Volume 1: The Battleship Yitian Changes into the Sino-Japanese War of 1894 Chapter 80 Hard Work
"This type of submarine poses a great threat to the battleships parked in the harbor. You must be careful that the submarine's information and drawings do not fall into the hands of other countries." That day, Ma Yue reminded Sun Gang: "I have asked the Military Intelligence Department to place personnel in various shipyards to prevent anyone from stealing secrets."
"I have warned the people in Fujian and Jiangnan Bureaus, but I don't know if they took it to heart." Sun Gang said that the spy issue has always been a headache for him. Two days ago, he received news from the capital that the Zhongtang was almost assassinated when he left the court. He was shocked and quickly sent a telegram to Li Hongzhang to inquire. Li Hongzhang said that he was shot while sitting in a sedan chair. The bullet grazed his face and scratched his skin. He was fine now and told him not to worry. However, according to the people in the "Beijing Office" of the Military Intelligence Department, the murderer committed suicide at the time. It seems that he was a member of the Japanese Chamber of Commerce. Shuntian Prefecture and other government offices are doing their best to track him down.
In order to win sympathy, Li Hongzhang went to court with his head wrapped like a dumpling. Emperor Guangxu encouraged him with kind words and asked Concubine Zhen to make a bandage for the old fox personally and sent it to him as a sign of consolation. This made Master Weng, who had been gloating over the old fox's misfortune, very angry because he felt more and more that his influence on the emperor was beginning to decline little by little.
However, the fact that the old fox almost got shot in the head still frightened him. He knew nothing about intelligence business (his knowledge of spies was limited to Hollywood blockbusters such as James Bond and Mission: Impossible), and he didn't know how to go about it. It was a miracle for him that the Beiyang Military Intelligence Department could achieve its current level of work. Faced with the rampant Japanese spies, he wanted to strike them hard but he didn't know how to start. He couldn't just kill all the Japanese in China, right?
"Why don't you hand over the Beiyang Military Intelligence Office to me?" Ma Yue said to him, "Just build your ship with peace of mind."
Sun Gang smiled bitterly and looked at her. "Go ahead and do what you want." He said, "I can see now that the Military Intelligence Department is now obedient to you. Even if I disagree, is that not enough?"
"I didn't say that." Ma Yue smiled, but from her smug expression, it seemed that Sun Gang had unfortunately come true.
"Okay, if you don't mind the trouble, take it and play with it." Sun Gang smiled and said, "But if I have any special requests, you have to listen to me."
"Don't worry, I understand that the husband should follow the wife's lead." She said with a smile playfully.
"I am very worried about Lord Zhongtang's safety. You'd better ask the people in the Beijing Office to pay more attention to him." Sun Gang seemed to remember something and said that the old fox's support was very important to him and he must not let anything happen to him again.
"Don't worry, I have already made arrangements, otherwise he would have died ten times. Now you want to know what color the waistband of Lord Zhongtang's pants is, I can ask them to find out." Ma Yue rolled her eyes at him and said, "By the time you remember it, the United States will have conquered Iraq." After she said that, she realized that her thinking was misplaced again, and she couldn't help but chuckle with her hands covering her mouth.
"By the way, where did you take my secretary?" Sun Gang remembered that he hadn't seen Jin Shunji for two days, and couldn't help but ask.
"North Korea is close to Japan. I told her that I wanted to set up an intelligence network in North Korea. She said she would go back to China to contact people and would not say goodbye to you." Ma Yue said, "She has been acting strange these days. I was worried that something might happen to her. Wen Guandai happened to be going to North Korea to familiarize herself with the water conditions, so I let her go on a submarine." She looked at him with some amusement, "Why? It's not fun to not have a female secretary, right?"
"No." Sun Gang said somewhat disappointedly, "It's better this way, so I don't have to make a mistake someday." In fact, he was afraid that his beloved wife would bring up the suggestion of "having three wives" again.
"Xiang Yun will be your secretary tomorrow." Ma Yue said, "Zhan Shuxiao is too shy. I am almost worried sick. Give them a chance to interact more. I will feel more at ease with him around you for your safety."
"It's true that the emperor is not anxious, but the eunuch is." Sun Gang said with a smile: "What are you going to do? I am really worried about your safety."
"Don't worry, I have my own stronghold around me. It's safer than you staying in the Navy Office." She said proudly.
It was only later that he found out what she meant by "iron wall".
Since his beloved wife shared the intelligence work with him, in order to concentrate on shipbuilding, he handed over the responsibilities of commanding the torpedo ship squadron and the submarine squadron. Lin Taizeng also agreed and appointed Cai Tinggan as the commander of the torpedo ship squadron and Wen Junfeng as the commander of the submarine squadron. They also started the coordinated combat exercises of the four squadrons. Since he was too impressed by the ghostly movements of the submarine last time, he even ordered all ships to pay attention to underwater attacks at any time. Sun Gang found it funny but did not object. In this era, no country's navy could truly realize the role of submarines. It was a good thing that the Qing Navy had such advanced awareness.
Summer came in a blink of an eye. Thanks to the workers working day and night, the infrastructure of the Beiyang Shipyard was almost completed. Not only the factory buildings and work areas, but also the living areas including the workers' dormitories were built. In addition to the traditional Chinese courtyards, many were French buildings. This was also a little care that Sun Gang had in mind, because there would be many French people coming, and if they felt at home, it would be of great benefit to the future work of the Beiyang Shipyard.
There is no other way. If you want to learn business from others, you have to make them live more comfortably. This money must be spent.
The issue of the factory has always been the responsibility of old man Pei Yinsen and the top students who graduated from the Fujian Naval Academy he brought in. Since a giant warship of more than 10,000 tons was to be built this time, they made a very careful design plan for the dock from the beginning, and decided to build a giant dock that can accommodate 20,000-ton ships for repairs. The dock's dimensions are 647 feet long, 100 feet wide, and 26 feet deep, and the slipway is 396 feet long, 36 feet wide, and 20 feet deep, which can accommodate a 10,000-ton ship of 500 feet in length. When Sun Gang learned how big these things were, and that it would take at least a year to build them all, he couldn't help but gasp. It turned out that building a real ship was not that fun.
But with Pei Yinsen's desperate efforts and the huge amount of money supported by "Brother Kong Fang", the workers worked day and night and managed to snatch the project. Now it is halfway completed. At this rate, it should be completed in a few months.
During the days in the factory, he not only learned a lot, but was also deeply shocked and moved by the hardworking Chinese workers.
Since there were not enough workers in the early stage of the project, Sun Gang was afraid that it would affect the army's training and did not want to mobilize troops to participate. At this time, Zhili Governor Ding Ruchang and Shandong Governor Li Bingheng lent a hand and recruited tens of thousands of civilian workers to Dalian to participate in the construction of the shipbuilding base. These civilians were originally in a difficult situation. When they heard that the Beiyang Navy's shipyard construction fee was high, they brought their families with their elderly and children to come and started the arduous entrepreneurial work. Because there was a lack of modern large-scale machinery and labor tools at that time, many projects could only be completed by workers with manpower. "Because the project was urgent, it worked day and night, and the workers took shifts." Sun Gang wrote in a letter to Li Hongzhang, "Tens of thousands of dark-skinned naked strong men, with the scorching sun on their heads, sweating like rain, working hard with hammers and chisels, and building with all their strength. Because there was no heavy machinery, the paving of huge stones was unimaginably difficult and dangerous, but it was all completed by manpower, which was called a miracle by both Chinese and foreigners."
During the inspection, Sun Gang learned that many of them came with their families, and lived in huts near the construction site, "in extreme poverty, with tattered clothes, or without shoes, and their children were naked." He felt very sad, so he allocated special funds to provide them with food, clothing and shelter, and asked local officials to check the old clothes stored in the warehouse, buy them and give them to them to wear, and encourage nearby merchants to sell supplies to the construction site so that the workers and their families could live. As a result, this measure, which seemed to be due to him as a time traveler, won the workers' immense gratitude, and they worked twice as hard, "one call and a hundred responses, working day and night, without complaints", which made him, the Minister of Shipbuilding, very ashamed.
The vast majority of China's working people are the most simple and kind-hearted; they don't actually ask for much; if you give them a little warmth, they will repay you with a hundredfold of sincerity!
Sun Gang's heart trembled when he thought about the fate .
Looking at the bustling construction site, Sun Gang made a vow in his heart.
He wants to make China's navy, with its strong armor, huge cannons, steel whales and iron sharks, a true Great Wall of the sea for the people!
