Australia 1671

Chapter 13: The Shipyard Destined to Shrink

Han Yuan followed Liu Zhi and the others to the north side of the warehouse area, in front of a logistics office building that originally belonged to Bohai Ship Group.

As soon as they arrived, Di Yilu placed her right hand on her hip, raised her left hand to point at the office building before them, and said proudly, “...This building will now be the office and dormitory for our Chemical Industry Bureau!

Our Director Kong and Old Dong agreed on this yesterday—Chemical Industry Bureau and Materials Bureau will share this building; floors one, two, and three will be for the Materials Bureau, and the fourth and fifth floors will be for our Chemical Industry Bureau!

So, what do you think? The environment is pretty nice, right?”

Han Yuan nodded. This looked better than the dorm they were currently living in… at least they probably wouldn’t have six people crammed into one room anymore.

Seeing Han Yuan lost in thought, Liu Zhi chimed in, “...Xiao Han, we’ve cleared three dorm rooms on the fifth floor, with two people per room. Will you room with me or with Xiao Zhou?”

Han Yuan looked at Zhou Qi—who obviously preferred keeping a low profile—thought for a moment, and said, “...I’ll share a room with Brother Zhou.”

Liu Zhi nodded, “Okay, that works. You young people will have more to talk about together… Let’s go upstairs first and discuss the tasks Chief Engineer Chen assigned.”

…

Meanwhile, in an unused classroom at Longgang Middle School, the freshly formed Cabinet Committee members, a dozen bureau chiefs, several experts invited as consultants, and high-ranking military officers from the army and navy were listening intently as Chief Engineer Chen Wenyun emphasized the importance of industrial development from the podium.

Chief Engineer Chen was exceptional in ability, and having done his homework, he spoke eloquently to those seated.

“...We all know that a modern society cannot function without the support of steel, machinery, energy, and chemical industries.

Therefore, while we proceed with agricultural production and resolve food issues, we must now draft a practical plan for industrial recovery!

At present, the most urgent industrial tasks include four major areas.

First, we must immediately begin locating nearby mineral resources such as coal and iron to supply key raw materials for industry.

Second, the production of cold and hot weaponry, especially hot weapons!

Without hot weapons, our army will suffer exponentially greater casualties when dealing with local tribes… Our current stockpiles of weapons and ammunition are limited and will eventually be depleted.

Moreover, even to manufacture simple rifled guns and cannons, the current machinery and steel stocks in the factory will require time and may present technical challenges.

Additionally, having guns and cannons is pointless without propellants and gunpowder.

Thus, our third priority is building up the chemical industry, including factories for saltpeter, salt drying and boiling, carbon production, alkali production, and other basic chemical products.

Fourth, taking advantage of the coal in warehouses and on bulk cargo coal ships, we should commission small brick kilns and small cement plants to produce essential materials for housing and port infrastructure construction…”

After Chen Wenyun finished speaking, Zhao Chengming in the front row responded, “If we’re going to build brick kilns and cement plants, our machinery factory can produce equipment for them. Although not on par with modern specialized plants, it will surely save a lot of manpower!

However, the shipyard’s design institute must give us blueprints, and in terms of electricity, more power needs to be allocated to us.”

“All the standby power will be given to your machinery factory!”

Li Yingchun stood up directly and said decisively, “There isn’t much use for electricity at the shipyard right now. The 50,000-ton bulk carrier being built for Russia in the dockyard is almost complete… In the short term, there’s no need to build new ships. Even if we wanted to, firstly we don’t have steel or other raw materials, and secondly there isn’t enough standby power!

For quite a long period ahead, the machinery factory will be our core industrial enterprise.

Over 90 percent of the shipyard’s more than 2,500 workers will be gradually transferred to other departments and enterprises!

Only the core engineers and technical workers will stay; their current task is to attempt building cost-effective and efficient motorized sailing vessels using the shore timber—providing reliable ships for the navy’s migration and trade missions to Asia and Europe!”

He spoke with unwavering conviction. The shipyard personnel present looked at each other and raised no objections—though uneasy, they understood that this outcome was inevitable.

Without a modern industrial supply chain, the shipyard as it stood could not sustain itself; continuing to keep all the workers employed would be a waste of manpower!

Only by reallocating the majority and leaving a small elite team to build vessels suited to the current era could they choose the best path forward.

Li Yingchun sighed inwardly. He certainly did not want to see the shipyard cut by ninety percent, but as a decision-maker in this fledgling republic, he had to take the big-picture view—otherwise, like the prior Emergency Status Committee, where everyone handled a bit of everything, things would truly fall apart.

“...Then it’s decided! Mr. Jiang, please help us with the ideological work.”

Li Yingchun said as he turned back to Old Jiang, who was resting with his eyes closed in the back row.

“Mm! Leave it to me!” Old Jiang replied without opening his eyes.

“...Next, let’s have Mr. Wu, our Agriculture, Forestry & Fisheries Commissioner, introduce the work plan for agriculture and fisheries.”

At this point, Jiang Dalong, who was serving as the note‑taker at the podium, stood up and saw Wu Fanli in the second row conversing with Materials Bureau Director Dong Ruofeng. Wu Fanli looked up, took the prepared materials in hand, and slowly walked to the podium.

“Mr. Wu, here is the microphone,” Jiang Dalong handed him a Bluetooth microphone connected to the amplifier on the podium.

Commissioner Wu took it, then looked at the audience and said, “...What Commissioner Chen said just now was factual and straightforward; even I, an outsider here, could understand it clearly!

That in itself is excellent!

I have taught in university for a lifetime, and one of the most important lessons I learned is to 'seek truth from facts,' to respect facts, and to uphold truth!

As long as we can adhere to this principle, I believe no difficulty can defeat us!”

He noticed many people gazing at him and chuckled self‑deprecatingly, “...Don’t blame me—after all these decades teaching, when I'm standing on a podium, I can’t help but talk a lot, haha!”

Li Yingchun immediately laughed and said, “Mr. Wu! Every word you say is a gem; I haven’t heard enough yet!”

Zhao Chengming, the middle-aged portly man, also chimed in, “Indeed! Mr. Wu, you have mentored countless students across the land—it is our honor to be your students today!”

The others likewise encouraged him to continue speaking.

Having nearly reached eighty years old, Wu Fanli was not fooled by the flattery; he shook his head gently and said, “...I studied agriculture, I don’t have that many famous quotes to share.

Let me stick to my work instead!

It is now late November, and summer in the Southern Hemisphere is fast approaching. We must hurry to reclaim land and begin sowing!

Earlier, Xiao Dong told me that the warehouse contains grain and long‑storage vegetables and fruits shipped from Shandong, including corn, potatoes, soybeans, and many fresh melons and fruits.

These days, the vegetables and fruits we are eating are from those…”