Volume 1 Tigers in Southeast Asia Chapter 42: Warships are difficult to build
Lin Fei smiled and said, "Let's not talk about this for now. Let's talk about you. What do you want to talk to me about?"
Yu Xier said, "I saw that our army was equipped with automatic rifles, which are already very advanced weapons, so I thought, should the navy also get some new weapons?" Yu Xier took out a piece of paper from his pocket and said with a smile, "This is the battleship I designed. When can we start building the battleship?"
Without even looking at the paper, Lin Fei said, "Old Yu, you have probably never been to a shipyard, nor designed a warship, right?"
Yu Xier was stunned and asked in surprise: "How do you know?"
Lin Fei laughed and said, "With our current industrial strength, we can't build warships at all. We can make some steel and copper now, but it's as ridiculous to want to build warships with these as to ask a baby who has just learned to walk to participate in a race."
Yu Xier looked unconvinced and said, "Is it that difficult to build a warship?"
Lin Fei said helplessly: "Of course it is that difficult! If we want to build warships, we face two major problems, one is the lack of materials, and the other is the lack of talent."
"A warship is a big project that requires a variety of materials. Although we now have steel, the mechanical properties of this steel are not good enough to be used to build warships. The manufacturing process of a warship requires a large number of professional workers to complete various installations and manufacturing, but now we lack several important craftsmen."
Lin Fei handed the paper Ling Xue gave him to Yu Xier and said, "Look at the skills these craftsmen know. No one knows welding and pipeline installation and maintenance. Shipbuilding requires connecting steel together. Without welders, all this is impossible. And pipelines. There are densely packed pipelines everywhere on the warship. How can we do without pipeline workers? We are so short of workers. I was unhappy just now because of this."
Yu Xier said: "Then what should we do?"
Lin Fei said: "Workers can be trained, but materials cannot be trained."
Yu Xier asked: "Then are we still going to buy it?"
Lin Fei said: "We can't buy a powerful industrial overlord, so we should find a way to make it ourselves."
Yu Xier asked hurriedly: "How do we make these things?"
Lin Fei thought for a moment and said, "We need one thing!"
Yu Xier asked, “What do we need?”
Lin Fei said: "Coal!"
Yu Xier laughed and said, "What's so special about coal? Don't they have coal at Lingji Construction Bureau ?"
Lin Fei shook his head slightly and said, "Most of the coal used by Lingji Construction Bureau is fuel coal, with only a small part being coking coal. We need a large coal mine to use the coal in it to support our development."
Yu Xier thought for a moment and said, "I don't quite understand. With coal, can we build warships?"
Lin Fei said, "With coal, we are one step closer to building warships! With sufficient coke, we can smelt high-performance steel. I will go find a coal mine now. You and Chen Fu should prepare to go to Taiwan again, find British merchants, and then buy a batch of materials. This time we will mainly buy three things: first, tin ore; second, pig bristles; and third, tung oil. Do you understand?"
Yu Xier was stunned and asked, "What's the point of buying these three things?"
Lin Fei thought for a moment and said, "These three things are very useful to the navy. If I were to explain them to you now, I would have to say too much. How about this, I will explain them to you after you buy them back."
Yu Xier said goodbye without asking any more questions. The next day, Lin Fei classified the types of work he had done and handed them to Ling Xue, asking her to arrange for the craftsmen to teach the apprentices, and gave the banknote issuance plan to Chiyomika, asking her to arrange it.
What Lin Fei didn't expect was that Chiyoko actually shook her head with a worried look on her face and said, "Lin Fei, I'm a little scared. Don't let me do it."
Lin Fei thought, it's only been a day, why did Chiyo Mika change her mind? So Lin Fei asked, "Mika, what are you afraid of?"
Chiyomika said hurriedly: "I'm worried that I won't be able to do well. Running a bank requires managing many people. What if they don't listen to me? Should I scold them? I have never scolded anyone else. At home, it was my father, mother, brothers and sisters who scolded me..."
Lin Fei thought helplessly that Chiyomika said those words yesterday only because she was provoked by Ling Xue. She was still the timid and cowardly young lady with no opinion. It was too difficult for her to manage a large group of people. So Lin Fei said, "How about this, I'll let Chen Jingui take care of the bank's affairs. I'll let him listen to you. Just tell him what you think."
Chiyomika then agreed, and Lin Fei gave Chen Jingui a few instructions. Chen Jingui now listened to Lin Fei and agreed readily.
Lin Fei gave his banknotes to a printing factory for printing. There was only one printing factory on the island, so there was no need to worry about someone counterfeiting. Lin Fei also named the banknotes "Huaxia Currency" and issued a notice to the residents of the island, asking them to go to the bank to exchange their silver for banknotes. Lin Fei had thought well in advance. The residents of the island trusted Lin Fei very much and exchanged their silver for banknotes one after another.
Seeing that everything was on track, Lin Fei went to Ling Xue to ask about the coal mine. When he arrived at Ling Xue's residence and asked, Ling Xue said, "I really don't know. I'll take you to see Master Guan."
Ling Xue took Lin Fei to find Master Guan. On the way, Ling Xue told Lin Fei that Master Guan was called "Guan Shanyue". His wife and daughter's knots were untied, their revenge was avenged, and his spirit was much better.
The two came to the ore warehouse, and saw Master Guan Shanyue was energetically directing everyone to sort the ore and then put it into the warehouse. At this time, Guan Shanyue was neatly dressed and had a ruddy face. Lin Fei walked up and asked about the coal mine. Guan Shanyue frowned and said, "Isn't our coal mine enough now?"
Lin Fei shook his head and said, "The current efficiency of coal coking is too low. We need to find another coal mine."
Guan Shanyue shook his head and said, "I don't know where the coal mine is."
When Lin Fei heard this, his heart sank. He thought to himself that it would be difficult if Master Guan didn't know where the coal mine was. Samar Island is quite large with many mountains. It would take an unknown amount of time to find the coal mine if he searched all the mountains one by one. However, the coking industry is too important. It is not only important for steel metallurgy, but also many chemical products can be obtained in the coking process. These chemical products also have a great driving force on the chemical industry.
Lin Fei decided to go into the mountains himself to look for a coking coal mine. If he couldn't find one, he would think of another way. So Lin Fei asked, "Master Guan, I plan to go into the mountains myself to look for a coal mine. Do you think you can be my guide?"
Before Guan Shanyue could say anything, Ling Xue said, "That won't do. Master Guan is responsible for checking all these ores. If Master Guan leaves, who will do this job?"
Lin Fei frowned and said, "But we must have a guide to go into the mountains. Who else has walked in the mountains?"
Master Guan suddenly said: "I thought of someone who can help you."
Lin Fei asked hurriedly: "Who is he?"
Master Guan's expression darkened, he shook his head gently and said, "Forget it, he certainly can't help, you should find someone else."
Lin Fei was curious and asked, "Master Guan, who is this person you are talking about?"
Master Guan said: "This man's name is 'Qian Wangling'. He is a very strange man. He went into the mountains like me, but I went into the mountains to look for various minerals, while he went into the mountains to look for a strange thing."
Lin Fei asked: "Strange thing? What is that?"
Master Guan frowned and pondered for a long time, as if he was looking for words to explain the strange things. After a while, he said, "The things he found were all stones with strange patterns on them. I asked him what those stones were, and he said they were 'past life stones', which sounded mysterious."
Ling Xue's eyes lit up after hearing this, and she asked, "Past life stone? Could it be that the stone he found can see a person's past life?"
Lin Fei thought to himself that many natural science achievements in ancient China liked to be cloaked in the cloak of mysticism. For example, "The Fairy on the River is the most spiritual and divine. When she gets fire, she can fly without leaving any dust." The phenomenon of mercury volatilization when heated was described as magical. That previous life stone must also be some kind of natural science achievement.
Ling Xue still asked about the "Past Life Stone" with a longing look on her face. Lin Fei smiled and said, "Xue'er, stop talking. People don't have past lives." Then he said to Guan Shanyue, "Where does Qian Wangling live?"
Guan Shanyue said, "After leaving Yanhuang City, go south and you will see a bamboo forest. There is a small river beside the bamboo forest. Follow the river and you will find Qian Wangling's residence."
Lin Fei then said goodbye to Guan Shanyue. Just as he was about to leave, he heard Guan Shanyue say behind him: "Captain Lin, please wait a moment."
Lin Fei stopped and turned back, asking, "Master Guan, is there anything else?"
Guan Shanyue hesitated for a while and said, "Qian Wangling has a terrible temper. He curses and beats people at every turn. You must be careful."
Lin Fei nodded in thanks, came out of the ore warehouse, and began to prepare to go into the mountain. Ling Xue followed Lin Fei and prepared. Lin Fei smiled and said, "Xue'er, you still don't need to follow me, right?"
Ling Xue frowned and said, "Why can't you let me follow? I want to see the Past Life Stone."
Lin Fei smiled and said, "You don't know anything about mining, so you can't help much."
Ling Xue argued: "Who said I can't help? I can cook! How can you cook in the mountains? You are a grown man, you definitely can't cook!"
Lin Fei thought helplessly, do I still need to cook? It's okay to eat raw food in the forest! But Lin Fei didn't say much and agreed. The two rode fast horses out of Yanhuang City and found a bamboo forest and a small river. They walked upstream along the river and found a small wooden house. There was a shed outside the house. There were stones of different sizes under the shed, and there were strange patterns on them. Ling Xue said excitedly: "Those should be the stones of the previous life, right?"
