1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 106 Demonstration of Strength
Regarding the formulation of the route, several people from the North American Gang said that they can take care of it, but a field trip is still an essential step.The two catamarans can maintain an average speed of more than fifteen knots, and it doesn't take a few days to go to Hongji Port.To be able to go to sea for a long-distance run after holding back for a few months, Tom Wang in Victory Port must be very happy after hearing the news.

Of course, the content of this route investigation, which is still under everyone's verbal plan, is not just to inspect the route. The crew also have to record the hydrology and sea conditions along the way, and find safe and reliable coastal stops according to the voyage.The most important thing is to inspect the two fixed stops on Fushuizhou Island and Hongji Port, and calculate the materials and manpower needed for construction, and then formulate a detailed development plan based on this.

However, the temporary transfer of these people from North America will inevitably affect the progress of their related projects at hand.For example, in the chemical department, which is already conducting trial production of tri-acid and di-alkali, although there are still several people who have a background in chemical engineering, the transfer of Qiao Zhiya will still have a relatively large impact.And Luo Jie and Shi Diwen are now experts in mechanical processing. Before the machine tool is installed in place, many metal parts that require high precision must be handcrafted by skilled workers like them. After being built, this trip to the government is likely to force the Executive Committee to order the machining process to temporarily suspend work for a few days.

Another time-consuming preparation is, of course, buying ships and recruiting sailors.The next day the executive committee got in touch with the office in Yazhou, asking them to initiate relations in Yazhou and try to complete these two tasks.To put it bluntly, the Cliff Office is now the only window to the outside world of the Transit Group, and if the executive committee tries to get enough ships and people in a short period of time, it must depend on the Cliff Office's ability.

There is a piece of good news from the Cliff Office, which was immediately fed back to the Executive Committee—after the previous transaction with the two commercial firms, a batch of goods and cash will be delivered to Victory Port today, and the shopkeepers of the two commercial firms will Personally escort the goods and go this trip, then the executive committee can directly contact them to discuss matters concerning the purchase of the ship.The roots of these two firms are in Qiongzhou Fucheng and the other in Guangzhou, both of which are much more prosperous than Yazhou. Whether it is to buy a ship or hire sailors, it is much easier than Yazhou.

This news made the Executive Committee attach great importance to it. Tao Donglai and Schneider immediately put down what they were doing and rushed to Victory Port to do some preparatory work for the meeting.The security company and the recruit battalion stationed on the east bank of Victory Port have also been mobilized. They will be responsible for maintaining the law and order of Victory Port in these two days.The hard labor camps that originally built the wharf at the port were also temporarily transferred away, and all of them were sent to the sandbar on the east bank where the new barracks were located, and stone walls were added to the fortifications guarding the harbor.Chef Fan from the cooking class was also temporarily transferred back to Shengli Port, and the executive committee appointed him to be in charge of organizing the welcome banquet for the guests today.

At [-]:[-] p.m., the "Flying Ship" cruising outside Yulinjiao contacted Shengli Port, saying that it found two Chinese-style blessing boats coming from the southwest sea.More than ten minutes later, "Flying Speed" sent a confirmation message, and saw He Xi, who was stationed in Yazhou, on the deck of one of the ships. This should be the fleet delivering goods from Yazhou.

Under the guidance of "Flying Speed", the two lucky boats sailed into the harbor smoothly and docked at the wharf, which has been completed one third of the way.And almost everyone on these two ships was visiting here for the first time, and without exception, they were stunned by the row of giant iron ships on the shore.Before they set off, they had heard rumors that the Haihan people came across the sea on some huge iron boats. Most people thought it was just absurd rumors, but when they saw the real thing Only then did I really feel the huge shock.The two shopkeepers who thought they were well-informed suddenly felt that their past lives were simply watching the sky from a well. There is no one in the world who can build such a huge iron boat that can float on the sea!From this point of view, there are indeed many skilled craftsmen among the Haihan people, and it is no wonder that they can make those exquisite glass products and clear silver mirrors.

Under the leadership of He Xi, the two shopkeepers disembarked from the ship. Tao Donglai and Schneider were already waiting for their arrival at the pier.The people who do business here are all very winking. Seeing that Mr. Shi who came to Yazhou to discuss business last time was still standing half a step behind Mr. Tao, he knew that Mr. Tao's status among Haihan people should be very high , and immediately bowed deeply.

Shopkeeper Zhang saw a row of men in flowery and green double-breasted jackets standing neatly on the pier, so he asked Tao Donglai what this meant.Tao Donglai said with a smile: "These are the militias we trained locally. They are usually responsible for maintaining local law and order and arresting thieves. Today, if there are distinguished guests visiting, let them maintain order at the pier so that no ignorant people disturb the guests. "

Shopkeeper Zhang saw that these people were indeed local Ming people, and there were many young Li and Miao youths among them. Daohai Han has a large number of skilled craftsmen, good at business, never thought that this soldier is also an expert, and in terms of the style and appearance of this militia, it is still higher than the Yazhou garrison."

Shopkeeper Li has a more in-depth view on the problem: "During the Jiajing and Wanli years, the imperial court conscripted the Miao people from Guangxi to enter Qiong for the garrison in Qiong. It was because of the Pinglidong rebellion. There is absolutely no possibility of mixing the soldiers of the two races for military service. It is not easy for your militia to accommodate youths of the two races at the same time."

Tao Donglai said: "The Li and Miao tribes used to fight back and forth, but the ultimate goal was actually to fight for food and to fight for our own survival. Now that we Haihan people have come, as long as we do things for us, we can have a good life." They have food, clothing, housing, and pay. If they are sick, the doctors will be taken care of when they die. Those who have children can be sent to our schools to study and read for free. Do you think they have any reason to continue fighting? As long as they can have Live a good and stable life, who would want to call back and forth when nothing happens?"

Shopkeeper Li said in astonishment: "How can the militia be treated like this? The cost of raising a militia is probably much higher than that of the Yazhou garrison!"

Tao Donglai just smiled, but did not respond to the question from Shopkeeper Li.The cost of raising a professional army is indeed very high, because the hundred or so people can hardly create any value, on the contrary, they have to spend a lot on them every day.If compared with those guard soldiers in Yazhou, the treatment of this Haihan militia is simply heaven.However, Tao Donglai does not intend to reveal too much specific information about this team to outsiders. In any country at any time, the maintenance cost of an army must be a military secret. Naturally, the militia formed by the Executive Committee No exception.

The goods and cash on the ship were counted and unloaded by relevant personnel on both sides, and several leading figures came to the No. [-] base under the leadership of Tao Donglai.This is not only the land base camp of the crossing people in Shengli Port, but also an "image project" that the executive committee intends to build to show their strength to the outside world. Guests who come to Shengli Port for the first time must be taken here for a tour .

Base No. [-] now covers an area of ​​about forty acres. The entire base is pentagonal in shape, with a protruding diamond-shaped fortification on each corner, and a stone blockhouse with a strong structure.These five blockhouses are more than two feet high, and there are several gun holes for looking out and shooting on the outer walls, so that they can shoot without dead ends on all defensive surfaces.

The wall at the base is about one foot high, seven feet thick, and more than one mile in circumference.Such a large project can be completed in just over two months. Naturally, it is impossible for this wall to be entirely made of stones. Except for the prismatic blockhouses protruding from the five corners, the other parts of the wall are all Pile the wall with wood, and tamp the soil in between.In recent weeks, the traversing people who have freed up their hands have added two sections of higher fortifications to the existing wall, so that a wall forms three sections of defense positions, high, middle and low, so that the defenders using firearms can form a simple structure. The three-dimensional firepower net.The military and police department plans to wait until the output of cement increases in the future, and then find a way to rebuild a stronger concrete wall.

Under the wall, there is also a trench surrounding the entire No. [-] base.This miniature moat is about six feet wide and only five feet deep. Water from the Tiandu River is introduced from the upper reaches to fill the moat.There are also two water valves in the trench, one up and one down, and wooden sluices can be used to adjust the water level in the trench. It is mainly used to deal with the skyrocketing water level of the Tiandu River that may occur during the rainy season.Although the size of this trench is small and its actual protective effect is limited, the Military and Police Department believes that none of the current South China Sea military forces has the ability to break through the fire blockade and attack the position of the trench to fill the river.

There are two entrances and exits on the north and south sides of the No. [-] base. During wartime, the one-foot-thick wooden suspension bridge can be retracted to strengthen the defense.The entire No. [-] base looks like a small castle with complete fortifications from the outside. The military and police department even plans to cast a few small cannons in the bunkers on the wall in the next step, and directly transform these bunkers into lethal weapons. The more powerful devil cannon tower.

The two business shopkeepers were naturally taken aback when they saw this strange fort that looked like a donkey but not a horse.Although they don't understand military affairs at all, and they can't see the power of this strange wall and stone fort, it is not difficult to estimate how much manpower and material resources it will take to build such a fort.Just the six-foot-wide water storage ditch under the wall of the village requires hundreds of people to work for several months to complete.Of course, they didn't know that the Haihan people had their own opportunistic means. They used excavators dozens of times more efficient than manual labor to build this trench.

(End of this chapter)