed.By the end of February and early March of 47, the three major shipyards that had completed the orders in hand had fallen into a state of complete shutdown!

Among them, the life of Hyundai Special Shipyard may be better.Because the whaling ships, dredgers, lighthouse ships, squid fishing boats, and special immigration ships they have on hand are highly professional ships with long construction cycles and high profit margins, so they can last in a short time.Moreover, their factory director, Wei Hua, was quite capable, and even used his connections to snatch an order for two sail-powered whaling ships from Brazil, which almost made the management of the other two factories stare.

The life of the Hyundai factory can be mixed, but the factory areas of Zhenhai Factory and Dayuhe Factory are deserted.All the workers are downcast, because everyone understands that if there is no order, they can only receive a basic salary: five yuan a month-this is the income after the Government Council raised the minimum wage standard for state-owned enterprises. Before, it was only a pitiful four yuan. ——In this era when money is overissued and prices are soaring due to war, what can five yuan do?

The management of the two shipyards is also quite anxious. The monthly income of a large number of industrial workers who have been gradually trained in the factories for more than ten years has plummeted, and their lives are so tight that they have the confidence to speak loudly in the factories. There are some deficiencies.While they were going to Brazil to sell their boats door to door, they either organized workers to plant trees (all of which are oak trees and other ship materials), or organized workers to repair docks and roads, more or less let everyone earn some hard-earned money to subsidize household.

It's just that workers who have been trained at a high price go to build roads and plant trees, which always makes people feel uncomfortable.Moreover, these large shipyards have fallen into depression, and the small factories that support them have suffered even more.The anchor chain factory, machine canvas factory, and wood drying factory invested by the state are lucky. After all, their family has a big business, and their anchor chain, canvas, and wood products are not only used in shipbuilding, but also in other industries. These things will also be used from time to time, so although the two factories are underutilized, they can barely sustain it.

However, it is very difficult for those privately invested cooperage workshops, rope workshops, leather workshops, blacksmith workshops, and even some ship interior decoration workshops. They have no source of income at all.The income of employees has been greatly reduced, and business owners have suffered huge losses. These small businesses have the weakest financial strength and the weakest ability to resist risks in the entire shipbuilding industry chain. Therefore, many workshops have introduced new investors during the Great Depression. Or simply change the owner.The original workshop-style enterprises have also undergone mergers and reorganizations during this crisis. The number of enterprises has decreased, the scale has expanded, and the cost has also been reduced a lot.However, in the days when there are no new orders, they can only rely on some meager subsidies issued by the Ministry of Communications to survive. If they really want to realize the recovery of the entire industry, they still need the three major shipyards to receive production tasks first.

After a whole year of suffering like this, in the second half of 47, the trading fleet returning from Europe brought exciting news: the Ottoman Empire government ordered ten 600-ton flute-shaped transport ships, and each ship contracted The cost is 4 yuan!The news was like a shot in the arm of every shipbuilder. They immediately threw away the work of building roads and planting trees, and then happily returned to the factory, ready to start building new ships.

The east is not bright, the west is bright, that's how it should be!Due to the severe shortage of sailors and financial difficulties in the country, new ships have been stopped (the immigrant ships of Hyundai Factory are still being built), so building ships for foreigners has become the only way out for everyone!This big order came at the right time!

Long-lost smoke rose from the chimney in the wood drying factory, and a large number of big-leaf red sandalwood and red sandalwood shipped from New China were sent into the kiln for drying; the machine canvas factory also began to weave fine and thick The woven canvas is extremely heavy, and dyed cloth is woven on the surface of the canvas with some patterns specified by the Ottomans; the anchor chain factory is even more clanging at this time, and the five big and three thick workers are casting anchors on the red molten iron. chain.As for the business owners of those small supporting factories, they even jumped up and called back the workers who went home to help their families in farming or doing odd jobs, and informed everyone to start work immediately to prepare for Zhenhai Factory and Dayuhe Factory. equipment.

In the Zhenhai factory, the old dock that has been integrated into seven slipways was immediately overcrowded. Everyone is gearing up and vowing to complete these ships with quality and quantity!The flute-shaped transport ship is a classic ocean-going cargo ship of the East Coast Republic. We have built dozens of them over the years, and they have a lot of experience. It can be said that they can be assembled with eyes closed.

This time, keels were laid on five of the seven berths (the other two berths are for other ships to be repaired or steamed). A lot of high-carbon steel cutter heads were scrapped in one afternoon, but everyone didn't care, because there is nothing more reassuring than listening to the roar of machines in the factory area-this means that everyone's income has begun to increase significantly.

After the completion of these five ships, there are still five orders from Ottoman Empire private transport merchants. These are all ships ordered by merchants who specialize in Black Sea transportation. They are really fed up with the backward technology and small volume of the previous And the extremely unsafe Isaac ship.They now need some efficient and safe large ships. If the five ships built by the people on the east coast can satisfy them, then it is very likely that there will be a second and third batch of orders in the future. For the shipbuilding industry, it is undoubtedly extremely important, because their current domestic demand is seriously insufficient.

However, in any case, large orders from overseas finally revitalized the shipbuilding industry on the east coast, which was mired in the quagmire due to war factors. They maintained the technical teams and more than 1000 skilled industrial workers in these shipyards. It is the most important thing for the East Coast people who are industrializing.

Zhenhai Shipyard and Dayuhe Naval Shipyard are on the road to recovery after a year of terrible depression, and these are actually the epitome of some export-oriented industries in the East Coast Republic of China.After experiencing the stage of rapid expansion of production scale, sudden wars and turmoil in foreign markets have put them in trouble. For example, the textile industry has been underutilized and the demand for leather goods is also declining. In short, the East Coast Now is the time for export-oriented industries to adjust production structure and optimize product quality.

Next, as the European war gradually subsides, the industrial and agricultural production order in England, Portugal, the Netherlands, Sweden, and Germany will also be restored and enter a period of rapid development.At that time, any tariff barriers, trade frictions, and industrial protection in the continental European countries that are prevalent in mercantilism will make it difficult to sell products on the east coast. How to adjust the industrial production structure and continue to compete with Europeans at that time? In order to keep the industrialization of the east coast from being aborted, it is actually a matter of testing the wisdom of the rulers.

The industry is gradually recovering, but more profound crises are coming one after another!

(End of this chapter)