Chapter 3233: Better to Come by Chance Than Early

The cargo trains kept flowing without stopping, even as the sky gradually darkened.

Ye Chen and Li Yalin observed their operating pattern: generally, after a diesel locomotive pulled the entire string of freight cars into the yard at the dock, it would uncouple there, then turn around via another track and pull away another string of cars.

The loaded cars left in the yard would be hauled by a switcher locomotive into a warehouse built over multiple tracks for unloading; after the cargo was unloaded, it had to pass through customs inspection, then be transported by port cargo trucks to the bulk cargo loading and unloading wharf for loading onto ships.

In the southeast direction of the freight yard, there was also a larger railway marshalling yard; imported goods arriving at Casablanca Port, if they needed rail transport, would, after completing customs clearance, be marshaled and made up into trains here, then pulled by locomotives toward their destinations.

This also meant that the freight trains themselves were isolated from the port interior; goods arriving here had not yet cleared customs, while goods waiting here for transshipment had already completed customs clearance, so management of the freight train yard was relatively lax.

After nightfall, Ye Chen and Li Yalin first had dinner at the hotel; in the restaurant, Ye Chen saw a young server from China and asked him: "Young man, do you know what language the locals use most?"

The server replied: "Sir, the common people here speak Arabic more often; government officials and school staff basically all speak French."

Ye Chen nodded, thinking that since Morocco had long been under French colonial rule, French being widespread in government and education systems was likely the reason.

However, Ye Chen didn't know much French; his parents had taught him a little when he was young, but he had studied it briefly and long ago, so his understanding of French was limited to some basic terms.

So he thanked the server, waited for him to leave, then asked Li Yalin: "Inspector Li, do you speak French?"

Li Yalin nodded: "Because I constantly deal with people from neighboring American countries and European nations, I've studied both French and Spanish, and I'm fairly proficient."

Ye Chen breathed a sigh of relief: "Good, otherwise we'd have to find a translator on the spot."

Li Yalin hurriedly said: "Mr. Ye, I know absolutely no Arabic."

Ye Chen said: "No problem; tonight we'll be dealing with port workers, and since the port is especially important for Casablanca, the management positions there should be filled by people who received local elite education from childhood, so French is definitely their first language."

Li Yalin nodded and said: "If they speak French, there will definitely be no problem."

After dinner, the two took a taxi to the port railway management office; the entire port railway transportation dispatch is handled from here.

Li Yalin looked at the management office's gate and asked Ye Chen doubtfully: "Mr. Ye, can we just go straight in like this?"

Ye Chen nodded; he had already used spiritual sense to probe the interior of the management office earlier. At this time, outside the office there was only one security guard on duty, while inside there were nine people working, six of whom were in the largest room on the second floor, which he assumed was their dispatch room, and the remaining three were each in separate offices.

Ye Chen's idea was simple: directly use psychological suggestion to control the outside security guard, ask him who the current highest-ranking person here is, then have him lead the two to find that person.

So he said to Li Yalin: "Inspector Li, later when you see me tap the other person's shoulder, just directly ask him in French who is in charge here, then have him lead us over."

"Good." Li Yalin nodded, knowing Ye Chen had vast supernatural abilities, so he needed ask no more and would simply follow his instructions.

The two arrived at the management office gate; the security guard outside, seeing two Asians, shouted at them in broken English: "Leave! Leave!"

Seeing the guard directly drive them away, Ye Chen smiled and said in English: "Brother, don't you remember me?"

As he spoke, he sent a strand of spiritual energy into the other's brain; the person then walked forward and, pretending to be an old friend, patted him on the shoulder.

Li Yalin quickly stepped forward and asked him in French: "Where is your highest-ranking person here?"

The man truthfully replied: "Our deputy manager is currently on night duty in the office."

Li Yalin nodded: "Take us to see him."

The man immediately said: "Please follow me."

After speaking, the man immediately turned around, stepped forward, entered the door, and headed toward the second floor.

Ye Chen and Li Yalin followed behind him, all the way to the end of the second-floor corridor, to the second office.

The man pointed to the office door; Li Yalin walked forward and knocked twice, and from inside came the same French reply: "Come in."

Li Yalin pushed the door open, Ye Chen followed closely behind; the man inside saw the two and asked in surprise: "Who are you?"

As soon as he finished speaking, Ye Chen likewise gave him a psychological suggestion.

Then Ye Chen said to Li Yalin: "Inspector Li, have him introduce us to the operating model here, as well as Duke Mining's freight records; if there are train running records, even better."

Li Yalin immediately asked in French; afterward, the man immediately began to introduce the general situation here to the two.

Morocco mines nearly forty million tons of phosphate rock annually, of which over ten million tons are used for export, and the remainder is processed into twenty million tons of phosphate derivatives for re-export, mostly fertilizers; thus, most of these thirty-plus million tons of cargo are exported worldwide, with part of the exports consumed by other African nations, and the rest basically must be exported from Casablanca Port to the world, so railway transport here is very busy, with at least twenty to thirty loaded freight trains arriving each day.

Trains entering and leaving the port do not operate 24 hours a day, but rather run for fourteen hours daily, from 7 a. m. to 9 p. m.; tonight, two more freight trains will arrive in succession within half an hour, and after these two trains arrive, there will be no more trains tonight, so the management office can close, leaving only two people on regular duty.

However, the yard itself operates 24 hours without interruption; trains arriving at night must unload overnight, and much of the cargo that needs to be dispatched early tomorrow morning must also be loaded tonight.

Morocco's main railway lines basically all belong to the Moroccan National Railway Office, i. e., Moroccan National Railway.

However, since this is a port-supporting facility, the internal facilities of the yard are managed by the port's own transportation management office.

As for all the locomotives, locomotive-related drivers, and maintenance personnel, they are all employees of Moroccan National Railway.

The freight train operation plan is also entirely handled by Moroccan National Railway for dispatch; this office only receives the plan and, according to the train operation schedule, arranges the sequence and timing of cargo loading and unloading, arranges for trains to stop at designated positions, and arranges loading and unloading at specified times.

The area where Duke Mining is located lies in the core phosphate-producing region of Morocco, about two hundred kilometers from here, and happens to be on the dedicated phosphate railway line.

The phosphate dedicated railway line was invested and built by the Moroccan National Railway Office; along the route, every phosphate enterprise of a certain scale can pay Moroccan National Railway to have it build a branch line directly into the enterprise's interior, facilitating train access and reducing transportation costs.

Besides paying Moroccan National Railway a construction fee for the connection, after linking to the main line, enterprises must also regularly pay threshold fees to the national railway, as well as the specific transportation costs incurred.

Nevertheless, the unit transportation cost for enterprises is still far lower than that of road transport.

Although Duke Mining here is not the largest phosphate enterprise, its scale is also medium-to-high, with an annual phosphate output of about one million tons; moreover, Duke Mining does not engage in derivative production, and all its phosphate output is used for export, so they almost daily have a train loaded with phosphate departing from Duke Mining and arriving at the port.

Coincidentally, the two learned from him that tonight's final scheduled inbound freight train is precisely the one coming from Duke Mining.

This train is expected to arrive around 8:45 p. m., and in tomorrow's freight train operation plan, there happens to be another train bound for Duke Mining, which means Duke Mining has a batch of imported goods already arrived at port, to be loaded and shipped back tomorrow.

As for the train running video Ye Chen wanted to see, the management office lacks the authority to retrieve it, but they could wait for the train to arrive and then try to inspect the interior of the locomotive.

After hearing this information, Ye Chen immediately said to Li Yalin: "What does 'better to come by chance than early' mean? Today we'll first scout this freight train, and by the way, also scout what Duke Mining plans to ship back tomorrow!"