New World 1620

Sunday, July 1621, 7.Shipyards in Industrial Brooklyn.

It was a weekend, but today’s Brooklyn Shipyard is still in full swing. A group of European technicians are busy around the No. [-] berth. The wooden keel that has been processed is slowly being lifted into the crane and suspended in mid-air. .

The enterprise-class light cruiser "Freedom", which was previously built on the No. 8 berth, was launched a week ago, and is currently undergoing slow outfitting work; "Vongfang" has also completed most of the main construction work, and the launch schedule is also scheduled for early August.

Now the No. [-] berth is vacant, and the construction of the fourth enterprise-class ship is about to begin, which makes all the naval officers who came to watch the ceremony very satisfied.Among today's guests attending the ceremony, there are more than a dozen middle-aged and elderly Delaware Indians. Judging from the clothing and attire, each of them has a high status. It seems that they are all leaders of the nearby Delaware tribe village.

"Delaware?!"

In the crowd of representatives of the Delaware chiefs, Li Xiang's father-in-law looked in surprise at the huge warship being outfitted on the pier not far in front of him, and at the slipway surrounded by a large number of boatmen, as if he was still dreaming.

"Yes, Dad! This is the name of the big boat specially chosen by the Chinese leader for our tribe. It is said to symbolize the friendship between the Chinese and the Delaware people! It will be like that in the future!" Nada, as an interpreter, explained in detail for her father Looking at the still empty berth in front of him, as he spoke, he pointed to the Liberty, which was being fitted out, and the Orient, which was on another berth.

Li Xiang, who is a goodwill representative of Indians, did not speak at this time, but quietly looked at the busy shipyard workers around him, as well as the naval officers who were laughing and talking loudly.

He found an interesting phenomenon, that is, there was no community mechanic from the shipyard on site.All the workers are Europeans or Indians.

"It's still like this on weekends." Di Zugong, a labor and safety committee member next to Li Xiang, said something abruptly.

Li Xiang was stunned for a moment, so he made a helpless expression: "There is no way, it is difficult to grasp the time to gather these leaders together at the same time... Is there something going on today? Why didn't you see one of your own?"

"It's really full, I wonder where they find so many people to serve as soldiers." Di Zugong sneered, and then his eyes fell on a simple office tens of meters away from the slipway, "What do you want to know? Go ask someone together and you will know..."

After speaking, he winked at Li Xiang, and the two walked around the slipway to the on-site office.

"Mr. You, you're in a daze." Li Xiang walked into the room with a smile, paying respect to the young chief designer of the shipyard in front of him.

"Oh, it's you guys. Li Xiang, look at your daughter-in-law, is she about to give birth?" You Qi, who was thinking about something, came back to his senses, and quickly reached out to shake hands with the two of them, while smiling through the window. He pointed to a young girl with a big belly among the crowd in the distance.

"It's still early, the expected date of delivery is mid-October, and there are still two months." Li Xiang scratched his head embarrassedly, and then lowered his voice, "You guys are so fast. Just a few days into the water, why did it start again?"

You Qi's expression was a bit helpless, but he didn't answer the question directly, but pointed to the Independence which was being fitted out on the pier: "Yes, with such a high load and high density, there will never be enough manpower, and the outfitting work of the Liberty will be done as soon as possible." It may be extended, and the Vostok will be delayed even more, just in time to work hard and train the workers."

Over the past six months, the number of technicians at the Brooklyn Shipyard has grown from a few dozen at the beginning to about 300 at present. In addition to 30 Manhattan community technicians, there are more than 60 European technicians, plus more than 200 Indian low-level labor.Such a half-toned team of technicians actually completed the construction of the Enterprise from scratch within half a year, and even the three ships of the same class, including the Liberty, are currently in different stages of construction, not to mention those temporary workers. A few inland river steamers came out.

"Why is the navy in such a hurry?" Di Zugong frowned, looking at the light cruiser Dongfang on the No. [-] berth, which will also be launched in a week. Aren't you afraid of hidden dangers?"

"Shi Yige and I received instructions from the Military Department of the Committee half a month ago, asking us to redesign a cruiser with a larger tonnage... but the construction period will be longer than the enterprise class. The Ministry of Industry and they will also fully cooperate. Try to launch a 20-horsepower steam engine-assisted sail lifting device at the beginning of next year."

You Qi did not show the excitement he imagined, but sat down on the wood pile in a tired posture.

"Then today..." Li Xiang paused, thinking about what language to use to organize the question.

"The stalls are on strike. Shi Yige and the others say they can't stand it anymore, and some of them plan to quit, saying that they are just playing with them as NPCs." You Qi, who was once in high spirits when talking about shipbuilding, now But he was downcast as if he had lost his soul.

"Stone and I originally planned to take a rest after the completion of the Liberty, and then build a brand new ocean-going clipper transport ship for Ren Changle and the others to make up for the lack of ocean-going capacity... After the Dongfang is launched, we will build a new one. It is suitable for the Hudson River inland steam transport ship, as a technical upgrade reserve. By the way, all skilled workers will be given a period of downtime business training." You Qi lowered his head slightly, looked at the ground, and unconsciously drew on the dust with his feet Lines, the excitement of building a boat at the beginning seems to be gone.

The stone is Shi Yige, the person in charge of the shipyard.But today, not only all the community technicians expressed their dissatisfaction with actions, but even the person in charge who is good at hull surveying and engineering management was not present.Li Xiang can probably guess the psychological resistance of this shipyard boss.

Militarism?Why is the navy in such a hurry... Li Xiang looked back at the crowd of naval officers in the distance, and suddenly felt uncomfortable.And Di Zugong beside him walked away with a hint of anger.

When the time came, a string of firecrackers sounded, and the onlookers cheered. The keel on the crane was slowly lowered onto the berth, and a dozen Delaware Indian chiefs lay on the ground, muttering repeatedly. An Indian native language that doesn't know what it means.

"Nada, Dad, let's go and have dinner."

Back to his wife and father-in-law, Li Xiang almost dragged and helped the father-in-law up, no matter how excited the father-in-law muttered, he led the two of them out of the crowd.

……

……

Labor and Safety Commissioner Di Zugong came to the committee building, and there were hardly any people on the weekend committee.But as Di Zugong expected, the dedicated Chairman Mr. Liu was still in the conference room, and Zheng Quan, who was like a workaholic, was also with him.

Through the window in the corridor, I saw the gray-haired old man Liu and Zheng Quan talking about something in the closed conference room.Mr. Liu had a serious face, while Zheng Quan's expression was a little bad.

After thinking for a while, Di Zugong pushed open the door of the meeting room.

"...I still recommend that the industrial sector fully promote the technical research and development of breech-loading rifles and army artillery! Now that we have offended the Mohawks, it is hard to say that the Iroquois Alliance will not stand up for them."

Zheng Quan's voice was low and hasty, and he also carried fierce gestures, changing his usual calm and calm image.

"Oh, Xiao Di is here. Didn't we watch the groundbreaking ceremony of the Delaware together today? Qi Jianjun and you should serve as representatives to receive those Delaware guests well." Mr. Liu, who was listening to the other party's opinions, saw that he was in charge of immigration affairs Di Zugong stood at the door, quickly made a gesture to stop talking, and then stood up with a smile, "Is there any difficulty in work? We must be fully prepared. It is estimated that Ren Changle and the others will come back next month. More European immigrants will come."

"Old Zheng, I want to ask why we rush to build warships over and over again. Now the capacity of European trade and inland water transport is extremely scarce, and the limited manpower on the two roads is all at risk! I haven't seen the brothers in the shipyard. Have you all gone on strike? Do you think you didn’t see anything?” Di Zugong didn’t answer Mr. Liu’s question, but stood directly opposite Zheng Quan, staring into his eyes, “Do we have so many navy sailors? Just one USS Enterprise emptied out all the naval manpower, and the USS Liberty, the USS Orient, and the USS Delaware are going to soak in the port and rot? Even build new ships?"

Zheng Quan was taken aback, and slowly turned his head, as if he didn't intend to answer the young man's difficult question.

"Sit down, sit down and talk about it...Xiao Di, the committee has carefully discussed these arrangements..." Mr. Liu was also a little surprised, but after a few seconds, he quickly smoothed things over, "We need to be strong all the time. It is not a bad thing to be prepared in advance to ensure the safety and interests of the community with the Navy."

After finishing speaking, he glanced at Zheng Quan.

"It's over, it's too much. Look at those people in the shipyard. They haven't rested for almost a few months. Who can bear it? There is also the budget cost. Su Zining and the others are running business with their heads in Europe, swallowing most of the materials and funds. These military projects are over. Look at the community, when will the power supply network in the community be completed? When will the winter heating pipeline be started? When will the biogas household project be implemented..."

A lot of people's livelihood and civil infrastructure projects were said by Di Zugong like beans, and the two people on the opposite side watched quietly.

"For an Enterprise, even if the Indian technicians are easy to dispatch and the wood is obtained locally, more manpower is required to process it. Many materials have to be imported from Europe, and the technicians must work overtime. I want everyone to be exhausted. ?In addition to the manufacture of weapons and equipment, you know that there are no CNC machine tools there, all are manually controlled processing, and each part is cut out by a technician bit by bit, how much effort is required! Could it be that the community committee is just to build arms and fight wars to dominate the world? Games? With so much manpower and materials, why not make more things to make everyone's life better?"

Di Zugong seemed to be overwhelmed with emotions, and didn't care about the expressions of the two elders in the meeting room.

"In the whole community, most of the work revolves around the army... Yes, we are afraid of death, and we don't feel safe, but everyone doesn't want to live in a huge military factory! We also need a manpower, material and financial resources to protect ourselves The upper limit of investment. We must not only protect ourselves, but also live a good life, and we must not be kidnapped by the army!"

"Snapped!"

A porcelain cup was thrown to the ground, torn apart.Zheng Quan stood up slowly with a livid face, glaring at the unflattering person in every department in front of him.

"I've finished my sentence." Di Zugong ignored the other party's anger at this time, turned around and walked out of the meeting room.

"I don't understand bullshit..." It took Zheng Quan a long time to spit out such a sentence.

Old Liu quietly watched the sudden one-sided catharsis in front of him, slightly shook his head and sighed.