1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 1020 Advance Team ([-])

For the traversers like Haihan, whether it is the extremely harsh natural environment or the uncivilized indigenous tribes who are unwilling to obey, these external resistances are not their main opponents.The greatest enemy of the rulers of Haihan is only one, and that is time. No matter how many black technologies beyond the times are in the hands of the traversers, they still cannot fight against the rapid passage of time.

Travelers who want to establish industrial civilization and a relatively stable political system in the East in their lifetime must seize every minute and every second to promote the rapid development of the historical process, whether it is drilling for oil or the subsequent birth of the internal combustion engine, Travelers are trying to realize these historical moments two centuries earlier, and compress the originally long development process during this period into the shortest possible time.

Even though the task of exploiting oil in Miaoli is facing many objective difficulties, since the executive committee has made up its mind to promote the implementation of this project at all costs, it means that the project leader Bai Kesi can mobilize all available resources during this period. resources to remove all obstacles that stand in the way of progress.

On April [-], the second day after the fleet arrived at Magong Port, Beks inspected the Penghu shipyard located in the military port.This shipyard currently does not have the ability to build large warships. Its main function is to provide daily maintenance for the military ships stationed in Penghu. By the way, it will build some fishing boats and cargo ships with less technical content. On the one hand, it will earn a little income. Subsidizing daily expenses, on the other hand, can also prevent shipwrights from neglecting their shipbuilding skills.Since the second half of last year, the shipbuilding tasks here have changed, mainly inland flat-bottomed barges, and there are [-] or [-] ships as soon as the order is received.Although the shipwrights did not know what the purpose of building so many barges was, it was clear that these ships would not be used locally in Penghu.

The Ship Management Office under the Maritime Department of the Ministry of Communications also regularly sends senior technicians from Sanya to give short-term technical training to craftsmen.At the end of last year, Sanya shipped four marine steam engines to Penghu, accompanied by specialized technicians, who went to the Penghu shipyard to teach craftsmen how to install and debug them.During the same period, cargo ships to and from Magong Port successively brought in a lot of clean coal produced in Annan, and thousands of tons have been stockpiled near the port so far.

Beks inspected the four traction barges that had been installed with steam engines. The level of craftsmanship has basically reached [-]% to [-]% of that of the Sanya Shipyard, so it should not be a big problem for daily use.However, considering that the place of use is not in Penghu, it is probably necessary to set up a technical service station responsible for maintenance near the mouth of Houlongxi in Miaoli.Fortunately, this time Beks' team also specially transferred several skilled technicians from the Sanya Shipyard and the Ministry of Industry, so there is no need to worry about the lack of personnel reserves at the Penghu Shipyard.

In the afternoon, Beks and Morgan inspected the Penghu garrison that was about to go to the Miaoli area with the oil exploration team to perform missions.Although the border of the Haihan-controlled area moved northward to Zhejiang, the current size of troops stationed in Penghu was small, but Yu Yao still managed to gather a reinforcement company for Beks to dispatch.As a result, the army that is about to go to Miaoli already has three companies, plus the navy that will be stationed on the coast of Miaoli at that time, and the militia among the staff of the exploration team, the armed forces under Beks are already enough to launch a small-scale war. It's war.

In addition, Yu Yao also selected about [-] laborers from the immigrant camp on Baisha Island in advance, and they will also set off with the exploration team at that time.Most of these workers are war refugees from the northern Jiaodong Peninsula and the Central Plains, and they are basically farmers.Of course, occasionally among the refugees, some people with better backgrounds and a cultural foundation were selected early on for other uses.

These refugees can work as long as they have food and housing, which can be said to be very cheap labor.After they assisted the exploration team to complete the initial infrastructure projects in Miaoli, the civil affairs department will resettle them on the spot so that these refugees can take root in the local area.If things go well, Miaoli will have a permanent population of three to four thousand in two or three years, and some of these new immigrants will become the first batch of oil workers in Haihan.

Counting the local troops and migrant workers from Penghu, the team that is about to head to Miaoli has more than 500 people.Such a large team needs to open up a place to stay in the local area, and it needs a lot of various materials.Almost all the living materials needed by the team are prepared in Fujian. In principle, at least they must be able to sustain the consumption of more than 1000 people for a month, and more than 30 tons of rice alone are prepared.According to Yu Yao's statistics, the first batch of daily necessities was about [-] tons, which was similar to the amount of military supplies.The most cargo is the working materials of the oil exploration team. There are quite a lot of heavy iron bumps. Among the fleets departing from Sanya, two-thirds of the cargo ships are loaded with various tools and equipment needed for production.

Yu Yao estimated that the size of the fleet going to Miaoli would be double that of the fleet coming from Sanya, so allocating ships and personnel at Magong Port was also a time-consuming and laborious task.Since Bai Kesi's team arrived in Penghu nearly ten days earlier than expected, the completion of all aspects of preparations has not yet reached [-]%, and it is estimated that it will take at least three or four days before they can leave.

The large army can't leave for the time being, but at least a small team can be dispatched ahead of time to plan the deployment of the advance base and prepare for follow-up follow-up.Morgan's suggestion was also accepted by Beks. On the morning of the [-]th, the advance team led by Morgan set off from Penghu to the north in two warships, a cargo ship and a supply ship.The fleet also towed a steam inland flat-bottomed boat and two barges by the way, planning to find a suitable time to go upstream along the Houlong River, and first determine the status of the channel.

From Magong Port in Penghu to the mouth of Houlongxi in Miaoli, the voyage is about [-] nautical miles. Due to the tow of several flat-bottomed boats and the poor sea conditions, the fleet led by Morgan can only sail slowly at a relatively low speed. Marching, it took two full days to reach the destination.

The estuary of Houlongxi is about a kilometer wide, and sea-going ships with a draft of four to five meters can sail in smoothly, but they can only move about in the waters of the estuary. It has been reduced to about two meters, and only inland flat-bottomed boats can pass.Moreover, the river beaches in some places upstream are extremely shallow, and blasting may be required to open up river channels to allow freight barges to pass smoothly.

When Yu Yao led a team to investigate last time, he could only measure the approximate water depth, but he was not fully sure whether the barge could be navigated.Moreover, in the rainy season recently, the flow of Houlongxi has also changed, so field surveys are necessary.This is also one of the reasons why Morgan insisted on sending a small team to explore the way first. Otherwise, when the fleet went upstream and found that they couldn't get through, it would be a big mistake.

Yu Yao provided Morgan with a map of the Houlongxi River Basin, as well as the place he chose to lead the team last time. Morgan did not spend too much effort, and followed the map to find this berth on the south bank of the estuary.

When Yu Yao came last time, he had someone build a simple trestle here to facilitate the docking of ships, but what made Morgan's heart sink was that the trestle had suffered obvious damage, at least two-thirds of the bridge deck was damaged. It disappeared, and the stakes standing in the water were crooked and out of shape.

Morgan was not in a hurry to let the big ship dock, but put down the small boat, and first sent two squads of soldiers ashore. First, to ensure the safety of the shore environment, and second, to confirm that the water depth at the berth would allow the big ship to dock.

The first thing Morgan did after he landed was to check the damage to the trestle.The fleet that will arrive later must have some port facilities to quickly unload materials on land. Although the construction of a temporary trestle is not a major project, it can save as much as possible. Building one more trestle will cost a lot of manpower and materials.Of course, the more important point is that Morgan must personally confirm the cause of the damage to the trestle.

If it was only caused by natural reasons, such as hurricanes or water impacts, etc., it would be acceptable, but the results of the inspection made Morgan unable to relax. It is an artificial effect.It seems that after Yu Yao's team left here, some people used violent means to destroy this trestle bridge.And according to Yu Yao's investigation, the only permanent residents in the vicinity are indigenous tribes who are deeply hostile to outsiders, and it is unlikely that other visitors will be too busy to destroy this wooden building. Simple trestle.

Morgan interpreted this behavior as a warning, meaning to tell outsiders not to come back here, because you have been listed as persona non grata.But this naive behavior naturally couldn't stop Haihan's determination to develop this place. After Morgan determined the cause of the damage, he ordered the accompanying engineers and carpenters to repair the trestle bridge as soon as possible.

Morgan's advance team has only two army troops with less than a hundred people, more than [-] logistics personnel, and more than ten technicians. The materials shipped with the fleet are basically living materials and building materials needed to build the camp. .With no trestles available, Morgan's team had to spend more time unloading.Coupled with the continuous light rain from the sky, the river bank was muddy, and the efficiency made Morgan feel dissatisfied but helpless.

About an hour after Morgan landed, the headquarters tent was finally erected on the river bank.But at this time, the sky was getting dark, and it seemed that there was no way to finish setting up the camp before dark, and most of the soldiers had to go back to the ship and make do with it overnight.

Considering that there might be aboriginal activities nearby, Morgan still cautiously set up a few hidden posts on the periphery, and set up a ring of defense around the camp with multiple sections of barbed wire.If someone wants to touch the camp at night, most of them will be blocked by barbed wire inlaid with sharp steel sheets.

Although it was in the wilderness and the conditions were relatively limited, the soldiers still ate hot food made by the cooking squad in the dark.For ordinary soldiers, food during wartime is much better than usual. At least there is a meat dish as a base for each meal, and with additional combat allowances, it is not particularly difficult during missions.The most important thing is that the Haihan army has always been invincible, and the soldiers will not have too much ideological pressure even during the execution of combat missions, so the atmosphere in the army will not be dull because of the armed conflicts that may be encountered in the future.

Morgan is one of the few single men who have not established a new family among the Haihan traversers. Several single partners who came here from North America at the beginning also have their own families and children, but Morgan has never met the one he thinks. the right person.Although his Chinese ability has been enough to communicate with people around him in the past few years, his personal aesthetics still prefers blonde Western girls, and he always feels less interested in the style of Eastern girls.During his stay in Sanya, someone also matched him as a matchmaker, but in the end Morgan still did not choose to start a family.

It is precisely because of this that Morgan devotes much more time and energy to work than others. While serving as a physician at Haihan No. [-] Hospital, he is also a lecturer at Sanya Medical College. Fang's sniper instructor.Over the past few years, he has trained more than a hundred snipers, and most of them are serving in various armies.Due to the special ability of snipers, they are the treasure of commanders no matter where they are. As long as they are used properly, it is also possible to use snipers to take the head of a general among thousands of troops.

Although the mission in Miaoli may be difficult for snipers to use seriously, Morgan still brought more than a dozen students he is leading now when he set off from Sanya this time as an ultra-long-range actual combat training course for them.The Ministry of National Defense did not express any objection to this. After all, there is only Morgan, an expert in the training of special arms such as snipers. His ideas are basically official opinions, and no one questioned the training that such training can obtain. Effect.

Among the secret sentinels Morgan sent out to lurk outside the camp were his students.As a qualified sniper, independent action, waiting on the spot, and monitoring targets are all basic skills. In the past, he trained in the base in Sanya, and it is rare to have the opportunity to come into contact with the natural environment like Miaoli. Morgan also wants to do his best. All training opportunities during the period were fully utilized.

Although Morgan is a high-ranking official, in this environment, the dinner is actually not a big one. It just has two more chicken legs and a glass of red wine than ordinary soldiers.The production of this kind of red wine brewed in Sanya is very small, and almost all of them are digested internally as special offerings and will not be sold on the market.Although drinking was banned in the army during the war, those rules were made for ordinary soldiers, and senior officials like Morgan were not restricted by them.

(End of this chapter)