Chapter 127: Lin Gonglao and Zhang Jiqi

Transporting the common people and supplies, having had the experience of land migration from the Gou estate, this time it was decided to use ships for sea transport entirely, to accumulate experience for the large-scale sea transport of immigrants in the future.

“The navy can send the landing craft,” Chen Haiyang said. “The ‘Deng Yingzhou’ has to undertake the task of transporting supplies from Guangzhou, so it will not be moved for the time being.”

“How much can the ‘Fubo’ carry?”

“About 70-80 people at a time,” Chen Haiyang said, scribbling in his notebook with a pencil. “It’s less than the ‘Deng Yingzhou.’ The cannons and ammunition on the ‘Fubo’ take up a lot of tonnage.”

“What about the 6 transport ships?”

“They are all small boats. It’s about right to load 30-40 people per boat,” Chen Haiyang calculated. “We also captured two 200-liao ships and five or six small boats from the village. These can all be used. Transport capacity is not a problem.”

“How many days will it take by sea?”

“For a sailboat, a more generous estimate would be two days.”

“What about the food?”

“Grassland No. 5 is fine. That stuff is solid enough and filling.” Chen Haiyang was obviously not interested in the hard rice cakes.

“Transporting people is not a problem. We can transport them all in one wave with the large ships. The common people don’t have much property to transport. It’s the timber, pig iron, hemp, and tung oil that take up a lot of tonnage.”

Xi Yazhou said, “I suggest that a part of the army troops should be withdrawn as soon as possible. We have sent out 5 platoons and 3 cannons at once, and our home base is a bit empty.”

Dongmen Chuiyu said, “From tomorrow, for every boat of people withdrawn, a squad will be arranged to set off with the boat, so that both troop transport and escort are taken care of. One platoon will be left to withdraw after the new ships are launched. The question is, has everything been arranged in Bopu? More than 500 people are coming at once!”

“Wu De has already made a plan. The houses are still being built. Let them live in the quarantine camp for now—it’s empty anyway.”

“Will using the ‘Fubo’ here affect the defense of Bopu? The situation is very tense now,” Wen Desi remembered.

“There won’t be any problem with four fishing trawlers. They are all equipped with breech-loading guns. High mobility, high speed, high firepower. Anyone who comes will be looking for death.”

“Tomorrow, the first wave will transport all of the Lu and Lin families,” a smile appeared on Wen Desi’s lips. “Leave Zhang the shipwright to continue building ships.”

The next day, the entire Baitu was in an uproar. There were adults shouting and children crying everywhere, mixed with the wailing of women. The transmigrators were well prepared. Who would go first and who would go later was indicated by the five-colored paper slips given to each person.

Multiple channels were marked out on the beach with ropes, and there were also five-colored flags by the channels. People holding the paper slips would not go wrong by following the color of the path to the boat. Several hundred rattan baskets with shoulder straps and a large amount of straw rope were specially brought from the ships and distributed to each household to pack and tie their luggage.

“This old boat ticket, can it get me on your passenger ship…” Li Haiping hummed a song, standing on the sterncastle of the ‘Fubo,’ watching the stream of people, old and young, with large and small bundles, moving slowly and with difficulty under the urging of the soldiers.

Lin Gonglao looked up at this “Kun bandit” humming a little tune. This little tune was as strange as the clothes they wore. The clan leader called them “chiefs,” and was extremely respectful—that was because he was afraid of the “Kun bandits’” powerful firearms. Just the fort at the checkpoint, including the repairs and the purchase of cannons, had cost the village no less than several hundred taels of silver, and a lot of money had also been spent on the short-term laborers guarding the checkpoint. Several hundred local bandits would not be enough to take it, but they were destroyed by a few cannon shots from them.

Now that they were captured, he didn’t know what would happen in the future. Lin Gonglao was particularly annoyed about this. He was a member of the Lin clan, and the clan leader was his own paternal uncle. He belonged to the generation that had grown up in Baitu, had never suffered hardship, and belonged to the “ruling class” of the village. Like the second generation of the Lin and Lu families who had grown up in the village, he was not interested in his father’s craft and had only learned it half-heartedly. He preferred to practice with swords and spears, train the short-term laborers, and if he didn’t like someone, he would drag them to the “Shenming Pavilion” for a good beating. He was truly imposing and walked sideways.

Obviously, such days were over. The more he thought about it, the more annoyed he became. Suddenly, he was bumped from behind. He turned around and saw that it was Wang Sangou, a bachelor in his fifties who had been taken in by the clan as a long-term laborer, who was actually a servant shared by the entire Lin clan.

He was already annoyed, and now he was bumped by a servant. His back ached faintly, and all his anger was vented on this unlucky fellow. He raised his hand and slapped him, then kicked him.

“You coffin board, don’t you have eyes?!”

This Wang Sangou was laden with large and small baskets and was already walking with difficulty. With a slap and a kick, he lost his balance and immediately fell flat on his back. A few young men and women from the Lin family laughed when they saw his ridiculous appearance. The older ones, however, had gloomy faces and quickly pulled their laughing children away.

With this slap and curse, the line had come to a halt. The soldiers in front hurried over to direct the traffic. Li Haiping saw it clearly from the sterncastle and shook his head secretly. Baitu was such a small place, yet someone was already acting like a tyrant.

“Who is this person?” someone asked.

“I think he’s from the Lin family. I heard the kid is quite arrogant. The clan leader came out to surrender, but he was still unwilling,” Li Haiping said nonchalantly.

“Such a badass character?”

After hitting Wang Sangou, Lin Gonglao felt a little better and followed up with a few more kicks. Just as he was getting into it, a big man with a stick rushed into the line.

“What’s the commotion?!” the big man shouted. “Fighting for fun?”

“I wouldn’t dare,” Wang Sangou said, getting up and begging for mercy. “No fighting, no fighting—”

Lin Gonglao was young and impetuous after all, and he hadn’t completed his role change yet. He put on a defiant face and said, “What’s the big deal if I beat a servant—”

Just as he was speaking, his head buzzed, and the world spun. When he came to, he was already lying on the ground. His head was throbbing with a swollen pain. He touched it and found a large lump. The “Kun bandit” was holding a stick and looking at him sideways.

“Do you understand civility and courtesy? Opening your mouth with ‘laozi’ (I, your father) and closing it with ‘laozi,’ are you of the same generation as your father?”

Lin Gonglao was so angry he almost fainted, but he understood that a wise man does not fight when the odds are against him. He got up quietly and was about to walk away with his head down.

“Stop!” the man’s voice came from behind again. Lin Gonglao suppressed his anger and tried to look as gentle as possible:

“What is it?”

“You’re so strong, help the old man carry his things.”

”!” Lin Gonglao was about to lose his temper, but the throbbing pain in his head reminded him that things were different now. He had to go over and help Wang Sangou pick up a basket. Wang Sangou waved his hands in refusal.

“Did the dog eat all your food?” the man’s words were vicious and harsh. “A young man carrying so little?”

Lin Gonglao silently picked up two more bundles, cursing the eighteen generations of these Kun bandits’ ancestors in his heart.

As he walked past with his head down, a burst of laughter suddenly erupted around him. He didn’t have to look up to know that these were not from the Lin family, but definitely some long-term or short-term laborers. People who used to greet him with a smile and didn’t even dare to raise their heads were now daring to laugh at him!

With a heart full of resentment, he followed the stream of people to the pier. There were many straw-woven bags piled up there. As they passed, each person was given one. He took one and opened it. Inside was a bamboo tube with a stopper, which seemed to be water. There was also a package wrapped in thick paper. He tore it open a little and saw that it was a biscuit.

They were quite thoughtful. Lin Gonglao muttered to himself, touching the lump on his head. What would the days ahead be like? He was a little scared in his heart and understood a simple truth—the world was not just as big as Baitu Village.

Zhou Dongtian returned to the sterncastle with a triumphant air. Li Haiping chuckled, “You’re quite a righteous person.”

“This kind of little brat, if you don’t beat some of his arrogance out of him, he’ll cause more trouble in the future. This world is ours!” Zhou Dongtian swung the stick in his hand rapidly. “I was holding back. Otherwise, I could have made it so that there were no external injuries, but he would be internally injured—”

“Don’t. What’s the use of beating him into a cripple?” Li Haiping muttered to himself. Why did the Executive Committee transfer the old cat Zhou, who was in charge of printing, here? It couldn’t be that he was here for interrogation, could it? He lived in the same dormitory as Zhou Dongtian and often saw him coming back late at night. When he asked him where he had been, he would just smile and not say anything. Later, he found out that every time there was an interrogation of prisoners, the security group would call him to work.

Wen Desi saw off the first fleet and then took people to inspect this windfall. There was a lot of timber, including camphorwood, fir, and pine, more than five hundred logs in total. There were also various hardwoods: Hainan sandalwood, Guangdong lychee wood, and ironwood, about a hundred logs, and thousands of thick and thin bamboo poles. There were also pig iron, tung oil, jute, white hemp, palm fiber, oyster shells, and various other materials.

In the warehouse, he also saw various ship fittings, including several forged four-pronged iron anchors, a large amount of canvas, ropes, and iron nails, as well as many weapons. After inspection, Wen Desi found that the more than ten cannons owned by the village were all British-made, specifically cast by the East India Company, and were 24-pounder carronades—a type of short-barreled cannon unique to the British. As for the muskets that the prisoners said were not easy to use, they were British-made matchlocks. It seemed that the British were very active in this area.

According to Zhang the shipwright, the red-haired people would sometimes come here to replenish fresh water and repair their ships. They would pay with gunpowder, weapons, and foreign silver.

“You can repair red-haired ships?” Wen Desi asked.

“The shape of the red-haired ships is different from that of our country, but a ship is still a ship,” Zhang the shipwright said respectfully. He was only in his early forties, not only was his craftsmanship the best, he could build large ships and was “full of ingenious ideas.”

“Could you build a red-haired ship?”

“The sails—” he hesitated for a moment. “There isn’t that much cloth.” He thought for a moment. “And the ropes on the sails are very complicated, but their operation is very clever. Without a foreign craftsman, I’m afraid I can’t figure out the knack.”

“I know all of this—”

Zhang Jiqi looked at the “Kun person” in front of him in surprise. Could such a pampered-looking master also be involved in this?

“Then I am willing to give it a try.”

“What’s your name?”

“My humble name is Zhang Jiqi (Machine).”

Wen Desi was stunned for a moment, then smiled, “Good, good. It seems that you will only be able to live up to your name when you come to our place.”