Chapter 141 Organizing Refugees
"Fortunately, there is this river!" Wang Tom sighed.
If it weren't for the Thanh Hoa River running across here, blocking the refugees' northward escape route, these people would probably no longer be here. However, what these refugees do not know is that even after crossing the Qinghua River, within forty miles to the north, there are two tributaries branching off from the upper reaches of the Qinghua River that will block their way. And from Thanh Hoa to the north, they gradually enter the Red River Delta area with dense water network. The density of rivers there is several times higher than here, which will greatly increase the difficulty for them to escape north - of course, this is for those who are eager to gather refugees and send them This is definitely a good thing for Chuanchuan Group, which is engaged in infrastructure development in Xingang.
In order to avoid causing chaos, the fleet did not dock immediately, but anchored about thirty meters away from the shore, regardless of the eager eyes of the refugees on the shore. But even so, a few refugees jumped into the river and swam toward the fleet, hoping that people on board would pull them aboard.
"These damn monkeys!" Under the influence of several big men in the military and police department, Wang Tom also learned to call these Vietnamese natives "monkeys". Most of these people are dark, thin, and have gaunt faces. This nickname is not too outrageous. Although Wang Tom was a little dissatisfied, he still picked up the long fishing net pole on the deck and prepared to rescue the refugees swimming over.
"Leave these people alone, otherwise the people on the shore will jump into the river and swim over." Military officer Qian Tiandun finally appeared on the deck and said expressionlessly. Behind him was a short man in camouflage uniform, who was Corporal Takahashi Minami who had just joined the Military and Police Department.
Gao Qiaonan was not originally assigned to be Qian Tiandun's entourage, but was only assigned to Qian Tiandun's command in terms of organization. But after Luo Wudan's incident happened, Qian Tiandun directly asked the senior military and police officials for someone, and asked him to be used as an orderly. This was a great opportunity and honor for Gao Qiaonan, who was determined to climb up. He didn't know until before departure that the Lieutenant Qian Tiandun he "saved" that day turned out to be the military commander of the overseas colonization team. This makes Takahashi Minami feel one step closer to his goal. So needless to say, Gao Qiaonan's personal service along the way. Even Wang Tom joked that this was not an orderly at all, but an extra "shadow" of Qian Tiandun.
The sides of several Chinese-style sailing boats are relatively high, and people cannot reach them in the water. Everyone on the ship had received orders from Qian Tiandun, so naturally they would not try to catch anyone. Seeing that there was no hope of getting on the boat, those people had no choice but to swim back to the river bank. There were also two people who swam directly towards the Speedy. They probably saw that there was a low ramp at the stern of the ship to get on board. As soon as they reached the ramp, Takahashi was quickly rushed over. Nan took out the wooden stick from his waist and drove them into the water one by one.
Wang Tom did not object when he saw this. He knew that Qian Tiandun's order sounded a bit cold, but it was actually right under the current environment. With so many refugees eager to flee north gathering by the river, once the basic order is lost, the situation will become difficult to control.
"Put up the loudspeaker and announce our policies first, and then send people ashore to organize the refugees." Qian Tiandun gave the order calmly.
The Military and Police Department conducted simulations on various situations that may occur during the voyage, especially during the transfer of Vietnamese refugees, and formulated response plans one by one. The situation at hand was also expected by the Military and Police Department. The colonization team on the ship only needed to proceed step by step according to the plan made in advance.
A loudspeaker was quickly set up on the deck of the "Speed", and the person in charge of policy propaganda was Zhou Hengxing, the civil affairs officer of the colonization team. Zhou Hengxing himself is a native of Hainan and is familiar with the customs and dialects of Hainan. This made his performance in the early stages of time travel very eye-catching. The time travel group was able to successfully establish with the local Ming people, Li people and Miao people, all thanks to Zhou Hengxing . But in the period after that, the two-way popularity of Hainan Mandarin and Mandarin across the group's jurisdiction was very fast. Even foreigners like Morgan and Johnson learned a few simple Hainanese Mandarin. The importance and existence of Zhou Hengxing, the translator The feeling naturally becomes gradually weaker.
This time the executive committee organized an overseas colonization team, and Zhou Hengxing naturally did not miss this opportunity to "golden overseas" and signed up immediately. Considering that his consistent excellent performance has proved his ability to work, and is also a disguised "reward" for his early contributions, the executive committee fulfilled his wish and appointed him as the leader of this colonization team. Chief Civil Affairs Officer.
According to what the expedition team found during their previous visit, the language of the people here is basically the same as that of Guangdong and Guangxi. Naturally, this is not a problem for Zhou Hengxing, who is proficient in multiple local languages. In his speech, he first informed these refugees that the destination of this fleet was a coastal port hundreds of miles east of Hanoi, which was now in need of a large number of working people. If refugees are willing to follow the fleet, they will receive food, shelter and work after arriving at their destination. The fleet will be responsible for all food and clothing expenses for everyone, and ensure that as long as they abide by the rules, their personal safety and personal property will be protected. protection. The most important thing is that no one among them will be forced to serve in the military, let alone be sent to the battlefield of the current civil war between the North and the South.
Of course, if there are refugees who are not interested in following the fleet, the fleet will not have the time to rescue them. As for whether they would be captured by the troops sent by Qinghua City to search for civilians because they stayed here, that naturally has nothing to do with the fleet. For these refugees, they have lost a lot of things while fleeing, and all they carry with them is some clothing, food and a small amount of money. The most important thing is that they have lost the land and production tools they depended on for their livelihood. Even if they can escape further north, they will face great pressure to survive for a long time. If they cannot find external assistance, many of them will have to face the threat of food shortages after a period of time. At that time, they will either starve to death on the way to escape, or they will have to rob other refugees of food to survive.
Although there are famous grain-producing areas not far to the north, these refugees may not have the courage to go there to look for food, because the grain-producing areas near Hanoi are almost all owned by royal families, nobles, and wealthy families. Refugees like them appear In those places, they would be quickly picked up to serve as civilian husbands and sent back to the war zone.
Under such circumstances, these strangers who appeared on the Qinghua River in large ships provided them with another way out. A no-man's land far away from the battlefield, where food and shelter can also be guaranteed. The most important thing is that these strangers seem to have enough strength to maintain the local social order. This is undoubtedly much better than an endless escape road. .
After Zhou Hengxing announced the policy twice, he then began to explain how those who were willing to board the ship could join. First, Zhou Hengxing asked everyone on the shore to move back ten feet, and then the fleet would send people ashore to register and select. Those who qualified would be allowed to board the ship, and those who were not selected after registration would wait until the fleet has finished selecting. After the people arrived, they would also be ferried to the other side to help them escape.
At this point, those who were still hesitant and were planning to wait and see decided to sign up. Even if they were not selected by the fleet to go to the northern port, at least they would still have a chance to cross to the other side.
You must know that all the residents within twenty or thirty miles of this area have recently fled, and there are no more ferry boats on the river. If you miss this fleet, you may really have no chance to cross the Qinghua River. . Only a few young singles would swim across the river desperately, while the vast majority of refugees with their families were stuck here and could no longer move forward. The garrison in Qinghua City has already begun to patrol at frequent intervals, arresting fleeing people in the surrounding areas and putting them into civilian camps. If they stay here for a few more days, the outcome will be really hard to say.
Whether voluntarily or not, the vast majority of refugees pinned their last hope on this fleet. After repeated reminders from loudspeakers, the people on the shore finally withdrew some distance and gave way to the boats that were about to dock. The team left a certain amount of space.
"The armed personnel of our ship will go ashore first to be on guard. Other ships should not all dock. Come one by one, and then let the next ship come in after it is filled with people." Qian Tiandun first informed the commanders on other ships through the intercom The personnel issued the order, and then let Wang Tom drive the "Speed" slowly closer to the shore.
In order to prevent it from running aground on the river beach, the ship anchored two or three meters away from the river bank, put a springboard on the side of the ship, and then armed personnel quickly landed ashore. During this period, the loudspeakers on the ship kept repeatedly reminding the refugees to stand still and not come forward, but some people who were eager to escape still rushed over regardless. In this case, Tom Wang's handling was quite decisive. He directly shot two of the unlucky men in the legs. The blood that burst out and the wails of the wounded immediately stopped other people who wanted to seize the opportunity.
Then the "Hai Xun 01" ship followed the "Speed" and docked. After getting off the ship, more than 20 militiamen immediately took over the peripheral security and interception tasks. These militiamen responsible for maintaining order were not equipped with matchlock guns, which were not easy to use in situations where close contact might occur. Instead, everyone has a Kabar camping knife. This half-meter-long dog-leg knife is very suitable for use by individual soldiers in hand-to-hand combat. This type of knife accounted for a large share of the large number of "controlled knives" purchased by the Executive Committee. , originally intended to be used to equip the militia.
The black blade makes the streamlined silver blade very eye-catching, and the unified weapons make these militiamen appear more intimidating. Of course, the knives purchased by the Executive Committee are not from the original factory, but are imitations from Yangjiang in China. However, judging from the level of weapon production in this era, these knives can already be regarded as rare treasures.
(End of chapter)