Chapter 181: The People on the Ship

“So, they are from the same time and space.”

“Most likely,” Lin Chuanqing lit a cigarette, and the few of them fell into silent contemplation. Where did this ship come from? And how did it travel through time to get here? Was it a disturbance in a wormhole, or was this sea area itself a wormhole: the 17th century on the surface, and the 21st century below? Had anyone else transmigrated? Were they dead or alive now? If alive, where were they at this moment? How would they view this group of ambitious adventurers? Would they be friendly or hostile…

A series of questions swirled in everyone’s mind, and no one could answer them.

After some discussion, they decided to make a few more dives before the sun set to thoroughly search the ship.

Subsequently, Zhou Weisen, Lin Chuanqing, and Gao Xiaosong took turns diving—Gao Xiaosong knew a little snorkeling. They surveyed the area around the shipwreck and dived into the cabins. Besides the locked cabins and the complex terrain of the engine room, Zhou Weisen had inspected almost every other part and retrieved some more items.

During these dives, they discovered the remains of a human body, which had fallen under a reef far from the shipwreck. If it weren’t for the oilcloth wrapped around it being torn by sharks, they wouldn’t have noticed it. The body had been completely destroyed by sharks and various other sea creatures. Octopuses and crabs were still feasting on it.

To uncover the truth, despite the disgusting nature of the task, they still retrieved the remains.

Although there was still some muscle and skin on the remains, the face was completely unrecognizable. However, from the color of the remaining hair, it was a person of Indo-European descent. The person was wrapped in a ship’s oilcloth, with two heavy dumbbells tied to their feet. It looked like a sea burial. This person must have been one of the passengers on the sunken ship.

“Should we bring the remains back?”

“Of course, this is an important clue.”

So they had no choice but to re-wrap the remains. Fortunately, the marine life had already done most of the cleaning work. The task of cleaning the remains after they were brought back would be the job of the Ministry of Health.

They continued to expand their search around the shipwreck but found no other human remains. There were some very deep sea trenches at the edge of the reef that they could not search. One thing was certain: the survivors on the ship had left after burying the dead—Zhou Weisen discovered that one of the two sampans on the deck was missing, and some of the equipment in the cabins had also been taken. Combined with the lack of a large oil spill in the surrounding area, it was likely that after the ship ran out of fuel, the people on board scuttled it themselves. As for why they did this, it was unknown.

“There should have been at least one person on the ship, and at most eight,” Lin Chuanqing deduced.

Gao Xiaosong said, “A sampan can hold at most eight people?”

“Yes, and I think there were only two or three people when they abandoned the ship. Otherwise, it’s hard to explain why they didn’t take more food—in a shipwreck, shouldn’t you take as many supplies as possible? If it were me, I would have taken both sampans. Two people per sampan, you can carry a lot more stuff.”

“It seems there is indeed another group of people who have come to this time and space, most likely Americans,” Gao Xiaosong concluded. “I think we must be on high alert. They sank the ship, obviously not wanting anyone to find them. Sinking it so neatly probably means they intend to salvage it in the future.”

“Maybe they’re from the American Time Management Bureau.”

“The Time Management Bureau is also managed by the Americans? At least it should be under the United Nations.”

Whether the newcomers were from the Time Management Bureau or, like the Ming family in the Qiongzhou Strait, were accidental travelers, there were other people from this time and space here. As for what they wanted to do and how the transmigrator group intended to deal with them, that was not for Gao Xiaosong and the others to consider.

However, everyone agreed that the ship should be salvaged. With some repairs, it would be a good vessel.

Bai Guoshi said, “This ship has a displacement of 100 tons, no worse than the Type 8154 fishing trawlers the Navy is using now. The hull isn’t damaged. It shouldn’t be too difficult to repair. And there are still a lot of useful materials on board. It would be a waste to let them rot in the sea.”

After returning to Lincheng, the expedition team submitted two reports to the Executive Committee and participated in two after-action briefings. One was included in the weekly gazette—at Xiao Zishan’s suggestion, the Executive Committee now published a weekly government gazette internally, reporting on the major events of the week and the operational status and records of various departments, as a manifestation of “open government.”

The report included in the government gazette was about the Dongsha Islands expedition. The other was their report on the shipwreck. This report was currently a top secret, known only to the parties involved and a few key leaders in the Executive Committee.

Ma Qianzhu soon received another report. This one was delivered personally by Ran Yao. It was a surveillance report on Zhou Weisen and Lin Chuanqing, written by a transmigrator on the expedition team. The report clearly stated that they had not shown any unusual behavior during the entire expedition.

Ran Yao waited for a few minutes after Ma Qianzhu finished reading and fell into deep thought before reminding him, “Chief! Have you finished reading?”

“Hmm? Finished,” Ma Qianzhu’s expression relaxed. “This is for the best!”

“Yes, I personally also believe the North American contingent is beyond suspicion.”

Ma Qianzhu nodded, held the report to the gas lamp, and watched it turn to ash. Ran Yao breathed a sigh of relief; he had intended to take the paper back and destroy it himself.

Subsequently, a secret meeting was held with the participation of the expedition team. Bai Guoshi’s proposal to salvage the entire shipwreck was rejected. Although the ship would be extremely useful to the transmigrator group after being salvaged and repaired, and Wang Luobin believed the salvage itself was not difficult—since the hull structure was well-preserved and the water was not deep, the Engineering and Energy Committee was fully capable of salvaging it whole.

But once the ship was salvaged and towed to Bopu, the secret that an “unplanned” ship had also arrived in this time and space could not be hidden from anyone. After careful consideration, the Executive Committee decided that this matter must be kept secret.

“Let’s first salvage the useful materials and equipment from the ship in batches,” Ma Qianzhu said. “According to the expedition team’s report, there are many abandoned items inside. It would be a pity to let them be ruined by the water.”

“Food, medicine, tools, and small equipment are all useful to us.”

“We might even find boxes of heroin, cocaine, or marijuana.”

“Unfortunately, those things are useless to us—if only it were an arms smuggling ship.”

If it were an arms smuggling ship, there would certainly be a large quantity of weapons and ammunition on board. Although they didn’t feel a shortage of small arms, having an automatic weapon like an AK-47 would still be pretty cool.

“It would be depressing if we found portable anti-aircraft missiles.”

“Hahaha,” laughter filled the meeting room.

“Are you all getting ahead of yourselves?” Wen Desi said slowly. “What about the people on the ship? Don’t forget this crucial matter.”

“Not a big problem,” Ran Yao said. “The expedition team believes there were very few people on the ship, so few that they could only take one sampan. And they didn’t take many useful supplies, so they clearly lacked manpower. A few lone transmigrators, even if they didn’t drown, won’t be able to make much of a splash.”

“Could there have been other ships with them?”

“The possibility is extremely small. Otherwise, wouldn’t it be too much of a waste to abandon the things on the sunken ship like that? Even if they didn’t know they were in another time and space, in a maritime emergency, you’d want as much food and medicine as possible.”

“I’m not worried about them becoming a force—the five hundred of us, with ample preparation, have only achieved this small foothold. A few of them can’t do much. The key is that I’m afraid they will join one of our opponents. Then all our cards will be exposed. This is the most important thing,” Wen Desi was very concerned about this.

“There’s nothing we can do about that. It’s completely beyond our control. We can only order to strengthen our guard and capture or—kill—any suspicious persons on sight,” Ma Qianzhu said grimly.

At that moment, Shi Niaoren arrived at the meeting room. He brought an autopsy report.

“The body found by the expedition team near the shipwreck has been examined by us: male, aged between thirty-five and forty, of Indo-European descent. His remaining hair is brown. Height 1.87 meters, very muscular, estimated weight around 100 kg.”

“A big guy—”

“That’s right. I’m sure you’ll be more interested in what’s next,” Shi Niaoren said. “According to the bones and remains, this person had suffered multiple injuries in his life, including gunshot wounds…”

“Shot to death?”

“No, the gunshot wound is an old one. Based on the healing of the bones, it must have been many years ago.”

…

To summarize, the deceased was a robust man in his prime, tall and strong, who had been injured multiple times. Shi Niaoren believed he was a soldier.

“At the very least, he was someone who dealt with danger,” Ran Yao said. “He was probably a soldier or a law enforcement officer.”

“The Time Management Bureau is also a law enforcement agency, right?”

“Let’s not make such cold jokes.”

Ran Yao suddenly remembered something.

“Does everyone remember something that our observation post outside the county seat reported in the days after D-Day?”

“What?”

“In the Ming army reinforcements heading to the county seat, they were escorting a European prisoner.”

“I don’t remember. Was there such a thing?” a few people pricked up their ears.

“Of course,” Ran Yao said. “Li Jun and Wei Aiwen witnessed it. Their report should be in the archives.”

“Get it immediately!”

The report contained very little about this matter, only mentioning the discovery of a European-looking prisoner in the ranks, with no details.

“There was such a thing! Is the person still in the Lincheng county prison?” Wen Desi exclaimed after reading it.

“We haven’t asked—”

“Tell Xiong Buyou to go into the city immediately and investigate this matter. Is this European still in Lincheng? Did he bring anything with him? What did he say? Where is he now…”

“Chief Wen, you don’t need to be so excited,” Wu De consoled him. “You’ve forgotten one thing: the timing doesn’t match.”

According to Ran Yao, the European was seen just a few days after D-Day. Given the distance from the Dongsha Islands, even if this European-looking person came from the ship, he couldn’t have reached Lincheng and been captured so quickly.

“Time dilation is hard to say!”

At Wen Desi’s insistence, Xiong Buyou, who was teaching Mandarin at the National School and learning dialects himself, was suddenly given the task. He was confused for a moment—he didn’t remember any Europeans in the county seat!

Xiong Buyou now worked for the Foreign Trade Committee, specializing in dealing with the Lincheng county government. Recently, he had been diligently studying the administrative procedures of the Ming Dynasty county government, preparing to “contract for taxes” and take over the county government when the time was right. For this purpose, he had been in frequent contact with various people in the county government, occasionally giving small favors. After a few months, he had become quite familiar with them.

For this matter, he went directly to the county jailer. The jailer confirmed that at the same time they arrived, a Westerner had been escorted in by the deputies. He heard them say he was found by the sea. After being brought in, he was locked up in the county yamen.

“Is he still here?”

“Long gone. He was sent directly to the prefectural city. Probably a red-haired man from Macau, shipwrecked.”

“Did he have any belongings or clothes with him?”

“What could be left after falling into the hands of the deputies?” the jailer sneered. “Besides, he was pulled out of the sea. He probably didn’t even have a single whole piece of clothing on him. How could he have anything else?”

As for the man’s origin—Lincheng County had no interpreters, and the red-haired man couldn’t speak Chinese, so naturally, there were no interrogation records to be seen.

The results of Xiong Buyou’s investigation disappointed the members of the Executive Committee—it seemed this person was unlikely to be a sailor from the sunken ship.

The plan to salvage the materials from the shipwreck was approved. Lin Chuanqing and the others were still in charge. To ensure the safety of the salvage operation, the Executive Committee dispatched a fishing trawler for the mission. Many necessary materials and equipment were also brought along. All the crew members were carefully selected to ensure they were absolutely reliable and not talkative.

Fu Bu’er came out of the Heaven and Earth Society’s office building in a daze. His mind couldn’t quite wrap around it—had he done the right thing or the wrong thing this time?

Because he had only reported having fifty mu of land when he registered, he was classified as a “middle peasant” when the client groups were divided. During the promotional meeting, he watched as several small landlords from the neighboring village, who had less land than him, all signed service contracts. It was said that the Australians from the Heaven and Earth Society would come to the countryside to deliver seeds and help with farming. But he only received a slip to collect ten chicks for some kind of contract farming. This made him extremely anxious—chickens? He had dozens of them in his own yard. Why would he need to get chicks on credit like a poor barbarian? The Australians’ seeds were the most important thing.

He hurried to ask the clerk at the Heaven and Earth Society.

“That’s right,” the clerk said. “You only have fifty mu of land, which makes you a middle peasant. The seeds and other things you want belong to the planting technology service, which is currently only available to grain-producing households who own over one hundred mu of land and personally oversee the planting.”

Fu Bu’er didn’t understand what a “middle peasant” was, but he understood that his land area was not enough. He was at a loss for words and could only stammer that he had more than fifty mu, that he had a hundred mu—in fact, he owned two hundred mu of land.

“Then you’ll have to bring your land deeds first—your word is not enough.”

Fu Bu’er returned home and was scolded by his wife again. She said his mind was muddled with lamp oil, insisting on jumping into a fire pit. Not only had he become some kind of representative, but he was also going to give his own land to the Kun bandits for free. This argument made him harden his heart and take a gamble—he still brought the land deeds to the Heaven and Earth Society for verification.

“Two hundred and twenty-seven mu,” the clerk verified the deeds. “All farmed by yourself? Not leased to others?”

“It’s all farmed by me with my family slaves and long-term laborers,” Fu Bu’er replied.

“Alright, you can sign the contract here.”

Fu Bu’er couldn’t read, so he had to ask the clerk to read it to him. It was essentially a contract stipulating the rights and obligations of both parties. The seeds, fertilizers, and pesticides provided by the Heaven and Earth Society were all charged by quantity, and there was also a technical service fee. Hearing about this fee and that fee, Fu Bu’er wanted to back out. Finally, he heard that the first year was a promotional period, and everything except the seeds and technical service fee was free. He breathed a sigh of relief and made his mark. He thought to himself that as long as he got the seeds in the first year, he wouldn’t join this troublesome Heaven and Earth Society again.

Also joining the Heaven and Earth Society was the county’s capable man, Zhang Youfu. Zhang Youfu was now an advisor to the Civil Affairs Committee and received a monthly advisory stipend. According to the traditional classification, Zhang Youfu was a traitor and a lackey, specializing in advising the Civil Affairs Committee when dealing with the locals. Wu De kept a close eye on him, not giving him an official title or letting him handle matters alone, to prevent him from using his position to throw his weight around and act unscrupulously, which would damage the reputation of the transmigrator group.

Zhang Youfu didn’t have much land and had little enthusiasm for farming. He was mobilized by Wu De to join the Heaven and Earth Society—he didn’t mind. He usually left the farming to his long-term laborers anyway. It was fine if the Australians wanted to bother with some Heaven and Earth Society to help with farming.

Besides them, there were also some small and medium-sized landlords and rich peasants from various places. Their land was mostly between one hundred and three hundred mu. As expected, most of the county’s landlords were suspicious of this matter. Although many came to inquire about buying seeds, they backed down as soon as they heard they had to join the Heaven and Earth Society to get technical services. In the end, the first batch of planting service clients consisted of only eleven households. One of them was someone no one expected—the instructor of the county’s Confucian school.

No one expected the old-fashioned instructor of the county school to do something so bold. In fact, he had no choice; he was forced by circumstances.

The county’s instructor, Wang Ci, was an old scholar who had been a “poor official” in the county for many years. In the Ming Dynasty, Lincheng’s education was relatively developed in Hainan. Besides the county school, there were also two private “academies,” one of which, the famous Moli Xuan Academy on the banks of the Wenlan River, could be traced back to the Song Dynasty. Private schools in the countryside were also not uncommon. However, the condition of the county school was quite poor.