African Nationhood

Chapter 166 The Beginning of the Navy (Please subscribe!!!)
  On May 1885, 5, in Mapu Port (now Maputo, the capital of Mozambique), Pond, wearing a blue military uniform, was full of joy.

There were more than a hundred swarthy young men around him wearing the same clothes as him. Everyone was in the same mood, excited, proud and a little anxious.

They all joined the sailor reserve in the same batch. The training at that time was very strict. A total of more than 300 people entered the training, and 200 of them were eliminated in more than a year, leaving them as the elite.

Today is a big day. It is a good day for these young men to become members of the Nanhua Company Navy. Their families are invited to participate in today's celebration.

……

Eleven-year-old Chi Ou and her mother were also among the crowd, waving to the naval soldiers standing at the port.

Had it not been for the ban on noise at the port, the scene would have been a mess.

Since the Pond family came to Southwest Africa more than a year ago, their lives have changed dramatically.

Because Pond was recruited into the Sailor Reserves, his family received military dependent status.

The mother and daughter were shocked when they were taken to the military family home in Anhai Town. Is this a house for them?

In addition to the house in the military family home, Chi Ou can also enjoy free admission and free room and board, and Chi Mu can also enjoy free medical services.

Chi Mu's body is caused by physical overwork and gynecological diseases. These problems are not serious. As long as the nutritional conditions keep up and she is carefully cared for, she can recover quickly.

Therefore, after more than a year of nursing, she has now restored the appearance that a woman in her thirties should have. This age is the most glorious age for a woman.

Lao Wang, the "film manager" of their army's family home, had approached her several times, naturally with the intention of getting her to remarry.

In her heart, Chi's mother longed to find another man to reorganize her family, but she was worried about what her daughter and son would think and refused to express her position.

In the end, "film management" Lao Wang directly moved out of Nanhua Company's regulations: managers at all levels of the company should actively encourage women of childbearing age to form families and accumulate more population resources for Nanhua Company.

Any bad element who dares to prevent women of childbearing age from remarrying will be severely punished!
  As soon as Chi Mu saw that the "film management" was serious about it, she did not dare to hesitate any more and could only reveal her true thoughts.

Lao Wang, the "film manager", directly found the two brothers Chi Ou and Po Po.

First, he stated the company's policy to the brothers and sisters, and then promised the two brothers and sisters that he would help Chi's mother find a good family.

Pond resisted this arrangement, but he did not dare to disobey the "film manager" Uncle Wang.

Chi Ou is heartless. She has lacked her father's love since she was a child, so she has no objection to her mother helping her to have a stepfather.

Therefore, with the help of "film management" Lao Wang, a month ago, Chi's mother reorganized a new family with a male factory worker who was widowed because his wife had a difficult childbirth.

After Chi's mother remarried, the couple treated each other with respect and lived a comfortable life.

Seeing that his stepfather was honest and kind, Chichang's thoughts of resistance faded away. On the contrary, Chiyouu was very close to his stepfather.

Sometimes Chi's mother feels a little uncomfortable when she sees it, thinking that her daughter will grow up quickly and get married as soon as possible.

……

The sun was rising and it was almost twelve o'clock. Xue Youfu, who was wearing a brand new blue uniform, couldn't help but become a little impatient.

He received notice a month ago that Nanhua Company decided to establish a naval battalion, and he was the first acting battalion commander of the naval battalion.

This appointment was not an important one, and Xue Youfu was not only happy but also worried.

But when he received the appointment, he was already prepared to endure hardships, and his gratitude and respect for his old classmates were at their highest.

……

When Nanhua Company was first established, it had a port guard, but the Walvis Bay Port at that time was still too dilapidated.

The Port Guard only has land-based members, and there is no money to purchase sea-based members.

After Shi Jintang arrived, he squeezed out the tight funds in the early stage and purchased two "Pingtie" class offshore gunboats.

This kind of gunboat is 30 meters long, 6 meters wide, has a displacement of 860 tons, and has only one 1-inch large-caliber breech gun on board.

Because of its long and flat shape, it was called "flat iron" by the British Navy.

Later, some "Lightning" class torpedo boats were purchased one after another. This kind of small boat displaces less than 50 tons, travels very fast, and can launch three torpedoes at once, which is very damaging.

Most of these ships are not expensive. "Lightning" torpedo boats mostly cost 4 to pounds each, and "Flat Iron" gunboats do not exceed pounds at most.

Over the past few years, it has accumulated 5 offshore gunboats and 10 torpedo boats.

These offshore frigates were previously part of the Port Guard establishment, and were controlled by James Lister.

At that time, Shi Jintang really had no one on hand. Nowadays, most of his classmates who studied in the United States have returned from their studies, so Shi Jintang filled his classmates into important positions. Xue Youfu has the factor bonus of the original time and space, and also has practical needs. These students studying in the United States are closest to him and can be entrusted with important tasks.

……

The clock had passed twelve o'clock, and Shi Jintang, surrounded by Cai Jinzhang, Ding He and others, arrived at Mapu Port.

He took a carriage and toured the territory before, and the construction was uneven everywhere.

However, the construction progress of the road from Mapu Port to Bulawayo City and the construction of Mapu Port are not bad.

In the past nearly a year, classmate Cai Jinzhang lived up to his expectations and completed this large-scale project of nearly 1,000 kilometers.

This time, nearly 10,000 indigenous people were lost, most of whom died of disease, and a small number of casualties caused by stone mining.

Nearly one million cubic meters of earth and stone were consumed, and more than 200,000 pounds were spent.

The expenses here are mainly the explosives for mining gravel and the cost of purchasing cement and other materials. Labor is not included.

The construction of Mapu Port City is somewhat inferior. Only some preliminary leveling work has been done in the entire city.

There are few buildings in the city, and most of them are shack buildings, which cannot support the planning of a large city.

The construction of Mapu Port has been much improved. Now three large berths have been built, which can accommodate three large ships to berth at the same time and load and unload cargo.

In addition, the port has also built a large pulley crane, which can easily lift and unload hundreds of kilograms of cargo, which is very light and labor-saving.

From here, we can also see that classmate Cai Jinzhang is very capable. Shi Jintang almost never stopped praising classmate Cai, which made classmate Cai's face freeze with joy.

……

Shi Jintang's arrival caused a sensation in the port.

The excited people rushed over, shouting "Master Shi, Mr. Shi," and the scene was very chaotic.

When Xue Youfu saw that the situation was not good, he immediately ordered his naval members to maintain order.

The chaos lasted for nearly a quarter of an hour before it stopped. Shi Jintang had to get on top of a carriage and wave his hands at the people to calm them down.

As soon as he said a few words, he heard a whistle blowing.

People in the harbor turned their heads to look at the sea, and saw a light white warship slowly coming into view.

Shi Jintang stood on the top of the carriage to see more clearly, and he murmured: "It's finally here!"

……

"The armored ship "Gegan" arrived at Mapu Port, and Mr. Shi personally visited the reception site, causing a huge sensation! 》

"Nanhua News" included a huge photo on the front page, taking up most of the page.

In the photo is: Shi Jintang, the first captain Xue Youfu, acting naval battalion commander, and the navy members on board the boat took a group photo in front of the warship.

The newspaper also listed various data about the ironclad ship and its origin.

This ironclad ship has a displacement of 3535 tons and its main armament: equipped with four 4mm breech-mounted Armstrong guns.

This ship was launched in October 1871. Dimensions: length: 10m, width 68.5m, total height 13.7m, draft 4.9m. This ship is driven by a horizontal steam engine with twin propellers.

In 1870, war broke out between Britain and France. French warships seriously threatened Britain's long coastline, so Britain hurriedly built a batch of shallow-draft coastal defense ships based on the "Three-Headed Dog".

But as the threat of war receded, construction slowed, and Gorgan was not completed until 1874.

The Gogan has a good armament-to-displacement ratio, but the ship's deep-water seaworthiness is poor, so this ironclad ship can only serve as an offshore frigate.

……

In the original time and space, this ironclad was used as a guard ship in Devonport Port, England, for most of its time, and was scrapped in 1903.

With this warship and other gunboats and torpedo boats, Nanhua Company's navy has obtained a good starting condition.

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  (End of this chapter)