The sound of the whistle of the worker in the early morning was accompanied by a blood-red, just rising sun, which sounded almost at the same time.

When the sound of the whistle sounds,

Soon, the yarn machine in the Yuhua Spinning Factory started running again. Thousands of spinning machines roared under the steam engine's transmission shaft, just like the thunder in summer!

The female workers were walking back and forth with the yarn machine. They would work from 6 am to 6 pm, working for twelve hours, and only rest for half an hour in the middle. However, even so, the female workers still cherish this rare job very much. This is especially true for Western technicians in the factory. After all, most of their colleagues in Europe not only have to work sixteen or seventeen hours a day, but also are unemployed. It is definitely an extremely happy thing to be able to find such a job here, and work 1/3 less than in the past.

Of course, they didn't know that the establishment of this large textile factory was entirely due to the cotton crisis in Europe. Otherwise, Nanhua would not have bought a large amount of cotton textile equipment at its cheap or even scrap iron, and quickly built the cotton textile industry.

When the cotton textile industry in Europe went bankrupt due to insufficient cotton, the cotton textile factory that had just been built in Nanhua had sufficient raw materials to start construction. This is a miracle in itself. Of course, for the outside world, Nanhua's cotton supply may come from the local area, but only a very small number of people know that those cotton comes from the United States.

It can even be said that it is American cotton that has done all this. On the one hand, it quickly smuggled arms for cheap cotton, and on the other hand, it transports cotton out of the United States for a high price of nearly ten times. Then it buys machines from Europe at the price of scrap iron, sets up cotton textile factories, and then takes the opportunity to produce cotton cloth and other cotton textiles to seize the market.

Inadvertently, Nanhua carried out a small virtuous trade cycle. However, it was not the ordinary department of the company that was in charge of all this, but the unknown investigation department.

Like many buildings built in 1863, Building 11, Yong'an Square is also a reinforced concrete building. The six-story building style is different from the Western style and the Chinese style, except that the outer layer of the building has a slightly Chinese style decorative style.

This is the Investigation Department of Nanhua Company.

The Investigation Department, at the earliest, was the Investigation Department, and there were only six people. At the beginning, they were responsible for statistics and other work, but in the past two years, from the Investigation Department to the Investigation Department, as the personnel continued to be enriched.

By the end of 1863, the Investigation Department had developed into a large department with more than 500 employees, and even more than 100 foreign employees were stationed in the UK, France, the United States, Argentina and other places, specializing in collecting commercial information. In fact, this is also a relatively common organization in enterprises.

In this era, many insurance companies and shipping companies had their own investigation agencies, specializing in the collection and investigation of commercial information. Many foreign employees in the investigation department were poached from insurance companies, shipping companies and other companies.

But those foreign employees are either stationed in Europe and the United States, or can only work below the third floor of the company building and participate in ordinary business surveys. After all, companies are not just commercial survey institutions.

"Last month, the Special Transportation Team crossed the Federal Navy blockade thirteen times and smuggled about 200,000 bales of cotton from Confederacy ports. Although this is less than 10% of cotton exports per year at the southern ports, as the number of ships in the special transport fleet increases, by the end of next year, our fleet will basically be able to bring out all the cotton in the south."

Behind the desk, Qian Zizhuang smiled kindly at him as he listened to his subordinates' channels.

"Martin, on the way back, we must try to transport more cotton. It is an important source of income for the Confederate. Only by transporting cotton out can they have the money to buy important war materials and persist in fighting. Of course, the most important thing is profit. The civil war has put the cotton production in the southern United States to a standstill. Under the severe supply and demand contradiction, global cotton prices have risen about four times. But in the ports in the south, the cotton prices are still equivalent to those before the war, or even lower than before the war, which means surviving. As long as we ship cotton out of the Confederate, we can get 4 times the profit! Two hundred thousand bales of cotton...if transported to London, it would be a profit of several million pounds!"

As the director of the Investigation Department, Qian Zizhuang, although he has only been in a private school for a few years, as a "gold mine old man", he has always been deeply trusted by his boss. From the Investigation Department to the Investigation Department, he gradually built an investigation department according to his boss's intentions. This time, he hired European and American investigators to learn investigation and collect, and established training classes to train his own people.

Now the trade with the South is the third department of the investigation department, and the person in charge of the Third Foreign Office, Martin Coleman, is not a Chinese. He was the earliest naturalized citizen of Nanhua. He was Mr. Diego's confidant. He had always been in charge of secret operations in Buenos Aires, but he fled to Nanhua after his identity was exposed.

Although he has curly black hair and dark blue eyes, he speaks fluent Chinese Mandarin. The reason why he is asked to take charge of the third part is because of his appearance, which is very suitable for overseas operations.

Even in the training classes of the Investigation Department, there are also some homeless children and orphans collected from South America and Europe, who are trained for a long time so that they can be sent to other countries in the future to engage in investigative and intelligence work.

"Yes, Mr. Minister."

Martin nodded and said.

"That's why our trade with the South is barter trade. Last month we successfully transported about 50,000 rifles, 103 cannons, as well as supplies such as lead and saltpeter that were enough to make 10 million rounds of light weapons and ammunition, as well as shoes, uniforms and blankets for the entire army. In addition, about 3 million kilograms of canned meat, corned beef and other supplies strongly supported the battle in the South. However, now the South is dissatisfied with our offer and feels that our offer of cotton is too low and the offer of supplies is too high."

"dissatisfied?"

Qian Zizhuang sneered.

"Ignore them. Now we have only our ships. The energy source keeps transporting the supplies they need. If they don't accept our offer, they can find other people."

Under the blockade in the north, trade with the south was the seller's market. The southerners in Richmond had no room for bargaining. Qian Zizhuang was too lazy to pay attention to them. At present, the "Special Transportation Company" had a profit of several million pounds a month, but the capital he took to make a contribution in front of his boss.

The so-called special transportation company is actually the general term for more than a dozen companies. Among the company list of the survey department, more than 30 companies are engaged in smuggling to the south and related to cotton trade.

It is under the cover of many people that they can make huge profits through smuggling as much as possible. Of course, in the end, these profits will be handed over to the company to purchase various machines and develop Nanhua's industry.

Crisis, sometimes other people’s crises are their own opportunities. In this war, it is definitely a good opportunity for development for the South.

The same is true for the Investigation Department. The current expansion of the Investigation Department is also due to the war between the Americans thousands of miles away and the unprecedented opportunities brought by the war.

"Yes, we responded to them too."

Exclusive business has this benefit, and the initiative is completely in your own hands. The other party has no ability to bargain.

"By the way, Minister, they said once again that they hoped to buy our ships."

"Don't refuse them, and don't promise them, it requires the decision of the boss."

Qian Zizhuang waved his hand, and he knew the answer without making a decision, and he would never sell the ship to them.

"By the way, there is another thing. I noticed in the briefing that the political situation in Uruguay has been not very stable recently. I also want to know about other local situations. Can you send an investigator from Buenos Aires to try to collect some local situations. Do you understand?"

Martin was not surprised by the minister's order. He was an expert and his job.

"Yes, Mr. Minister, but it takes some time for our people to go there. I know a few Uruguayans in the past, and they can do this, or let them do it..."

In this era, patriotism was not popular, especially in South America. Maybe those people were still French, Roman, Sardinian or Prussian a few months ago, and they loved which country they went?

Just like Martin, he said he was an Argentinian, but he immigrated from Ireland. In Ireland, he was the Lord who almost starved to death. Love Britain?

Is it possible?

As for Ireland, there is no country in this world yet.

"Yes, this is OK. We run an intelligence network to use local connections. However, we should pay attention to their movements, and it is best for our people to control them. After all, this work should still be more cautious."

Staring at the bright sunny day outside the window and watching the passers-by walking back and forth in the square. At this time, Nanhua seemed particularly quiet, as if the disputes in the world had nothing to do with it. People were busy and working, and they created wealth here. After a busy day, they would get off work when the bell rings at 6 o'clock, and then go home to enjoy a quiet life.

But how long can such a peaceful life last? Maybe a few years, maybe in a decade, all this will be broken, and now all they need to do is prepare before it is broken.

"Okay, Martin,"

Qian Zizhuang said to Martin behind him a little stiffly.

"Go and take your business. As for the ship you mentioned before, don't worry. As long as we have a boat in our hands, they will definitely not be able to live without us!"
Chapter completed!