"This is the Dadonghai," Captain Lin Chuanqing said while holding the steering wheel steady. "This is the outer harbor of Yulin. The long bag-shaped anchorage further inside is the inner harbor."
The entire Yulingang is surrounded by mountains, with blue sea, white sand, blue sky, and coconut groves. The scenery is very beautiful and has a completely original ecological appearance.
"Yazhou is the main coconut producing area in Hainan. We can make a lot of money here!" Wang Luobin looked at the dancing coconut trees in the bay. Countless products were flying in front of his eyes, from soaps that are harmless to humans and animals to ready-made soaps.
Nitroglycerin ready to tear people to pieces.
"Wang Gong, I don't think you can compete with the Japanese invaders entering the village now." Lin Chuanqing laughed a few times, then picked up the walkie-talkie and called:
"Xiao Meng, check the tide table. Is it low tide or high tide now?"
"The tide has begun to ebb!" Mondhui reported. "We have one hour and seventeen minutes until we reach the lowest tide."
"Commander Chen, Gong Wang, let's drop anchor now." Lin Chuanqing said, "It's better to wait until the lowest tide before entering the harbor. There are several reefs and low sand here, which can be seen at low tide."
"Okay, just wait for a while." Chen Haiyang said through the walkie-talkie, ordering the Zhenhai and Hangzhou ships to anchor and wait for the tide to drop further. "All the naval cadets will measure the water depth, wind direction, and wind speed. They will be responsible for leading the navigation in a while.
port!"
"Let these brats take the lead?" Lin Chuanqing questioned.
"The hydrological conditions and reef conditions in Yulingang are the simplest. It's good to let them practice their skills." Chen Haiyang said, "Now that we have time, let's discuss what we are going to do after landing."
"We are doing the same thing as in Changhua: setting up a stronghold and investigating resources." Wang Luobin is confident, "This place is our main source of copra. To break the Qiongshan merchants' monopoly on copra, we must directly set up a trade here.
stronghold."
"We need to send someone to Yacheng to find out the truth."
"I'm afraid Yazhou won't be as smooth as it was in Changhua. This is an important ruling base for the government in the southern part of Hainan Island." Wang Luobin didn't seem very confident.
The registered population of Yazhou is nearly 20,000, which is comparable to that of Lingao County. This place has been a place where officials were exiled since the Tang Dynasty. There is Shuinan Village outside Yazhou City, which has always been a place where officials from outside settled. So here
There are not only many gentry families but also deep roots. Some of them have been here for more than 20 generations. It will take a lot of brains to open up a business here.
"I don't think it's a big problem," Chen Haiyang spread out the map, "According to the information from the intelligence department, most of Yazhou's population is concentrated near Yacheng, and Yacheng is the core of the government's rule. Yacheng is here -" He
Pointing to the map, "That's the Yazhou Bay area we passed yesterday. We took the land route to Yulin. The straight-line distance is more than 60 kilometers. This area is basically deserted. We will set up a base here and it will not cause much interference."
"What to do with the patrol ships of the Ming Army?" Wang Luobin asked. He remembered that according to historical records, the Ming Army had garrison patrols nearby.
"We don't want to build a castle and hang up the flag grandly." Chen Haiyang said, "Build a small fortress - these things are everywhere in this time and space. Then send a few natives to deal with it. There is no reason for the Ming army to do it.
Deal with us. If we really want to start a fight, the few patrolling ships will not be able to break through our fortress. If we gather a large group of people, we can take advantage of our communication advantages, mobilize superior forces, and defeat their main force in one fell swoop."
While discussing the work after landing, Mond shouted: "The lowest tide will be in ten minutes."
"Enter port."
This time when entering the port, instead of putting down the machine, the rowing boat was put down and the ship was pulled into the port by manual oars. The piloting, observation and other tasks were all performed by the naval cadets.
At this time, the tide in the bay has dropped to its lowest level, and the reefs and sand are exposed out of the water. From the stern of the ship, without a telescope, you can see the exposed reefs not far from the island of God. The northwest direction of the island is even more exposed.
Almost a whole chain of underwater reef lines.
The fleet sailed all the way to the entrance of the inner harbor of Yulin Port. The entire inner harbor is in the shape of a long pocket, surrounded by mountains on three sides. In front is the outer harbor as a buffer water and the island of God as a shield. The interior of the harbor area is open and the water is deep enough to anchor a 10,000-ton class.
For sea-going ships, the hydrological conditions are very favorable.
It was so superior that even the admirals who had rarely been to the sea at home could see that this was a suitable naval base. Now they were all discussing:
"This place would be great as a naval base."
"The armored fleet cruises Southeast Asia from here and patrols our thousands of miles of sea territory-"
"What kind of armored fleet do we need to go to Southeast Asia? A few colonial cruisers are enough!"
"Yes, the colonial cruiser in my mind must be: sail, steam engine hybrid power, no armor, long range, at least one large-caliber gun for shore bombardment, to deal with disobedient natives. By the way, the cabin space also needs to be
It is large and can carry at least one company of marines and necessary artillery, and can go ashore at any time to suppress riots."
…
The rowing boat headed towards the inner harbor while measuring the water depth.
"That's Yulin City over there." Mingqiu pointed to an open space on the west side of the inner harbor. On the east side of the inner harbor, there is a municipal government protected by a relatively large wooden village. According to Mingqiu's recollection, this should be the Anyou City. Judging from the size
From the looks of it, there are about a hundred houses. There are also some large and small boats moored on the shore.
"Let's park on the east side. There are people here who can inquire about things."
So the fleet anchored below Anyuyou Market. Seeing the two large boats coming, people who were moving around the stockade all rushed into the stockade. Before their small boats could get close to the shore, the entire vicinity of Anyuyou Market was full of people.
There is no one left.
"This place seems to be frequented by pirates."
Everyone disembarked from the boat and walked ashore, walking all the way to the front of the village. Wang Luobin asked the native interpreter from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs who came with him to speak. The two sides talked back and forth for a long time, and then the people from Anyu City finally opened the gate of the village and let them in. This place is a
Dazhaizi is a place where Han and Li people live together. Because ships sailing to the South China Sea often come here to take shelter from the wind, and sometimes they can pick up floating goods from shipwrecks at sea. People have settled here since the Tang Dynasty, because it is a place where ships can launch boats.
The last anchorage before Nanyang, the wealth and demand brought by ships slowly formed a town over time.
The person in charge of Anyu Market is a gentry named Hu Xun. After passing through the crowd and giving him the tried and tested gifts: small mirror, sugar and soju, his attitude suddenly softened a lot. According to Hu Xun, he is a member of the Hu family in Shuinan Village, Yazhou
descendants of.
"Is it possible that the old gentleman is a descendant of Mr. Dan'an? I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" Wang Tao, who accompanied Wang Luobin ashore, pretended to be surprised and said with his hands. Because he was an amateur storyteller, he was quite talented in dialects and had learned several commonly used local dialects.
Dialect. This Hu Xun speaks the local Mandarin—Hainan vernacular, which is the easiest to understand.
Hu Xun was very proud at this time. He even called them "insulting our ancestors". His attitude towards everyone became a little better, and he asked them what they were doing here.
Wang Tao followed the plan he had made in advance and said that they were merchants specializing in Southeast Asia trade. Due to the turbulent journey, they wanted to buy a piece of land locally to build several warehouses and build a manor to store goods and rest.
Hu Xun said repeatedly: "It's easy to talk about." There is not much else here, but there is a lot of wasteland. If someone is willing to build a house, he, a local Baojia, can naturally get an extra income. Although these people don't look alike.
Good people, especially those two big ships, are obviously prohibited, but if they don't rob or kill, what's the point of doing illegal things? Every wealthy family in this place has practiced the good kung fu of a chameleon.
After going out, Mond asked Wang Tao: "Who is Mr. Dan'an?"
"Mr. Dan'an is the famous Hu Quan." Seeing Mond's confused look, Wang Tao had no choice but to explain, "He was exiled to Hainan for impeaching Qin Hui."
"He is such a person." Mond was in awe.
But Wang Luobin laughed: "You are flattering him too. Hu Quan did not die in Hainan, but later returned to his hometown in Jiangxi. How could he leave descendants here?"
"He calls himself the Hu family of Shuinan Village. He obviously intends to claim that he is a descendant of Hu Quan. I will take the opportunity to praise him without losing anything."
Everyone walked around the streets of Anyou Market. This place is quite prosperous. Although there is only one street less than 500 meters away, there are many shops on both sides, because this is the last stop before heading to Nanyang.
In this place, many ships stayed here for a long time either to take shelter from the wind or to wait for good news. As time went by, all kinds of sensual and erotic things were available, and there was even a brothel.
Wang Luobin noticed that there were many blacksmith shops here. When he inquired about it, he found that the customers were mainly the nearby Li people. There were also ships moored here, which were also used when repairing the ships.
Wang Tao said: "It seems that the Tiandu Iron Mine has been discovered."
"The Tiandu Iron Mine itself may not have been discovered, but Yazhou has been famous for its iron production since ancient times." Wang Luobin said.
Mingqiu said: "When I went to Yacheng Town in the past, there was a blacksmith street there, which was full of blacksmith shops. It is said that the earliest people came here in the Southern Song Dynasty."
"It seems that there are a lot of scattered iron ores here." Wang Tao went to the blacksmiths to ask where the pig iron they used came from, and the answer he got was that it was all shipped from Yazhou.
"That's good." Wang Luobin said, "If the local indigenous people have already mined the fields independently, we will have to carry out violent demolition."
"It's not easy even without a plan, right? I remember that the government has always been opposed to mining, and they always want to ban it forever."
"But they can't help it."
In the next few days, the traversers rowed boats, surveyed and mapped the entire coastal terrain near Yulin Port, and revised the map. They also conducted on-site surveys on the location of Yulin Fort, and finally selected the west bank of Yulin Port
A piece of open space, which was the location of the later Yulin base, was sheltered from the wind, had fresh water, and the terrain was flat.