While farm workers recruited from all over the country continued to pour into Kunshan Farm, Mr. Zhao quietly left Kunshan.

This was his first trip after the New Year, and he had to go to many places, so Secretary Ma filled his schedule full.

In order to concentrate on his work, he left the young princess in Kunshan. Jiang Xueying also went to Suzhou to check the construction progress of the headquarters.

Of course, Sister Ma and Qiaoqiao have to go on the journey together, otherwise Master Zhao will not be able to eat well, sleep well, or do his job well.

The Science, with its white hull and white sails, set sail again. After leaving the Xujiang River and entering Taihu Lake, it arrived at its first stop, Xishan Island, at dusk.

He will stay on the island overnight and set off again tomorrow morning.

Hua Bozheng was notified in advance and waited at the dock early to welcome the young master into the military camp.

While accompanying the young master towards the courtyard where he was staying, Hua Bozhen explained on behalf of Jin Ke:

"General Jin took the five hundred new security guards he recruited before the New Year to go on a training tour around the island yesterday, and they haven't returned yet."

Zhao Hao's security personnel only informed Xishan Island of his itinerary one hour in advance, so Jin Ke certainly had no way of knowing it.

"Can you come back tonight?" Zhao Hao really had something to discuss with him.

"It's hard to say. If they just circled the island, they should have returned long ago. But he said that according to the young master's request of 'strict, difficult and practical', he would deliberately increase the difficulty, so it's hard to say." Hua Bozhen asked, "I will send a signal to call him back."

"Okay." Zhao Hao thought about it and nodded.

~~

In the small courtyard that had not been lived in for a long time but was still as clean as new, Master Zhao and Hua Bozhen enjoyed the three fresh seafood from Taihu Lake while casually chatting about the situation on the island.

In fact, Mr. Hua had lost his sense of taste, which was like chewing wax. Fortunately, the rapid development of Xishan Island made him very excited, and he could use dopamine to stimulate the secretion of salivary amylase.

"The third cement plant has been successfully put into production after the new year. The production capacity can be increased in three months at most." Hua Bozhen said excitedly: "The scale of the third plant is large, and the output can match that of the first and second plants combined!"

“So, Chongming and Pudong can both supply it?” Young Master Zhao scooped a spoonful of the fragrant fried shrimp and eggs, feeling the sweetness in his mouth.

"That's about right." Hua Bozhen immediately became cautious. This is not like last year when the company was just starting out. Back then, boasting was tax-free and if it got exposed, it would only be embarrassing.

The group has now formulated strict regulations, and the board of directors has strict assessments of its subsidiaries. If the promises made cannot be fulfilled, there will be accountability.

"Yeah." Zhao Hao nodded, but he didn't ask any more questions. He asked vaguely, "What about the quarry?"

"Kunshan has less material, but Chongming and Pudong have more demand. The current quarry alone is not in sufficient supply." Hua Bozhen said, "I am planning to discuss with you to build a second quarry in the spring."

"You don't need to ask for permission for this kind of thing. Just do it as you see fit." Zhao Hao said, and after thinking for a while, he said, "But I have a suggestion. Try to use the quarrying to create more flat land to prepare for building a factory in the future."

The reason why Xishan Island was abandoned by the islanders was partly because of the Japanese pirates. The more important reason was that it was an island that was lifted out of the Taihu Lake. Although it was large in area, it had no flat land, which made it very inconvenient for living and farming.

Building a factory is naturally inconvenient.

"I understand." Hua Bozhen is not only the chairman of Jiangnan Building Materials, but also the general manager of Xishan Island. He spends 80% of his time every month on this island, and he knows every tree, mountain and stone here by heart.

"But the progress of land reclamation is too slow just by mining the mountains and taking stones." Hua Bozhen paused and said unhappily, "Besides, the merchants in Wuxian and Changzhou are also learning how to mine stones like us in Suzhou, so they will definitely take away a piece of the business."

"Let them take it away. Selling resources is nothing." Zhao Hao curled his lips and said proudly, "It would be better if all the business was taken away. This way, we can destroy our base less."

"Then sir, how do we build a factory?" Hua Bozhen asked.

"It's no problem to build eight or ten factories on the vacant land on the island." Zhao Hao waved his hand and said, "In the long run, if we want to maximize the value of Xishan Island, we still have to fill the lake and create farmland."

In another time and space, in the 1960s and 1970s, the people's government reclaimed more than 20 square kilometers of land by filling the lake, and Xishan Island finally prospered.

Mr. Zhao, who was preparing to follow the prescription, couldn't help but feel fortunate again that there were no environmentalists in this era.

"Fill the lake to create farmland?" Hua Bozhen's eyes lit up, and he slapped his thigh and said, "Young Master, you really have a lot of clever ideas! Yes, Pudong and Chongming can reclaim farmland from the sea, so it's no problem for us to reclaim farmland from the lake on Xishan Island! We can have as much land as you want!"

"Thirty to forty thousand mu of land is enough." Zhao Hao shook his head and said consciously, "Don't destroy Taihu Lake too much, otherwise we will be scolded by future generations."

Hua Bozhen didn't understand. Why would the later generations scold him? We are clearly fighting for them.

"Ask Pan Zhongcheng to help you and come up with a plan according to his ideas." Zhao Hao reminded him again: "This matter needs to be done quickly. It's best to invite him this month. If it's too late, we won't be able to invite anyone."

Hua Bozhen was confused again. According to calculations, Pan Zhongcheng would not be able to serve in the imperial court until the end of the year. Moreover, a famous scholar like him would not be reinstated unless the court summoned him three times. Otherwise, he would be laughed at for being too utilitarian.

So Pan Jixun should still be a consultant for the group for one or two years, right? From what the young master said, it seemed like he was about to fly away.

But if you don't understand what the young master said, just do it. You will understand it in the future...

~~

The two then talked about coal and pyrite mining on the island.

What Zhao Hao is most concerned about is pyrite. As long as he can learn to make sulfuric acid from pyrite according to the textbook in chemical experiments, he will immediately start building Jiangnan Chemical to produce this most important chemical raw material!

But Hua Bozhen was more worried about the coal mines. He told Zhao Hao that the coal produced on the island was rejected by all parties.

"The Summer Resort has long stopped using our island's coal. Deputy Director Zhang said that all that is produced from our coal is scrap steel. Director Xing also said that our coal cannot reach the temperature required to burn glass." Hua Bozhen complained wildly:

"Even the cement factory has been pestering me all day, wanting to switch to Huai coal." Hua Bozhen smiled bitterly, "But to be honest, the coal on our island is really bad. Not only can the furnace temperature not be raised, but it also chokes people to death. The cement produced by the Building Materials Research Institute using high-quality Huai coal is obviously much better than the current products."

"Normal." Zhao Hao said unconcernedly, "The Huai coal we import is high-quality coking coal. The coal on Xishan Island is medium-ash high-sulfur coal, with low calorific value and high sulfur content. It cannot be used for coking. It certainly cannot be used for ironmaking, and it will also have a certain impact on the output and quality of cement. In the future, we will switch to high-quality coal."

Hua Bozhen felt bitter when he heard this. "So, it's still impossible to change it in a short period of time?"

"Hmm." Zhao Hao nodded and said, "Huaibei's coal is good. But it's thousands of miles away and the transportation cost is too high. We can afford to use Huaibei's coal for scientific research, but if we use it to burn clinker all day, the company will lose a lot of money."

"Is there no coal nearby?" Hua Bozhen said depressedly.

Zhao Hao thought that there was one in Changxing on the other side of Taihu Lake, but no one had discovered it yet.

ps. This is the first of three consecutive updates. Please give me your monthly votes!