Lin Gao Qiming

Chapter 936
"Didn't the plan say that the refugee bases are in Jeju and Taiwan?" Liu San interrupted and asked.As a member of the Senate, he had roughly read the entire plan on the internal BBS.Before boarding the ship, I read the mission briefing of Haitian's voyage.

Zhao Yingong explained: The refugee bases are not fake in Jeju and Taiwan, but a forward base is also needed in Shandong as a transfer point for collecting refugees and a base for work teams.

Now they have opened up Sun Yuanhua's relationship through the Hangzhou Catholic Church. As long as they have his support, it is not a problem to set up a village in the name of reclamation in the Deng-Lai area as a base.

The scale of the base does not need to be very large - if the scale is too large, it will involve the issue of having to equip the remaining troops, and the investment in construction will further squeeze the resources of the planning institute for the engine plan.Therefore, the scale of this base should not be large, and it must be based on the use of Shandong's local resources: including population and building materials.

After the engine operation is over, the Shandong base can be retained or revoked depending on the situation. Zhao Yingong's tendency is to try to keep it as a tentacles for the future Shandong strategy.

"If possible, there is nothing wrong with arranging one or two veterans to be powerful landlords in Shandong." Zhao Yingong said, "Whether it is agriculture, fishery or business along the coast of Shandong, they can make a difference."

While Zhao Yingong was chatting with Li Ziping and others in the poop, other members of the mission on the bow deck were worried.Most of their reluctance to get on the "black-smoky boat" is entirely due to helplessness.Several merchants shrunk their heads and bowed their heads and sat on the bench temporarily prepared for them, thinking in their hearts how much money they would have to pay for this "send to the gods".The tea and snacks on the folding table did not move a sip.Only Zhao Tong was calm and composed - as Zhao Yingong's bodyguard, he certainly knew that the master had an unusual relationship with the Australian.

Gao Xuan carefully sat on the stool, looked at the tea and snacks on the table, and swallowed a mouthful of foam.The fact that Gao Xuan, a poor scholar, got on the ship was purely a business—he came here as an imposter, not because he admired Australian culture and hoped to get in close contact with it, but because a clerk in the mission was unwilling to take the risk to face it. What an "Australian" spent four taels of silver to get him on board.

Gao Xuan was poor and short-sighted, and the situation that his family was about to be unraveled made him have to accept the four taels of silver.Fortunately, things are not troublesome, nothing more than advancing and retreating with the class.

"Everything is according to Master Zhao's orders." The clerk who spent money ordered him, "You can go on your own after getting off the boat, and you don't need to worry about the rest."

When they got on the boat, they saw Master Zhao being taken into the cabin alone, and they were left here, with several sailors taking care of them.He looks friendly and can speak Chinese.It's just that on this deck, there are soldiers holding bird guns everywhere, all of them are wearing blue and white jackets, holding bird guns with murderous looks, and they look like they are facing a big enemy.Everyone was up and down, and there was no interest in drinking tea and snacks.

But Gao Xuan hasn't eaten anything since the morning—the so-called breakfast is made by adding a little water to the buckwheat rice at the bottom of the pot.His family has been out of rice for several days, and it is only by relying on the help of his father-in-law and brother-in-law to buy some miscellaneous grains that he can barely make it through.Now I see a lot of snacks in front of me—in fact, they are just a few kinds of colorful biscuits brought on board specially for the elders: including very rare cream cookies, waffles, jackfruit biscuits and salty soda biscuits.

The drink that goes with it is kombucha fungus—not to mention that kvass has gas, and it is still in the process of fermentation, so it is not suitable for long-term storage and transportation on board.

Finally, he couldn't help but picked up a piece of long white pastry - it looked like pastry.He took a bite, and the sweet and greasy taste spread out in his mouth immediately, but when he just wanted to taste it carefully, the biscuit disappeared without a trace in his mouth.

This strange feeling immediately stimulated his stomach, and the empty stomach immediately made a loud protest to him, so all kinds of biscuits fell into his stomach quickly one after another. Seeing everyone's lack of appetite, physical needs finally overcame spiritual needs, honestly and unceremoniously started to eat, and swallowed all kinds of biscuits on the table like a whirlwind.Another gulp down two cups of kombucha.

"This gentleman has a good appetite." Sitting opposite him was a Huizhou businessman, the head of the local tea guild.Tea is a big business in Hangzhou. Since the Tea Association has money, it is inevitable that a lot of expenses will fall on them.The cost of sending the ship away quickly fell on the tea guild as a matter of course this time.Seeing the imposter on the opposite side eat and drink so vigorously, without worrying at all, the president was very unhappy, and couldn't help but secretly cursed: "Wine bag and rice bag!"

Gao Xuan's face turned red, and his mouth was still stiff: "I'm going to get on this boat soon, why don't I just let them arrange me? Instead of sitting and worrying, it's better to eat and drink freely!"

The leader sneered and stopped talking.Of course, he is no match for the scholars who play tricks, but he looks down on these "sour boys" who can't be officials.He looked at the deck—this deck is really strange: there are ropes, sails and all kinds of utensils that he doesn't recognize everywhere.The sailors performed their own responsibilities, they did not walk around indiscriminately, and no one chatted casually, appearing very strict.

"What a gangster." Thinking of this, the leader couldn't help breaking out in a cold sweat—wonder if they knew he was the owner of the tea house, would they detain him for ransom?

Gao Xuan had a full stomach, but his mood relaxed. He is a poor scholar, penniless, without many worries, but curiously observed the Haitian.He was particularly interested in the big black, thick and tall chimney on the pedestal in the middle of the deck, which was emitting black smoke almost all the time, and from time to time, some white water vapor would also be emitted.

There has been a lot of discussion in the city these days about this black chimney. Some people say that it is a sorcery of the Australians. The chimney is used by them to worship the gods. The stove is constantly burning, and the ship is driven by firepower-the latter statement has been ridiculed by many people: How can a big stove be installed on this big wooden boat to burn every day without burning the hull?As for burning fire and sailing a boat, it is unheard of.Some people also speculate that there are livestock driving the water wheel below the deck...

Gao Xuan was also very curious, but now even if he was only ten feet away from the huge chimney, he couldn't see why.But there is one thing he is sure of. The smoke that comes out of the chimney is definitely not "overseas exotic" smoke, but out-and-out soot, and there is indeed a big stove under the chimney.

He really wanted to get closer and take a closer look, but he didn't dare.In case there is some "military powerhouse" there, I'm afraid I will lose my head if I get close.So his eyes turned to the cannon that was close at hand.

The 48-pound cannon on the bow deck was not covered with a gun cover, and the precision cast iron gun body was aimed straight at the direction of Hangzhou City, and the gun body was scrubbed shiny.Gao Xuan noticed that the cannon was installed on a peculiar gun carriage, there were no wheels under the gun carriage, but there were two black iron rails, which were shiny from friction.On the ship's side next to the gun body, a row of round black shells is stuck in a long slot.everything seems to be in order
Gao Xuan, like all Confucian scholars in the late Ming Dynasty, had a strong interest in "gewu", "firearms" and "military science"-this was related to the social and historical background at that time.The continuous defeat in the military made the court have great expectations for the development and introduction of several new weapons to reverse the situation of the war.At that time, there was not only an upsurge in the development of firearms on paper, but also many so-called new tactics, such as "conquering the enemy with a javelin" and "destroying the enemy with a sap"... There are all kinds of them.

Like all similar "military enthusiasts" of the Ming Dynasty, he has high vision and low power, without any skills and experience, and it is purely empty talk for granted.In the Wanbi Bookstore, he once wanted to find some Australian books on the art of war to make a surprise victory.But there are no such books in the bookstore.Now that this "excellent" Australian cannon is right under your nose, of course you have to take a closer look.

Suddenly someone yelled: "Direction 105, there is an enemy situation!" Following this yell, several sailors standing beside the cannon ran up to their positions, turned the cannon, and moved towards the warning direction reported by the lookout post.

Compared with the size of the cannon, Gao Xuan was more surprised by its rapid rotation direction—four or five gunners moved the cannon with ease, and it could be seen that there was almost no effort, and there was no unpleasant creaking sound, which surprised the people present. Everyone was surprised.

Gao Xuan knows that it is not difficult to turn an object - wooden doors, wheels, stone mills... It is nothing more than installing a circular axis.But the thing on it is too heavy, it is not so easy to turn it, and it may even not turn at all.

What is the mystery under the Australian cannon?Gao Xuan stared intently at the pedestal under the cannon, hoping to see some clues - when it was written in a book, it might be valued by a certain big boss and recruit him into the scene.With the help of a big boss, it’s not a problem to find someone in the middle. After several years, you can still be an official and a half-job, which makes your father-in-law look up to you, and makes your brother-in-law kneel down in front of him to say hello. There is no respectful attitude towards him at all, and the words are very rude!
The sailors didn't know what Gao Xiucai was planning, but they just nervously watched the river bank where the threat was.After a while, the warning was lifted.The three bullock carts seen by the lookout post were not hauling cannons, but the "rewards" that the Hangzhou government was about to send to the ship.

(End of this chapter)