Chapter 10 Final preparations before time travel
A few days later, the news coming back from Europe made the Executive Committee excited but also a little dissatisfied. The North American Gang's contact with the underground arms dealer was very smooth. It is said that the other party showed a sufficient supply of goods and could deliver the goods just waiting for payment here. But because of this, the procurement team requested to increase the purchase of some special ordnance, such as MG4 machine guns, RPG rockets, small-caliber mortars, etc.
The Executive Committee has always had great doubts about whether the group needs to be equipped with such heavy firepower weapons, because purchasing large quantities of arms is itself an unreasonable behavior in the opinion of the Executive Committee. The main purpose of everyone traveling to the Ming Dynasty is not Kill them as fast as you can, and use advanced weapons from four hundred years later to spread the world. Even if these hundreds of people are fully armed to the teeth, how many people can you kill? Besides, whether it's machine gun belts or mortar shells, these are not things that can be made in a short time after time travel. These heavy weapons are definitely very enjoyable when used, but once the ammunition is exhausted, they will be a pile of scrap metal.
After discussion, the Executive Committee urgently dispatched Yan Chujie and Schneider as representatives to personally fly over to participate in this last arms purchase plan. After all, this is the last important project in the preparation work, and the organization should also show sufficient attention. But the committee members who stayed in Guangzhou soon regretted this decision - after these two guys went there, instead of rejecting the North American gang's plan, they added more content, so they finally saved money on the ship project. All the funds were filled back.
In fact, the additional expenses proposed by Yan Chujie and Schneider are not without reason. In addition to the automatic rifles and pistols that were originally planned to become official equipment for the light and heavy weapons ordered by the North American gang in Europe, almost all of the various firearms and military equipment that can be purchased are in small quantities. Samples were purchased for future imitation when production levels were reached in another time and space. After all, modern firearms are not low-level equipment such as matchlocks that can be made by knowing the principles. Having a physical comparison can save many detours in future imitations. As a result, the content of the purchase list will naturally increase greatly, and the cost will definitely not be controlled. In addition, the guns and ammunition already weigh several tons. How to transport this batch of arms from Europe to Asia has become another problem. Fortunately, Schneider had many contacts in Europe, and it only took a short time to find a solution - buy a boat.
The executive committee had begun to have some insufficient purchasing funds on hand and could no longer meet this unplanned purchasing plan, so in the end, the North American gang raised funds on its own and purchased two self-powered Polish motor-driven sailing yachts, one large and one small. The two boats will also be part of the crossing program as their personal property. One of them is 25 meters long and 11 meters wide, with two 330-horsepower diesel engines and a displacement of 75 tons; the other is 21 meters long and 10 meters wide, with two 240-horsepower diesel engines. It is worth noting that both ships are single-masted catamarans. Their large and wide hulls make their load capacity and seaworthiness much better than ordinary sailing yachts of the same tonnage. The ship has complete living facilities and can easily reach speeds of more than 10 knots even without engine propulsion. The sails and rigging on the ship are very easy to operate and can be driven by only two to three crew members. As long as sufficient supplies are stored, the two ships can maintain their self-sustainability at sea for more than half a month. Even in another time and space, they can continue to be used as tools for rapid maritime transportation and crew skills training.
Of course, with these two ships, the personal luggage limit issued by the Executive Committee will not work for the North American gang. As long as the ship can accommodate them, they can take as much as they want. After completing the procurement plan, Yan Chujie and Schneider returned to Guangzhou first. In addition to staying and being responsible for the final receipt and loading of the goods, the North American gang will also drive the two ships south through the Mediterranean, passing through the Suez Canal, the Red Sea, and the Gulf of Aden. Sailing into the Indian Ocean, passing through the Strait of Malacca and then entering the South China Sea, it finally rendezvoused with the large forces in Sanya, Hainan.
This will definitely be a very arduous voyage that may last several months. But the North American gang was very interested in it and insisted on completing this special journey before crossing over. In the words of North American sailing expert Wang Tom, the hydrological route data that can be accumulated after this trip will definitely play an extremely important role in opening up the Asia-Europe waterway after traveling to another time and space. Of course, for safety reasons, these two ships will not go deep into the ocean, and their route will not leave the coastline too far. After all, their main task is to transport this batch of arms to Hainan before April, otherwise the entire crossing will All plans will be greatly affected.
After March, the executive committee announced that all members have entered the final preparation stage. All personnel who will eventually participate in the plan will gather in Sanya and Guangzhou respectively. At the same time, the recruitment of new members and the purchase of bulk materials will be completely stopped. In early April, during the annual "Hai Tian Feast" held in Sanya, all members will complete the final journey together.
The executive committee set the final action at this time. Firstly, it was considered that a large number of tourists would flow into Sanya from all over the country during the event, and the hundreds of people passing through would not attract too much attention; secondly, it was because of the With the idea of experiencing modern social life for the last time before traveling through time, there is no regrets in setting off on the road after eating and having fun.
Most of those who arrived in Sanya early were members of industry, agriculture, construction and other industrial departments. After they crossed over, they would begin to replicate modern industrial civilization in this land, and there was a large amount of fieldwork that they needed to conduct in advance. Of course, the military and police department in charge of Yan Chujie had already arrived in Sanya to survey the terrain. However, in order to avoid unnecessary complications, they did not focus on the Yulingang area, but the section from Yacheng Town to downtown Sanya. They walked back and forth several times, because the Yazhou government seat in the late Ming Dynasty was in Yacheng Town, and this was also the first military target they needed to deal with after crossing.
On March 20, the Executive Committee closed its office in Guangzhou and destroyed all relevant documents. Traveling members are allowed to contact relatives and friends for the last time, and then they must stop using all communication tools, cut off social relations, and enter the "sleep" state before traveling. Then all the personnel arrived in Sanya by plane in batches according to the arrangements of the executive committee, and checked into several hotels that had already been booked.
On March 25, the Executive Committee's last batch of supplies in the mainland, 40 sets of color steel prefabricated houses, were loaded onto the ship from Chiwan Pier in Shenzhen and headed south to the sea. On March 26, two catamaran sailing ships departed from the port city of Budva in the Republic of Montenegro and finally arrived safely at the Banshan Peninsula Sailing Port in the Luhuitou Development Zone in Sanya after 84 days. The main reason why it took so long was that after a large amount of munitions and supplies were loaded on the ship, the carrying of supplies became quite limited. As a result, part of the original sailing route had to be modified and more supply stops were added along the way. frequency. It is worth mentioning that Johnson, the only surgeon in North America who has a married family, actually asked his wife and two daughters who are still in elementary school to fly from North America to Europe to meet up, and the family completed this amazing journey together on the boat. The unexpected joy of doing so is that it saves a lot of trouble when docking in ports along the way. No one would have thought that these two sailboats with children would have tons of contraband hidden on them.
On March 29, the last batch of supplies from the Ministry of Agriculture was loaded onto a fleet of barges heading south from Haikou in Yingzhou Town, east of Sanya. And this is also the last batch of shipment materials for the entire crossing plan.
On March 30, the leaders of each action group called their own groups. There were 445 people expected, but 450 actually turned up. One of the five extra people was tricked into coming to Hainan by Gu Kai's sweet talk. The foreign girl girlfriend, and the other four were children of single parents who participated in the time travel and had originally been fostered to relatives. In the end, they were brought to Hainan by their reluctant parents before the operation began.
On the afternoon of March 31st, the Executive Committee announced a 24-hour holiday, allowing everyone to move around Sanya freely. At the same time, each person was given an activity fund of RMB 5,000 - this was also the reason why the Executive Committee The last bit of cash on hand. All members must return to their residence before 10 pm on April 1st. At 11 pm, all members will set off to board the ship. Those who have not returned by then will be deemed to have given up their qualifications. Of course, all boat crews, including reserves, are strictly prohibited from drinking alcohol on this day.
In fact, the executive committee still went through some controversy as to whether to allow members to carry out this final madness. The conservative opinion is that since the members have been put into "dormant" state, for safety reasons, they should not make a large-scale public appearance at this last moment; while the other group believes that since they have to say goodbye to this world, they should finally say goodbye. Be humane and give all members a chance to freely choose how to say goodbye. Having said that, these members only have the 5,000 yuan issued by the executive committee. It is difficult for them to do anything. You must know that during the Haitian Feast, rich people from all over the country flocked here in droves. Prices in Sanya were very high. The prices have increased several times, especially for entertainment venues and some adult entertainment projects, which have reached astonishing levels.
The members all went out and went crazy for the last time, but the people on the executive committee couldn't relax. They had to go to each ship separately to check the availability of supplies for the last time, and then deduce a landing plan on paper. Although this kind of deduction has been done many times, everyone knows that every step above must be done well, so that they can direct the subsequent landing operations appropriately and not make a mistake in the order of unloading and landing. . Sun Changmi and Yue Zhiyun of the Shipping Department, as well as Wang Tom, a Chinese young man from North America, will serve as the temporary general leaders of the team, jointly commanding the entire action process from the fleet's departure to landing after crossing.
After dinner time on April 1, the members returned to their respective hotels one after another, and then the leaders of each action team organized the assembly. The extra luggage has already been packed on the ship, and now the members only need to carry some personal belongings and set off. Although many people came back drunk, they were still not lost.
At ten o'clock that night, all personnel were counted and there was no omission, and they set off separately as planned to board the ship at several berths at different piers. The Military Police Department has arranged for people to supervise each ship, and everyone who boards the ship must show an identification number plate distributed in advance. This is also done to prevent problems at the last moment.
At 11:30, on the main ship "New World", Tao Donglai issued the departure order through the radio, marking the official start of the final crossing operation. Each ship slowly sailed out from different docks and headed south to the predetermined meeting point at sea.
(End of chapter)