Shipgirls and Salted Fish Commander, Port Survival Guide

The anxious ship girls approached Chen Batian, offering to help him stabilize the situation. In return, he had to help the port find Jing Su, a mutually beneficial deal.

In order to start the search for Jing Su as soon as possible, the ship girls decided to act quickly and decisively, with Sakura Empire and Iron Blood taking on the task.

On the Ironblood side, they sent Ron, while on the Sakura Empire side, they sent Akagi.

Two ship girls, one day.

Subsequently, Chen Batian, in conjunction with various forces, announced that the Maritime Safety Administration would cooperate with the ship girls, with the Maritime Safety Administration responsible for logistics and the ship girls taking the lead on the front lines, thus turning the tide for humanity.

No one knows exactly what happened. The only thing everyone knows is that the original cabinet members were notified by Chen Batian to resign, and a new cabinet will be formed within a month.

This is the story of the cooperation between the port area and the Maritime Safety Administration.

“Commander Jing, uh, how about this, I’m a few years older than you, so I’ll shamelessly call you Brother Jing, how about that? And don’t call me Councilor, just call me Old Chen, or Brother Chen.” Chen Batian pulled up two chairs and waved for Jing Su to sit down.

"Haha, really? Then I'll gladly accept your offer, Brother Chen, please!"

Jing Su and Chen Batian took their seats one after the other.

That's enough of the pleasantries; it's time to get down to business.

"Brother Chen, you came into this base before me. Could you please tell me what it's like inside?"

Each of them had their own purpose. Jing Su broke the deadlock first. In fact, he already knew on the way here that Chen Batian had arrived at the base. To be precise, Jing Su waited outside for a long time in order to let this guy arrive first.

"Alas, what a misfortune for our family," Chen Batian sighed.

"Brother Chen, I don't know what's inside the base. It seems you haven't seen it either. That guy, Xie Fei or Xie Wen, was pretty quick to act!"

"However, your time is precious. I have a few sets of photos here that I'm sure you'll find interesting." Jing Su took out her tablet, opened the photo album, and handed it to Chen Batian.

Jing Su said this to give Chen Batian a way out. She said, "I don't know what's in this base. If you say there's anything, then there is. It's best if there's nothing there, but if there is something extraordinary, it gives you time to deal with it."

The first to arrive at the base was Jing Su's eldest daughter, Yi Xian. During her search, she stumbled upon a cannon still being assembled. This was no ordinary cannon; it was a main gun salvaged from the wreckage of a Siren battleship. If this information got out, the problems it would cause would be far more serious than simply dismissing a few logistics ministers.

"What is this?" Jing Su was implying that there was something inside the base, which Chen Batian knew. However, when he arrived at the base, which was the size of more than a dozen football fields, it was just an empty shell with nothing inside. What could he say about what was there? It was just whatever Jing Su said it was.

"A set of photos. Brother Chen probably still doesn't know why I'm here."

"Please enlighten me, Brother Jing."

"Today I was processing documents in the Royal Office when I saw a rescue request form that was posted yesterday. Normally, my group of girls would just ignore these kinds of requests as a prank, let alone one from a small, newly established company. But I thought it would be a shame to miss out if someone really needed help, so I brought Warspite over to take a look. The photo on it is of the shipwrecked sailor. According to the examination, he has been dead for two days."

"What!" Chen Batian jumped up, his eyes wide with fury. Jing Su had basically laid everything out in the open, and being an old fox, he quickly understood the cause and effect. "They dare!"

"Don't worry, I have more. My girls just caught a few escaped base staff members and got some photos. Brother Chen should be interested in them too."

Chapter 89 Resource Issues, Solutions

Are these photos real?

If Chen Batian's expression just now was merely one of anger, then after seeing the photos Jing Su handed him, his expression was filled with confusion and astonishment.

"We found it on the defeated stationmaster. He said it could be used as key evidence. Whether it's true or not, who knows?" Jing Su chuckled. In any case, the final interpretation was in his hands. If he said it was true, then it was true; if he said it was false, then it was a photoshopped picture.

"Could you tell me about the types and quantities?"

"One battleship main gun, three heavy cruiser main guns, and twelve destroyer main guns. The battleship main gun is already assembled and ready to fire once loaded. Councilor Chen, this place can receive network signals, and I don't need to elaborate on the range of the battleship main gun, do I?" To emphasize the seriousness of the situation, Jing Su didn't even bother with polite language.

"Hehe, no need to be blunt, I'm not stupid." Chen Batian smiled bitterly.

Let alone battleship main guns, even destroyer main guns could directly threaten the coastal residents in this area. The Sirens' advanced technology is not just limited to their automated warships; the performance of their warships is exaggerated to the point of being beyond the comprehension of this world.

Now, more than ten naval guns capable of directly attacking the mainland have been deployed without his knowledge, and one of them is even ready to fire. How could this not terrify him, how could it not fill him with despair?

Even if his own safety is not a concern, once the existence of these naval cannons is exposed, his position as Councilor Chen will be over.

"What do you want?" After a moment of silence, Chen Batian suddenly spoke. Having been in politics for so long, Chen Batian was already a cunning old fox. Jing Su was making no attempt to hide her intentions, so naturally she had something to ask for.

"The research and development data for all shipboard equipment developed by the Maritime Safety Administration's Research Department, as well as the supporting manufacturing plants..."

"That's impossible!" Before Jing Su could finish speaking, Chen Batian interrupted her. If the port area really got these things, then the Maritime Bureau would really be powerless to control the ship girls.

"Hehe, Brother Chen, interrupting others isn't a good habit." Jing Su didn't mind and continued, "I haven't finished speaking yet, why are you in such a hurry? It's not just what I just mentioned. In the next ten years, half of the resources produced by the Maritime Bureau will be allocated to the port area. I know you can arrange this."

“Brother Chen, you’re really asking for the moon.” Chen Batian laughed. “I can do the layout, and even give you more, but if I do that, I won’t be a councilor anymore. Not only will I lose my position, but I’ll also be branded a traitor and a rebel by other forces, and my fate will be much worse than if you expose these photos. Rather than that, I’d rather let you expose the photos. Anyway, I’ve been a councilor for so long, and I’ve had enough. I’m still a councilor, and even if I step down, I won’t be held accountable.”

"What if I told you I could let you continue in that position?" Jing Su chuckled.

"Continue to be one? Ha, Brother Jing, it's not that I look down on you, but if I really did what you said and met your conditions, the first one to jump out and fight me would be the military. Others are fine, but if it comes to interests involving the gun, people will die. I don't want to be shot eight times in the back and sentenced to suicide." Chen Batian said in a resigned tone, lying on the chair, looking like he had given up on life.

"Isn't even the ship girls' guarantee enough?"

“Not enough.” Upon hearing that Jing Su could rally ship girls to support him, Chen Batian’s eyes lit up, but quickly dimmed. “Although I don’t know what kind of magic you used to get the support of the Eastern Empire and the Royal Army, just two factions are not enough. As you have seen, I am trying to win over ship girls, and other forces are also trying to win over ship girls. In fact, your appearance has shown other forces the possibility of winning over ship girls. Just having two factions support you is not enough.”

Chen Batian's meaning is simple: the port is currently in a state of division. What use is it for Jing Su to bring two factions to support him? Even if other forces cannot gain support, they can still create obstacles to make other factions stand by and do nothing. Doesn't everyone know that ship girls basically don't care about anything other than fighting?

"Would adding another Ironblood be enough?"

"what?"

"Not enough? Add more cherry blossoms? Is that enough?"

"..."

"Still not enough? Should I bring White Eagle over too?"

Jing Su became more and more enthusiastic as she spoke, while Chen Batian's expression grew increasingly serious.

"Who exactly are you, sir?" Before Jing Su could continue, Chen Batian stood up, his expression serious and his voice trembling.

"Hehe, I am not very talented. I am Jing Su, the port commander. Oh, it is normal that you do not know my information. Let me put it this way. Didn't you go to Tai with the help of the ship girls before? Didn't they come to you to ask you to help find someone? The person they are looking for is me."

"..."

"Plop~"

Chen Batian's legs went weak, and he collapsed to the ground.

"Hey, Brother Chen, I know this news is a bit shocking, but you don't have to pull this on me." Looking at the man in front of her, who was old enough to be her father, sprawled on the ground like a lump of mud, Jing Su felt a chill.

"Cough cough, it's nothing, it's nothing. The news was a bit shocking, my legs are a little weak." Chen Batian coughed a few times, and stood up while holding onto the chair. He felt that he had received more shocking news today than he had ever heard in his entire life.

It's really too surreal. First, they knew someone was going to use the rescue incident to target them. That's manageable, even though the Maritime Safety Administration is currently in a major public opinion crisis. The unsuccessful rescue could indeed be a good trigger. But since they already knew in advance and had countermeasures, it's not that serious.

Later, he learned that a powerful force had deployed several cannons right under his nose, which truly frightened him. If this matter wasn't handled properly, it wouldn't be a matter of appeasement; it could very well lead to war with the powerful families in Kyoto. However, it was still within Chen Batian's acceptable range. After all, he had been a councilor for so long, and he no longer wanted to be like he was when he first took office, all alone. Now, he had cultivated his own power. He was cautious, and as long as extraordinary forces like the ship girls didn't intervene, he could still manage. It would just mean tightening his belt for a while.

But now, this person named Jing Su in front of him actually said that he was the person the ship girls had been looking for, which really scared him.

This news is incredible.

Over such a long period of time, from the initial frantic search to the current great division in the port area, no one remembers why the ship girls first cooperated with the Maritime Bureau.

Or perhaps they remembered, but instinctively ignored it, because this kind of port area gave everyone an opportunity, and they all secretly strengthened their cooperation with the ship girls. The commission system was not a product that existed from the beginning, but appeared after the cooperation was strengthened.

Therefore, after Jing Su appeared and it was confirmed that ship girls could indeed be captured, various forces began to stir.

However, precisely because the ship girls remain proud and powerful even after the split, it has become a consensus that each faction can only take over one camp at most. Even Chen Batian himself agrees with this statement, so when he first heard Jing Su's speech, he did not notice anything amiss.

Jing Su had said it long ago: now that he could work in the royal office, the royal camp had been taken over!

"Ahem, that's enough, that's enough. Actually, Elder Jing, cough, Commander Jing, as long as you can make sure the ship girls don't openly favor anyone, all the demands you mentioned are negotiable!"

Chapter 90 My explanations are all useless now.

"Commander, so, we've solved all the resource problems?" On the way back, Warspite looked at the documents in his hand, his head full of question marks.

In War-Swept's view, he was just following Jing Su out to deal with a rescue request that was most likely a trap, which was later confirmed.

The people weren't saved, but the resource problem in the port area was solved. The leap in this was huge, and Warspite said he was a little confused.

How did these two things get connected?

"I guess so." Jing Su put down the tablet and said with a smile, "It's not just a matter of ship equipment resources. The resources we mine ourselves later will be cleared out, so we don't have to worry about any public opinion. We can use them as we please."

Just now, Chen Batian expressed his desire to negotiate, and Jing Su agreed. However, no matter what demands Chen Batian made, Jing Su would increase the price by 10% on the original terms, eventually forcing Chen Batian to give in and ask what Jing Su really wanted.

After all, the demands Jing Su made were indeed beyond his capabilities. The others were fine, but the most difficult one was Jing Su's demand that half of the resources mined by the Maritime Safety Administration be handed over to the port area.

This condition is unacceptable to anyone in power. Once signed, his term as a legislator is over. The best outcome for him is not to resign, but to find a crooked tree and commit suicide to atone for his sins.

Jing Su suggested that they could negotiate, saying that they could ask for an exorbitant price but then try to negotiate a lower one. So Jing Su proposed another proposal that made Chen Batian even more conflicted—granting the port area the right to mine resources on its own.

Upon hearing this request, Chen Batian wanted to ask, 'What's the difference between this condition and the one I just had?'

Before he could even speak, Jing Su interrupted him: "Brother Chen, whether you agree or not, we will do this proposal. In fact, the port area has been mining on its own for a long time. The quality of the resources you give us is actually quite poor. They can't be used without secondary processing."

"So, you're actually self-sufficient now?" Chen Batian said bitterly.

"Otherwise, do you think we'd just let you off so easily after the logistics department moved such a large amount of resources? We just didn't think much of you."

"If you don't like it, why bother negotiating and asking us for this and that?" Chen Batian had now figured out the general personality of the commander who had suddenly appeared in front of him, and he mustered up the courage to joke.

"Hehe, not caring doesn't mean you can accept it being stolen. No matter what, it's still your own resource. Even if you don't like it, you can still sell it on the black market for money. It's still useful, isn't it?" Jing Su looked at the nominal leader of the Maritime Bureau with the gaze of someone looking at an idiot.

“That makes sense.” Chen Batian nodded in agreement. “Since you’re already mining privately, why do you need our approval? It seems like our approval or not won’t affect your mining operations.”

Actually, there was something Chen Batian didn't dare to say: With such power, it would be easy for you to overthrow the regime. He originally thought he could use resources to check and balance it, but now it seems that he was just being wishful, or rather, deceiving himself.

After all, the ship girls are too powerful. Everyone can only comfort themselves by thinking that the ship girls need resources to launch attacks, so they dare not attack us. Over time, they actually started to believe it.

"That makes sense. We can indeed completely ignore your opinions and do what we want, but that would be meaningless."

"No fun?" Chen Batian didn't quite understand this word.

"Literally, the struggle for supremacy is too boring. Anyway, this kind of thing can be done anytime. At least you're doing it now, and I think it's good, so I'll let you continue to be in that position," Jing Su said casually.

Conquering the land? Overthrowing the regime? How could those things be more interesting than getting close to your ship girl waifus?

With the current number of ship girls in the port, if you spend time with one a day, many ship girls won't even get a chance to play with one all year round. Why would you bother with such a pointless thing?

Furthermore, the most crucial reason, as Jing Su mentioned, is that ship girls possess unparalleled combat power in this world. If they truly feel something is amiss, they can intervene at any time. This is the fundamental reason why Jing Su is so indifferent.

Therefore, the final negotiation result was that the three major ship equipment material manufacturing plants were transferred to Jingsu and became Jingsu's property, while the port area obtained the right to mine various resources.

As for the blueprints developed by the Maritime Safety Administration, we'll have to wait. After all, it's core data, and even if Chen Batian is the top leader, it will still take some effort to get it working. Jing Su expressed her understanding.

In return, Jing Su needs to get at least two factions to publicly support Chen Batian and his rule.

Chen Batian said that too much is as bad as too little. Too many factions supporting each other will cause other villains to lie low. At that time, he will be in the open while his enemies are in the dark, and he may be easily ambushed. This number is just right.

Jing Su agreed, and from then on, Chenxi Port District was completely freed from the constraints of resources and was no longer subject to any restrictions.

To be precise, if the port area didn't want to develop new ship equipment or focus on improving combat capabilities, it would have already broken free from resource constraints long ago, having been self-sufficient for a long time.

However, as ship girls, they bear the mission of fighting. Even if they don't want to fight, the Sirens will still come to harass them. Therefore, even if it's just for their own safety, they have to find a way to improve their combat power.

The development of ship equipment is really time-consuming and labor-intensive. For most ship girls, there isn't enough time to spend with the commander all year round, so where would they find the time to work on this thing?

So, ship girls like Yixian, who understand things well, often urge Jingsu to solve this problem, as for herself?

"Hehe," Yixian said, "I've worked so hard for so long, worrying about this and that, and now that the Commander is finally back, can't I just relax a bit? I want to be close to the Commander!"

So, Jing Su took on this not-too-urgent but very important and troublesome task without really understanding what was going on.

However, to the surprise of Yixian and the other parties involved, Jing Su solved the problem so quickly. They had originally prepared to work on it for three to five years, and even had prepared their explanations to appease Jing Su, who was on the verge of a mental breakdown due to the long-term inability to resolve the problem.

After Jing Su's explanation, Warspite roughly understood what had happened. In fact, it was thanks to the powerful deterrent of the port area's strength. Since the port area's strength almost completely overwhelmed the Maritime Bureau, Jing Su's willingness to sit down and talk was actually giving Chen Batian face. This is the kind of benevolence that only the strong can have.

However, war-weariness still indicated that it was unacceptable.

"Waaaah, I prepared so many excuses, but none of them worked! I thought about them all night!"

Chapter Ninety-One seems like something bad is about to happen.

Although they were dejected, Warspite was still very happy that the port area could resolve the resource issue. In recent years, their Royal faction had the deepest cooperation with the Maritime Bureau in order to find Jing Su, so in terms of resources, they were naturally the most dependent on the Maritime Bureau among all the factions.

When the port initially chose to cooperate with the Maritime Bureau to stabilize the situation, it was the Iron Blood and Sakura Empire factions that stepped in. However, it was the Royal Navy that actually accomplished the task. In terms of capabilities, the Royal Navy is indeed the most adept at negotiation and cooperation within the entire port.

"Commander, may I choose the resources I've acquired first?" Warspite, having recovered, quickly realized what a troublesome matter Jing Su had resolved and immediately ran to Jing Su's side, looking at him with expectant eyes.

Although a contract has been reached and the handover of resources will begin soon, there is always a sequence to these things. It's not like Chen Batian can just give his approval and it can be done immediately.

What the port area values ​​now is actually the ship equipment blueprints developed by the Maritime Safety Administration's research department. These blueprints are basically in various laboratories belonging to different departments, and the workload of mediating and negotiating among them is quite large. Therefore, there must be a sequence to the handover.

Warspite, as the second-in-command of the Royal faction, immediately began to fight for it after realizing this, taking advantage of the faction's lack of progress to secure a first-mover advantage.

"Haha, sure, here you go, choose for yourself. The red blueprints are more confidential and will take longer to process. The blue ones are available anytime. The green blueprints are ones we already have. Warspite, you can choose whichever you prefer."

Oh, right, don't pick too many at once. We need to give Chen Batian some time to process them. He told me that he can get us up to ten blue blueprints in half a month, but the red ones will take several months.

"Ten pieces?" Warspite nodded and began examining the documents. "Are the materials and blueprints acceptable?"