Chapter 3466
Qian Shaobao woke up to the sound of the bugle. When he opened his eyes, he couldn't help but feel a little confused. How long had he slept that night? Why did it feel like the wake-up call sounded just after he closed his eyes?
But after all, he is a veteran who has been in the army for several years. Even if he is still a lot sleepy, he will never stay in bed after the bugle sounds.
Qian Shaobao quickly got up, put on his clothes and walked out of the tent. When he saw that the sky was already slightly bright, he realized that he was probably too tired. He fell asleep immediately after lying down last night, but his body had not fully recovered yet.
However, there were many people who were more tired than him. On the way to the canteen, he met several groups of soldiers who had just returned from changing their guard. These soldiers were also involved in infrastructure construction yesterday, and they had to work shifts in the evening. Only then were they able to return to the camp to rest.
The canteen at the station was built with a tent and a canopy, and the aroma of the food could be smelled from a long distance away. This made Qian Shaobao feel the hunger in his belly more clearly, and he couldn't help but speed up his pace.
Today’s breakfast is seafood porridge. This is also the easiest ingredient for the newly arrived Haihanjun. He only needs to catch a few fish, shrimps and shellfish near the bay, process them briefly, pour them into the hot porridge, and simmer for a while. . Sprinkle in pepper and coriander before serving to enhance the flavor.
Qian Shaobao Xilihulu finished two bowls of porridge in a row. His whole body felt warm, and then he felt refreshed.
After breakfast, Qian Shaobao went to the headquarters to confirm the tasks that needed to be completed today.
Although there has been no fighting of any kind since the landing, the headquarters is still a busy scene.
Takahashi Minami is assigning tasks to his officers. In addition to sending several reconnaissance teams to surrounding inland areas, more importantly, he is allocating existing manpower to various construction sites as needed to speed up the progress of the project as much as possible.
When it was finally Qian Shaobao's turn to step forward to accept his order, a rare smile appeared on Gao Qiaonan's face: "How is it? Can you adapt to the environment here?"
Qian Shaobao responded: "As long as you can eat well and sleep well, it doesn't matter where you are!"
Takahashi Minami nodded and praised: "It's good to be young! It seems I have to put more burden on you!"
The two exchanged a few words, and Gao Qiaonan assigned Qian Shaobao a task and asked him to be responsible for organizing and directing the construction project of the port terminal.
"There are not many officers here who have seriously studied engineering and construction. You can just use this opportunity to show off! Remember, although there has been no fighting so far, this is a real frontline position, and there is no room for relaxation! I hope When the next shipment of supplies arrives here, at least some of the dock facilities will be put into use.”
Gao Qiaonan put forward relatively clear performance requirements for him. Although somewhat strict, this is also one of the most important links in local infrastructure projects and must be completed as soon as possible.
Currently, more than 30 cargo ships arriving here are unloading, but due to the lack of local ports for docking, most cargo ships can park near the bay and use small boats to transfer the materials on board. Only a few cargo ships with shallow drafts can reach the coast and set up springboards to unload cargo directly. After these cargo ships complete unloading, they will immediately rush back to Phuket and then load the next round of supplies. Taking into account the speed of the cargo ship and the time required for berthing and loading after returning to Phuket, it is expected that the next arrival of the cargo fleet will be at least twenty days later, and this is the construction period reserved by Gao Qiaonan for Qian Shaobao .
Qian Shaobao was surveying the site environment of the wharf construction site yesterday. He knew that this project would not be completed in a short time. He did not dare to waste time here anymore and hurriedly resigned to Gaoqiao South and hurried to the construction site.
Qian Shaobao currently has less than a thousand men at his disposal, and they are basically all soldiers from the special operations division. These people are not ordinary laborers and cannot be used to their full potential. They must be given enough rest time. Otherwise, once there is a war, there is no way to expect a group of exhausted soldiers to perform well.
According to local conditions, to build a wharf with multiple berths in a short period of time, the only feasible solution is to build a wooden trestle. When there is sufficient labor on the island in the future, permanent stone or concrete piers will be slowly built.
Several teams that went to inland areas for reconnaissance returned one after another two days later. According to the plan, they visited areas within a radius of fifty miles, hoping to find some settlements and move the indigenous people to Hambantota for centralized resettlement.
However, the actual effect was not ideal. Each team failed to discover other villages within this range, and it was naturally impossible to obtain the population.
As villagers in local fishing villages said, due to the war that has lasted for many years on the island, many villages have been ruined and completely abandoned due to constant recruitment by the warring parties. Only a few, like the fishing village of Hambantota, have survived because of their remote location.
This will undoubtedly greatly slow down Haihan's acquisition of local population, and will also inevitably affect the progress of various infrastructure projects. If not enough immigrants move in, the soldiers of the special operations division will have to continue to serve as the construction team.
Takahashi Nan had no choice but to further expand the search scope and focus his main direction on the sea.
A fleet of warships and troop carriers sailed along the coastline east of Hambantota, hoping to find a few more fishing villages near the coastline and then try to move them into Hambantota.
But it was also very difficult to implement this plan. The first fishing village discovered was a full two hundred miles away from Hambantota, and there were even fewer residents than the fishing village in Hambantota.
After so many days of toil, the total number of local people transported back to Hambantota from other places was less than two hundred. For the various large-scale projects that Haihan wanted to implement here, this manpower was simply a drop in the bucket.
Ten days after the Special Forces Division landed in Hambantota, the place finally welcomed the first batch of uninvited guests—two Portuguese merchant ships passing through the sea off Hambantota. They took the initiative to sail to the bay here in order to avoid the wind and waves at sea.
The two ships obviously knew the location of the harbor and found the channel into the harbor with ease. But the Portuguese obviously did not expect that an armed fleet was quietly hidden in this unclaimed land.
Although this fleet is not the mortal enemy of the Dutch, but an ally of Portugal, the Portuguese still showed strong dissatisfaction with the appearance of the special warfare division here.
They sent envoys to find Gao Qiaonan, protested to him, and asked all Haihan personnel to leave this place as soon as possible. The reason was that the island of Ceylon had been controlled by Portugal as early as the last century, and it was supposed to be a Portuguese colony. Haihan entered the island of Ceylon without saying hello, which was tantamount to an invasion.