Chapter 540 Continue south

When Ruan Jinggui returned to his residence, he did not immediately go back to the house to rest. He went to the study to take the supply list that Mu Xiabai gave him and read it over and over again seven or eight times to confirm the contents. Early the next morning, Ruan Jinggui

After leaving the door, he began to collect various supplies listed on the list for the fleet.

There are not many rare or particularly valuable items on this list. Most of them are ordinary supplies, such as food, medicine, ropes, sails, spare ship materials and other items that may be used when going to sea. The required quantity does not count.

Too much. Ruan Xinggui believes that the list of supplies issued by the military is not really intended to supply many things here, but to use this opportunity to verify the supply capacity of Da Nang to see what supplies may be in short supply.

situation.

Ruan Jinggui's expectation was very close to the truth. In order to prevent the inconvenience of replenishment on the way, the fleet had already brought sufficient supplies when it set off from Sanya. At most, it could find a place to replenish food and fresh water on the way.

.However, considering that the Annan militia army will be mobilized to go south in the future, Da Nang is probably the last large-scale supply point on the southward voyage. The military must first verify the supply capacity of this place.

Of course, the difficulty of preparing these supplies in Sanya is completely different from that of raising these supplies in Da Nang. Especially for marine supplies, Sanya can provide various spare parts produced by the original factory, while in Da Nang you have to do the same.

The drawings have been made now, one or two pieces is okay, but there are still many things that cannot be produced in large quantities in a short time due to local conditions.

While preparing supplies, Ruan Chinggui did not forget the separate order given to him by the Ministry of Security yesterday to recruit local sailors who were trustworthy and familiar with the sea conditions in the South China Sea. This matter would not have been possible if he were not familiar with the local people. Developed last year

Before Da Nang, the Annan court forcibly requisitioned 3,000 people from nearby areas and gave them to Hai Han as war rewards. There were indeed many sailors among them, but not many had been to Nanyang. After the city of Hoi An was destroyed the year before last, a large number of

The sailors and crew members all fled the area, and not many people stayed to continue living nearby. Only 23 out of 10 people had ever gone to the South China Sea, and even fewer of them were old fur seals who were familiar with the sea conditions in the South China Sea.

Yesterday, Ruan Jinggui gritted his teeth and said that he could find dozens of people. In fact, it was a bit exaggerated. In addition, the Ministry of Security also required that if they were trustworthy, they could move the whole family, which narrowed the scope of options a lot. Ruan Jinggui ran up and down.

After a busy day and interviewing more than a hundred people, only seven candidates were finally identified.

Before the fleet left port on December 18, various material preparations were finally completed under the supervision of Ruan Jinggui, but only thirteen qualified sailors were found. However, Tom Wang did not suffer from this.

And scolded him, but before leaving, he handed him a new supply list and asked him to prepare carefully in Da Nang. After Wang Tom and others boarded the ship, Ruan Jinggui carefully opened the list and read the contents.

It was the same as the supplies he had prepared in the past two days, but the quantity was significantly increased. Ruan Jinggui did not dare to neglect, and quickly took this list and went to the workshops and farms in Da Nang to urge his orders.

After the fleet left Da Nang, it went south along the coastline. It took three days to travel about 300 nautical miles and arrived at Cam Ranh Bay, the second stop of the trip.

Cam Ranh Bay is located in the southeastern part of the Indochina Peninsula. The bay is embraced by the two peninsulas of Chongkong Mountain and Fenghuang Mountain, forming two gourd-shaped inner and outer bays, which are more than ten kilometers deep inland. It is located on the important shipping route from Nanyang to the Far East.

It is also recognized as a strategic location in Indochina in later generations.

On the deck of the "Lightning", Wang Tom was introducing the situation of Cam Ranh Bay to representatives of various departments in this operation: "...the width of the outer harbor of Cam Ranh Bay is about 4,000 meters, and the water depth is about 30 meters.

The width is about 1,300 meters, and the average water depth is more than 10 meters. In addition, the harbor area of ​​the inner harbor exceeds 60 square kilometers. With the size of our current naval fleet, even if ten fleets are stationed here, it will not feel crowded."

Wang Tom got excited, raised his hand and pointed to the coast ahead: "Of course, this bay is very large. It is only used as a military base, so it is inevitably a waste. The harbor here can be fully utilized, and part of it is used as a military base."

The commercial port, and the southern area of ​​the inner harbor also has good development conditions, which can be used to build a large salt farm. If fully developed, the scale will not be much smaller than the Yinggehai Salt Farm."

Although the geographical conditions and location of Cam Ranh Bay are very superior, the small imperial court of South Vietnam had been stuck in the quagmire of the war over the river and Hengshan line. It did not have enough ability to fully develop the place, and the only navy was filled in.

When we arrived in the north, we had no time to pay attention to the bay in the south. It was not until after the Annan Civil War that the Annan court handed over the use rights of Cam Ranh Bay to Hai Han at the request of the Hai Han Executive Committee, and large-scale construction here officially began.

development and construction.

However, since most of Haihan's engineering and construction personnel were concentrated on the Changshilu rail transit project in the previous year, the development process of the four southern ports in Annan was stagnant. The development of Cam Ranh Bay has also been delayed until the "Prairie Fire Plan"

"Before implementation began, the infrastructure project was reluctantly launched.

Since the construction here has just begun, the militiamen do not have an organized fleet stationed here, let alone any maritime armed forces to defend the port. Therefore, when the reconnaissance fleet sails into Cam Ranh Bay, in addition to attracting fishing boats on the sea

Apart from a small panic, it didn't cause much trouble.

After the fleet sailed into the inner bay, local port staff drove a small fishing boat out to navigate and led the fleet to a temporary dock on the west coast of the bay. Due to the very limited conditions here, no travelers have been allocated here for the time being.

To preside over the work, it was previously managed here by Nguyen Thanh Kui. After Nguyen Thanh Kui returned to Da Nang, the highest authority here was the Port District Provisional Management Committee, headed by a militia company commander.

This company commander named Ruan Fu is an authentic Annanite, but now it is more accurate to say that he is a naturalized citizen of Annan origin. During the founding period of Black Tu Port, he joined the Black Tu Port Special Battle Company led by Qian Tiandun himself.

, it can be regarded as a veteran-level mission in the Annan Militia Army. Ruan Phu participated in almost all the battles of the Annan Militia Army, including the "Operation Firefight" launched in the northern part of Hainan Island in October. From Hainan Island

After withdrawing, he was dispatched by the Annan Military Region to Cam Ranh Bay in the south, where he was responsible for maintaining local security and assisting Ruan Chenggui in implementing the Cam Ranh Bay port project.

Although Nguyen Phu's surname is the same as Nguyen Thanh Kui's, the two have nothing to do with each other. Nguyen Phu came from a well-known family and only changed his family to become a leader during the Hue Campaign, while Nguyen Phu was just the advance team of the Black Tu Port who fought in the Annan Civil War.

One of the many war refugees taken away from the coast of the district, he was a civilian. But by chance, the two Ruan people got together in Cam Ranh Bay and became colleagues.

Although Ruan Fu is not very familiar with these senior officials from the Sanya base camp, Mu Xiabai who came with him can be regarded as his immediate boss, and half of the ships in this fleet are warships of the militia navy. It can be seen at a glance that they are

The weight is not light. When Wang Tom and others got down to the shore, Ruan Fu immediately stepped forward and stood at attention and saluted a military salute: "Ruan Fu, commander of the second company of the first battalion of the Anant Regiment, reports to the commander!"

Wang Tom also continued his previous practice and asked Ruan Fu to explain the local situation. Regarding the situation of Cam Ranh Bay, Wang Tom and others had already consulted Ruan Xinggui in Da Nang, and now they were conducting a comparison to verify Ruan Xinggui.

Is there anything untrue in what was said?

According to Ruan Phu, the current population of Cam Ranh Bay is only more than 1,000 people, and almost half of them have been naturalized. The current port project has only just begun, and is still in the stage of leveling the foundation.

The first phase of the project will probably have to wait until four or five months before it can be completed. As for the construction plan of the entire port area, which is divided into seven phases, it will take at least four to five years of continuous construction.

The biggest problem currently existing in this place is that the population is too small, and there are no large cities or population centers in the surrounding areas. Therefore, the source of future labor force may only rely on targeted transportation from the outside world. Whether it is the military

Neither the Party nor the civil affairs department can come up with a more effective solution for the time being. The supplies that can be provided to the fleet or the subsequent army are mainly seafood, wood, fresh water, etc.

thing.

"Now this place can only be used as a safe haven." After understanding the local situation, Wang Tom determined the nature of the function here: "If the militia army is mobilized from the north to go south, it will probably be troublesome to even park the ship here. In the short term

There is no way to use this place as a real military base."

"But this is probably our last stop before leaving Indochina." Mu Xiabai reminded: "Going further south, we will have entered the territory of the Champa State. Although we have some trade and military affairs with them,

Cooperate, but never let a warship enter their port."

"Warships cannot dock at the ports of the Champa Kingdom." Lin Nan shook his head and interrupted: "According to the information we have, the main port of Champa has a trading post established by the Dutch. Our warships will easily reveal their identities.

This will be very detrimental to what we are going to do next.”

"We can only go all the way south." Wang Tom's finger moved on the chart: "From here to Natuna Island, the voyage is about 500 nautical miles. At the speed of our fleet, it takes about five

It will take seven days to reach that place."

Although there were several fast boats in the reconnaissance fleet, three traditional Chinese sailing boats were also brought along in order to conceal their presence, and the entire fleet was roughly based on the speed of these three ships, which was approximately four or five knots.

Of course, considering the speed of the two catamaran sailboats, it would be really fatal to do so slowly, so Wang Tom planned to divide his troops into two groups, with the two faster catamaran sailboats heading south at normal speed as the vanguard.

Go to the waters of the Natuna Islands for inspection, and the subsequent fleet will arrive in the waters about two days later, and then they will meet again for the next step.

Although Cam Ranh Bay had no supplies, the fleet rested here for two days under Wang Tom's order before setting off again.

On December 24, the fleet left Cam Ranh Bay and continued southward. Only a few hours after leaving Cam Ranh Bay, the "Lightning" and "Quick" gradually fell out of the sight of the fleet and headed south.

The personnel aboard these two sailboats were basically affiliated with the military and the Ministry of Security. They rode the wind and waves all the way. Only 72 hours later, the two sailboats had arrived in the waters of the Natuna Islands. At this time, the large force behind them had just completed their journey.

A little more than half of the voyage.

In the early morning of December 28, the sailors in charge of the lookout discovered an island on the sea about ten nautical miles to the southwest. After comparing the charts, Wang Tom determined that this was the northernmost island of the Natuna Islands, and

This island was only about 30 nautical miles away from Natuna Island. After confirming that there were no traces of other ships on the nearby sea, the two sailboats sailed to the small island and landed under the beach on the west coast of the island.

Anchor stops the ship.

According to the satellite data map downloaded from the large database before departure, this island is a wedge-shaped narrow island running from north to south, about 12 kilometers long from north to south, and about 2 to 5 kilometers wide from east to west. The island is lushly forested, and the advance team

When we landed on the island, we found no traces of human activity. It seemed like it was just an uninhabited island.

Considering the follow-up actions, Wang Tom ordered to temporarily station here and set up an advance camp on the island. In order to conceal others' eyesight, he also canceled cooking fires during the day so as not to be seen by ships passing by the nearby sea. The smoke was not seen until nightfall.

I dug a pit and buried a stove on the shore to cook a hot meal. I had to carefully cover the outward facing areas with tent cloth to prevent the fire from being discovered in the night. Fortunately, the advance team was on this small island.

A fresh water source was found on the sea. Although the water output is not large, the water quality is acceptable. It can be boiled and drank after simple clarification. This will undoubtedly be useful for the large forces that will arrive in this sea area for combat in the future.

A piece of good news.

Before dawn on the 29th, the "Lightning" went out to sea and sailed south to Natuna Island. There is no natural harbor suitable for building a large port on the coastline of this island. According to the information provided by the Ministry of Security, the largest port on Natuna Island is

One of the piers is located in the middle of the east coast of the island. It is just an indented bay and does not even have the conditions to escape the wind and waves. It seems that the Dutch did not intend to invest too much energy after taking over the island.

To operate this place, its armed forces stationed on the island are mainly concentrated in this small port on the east coast of the island.
Chapter completed!