Lu Ming

Chapter 637 Arrow

Zheng He Island, known as Palawan Island by later generations, has a long and narrow terrain.It lies obliquely in the South China Sea like a pole, with a length of 600 kilometers from east to west, but only 40 kilometers from north to south at its widest point.

The left and right ends of the pole on Zhenghe Island connect the Philippines and Brunei in later generations.

One of the key reasons why Dayan Kingdom chose Zhenghe Island to plant its flag this time is because there is a rich nickel-chromium mining area in the south of the island.

In later generations, the mines on Zhenghe Island shipped high, medium and low-grade nickel-iron ore, plus abundant chromite, and most of the products were exported to China.

The shipments here account for 16% of the annual shipments of nickel mines in the Philippines, and it is one of the three major nickel mining areas in the country.

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In the south of Zhenghe Island, there is an unnamed harbor at the end, where the development fleet is quietly moored.

On the deck of the Yuandou ship closest to the coast, a group of people used binoculars on tripods to observe the coast covered by tropical plants in turn.

Wang Bo, the commander of the pioneering army who was in charge of this landing, looked through the telescope with his front feet, and then leaned over and crawled on the table to turn over the map.

There are many types of maps.There are not only high-precision digital color maps of various scales brought by later generations, but also real-time topographic maps of the [-]th century that were measured and controlled by drone remote sensing when the Yuandou came to explore.

However, Wang Bo, who had been frowning after studying for a long time, still put forward an additional request: "It's quite different from our time. In this case, let's take a look around and see the situation."

Pan Mingzhong, the exploration team leader standing beside him, shrugged his shoulders indifferently when he heard the words: "Whatever, if Commander Wang says to go around, then go around."

Pan Mingzhong, the temporary captain of the Yuandou/captain of the exploration team, was the first generation of exploration team leader in the early days of Time Travel.In fact, two years ago, Lao Pan had "resigned his armor and returned to the field" and sat in an office as the Minister of the Environment in the Cabinet, holding a high position.

If it wasn't for the important task this time, which requires an experienced veteran to preside over it, he wouldn't leave the mountain temporarily and go to the distant South China Sea to resume his old business.

Wang Bo's request was very reasonable, but what Pan Mingzhong said just now, after all, he could hear a trace of displeasure.

The reason is a long story.

When the Yuan Dou came to the southern part of Zhenghe Island for detection, it had actually selected the most suitable location for setting up a landing point—it was in this unnamed bay where the fleet is now moored.

From a safety point of view, the promontory on both sides of this place goes deep into the coast, which can well block ocean storms and is a natural and excellent harbor.

From a production point of view, among the several large nickel-chromium mines on the island in later generations, one of them is inland not far from the bay. This is not counting some small deposits that cannot be found in the data, and may be nearby.

In addition, in the inland not far from the bay, there are several small valleys under the ridge.

These small valleys all agree with the requirements of the agricultural department: the rubber saplings at the beginning, the agricultural department hoped to be placed in a sheltered area.

Combining the above conditions, the Yuandou, which came to detect in advance, determined the unnamed bay as the best place to build a bridgehead.After meeting with the fleet, the Yuandou led the fleet to this place immediately.

It's a pity that after Commander Wang went to the field to observe it today, he finally decided to "go around and have a look".

This detour is tantamount to implicitly casting a vote of no confidence in the landing point chosen by Pan Mingzhong. This kind of approach must have made Lao Pan a little unhappy.

But Wang Bo is the person in charge of the landing, and the soldiers who will land in the future will also be his soldiers. The final decision on the landing point is still in Wang Bo's hands.

Moreover, even if it is a public scene, there is nothing wrong with Wang Bo's request: when you first arrive in a place, it is always right to see more.

So even though Lao Pan was a little slanderous, he immediately ordered the boiler of Yuandou to increase the pressure and turn around to go to sea.

The current position of the fleet is in the south of Zhenghe Island.The so-called "go around and have a look", of course, is not to go around the island, but to take the shortest road, sail along the southernmost tip of the main island, and go around the tail of the island to see the other side.

From this point of view, it took three days.

It was not until the evening of the third day that the Yuandou returned to the bay before departure.

This is impossible.Counting all kinds of fragmentary reefs, the number of large and small islands around Zheng He Island exceeds thousands.If it weren't for the steam power and advanced electronic equipment on the Yuandou, which was scurrying around Zheng He Island in the [-]th century, ordinary ships would definitely be shipwrecked.

After the Yuandou returned to its voyage, the large troops who had been waiting for a long time finally collectively lit a fire and left this quiet and beautiful nameless bay.

The landing point finally selected by Wang Bo is actually not far from the Unnamed Bay, just 10 kilometers further south.

This is also a bay, and its location is already close to the end of the island.

Now that the location is determined, this bay has a new name that has been booked in advance: Hongshi Bay.

The name Hongshiwan was established to commemorate the fifth traveler who "died in the line of duty" not long ago.

In other words, in the past seven years, in the dangerous and primitive seventeenth century, where there was a shortage of medical care and medicine, the total number of people who have traveled through all kinds of accidents and deaths due to diseases has so far been only 5 people, which is not a big miracle.

This point confirms a truth from the side: after becoming a master, diaosi starts to cherish his life and fear death every minute.

The name of the newly deceased time traveler was Zhang Hongshi.The reason why this gentleman died in the line of duty was that he laughed loudly at an internal reception two months ago and then suffered a myocardial infarction.

In view of this, when the Yuandou set off, it had already received instructions from above: the bay where the landing point is located will be reserved as Hongshi Bay.

Compared with the previously unnamed small bay, the freshly baked Hongshi Bay has only average wind protection conditions.Moreover, the location of this place is not very good, it is a little far from the mountains in the center of the big island.

Generally speaking, mineral deposits are generally near mountains.The landing point is farther away from the mountains, and it may cost more to build roads and other infrastructure in the future.In terms of security, more resources will be invested.

In this era of tropical island road construction, even if it is a mine road, it still needs to be filled with human life.Every extra meter of road repaired may cost an extra life.

In short, according to the existing information at hand, whether it is later generations or real-time information, the conditions of Hongshi Bay are not as good as the previous unnamed harbor.

However, there is a saying that is clear: one white covers all ugliness.

Even though Hongshiwan has various flaws, in Wang Bo's eyes, one unique characteristic overwhelms the rest: the platform.

Yes, on the coast of Hongshi Bay, there is a natural platform six or seven meters above the ground.

This terrace is in the shape of a trapezoid, with an area of ​​more than one mu of land at the top.The natural terraces are covered with tropical trees.It can be seen from some exposed stone piles that the platform is probably made of stone, and it may be the remnant of a certain section of the mountain system.

The natural vegetation camouflage did not escape Wang Bo's eyes.When he passed by the sea yesterday, he saw this terrace at a glance.

In Wang Bo's eyes, this is the ideal bridgehead base.As long as the vegetation above the ground is uncovered, a wall can be built.At that time, a fortress with a natural base of 5+ meters will have a defense capability that will explode.

In addition, the terrace is next to the sea.With this condition, when the port is built in the future, walls can be built on the periphery, and the core building can be brought within the firing range of the city head with the minimum cost.

As for other conditions, in Wang Bo's opinion, safety is the first priority at any time.Facing such a wild area, we can only talk about other things if we have a firm foothold first.

In the end, Wang Bo made a final decision and chose Hongshiwan platform as the first stop for landing.

As I said before, since my family does not have the final decision-making power, the rest of the traversers have no objection to Commander Wang's choice.Even if there was, everyone didn't show it on the surface.

Next, it's time for Mr. Wu to appear.

After the fleet repaired and prepared for a day, on November 1634, 11, when the morning light was about to rise, several small boats were put down in the coastal waters of Hongshi Bay.

Wu Meng, the leader of the new branch of the Pioneering Army, was still fully armed this time. He boarded the ship himself, led his brothers, and was the first to land on the beach, rushing to the beach of Zhenghe Island.

What Wu Sanye didn't know was that he accidentally made history again - he was also the one who took the first step abroad on the coast of Hongji, Vietnam.

Not the same as the coast of Vietnam.From the beach on the shore of Zhenghe Island, various bryophytes began to grow.Only 30 meters deep into the coast, the explorers encountered dense tropical forests.

All kinds of trees and vines with unknown names are arrogantly covering every corner, arrogant and abrupt, and outsiders don't even have a place to step down.

After going ashore for a preliminary inspection, Mr. Wu was also secretly dumbfounded by this tropical environment.

Based on his many years of experience in "survival in the wild", he quickly ordered: establish a position on the beach, and urgently dispatch construction personnel to "clear the shooting area".

For the side that has the advantage in long-range firepower, the shooting range is the most important thing.As soon as the third master came ashore, he was keenly aware that tropical forests were the most serious threat at present.

So, next, the small boats shuttling between the open seas quickly adjusted their supplies and brought in engineers wearing rattan hats and holding axes and saws.

These people have been working for Mr. Cao all year round, and many of them are criminals who have been reeducated through labor.Knowing that one's own life is worthless in this kind of place, coupled with the promise of "labor commutation", so all of them were brave. After landing, they went straight to the nearest forest to log, using the spirit of ants to eat elephants, and started bit by bit destroy ecology.

At the same time, those left behind on the beach also got standard wooden squares.These wooden squares are all sawn-off timber, and two people can build them.

Using these wood materials and cloth bags filled with sand on the spot, pioneer soldiers who had received training in advance could quickly build several hexagonal fortifications on the beach.

Over time, these fortifications can also be connected to each other and become a tactical support point.

The militarized landing procedure that seems to be facing a big enemy, in the eyes of some people in the fleet, is just taking off their pants and farting, without any practical significance.

However, later that day, the reality hit the optimists hard: After a scream, a group of construction workers panicked out of the dense forest.

When the third master rushed into the forest with his hands, he found the body of a construction worker - a short wooden arrow shaft was inserted into the forehead of this person, and it went straight into his forehead.

(End of this chapter)