Chapter 1704 Bastion Construction Site
The military stronghold under construction where the prisoners were taken and the military dock not far away are actually two construction sites under the same project. The Sing Tao Garrison has planned several construction sites in the direction of the Johor Strait since the end of the war the year before last. Amphibious military strongholds, this is one of them.
Star Island is only separated from the Malay Peninsula to the north by the narrow Strait of Johor, with the narrowest point being just over a thousand meters. It faces military pressure from the State of Johor on the other side of the strait all the year round. Although the Johor Army had proved to be far from the opponent of Hai Han's army in the confrontation in 1635, Hai Han did not dare to be too confident. If the opponent crosses the border and fights again next time, Hai Han may not be able to rely on Xing Tao. Use limited depth to deal with the opponent. Therefore, under Roger's strong advocacy, the Sing Tao authorities built strongholds at several strategic locations in the Johor Strait to implement his tactical thinking of "rejecting enemies along the coastline".
Of course, judging from the current size of the garrison on Sing Tao, it is still very difficult to fully implement this tactical idea. The coastline of the Johor Strait is hundreds of miles long. Even if all the garrison camps are moved to the north of Sing Tao, it will not be able to control the entire The strait is airtightly defended. The real purpose of Roger's move was not only to strengthen the defense of the border, but also to apply for more military budget from the Ministry of National Defense and to obtain the opportunity to expand the size of the garrison.
The Star Island Garrison is based on the "South China Sea Special Operations Group" built by Roger. After the Battle of Manila, the Ministry of National Defense has officially awarded this unit the establishment of the "South China Sea Independent Battalion", together with other ethnic groups that have been pending in the past. The issue of the soldiers' nationality was also resolved. Non-Chinese soldiers in this unit, such as Marcus and Dulu, will all be treated as regular troops in the future. They will automatically obtain Haihan nationality and be ranked according to their past military merits. The corresponding systems of weapons and equipment, material supplies, military budgets, personnel training and promotions, etc., are all in line with the regular army. From now on, they will no longer be a militia force with unclear positioning and ambiguous identity.
For Roger, who wanted to carve out a world in the South China Sea, this really solved his biggest worry. The soldiers under him may work hard for their livelihood at first, but over time, if there is no official status and no reasonable channels for promotion, the people's hearts will disperse sooner or later. And Roger himself has no intention of raising a private army. After all, almost all the weapons and equipment of the Star Island garrison come from domestic supplies. If he has any other ideas, the country can cut off the supplies in minutes and let his men This army became a display, so after the army formed combat effectiveness, he has been trying to solve the organization problem for this army, and now he finally got what he wanted.
What the Xingdao authorities need to do next is to turn this island into the Haihan Kingdom's largest military base in the southern part of the South China Sea. Although Luo Jie and Tan Juren still have certain differences on this goal, the base project that has already been started must still be completed. In Roger's view, these strongholds are not only forward fortresses to defend against enemies in the north, but also bases for marching north across the Strait of Johor in the future. Therefore, even if he cannot come to supervise the work in person sometimes, his deputy Ruan Phu will be assigned to various positions on the northern coastline. Inspect every construction site, and also take a look at the nearby hard labor camp to ensure that there is a stable number of hard labor available at each construction site.
In fact, due to the limited population of Xingdao, there are labor shortages in various construction sites, so the prisoners in the hard labor camp have to endure high-intensity labor tasks. Even prison bosses like Lin Xingsui, who received official care, had to participate in labor like other prisoners and did not enjoy many privileges.
After arriving at the construction site, Qin Huacheng noticed that they were not the only ones here. There were at least two to three hundred young and strong men busy at the construction site. Judging from the number of armed guards around him, these people were probably the same as himself, and they were all prisoners from nearby hard labor camps.
As for the so-called bunker being built here, Qin Huacheng felt that its appearance was inexplicably familiar. This kind of concave polygonal fortification actually exists in Manila, and the Spanish called it a bastion. During the Dutch War of Independence in the sixteenth century, the Spanish army suffered enough in the Netherlands because the Dutch built a large number of bastions.
The Spanish army commander Rexens mentioned in a letter to King Philip II in 1574 that the Spanish army's combat progress in the Netherlands was blocked by the bastions built by the Dutch and could not save money on military expenses and operations. Thoroughly clean up the local rebel areas before supplies are exhausted. The result was exactly the same. In 1575, the Spanish government went bankrupt, and the mercenaries launched mutinies because they could not get their military pay. As a result, the Spanish army on the expedition to the Netherlands had to withdraw from the area in despair.
Of course, the Spaniards did not suffer this loss in vain. They quickly learned the design features of this new type of fortress and applied it to the construction of their own fortresses. Manila in the Far East obtained this advanced knowledge a little later, and only had time to use the bastion design style to build city wall fortifications on the west side of Manila City, that is, in the direction facing the coastline. The purpose of this was originally to defend against enemies attacking from the sea, but the Spaniards really did not expect that the Haihan people who attacked this place a few years later did not choose to land at this location to launch an offensive, so the bastion-like section they built was The city wall basically played no role in the battle.
However, the Spanish's research and application of bastions is obviously not as good as that of the Haihan people who have accumulated hundreds of years of history. Therefore, the Spanish-style fortifications in Qin Huacheng's impression are still far less complex than those built by Haihan. This kind of bastion looks like a six-pointed star.
Qin Huacheng only stopped to observe for a moment, and then a guard came over to urge him to join the labor. Qin Huacheng did not dare to neglect, and quickly went to the cart to get the shovel and basket as instructed, and entered the construction site with the others.
There is no quarry near this construction site. The building materials used are mainly sand, plus soil and cement produced locally in Xingdao, and then mixed with water to form concrete, supplemented by a frame made of bamboo and wood. Used as building materials to build the exterior walls of the bastion. Originally, according to construction standards, the skeleton should of course be qualified by using metal ribs. However, Xingdao's military budget is limited, and even Roger believes that based on Haihan's external expansion rate, the service life of these buildings should not exceed five years. , so there is no need to waste the steel that needs to be transported across the sea to build such fortifications.
After testing by the garrison, this non-standard concrete structure is enough to withstand the common army artillery bombardment of this era at a relatively short distance. Unless the enemy can surround the fortress and bombard it continuously for ten or eight days, it will only It is difficult to collapse a protective wall made of this material with a thickness of more than one meter with solid cannonballs.
In fact, Qin Huacheng has also seen similar construction methods. Every year, there are immigrants from the Ming Dynasty in Manila. Most of these people go to the plains on the north bank of the Pasig River to cultivate wasteland and farm, and they make yellow mud, straw and water. Stirring is used as building materials, bamboo fences are used as the skeleton, and log beams and columns are used as supports to build the walls of the house. The Haihan people's method of building strongholds and fortresses seems to have been strengthened and improved a lot. However, Qin Huacheng had to admit that if he were left to think about it, he would definitely not be able to come up with such a construction method. Haihan people are said to be omnipotent, and it seems that they are indeed very powerful at least in building fortresses.
Qin Huacheng was assigned the task of following Lin Xingsui to use a shovel to shovel the mixed concrete onto a human-powered trolley. He himself had little time to engage in physical labor. In addition, he had been drifting at sea for more than ten days, and there were many hardships along the way. , I was sent to do such heavy physical work without much rest after arriving at Xingdao. After just a few shovels, I felt soreness in my back and back, and the hand holding the shovel started to shake a little.
When Lin Xingsui saw this, he laughed and said: "You are such a bad boy. You only moved a few times and your arms started to tremble? If you work like this, I'm afraid you won't even be able to eat dinner!" and other places under Haihan's rule Like the hard labor camps in the previous years, the labor points system was also used here. Points were accumulated after one work, and the more points could be exchanged for various benefits, or even offset the sentence. But if you cheat during work, you will not get any points, but you may be further punished. Withholding food is one of the punishment methods.
Qin Huacheng had already heard of this rule when he entered the hard labor camp. At the moment, he could only defend himself: "I have not recovered from a serious illness, so I am exhausted. I hope Mr. Lin can forgive me!"
Lin Xingsui saw that he was sweating profusely, but he was not pretending to be tired. He shook his head and said, "Even if I don't make trouble for you, you still won't be able to pass the guarding test. Just take care of yourself!"
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Sure enough, not long after, a guard noticed Qin Huacheng's "slow" rhythm of doing two beats and then resting. He came over with a baton and stood by the side and beat him a few times to make Qin Huacheng work harder. Qin Huacheng knew that even if he showed weakness and complained at this time, it would probably be useless. Instead, the guards would think that he was looking for an excuse to be lazy. At the moment, he could only grit his teeth and speed up the pace of work.
Qin Huacheng soon understood why he would be noticed if he slowed down a little. When he slowed down, the trolley carrying concrete had to stay at his place longer, and when its operating frequency changed, he would be noticed. The second and third trolleys were backlogged at the loading position where they were responsible, so they would naturally be noticed by the guards.
After finally holding on until the whistle sounded, everyone got a short rest. Qin Huacheng let go of the shovel, sat down on the ground, and gasped for air. Seeing that the place to get water was only a few feet away from me, I couldn't walk there to get water to drink like others.
When Qin Huacheng felt a little better and struggled to stand up to drink water, the short rest time was over. Looking at the trolley lined up in front of him, Qin Huacheng could only lick his dry lips vigorously, then bent down and picked up the shovel and started working.
During this afternoon, Qin Huacheng was warned several times by the guards because he was not neat enough in his work. Although considering that he was a newcomer, he was not punished with depriving him of dinner, but his half-day labor points were deducted. half. However, on Qin Huacheng's first day on the job, he didn't have a clear understanding of the importance of labor points, and he didn't feel it was a pity.
When it was time to finish the work, Qin Huacheng finally understood why he had to arrange a carriage to pull the labor tools. At this time, let alone the shovel, he didn't even want to hold it in his hand even if it was a light straw stick. After all, others were no better than him. Where to go. When he came, he felt that three miles was not that far, and it was only a few steps away. But when he returned, he felt that the road seemed so long. He even wondered if the guard leading the way was deliberately taking a detour to amuse the prisoners.
When he returned to the hard labor camp, it was already dinner time, but Qin Huacheng felt that he was a little overtired and his whole body was sore. Although he was very hungry, he had no appetite at all. If Lin Xingsui hadn't reminded him that he wouldn't have anything to eat until tomorrow morning, Qin Huacheng would have wanted to lie down and sleep.
The dinner in the hard labor camp consisted of diced cold potatoes cooked in a pot with brown rice, plus a spoonful of pickles, which was Qin Huacheng's ration for tonight. This sweet potato was originally a crop grown in the Americas. The roots that grow underground are edible. The Spaniards brought this crop to the Far East, and then gradually spread in the South China Sea through maritime trade routes. It can be harvested in half a year after planting, and the yield per mu can reach several thousand kilograms. It is rich in starch, sugar and protein. It can be eaten both raw and cooked. There are many processing methods. The planting area in Xingdao area has reached more than 1,000 acres.
Qin Huacheng grew up in Manila, so he had naturally eaten this food. The familiar taste hit his mouth, and he was filled with emotion. He didn't expect that on his first day across the sea when he came to Star Island, he could still eat this familiar food. food. For a moment, he even had the illusion of returning to Manila.
The smell of sweat and chatter around him immediately brought him back to reality. This place was No. 3, A3, Second Battalion, Xingdao Hard Labor Battalion, where he, Qin Huacheng, might have to spend the next three years. As for Manila, it is five thousand miles away, far away and out of reach. I don’t even know if I can return there alive in the future.
"No! I, Qin Huacheng, can't just accept my fate!"
Qin Huacheng shook his head vigorously, trying to clear those decadent thoughts from his mind. After this series of hardships, Qin Huacheng became more and more unwilling to give up his struggle and bow to his fate. Now that he had arrived at the hard labor camp on Xingdao, his downhill road should have come to an end. He had to think carefully about what to do next. Only in this way can he get out of the current predicament and at least make his time in Star Island a little easier.
(End of chapter)