The exam lasted for two hours. Wang Jigui went to the latrine in the middle. He found a piece of paper in the mezzanine of the latrine. There were many small words written on it.

Wang Jigui quickly threw it into a ball and threw it into the pit.

Someone cheated? But he remembered the content of the exam and knew that such cheat sheets were useless. Because the exam focuses on your understanding of the law, not on memorizing the law.

"Are you ready?" urged an invigilator at the door. The man was worried and stuck his head in to take a look at Wang Jigui.

Wang Jigui exhaled and pulled up his pants, thinking that he had just thrown it away decisively. If he had been discovered, he would be the one who fell into the pit now.

Things couldn't be explained clearly at that time.

…

Mawei, Fuzhou, at the southern foot of Gushan Mountain, is a slum area that extends all the way to the dock area of ​​Mawei.

The residents are basically workers on the docks, as well as some working part-time workers in the city.

These people are not even comparable to sharecroppers in the countryside. They have no means of production.

The money earned every day is just enough to survive on that day.

If there is nothing to do for a few days, these people will go hungry.

At that time, they will have no choice but to beg or sell their children and daughters.

This kind of family's ability to resist risks is very weak.

The last time the coalition forces blocked the city of Fuzhou from the river, the slums of Mawei bore the brunt and became the victims of the foreigners' anger.

However, the slums are all shacks, and it is not difficult to build them.

After the foreigners were driven away, these people all returned to where they lived.

Dong Liang stood on a hillside outside the slum area, overlooking the entire Mawei Port area.

Behind him were a large group of officials, Zhou Tenghu, Lin Ben, Yang Yingying, Ma Zengxiang...

"Führer, this Mawei slum gradually formed after Kaifu was opened to trade. After Kaifu was opened for trade, Fuzhou became an important distribution center for Wuyi Mountain tea. Due to the increase in foreign ships, many sailors from overseas were unemployed, and they could only go to the provincial capital.

Looking for a livelihood, a slum area gradually formed here..."

Although Ma Zengxiang is only a general judge, he rose up step by step from a county magistrate in Fuzhou.

In terms of understanding of Fuzhou, there are really few people within the Chinese community who can surpass him.

"Director Ma, this will be the Mawei District from now on. I plan to build a large shipyard here, and also build a Mawei Fortress near the downstream area."

"This land will be expropriated and the people living here will be resettled. I will leave this matter to you."

The first major thing Dong Liang did in Fuzhou was the renovation of shantytowns and the construction of large factories.

Mawei originally had a dock and many private shipyards. The ships produced here were sold all over the country.

This type of ship has been used for hundreds of years. The main warship of Zheng He's fleet is the Fu ship. Its most distinctive feature is its highly tilted bow and stern with wide cross-section.

Fuzhou can go upstream along the Min River to Yanping, Jianning and Shaowu. These prefectures are located on the Wuyi Mountains, and giant shipbuilding trees can be obtained in the mountains.

These giant trees are usually bundled into rafts and transported downstream to Fuzhou.

This also gave rise to a profession called platoon rusher.

The platoon driver relied on a stern pole to carefully control the huge wooden raft down the raging river. If he was not careful, he might be swallowed by the raging river water.

However, the income they gained in exchange for their lives was also very generous.

"Head of the State, this is government land. It is against the law for these people to build sheds here. I will ask the officials from the office to put up a notice asking them to move out within a time limit."

Ma Zengxiang thought this was a simple and trivial matter, so he said it without thinking.

As soon as he finished speaking, everyone looked at him with contempt in their eyes.

In fact, he has always been cautious. He always consults with his subordinates on matters related to the Fuzhou Administrative Office and never acts arbitrarily.

He used to be a little greedy, but now he never dares to reach out and take a penny from outsiders.

However, his thoughts still did not change after all.

"Director Ma, this is a typical example of you having a weak sense of purpose and being indifferent to the people."

"If you give them a deadline to move out, where can they move to, and how will they make a living in other places?"

The sweat on Ma Zengxiang's forehead suddenly broke out.

Fortunately, it's already summer, the weather is hot, and everyone is sweating a little.

"Yes, yes, head of state, I haven't changed my mind yet. Our Chinese government is a government for the people and serves the Chinese people. I will properly arrange these people." Ma Zengxiang quickly bowed his head and admitted his mistake.

"How do you arrange it? Building shipyards and fortresses requires a lot of manpower. When the time comes, we will hire all these people and build a residential area for them at the foot of Gushan Mountain."

Dong Liang looked at Lin Bendao: "Old Lin, the row houses we built in Anping City are quite good. They have a high floor area ratio and a small footprint. They are very suitable for these workers."

Townhouses are row buildings that are simple to build because they share gables, saving more building materials.

"I'm thinking about letting these people participate in the construction of infrastructure first, and then arrange for them to work in the shipyard. The main task now is to build roads and buildings. In their spare time, they can learn some skills. When the shipyard starts construction, they can

Comes in handy.”

…

Ma Zengxiang listened to Dong Liang's instructions carefully, feeling ashamed in his heart.

In just a few words, the head of state clearly arranged the lives of these people.

Why couldn't I have thought of this myself?

Such a large shipyard will eventually have tens of thousands of workers, and it will not be enough to fill the entire Mawei shanty town with young people.

The workers' dormitories in this factory have to be built sooner or later, so wouldn't it be the same if they were built in advance?

This is equivalent to pulling out a group of people who first build their own homes and then build roads and shipyards.

The government only needs to invest money and materials. For such a large shipyard, the Chinese will definitely have to invest a lot of money and materials.

So much material has been invested to build some private houses, but it is just a drop in the bucket.

The location of Mawei is very important. The Minjiang River is divided into north and south halves here. The Minjiang River in the north is close to Fuzhou City. It goes upstream here and the river becomes narrow.

Building a fortress here will not only guard the river, but also block the land passage at the southern foot of Gushan Mountain.

Dong Liang was already preparing to build a horse-tailed official road along the southern foot of Gushan Mountain to connect with Fuzhou City.

Mawei Fortress and Langqi Fort formed Fuzhou City’s two lines of defense against the sea.

Just when Dong Liang was inspecting Mawei District.

Officials from the Exploration Bureau of the Ministry of Industry were taking a foreigner on a trek through mountains and rivers in Minhou County, east of Fuzhou.

There are many small iron mines in Minhou, but they are not large in scale.

Dong Liang knew that there was a Minhou iron mine in Fujian, and it was a natural high-quality iron mine.

Long before regaining Fujian, Dong Liang had already asked someone about this matter, but there was a lack of professional mine exploration engineers in the country.

Private exploration masters all rely on experience.

A group of people suddenly crawled out of a small mine.

The leader was a thin middle-aged man, followed closely by an equally dark and big nose.

"Oh, Huang, this is definitely a high-quality iron ore. I can smell it. There is almost no smell of sulfur." ​​Big Nose said in English.

Good iron ore contains less impurities such as sulfur and phosphorus, and the quality of the iron produced is also high.

The man named Huang, named Huang Shuo, was a prospector at the Ministry of Industry. Because he could communicate in English, he was assigned as Kenneth Olson's assistant.

Kenneth Olson was an exploration engineer who followed Perry's fleet, and he was hired by the U.S. government, so he should be considered a relatively capable person.

They were originally going to Jilong to explore the coal mine there, but they were captured before they could work.

This man was not originally a soldier. After becoming a prisoner, in order to make himself more comfortable, he agreed to work for the Chinese.

This Perry fleet is not a serious fleet. Otherwise, why would it carry so many engineers?
Chapter completed!