Chapter 33 North American Gang
After the special working group returned from Fushandong, the personnel of the Military and Police Department also returned to their respective positions. The two catamaran sailboats "Speed" and "Lightning", which were the main force of maritime patrols, finally resumed normal sea cruising. The other captured Ming Navy ship Haicang is currently being temporarily used as a training base for sailors of the Ministry of Shipping. Yue Zhiyun and Sun Changmi led a group of people to escort the Ming Navy sailors to practice every day. , it seems that the training is very hard, but I don’t know how the captains of the future fleet are doing now.
The alarm clock was ready to ring at six o'clock in the morning, waking up Tom Wang from his sleep. He rubbed his eyes and quickly stretched and sat up. After sitting there for about half a minute, Wang Tom jumped out of the bed and walked out of the cabin, turned on the faucet, took a glass of water and started to rinse his mouth. The internal structure of this "Speed" is very similar to that of the slightly smaller "Lightning". They both have three independent living cabins, a common living cabin, toilet and kitchen. However, the hull of the "Speed" is slightly larger, and the internal space is also more spacious.
But these are minor issues now, because except for Wang Tom, everyone else in the North American Gang has moved to the prefabricated house in Base No. 1. The space on this ship currently belongs to his own world. Just for the sake of strategic preparation, the North American gang will take turns to send one person to spend the night on another "Lightning" every day. After all, there are only a handful of people like him who can live at sea for many years, even if all of them own sailboats. The same goes for the North American gang of yacht driving skills. No one likes to stay at sea for a long time like Tom Wang. In the eyes of others, sailing on a boat should only be considered work or recreation, and it will never be the whole life.
Tom Wang's world view is indeed different from theirs. After participating in the first Vendee Global Sailing Race, he knew that he was the kind of person who was born to belong to the sea. So in the next eight years, he participated in two more sessions of what is recognized as the most brutal sailing competition.
This round-the-world sailing race organized by the French is held every four years. The participating sailboats set sail from France, go south along the west coast of Africa, around the Cape of Good Hope, then all the way east, around the entire Antarctic continent, across Cape Horn, and then along the east coast of South America. Go north, cross the Atlantic and finally return to France. This sailing route through countless dangerous seas and strong storms can simply be described as "crazy". However, what is even more crazier is that this race is actually set as a "single round-the-world sailing race without docking". What they want What they have to overcome is not only the bad weather and the difficult-to-identify course, but more importantly, living alone on the endless ocean for several months and facing everything alone. It can be said that every captain can complete the entire four-month race. They are all brave men with skill, courage and strong will.
Tom, the cruel competition king, has completed it three times. If he had not participated in this time-travel event, he knew that he would definitely participate in the next time, and maybe he would be able to break the old competition record with his rich competition experience. But in the end, Tom Wang gave up the sailing race and decisively chose to participate in time travel, because as an avid navigator, there is nothing more exciting than traveling to the early 17th century and personally experiencing the Age of Discovery. Although he arrived too late to discover the New World, it doesn't matter. The various routes in Tom Wang's mind are enough to make him the greatest navigator of this era, such as Columbus, Vasco da Gama, Cabral, and Dickinson. Ashes and Magellan will all be defeated by the fast routes he will open up in the future that rely on ocean currents. Tom Wang believes that in a few years, people will hold regular round-the-world sailing races named after him to commemorate him as a great sailing pioneer.
After washing up, Tom Wang got dressed, and then made a habit of patrolling around the cabin and the deck to make sure the ship was in good condition, and then went down from the stern gangway to the dock pier. At this time, Morgan happened to come out of another "Lightning" and saw him, and both of them raised their hands to greet each other.
Morgan is the oldest of the six members of the North American gang. He is forty-four years old this year, but he did not take his family to participate in the time travel like Johnson. Tom Wang has known Morgan for nearly ten years. He knew that Morgan Sr. got divorced last year and that his son and daughter ended up with his ex-wife Susan. It is said that the family is living happily on a farm in Texas. Old Morgan was a very gentle and reserved person. Although he never mentioned it, Wang Tom thought that this might be the reason why he would travel to another time and space with a few old friends - to say goodbye to his past life, say goodbye to his family, and try to forget Everything in the past.
Neither Tom Wang nor anyone else comforted Morgan. This is not what American men do. As a good friend who has known each other for many years, we should find ways to help him get back on his feet, instead of just saying a few innocuous words such as "I'm sorry". Fortunately, the trick of traveling back to the seventeenth century has obviously worked. All his companions can feel that Morgan has become a lot more cheerful recently. When he was at the free clinic in Lidong two days ago, for the first time, old Morgan even talked to the natives who did not understand the language. Making faces and showing off.
"Good morning!" Morgan greeted Tom Wang in Chinese word for word. Learn to speak in Chinese as soon as possible. This is the basic requirement of the Executive Committee for the North American gang. Although there are not many people with English conversation skills in the entire team, it is obvious that the executive committee is unlikely to give special care to the six of them in this regard, and Chinese will definitely be determined as the cross-travel group in their lifetimes The official language exists, so learning Chinese has become another important task for them in addition to patrolling the sea every day.
Among the six members of the North American Gang, only Tom Wang's Chinese is slightly better. Although his accent is a bit strange, he can basically communicate with other members. Therefore, most of the task of teaching Chinese falls on Wang Tom's shoulders. Occasionally, Gu Kai and Schneider will come over in the evening to help them give language lessons. But no matter what language you learn, the most important thing is to practice it at any time, and Morgan obviously implements this very well.
The entrance to the cafeteria at Base No. 1 is obviously not as busy as usual. Now including the two of them, there are only a dozen people waiting in line for breakfast. Due to the hydropower station project, most people have now moved to the camp at Base No. 2. Therefore, there are almost only one-fifth of the people in Victory Port and Base No. 1, and those cultivators who struggled in the mud all day yesterday are probably still shouting because of excessive fatigue. Sleeping.
Soon the other four members of the North American gang also appeared. Johnson went out with his whole family. His wife Laura held the hands of their two daughters Jessica and Emily, aged 11 and 7 respectively. Qiao Zhiya and his two good friends Roger and Shi Diwen, both from ABC, were eagerly talking about the unfinished card game last night. Roger and Shi Diwen were both senior technicians of General Motors before traveling through time. They were also special personnel affiliated with the dual establishment of the Ministry of Industry and the Ministry of Military and Police. However, so far, their expertise has not been able to be deployed in various infrastructure projects. It has a wide range of uses, so it is basically responsible for maritime patrol and security tasks according to the arrangements of the Military and Police Department.
The breakfast served in the cooking class today is porridge and steamed buns. If necessary, you can ask for a little kimchi. Qiao Zhiya sighed as soon as he saw the steamed buns. He really didn't like the taste of this "Chinese bread", and a few days ago he tried to ask the people in the cooking class to "cut the steamed buns into slices and bake them," but he was taken for granted. They were looking for trouble and almost got into a conflict because of this.
The treatment received by Johnson's two daughters was obviously much better than that of the unfortunate Georgia. In addition to the staple food, each of them also received a glass of milk and an egg. This is the "Children's Nutrition Security Plan" specially formulated by the Executive Committee. That is to say, the children of Chuangzhong must not only ensure sufficient food supply, but also take into account nutritional supplements. At present, the agricultural development level of Chuangzhong is still at In the initial stage, the only nutritional products that can be stably provided are milk and eggs. "Good morning, everyone!" With a greeting, Gu Kai appeared next to the North American Gang with a smile on his face.
"Kevin, why are you here?" As an old friend, Wang Tom still habitually calls Gu Kai by his English name: "As far as I know, apart from those of us who are going to patrol the sea, there are only women and the elderly. And children will stay here, please tell me, which category do you belong to? ”
"Like you, I am also going to patrol the sea." Gu Kai deliberately spread his hands and turned around. At this time, everyone in the North American Gang noticed that this lawyer who always relied on suits and ties to swindle was actually wearing a camouflage suit today. Training uniform appears. The sun is really rising in the west. You must know that Gu Kai is a complete pacifist and has never liked anything related to the military. Who is so crazy today that he didn't have time to take medicine?
Wang Tom suddenly thought of something and said in shock: "Yesterday the executive committee informed us that someone will go to sea with us to perform a special mission today. Is it you who will be sent?"
Gu Kai put away his smile and nodded seriously: "Yes, I am the Central Commissioner you are waiting for. I will be responsible for commanding today's special operations. All of you must obey my orders!"
As expected, Gu Kai received twelve middle fingers in response. It was obvious that his bluffing tactics were not tolerated in front of these people from the North American Gang.
Gu Kai didn't take it seriously and shrugged: "I'm not kidding you. Let's have a meeting on the boat after breakfast."
Fifteen minutes later, everyone filed out of Base No. 1. Bearded Johnson also kissed his wife and children goodbye, and then came to the "Speed" with his companions.
"Okay, if you know anything, tell me quickly. If you try again, I can't guarantee that they won't throw you into the sea." Wang Tom threatened, rolling up his sleeves.
Gu Kai raised his hands in a gesture of surrender: "Okay, here's the thing, the Executive Committee has arranged a place where you need to conduct an on-site survey, and my duty is to make an objective assessment of the results of this survey and provide it to the Executive Committee for review Reference for the next action plan.”
"Is this another war?" "Are we going to attack Yazhou City, a hundred miles west of Sanya?" Several militants who missed the last battle immediately became excited.
"Well... things are not what you think. There won't be any battle. I think you will be disappointed." Gu Kai quickly tried to calm down these guys.
(End of chapter)