Chapter 73 Today and the Future

In British history, there was a cruise ship called "Big Oriental". Unlike the wooden shell steam engine sailboat at that time, the Big Oriental was designed as an iron shell ship propelled by propellers and sails. This large ship, known as the "floating city on the sea", could carry 4,000 passengers and 6,000 tons of cargo, which exceeded human beings at that time. The limits of shipbuilding engineering.

However, compared with its engineering grandeur, it is a great commercial failure. It can even be said that its failure is enough to set a wake-up call for any engineer. "It can reach the engineering limit, but don't try to exceed the engineering limit."

However, engineers are the most stubborn group of people. They never believe in engineering limits. They always establish new engineering limits in the process of constantly challenging engineering limits, which confirms their ability before World War I, when Britain and Germany fell into a maritime arms race. Competition also inevitably extends to the entire field of shipbuilding, especially the cruise industry, which symbolizes national strength.

At that time, there were two large-scale shipping companies in Britain, White Star and Karnard, and two equally large-scale shipping companies in Germany, North Germany-Lloyds and Hamburg-America. Just as the British White Star attaches importance to comfort and Bernard attaches importance to speed, Hamburg-America and North Germany-Lloyds also focus on such a distinction. Hamburg-America pays more attention to the size of its mail ship and the comfort surname of its passengers.

In order to compete with the British Mauritanian-class mail ships and the Olympic-class mail ships, Germany actually proposed the construction of three super mail ships. They are 280 meters long and weigh 52,000 tons, far exceeding the British Mauritanian-class and Olympic-class. They imagined so, and they also Unprecedented ideas are put into reality, which makes these three giants occupy the throne of the world's largest cruise ships for a long time, making many ships respectful to face these three giants.

When Britain and Germany were competing in warships and shipping, the other ocean on earth fell silent. Because of the Sino-US naval agreement, China slowed down the expansion of the navy and even stopped the construction of the capital ships, but this does not mean that China, which has just gone to the sea, will give up the ocean.

Another maritime industry, the maritime industry, has also entered China's vision. When the national strength cannot be expressed through warships, it is also a choice to show national strength through the maritime industry. With the financial support of the political axe, in fact, the Pacific Company of the political axe enterprise has also begun to expand on a large scale, and with British and German companies Differently, China pays more attention to tonnage and passenger capacity. In just five years, as many as six giant cruise ships have entered the company. The New Oriental, with a displacement of 42,000 tons, is one of them.

For the outside world, the "New Oriental" with a speed of up to 30 knots is the glory of China's shipbuilding industry after the "Qiyuan Ship". Unlike the "assembly" of the Zhiyuan Ship, all the components of the "New Oriental" are domestically produced, which tests China's ability to build large ships. In fact, to some extent, the "New Oriental" is also a naval test ship. The navy tests new turbine technology and new welding technology on the cruise ship. In short, the cruise ship is just a tool for the navy to accumulate technology.

On the other hand, cruise ships can be requisitioned in wartime as auxiliary cruisers or troop carriers and medical ships, while the "New Oriental" was first requisitioned as a troop carrier for the first time after the outbreak of the war, and then as a medical ship for the transport of wounded soldiers. And this is the reason why Chinese cruise ships emphasize the capacity.

"God knows!"

On the side of the medical ship New Oriental, Wang Ze, with a triangle scarf hanging from his neck and gauze wrapped in his arms, muttered discontentedly in his mouth. Although the ship had arrived in Dar es Salaam, his face was still full of dissatisfaction.

First, his hand is not broken, second, his leg is not broken, third, his torso is not shot, fourth... Anyway, he is not a seriously injured person, but an arm shot. According to common sense, a minor injured person like him will stay in a field hospital for a week at most. After the wound heals, he will return to the army and continue. Fight.

But what surprised him was that after he was simply dressing in the field hospital, the doctor gave him a sign, and he had a "ship plate". At that time, he didn't know what the "ship plate" was at all. Otherwise, he would have returned to the army as soon as the wound was treated, but when he knew it. Wait, the man had arrived at the port, and then got on the medical ship. At first, he thought that it was because the conditions of the medical ship were better. He originally wanted to sleep comfortably for two days before returning to the army. When he reacted, the medical ship had sailed towards the port of Dar es Salaam, and they were going to arrive at the branch hospital of es Salaam for treatment.

With such a little injury, it has to reach es Salaam!

Despite dissatisfaction, the ship had left the port at that time. No matter how much dissatisfaction there was, it could only turn into helplessness in the end. With this cruise ship that once excited the Chinese people, it went to "Chinese East Africa", a new colony of China.

"Palm trees, black people, snowy mountains, pastures, farms... This is our colony in China!"

When the huge "New Oriental" entered the harbor, the soldiers on the deck looked at the colony with longing eyes. This was China's first colony, and the colony was a symbol of a large country and a powerful country to some extent in this era, which meant that a country went from the mainland to overseas. To the real world power!

Now, after this war, China has its own colony, and more importantly, this colony was snatched from another world power.

"Look, black people, so many black people!"

The soldiers looked at the black workers at the dock construction site in Dar es Salaam. They shouted excitedly. In their eyes, these black black people are so cute, just because they are no longer aliens now, but citizens of "Chinese East Africa". Yes, they are just citizens. These black people are not It has the power to act as a citizen.

Hmm! That's it!

In the meantime, when these soldiers who came to the Chinese colonies for the first time entered the port, they couldn't help but have a sense of mission in their hearts - to open up a wider living space for the empire and win the power of the colonial navy for the people.

"Oh, Oh..."

At this moment, a salute sounded from the fort of the port, which was a twenty-one gift. It was the highest tribute to the colony to the soldiers who killed and injured the enemy on the battlefield. On the shore, tens of thousands of expatriates from afar kept shouting with flowers in their hands, welcoming the wounded soldiers with their local accent. The whole Dar es Salaam was once again boiling because of the arrival of the soldiers.

"Mr. Governor!"

On the dock, Li Zicheng, standing on the trestle, turned his head and looked at Wu Zihao, "How's it going? Have you arranged everything?"

At this time, he had become the first governor of Chinese East Africa by the consul in East Africa. According to the practice of the colonial governors of other countries, he wore a military uniform. The colonial governor was not only responsible for administrative matters, but also military affairs. However, he did not wear a temporary military uniform. In fact, although He is an official of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, but he joined the Royal Reserve Officers as early as college, and now he is only re-introduced from the reserve to active duty.

"All the doctors who agreed in the last batch of wounded were evacuated to the homes of the diaspora to recuperate. The beds can fully meet the needs of the wounded, and at least two-thirds of this group of the wounded can be directly evacuated to the homes of the diaspora to recuperate, so there is no problem in receiving treatment!"

Wu Zihao hurriedly replied that the current officials of the governor's office were actually set up in the original consular team, which was entirely due to the debate of the parliament on its legal surname when the colony was seized, and the subsequent domestic turmoil. On the one hand, the country sent troops to reinforce the other hand. However, due to various factors, the political axe is unwilling to send administrative officials directly.

In this case, the officials of the consulate directly served as officials of the Governor's Office, and then organized the Overseas Chinese Autonomous Council to elect civil servants through the election of the overseas Chinese. Now, the management of this area of one million square kilometers is managed by the "Governor's Office" of only 23 people and hundreds of elected officials. Take care of it.

"Many people have always wondered why we should take the initiative to take the treatment of the wounded without the central funding. Even today, they still don't understand my intention. They just saw the arrival of silver and praised how wise I am!"

Looking at the "New Oriental" slowly entering the port, Li Zicheng said this to his assistant with a helpless wry smile on his face. For a long time, until yesterday, the committee was privately questioning whether East Africa could afford the huge expenditure on the treatment of the wounded. After all, in addition to the money paid by the army, for the East In other words, new hospitals and corresponding logistics facilities are needed. Even the current port expansion is also undertaken by East Africa.

However, all of this changed yesterday. With the consent of the Congress, the imperial finance provided 400 million yuan to East Africa at one time, and the Ministry of Transport will invest 200 million yuan in East Africa to improve the highway transportation system in East Africa.

It can be said that the short-term efforts of East Africa are exchanged for huge returns. Those returns are different from political axe-funded investment. Those investments are often industrial surnames and predatory surnames, but the allocation of 400 million yuan and 200 million yuan of transportation investment take advantage of the future development of East Africa.

Because of this, the elected officials, who originally had a lot of complaints about the poor and weak financial resources in East Africa and took on the task of recuperation for the wounded, finally did not have to reluctantly accept all this in order to "show the loyalty of the first colony of the empire to the empire". Now they accept all this from the bottom of their hearts. It's an honor to see this.

"But they don't know at all. Compared with 600 million yuan, I value them more!"

With a slight chin raised, Li Zicheng pointed to the cruise ship entering the port with the help of a tugboat.

"They don't know at all that for Chinese East Africa, what we need is not money. When the Germans govern East Africa, the annual fiscal surplus here is as high as tens of millions of yuan, which is enough to support the operation of the colonial axe. But for East Africa, these are not enough. After East Africa became a Chinese colony, the domestic The performance!"

Shaking his head, Li Zicheng's face was full of disappointment. It was at that time that he realized the impact of parliamentary politics on the colonies in the future. That's why he hoped to make some changes.

"Indeed, the navy wants to establish a base here, and we also help them as much as possible. In the eyes of many people, with the support of the navy, everything is easy, but..."

Looking at the port in front of him, Li Zicheng's eyes showed concern about the future. "What the navy needs is only a port, what it needs is Dar es Salaam, or the port of Dar es Salaam. In this case, when necessary, their responsibility is to continue to own the port, that is to say, They don't have much interest in complete East Africa.

When he sighed helplessly, Li Zicheng suddenly laughed again. His eyes were slightly white, but he showed the look of a wise man at this time.

"However, the army sent troops to Arabia, but it made me see the opportunity! An opportunity to change the fate of East Africa! If I seize the future of the whole East Africa, I will get the most fundamental guarantee!"

East Africa, future, guarantee!

Wu Zihao is the first time to hear the governor mention these words. In fact, from the beginning, the governor has constantly emphasized responsibilities and obligations, all of which are the responsibilities and obligations of the colony, but now it is related to the future of the colony.

"Of course, the army will send all the minor casualties in the end, which is indeed beyond my initial expectations. If not, it's okay to let more officers and soldiers come to East Africa. After their wounds basically healed, our expatriates took them home, where they would be taken better care of so that those soldiers could understand East Africa and the land! At the same time, let them remember that there are their compatriots here! Let them remember everything here!"

At this point, Li Zicheng's face was full of pride. From the arrival of the first batch of wounded, he knew that he had succeeded! In other words, Chinese East Africa has succeeded!

"You should know that at least half of China's official rank system comes from the army, and so does the National Assembly, especially the House of Lords. After all, military service is the responsibility and obligation of the aristocracy, and how many of these wounded will become members of Congress in the future? Entering the national bureaucratic system? The kind treatment they receive in East Africa today is the guarantee of tomorrow in East Africa. You know, wartime emotions often affect people's lives!"

At this time, the "New Oriental" was in port, and the military band of the East African garrison played the "Imperial March". This day is another festival for Dar es Salaam! For the officers and soldiers on the New Oriental, this is also a new beginning

(to be continued)