Lin Gao Qiming

Chapter 249 Changhua Arrives

He didn't hide his secrets at the moment, and taught him how to use the sextant.The sextant is more convenient and accurate to use.Li Huamei has been sailing all year round, and she couldn't put it down immediately after trying it out.

"It's really hard to find such a useful thing." When she returned the sextant to Chen Haiyang, she was still a little reluctant, "Can you sell it to me?"

"In the future." Chen Haiyang said, "We still have difficulties in making it ourselves."

"That lens is difficult to make?"

"That's right." Chen Haiyang said while instructing the students to use them one by one, "It's not easy to grind the lens by yourself."

Li Huamei sighed: "Oh, you have so many good things, but you just don't want to sell them."

"Pay attention to where the light spot falls, and hold it steady. That's right!" Chen Haiyang didn't answer.What can be sold depends on the executive committee.

"I feel." Li Huamei approached Chen Haiyang and said, "You all know everything, but you just don't want to talk about it!" The distance between the two of them was so close that he could feel the woman's breath blowing on the roots of his hair, and his skin shuddered.The original goodwill cooled down again.He didn't answer, but shouted loudly at the students:

"Start measuring the speed!"

When the trainees heard the instructions, they formed a group of three, and one person threw a small wooden board out of the river. One side of the wooden board was covered with lead so that it could stand upright after falling into the water.Another student holds a retractable scroll, which is connected to a wooden board with a string.The student who threw the board watched the board falling into the water, and when the small board emerged from the vortex at the tail, he immediately shouted:

"start!"

The student holding the scroll began to let go of the string, the scroll rotated rapidly, and the string was continuously released.At the same time, the student holding the hourglass immediately turned his hand over, and the fine sand began to flow down quickly.

"Stop!" As the sand in the hourglass leaked out, the timekeeper shouted the command to stop.The operator jammed the reel.

"3 knots!" The lineman reported according to the marking on the line, "the current sailing speed is 3 knots."

Chen Haiyang observed whether their movements were in line with the norms, and he nodded: "Okay, next group!"

Li Huamei looked at them and said, "Your navigation skills must have been learned from the British."

"why?"

"This method is used only by English sailors."

The speed of the ship is 3 knots, which is a normal speed in sailing. Although it is a bit slow, it is also safe.The Chinese navigation guides and charts in their hands were drawn based on the data of the 20th century, and the situation along the coast of Hainan in this time and space is still blank.

The sun gradually slanted to the west, the wind began to increase, and the waves also increased. The measured speed has reached 5 knots.Lin Chuanqing worriedly grabbed the walkie-talkie hanging around his neck and asked:

"Look out, look out, how's the sea going?"

"Everything is fine," returned Yellow Claw, who was on the lookout at the top of the mast.Looking from the top of the mast, the angle of view is unusually wide, and of course the swing is also particularly violent.From the top of the mast, you can see that there are many ships nearby, most of which are fishing boats, and occasionally a few large ships are sailing with full sails.It always seemed all right.

"How is it? Can the higher-ups take it?"

"It's okay, the scenery up there is good, the air is good, haha." Huang Zawzhao was very adaptable.

"How are the clouds?"

"Altocumulus, moving from east to west."

This means that the weather is normal and there will be no wind and rain.

"Ruan Xiaowu, climb up and watch with Instructor Huang!"

The child named Ruan Xiaowu seemed a little scared, so he went out, grabbed the rope net on the mast, and climbed up.

The first day passed smoothly. Under the breeze, the fleet traveled about 3 nautical miles at a speed of 40 knots per hour. Since it was sailing along the coast, there was a danger of running aground at night. At nearly 18:19, Lin Chuanqing I found a deserted harbor on the shore for the night.Calculated the local latitude and longitude: 44°0'109"N, 9°0'[-]"E.After checking the map, this is where Yangpu Port in Danzhou is located.

Yangpu is one of the best deep-water ports in western Hainan, and it looks empty and barren in this time and space.The harbor is very large, with some sandbars criss-crossing it. From a distance, you can see several sailboats moored on the shore, and a small fishing village.

Put down a rowboat and go down to measure the water depth, after confirming the channel and berthing position.The Zhenhai put down the propellers, and dragged the Hangzhou behind it cautiously towards the harbor at a low speed.

Li Huamei stood on the stern tower, looking at the tumbling water below: It turned out that this was the reason why they didn't load too many cannons.It seems that it is not only those iron ships that can sail without sails and oars, wooden ships can also.That's something they've got on board to do it.And this thing should be in a cabin under my feet...

Wang Luobin decided to stay in Yangpu for a day or two. Yangpu is the most valuable deep-water port in the west of Hainan Island.It is necessary to collect more information about the port that the future crossing regime will focus on developing.Immediately ordered the commando to go ashore, control the situation, and replenish some food and water by the way.

Looking through the binoculars, the coast of Yangpu was very barren, but there was a fishing village on the shore. The special investigation team led the marines to land in rowboats and immediately rushed into the village.There are only a dozen or so families in the whole village, and more than half of them have already run away——When they saw a strange boat entering the port, the local fishermen all ran away, leaving only a few old and weak. Seeing them coming, they bowed one by one of.Fortunately, they still spoke the Lingao dialect. Only through the local recruited sailors did they know that they were begging not to burn the house and seize the boat, but just take the fish if they wanted it.

Xiong Buyou from the Foreign Affairs Department comforted them, saying that he was just going ashore to replenish some water and food, and that he would pay for everything he took.They also gave some gifts such as sewing needles and sugar to appease the old people.The rowboats here have transported people ashore one after another: the travelers who have been tossing around for a day will feel a little better now, the feeling of seasickness has passed, and their appetite has recovered.They all made up their minds to go ashore for a walk.Others proposed to go ashore to hunt and eat meat.Then see if there are fish, vegetables and eggs in the village that can be purchased.Wang Luobin thought it would be a day or two to delay in Yangpu anyway, so he might as well let everyone go ashore.

After the marines went ashore, they quickly took control of the whole village, and those who had already escaped did not care about him.A temporary residence was quickly built with tents and barbed wire next to the fishing village, and an observation post was sent to the nearby high ground, which can be regarded as a temporary settlement.

Amateur hunters have gone on a frustrating hunt ashore.The local area can be said to have three abundances: wasteland, stones, and cacti. Under these three abundances, basically there is not even a hare to hunt, and of course there are no wild vegetables.Turned for a long time and basically returned empty-handed.

That night, Chen Haiyang had to continue to discuss astronomical measurement techniques with Li Huamei in the middle of the night.She demonstrated how to use the quadrant on the spot, and the students were shocked by the huge gap between the data obtained by the quadrant and the sextant.Although the error rate is less than 5%, less than 0.1 degrees, but the converted length is 9 kilometers.On the vast sea, this error is enough to cause many fatal mistakes.No wonder early navigators preferred to sail along the coast—after all, the landmarks of the coast are more accurately measured.

The next day, the exploration team surveyed a part of the harbor, and the Navy measured the water depth and selected several berths.The surrounding natural environment survey concluded that the local area is very barren, basically there are no large natural rivers, and it is difficult to drink water.There is little cultivated land and even fewer trees.

"If the problem of industrial water use can be solved, it will be a good place for industrial development. It will not take up farmland at all and will not damage the environment." Wang Luobin sighed after the field investigation, "The environment is bad enough."

Early in the morning of the third day, the fleet continued to set off.After several days of stop-and-go inspections, finally at noon on the fifth day, the boat arrived at the mouth of the Changhua River.Here the Changhua River divides into the north and the south, and flows into the sea. The mouth of the south river is called Sanjiagang, and the north river goes around the county town to the south and flows into the sea. It is called Wuni port, which is closer to the county town.It is the main port of Changhua County.

However, from Lin Chuanqing's telescope, it was obvious that Wuni Port in Beijiang was not suitable for berthing. There was a large area of ​​silt. Except for some small fishing boats, there was no sign of a ship docking.

Li Huamei is quite familiar with the hydrological conditions here: "Let's rely on the three ports. Ships worth 200 yuan in Wuni Port will run aground."

So the fleet stopped at Sanjia Port on the Nanjiang River. When the boat sailed into the harbor, it saw several villages on the shore, and some ruined buildings.It looks like it used to be an army garrison, but it is now deserted.

Spring is the dry season, and the flow of the Changhua River is very small. The rivers are dry and dry, exposing the white fine sand and withered aquatic plants on the riverbed.The Changhua River is a plain on the north bank, and most of the vegetation along the river has been severely destroyed, forming a dry tropical grassland environment similar to the African grassland. There are sand dunes in many places, which go far into the interior.

At the end of the plain is a group of continuous hills, the vegetation is still dense, and the visual height is about 200-400 meters.The south bank of the Changhua River is also a plain, with paddy fields and a city indistinct - it should be the Changhua County of Daming.

"Where is the quartz sand mine in Haiwei Town that President Wen mentioned?" Bai Guoshi asked.The quartz placer in Haiwei Town is the key target of this exploration. The local quartz ore has a silicon dioxide content of 99.8%, iron content of 0.1%, less impurities, and uniform particle size. It is rare in the country and has a huge reserve.

"Isn't that right?" Wang Luobin pointed to the snow-white sand on the beach in the distance.

"Where's Haiwei Town? There should be a town—"

"It's 1629 now."

Wang Luobin ordered the boat to be put down, and several members of the exploration team drove the sampan to row towards the beach. After a while, they got some rattan baskets of sand from the beach and came back. Wang Luobin squeezed some in his hand and looked at it carefully. The sand in the center of the palm is as white as snow - what a good thing!Of course he knows the goods, such good quartz sand is too wasteful to use for wine bottles and mirrors.It can also be used as raw materials for circuit fuses and display screens.

(End of this chapter)