"The Planning Institute's consideration is to develop the Brunei oil field. Although the initial investment is large, the technical threshold is low and the output is stable." Wu De said, "Veterans can also express their own opinions."
The elders of the oil faction are basically Brunei. From a professional point of view, Brunei's oil is much better than Taiwan's oil.
"The internal combustion engine is the development direction of the prime mover..." A veteran of the petroleum department was just about to express his emotions about this, but was interrupted by Wu De.
"We need oil very much, but mainly in the areas of diesel and kerosene. Especially kerosene, with a stable supply of kerosene, the kerosene lamp industry has great potential. You should pay more attention to this aspect."
"Shouldn't it be electric light? At least it should be gas light."
"Gas lighting is not the direction of development. Electric lights require a power grid, which is not something that can be achieved overnight - in terms of old time and space, most rural areas did not have electricity until the 1980s, and remote mountainous areas did not have electricity until the 1990s. According to our With the level of industrial and economic development, it would be great if kerosene lamps could be popularized in one generation.”
Before there was cheap and bright enough night lighting, most people in the world could only sleep as soon as it got dark, and the only entertainment activity they could do at night was to make humans. Lighting a lamp to do work and reading at night was at least something only people with a modest income could do. If cheap kerosene lamp lighting could be popularized, it would free up countless people's night time and create objective conditions for family work and study.
The conference gave everyone a full day of "breakout sessions." Speak freely about the second five-year plan. The newly elected cabinet members also had "group discussions" together.
Although there are newly elected elders in this cabinet, almost all of them are still engaged in their own jobs, so they still have a very clear understanding of matters within the scope of their work. They also have a complete set of information and plans. Naturally, there are also private goods to be stuffed into the second five-year plan.
Group discussions were held in the Nanhai Cafe and in the conference rooms of various ministries and commissions - the Elders' Hall only had an open-air venue, which was fine for large meetings, but not for small meetings.
The conference room of the Executive Committee Office was packed with seats, and all the people present were "prime ministers" who had "judged xx matters", except for one person, and that was Skade - although he was no longer the Minister of Colonial Trade, he was still the Minister of Foreign Trade. It is the most important department of the Senate. It plays an important role in material supply and currency balance, so he was "expanded" in this cabinet meeting.
Skade seemed to have been mentally prepared for his resignation. No wonder. Although he has done a good job at his job in the past few years, he always "moves against the current" when discussing major policies, sometimes leaning to the left and sometimes to the right. Even those who were both left-leaning and right-leaning were trolled by trolls from both sides, which made their reputation in the Senate worse and worse, and their resignation was inevitable.
After the election, Wen Desi said to Ma Qianxu: "Sikaide is a good comrade, and his work in foreign trade business in recent years should be affirmed."
Si Kaide comforted himself: It would be okay to retire. He has been criticized quite a lot in recent years. Anyway, the Senate is a system where emperors take turns. He is a high-ranking official in charge of one party, so it is okay to take a break. Furthermore, he is still the People's Commissar for Trade and his scope of work has not changed. At the moment he is reporting on next year's foreign trade supply plan.
The supply plan for foreign trade was of vital importance to the Senate. Because many projects in the second five-year plan are directly related to what goods the trade department can obtain. In this time and space where the supply chain is extremely underdeveloped, trade flows are mainly for luxury goods, and many industrial raw materials cannot be found in the ruled areas. That would require a huge amount of manpower and financial resources to search for and purchase them - some of them are still unavailable.
"...Senior Taira wrote a letter: The next trading fleet will bring us 100 tons of copper and 100 tons of sulfur from Japan. The South American wild rubber and cinchona bark shipped by the Dutch from America will probably arrive next year... …”
When Lao Zhong was sitting down, the dean opened his eyes and said, "Tell me again, how much bark is there in the cinchona tree?"
Skade scratched his head and said: "I can't say how many, but it must be tons. I just don't know whether long-distance transportation will affect the curative effect. In addition, the British East India Company will transport saltpeter, graphite, and asbestos from India. There are also opium."
Zhan Wuya patted Si Kaide on the shoulder and said approvingly: "Xiao Si, you have done a great job! I can't believe that you were able to get rubber, graphite and asbestos. What I didn't say, we will definitely build an electric furnace next year. , then silicon steel, 45# steel, 65 manganese steel, stainless steel, calcium carbide, and electric welding are all promising."
"The electric stove is not in the five-year plan."
"I thought I wouldn't write it if I couldn't get the right raw materials. Besides, I wasn't too sure..." Zhan Wuya said, "But the electric stove is a hurdle we have to overcome. Without it, there are many things we wouldn't be able to start with. It's us A key link in the industrial chain must be taken down as soon as possible.”
"... In addition to continuing to transport slaves, Quark Poor's horse contract will be completed next year, and several European and Indian stallions we purchased will be shipped. However, the mortality rate is probably very high..."
Except for Wu Nanhai, no one was very interested in horses. Since the capture of Jeju Island and the opening of Houjin trade channels, although all parties are not very satisfied with Mongolian horses, they have at least filled the gap in demand. The army's cavalry, artillery and baggage teams have also barely made up for the gap in horses. The upcoming mainland raid will be launched in the water network area again, and ships are much more useful than horses. As for the agricultural sector, although the size and traction of the Mongolian horses are a bit inferior, the improved agricultural machinery can barely do the job. However, the small traction power of Mongolian horses still limited some large agricultural machinery that Wu Nanhai originally planned to promote in large-scale state-owned intensive farms. Compared to others, he was quite eager to improve horse breeds.
"We are about to launch a strategy for Guangdong and Guangxi. In order to show the majesty of our military and veteran officers, senior army officers should be equipped with tall and powerful mounts. I hope some consideration will be given to this aspect..."
The speaker was Xi Yazhou, the new Army Chief of Staff and Commander of the South China Army.
Wu Nanhai snorted: "Old Xi, if you want to eat horse meat sausage, you will definitely be able to eat enough when the horse transport ship arrives. Don't talk about the dignity..."
"Old Wu! Although I ate a few chickens and ducks, it was because I was seriously injured on Juhua Island and needed to recuperate. I was in a hurry and didn't have time to inform you. You shouldn't always hold on to me like this. Don't let it go! Is there any comradeship left... Look, Nick is just..." Xi Yazhou suddenly realized that he had let slip. He had always had the attitude of "I won't admit it even if I beat you to death" about eating Nick's pigeons. At that moment, he was shy and stopped talking.
Wu Nanhai originally wanted to talk about the mysterious incident of the missing rabbit in the farm and a certain suckling pig that disappeared from the pig pen and then appeared in the grass outside the farm. The atmosphere seemed inappropriate, so he stopped talking.
Skade continued: "I also have a letter here from Senator Xue Ruowang, the consul in Batavia. Everyone should have read his proposal. It's not easy for him to be alone in Batavia, with rubber and cinchona trees. Everything was bought by him. He proposed the Palembang plan in Sumatra, and wanted to start from there to open a colony for the Senate experiment. He would first open plantations and plant rubber, cinchona trees, oil palms and other tropical crops on a large scale. Cash crops, while preparing for the development of the Palembang Oilfield during the Third Five-Year Plan period. As for the colonial personnel, they are mainly recruited from Hakkas. You also know: the conflict between the natives and Hakkas in Guangdong is very sharp, and armed fighting is commonplace. We still have Liu Xiang in our hands. The pirate giant is here. The members of his pirate group are mainly from Chaoshan - anyone who has a little knowledge of the Chaoshan area knows that Chaoshan and Guangfu people don't deal with each other. So I think from the perspective of maintaining stability, we can Some of the Liu Xiang Group's personnel also moved there..."
"Not a single thing has been accomplished, but we have to open a new colony. Not to mention manpower, how much investment in material and transportation capacity will be required?" Wu De was already frowning, "Tropical plantations are necessary, but the investment is not small. Not to mention the investment. In the area controlled by the Dutch! What if the Dutch imitate the Spanish and carry out the Batavia Massacre to purge Chinese immigrants? This is equivalent to another copy of Vietnam!"
"If this is the case, we will kill everyone with blood." Skade said, "The Spaniards dared to massacre in Manila because they were sure that the Ming Dynasty would not come to retaliate. The colonies have the backing of our Senate, and the Dutch will not be so short-sighted. .”
"I don't think the investment will be too big." Ma Qianxu said leisurely. "The plantation economy is very cruel and hard. It's impossible to let our people consume it. We still have to use local materials and introduce slavery. Chinese immigrants work as craftsmen. , businessmen, supervisors and agricultural technicians would be fine. In addition, this matter can adopt the government-supervised and commercial model. Liu Xiang’s private wealth is probably several million, plus he also has several old moneymen, let them fund it. Colonial Development Corporation has more than enough financial resources.”
Ran Yao said: "Is this appropriate? This is equivalent to cultivating a new group power overseas. If the tail is too big, it will take a lot of effort to annihilate it. And I know that Mr. Xue Yuan is going to have to deal with Liu Xiang. The old fox who breeds across the sea, I'm afraid that if he eats it, he won't even have any bones left..."
"I just asked them to contribute money, but I didn't ask them to take charge of organizational leadership." Si Kaide had already planned this matter. "The immigrants are composed of three groups: half are Hakkas, and 30% are Chaoshan people from Liu Xiang's old subordinates. , Fujianese from Zheng Zhilong’s old department in Kaohsiung account for 20%. This population ratio is enough for them to keep each other in check.”
"It's much easier to kill each other." Ran Yao said, "I'm afraid that the Dutch don't have any ideas, and someone among them will collude with the Dutch first!" (To be continued)
