1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 3975

Hundreds of ships enter and leave Sanya Port every day. Unless a well-known figure appears at the port, even though this huge southbound fleet has more than a hundred ships of various sizes, it does not attract much attention as they leave the port one after another.

After greeting Sun Zhen, the group of Annamese officers swarmed onto his ship, ostensibly to catch up. But everyone knew that these old lads, reunited after several years, were likely going to drink recklessly for days on end.

However, as long as it didn't delay the fleet's voyage, no one bothered with such trivial matters. Li Yuande and Chen Pingliao tacitly chose to ignore the dozens of jars of wine that the officers were loudly carrying onto the ship.

Both sides were aware that the support troops dispatched from the Northern Region would need to adapt to the environment and integrate with the special operations division after arriving there. The early contact between the senior officers of both sides would undoubtedly be beneficial for future cooperation.

Regarding this matter, Commander Sun, who seemed carefree, was actually quite meticulous and must have been aware of it.

Sun Zhen was entrusted with an important position as a division commander by Qian Tiandun, not only because of his military achievements in his early years. His warm greetings to his former comrades at the port were not entirely out of consideration for the past ties of serving under Qian Tiandun.

The various thoughts racing through Sun Zhen's mind were probably more numerous than those of all his former colleagues combined.

Of course, he should drink, but he also needed to handle the business properly. If he was going to make mistakes because of drinking, he probably wouldn't be able to gain Qian Tiandun's favor in the future.

Before setting off from Liaodong, Sun Zhen had thoroughly reviewed all the battle reports and related internal documents from the special operations division's southward advance.

While these materials are not incomplete, they are certainly less detailed than the firsthand accounts of the parties involved.

The information Li Yuande could provide was more focused on commerce and local customs, while his limited knowledge of military matters was clearly insufficient to meet Sun Zhen's needs.

So, receiving this group of Annamese officers returning from leave in Sanya was like a godsend for Sun Zhen. He could finally extract more specific information from these former colleagues.

For example, when the special forces division marched westward for thousands of miles, who was the most difficult enemy they encountered? What was the situation of the target area that Commander Qian intended to seize?
Li Yuande and Chen Pingliao did not board the ship. Since they had guessed Sun Zhen's purpose, it was better for them not to be present, so as not to affect Sun Zhen's performance.

Because he had waited a few extra days at Sanya Port, Li Yuande decided to speed up his journey south, canceling his plans to stop at Cam Ranh Port and Sing Tao Port in Annam, and heading directly to Phuket Port on the north side of the Strait of Malacca.

"Is it really necessary to rush like this?" Chen Pingliao didn't quite understand why Li Yuande wanted to change the original voyage plan.

Li Yuande explained, “Our ship has enough supplies to sail directly to Phuket. There are no cargoes to unload at the intermediate ports, so whether or not we dock there will not have a significant impact. Most importantly, the fleet has a scheduled round-trip time. If too much time is wasted on this voyage, the arrangements for the next voyage will also be affected.”

"The fleet traveling between Fubo Port and Sanya Port only makes four trips a year. Don't underestimate that; the schedule is actually very tight. We have too many ships, and if we need to stop at a port along the way, just getting in and out of the port takes up most of the day. Stopping at two fewer ports saves us six or seven days." "There are also some special cargoes loaded in Sanya that have time limits. If they are delivered late, Commander Qian and Division Commander Gaoqiao won't let me off the hook. Fines are a small matter; being scolded is a big deal! Please forgive me, Brother Chen. I'll take you to visit the scenery we missed along the way another day."

"No problem, no problem, I understand." Chen Pingliao nodded, indicating that he agreed with Li Yuande's explanation.

During the fleet's stopover at Sanya Port, he did indeed see many containers marked "Military Supplies" being hoisted onto the ship. As for what kind of special goods would have time limits, Chen Pingliao could actually guess a bit.

Several state-run food factories on Hainan Island have been supplying various canned goods to the military in the northern regions. Although these products have a much longer shelf life than fresh food, they often only last for a few months, or even just a few dozen days. It is indeed necessary to minimize transportation time to ensure their value.

As for whether it's worth spending huge sums of money to transport a few bites of food over long distances, for the soldiers stationed on the border, the greatest significance is being able to eat food and fruits from the south in the icy and snowy land.

The troops stationed in the north have always regarded this as a rare privilege, and the special operations divisions far away on the western front certainly feel the same way.

However, this means that Cam Ranh, known as the premier port of the Indochina Peninsula, and Sing Tao, known as the premier city of the Malay Peninsula, will not be seen this time.

Chen Pingliao suppressed this small regret, for his mission was far more important than traveling. He did indeed want to reach his destination as soon as possible and reunite with the Qian family.

Even though Li Yuande reduced the number of ports of call along the way, it still took nearly half a month to travel from Sanya to Phuket.

Phuket Port is naturally not comparable in size to those well-known major ports. The fleet of more than a hundred ships could not all dock at the pier. Some of the larger ships had to anchor close to the shore, giving the limited berths to smaller ships that were easier to dock.

After several days away from land, Chen Pingliao felt a little unsteady on his feet. Even during sea exercises, he rarely spent so much time at sea. Fortunately, the sea conditions were relatively good, the waves weren't too big, and he didn't suffer much hardship along the way.

As shown on the map, Phuket Port is located at a latitude roughly equivalent to 2,000 kilometers south of Sanya Port. The temperature and humidity here are significantly higher than in Sanya, and there is no chill in the air even as the year draws to a close.

Chen Pingliao quickly noticed that in addition to soldiers, there were also a considerable number of local people in Phuket Port, and it seemed that the recruitment and training of naturalized citizens was progressing quite well.

The garrison stationed in Phuket Port is an infantry battalion, and the battalion commander is also an old acquaintance of Sun Zhen. According to him, the local indigenous laborers here mainly come from neighboring countries such as Siam, Kedah, Pattani, and Aceh. Currently, about two thousand people have been naturalized as Haihan citizens, and with immigrants from China, the total number is around four thousand.

Plantations and farms near Phuket provide a large number of jobs with significantly higher pay than in neighboring countries. So, in addition to the people who have already become part of the Haihan community, there are at least three or four thousand indigenous people working in Phuket. Among them are also some who have moved to the island with their families and are waiting for the right time to apply for citizenship.