Volume 1 Tigers in Southeast Asia Chapter 32 Preparation for Industrial Development
Liu Daming gave Lin Fei a wicked smile, turned around and walked out. He looked at Ling Xue who was standing at the door and smiled slyly, which made Ling Xue feel creepy.
Lin Fei stood up, walked up to Ling Xue, and said with a smile: "Miss Ling, please come in."
Ling Xue changed into a Chinese woman's outfit, which made her look even more charming. She walked into the house, bowed gracefully, and said, "I came here specially to apologize to Captain Lin. Captain Lin saved me, but I actually hit you..."
Ling Xue wanted to say more, but Lin Fei waved his hand and said with a smile: "Don't say anymore, these are just trivial matters. From now on, you can just call yourself 'I', and stop calling yourself 'little girl'."
Ling Xue nodded and said, "Captain Lin has been so kind to me. How can I repay him?"
Lin Fei laughed and said, "Just pledge yourself to me."
In Lin Fei's time, it was not wrong to tell such a joke after helping a girl, but it was not okay in this era. When Ling Xue heard this, she blushed with shame and lowered her head without saying a word. Lin Fei regretted his words and quickly changed the subject, saying, "Miss Ling, I have a lot of things to do next, I hope you can help me."
Ling Xue smiled and said, "Don't call me 'Miss Ling' anymore. It sounds awkward. Just call me 'Xue'. My father and the craftsmen uncles all call me that."
Lin Fei nodded and said, "Okay, Xue'er, is there a place in this town that prints books and newspapers? Although Filipinos are illiterate, there should be many Chinese who can read, right?"
Ling Xue was stunned for a moment, and with a hint of anger in her tone, she said, "Why are you looking for a place like that?"
Lin Fei was stunned, thinking, what's wrong with the place where books and newspapers are printed? Is there something wrong? Looking at Ling Xue's expression, it seems that I am not looking for a printing factory, but a brothel!
Lin Fei hurriedly picked up the brief history of the Philippines on the table and said, "I want to print many copies of this article. Where should I go?"
Ling Xue still had a hint of anger on her face, and said, "Come with me, I'll take you to that kind of place."
Lin Fei followed Ling Xue out and saw that all the Chinese on the street were in high spirits, walking faster and talking louder, while the Filipinos were all submissive and had long lost their former majesty. They were all frightened by Lin Fei's fast guns and cannons.
Ling Xue brought Lin Fei to a workshop, where steam and the scent of ink filled the air. Ling Xue pointed and said, "That's the printing factory. Go in. I'll wait for you outside."
Lin Fei was very surprised, thinking to himself, what's wrong with entering a printing factory? However, he didn't ask any more questions and walked in. He found that there was a bookstore in front of the printing factory, and the printing factory was in the back. The printed books were sold directly. Lin Fei looked at the bookshelf and understood why Ling Xue didn't want to mention this place, because the covers of the books were all erotic pictures, with bold styles and bright colors. How could a little girl like Ling Xue have the nerve to come in?
Lin Fei thought to himself: "The cultural level of the Chinese here is not high, so naturally these books are the best-sellers. I will slowly improve the cultural quality of the Chinese in the future."
Lin Fei thought about it and found his boss. He paraded with great fanfare when entering the city. Everyone in the city already knew him, and the boss was no exception. When he saw Lin Fei coming in, he hurried over to greet him. Lin Fei handed him the brief history and asked him to print out a hundred copies before tonight. The boss agreed, and Lin Fei came out of the printing factory.
Ling Xue looked at Lin Fei and found that Lin Fei did not bring out anything that would make people blush and their hearts beat fast. With a slightly relieved look, Lin Fei said to Ling Xue: "Xue'er, take me to your construction bureau to have a look. I can use all the things in your construction bureau."
Ling Xue's eyes lit up, and she said happily, "It's good to be able to help my benefactor." Then she took Lin Fei to the Construction Bureau in the west of the city. The Construction Bureau did not have a high wall courtyard, but only scattered houses. Lin Fei said to Ling Xue, "Xue'er, where are the craftsmen who can build bridges and pave roads?"
Ling Xue pointed to the nearest house and said, "This is the house." Then she pushed the door and walked in. Lin Fei saw two old men sitting in the house, drinking wine one sip at a time, their faces full of excitement.
As soon as Ling Xue entered the room, she called out "Uncle Feng, Uncle Xu" affectionately, then rushed to the two old men, looking like a delicate girl, completely different from the stubborn and strong girl before.
Ling Xue introduced Lin Fei and the two old men to each other. Lin Fei learned that one of the old men was Feng Mingcheng, a road builder, and the other was Xu Zhen, a bridge builder. After learning Lin Fei's identity, the two men knelt down and kowtowed to him without saying a word, calling him "benefactor". Lin Fei hurriedly helped them up and said, "Old man, there is no need to be polite. I am here to discuss important matters."
Feng Mingcheng said, "My benefactor, there is no need to discuss it. Just tell me what you want to say."
Lin Fei said, "I came here to ask you two to build a road and a bridge from the beach in the north of Samar Island to the town. Don't worry about the manpower and materials. I will arrange them for you."
The two old men agreed immediately. Lin Fei thought, transportation is the main artery of modern industry. If you want to build an industrial power, you must have a strong transportation industry. Now that you can't build railways, you can use roads instead. The rocks and mountains needed to build roads are all on the island, and cement can also be manufactured.
Lin Fei came out from the two old men and asked Ling Xue again: "Don't you have steel metallurgy craftsmen here? Take me to see them."
Ling Xue then took Lin Fei to walk far away. After passing a small forest, they came to a river. The river flowed very fast. On the open space beside the river stood more than a dozen clay blast furnaces. Lin Fei pointed at the blast furnaces and asked, "Is that your steelmaking furnace?"
Ling Xue said: "They are all iron-making furnaces. If you want to make steel, you need to stir-fry the pig iron repeatedly, which is very time-consuming. Filipinos buy more farm tools, and farm tools can be made of iron, so we rarely make steel."
Lin Fei nodded and asked, "Where does your ore come from?"
Ling Xue pointed her finger into the mountain and said, "There are iron ore and copper ore in the mountain. Our craftsmen mined the iron ore from the mountain, put it in bags, and tied it to a raft. Isn't there a river here? This river just leads to the mine in the mountain area. Our craftsmen put down the raft upstream, and the raft carried the iron ore along the water flow."
Lin Fei asked: "How much ore can be mined in a day?"
Ling Xue replied, "It was easy to mine in the past few years. The ore was all on the ground, and you could find a lot of it just by digging. But now the ore on the ground is getting less and less, and you need to dig underground to mine it, so the quantity is also less. Now fifty craftsmen can dig a thousand kilograms of ore a day."
Lin Fei smiled and said, "It's too little. It's not enough. I'll give you our explosives. It should be much faster. Where are the ores? Take me to see."
Ling Xue pointed to the upper reaches of the river and said, "Master Guan said that the ore in this mountain cannot be left under the sun, so we built a warehouse upstream and stored the ore in the warehouse."
Lin Fei asked: "Who is Master Guan?"
Ling Xue said: "He is the one who specifically looks after the ore for us. He tells the craftsmen how to refine the ore after it is mined from the mountain."
Lin Fei thought: "There are many kinds of iron ores, such as magnetite, pyrite, etc. The same kind of ore has different grades, so different ores need to be refined in different ways. In my era, there were spectral detection and chemical analysis methods to determine the type of ore and the grade of iron elements. In this era, it depends entirely on the experience of the craftsmen. This Master Guan should be the person in charge of this matter."
Ling Xue said as she took Lin Fei upstream, and asked as she walked, "Captain Lin, do you know anything about ore?"
Although Lin Fei studied at the Naval Aviation Academy and seemed to know nothing about mining and metallurgy, a pilot must first learn the structure of an aircraft. A lot of materials are needed to manufacture an aircraft, so materials science is a must. Lin Fei also taught himself a lot about materials, so he knew a lot about mining and metallurgy.
Lin Fei nodded and said, "I understand a little."
Ling Xue stopped and frowned, saying, "Captain Lin, if you only know a little, then I want to remind you of one thing."
Ling Xue had been in a good mood since she came out of the printing factory, but her expression suddenly changed. Lin Fei was a little surprised and asked, "What's the matter?"
Ling Xue said, "When we get to the ore warehouse, don't ask too many questions. Master Guan has a weird temper and doesn't like to teach others."
Lin Fei laughed in his heart. Who would teach whom in a while? At this time, Ling Xue's face darkened and she said sadly, "Master Guan was not like this. Later, his wife and daughter were abused by the clan leader... It's all my fault for not being able to protect them..."
Lin Fei said a few words of comfort and soon came to the ore warehouse. He pushed the door open and saw a lot of bright yellow stones piled up in the warehouse. Next to these stones, lay a middle-aged man with an untidy beard. The middle-aged man's clothes were so dirty that the color could not be seen.
Ling Xue walked forward and called Uncle Guan twice. The middle-aged man opened his eyes and glanced at Ling Xue, then said "hmm". Ling Xue then told him again about Lin Fei defeating the Filipinos. The middle-aged man was not at all excited about the revenge for his wife and daughter, but said "hmm" and closed his eyes again.
Lin Fei looked at Master Guan and suddenly remembered a word: there is no greater sorrow than a dead heart. He felt sad for Master Guan. Then he walked to the pile of ore, picked up the ore and looked at it carefully. He also pulled out the Blade of Saladin and knocked open the ore to see what was inside.
The sound of Lin Fei hitting the ore attracted the attention of Master Guan. He opened his eyes and asked Lin Fei: "Young man, can you understand it?"
Lin Fei raised the ore in his hand and said, "This is pyrite, right?"
