Chapter 116 Overseas Investigation (3)
On the sea ahead, the outline of an island is gradually emerging. This is a very important stopping point on this route - Fushuizhou Island. The expedition team was relatively lucky. Although there were some twists and turns along the way, they finally arrived here before dark. They could dock on the boat at night and have a peaceful sleep.
After approaching Fushuizhou Island from the north, the two ships split into two groups, starting from the northern end of the island and heading south along the island's coastline. According to the information available to the expedition team, the island is triangular in shape when viewed from the air, narrow in the north and wide in the south, and the only coast convenient for ships to dock is at the southern end of the island.
The field investigation results of the two ships were basically consistent with the data. Except for a two-hundred-meter-long arc-shaped beach at the southern end of the island, the other coasts facing the sea were all cliffs, and there was no place for the ship to dock. . From a military point of view, this is a good thing, because in this way the defense pressure on the entire island is reduced a lot, and only a simple defense line needs to be established at the southern end to prevent the invasion of foreign enemies.
Of course, it is unlikely that the Executive Committee will build large-scale fortifications on such an isolated island in the ocean. After all, in an era without maritime boundaries, this place does not have much strategic value at all. The Executive Committee wants to develop it. The only reason is that we need a docking point between Hongji Port and the west coast of Hainan Island. Unless the Executive Committee takes large-scale military action against Vietnam in the future, this small island may be designated as a military strategic point.
Seeing that the sky was getting dark, the expedition team did not immediately explore the island after stopping the ship and landing. Instead, they found a sheltered location on the coast to set up camp. According to previous observations on the ship, there were no residents on the island, so everyone slept extremely peacefully that night.
However, starting from the early hours of the morning, it began to rain heavily, followed by strong winds. This caused some trouble for the planned island exploration operation. The team members had to huddle in tents and cabins to spend a day. Boring morning. This area has a rainy season from May to August every year, so the timing of the expedition team's arrival was indeed a coincidence.
It wasn't until around two o'clock in the afternoon that the rain gradually became less intense and the sky slowly began to clear up. The expedition team wasted no time and divided into three groups. One group stayed on the boat, and the other two groups traveled north along the east and west coasts of the island. After meeting at the north end, they then returned to the south end in the middle to complete the exploration of the entire island.
Although the coastline around the island is dominated by cliffs, the terrain on the island is relatively gentle. There is only a hill in the middle of the island with an altitude of only about 60 meters, which is considered the highest point of the entire island. Not long after the team responsible for searching the eastern front set out, they found spring water on a slope. After a simple test by Dr. Morgan, they determined that the spring water was fresh water that could be directly used. This good news made everyone quite excited. The discovery of fresh water means that the sea transfer station opened here in the future will not require additional fresh water supply, and the upper limit of the population that the island can supply will also increase a lot.
The two search teams spent a full three hours searching the entire island. No trace of human habitation was found on the island, and there were no large predators. In fact, except for various seabirds, there are almost no other land animals here. Wang Tom, who has been sailing at sea all year round, can be considered a half-seabird expert. Under his guidance, the team members got to know many kinds of seabirds such as white-bellied brown boobies, red-footed boobies, and seagulls.
The trees on the island are relatively dense, and most of them are typical island green forests formed by Jatropha trees. The height of this kind of tree is about ten meters, and the diameter of the thickest trunk is more than half a meter. Such trees often cluster together to form very dense forests, which are the main habitat for various boobies on the island. In addition, there are clusters of dense bushes, which are commonly known as "horn trees". This tropical evergreen plant can grow well even on coral sand or beach, and its vitality is very strong. After inspection, team members from the Ministry of Agriculture believe that in the future, the island can reclaim some relatively flat land on a small scale and grow some tropical fruits and vegetables, which can also effectively alleviate the pressure on food supplies.
The biggest unexpected harvest, besides fresh water, is the guano resources on this small island. The dense woods have turned this uninhabited island into a bird paradise, and a large amount of guano has formed a guano layer over the years. Under the high temperature and rainy environment, it is gradually dissolved by the organic acids produced by plants, and the guano is The phosphorus in it slowly penetrates, fills, and cements into the soil, and then changes into ornithous apatite, which is commonly known as guano phosphate rock. This kind of guano phosphate rock is rich in nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium elements. It is an excellent comprehensive fertilizer for crops, and its efficiency is comparable to that of the famous Jin Kaola in later generations. According to Tian Yeyou's calculations, the reserves of guano phosphate rock on this small island are at least 10,000 tons, which is worthy of large-scale mining.
However, Xie Chun from the Ministry of Shipping believes that Tian Yeyou’s view may be difficult to realize in the short term: “This place is too far from the base camp. To transport guano back from here, it is better to transport guano directly to the east and west islands of Sanya Bay or Yalong Bay. Excavation on several small islands will make the transportation route shorter and mining more convenient.”
Tian Yeyou retorted unconvinced: "We can also mine the phosphate rock here and sell it to the Vietnamese as fertilizer." Xie Chun tutted: "Brother, you are stupid! There are more than 3,000 islands in Halong Bay, and you have to dig up guano and sell it to the Vietnamese. Vietnamese, we can just dig in Ha Long Bay, why bother going so far away! In my opinion, the only place where the guano on this island can be used is probably when we dig in Shi. After the mining started, there are millions of acres of coastal plain there, and no amount of guano will be enough to fill it.”
The fleet was originally scheduled to continue heading west the next day after completing the island inspection, but unexpectedly a small unexpected situation occurred. Because the members of the mining exploration team stayed in the inland area for a long time, they had little opportunity to eat fresh seafood. As a result, they ate so much in the two days after departure that they had diarrhea and could not stand upright. As a result, the entire expedition team had to postpone their trip for a day and stop to let these gluttons recuperate. Morgan even used his precious strategic reserves for this purpose and gave each of them a bag of glucose water to replenish the body's loss of water.
For the sake of uniting the team members, the expedition team unanimously agreed not to mention this matter in contact with the base camp. Wang Tom just said that he had to spend a day on Fushuizhou Island due to weather reasons. The executive committee did not doubt him. They just told the expedition team to pay attention to safety and not to rush to complete the expedition mission. Wait until the sea conditions improve before setting off. Late. This small episode made several perpetrators, including Ita Yeyou, very embarrassed, and they all expressed their intention to make up for this mistake in subsequent work.
After resting for a day at Fushuizhou Island, the two ships set off in the early morning and sailed westward. It is only more than sixty nautical miles from Fu Shuizhou Island to Hongji Port. At the normal speed of the two sailboats, if everything goes well, they can reach their destination in five or six hours.
At noon, islands began to appear in the sight of the expedition team. An hour later, the density of islands on the sea began to increase rapidly. Most of these islands are like mountain peaks protruding from the sea, standing directly on the sea. They are very different from the appearance of the islands in ordinary people's impressions. There are many mountains and islands on the sea, dotted in various shapes and forms, which are quite spectacular. It is no wonder that this place was rated as a World Natural Heritage Reserve in later generations.
Tian Yeyou, who has always been obsessed with this place, couldn't help but muttered: "This place looks a lot like Guilin. I should have taken my girlfriend to Guilin first to satisfy my craving..."
In terms of geographical structure, Halong Bay and Guilin do have something in common. Both show very significant karst landform features, but one is on land and the other is on the sea. Almost all members of the expedition team who came here for the first time were overwhelmed by the beautiful scenery here. Even the well-informed Tom Wang couldn't help but said to Morgan: "I think I have to revise my previous ideas. Being stationed in this place is not necessarily a bad thing.”
The crew lowered the sails consciously and sailed through this rare island wonder at a slow speed. It was not until the sky got dark that the reluctant crew raised the sails and accelerated at the urging of old Morgan: "Sooner or later, this place will be We have a lot of time to visit here slowly in the future. What we need now is to stop the boat and dock as soon as possible. No one can guarantee that we will not hit the rocks here after dark!”
June 20, 1627, the eighth day of May in the seventh year of the dawn of tomorrow. Four days after setting off from Victory Port, the expedition team finally arrived at the destination of the trip without any danger, the location of what would become Vietnam's Hon Gai Port.
From a military perspective, the location and topography of Hong Kai Port are not ideal. The harbor is narrow and short, wide on the outside and narrow on the inside. It is even more difficult for large ships to turn around in this harbor, let alone There is no defensive depth to speak of. In terms of defense, the only natural terrain that can be relied upon is the coastal hills near the port's entry into the sea. As long as a few coastal defense guns are set up here, the firepower will be enough to cover the entrance and exit of the entire harbor. But in any case, this is not a location suitable for development as a commercial or military port. The cargo terminal seems to be its only reasonable use. And the thousands of large and small islands that stand densely on the sea outside the harbor make the sea defense here exponentially more difficult.
(End of chapter)