Chapter 346 - 212: Providing Manpower, Rejecting Chinese Medicine

Chapter 346: Chapter 212: Providing Manpower, Rejecting Chinese Medicine

"I see." Long Zhan nodded. "But we still need to discuss this with the Peach Blossom Base. Should I be the one to talk to them, or should you?"

"I’ll do it. After all, the ships are coming from the Aircraft Carrier Base," Wang Jun replied gravely.

"Alright. The Dawn Base has relocated to its designated position. From now on, ships from the Aircraft Carrier Base can come directly to these coordinates." Long Zhan then sent his coordinates.

"Understood," Wang Jun replied with a nod.

"Those herbs we sent over should have reached the Aircraft Carrier Base by now, right?" Long Zhan asked.

"They have. We’ve already administered them to the critically ill patients," Ji Yizhi said.

Long Zhan nodded slightly. "The five supply ships loaded with fuel and the four speedboats filled with herbs have already departed from the Dawn Base. The supply ships will be a bit slower, but I’ve ordered the speedboats to travel at full speed. I expect them to reach the Aircraft Carrier Base before dinner today!"

"That’s wonderful! The last batch of herbs wasn’t nearly enough." Ji Yizhi was overjoyed, but then added with a sigh, "We just keep owing the Peach Blossom Base more and more."

Wang Jun and Long Zhan both froze for a moment, then nodded.

But Long Zhan immediately laughed and said, "What’s there to worry about? We’ll just give the Peach Blossom Base our full support from now on!"

"That’s right. I remember Old Long saying a long time ago that we needed to latch onto the Peach Blossom Base. I never thought it would actually come true," Wang Jun remarked with a sigh.

Ji Yizhi nodded. "I have to admit, Old Long’s judgment was incredibly sharp this time."

"I don’t like the sound of that," Long Zhan said defensively. "What do you mean, ’this time’? My judgment has always been excellent!"

Ji Yizhi rolled his eyes. "You narcissist."

Wang Jun shook his head with a smile. "Alright, you two. You’re old enough to know better, but you still love to bicker. Now that we have fuel from the Peach Blossom Base, the connection between our two bases will become even stronger."

"He’s right. Our fuel reserves are critically low. If those speedboats make a few more trips, I’m afraid all our aircraft carriers will be grounded," Ji Yizhi agreed.

Moving the aircraft carriers consumed a massive amount of fuel. When Long Zhan had led his fleet away, he’d taken most of the reserves. The recent back-and-forth trips by supply ships and other speedboats had depleted them even further.

The remaining fuel wasn’t nearly enough for the carriers.

"We won’t have to worry from now on," Long Zhan said, sounding incredibly relieved. "At the rate the Peach Blossom Base produces fuel, I estimate we can fill up all the supply ships and the carriers’ tanks within a month at most."

"That’s true, but we still need to figure out what we can offer for sustained trade with the Peach Blossom Base," Wang Jun said, frowning slightly.

’He knew a one-sided arrangement where the Peach Blossom Base was the sole provider wouldn’t last. A mutually beneficial partnership was the only long-term solution.’

"Besides the plants and animals, all we have left is our population. We could also try to acquire more flora and fauna from other fleets," Ji Yizhi said after a moment’s thought, his tone a bit helpless.

"Once the River Bird Fleet arrives, our collection of plants should be more or less complete. The next focus will have to be on animals," Wang Jun said with a nod. "As for our population... the Peach Blossom Base certainly won’t want to just accept them outright. That means our only option is to provide labor."

"Exactly. We can bring this up with the Peach Blossom Base," Ji Yizhi agreed.

"Alright, I’ll go talk to him now."

With that, Wang Jun initiated a video call with Ren Yuanyang.

The call connected quickly. Ren Yuanyang greeted him with a smile, "Good morning, Captain Wang!"

"Good morning, Brother Yang," Wang Jun replied with a nod.

"Is there something I can help you with this early, Captain Wang?" Ren Yuanyang asked directly.

"As a matter of fact, there is something I need to discuss with you," Wang Jun replied.

Ren Yuanyang nodded, waiting quietly for him to continue.

"The Aircraft Carrier Base has arranged for some freighters to head over. Would it be convenient for us to transport the raw materials for the fuel here and press it ourselves?" Wang Jun continued, "Of course, we’ve also arranged for supply ships to come over. If the Peach Blossom Base is still producing the refined oil, we’ll take all of that, too."

He was mainly concerned that if all the pressing work was transferred to the Dawn Base, the people of the Peach Blossom Base might be left without jobs, which was why he added that last sentence.

"Of course you can. You have plenty of people anyway, just handle all the pressing at the Dawn Base. That will make things easier for us, too," Ren Yuanyang agreed with a nod.

Wang Jun was taken aback for a moment, then replied, "As long as it doesn’t cause any problems for your base, then of course we have no issue with it."

"It won’t be a problem. Once your fleet reaches the Dawn Base, just have those freighters come over," Ren Yuanyang said, waving his hand dismissively.

"Understood. Thank you, Brother Yang," Wang Jun said, cupping his hands. "Also, if the Peach Blossom Base has anything else that needs processing, you can give it to us. After all, we’re so poor all we have left is people!"

Ren Yuanyang paused in surprise for a moment, then nodded and asked, "Do you have production lines for making clothes?"

"We do," Wang Jun replied instantly. "As long as we have the raw materials, we can mass-produce clothing."

"That’s wonderful!" Ren Yuanyang said happily. "I’ll start by planting some cotton over here, and when it’s ready, I’ll need you to help make clothing!"

The Peach Blossom Base had primitive looms, but their efficiency was low.

With nearly fifteen hundred people in the entire Peach Blossom Base, relying on those primitive looms meant it would take an eternity to weave enough fabric for everyone’s clothes.

’Since the Aircraft Carrier Base had existing production lines for clothing, he might as well let them do it. After all, they still owed the Peach Blossom Base a significant amount for previous goods.’