Chapter 167: The Delegation

“Didn’t the plan say that the refugee bases would be on Jeju and Taiwan?” Liu San interjected. As a member of the Senate, he had roughly read the entire plan on the internal BBS. Before boarding the ship, he had also read the mission briefing for the Haitian’s voyage.

Zhao Yigong explained that while the refugee bases were indeed on Jeju and Taiwan, a forward base was also needed in Shandong as a transit point for collecting refugees and a base for the work teams.

Now, through the Hangzhou Catholic Church, they had established a connection with Sun Yuanhua. With his support, it would not be a problem to set up a fortified village in the Deng-Lai area under the pretext of land reclamation to serve as a base.

The scale of the base did not need to be large. If it were too large, it would involve the problem of having to station a garrison, which would further squeeze the resources of the Planning Commission allocated for Operation Engine. Therefore, the scale of this base could not be large, and it had to be based on using local resources in Shandong, including population and building materials.

After Operation Engine, the Shandong base could be retained or dismantled depending on the situation. Zhao Yigong’s inclination was to try to keep it as a foothold for the future conquest of Shandong.

“If possible, it’s not a bad idea to have one or two Elders as powerful landlords in Shandong,” Zhao Yigong said. “The coast of Shandong has potential for agriculture, fishing, and commerce.”

While Zhao Yigong was chatting with Li Ziping and the others on the sterncastle, the other members of the delegation on the forecastle were on tenterhooks. Most of them were unwilling to come aboard the “ship that spews black smoke” and had been forced to do so. A few merchant-like figures sat hunched over on the benches temporarily prepared for them, wondering how much silver they would have to fork out for this “sending off of the gods.” They hadn’t touched the tea and snacks on the folding table. The only one who was calm and composed was Zhao Tong. As Zhao Yigong’s bodyguard, he of course knew that his master had an unusual relationship with the Australians.

Gao Xuan sat cautiously on the stool, looking at the tea and snacks on the table, and couldn’t help but swallow. The poor scholar Gao Xuan’s presence on the ship was purely a business transaction. He was here as a substitute, not because he admired Australian culture and wanted to get a closer look, but because a clerk in the delegation was unwilling to risk facing the “Australians” and had paid him four taels of silver to take his place.

Gao Xuan was poor and had little ambition. The fact that his family was on the verge of starvation forced him to accept the four taels of silver. Fortunately, the matter was not troublesome; he just had to follow the others.

“Just do as Master Zhao says,” the clerk who had paid him had instructed. “You can leave after you get off the ship. You don’t need to worry about the rest.”

After boarding the ship, he saw that Master Zhao was taken into the cabin alone, while the rest of them were left here, attended by a few sailors. They seemed friendly and could speak Chinese. But on the deck, there were soldiers with muskets everywhere. They wore blue and white short jackets and held their muskets menacingly, looking as if they were facing a great enemy. Everyone was on edge, and no one had any interest in drinking tea or eating snacks.

But Gao Xuan hadn’t eaten anything since morning—the so-called breakfast was just buckwheat rice crust from the bottom of the pot boiled with a little water. His family had been out of rice for several days and had only managed to get by with some miscellaneous grains bought with the help of his father-in-law and brother-in-law. Now, he saw a lot of snacks in front of him—in fact, they were just several kinds of fancy biscuits specially supplied to the Elders on the ship, including the very rare butter cookies, waffles, jackfruit biscuits, and salted soda crackers.

The accompanying drink was kombucha. Not only was kvass carbonated, but it was also still fermenting, making it unsuitable for long-term storage and transportation on a ship.

Finally, he couldn’t resist picking up a white, long, rectangular snack—it looked like it had a flaky crust. He took a bite, and a cloyingly sweet taste immediately spread in his mouth, but just as he was about to savor it, the biscuit disappeared in his mouth without a trace.

This strange sensation immediately stimulated his stomach, which immediately protested loudly. Soon, all kinds of biscuits had ended up in his stomach. At first, Gao Xuan was a little concerned about saving face, but seeing that everyone had no appetite, his physiological needs finally triumphed over his spiritual needs. He began to eat heartily and soon devoured all the biscuits on the table like a whirlwind. He then drank two glasses of kombucha in one go.

“This gentleman has a good appetite,” said a Huizhou merchant sitting opposite him—the head of the local tea guild. Tea was a big business in Hangzhou, and since the tea guild was rich, they were inevitably responsible for many expenses. The cost of sending this ship away had naturally fallen on the tea guild this time. Seeing this pretentious scholar eating and drinking with such gusto, without a care in the world, the guild leader was very unhappy and couldn’t help but curse under his breath, “A good-for-nothing glutton!”

Gao Xuan’s face flushed, but he still retorted, “Since we are on this ship, are we not at their mercy? Instead of sitting around worrying, it’s better to eat and drink freely!”

The guild leader sneered and said no more. He was no match for the scholars in a battle of words, but he looked down on these “sour scholars” who couldn’t become officials. He looked at the deck—it was truly strange. There were ropes, sails, and various instruments he didn’t recognize everywhere. At first glance, it was a mess, but on closer inspection, it seemed to be in good order. The sailors all had their own duties and did not walk around randomly. No one chatted casually, and they seemed very disciplined.

“What a fierce band of thieves,” the guild leader thought, and a cold sweat broke out on his back. He wondered if they knew he was the owner of a tea plantation and would hold him for ransom.

After Gao Xuan had eaten his fill, his mood relaxed. He was a poor scholar with nothing to his name and not many worries. Instead, he began to observe the Haitian with curiosity. He was particularly interested in the big, black, thick, and tall chimney on the base in the middle of the deck. It spewed black smoke almost constantly, and from time to time, it would also emit some white steam.

The city had been abuzz with discussion about this black chimney for the past few days. Some said it was an Australian evil art, and the chimney was used for their sacrifices to the gods. The black smoke was some kind of exotic incense from overseas. Others said that there was a huge furnace under the chimney that was constantly burning, using the fire to propel the ship. The latter statement was ridiculed by many: how could a large wooden ship have a large furnace burning every day without burning the ship itself? As for using fire to propel a ship, it was unheard of. Some also speculated that there were animals under the deck pushing a water wheel…

Gao Xuan was also very curious, but even though he was only a dozen yards away from the huge chimney, he couldn’t figure it out. But he was sure of one thing: the smoke coming out of the chimney was definitely not some “exotic incense from overseas,” but real coal smoke. There must be a large furnace under the chimney.

He really wanted to get closer and take a good look, but he didn’t dare. What if it was some “military restricted area”? If he got too close, he might lose his head. So his gaze shifted to the cannon that was close at hand.

The 48-pounder cannon on the forecastle was not covered with a gun coat. The finely cast iron barrel was aimed straight at Hangzhou, and the barrel was polished to a shine. Gao Xuan noticed that the cannon was mounted on a strange gun carriage. There were no wheels under the carriage, but there were two black iron rails, which were already polished bright from friction. On the ship’s side next to the barrel, a row of round, black cannonballs was stuck in a long groove. Everything seemed to be in good order.

Like all late-Ming Confucian scholars, Gao Xuan had a strong interest in “gewu” (the investigation of things), “huoqi” (firearms), and “bingxue” (military science). This was related to the social and historical background of the time. The continuous military defeats made the court and the country have high hopes for developing and introducing some new weapons to turn the tide of the war. At that time, not only was there a climax of paper firearm development, but there were also many so-called new tactics, such as “defeating the enemy with javelins,” “defeating the enemy with clubs”… and so on.

Like all similar “military enthusiasts” of the Ming Dynasty, he was all talk and no action, with no skills or experience, just wishful thinking. At the Wanbi Bookstore, he had once wanted to find some Australian books on military strategy to achieve a surprise victory, but there were no such books in the bookstore. Now that he saw this “excellent” Australian cannon right under his nose, he of course had to take a few more glances.

Suddenly, someone shouted, “Enemy contact, 105 degrees!” With this shout, the few sailors standing by the cannon rushed to their positions and turned the cannon towards the direction of the warning reported by the lookout.

Compared to the size of the cannon, its rapid rotation surprised Gao Xuan even more. Four or five gunners moved the cannon with ease, and it was clear that they had not used much effort. Moreover, it did not make any unpleasant creaking sounds, which surprised everyone present.

Gao Xuan knew that it was not difficult to make an object rotate—wooden doors, wheels, stone mills… it was just a matter of installing a round axle. But if the object on top was too heavy, it would not be so easy to rotate, and it might not even be able to rotate at all.

What was the secret under the Australian cannon? Gao Xuan stared at the base under the cannon, hoping to see some clues. If he could write it in a book, maybe some big shot would take a fancy to him and recruit him as an adviser. With the help of a big shot, it would not be a problem to become a juren. If he did well, he could even get an official position after a few years, which would make his father-in-law look at him with new eyes and make his brother-in-law kneel before him respectfully to greet him. This waiter had no respect for him now and was very rude in his words!

The sailors didn’t know what Scholar Gao was planning. They were just nervously paying attention to the riverbank where the threat was. After a while, the warning was lifted. The three ox-carts that the lookout had seen were not hauling cannons, but were loaded with the “rewards” that the Hangzhou government had prepared to send to the ship.