Chapter 304: The Sanya Dispatch Battalion
“You have to understand the temperament of these small producers; they are inherently unreliable,” Jiang Muzhi continued to express his distrust. “Let me tell you something.”
It turned out that a worker with high vigilance and a “positive and upward” attitude had come to report—of course, the motive for this high vigilance was not so clear-cut—that Bao Lei had been secretly drawing something on paper and was often seen alone in the workshop looking at vehicle parts early in the morning before work started.
“Such a thing?!” Li Chiqi’s eyebrows shot up. “The natives are indeed unreliable!” In his mind, Huang Tianyu had rescued his family from the brink of death by starvation and cold, and he had been given the best treatment in the vehicle factory. He never expected him to have ulterior motives!
“It’s not about being reliable or unreliable. Selfishness is a weakness of human nature.”
“It seems we have to remove him from his key position…”
“That’s not necessary. Do you think he can build a Zidian Kai just by drawing a few out-of-proportion diagrams?” Jiang Muzhi said. “He can’t even get the materials right. Besides, he’s working very hard now, and his skills in operating the machines are not bad. He’s considered a top-tier skilled worker.”
“Hmph, I just can’t stand this kind of person.” Li Chiqi’s impression of Bao Lei soured from then on.
The vehicle factory was running 24 hours a day to build the various vehicles needed for the development of Tiandu, but the shortfall was still significant. The problem of the machine factory’s small scale was fully exposed. The current industrial system in Lin’gao was small but complete; they could make many things, but they couldn’t produce them on a large scale.
After consideration, Ma Qianzhu ordered a temporary reduction in the production of railway cars—this type of vehicle was the most complex to manufacture and consumed the most materials. They would first satisfy the production of wheelbarrows—at the beginning of the project, the demand for these flexible small carts would certainly be high.
Ma Qianzhu was then harassed by Zhang Bolin, who had heard that the production of cannons and shells had been stopped and was being fully converted to the production of civilian machinery. He went directly to the Executive Committee to “demand an explanation.”
“Duke, you are destroying your own Great Wall!” Zhang Bolin put on a pained expression. “When the enemy attacks, are our army brothers supposed to resist with second-generation spears and machetes? You must think twice, boo hoo hoo.”
“It’s only a few months of production stoppage, and besides, the recent cannon casting quota was mainly for naval cannons.”
“Is that so,” Zhang Bolin’s tears disappeared. “…But naval cannons are also the armament of the Transmigration State. They shouldn’t be cut just like that. And the shells, with the current amount of shells, won’t they be used up in a moment in a battle? Without cannons, what will we rely on to resist the enemy’s human wave tactics…”
“Someone at the machine factory said they can use concrete as a substitute for cannonballs. It’s not as good as iron cannonballs, but it’s enough to make do,” Ma Qianzhu thought of Jiang Ye’s idea on the OA. Speaking of which, concrete cannonballs could also be used as training rounds in the future. There was always some loss when recovering iron cannonballs…
“Can the ballistic performance be the same?” Zhang Bolin wanted to continue.
“Do you want as many cannons as the Soviets and as many shells as the Americans? If you do, then just bear with it. I’m very busy now, let’s talk about it later.” Ma Qianzhu finally managed to coax him away and wiped the sweat from his forehead. It seemed that a formal meeting system must be established in the future. He couldn’t have just anyone running into his office. Otherwise, he wouldn’t be able to get any work done whenever there was a major initiative.
Although Chen Haiyang had some complaints about stopping the production of cannons, he was, after all, a cadre educated by the Party and had a habit of obeying organizational orders. When he thought of the benefits after the successful development of Tiandu, he was relieved.
“They ordered the construction of a thousand-ton iron ship, saying it was for the development of Tiandu. In the end, there was no iron to finish it. Now, melting it down for iron would be a waste, so it has to be shelved as a bad asset. It’s a typical case of a leader making a decision off the top of his head,” Meng De had strong opinions about the 854 project on the slipway. This ship was originally of epoch-making significance, but now it was just sitting on the slipway, exposed to the wind and rain, covered in rust, and looking quite unsightly.
“At that time, we didn’t know we could get so many wooden ships. Anyone can be a Monday morning quarterback,” Chen Haiyang retorted Meng De’s complaint. When the Executive Committee had been hot-headed about building a large iron ship, he, as the head of the navy, had also been a strong supporter.
“Can a wooden ship compare to a steam-powered iron ship? To go to Tiandu now, just preparing the ships will take so much effort!”
To develop Tiandu, the Maritime Forces Department was ordered to carry out a large-scale ship preparation work, which had the navy working overtime. Just crewing the ships took a lot of effort—the pirate leaders who had brought their ships to surrender were mostly still “studying,” and many of the sailors had not yet left the quarantine camp. Moreover, some of these ships had incomplete sails and rigging when they arrived, some had damaged hulls, and the sanitary conditions were simply hellish, with the ships full of rats, cockroaches, ticks, and fleas. The health team had to spray disinfectant and fumigate several times to kill the insects and put out poison bait to kill the rats. Some ships were in such bad condition that they were simply mothballed in the quarantine area of the port, letting the creatures on board fend for themselves.
The navy’s staff, led by Ming Qiu, after a whole night of calculation and planning, concluded that in addition to the Xunjing, the Dajing, the Type 67 landing craft, and the Sanya No. 1, they would need to prepare ten large sailing ships with a deadweight of over two hundred tons to meet the material transport needs of the first wave. Not only did they have to provide support for the first wave, but they also had to carry out subsequent shuttle transport, continuously bringing subsequent materials and personnel ashore.
Just preparing all of them would take a long time. Large sailing ships were not built for transporting infrastructure materials. Many large and oversized cargoes required special modifications to be loaded, and the shipyard was extremely busy.
The escort force consisted of 2 Type 8154 fishing vessels, the motorized gunboat Zhenhai, the sailing gunboat Fubo, and other sailing ships, each equipped with 8 48-pounder carronades and 2 “typewriters” for self-defense.
The Xunjing had 2 typewriters installed on its forecastle. As for the motorized Dajing, which had been fitted with a diesel engine, it was to carry an army artillery platoon, with 2 12-pounder 1857-style cannons directly mounted in sandbag gun emplacements on the deck, plus 1 12-pounder mountain howitzer. If Anyoule was sensible, all would be well. If not, the artillery training team would use it for practice.
In addition, they carried two disassembled 120mm naval rifled muzzle-loaders. These two cannons would be installed on the Luhuitou naval battery.
At the same time, the Dajing and the Xunjing carried a varying number of transport boats on their decks, some of which were motorboats hastily fitted with small steam engines, plus a number of rowing boats, to be used for maneuvering in the bays of Dadonghai and Yulin Port. Chen Haiyang considered this a rare opportunity for a large-scale fleet operation and had all the naval cadets board the ships for internships.
Finally, they also prepared several small sailing ships to be used as communication boats and fishing boats—there were also fishing grounds near Yulin Port, which could provide some local food supplies.
He Ming was responsible for the army’s preparations. He was, after all, a veteran grassroots officer who had actually served in the army, and also the highest-ranking soldier in the army. Compared to the senior army officer corps, which was mainly composed of otaku armored self-defense force major generals and grassroots soldiers and NCOs, he was clearly the most professional.
The dispatched army infantry battalion was commanded by Xi Yazhou. A large number of people on the BBS had exposed him for being absent from work for a long time, using the excuse of having sequelae from tetanus, such as photophobia and aversion to wind, to laze around in the sanatorium. Shi Niaoren had established a sanatorium for personnel from the army, the Far-Range Exploration Team, and departments with heavy physical labor or toxic work, located outside Bairen City, far from the industrial area.
According to the exposé, Xi Yazhou not only stayed in the sanatorium for a long time and refused to be discharged, but also often tried to have affairs with the dispatched health nurses, although he was always righteously rejected by the little nurses trained by Shi Niaoren. After several phone calls from Ma Qianzhu, Xi Yazhou was finally discharged from the sanatorium. It was said that his photophobia had improved a lot, but he still told everyone he met that he must have contracted tetanus during the battle on the Dajing, it just hadn’t manifested yet.
“See, my constant photophobia is proof,” Xi Yazhou complained to Ma Qianzhu, wearing sunglasses.
“Tetanus causes photophobia?” Ma Qianzhu found it a bit hard to believe. “I don’t remember that being a symptom.”
“Of course it does. I’m enduring the pain to serve the organization now…”
“Alright, the organization has decided: you are to be sent to Yulin Port to serve as the commander of the Sanya garrison,” Ma Qianzhu said, looking out the window with his hands behind his back. “You should know that many people are dissatisfied with you now—it seems you made a lot of enemies on the BBS back then. Many of the key personnel were active members of the BBS.”
“I deleted a lot of posts when I was an administrator in the past, and I did offend a group of petty people.”
“They are comrades now,” Ma Qianzhu turned around, the sunlight shining in from the window behind him creating a dazzling halo around his body. “Your thinking is very wrong. This is really dangerous if you continue like this.”
“They’re just all talk—”
“You’re wrong about that. Anyone who is one of the five hundred now will be able to do more than just talk in the future,” Ma Qianzhu didn’t continue. “You’ve been on long-term sick leave, and many people in the army have opinions about you. You can’t go back to the training team. Just go to Yulin Port. There’s room for you to shine there.”
“Alright, I’ll definitely do a good job. You can rest assured!”
“Of course, I’m at ease. Build Sanya into the Transmigration Group’s southern fortress. There’s great potential there,” Ma Qianzhu smiled. “Go and report to He Ming, set up your team, discuss the details, you might have to open fire a few times in Sanya.”
Xi Yazhou returned to the army headquarters and discussed the details of the garrison with He Ming.
It took seven days for a sailing ship to travel from Lin’gao to Sanya. With a limited number of motorboats, if the Yulin Fort garrison encountered a large-scale attack and sent an emergency telegram, they would have to hold out for at least ten days to receive reinforcements. The area to be secured was not small either, so He Ming believed that deploying three infantry companies was not excessive.
Note: The seven-day journey by sailing ship from Lin’gao to Sanya is based on the records of the Zhengde Qiongtai Annals.