Monday, July 29, 1641, sunny, southwesterly wind force four.

In the Hekoubao wharf, the multi-purpose ship "Breaking Waves", which has just completed the refit, is quietly moored on the gently rising river. Under the command of the foreman and with the assistance of steam tower cranes, some South African laborers are loading supplies onto the deck of the ship, except for a small amount of weapons and ammunition, building materials, and daily necessities such as food, spirits, and cloth, the main material is the heavy cash box. Thirty tons of silver coins, totaling one million yuan, were packed in chests made of Paraná pine, and they were to be shipped to the New China region as the first funds for a deal with the Portuguese immigrants to the East, which began at the end of the year.

The Ministry of Finance struggled to get enough of this first payment. First of all, he directly transferred the money obtained from the last grain transaction, and then transferred some of the money obtained from Bordeaux and Smyrna after the completion of the transaction, and then advanced a part of the special construction funds and various subsidies for the second half of the year, and finally took all the first loans sent by the Brazilians, and finally barely scraped together the cost of one million yuan.

As for the follow-up costs, the Ministry of Finance will have to wait for the return of the ships returning from Bordeaux and Tuscany. However, this may not be enough, even if the Brazilians soon send the remaining 150,000 yuan of loans to the door, the Ministry of Finance estimates that they may have to sell a batch of grain or introduce a new tax in the country, or ask the Spaniards for an advance share of the trade revenue of Colonia City for the second half of the year, only then it is possible to temporarily fool this huge financial hole and not immediately declare bankruptcy.

When Liao Meng, the company commander of the 3rd Company of the Army, boarded the deck of the "Breaking Waves", the chatter voice of Finance Minister Tang Yuan still circled in his ears: "Company Commander Liao, you must be cautious this time!" You are a mid- and high-ranking officer in our country. I think you must know very well how much this million dollars means to our country. In short, be cautious. People are in the money, and people are not in the money! If this money is lost, we really can't afford to pay for those Ming Dynasty immigrants, and maybe many creditors will come to collect debts, and we will only have to go bankrupt and repay our debts, which is a great blow to our reputation, so we must be cautious to ensure that this money is safely sent to Xinhua Fort. ”

Come to think of it. Liao Meng laughed, this money means the population for the country - and it is a Ming person from the East, the same culture, how can he not know the importance. But this can't blame Tang Yuan for being so worried, he, the Minister of Finance, is not doing comfortably now, and people ask him for money every day. But with the country's finances so struggling now, where can he get the money from? He could only keep tearing down the east wall and repairing the west wall, and he was repairing holes everywhere like a pastemaker.

This problem must be solved as soon as possible! The Portuguese have sucked our blood long enough, and then we have to break the monopoly blockade of the Dutch and Portuguese by ourselves, advance into the South China Sea, and go to the Ming Kingdom to immigrate by ourselves. No more exploitation by them. Wang Hammer's Second Fleet must have been heading north in mid-April, and I hope their exploration of the route will go smoothly.

"Old Liao. The supplies and personnel have almost been loaded, so let's not set off, the navy has already signaled and asked a few times. Bai Shui, who had stepped down from his position as director of the Ping An Mining Bureau and was concentrating on serving as the deputy commander of the 3rd Company of the Army, wore a crisp dark blue military uniform and walked over to say.

Liao Meng looked back when he heard this, and the 240 officers and men of his 3rd Army Company were sitting quietly cross-legged in the cabin, and the sailors on the deck were almost busy at this time. "Well, I'm okay with that. According to the regulations, the commander-in-chief of the temporary escort formation of the Navy is responsible for this trip, let them arrange it themselves, there is no problem on my side. ”

The 3rd Company of the Army is the second unit in the whole army to be reorganized into the Dalian team system, with a total of 240 personnel, and all of them were equipped with the latest 32-C flintlock rifles before departure. According to the orders of the War Department, they will go to the New China area by boat, and replace the 101st Company of the Army, which has been away from the mainland for two years, to garrison there, and make every effort to ensure the orderly operation of the New China colony, which is now becoming more and more important to the mainland.

The 3rd Company, originally based in Coal River Township, Ping'an County, was responsible for suppressing the local Guaraní and hunting down anti-government religious elements and underground missionaries supported by foreign forces (mainly the Jesuits). Now, according to the principle of rotation, after they are transferred to the Xinhua area as a whole, the defense of the Coal River Township area will be replaced by the 1st Army Company, and the capital will be replaced by the 103rd Company of the Army.

Since the "Breaking Waves" was the first ocean-going voyage (it had been tried several times in a short period of time in Yazi Lake before), in order to cope with various breakdowns that may occur during the voyage, Zhang Xiao, a senior engineer of the Modern Special Shipyard and one of the founders of the "Breaking Waves" multi-purpose ship, specially assumed the position of captain of the ship. This energetic middle-aged man was walking up and down the deck at the moment, going through the last inspection procedure before departure.

A large flattened chimney rises from the rear of the ship's amidships, and the steam in the boiler is already hot, and the chimney begins to slowly billow black smoke.

"Phew! Ping An Mining Bureau simply closed its doors, what is this broken coal, and the calorific value of combustion is so low! Nima's 40-horsepower steam engine consumes 160 kilograms of coal per hour, how can this endurance be improved?! Zhang Xiao was walking around the deck, and he was still swearing in his mouth.

Bai Shui, who had just stepped down as the director of the Ping An Mining Bureau, was a little embarrassed on his face, and he had a conscience in the weather, he strictly grasped the quality and carefully selected every ton of refined coal produced by the Ping An Mining Bureau to ensure that its combustion calorific value was as high as possible. But the quality of coal in this place is inherently poor, who can blame it? Forget it, don't be as knowledgeable as this skill house! This time in the New China Colony, I had to find an opportunity to inspect the port of Tamatave in the south. I heard that there was a high-quality hard coal mine there in later generations, which was very shallow and easy to mine. The only disadvantage is that the reserves are not large enough, but at this stage, it is almost enough for the Eastern Coast Republic, after all, the scale of its own industry is not large.

After the inspection, Zhang Xiao saw that the time was almost up, so he asked the lookout to hang up the signal flag to signal that the preparations were completed, and at the same time ordered the sailors to slowly raise a few sails with the assistance of the steam engine. The "Popeye-1" steam engine installed in the bottom compartment is not only for the power of the paddle wheel, but also for lifting the sail, turning the sail boom, taking off and landing iron anchors, lifting goods, etc. Although the steam engine was not powerful enough, the help provided to the sailors in these aspects was not too great, but it saved them a lot of effort, and was unanimously welcomed and praised by everyone.

Today the wind is blowing from the southwest, and the sails are already bulging with the force of the wind. As the Navy's frigate "Red Trout" and the South China Sea Transportation Company's "Abbot" flute-type transport ship set sail one after another, the "Breaking Waves" also pulled up its head and tail anchors, and its slender hull began to slowly accelerate on the river surface and headed northeast. Immediately behind the "Breaking Waves" was another merchant ship of the South China Sea Transportation Company, the "Penglai," and not far behind the "Penglai," the fast cruiser "Yangwu" of the First Fleet was also slowly raising its sails and preparing to set sail.

The fleet to South Africa and New China consisted of five ships, including two naval warships, two transport ships, and of course, a multi-purpose ship with a displacement of 730 tons, the "Breaking Waves", which was also the most important ship in the fleet, not only because she was powered by steam and sails, but also because it was loaded with a huge amount of silver coins of one million yuan. According to the plan drawn up in advance by the Admiralty and the South Sea Transport Company, after leaving the Fort Estuary, the fleet will first head south along the Argentine coast to the Falklands Baleen Whale Harbor to transport a batch of weapons, ammunition, and building materials, and at the same time replenish supplies and repair the ships there. The fleet will then leave Baleen Whale Harbour and turn north-east, then turn northeast, and follow the westerly winds and currents towards the South African River Harbour.

After arriving at the port of Hezhong, the fleet will unload some weapons and ammunition, cloth, salt, iron products and other supplies. The two ships of the South China Sea Transport Company would then be escorted by the frigate "Red Trout" to load a shipment of sorghum, wheat, spirits, wool and timber, as well as a group of Persian and Baloch slave girls and children stranded here, and then return to the mainland. As for the multi-purpose transport ship "Breaking Waves", together with the fast cruiser "Yangwu", it will set off in a group with two merchant ships of the South China Sea Transport Company departing from Hezhong Port to deliver supplies and bring back some timber in the new Huaxia area.

This is also one of the most common modes of transportation between the mainland of the East Coast Republic of China and several overseas bases. On this route, not only the ships of the East Coast were active, but also a considerable number of Portuguese, Spanish and French merchant ships were active - all of which were rented by the East Coast at high prices, otherwise it would not have been possible to complete such a heavy maritime transport task.

In keeping with the fleet's speed, the Wave Breaker didn't raise all of its sails, but Rao did, with her slender hull and hollow bow still breaking through the water with ease, and she had risen to first place with ease even before the fleet had just entered the waters of Duck Lake.

The slender hull designed by scientific demonstration, coupled with the assistance of steam-powered paddle propellers, this speed is really powerful! (To be continued......)