1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 116 Overseas Investigation ([-])

On the sea ahead, the outline of an island is gradually emerging, and this is a very important stop in this route—Fushuizhou Island.The expedition team was quite lucky. Although there were some twists and turns on the way, they finally arrived here before dark. They could go ashore by boat at night and sleep soundly.

After approaching Fushuizhou Island from the north, the two ships split into two routes, starting from the northern end of the island and heading south along the coastline of the island.According to the information held by the expedition team, the island looks triangular in shape from the air, narrow in the north and wide in the south, and the only coast that is convenient for ships to dock is located at the southern tip of the island.

The field investigation results of the two ships are basically consistent with the data. Except for a 200-meter-long arc-shaped beach at the southern end of this small island, the coasts facing the sea are all cliffs, and there is no place for ships to dock at all.From a military point of view, this is a good thing, because in this way, the defense pressure on the entire island is reduced a lot, and a simple defense line can be established at the southern end to prevent the invasion of foreign enemies.

Of course, it is unlikely that the Executive Committee will build large-scale fortifications on such an isolated island in the vast ocean. After all, in the era when there was no demarcation of sea boundaries, this place did not have much strategic value at all. The only reason is the need for a stop between Hon Kei Port and the west coast of Hainan Island.Unless the executive committee plans to take large-scale military action against Vietnam in the future, this small island may be designated as a military strategic point.

Seeing that the sky was getting dark, the expedition team did not immediately explore the island after stopping the ship and landed. Instead, they found a sheltered location on the coast and set up camp.According to previous observations on the boat, there were no residents on the island, so everyone slept very peacefully that night.

However, from the early hours of the morning, it began to rain in the sky, and then accompanied by strong winds, which caused some troubles to the original island exploration operation. boring morning.This area is in the rainy season from May to August every year, and the timing of the expedition team's visit is indeed a bit of a coincidence.

It wasn't until after two o'clock in the afternoon that the rain gradually became smaller and the sky slowly began to clear up.The expedition team seized the time and divided into three groups. One group stayed on the boat, and the other two groups traveled north along the east and west sides of the island. After meeting at the north end, they returned to the south end from the middle road to complete the exploration of the entire island.

Although the coastline around the island is dominated by cliffs, the terrain on the island is relatively flat. There is only a hill in the middle of the island that is less than 60 meters above sea level, which can be regarded as the commanding height of the entire island.The team in charge of searching the Eastern Front found a spring on a sloping field shortly after setting off. After a simple inspection by Dr. Morgan, it was determined that this spring was fresh water that could be used directly. This good news made everyone quite excited.The discovery of fresh water means that the sea transfer station opened here in the future will not need additional fresh water supplies, and the upper limit of the population that can be supplied on the island will also increase a lot.

The two search teams spent a full three hours searching the entire island, and found no trace of human habitation on the island, nor the existence of large carnivores.In fact, except for all kinds of seabirds, there are almost no other land animals.Wang Tom, who has been sailing at sea all year round, is also a half-seabird expert. Under his guidance, the team members got to know many kinds of seabirds such as white-bellied brown boobies, red-footed boobies, and seagulls.

The trees on the island are relatively dense, and most of them are typical island green forests formed by jatropha trees.The height of this kind of tree is about ten meters, and the diameter of the thickest trunk is more than half a meter.The trees tend to clump together to form very dense groves, which are the main habitat for the various boobies on the island.In addition, there are clusters of impenetrable shrubs, which are Pittosporum, commonly known as "claw tree".This tropical evergreen plant can grow well even on coral sand or sandy beaches, and its vitality is very strong.After the inspection, the team members of the Ministry of Agriculture believed that in the future, some relatively flat land can be reclaimed on a small scale on the island, and some tropical fruits and vegetables can be planted, which can also effectively relieve the pressure of food supply.

The biggest windfall besides fresh water is the guano resources on this small island.The dense woods make this uninhabited island a paradise for birds, and a large amount of guano has formed a layer of guano over the years. Under the high temperature and rainy environment, it is gradually dissolved by the organic acids produced by plants. The phosphorus in it slowly infiltrates, fills, and cements into the soil, and then changes into ornithophosphate, which is commonly known as guano phosphate rock.This guano phosphate rock is rich in nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium elements, which is an excellent comprehensive fertilizer for crops, and its effectiveness is comparable to that of Jinkela, which is famous far and wide in the future.According to Tian Yeyou's calculations, the guano phosphate rock reserves on this small island are at least over [-] tons, which already has the value of large-scale mining.

However, Xie Chun from the Ministry of Shipping believes that Tian Yeyou’s view may be difficult to realize in the short term: “This place is too far away from the base camp. It is better to transport guano back from here, and it is better to go directly to the East and West Islands of Sanya Bay or Yalong Bay. Excavation on a few small islands, so that the transportation distance is shorter and mining is more convenient.”

Tian Yeyou retorted unconvinced: "We can also mine the phosphate rock here and sell it to the Vietnamese as fertilizer."

Xie Chun tutted: "Brother, you are stupid! There are more than 3000 islands in Halong Bay. If we want to dig up bird droppings and sell them to the Vietnamese, we can just dig in Halong Bay. Why do we go to such a far place to bother! In my opinion, the only place where the guano on this island can be used is probably after we open mines in Shilu. There are millions of acres of coastal plains over there, and no amount of guano can go there. Filled in."

The fleet was originally scheduled to continue westward the next day after completing the island survey, but unexpectedly, a small accident occurred.The members of the mining exploration team stayed in the inland area for a long time and had no chance to eat fresh seafood. As a result, they ate too much in the past two days after departure, and they had diarrhea and couldn't stand up straight.As a result, the entire expedition team had to postpone their trip for a day, stopping to let these gluttonous ghosts recuperate.Morgan even used his precious strategic reserves for this, and gave them each a bag of glucose water to replenish the water lost by the body.

Out of the consideration of uniting the team members, the expedition team unanimously agreed not to mention this matter in the liaison with the base camp.Wang Tom just said that he had to stay on Fushuizhou Island for a day because of the weather. The executive committee did not suspect him, but told the expedition team to pay attention to safety and not to rush to complete the mission. Late.This small episode made the perpetrators headed by Tian Yeyou very embarrassed, and they all expressed that they would make up for this mistake in the future work.

After resting on Fushuizhou Island for a day, the two ships sailed westward in the early morning.It is only 60 nautical miles from Fushuizhou Island to Hongji Port. With the normal speed of two sailboats, it will take five or six hours to reach the destination if all goes well.

At noon, islands began to appear in the field of vision of the expedition team on the sea.An hour later, the density of islands on the sea began to rise rapidly.Most of these islands stand directly on the sea like peaks protruding from the sea, which is quite different from the appearance of the islands in the impression of ordinary people.There are many mountains and islands on the sea, dotted all over the sea, and they are quite spectacular in various poses and with different expressions. It is no wonder that this place was rated as a world natural heritage protection area in later generations.

Tian Yeyou, who has always been obsessed with this place, couldn't help muttering: "This place is very similar to Guilin. I should have taken my girlfriend to Guilin to satisfy my hunger..."

In terms of geographical structure, Halong Bay and Guilin do have something in common. Both of them present very significant karst landform features, except that one is on land and the other is on the sea.Almost all the members of the expedition team who came here for the first time were overwhelmed by the beautiful scenery here, and even the well-informed Wang Tom couldn't help saying to Morgan: "I think I have to revise my previous thinking. It may not necessarily be a bad thing to be stationed in this place."

The crew lowered the sails consciously, and sailed through this rare wonder of the islands at a slow speed, until it was getting dark, and the reluctant crew raised the sails and accelerated under the urging of old Morgan: "Sooner or later, this place will be Ours, we will have a lot of time to visit here slowly in the future, what we need now is to stop the ship and dock as soon as possible, no one can guarantee that we will not hit the rocks in this place after dark!"

June 1627, 6, the eighth day of the fifth month of the seventh year of the Ming Dynasty.Four days after setting off from Victory Port, the expedition team finally arrived at the destination of the trip without any risk, which is the location of Hon Gai Port in later generations of Vietnam.

From a military point of view, the location and terrain of Hongji Harbor are not very ideal. The harbor is narrow and short, wide on the outside and narrow on the inside, making it difficult for large ships to turn around in this harbor, let alone There is no defense depth to speak of.In terms of defense, the only natural terrain that can be used is the coastal hills near the entrance of the port. Just a few coastal defense guns are placed here, and the firepower is enough to cover the entrance and exit of the entire harbor.But in any case, this is not a suitable location for development as a commercial port or a military port. The cargo terminal seems to be its only reasonable use.And the thousands of large and small islands densely standing on the sea outside the harbor made the difficulty of sea defense here increase exponentially.

(End of this chapter)