Chapter 206: The Sea Party (Part 3)

Qian Duoduo was now the navigator, and Li Quan was her messenger, loudly relaying the navigator’s measurement requests to the chiefs acting as surveyors, and then reporting the readings back to the navigator. The little girl, without the many thoughts of an adult, was initially afraid to give orders loudly to these chiefs who were revered by the locals. After being repeatedly told that it was her task, she finally relaxed. For a time, it seemed she was the one giving orders on the boat.

“Report the angle of the fort flagpole,” Qian Duoduo said, leaning over the nautical chart spread out on the navigation table.

“Starboard, report the angle of the fort flagpole!” Li Quan shouted loudly.

“Starboard reports! Fort flagpole angle is 221.4 degrees!” Zheng Shangjie reported the measurement result loudly. She held a digital measuring compass, aligning the target with the crosshairs in the eyepiece through the telescope, pressed the measurement button, and read the degree from the LCD window. The entire compass was set with true north as zero degrees, and the full circle was defined as 360 degrees.

Hearing the reading relayed loudly by Li Quan, Qian Duoduo drew a long, thin line on the nautical chart from the fort’s position. She then had to measure the direction of the customs building and the Fengcheng. Based on the directions of two reference points, the sailboat’s current position could be determined on the nautical chart. A third reference point was used to verify the accuracy of the measurement. If the directions of three reference points could be quickly and accurately measured, the three lines would converge at a single point; otherwise, a triangular intersection area would appear.

After a period of practice, the speed and accuracy of measurement and plotting had improved. Qian Duoduo constantly erased the excess carbon lines, leaving only a series of measurement points and the sailing track. She also frequently looked at the direction of the ribbons on the masthead and asked the captain to report the heading, then told everyone whether to maintain the course, turn, or change sails. After sailing downwind for a while, Qian Shuiting suggested turning the boat around to practice sailing upwind. He soon regretted this suggestion, as Qian Duoduo greatly increased the frequency of changing sails, keeping the few sailors busy. This was nothing for Bei Wei and Xue Ziliang, but for Qian Shuiting, who usually sat in an office, even though his body was much stronger than when he first transmigrated, it was still a bit too much. He first swapped places with Qian Shuixie, then had Zhou Weisen guide the two little girls to reduce the number of sail changes. Too many sail changes would lose the boat’s momentum, keeping it at a low speed. Therefore, mastering the course and the timing of changing sails in a headwind was an important indicator of a captain and navigator’s experience level.

Bei Wei was very interested in the maneuvering skills of this type of sailboat. As the commander of the special forces, he was not interested in battleships or cruisers, but in small vessels that could adapt to coastal activities in various sea areas, used to transport and cover infiltration teams. In his opinion, the Feiyun was agile, well-structured, and especially easy to sail. If it could be replicated, it would be an excellent transport vehicle for the Special Reconnaissance Team’s coastal infiltration and combat operations. He paid attention to every navigation and operation command while handling the sails, observed Zhou Weisen’s actions at the helm, and asked about everything he didn’t understand.

“This skill should also be taught to the special reconnaissance team members,” Bei Wei said, wiping the sweat with a towel. “Boating is a very useful skill for a scout.”

“Although we can’t build an air squadron within ten years, we can at least build a boat squadron,” Chen Sigen said, drinking his fruit juice—he had mixed it with rum since he wasn’t planning to play with guns. “Vinnie, don’t you know how to handle a boat too?”

Xue Ziliang was busy paying court to Sarina. He had been occupied with pacification warfare for several months, which meant he had also neglected Sarina for several months. He had just returned and was planning to seize the time to get Sarina into bed.

Hearing someone speak to him, Xue Ziliang had to reply, “I only know how to use a motorboat or a kayak, not a sailboat.” He then continued chatting with Sarina.

“Qian Shuixie also knows how to handle a boat. Let him help everyone learn,” Qian Shuiting quickly promoted his brother.

“Okay, but he’s the captain of the Sanya detachment now,” Bei Wei considered. “Let’s get a few small sailboats to train in Sanya first. The sea training conditions there are better.”

Lin Chuanqing said, “It’s better not to use these digital instruments too much. They are foolproof enough, but who knows how long they will last. We should still develop old-fashioned equipment. It’s cumbersome, but at least we can repair and build it. I was particularly unaccustomed to it right after D-Day. I was used to radar and navigation instruments, and suddenly having to calculate everything by hand made me dizzy.”

As he said this, he was on the operating table, slicing fresh fish and lobster to make sashimi. Soon, a large platter was filled, with no shortage of horseradish, wasabi, and soy sauce, all grown in small quantities at Wu Nanhai’s farm. Oysters and whole fish were also grilling on the BBQ grill. Lin Shenhe occasionally sprinkled spices on the fish, and waves of fragrant aroma filled the air. Shi Niaoren had already started eating.

Everyone then started a lively discussion about equipment. So far, the transmigrator group’s precision instrument manufacturing was still a blank slate. Although a standard weights and measures workshop had been established to manufacture various weighing instruments, various precision instruments, including telescopes, vernier calipers, and sextants, were basically still from the old timeline’s stock.

“The bottleneck of precision instruments and equipment is not so easy to break through,” Shi Niaoren said while eating a charcoal-grilled oyster and drinking rum-laced fruit juice soda. “The Planning Commission only has a plan and hasn’t invested yet. We don’t know where the specialized processing equipment is. If you want to talk about something that touches on precision instruments now, it’s probably the surgical instruments made by the medical equipment factory—they are barely usable.”

“The issue of equipping officers with telescopes was raised at the ‘Plan, Do, Check, Act’ meetings after both the second anti-encirclement campaign and the Pearl River punitive expedition. I wonder if it has been put on the agenda?”

“With the Executive Committee’s efficiency, it would be good if they remembered it by next summer.”

“Actually, the Executive Committee is very efficient—but they are basically a group of bureaucrats who particularly love procedures,” Shi Niaoren, due to his special status, often had contact with the high-ranking members of the Executive Committee and was very familiar with their thinking. “President Wen is a European-style bureaucratic system, and the Governor-General is a socialist bureaucratic system.”

“Bureaucracy is neither socialist nor capitalist,” Lin Shenhe said. He cautiously avoided joining the specific commentary. “As for optical instruments, someone from the Ministry of Science and Technology is preparing to start working on it. He’s a relative of mine. I heard he’s planning to start with reading glasses.”

“If you need a few eyeglass lenses, doesn’t the Ministry of Health have an automatic lens grinding machine and resin lenses?”

Lin Shenhe sprinkled some black pepper and chopped green onions on an oyster, then forked it, blew on it, and put it directly into his mouth. “That’s for the elders. How many people can enjoy it? What happens if the lens grinding machine breaks down in the future?”

“Reading glasses can also be a growth point for trade. Both reading glasses and nearsighted glasses have a market. We can also sell magic mirrors.”

“There were people in the Ming dynasty who could grind eyeglasses. They have all of these,” Shi Niaoren opened a raw oyster, squeezed some lemon juice on it, and swallowed it whole. “But the Ming people didn’t have glass. They used high-quality crystal.”

“What a waste. We should grab a few craftsmen to work for us.”

“Even if they were willing to come, I wouldn’t dare to take them. I estimate the craftsmen’s skills are good, but they have no concept of diopters or anything.”

“I heard the eyeglass-making trade is in Nanjing. I don’t know if that’s true or not.”

The group chatted casually, quickly finishing a basket of oysters. Normally, no one would give a second glance to the oyster soup served in the cafeteria, but now, with the sea breeze blowing and a little wine—Qian Shuiting had specially taken out a few bottles of Californian red and white wine from the Feiyun’s cellar, and also opened a bottle of Wuliangye. The wine was from the chartered yacht, to be settled upon return, while the Wuliangye was bought in the US before they left. Buying famous domestic liquor in the US was not only inexpensive but also almost free of fakes. The Qian brothers and Zhou Weisen all enjoyed a few sips when they had nothing to do and had bought quite a lot.

After sailing for a while longer, Qian Duoduo finally had her fill of commanding and asked the adults to take her and her friend to play on the jet skis. As part of the chartered sailboat, the boat was equipped with two jet skis. Although they had played with them for a while in Hawaii, after they set sail for Hainan, to save gasoline and machinery, the two jet skis had their fuel and oil drained and were stored in plastic protective covers. After the transmigration, they had proposed to hand over the two jet skis to the public, but both the navy and the port authority felt that these things had no protective capabilities, could not undertake combat missions, burned gasoline, and had delicate mechanical maintenance. In the end, only the Ministry of Science and Technology requisitioned one for STC storage, while the other was left with the Feiyun, to be used only in emergencies.

To be able to play with this jet ski, the Qian brothers had racked their brains, including consulting whether it was possible to convert it to gas power or use alcohol, which were of course all impossible.

Right now, no one had gasoline, and the Feiyun’s engine also had no gasoline available. The gasoline brought from the other timeline had been used up. Now, the chemical department could obtain a small amount of gasoline by refining and distilling coal tar, but it was impossible to allocate it to private individuals for entertainment. Liquid fuel was a level-one controlled material, with even stricter management than weapons and ammunition. Getting a little gasoline was as difficult as reaching the sky.

In the end, Qian Shuiting managed to extract some “bottom oil” from the yacht’s fuel tank with a hand pump. It was actually the oil at the bottom of the tank, which had accumulated because the engine’s fuel pump couldn’t reach it.

The amount of oil extracted was not small, but since it had been stored for almost three years, no one knew if it could be used. Qian Shuiting had to try it out with a “let’s see” attitude. He injected the stored oil into the jet ski and started it. The engine surprisingly let out a puff of black smoke and then started running normally.