Chapter 6 Preparations in progress (2)
Tao Donglai clicked on the preparation announcement posts of several departments. There was nothing wrong with the content, but the replies below were noisy and lively. Especially the Military and Police Department, which Yan Chujie was in charge of, actually opened a voting post for members to choose. Small arms that the Crossing Group should purchase. Now the intention of the Military and Police Department to purchase weapons has been postponed indefinitely by the Preparatory Committee, but it is actually quite easy to do something to attract everyone's attention. Although this post states that the voting results are only used as a reference for future arms procurement plans and will not affect the final decision of the Military and Police Department, more than 90% of the current team are men, even if they have never served as a soldier or handled a gun. It's hard for people to suppress their enthusiasm for firearms, and Tao Donglai, a veteran, is certainly no exception.
Regarding what kind of firearms to purchase, the debate between European and American series and Russian series is naturally the focus of debate among the participants of this voting post. Almost all members who have had military experience tend to be Russian-style, because the Type 56 and Type 81 guns equipped by our army are well-known imitation Russian-style light weapons, like Tao Donglai’s own in the army. At that time, the Type 56 submachine gun and the Type 81-1 automatic rifle were used, also known as the Bayi Bar. As for the Type 95 that was later equipped to the troops, Tao Donglai's army failed to catch up with the equipment until he retired. From the perspective of these veterans, Russian weapons have familiar performance, are easy to maintain, and are durable. They are undoubtedly the most suitable choice for a militia-type military team like the Crossing Army.
Compared with the personal experience of veterans, those who support European and American firearms are mainly keyboard military strategists. Although these people have no military experience, most of them have only been exposed to firearms using the Type 56 during military training in college. They have fired a few live ammunition in semi-automatics, but most of them are military fans who usually visit major military websites. They are familiar with the performance advantages and disadvantages of various light and heavy weapons, especially the reliability of European and American light weapons on battlefields around the world in the past ten years. Performance is the main reason for their strong recommendation.
Veterans naturally raised various objections, especially the huge price gap between European and American models and Russian models. The civilian versions of rifles that can now be purchased in American gun stores are semi-automatic models whose performance has been castrated. The civilian version of an AK47 only costs a few hundred dollars, and the civilian version of the German HK416 has shone in the Middle East battlefields in recent years. But it costs about three thousand US dollars. This price difference is a factor that cannot be ignored when purchasing arms. Although everyone is arguing fiercely, people who know firearms know very well that in the end, you get what you pay for, an industrial product with a certain technical content like arms. If you want excellent weapon performance, you must increase the procurement budget by a large amount. This is indeed a dilemma for policymakers.
Of course, as an old comrade and the head of the Military and Police Department, Yan Chujie had already exchanged opinions with Tao Donglai in private. Both of them believed that equipping all employees with automatic weapons was a very undesirable solution. This was not just a matter of procurement cost. , but because the use of automatic weapons requires a certain degree of professional military training. The final procurement plan will definitely focus on semi-automatic weapons, and only a very small number of professional military personnel who will serve as external force support after time travel will be equipped with high-end weapons.
For now, this vote is more like a public opinion poll. Because of the numerical advantage of the keyboard military strategists, the pro-European and American opinions have the upper hand for the time being. After Tao Donglai carefully read the replies one by one, he had to admit that this decision was really difficult to make, because in the end, no matter which side he favored, he might be scolded by the other faction, although most of this scolding was limited to forum, but thinking about it still makes Tao Donglai feel uncomfortable.
"Let's look at something else first." This post aroused Tao Donglai's interest in the small forum, and he clicked on the "Chatting" section. Seeing that the content was all insignificant topics, he jumped to it. " Opinions and Suggestions" section, and the content here immediately caught his attention again.
The people who publish articles in this section are basically ordinary members who are not department heads, and the questions and suggestions raised are all kinds of strange. For example, the content of the first post that Tao Donglai checked was to suggest that the organizing committee should introduce Hainan locals into the team, especially those from the Li ethnic group. Hainan dialects include Wenchang dialect, which is close to the southern Fujian dialect, Danzhou dialect, which is close to Cantonese, and Hakka, Lingao, Li, Miao and other accents. The Li ethnic group is the largest minority group in Hainan. There are currently six Li autonomous counties on Hainan Island alone. If the travel team wants to take root on Hainan Island, language and ethnic relations are two issues that must be paid enough attention to. Tao Donglai wrote down this suggestion in writing and planned to gradually solve it in the subsequent preparatory work.
Another post suggested that the organizing committee start crew training as soon as possible. This member whose ID is "I won't go to work tomorrow" put forward an opinion. He believed that since the preparatory committee has chosen Yulin Port in Sanya as the crossing destination, the means of transportation for transporting supplies must choose ships, and a large ship must Dozens of crew members are often required, and a large number of them are technical positions, which cannot be filled by just anyone. In particular, important positions such as captain, first mate, navigator, and chief engineer must have sufficient manpower. In addition, there is definitely no way to solve the fuel problem in the short term after the crossing. By then, these mechanically powered ships will obviously not be able to continue to be used on a large scale. It is estimated that wind-powered sailboats will still have to be relied on as the main means of transportation for a long period of time in the future. , even if some sailors can be recruited in that time and space in the future, at least there must be a group of our own people who know how to operate sailboats. In view of the fact that there is not much time left and the training period for crew members is extremely long, we must find ways to implement on-the-job training for crew members as soon as possible.
Tao Donglai then read a few more posts. Some people suggested that in order to deal with European colonists in the future, they could consider introducing some foreigners who are interested in traditional Chinese culture; some people suggested that in order to establish their own financial system as soon as possible after time travel, Coins and banknotes can be prepared in certain quantities using the technology of this time and space before traveling through time, and then brought directly there for use. Some people also suggest going to Yiwu to purchase small commodities in large quantities to earn start-up capital from transactions with the Ming Dynasty and Western colonial companies after traveling through time. means.
There were actually quite a few advice posts like this. Although Tao Donglai benefited a lot from them, it also caused more headaches. Although it is a good thing that these enthusiasts have checked and filled in the gaps, they have also added many items to the already arduous preparation work. For this crew training alone, Tao Donglai felt overwhelmed when he thought of allocating a number of people to spend several months learning the knowledge of driving a ship. "Manpower, the key to solving all problems is manpower!" Tao Donglai clenched his fists and secretly decided to advance the interview time for the next batch of candidates by another week.
So in late May, the organizing committee welcomed the third batch of candidates for interviews. The number of candidates in this batch directly exceeded the sum of the previous two batches, directly reaching one hundred and thirty people. The reason for this is not only that the Preparatory Committee has relaxed the admission principles for some special objects, but more importantly, there are several professional and technical teams among this group of people that the Preparatory Committee has been waiting for for a long time.
The first small team we welcomed was an old expert named Yuan Ruoxiu from the Agricultural Science Institute of a city on the southeast coast. He is now fifty-four years old. This time he came directly with his family of three. The reason why Yuan Ruoxiu came to Guangzhou was actually because his apprentice Gao Huan had participated in the second batch of interviews and decided to join the time-travel team. Yuan Ruoxiu's family of three have all worked in the field of agricultural research for many years. In addition to Yuan Ruoxiu himself, who specializes in cash crops, Yuan Ruoxiu's wife Zhu Ping has been engaged in research on food crops. The couple's only son Yuan Qiuye has inherited part of his parents' expertise. , the main research direction turned out to be poultry and livestock. In the eyes of the organizing committee, this small team of four is a micro-agricultural science institute. To the traveling team, this is like a giant pie falling from the sky.
Gao Huan's biological parents passed away early, and his relationship with Yuan Ruoxiu was that of master, apprentice, and father and son. After he returned, he told about his experiences in Guangzhou. Yuan Ruoxiu was worried that he would be deceived, and refused to let Gao Huan leave no matter what. Gao Huan originally He deliberately invited Yuan Ruoxiu and his family to join the group. After his repeated persuasion, Yuan Ruoxiu finally relented and decided to take a trip to Guangzhou with the whole family. But Yuan Ruoxiu also said ugly things earlier. If what Gao Huan said is indeed true, then everything is easy to talk about, and even joining this team is not out of the question. But if there is fraud, Yuan Ruoxiu will definitely call the police decisively.
It was actually not difficult to dispel the doubts of Yuan Ruoxiu's family. After a short discussion, the organizing committee decided to keep the family no matter what, even if it took a little risk. So Yuan Ruoxiu and his family, together with Gao Huan, were fortunate enough to become the first time travelers besides members of the organizing committee, and visited the Ming City Wall on Yuexiu Mountain on a dark and windy night.
Gao Huan, who returned to reality, was as shocked by what he saw as Ning Qi. Even though he had been mentally prepared for it, seeing the Guangzhou city in 1626 up close was such a psychological shock. The shock is still hard to resist. Old Yuan Tou, on the other hand, was quite calm. When he spoke, he still stayed true to his profession, which he had been doing for most of his life: "It is said that the late Ming Dynasty and the early Qing Dynasty were the Little Ice Age. This kind of climate environment is still a blank field for our current agricultural scientific research. At my age, what else can I ask for to have this kind of opportunity to do field research?”
This kind of rigorous academic professionalism gave the preparatory committee, which had already prepared a lot of rhetoric, no room to use their words, and they couldn't help but respect the old man in their hearts. As soon as the matter was settled, Yuan Ruoxiu arranged for his son Yuan Qiuye to go back and handle the resignation procedures for the whole family and Gao Huan, while he took his wife and Gao Huan straight to Hainan, saying that he wanted to go there first to inspect the water and soil environment of the landing site.
Ning Qi also wrote a special article and published it on the forum, praising Mr. Yuan as "an old man who is brave and ambitious for a thousand miles" and encouraged the members to also "work hard and fast, seize the day". Although Ning Qi's writing style is full of CCTV news, everyone knows the importance of agriculture to the time-travel team, so this promotional draft still aroused quite a response among the members, and many people clamored and tried their best to persuade. The professional and technical personnel I know have joined in the great cause of time travel. The five-person team of verbal abusers assessed the situation and decided to give full play to their own advantages. They held a meeting overnight to formulate a complete talent persuasion plan, and published a trial draft on the forum for members to follow the diagram directly.
(End of chapter)