"No problem! Yesterday, when we went down to search, Cole did several electromagnetic scans of the area on the patrol boat, and came to the conclusion that there was no metal reaction on the west side of the wreck, which means that the wreck was probably only pressed against a part of the Spanish sailing ship below. If we washed away the sediment on the west side of the wreck and dug a trench wide and deep enough, the wreck would be lying on the edge of a cliff. Cole has also measured the currents in the area in the past few days, and between 7 a.m. and 11 p.m., the currents are flowing out of the bay. If we use a few more large floats at this time to loosen the wreck a little, the wreck will probably turn westward with the force of the current. Looking at the cross-sectional view of the seabed, the location of the wreck is on a slope of about 20 degrees, low in the west and high in the east, as long as it is loosened, the current rushes, and the float is pulled, it is likely to move westward, and the attraction of the earth!" Seeing that his first suggestion was adopted, Hong Tao became more energetic, picked up different charts, and began to explain the theory he had figured out himself.

"Then how do you make sure that there is nothing buried on the west side of the wreck? Such a large steel hull will interfere with the magnetic field lines, and the scan results will be incorrect. Jim agreed with Hongtao's plan, but he was not satisfied with the results of the magnetic scan.

"Hey, this is easy to do, isn't it to dig a trench on the west side of the wreck, let's dig while looking for it, according to the depth of those gold coins buried, the sailboat should be more than a meter deep, we dig two meters deep, if not, then there is no, if there is, we will clean up the area on the west side of the wreck first." After cleaning up, just in time to dig the trench, let the wreck turn over, and we will dig the east side again. Hong Tao has thought about this problem for a long time and has come up with a solution.

"I think Dr. Hong is very operational, congratulations. Aite, you have become a clever treasure hunter!" Levin actually applauded Hong Tao, this time it didn't seem to be a joke.

"Alright, we'll try it tomorrow according to Aite's method, and dig the west side of the wreck first. Mr. Puyol was in charge of sorting items from the sand on the aft deck, Dan and I took turns going down to give you command, and Cole was in charge of our radio communications. Dan, you drive the speedboat and are in charge of driving away boats trying to approach in the surrounding waters. This is our excavation permit and construction permit, we are legal, no one can come close!" Jim looked at the others again, and after everyone nodded their heads, he made the final decision and re-engineered the division of labor.

On December 16, the excavation work officially began. First, the submarine was piloted by Lada, and Hong Tao operated the manipulator. Dive to the edge of the wreck and grab the steel frame structure of the wreck. Hold the submarine in place, and then use another robotic hand to hold the rope above the water pipe, just like a firefighter holding a water gun, and wash the mud and sand on the seabed with the current of the water pipe, and scatter with the current, revealing the layer below. Repeating the cycle is tantamount to digging a pit in the seabed with a stream of water.

The gravity and reaction forces on the water pipes are a burden for divers, but for a 10-meter submarine, there is not much interference, just turn up the submarine's driving power. If the manipulator can have a focus point, the small submarine can be stabilized. However, it was a bit of a trouble to master the accuracy of the jet of water in this pipe, and Hong Tao became familiar with it for more than an hour before he found the trick to control it, and then moved the submarine to the designated location, starting from the southwest corner of the wreck, that is, where the gold coin was found, and moving north along the wreck while digging a pit.

This pit should not be dug too deep, about half a meter is enough, and the width of the pit is 3 meters. Since the water is full of sediment, the water pipe blows a few times, you have to stop, wait for the diver to go down to the pit to measure, and when the depth is enough, continue to move forward, and if the depth is not enough, blow it twice. Anyway, Hong Tao was like a blind man all day, he could only listen to Jim and Dan's alternate command on the radio, and the outside of the submarine was all foggy, and there was no visibility of half a meter.

The boring, repetitive, and boring work lasted for two days, and a deep trench more than half a meter deep and more than 50 meters long was finally dug. Now Hong Tao has a bit of a conditioned reflex, as soon as he sits in the co-pilot seat of the submarine, he can't help but grab the joystick to make a few fixed movements, and at the same time his feet are not idle, and he has to control the expansion and contraction of the manipulator. In order to relieve the tension, and in order to let himself not lose all his interest in the very boring work, Hong Tao tried his best to override the crowd, and he, Lada, and Singh drove three helicopters, with Jim and more than 10 crew members, to Porto, a big Portuguese city more than 100 kilometers away, for vacation.

Portugal and Spain are definitely two tooth decays in Europe, which escaped the catastrophe of World War II. Why? Hong Tao had been to Spain and walked around Porto, and immediately understood why, the race issue!

Whether it is the Spaniards or the Portuguese, they do not have the talents of hard work, frugality, and hard work in their bones. As long as the family does not starve, drinking a little wine every day, basking in the sun, and pondering what to eat is all they pursue. Looking at the cultural habits and current situation of the South American countries that have been colonized by them for hundreds of years, they are similar to those of the suzerain. What do you say about the Latin nation is enthusiastic, unrestrained, casual, romantic, this is all nonsense, a nation that doesn't want to work and just wants to enjoy, is naturally enthusiastic and unrestrained, and thinks about playing all day long without enthusiasm and unrestrainedness.

Looking at Greece at this point, is a good example. Although the Spanish and Portuguese are not the same race as the Greeks, they have a similar attitude towards life, and then they have become one of the few countries in Europe that will never develop. Compared with those countries in Eastern Europe that have affected their development due to wars, geopolitical and historical problems, their three conditions are much better, and even better than those of many Western European and Northern European countries. Even famous lazy people like Hong Tao can feel obvious laziness when they see them, how lazy do you say they are?

Of course, it doesn't matter if they are lazy or not, the climate here is good, although it is still winter, but as long as you leave the beach, the temperature will not be too cold, except for a little more rain, it is still quite comfortable. With information officers all over the world to make a front station for himself, no matter where he goes, Hong Tao can find the most comfortable place to stay, the best meals, and the most worth seeing.

This time I went to Porto for a vacation, which was arranged by the local information officer, and the accommodation was in a convent built in the mid-19th century, called Paiva Fort, about 30 kilometers from the city of Porto, which looked like an ancient castle from a distance, standing alone on a gentle hill. It is surrounded by a three-story stone building with gray walls and red spires, and a large courtyard paved with gravel in the middle, which can be used as a helipad.

There are a lot of ancient buildings in Portugal, and the Portuguese government in order to take a few more dollars out of the pockets of tourists, so they came up with an idea, which is to make use of these ancient castles and monasteries, keep the appearance as they are, and decorate them comfortably and luxuriously, and rent them out to relatively wealthy tourists as a whole, which is a kind of high-end hotel, which is called Posada Pousada in Portugal, which is 100% state-owned.

The tourist season in Portugal should be at the turn of spring and summer, and the price of food and accommodation is very cheap in winter. A Posada with more than 30 rooms and an area of several thousand square meters is not as expensive as the three suites in the Paris Hilton Hotel, and it also manages a breakfast. Portuguese cuisine is a bit different from Spanish cuisine, which is relatively lighter and does not use as many spices, but there are almost two spices in each dish, garlic and olive oil. Hong Tao didn't have a good impression of all the dishes made with olive oil, and he couldn't get used to the taste.

For example, there is a famous dish called fish chowder, which is boiled with potatoes, olives, cod, eggs, and then sautéed with a pile of minced garlic and olive oil. It looks like a basket of vegetables, fishy and greasy to eat, and it sticks to the mouth. But there is one thing that Hong Tao likes, and that is wine. The wine here is very different from ordinary red wine, it is a sparkling wine, the taste is sour, a bit like sour plum soup, the alcohol content is also low, people with a good amount of alcohol can drink it as a drink, very appetizing.

As for the specialty, there is no shit! The only thing I can get my hands on is the tile and cork carving. When I first went to Lily's house, the kind of buildings with tiles on the exterior walls was the standard Portuguese style, and they liked to paint all kinds of paintings on the tiles and then stick them on the exterior walls, which for Hong Tao always had the illusion of public toilets on the streets. Cork is a relatively soft wood, this kind of tree is abundant here, Hong Tao bought a lot of cup mats made of cork, he is going to use these things to stick to the bedroom floor, as a carpet, it feels good to step on it barefoot.

There is also a very scary thing in this monastery, called the Bone Chapel, its walls are all made of human bones, a row of skulls, a row of thigh bones, standing in it always feel that someone is staring at you, very awkward. It is said that there are several more places in Portugal, the largest of which is near Lisbon, called the town of Évora, where there is a church of San Francisco, also built of human bones. (To be continued......)