Chapter 1002 Explosives Factory

The wiretapping records from the Dutch East India Company trading post were classified as top-priority materials. Translated and transcribed the following morning, they landed on Zhao Manxiong's desk. Per agreements reached at the weekly security joint conference, copies were also distributed to Police Headquarters and the Foreign Intelligence Bureau.

Every day upon entering his office, Zhao Manxiong personally studied these highest-level materials. The Executive Committee was determined that Operation Engine proceed without interference from any external forces.

Among potential external threats, the Portuguese and English were weak, the Spanish distant and inert. Only the Dutch possessed both sufficient strength and direct connection to their vital interests.

Tayouan held tremendous importance for the East India Company. What reaction the Senate's development of Kaohsiung might provoke remained difficult to predict.

"We must make the Dutch fully comprehend the terror of opposing us." This countermeasure—using intimidation to force Dutch inaction—had been adopted at the planning meeting before Operation Engine commenced.

From the wiretapping reports, the work on Trini had obviously achieved its intended effect. Whether intentionally or not, the Italian was enthusiastically extolling the Senate's military might. Zhao Manxiong understood perfectly that a person living in comfort and contentment had little interest in launching a war.

Living well, performing beloved work, receiving generous compensation, with lolis and shotas for company—unless mentally unstable, Trini would hardly wish for a war that might end his current situation.

The conversation between the two men hadn't exceeded most of his projections, including the East India Company's thinking and attitude. Dispatching a large ship to Lingao during the off-season obviously served purposes beyond mere profit. The Magdeburg's mission was clearly intelligence gathering.

He then reviewed the surveillance report on the East India Company trading post, paying particular attention to activities of servants within the compound. Wufo believed at least one servant was undertaking covert work.

According to the report, this servant showed considerable activity, moving frequently throughout Lingao with footprints covering everywhere foreigners were permitted. He visited Bopu Harbor almost daily—the ostensible excuse being to purchase fresh fish.

Finally came the report from the Political Security Bureau's mail inspector stationed at the Postal Administration. The Postal Administration had assumed control of the Ming government's relay station system, establishing postal routes from Lingao to every county in Hainan, with sub-offices in each locality. However, these sub-offices currently handled only transmission of official documents and correspondence for departments, enterprises, and military units under Senate authority; private letters were limited to naturalized citizens and the few natives who had dealings with the transmigrator group.

The postal inspection method involved opening and examining all letters from certain individuals and departments; others were spot-checked. Zhao Manxiong skipped past other sections, proceeding directly to the postal inspection report on the East India trading post.

Dutch trading post letters were routinely dispatched by trading post servants to Bopu, delivered to East India Company merchant ships returning to Batavia or heading to Tayouan. When no East India Company ships were available, they were entrusted to Chinese merchant vessels bound for those destinations. Regardless of delivery method, the Political Security Bureau invariably obtained copies before any letter departed the port.

Letters were encrypted, but for the Political Security Bureau, any seventeenth-century cipher was child's play. Each letter was decrypted, translated, then transcribed into multiple copies for "relevant departments." Because the Dutch were a focus of attention, postal inspection reports concerning them arrived with original letter manuscripts attached.

Zhao Manxiong studied the reports and recent letters carefully. Overall, he was satisfied—the results matched precisely what their "demonstrating power" activities were designed to achieve.

However, this applied only to current trading post personnel. Whether it would produce the same effect on the newly arrived Van de Lantron remained uncertain. Whether launching new "military demonstrations" targeting Van de Lantron was necessary—this was something Zhao Manxiong needed to consider carefully.

For "demonstrating military power," ready material abounded: whether Project 901 in the harbor, or the new artillery the army was currently testing, or even the not-so-new typewriter—all were sufficient to deliver a substantial shock to this Dutchman.

The problem was that excessive flaunting of military power could sometimes be interpreted as "concealing weaknesses." Zhao Manxiong worried that clever minds in Batavia might draw precisely that conclusion.

"We simply need to make this cheese-eater understand clearly," he mused, thinking of Project 2300 currently under intensive development. If successfully completed, it would represent a remarkable military advancement. Unfortunately, Van de Lantron might not accurately appreciate its power.

Better to let Van de Lantron observe the Senate's steam fleet. As a seafaring people, the Dutch would not fail to understand the tremendous power of steam warships.

Project 2300 was located at the Lingao Special Chemicals Complex. Though this complex belonged to the Chemical Department, it stood far removed from the Chemical Department's other subsidiary enterprises. Many workers in other chemical plants had never even heard of its existence.

The Lingao Special Chemicals Complex had been designed after a certain explosives factory from the 156 Projects of old. Its primary mission was producing gunpowder and explosives.

Explosives represented a key project for maintaining transmigrator advantage. With continual expansion of military scale and demands from civilian projects, early workshop-style production and laboratory-style processes had grown woefully inadequate.

The shortage of relatively safe high explosives in sufficient quantities particularly constrained both military and civilian applications. Military stockpiled explosives could only be maintained at relatively low reserve levels. Army ammunition reserves, beyond ensuring routine training, sufficed for only one campaign. Naval ammunition reserves aboard various ships also generally fell short of basic allotments.

The Planning Bureau understood this predicament well. Over a year ago, they had formally commenced planning construction of the explosives enterprise—the Lingao Special Chemicals Complex.

The complex occupied vast expanses of land, displaying an Old Russian aesthetic of sprawling territory. The factory zone covered several thousand mu, even after being scaled down more than a dozen times from the old dimension reference. The site had been selected at the edge of the Gaoshan Ridge hilly area—a sloped region where bedrock began emerging. The soil layer was extremely thin, with rocks and gullies everywhere, making construction exceedingly difficult. The advantage lay in its remoteness and desolation, with almost no households or farmland nearby. The elevated terrain meant flooding from typhoon strikes was unlikely.

Because in an explosives factory, various explosives and precursors concentrated together. Were a chain reaction to occur, half of Lingao's existing industrial zone might be obliterated. Remaining in the industrial zone had become dangerously unsafe.

Regarding explosives, finished products were actually quite safe. What posed danger were the intermediate precursors—many existed in unstable states, temporarily stabilized only through strict adherence to process specifications. However, workers in this dimension possessed almost no concept of process discipline. Even in the previous explosives factory under strict military management, with extremely severe punishments including death penalty and collective punishment, various small accidents had never been completely eliminated.

The explosives factory's casualty accident rate was classified, never reported in internal bulletins. Naturalized citizens, unless employed there, remained entirely unaware of the facility's existence. Selected workers were preferably single men.

Even with various measures reducing accident impacts to minimum levels, small accidents that couldn't be promptly addressed would escalate into major disasters. Moving to this desolate area would at least minimize losses when accidents occurred—even basic black powder, when it exploded in sufficient quantity, produced devastating effects. The great Wanggongchang explosion of old had been terrifying enough.

The Special Chemicals Complex's planning still seriously violated old-dimension safety standards. This factory not only produced pyrotechnics but also manufactured various finished ammunition and undertook research tasks.

"At least our production conditions are considerably better than Huangyadong..." Xu Yingjie said with a forced smile after examining the planning diagram. His exposed arm bore another scar—left by glass shards while manufacturing mercury fulminate half a year earlier.

"Also safer than our current conditions. Otherwise, we few brothers in the Chemical Department will sooner or later become one-eyed or one-legged. Arriving at Cuigang early is inevitable," said Ji Tuisi, head of the Chemical Department. Never mind explosives—even production in ordinary chemical plants often made his heart pound with fear.

The Chemical Department did include a few fearless explosives enthusiasts, but courage alone couldn't ensure safety. Everyone still hoped to witness the day of revolutionary victory—and preferably in one piece.

"Regarding safety requirements, everyone should propose as much as possible. Don't fear causing trouble or consuming resources. Whatever can be satisfied, the Planning Bureau will definitely provide in full," Wu De declared at the meeting. "Safety comes first."

After over a year of major construction, the factory zone remained incomplete—or rather, no one knew when it would be completed. According to planning, large quantities of artificial barriers to block shock waves had to be erected between various facilities—typically earth embankments twenty to thirty meters high to direct shock waves and burning materials skyward. To avoid flying rocks during explosions, stone couldn't be used.

When basic civil construction was completed, embankment work remained less than ten percent done. Many embankments had to make do with stones on the interior and thick earth layers compacted on the outside. The factory went into production regardless. Traditional safety ditch methods continued in use while embankment construction proceeded. For safety reasons, smoke-spewing steam-powered construction equipment could no longer be employed—only manual labor: the Fubo Army and labor reform teams, with modern machinery used only when absolutely necessary.

(End of Chapter)