New World 1620

April 1621, 4, Saturday, overcast.

The deaths of the three compatriots brought more people to and from the Manhattan cemetery in a few days.

The mental stress of the people who had gradually calmed down suddenly rose again. Several times, men in the Brooklyn industrial area had inexplicable fights, which made the committee very worried.Bao Zitu, a psychologist who had been doing nothing for a long time, showed a strong enthusiasm for work at this time, and started to run wildly.

On the other hand, there are also tentative discussions within the committee about the development model of the Manhattan community in the next few years and how to build a real and effective state power.

The meeting lasted from morning to noon. The several-hour meeting went off topic countless times, during which more stubborn quarrels occurred, and was finally stopped by a message received by Chairman Liu Lao.

The European trade ship that set off at the beginning of the year is back!

The people present stopped arguing one after another, staring blankly at the beaming Mr. Liu, and almost at the same time swarmed towards the door of the conference room.

In Manhattan right now, good news is desperately needed.

……

……

A new Euro-sailing galen sailed slowly into the harbour.

The artillerymen of the Neiwan Fortress hadn't received the order yet, as if they had found some good and exciting toy, a dozen of the artillerymen of the fortress who had been kicking stones all day long rushed out of the barracks and began to swing the 24-pound cannon, cleaning the barrel, Stuffed in gunpowder and shells, and looked back anxiously at a certain figure on the command tower of the fortress.

Zhang Chunrui held up the binoculars and looked at it for a long time, full of confusion about the European sailing warship in the distance, which was obviously calm and leisurely.

Slightly larger than the Mayflower, it is estimated to have a displacement of more than 200 tons. In addition to an English flag hanging on the mast, there is also a strange white flag-a snake embroidered on the flag? !

Wipe your eyes and look again, Zhang Chunrui almost lost the telescope.

It was a dragon flag with a white background that was hand-painted by someone who didn't know. The dragon on the flag was horribly drawn as a snake!

Su Zining painted it?Or Yan Xiaosong?I remembered that among the people traveling, these two people had such a habit of teasing.

However, Yan Xiaosong has a good foundation in art, and he would never produce such a work that is not on the stage.Su Zining seems to be more suspicious, but besides talking, Su Zining would choose a clearer way of doing things, which is not his style.

"Don't fire, it's our own!" Zhang Chunrui heaved a sigh of relief, and announced that the alarm was lifted in a boring manner.

The sailing ship slowly slid past only 100 meters away from the Governor's Island. The sailors on the deck cheered loudly and danced things in their hands. The artillerymen on the fortress also curled their fingers and whistled. some interaction.

"Haha, Mr. Ren, your idea is very effective. I admit that I was really worried that they would mistake us for intruders."

On the Santa Maria, which took only 17 days to arrive at the destination in calm weather, the former captain of the Mayflower, Adelaide, looked at the fortress on Governor's Island on the port side with great interest, and let out a long sigh of relief.

"Hey, Zhang Chunrui has always said that he wants to hang a dragon flag on the fortress, and he can understand it at a glance!"

Accountant Ren Changle looked at his masterpiece triumphantly. The dragon flag made of charcoal and a few pieces of rags sewn together was completely a whim of his early in the morning.

In addition to the original sailors, there were about [-] strange-looking European men and women standing on the deck, all of them looked around the harbor with curious eyes, especially a few young European women, laughing and laughing at the fortress in the distance. The young artillerymen frequently waved their slender hands.

Wow!It's the European Ocean Horse!

The artillerymen on the fort scrambled to snatch Zhang Chunrui's telescope, and all of them watched with gusto.

Half an hour later, the Santa Maria finally circled the southernmost part of Manhattan, turned into the East River channel, and then docked at the Brooklyn pier.Adelaide and Ren Changle will first unload the first batch of urgently needed industrial supplies from Europe here. Together with the European craftsmen or contract slaves hired from the Azores, all personnel participating in the voyage A strict sanitation inspection is to be carried out.

……

……

"What's more, does Yang Wenwen know? This fake and shoddy fashion lady has made a big splash in Port of Heroes. When I set sail, the Portuguese governor and baron were still running to where we live!"

Ren Changle was picking his teeth with a proud face, completely different from the timid and low-key style after being mocked by the workers a few months ago.

In the large cafeteria in the Brooklyn industrial area, dozens of skilled workers or engineers gathered around a large wooden table, watching Ren Changle, who was eating and drinking after changing clothes, and listening to the other party intermittently telling the story of the past two months. European news.

"The Spanish warship and that female pirate were really captured by you?" A young literary and artistic man with a clear identity as a technical engineer and wearing glasses stood aside, revealing a radiant gaze.

"Does it matter? You can't guess how dangerous it was at that time. I was holding a sailor knife, and there were about [-] European natives on the opposite side, and there were cannons. Yes, the cannons were only more than ten meters away from me..."

Ren Changle spattered and gestured, and the workers around him gave an "ah" in surprise for a while, and "oh" like an ebb tide for a while, with disbelief on their faces.

"Xiao Ren, it seems that this trip has been rewarding!"

Qi Jianjun separated from the crowd at this time, held Ren Changle's hand kindly, and shook it vigorously, "It's been a hard journey, but the young people have been trained and have more energy, don't you think?"

The workers gradually dispersed, and few of them responded to Qi Jianjun's words. Ren Changle was a little embarrassed by the silence.

"What's wrong, Director Qi?" Ren Changle still hadn't figured out what was going on.

"Hey... let's talk about it when we go back to the committee, let's talk about it..." Qi Jianjun gave a wry smile, and led Ren Changle towards the outside of the cafeteria.

……

……

Since only Ren Changle and a garrison soldier in charge of the guard returned with the ship, the committee temporarily held a special meeting in the afternoon to let Ren Changle talk about the situation.

"After discussing with Su Zining and the others, this time we mainly escorted the first batch of emergency supplies back, a total of 120 tons. Almost all the items on the list that can be found in the entire Hero Harbor were bought."

Ren Changle resumed his cautious attitude, and took his diary to introduce the achievements of the European delegation one by one.

"...and canvas, mercury, sulfur, and saltpeter. Su Zining asked for these kinds of materials to be delivered first, saying that the Brooklyn industrial area must be the most urgent." Ren Changle drank his saliva, and turned another page, "In addition , we bought a large piece of land and a warehouse in the Azores, and planned to use it as a future trade transit center for Europe. Su Zining also emphasized that the community committee should consider the research and development plan of the radio station, so that we can establish a network in Manhattan-Azores Establish the most efficient communication channel between Soll, and provide instant feedback on any developments.”

"Well, Xiao Su is organized and has a very complete idea. Xiao Ren came back at a very timely time. We just need a lot of external information to adjust our development model, otherwise everything will be done in vain. The matter of the radio station will make Lao Jiang Pay attention to the arrangements." Hearing a series of European trade arrangements outlined by Su Zining, Zheng Quan couldn't help nodding, "Xiao Ren, go ahead and talk about what Xiao Su and the others are doing now."

"Oh, when I set off, Su Zining and the others were also preparing to leave for Lisbon, and they probably arrived many days early."

Ren Changle seemed to think of something, quickly flipped through a few pages of the diary, and added: "Su Zining and Yan Xiaosong specially explained that our military factory must produce qualified flintlock muskets for export as quickly as possible. There is a great demand for weapons from various countries, and most European armies are still a mix of cold weapons and a small number of matchlock guns."

"Hehe, then look at this!"

Zheng Quan smiled mysteriously, and actually pulled out a brand new flintlock from under the conference table, and placed it heavily on the table. Jiang Zhaolong, the industrial committee member who attended the meeting, was even more proud.

"Shortly after you left, our own garrison lineup was equipped with the latest 21A-type improved flintlock guns, but they used precious seamless steel pipes, so the production quantity was very small." Zheng Quan pointed to the heavy barrels in front of him. Smiling, "So Lin Youde and the others have adjusted their production process these days, replacing seamless steel tubes with wrought iron cast and forged barrels, and produced a simplified version of the 21B type flintlock gun, except that it is slightly heavier , the performance in all aspects is not inferior to our own Type 21A, but the range, accuracy and safety have far exceeded any muskets in Europe in this period.”

"Great! Then I can take it with me on my next voyage? How much can I produce?" Ren Changle happily touched the flintlock gun in front of him, as if it had turned into silver Spanish coins in his eyes.

"It's just such a big battle. These days are quite special. The workers are not in a good mood. In order to prevent production accidents, only small batches are produced slowly." Jiang Zhaolong replied unconsciously, and then quickly shut up.

"What's the matter..." Ren Changle felt that there was a strange atmosphere in the cafeteria, and now even the committee members were like this, so he couldn't help standing up, and the smile on his face was gone.

You look at me, I look at you, no one speaks.

"Xiao Ren, you'd better go to rest, we'll tell you tomorrow..." Mr. Liu stood up at this moment, waved his hands, and everyone in the room let out a long breath...

The next day, Ren Changle came to the Manhattan Cemetery alone, looked at the three new graves with a cold expression, and then silently lowered his head.

……

……

After some consultations, with the help of the actual situation in Europe brought back by Ren Changle, the committee quickly made adjustments to the development model planning for the next stage.

Give up the staggering high-level comprehensive development model, and concentrate all limited manpower and resources on training technical talents and industries that embody technological advantages.

As far as agricultural production can guarantee self-sufficiency, large-scale food production does not contribute much to the current development except for manpower and material resources.

Metal processing, weapons manufacturing, chemical products, precision tools and other sectors that can obtain high added value or promote industrial technology upgrading will fully support key investment.

The production and processing of other raw materials that require a lot of manpower and material resources will be stopped if they can be stopped, and those that cannot be stopped will be handed over to Indian hired workers or European craftsmen, and the gap will be replaced by large-scale trade imports.Even the urgent textile and wood processing is done by training Indian workers and European craftsmen as the technical backbone.

Such an arrangement relieved a lot of pressure on Manhattan's technical manpower allocation, but the overall work efficiency and motivation were greatly improved.After throwing away many very low-level production projects, the second-rate technicians now have enough time to improve their own technical theory and train technicians.

Within a week, Lin Youde, the chief engineer who was inspired by the European trade, organized a week of high-intensity and efficient overtime production with food in hand and calmly, which is extremely rare.

Under the preliminarily established industrial quality control management, the piece-by-piece flow manufacturing process even allows some Indian employees who have only received the most basic training to participate.

It doesn't matter whether the product technology is backward or not, the key is to train technicians for the next product upgrade. This is one of the reasons why Lin Youde decided to start the 21B flintlock production line.

The water conservancy ditches dug in the early stage of the Brooklyn Industrial Zone brought in water from the East River, and the simple hydraulic transmission units built alone to save diesel fuel barely supported the refurbished second-hand machine tools.

On April 4, 25 21B flintlock guns were neatly packed in wooden boxes, and then they were carried onto the Santa Maria by Indian hired workers.

At the same time, the second batch of exquisite glass wine sets entered the warehouse, as well as the latest batch of mirrors and some "precision" metal tools, and the remaining space was filled with tens of thousands of furs that made European fur traders jealous. .These things are destined to make the second-hand businessmen and nobles in Europe bleed again.

After discussion, some Dutch sailors who were prisoners of war were replaced by some English sailors on the Santa Maria, and the first mate of the captain of Adelaide was promoted to be the acting captain of the St. Nicholas captured by the Dutch. , the hardworking performance of the bearded first officer was finally recognized.

On the same day, Captain Adelaide and his English crew also received their first voyage bounty.

In addition to the salary stipulated in the contract, nearly 10 Spanish silver coins that Ren Changle brought back from the Azores were placed in several open boxes, and the whole room shone brightly under the candlelight.

阿德莱德船长一人获得了1000西班牙银币的额外奖金；大副约翰获得了800额外奖金；水手长获得了600额外奖金。而其他的水手，也根据身份资历分别获得200到300不等的额外奖金。

Such a generous reward made all the English crew feel like a dream, and almost all of them stayed there, and no one took the initiative to claim it.In Europe at the beginning of the 17th century, the highest annual income of a skilled craftsman would not exceed £10.Including the captain Adelaide, they are all thinking about how to take over the wives and children who still live in the dirty town of Portsmouth.

The prize of £100 made Adelaide look excited, but then he was told the result of the war in West Point.The news of the heavy casualties of the compatriots made Adelaide look lonely, but when he knew that the surviving compatriots had also received an amnesty and became official residents of West Point Town, the captain regained his elation.

"I can't wait to go to the Azores now!"

A drunken Captain Adelaide, talking loudly in Manhattan's newly built cantina.In the corner, four Portuguese or Spanish showgirls who had arrived in Manhattan from Europe were surrounded by a group of young Yankees, all kinds of laughter and the smell of alcohol permeating the dim bar air.