Chapter 37: Arrival at Yulin

“This is Dadonghai,” said Captain Lin Chuanqing, steadying the helm. “It’s the outer harbor of Yulin. The long, bag-shaped anchorage further in is the inner harbor.”

The entire Yulin Harbor was surrounded by mountains, with blue seas, white sands, blue skies, and coconut groves. The scenery was beautiful and completely pristine.

“Yazhou is Hainan’s main coconut producing area. We’re going to make a killing here!” Wang Luobin gazed at the swaying coconut trees in the bay, his mind filled with countless products, from harmless soap to nitroglycerin, ready to tear people to shreds.

“Director Wang, I think you’re starting to resemble a Japanese devil entering a village,” Lin Chuanqing chuckled and picked up his walkie-talkie.

“Xiao Meng, check the tide table. Is it low tide or high tide now?”

“The tide is starting to go out!” Meng De reported. “One hour and seventeen minutes until low tide.”

“Commander Chen, Director Wang, let’s drop anchor for now,” Lin Chuanqing said. “It’s better to enter the harbor at low tide. There are a few hidden reefs and shoals here that are visible at low tide.”

“Alright, let’s wait a bit,” Chen Haiyang said, ordering both the Zhenhai and the Hangzhou to drop anchor via the walkie-talkie, waiting for the tide to recede further. “All naval cadets, measure the water depth, wind direction, and wind speed. They will be in charge of piloting us into the harbor later!”

“Let these little brats pilot the ship?” Lin Chuanqing questioned.

“The hydrographic conditions and reefs in Yulin Harbor are the simplest. It’s a good opportunity for them to practice,” Chen Haiyang said. “We have some time now. Let’s discuss what we’re going to do after we land.”

“The same as in Changhua: establish a base and survey the resources,” Wang Luobin said confidently. “This place will be our main source of dried coconut. To break the Qiongshan merchants’ monopoly on dried coconut, we must set up a trading post here directly.”

“We need to send people to Yazhou city to scout out the situation.”

“I’m afraid Yazhou won’t be as easy as Changhua. This is an important government stronghold in the southern part of Hainan Island,” Wang Luobin said, sounding not very confident.

Yazhou had a registered population of nearly twenty thousand, comparable to Lingao County. This place had been a place of exile for officials since the Tang Dynasty. There was a village called Shuinan outside Yazhou city, which had always been a place where exiled officials settled. Therefore, there were many powerful gentry families here, and they were deeply rooted, some having been here for more than twenty generations. It would probably take some effort to open up the situation here.

“I don’t think it will be a problem,” Chen Haiyang spread out the map. “According to the intelligence department’s data, most of Yazhou’s population is concentrated near Yazhou city, which is the core of the government’s rule. Yazhou city is here—” he pointed to the map, “which is the Yazhou Bay area we passed yesterday. It’s over 60 kilometers by land to Yulin, and this area is basically deserted. If we set up a base here, it won’t cause much interference.”

“What about the Ming army’s patrol ships?” Wang Luobin asked. He remembered from historical records that the Ming army had garrisons patrolling this area.

“We’re not building a castle and flying our flag ostentatiously,” Chen Haiyang said. “We’ll build a small fort—these things are everywhere in this time. Then we’ll send a few natives to deal with them specifically. The Ming army has no reason to deal with us. If it really comes to a fight, the few patrol ships won’t be able to break through our fort. If they gather a large force, we can use our communication advantage to mobilize a superior force and wipe out their main force in one fell swoop.”

As they were discussing the work after landing, Meng De shouted, “Ten minutes until low tide.”

“Enter the harbor.”

This time, they didn’t lower the outboard motors but instead lowered the rowing boats and used manpower to tow the large ships into the harbor. All the work of piloting, observation, and so on was done entirely by the naval cadets.

At this time, the tide in the bay had dropped to its lowest point, and the hidden reefs and sandbars were exposed. From the quarterdeck, the hidden reefs near Shen Island could be seen without binoculars. To the northwest of Shen Island, a nearly chain-long line of submerged reefs was exposed.

The fleet sailed all the way to the entrance of the inner harbor of Yulin Harbor. The entire inner harbor was shaped like a long pocket, surrounded by mountains on three sides, with the outer harbor as a buffer zone and Shen Island as a shield. The harbor area was open, and the water was deep enough to anchor ten-thousand-ton ships. The hydrographic conditions were excellent.

So excellent that even the armchair admirals of the home guard navy, who had basically never been to sea, could see that this was a suitable naval base. They all started chattering and discussing:

“This place would be great as a naval base.”

“The ironclad fleet could patrol Southeast Asia from here, inspecting our vast maritime territory—”

“Why would you need an ironclad fleet to go to Southeast Asia? A few colonial cruisers would be enough!”

“Right, my ideal colonial cruiser must be: a hybrid of sail and steam power, without armor, long-range, with at least one large-caliber cannon for shore bombardment to deal with disobedient natives. Oh, and it must have a large cabin space to carry at least one company of marines and the necessary artillery, ready to go ashore to quell riots at any time.”

…

The rowing boats measured the water depth as they advanced into the inner harbor.

“That’s Yulin city over there,” Ming Qiu pointed to a piece of open ground on the west side of the inner harbor. On the east side of the inner harbor was a relatively large town protected by a wooden stockade. According to Ming Qiu’s memory, this should be An You Le city. Judging from its scale, it had about a hundred households. There were also some large and small boats moored by the shore.

“Let’s moor on the east side. There are people here, we can ask for information.”

So the fleet anchored below An You Le city. Seeing the two large ships arrive, the people who were active around the stockade all rushed into it. Before their small boats could get close to the shore, the entire area around An You Le city was deserted.

“It seems that pirates often visit this place.”

Everyone disembarked and walked to the front of the stockade. Wang Luobin had the native interpreter who came with them shout. After a long back-and-forth, the people in An You Le city finally opened the gate and let them in. This was a large stockade inhabited by both Han and Li people. Because ships going to Southeast Asia often sought shelter from the wind here, and sometimes they could salvage floating cargo from shipwrecks at sea, people had settled here since the Tang Dynasty. As this was the last anchorage before heading to Southeast Asia, the wealth and demand brought by the ships had gradually formed a market town over time.

The person in power in An You Le city was a gentleman named Hu Xun. After the transmigrators presented him with their tried-and-true gifts—a small mirror, white sugar, and distilled liquor—his attitude immediately softened. According to Hu Xun, he was a descendant of the Hu family of Shuinan Village in Yazhou.

“Could it be that the old gentleman is a descendant of Master Dan’an? My respects! My respects!” Wang Tao, who had come ashore with Wang Luobin, pretended to be surprised and cupped his hands. Because he was an amateur storyteller, he had a talent for learning dialects and had learned several commonly used local dialects. This Hu Xun spoke the local official language—Hainanese, which was the easiest to understand.

This made Hu Xun very proud. He repeatedly said that he had “shamed his ancestors,” and his attitude towards the group became even better. He then asked them what their business was here.

Wang Tao then followed the pre-arranged script, saying that they were merchants specializing in the Southeast Asian trade. Because of the dangers of the journey, they wanted to buy a piece of land here to build some warehouses and a manor for stockpiling goods and resting.

Hu Xun repeatedly said, “No problem, no problem.” There was nothing much here, but there was plenty of wasteland. If someone was willing to build houses, he, as the local baojia head, would naturally have another source of income. Although these people didn’t look like good people, especially their two large ships, which were clearly illegal, as long as they didn’t rob or kill, what illegal activities they were engaged in was none of his business. This kind of local powerful family had all mastered the art of being a chameleon.

After leaving, Meng De asked Wang Tao, “Who is Master Dan’an?”

“Master Dan’an is the famous Hu Quan,” seeing Meng De’s confused look, Wang Tao had to explain further, “he was exiled to Hainan for impeaching Qin Hui back then.”

“So he’s such a figure,” Meng De was filled with reverence.

Wang Luobin, however, laughed. “You’re just flattering him. This Hu Quan didn’t die in Hainan. He later returned to his hometown in Jiangxi. How could he have descendants here?”

“He claims to be from the Hu clan of Shuinan Village, which clearly implies that he is a descendant of Hu Quan. I’m just taking the opportunity to flatter him. It doesn’t cost me anything.”

The group took a stroll through the streets of An You Le city. The place was quite prosperous. Although there was only one street less than 500 meters long, it was lined with all kinds of shops. Because this was the last stop for rest before heading to Southeast Asia, many ships stayed here for a long time, either to shelter from the wind or to wait for favorable winds. Over time, all kinds of entertainment, including a brothel, had sprung up.

Wang Luobin noticed that there were many blacksmith shops here. Upon inquiry, he learned that the customers were mainly the nearby Li people, as well as the ships anchored here, which also needed them for repairs.

Wang Tao said, “It seems that the Tian Du iron mine has already been discovered.”

“The Tian Du iron mine itself probably hasn’t been discovered, but Yazhou has been famous for its iron production since ancient times,” Wang Luobin said.

Ming Qiu said, “In the past, when I went to Yazhou town, there was an iron-working street there, all blacksmith shops. The earliest ones were said to have come in the Southern Song dynasty.”

“It seems there are many scattered iron mines here,” Wang Tao went to inquire with the blacksmiths again. The pig iron they used was all transported from Yazhou.

“That’s good,” Wang Luobin said. “If the local natives were already mining at Tian Du, we would have to carry out some violent demolition.”

“Even if they weren’t, it probably wouldn’t be easy, right? I remember the government has always been against mining, always wanting to ban it forever or something.”

“But they could never ban it, could they?”

Over the next few days, the transmigrators rowed their boats and surveyed the coastal terrain near Yulin Harbor, correcting their maps. They also conducted a field survey for the selection of the site for Fort Yulin. In the end, they chose an open space on the west bank of Yulin Harbor. This was the location of the later Yulin base. It was sheltered from the wind, had fresh water, and the terrain was flat.