Siheyuan: I eat melons while doing scientific research

Chapter 1298 South of the Mountains, South of the Sea (4k)

In the Weinan area, near the transition zone between the mountains and the plains below, several of our soldiers are driving towards the mission location.

There were three people in the SUV, and the trunk and more than half of the second row were filled with boxes.

Although the weather was alright, the roads were still a bit muddy.

The rainy season has arrived in Weinan, and the rainfall is quite heavy. That's how it is in this area. The rainy season brings strong bursts of rainfall. It's fortunate that this is in Weinan. If we go further south, to the world's rainiest place, such as the Republic of Assam, then the rain will be truly torrential.

It was already close to June, and the weather was hot and humid. If we got off the bus and walked, the first thing we would have to deal with was the huge leeches.

The only thing that made things a little less unbearable for the comrades was that the rain here had a peculiar characteristic: it tended to fall at night, with relatively little rainfall during the day.

The off-road vehicle they were driving was transported directly from the Beijing Automotive Factory. To the delight of the comrades, the vehicle actually had air conditioning!
The 2.0L 463 engine seemed a bit overpowered for that era. The comrades at Beijing Automotive Plant installed a compressor air conditioner on the vehicle, hoping to make the soldiers a little more comfortable. Although the thin soft top and the original design of this off-road vehicle, which leaked air everywhere, reduced the effectiveness of the air conditioner, it was better to have it than not.

As the vehicle bumped along, the front wheel lurched into a mud pit with a loud thud, and a young soldier was thrown from his seat, his head hitting the roof.

The good news is that it was a soft tent, and aside from being startled, it was unharmed.

"Squad leader, what's wrong?" The young soldier, scratching his head, asked the squad leader who was driving.

The squad leader reached out and turned off the air conditioner: "It's nothing, I just fell into a pit. Hang in there, the air conditioner makes it stronger."

Actually, it wouldn't have mattered if he hadn't said anything. The vehicles before had no air conditioning, and they were even worse and bumpier, but the soldiers still managed. This wasn't considered hardship. In more difficult times, they had to walk to more than 90% of the missions.

"Should we get down and push the cart?" the soldiers asked.

Getting stuck in a slippery area and having to get out and push the car is a common occurrence.

"No need, this car is new, and I've heard it has a lot of new features. Let me try it out first." The squad leader had plenty of confidence in the car's tires. Actually, if it's an off-road vehicle and you can only choose one thing to modify, an experienced driver's first choice is to change the tires—HT to AT, AT to MT...

After all, almost all off-road capabilities rely on tire grip to be effective.

The squad leader engaged 4WD, pressed two buttons, and stepped on the accelerator.

The front and rear rigid connections are equivalent to the center lock, and the two buttons are for front and rear locks. This is the state of the off-road vehicle, which is what off-road veterans will talk about with great relish decades later: the front and rear three locks.

As it turns out, anything that's talked about must have some merit; the car barely struggled and steadily climbed out of the mud pit.

"Hey, it really is a new type of vehicle, it's awesome!" The squad leader chuckled, disengaging the four-wheel drive and front and rear locks, and turning the air conditioning back on.

The soldiers were also very happy. Based on past experience, the mud kicked up by the tires when pushing the cart would get all over their faces and heads, but this time they had managed to avoid it.

The vehicle continued on the newly paved road. A soldier asked, "Squad leader, is this mission a combat mission? Are there weapons and ammunition in the back of the vehicle?"

He had only been stationed in Weinan for a short time. Although there had been a fierce but one-sided war here, he had missed it. So, holding a steel gun, he was very much looking forward to it.

Listening to his words, the squad leader focused intently on the road ahead, laughing as he drove: "No, no, inside are pre-cut stencils for exam papers and a mimeograph machine."

"Huh? What does this have to do with us?" Going to school is normal, but escorting these things is something the young soldier doesn't understand.

"In the south, they lack textbooks and teaching materials for education. They use our materials for many subjects, but their 'teachers' are not very experienced yet and can't create exam papers. These things are sent to them so that the children can take their exams. It's almost June, so consider this a Children's Day gift for the children in the south, hahaha." The class monitor said while laughing.

"Oh, I see. Then why not just print them out and send them over?" The young soldier seemed to understand, but he was still very proud to be able to spread knowledge. This is a common mindset among traditional Chinese people.

"Just sending wax paper, a mimeograph machine, and ink is enough. That way, we don't need to transport too much stuff. If it were printed exam papers, just for one school, our truck wouldn't be able to hold them all. They have the paper; what they lack is the content of the exam papers, not just the few sheets of paper. Don't underestimate this truck; it's responsible for... responsible for... transporting exam papers for an entire county. And it's not just us; there are other comrades in other sections who are responsible for the same task."

The squad leader didn't quite understand the terms used to describe the various administrative divisions in the south, and considering that the younger soldiers might understand even less, he simply used "county" as an analogy.

The young soldier understood, and while happy, he felt a little regretful: "What a pity! If it were a pre-printed test paper, I would have liked to copy one and do it myself, hahaha."

The class monitor skillfully turned a corner and smiled: "Why are you doing this test? This is an elementary or middle school test. You graduated from middle school, it's not worth it."

The soldiers on the vehicle laughed. They had seen people who liked training, but they rarely liked doing tests.

The squad leader laughed as he pulled the car over to the side of the road where other vehicles could pass.

"Hey, squad leader, why aren't you driving on the right? You're on the left!" a soldier asked.

The squad leader pointed to a CA10 heavy truck that was driving up ahead and said, "This truck is carrying grain that was traded over there. It's a heavy truck, so let them go over there for safety. Our trucks are light, so it's okay if we stay on the side. If a heavy truck stays too close to the side, it might crush the land bridge and the truck will fall off."

This kind of operation is common when driving in mountainous areas, and the squad leader is also teaching the soldiers some routines and experiences for carrying out missions here.

Although this road isn't perfect, it's much easier to bring grain from the south than to transport it over 5000 meters of mountains from the snowy plateau, which greatly alleviates our logistical burden.

Currently, Weinan's ammunition consumption is not large, except for daily training. However, food is consumed every day, and we cannot increase the burden on the local people. Therefore, buying directly from the south is the most cost-effective way.

After listening to their squad leader's words, the soldiers nodded in understanding, "We've learned it, we've learned it."

Having a car is so convenient; the car wound its way down the road, and in two hours we reached the lowlands. In the distance, we could see a group of people waiting opposite a checkpoint.

Although there was only a simple line drawn on the ground with white paint, and only two or three soldiers were on duty at the post, the people on the other side were very cautious and dared not cross the line. However, when they saw our vehicle, their faces lit up with joy.

As the car pulled up to the white line, the man on the other side stretched out his slightly dark hands: "Comrades, we've been waiting for you!" His voice had a slight accent, but it was understandable.

The class monitor took out a document and smiled, "Sorry to keep you waiting. Here, this is the checklist. Take a look. If there are no problems, let's proceed with the formalities."

The document was passed over the white line; people couldn't just walk across it, but things could.

The person on the other end took the list, checked it carefully, and said with a happy expression, "No problem, these are all the items, these are all the items."

After he finished speaking, he and the squad leader completed the handover. The three people in the car then began to move the items south of the white line. The words on the boxes could be vaguely seen: mimeograph machine, mathematics, physics, Chinese, history and politics...

It's quite comprehensive.

They took the items one by one, carefully checked them against the list, placed them on a nearby animal-drawn cart, arranged them carefully, covered them with an oilcloth, and tied them up securely.

"Thank you so much, comrades. Goodbye..." The person on the other end thanked them again, said goodbye to the soldiers, and then turned to leave.

About a hundred meters from the checkpoint, these people took out their guns from the fuel tanker, slung them over their shoulders, and continued walking the way they had come. It was clear that they valued these items very much.

"Let's go back. We still need to help the villagers repair their houses this afternoon." The squad leader watched their backs, called to the soldiers to turn around and get into the car, then overtook another slow-moving heavy truck and headed towards the garrison.
-
On Peace Island, several officers on the opposite side of the island watched through binoculars as several ships busily worked at the entrance of the harbor.

"What do you mean by this? You come here and sink a ship, then you don't salvage it yourselves, you expect us to do it ourselves!" an officer said angrily.

"They, hmph, they have a lot of ideas. Have you noticed the recent news? I think they're deliberately trying to delay us!" another person said bluntly, saying whatever came to mind.

"You two, don't make such malicious assumptions about our friendly nation. This is just a normal shipwreck caused by rough seas, don't overthink it," the third person said, putting down his binoculars and frowning.

"What about the western and eastern fleets that were forced back by the other side? What would the situation be like now if they hadn't been forced back? Don't you have any idea? Americans, huh, I've always been inclined to assume the worst of Americans." The second man glanced at him sideways, showing no intention of holding back.

"Alright, alright, what you've said is already dangerous enough, don't say any more," the third person said helplessly. Judging from his expression, it was hard to say what he was really thinking.

"The most urgent task now is to quickly solve the problems of food, drink, and sanitation for these people on the island!" This was the second sentence the first person had spoken.

This is a real problem. For them, the people who were evacuated from various islands and reefs to avoid the typhoon can no longer go back!

It's not just that the harbor channel was blocked by the sunken Citibank ship, preventing people from evacuating temporarily. The reality is that even if the sunken ship is salvaged, it's impossible to return to the original location.

Although I didn't witness it firsthand, a large formation of dozens of aircraft flew past a few days ago and was detected by radar, which terrified the people on the island. Fortunately, the aircraft were just passing by and didn't even veer in our direction.

"Let's not worry about where they go for now. The problem now is, what will they eat!"

This problem is even more serious than the previous one. Simply put, there isn't enough food or water. The original supply plan for Peace Island didn't take into account that so many people would stay on this small coral island for so long. Moreover, they will have to stay here until things become clear, which poses a severe challenge to the island's supply system.

To make matters worse, the supply ships are unable to get in at all because the shipping lanes are blocked.

Although this kind of regular supply has limited significance in alleviating the material problems of so many people, it is better than nothing.

"Until the sunken ship is salvaged, we can only send small boats to transfer supplies from the supply ship for the time being."

"Let's just notify the US that if we can't salvage this ship within a day, we'll proceed with a demolition operation! Notify the frogman unit on the island to prepare!"

"Where are we going to get so much explosives? Guns and ammunition aren't suitable for this, are they? Everyone has their own area of ​​expertise." The island didn't even consider demolition operations, and they simply didn't prepare that much explosives.

The second of the three suddenly had a brilliant idea: "Why don't we ask the people on the other side to throw a bomb for us? I heard they're really good at throwing bombs."

"If you're fucking sick, go to the hospital and get it checked out..." the third person started cursing, but halfway through, he seemed to be inspired.

"However... we really need to communicate with them."

"What are you communicating about? Surrender?"

"Bullshit! You'll die from that mouth of yours sooner or later. Let's coordinate, our ship is coming to pick us up! At the same time, have the base bring explosives to blow up the sunken ship. I reckon we won't be able to reach the islands 70 kilometers to the north and 20 kilometers to the south anymore; our supply routes are completely cut off!! If we don't communicate with them, forget about what the evacuees will eat, we'll be eating barnacles ourselves!!"

"No problem, goose barnacles are quite delicious."

"I didn't tell you that!" The third person was so angry he was practically jumping up and down.

"Just kidding, I know you're in a hurry, but don't worry. I'm not worried about this at all. They'll definitely agree to this. They allow supplies to be resupplyed on islands so close to their coast, so it's no surprise here. Besides, we've been guarding this place for over a decade, so don't worry, they won't go after us." The second man sounded like a rough fellow, but a real rough fellow wouldn't be in this position.

"You know what, I reckon they found out or figured out through some channel that the Citibank was planning some underhanded tactics, which is why they came to investigate. Similar things have happened many times before, so why did it take them so long to come this time?"

"Alright, let's first inform our families of our thoughts, and then try to contact the other side. Remember, the order is absolutely crucial! Otherwise, the Secret Investigation Bureau will come after you sooner or later, you bastard!"

(End of this chapter)