A meeting of great importance is being held in the captain's room of Yunsheng No. 1.

Xiao Bailang repeatedly explained with a loudspeaker, coupled with the targeted explanations of many attendants and security guards who rushed to each cabin, and soon all the passengers on the ship temporarily elected seven representatives to form a temporary self-rescue committee.

Captain Xiao Bailang; Peng Zhicheng, a black-faced man and a demobilized officer; Ma Qianzu, director of a municipal party committee office; Wang Qinian, an active Navy non-commissioned officer; Shao Shude, the construction contractor; Ma Jia, the workshop director of a private steel mill; Liu Weimin, a secondary school teacher, formed seven temporary members. The committee adopts the principle of democratic centralism, and there is no chairman for the time being, and every resolution is collectively discussed and voted on by the committee, and can be passed by a simple majority.

The committee members discussed various matters while munching on biscuits and drinking mineral water.

"I won't say anything superfluous, let's get straight to the point. At present, there is no signal for navigation equipment on board, and there is no signal for communication equipment such as maritime satellite phones and mobile phones. Xiao Bailang raised his eyes and looked at everyone, frowned and said slowly, "Everything on board is in good condition, and the grounding did not cause much damage to the hull this time." It's just that the diesel fuel is a little insufficient to support another voyage. ”

"The current situation is unclear, these diesel fuel is our strategic material, and it must not be used until the critical moment." Liu Weimin, a middle school teacher, flipped through the notebook in front of him, "As a member of the committee in charge of material reserves, I have made a count of the current loading materials of the Yunsheng No. 1 freighter. After counting, there are: 300 sets of high-precision hunting crossbows and accessories; 500 mountain bikes; 2,500 pieces of clothing and more than 10,000 pairs of shoes; 2,000 bags of flour, 2,500 bags of rice, 200 bags of soybeans, 500 boxes of edible oil, more than 700 boxes of monosodium glutamate and iodized mineral salt, more than 600 boxes of jams, salted fish, canned meat, and more than 100 boxes of wine; 500 sets of stainless steel kitchenware, cooking utensils and tableware, 1,000 sets of porcelain tableware, and 3,000 aluminum old-style military kettles; There are 500 shovels and pickaxes, 1,200 stainless steel water pipes, and some hardware tools, cement, building materials and steel bars and other materials cannot be counted for the time being. ”

"Supplies are quite abundant for the time being." Navy non-commissioned officer Wang Qinian looked very lucky. But isn't it, if everyone wears empty hands to a place where birds don't, how can the problem of eating these hundreds of people be solved, and I can't say that we will be able to sail again and run away to find a place where there are people. "Now we have to determine the next course of action, which is how to start saving ourselves. I believe that whatever our current situation may be, we need to set up temporary settlements on shore as soon as possible. The cabin couldn't stay long, and the ship was running out of fresh water. With so many people huddled together, something will happen sooner or later. ”

"Ahem...... Peng Zhicheng, who had performed well in the previous Indian attacks, cleared his throat and wrote and drew on the paper with a ballpoint pen, "All the passengers and crew of Yunsheng No. 1 have a total of 568 people, including 399 males, 169 females, 42 people over the age of 60, and 29 people under the age of 16. There are a total of 15 veterans and militiamen with military experience, plus some security guards, once everyone gets off the ship, I am afraid that the security guard is a little powerless. ”

"Well, I agree." Shao Shude, the former construction contractor, nodded, these industrious, free and loose modern people in the field are really weak compared to those barbaric Indians. "In view of the current situation, I recommend selecting competent personnel to go ashore to search and map, but to return before nightfall. We will make a decision based on the information brought back by the search team, and everyone will disembark as a group, in the event of an attack and casualties, the consequences will be unimaginable. ”

"Yes, the situation is still unclear, so be careful. Why did those Indians come here today? Why does it conflict with us? Will they ever come back? Where are their tribes? These must be clarified. Ma Ganzu flicked the ashes of his cigarette and talked eloquently: "Comrades, I have heard that the Indians are very warlike, and they will repay the truth. This is a matter of concern for our safety, and I suggest that the search team be equipped with high-precision hunting crossbows, mountain bikes, and conduct a detailed investigation of the vicinity. ”

"I agree with you. Send someone to investigate first, find out the situation and then take further action. Without further ado, it's still early, and the search party can prepare. You can explain things clearly in one or two sentences, and it takes a long time to figure it out, so hurry up. Ma Jia ignored everyone's side glances and said dryly.

*******************************

The search team selected 10 veterans with military experience, plus nine young people who volunteered, and led by Peng Zhicheng, to the interior along the river. Before leaving, Peng Zhicheng gave everyone a brief training on the use of hunting crossbows, and there is no need for any skills to use this thing, as long as you have strength, it is enough. Liu Weimin sent everyone 20 sets of blue New Army uniforms consigned by a certain crew in the cabin, on the grounds that the unified uniform is more spiritual, and it can also give everyone a sense of security and honor.

After the search party departed, the others could not wait idlely.

Wang Qinian and several security guards boarded the stranded barges and tugboats in lifeboats. The tugboat, whose license plate is X Tug 1537, is surnamed Zhang, and several relatives are transporting coal to a power plant in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River, and the four barges are loaded with nearly 5,000 tons of thermal coal, plus more than 1,000 tons of scrap steel.

Wang Qinian solemnly announced to them the requisition order of the temporary self-help committee, and the owner of the ship was not stupid, he saw what had happened from yesterday to now, and readily agreed to Wang Qinian's request, which can be regarded as officially joining the gang. Happily, there were some vegetable seeds in the tugboat's hold, as well as a number of fishing nets and tackle, as well as two wolf dogs that were barking wildly in chains.

What it means to grow vegetable seeds, Wang Qinian knows very well. Although there is no need to worry about food for the time being, as a Chinese, it is unbearable to not be able to eat green leafy vegetables. Once they decided to settle ashore (which was inevitable in Wang's view), the harvest of these vegetable seeds would greatly enrich their tables.

"Close!" With a wave of his hand, Wang Qinian carefully held the plastic bag containing vegetable seeds in his arms and returned to the freighter.

"The marina should be built here. There's a hill on the right, just a lighthouse, well, or a fort. Shao Shude stood on the deck, holding a notebook to write and draw. As for the living quarters, the first task at the moment is to build simple wooden houses, as well as canteens, public toilets, and bathhouses. In addition, several large warehouses had to be built, and so many materials had to be properly preserved. By the way, it would be better to dig a few wells or build a reservoir. Here, here, and here, lookout posts are to be built, and walls are to be built around the perimeter of the whole area, at least a wooden fence must be built. Uh, little money, are you listening to me? What are you doing with a ruler facing the sun? ”

Shao Shude grabbed Qian Hao, who was writing and calculating with a wooden ruler and a ballpoint pen, Qian Hao looked up and smiled: "Brother Shao, I'm calculating the latitude and longitude we are in." Well, I've done the math, we're probably at 33 degrees south latitude and 57 degrees west longitude. This region should be the ...... of South America"

"Uruguay." A middle-aged man leaning on the railing and smoking a cigarette next to him said: "To be precise, it is on the eastern Atlantic coast of Uruguay. Today is October 7th, spring in Uruguay, and the weather is suitable. Even during the Xiaoice period, nighttime temperatures can be as low as two or three degrees. I just don't know what era Lu Dao is, ah, I forgot to introduce myself, my name is Gao Mo, known as Uncle Zhixin, librarian, I like to study history and geography. ”

Gao Mo is quite tall, about one meter seven or eight, with a pair of gold-wire glasses, his face is a little pale, his hair is messy, and he seems to be a raunchy person.

"Shao Shude, the foreman of the small package. This is Qian Hao, my fellow countryman, and a college student. Shao Shude stretched out his hand and shook hands with Gao Mo.

"Modern Uruguay has a population of more than three million, with only a handful of Indians, and has long since integrated into mainstream society and lived a modern life. Indians, like the ones we encountered, would only have come before the massive influx of European colonists. Gao Mo smiled, spat out a puff of smoke rings, and analyzed, "Look at the other side of the river, there is a large area of virgin oak forest. As far as I know, Uruguay in modern society has introduced a large number of exotic tree species such as eucalyptus to make money by artificial forestation, and such primeval forests are almost invisible. Look at this side again, the land is so fertile, the climate is so suitable, and the sunshine is so abundant, that it is still a large area of wilderness, and there is no sign of human activity at all, isn't it incredible? ”

"We're not going back in time two thousand years, are we?" Qian Hao asked stupidly.

"Not really." Gao Mo smiled, "According to Wang Tiehammer, those Indians showed signs of attack as soon as they saw them. As far as I know, the Indians are actually quite friendly, and as long as you don't make enemies with them, they generally won't take the initiative to attack you. Judging from what happened to Wang Tiehammer, most of these Indians suffered at the hands of someone, and then mistakenly thought that Wang Tiezhu and they were also those people, and then began to attack. Of course, this is just my speculation, maybe these Indians are particularly warlike, it's impossible to say. ”

"To whom do the Indians of Uruguay have enmity?" Shao Shude asked. In fact, he already has a faint answer in his heart, who else can he have an enmity with? European colonizers.

"Portuguese slave catchers." "Historically, in the 17th century, the Portuguese established many small trading posts along the east coast of the Uruguay River to smuggle with the city of Buenos Aires in the Viceroyalty of La Plata. Of course, in addition to smuggling, their other business activity was to go deep into the interior of Uruguay to hunt Indians. Yes, it was commerce, and they sold captured Indians to São Paulo, which was crowded with Portuguese plantation owners who were looking for slaves. ”

"So what about ......" Shao Shude was a little unsure.

"So we're probably in the late 16th century or the first half of the 17th century. Because by the second half of the 17th century the Spanish and Portuguese rivalries in Uruguay would be fierce, and you would see countless Portuguese flocking from São Paulo, and the Spaniards advancing from the La Plata area to the east bank of the Uruguay River, with the Indians captured and killed, or far from hiding. Of course, that's just my guess. ”

"It's brutal." Shao Shude shook his head and sighed, "We also have to be prepared, those scum of the Portuguese slave catcher team will not let us go, in their eyes, we are not too different from the Indians." ”

Qian Hao's mouth opened wide, and he didn't seem to have digested the information yet.

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In the evening. The search party is back.

Lao Zhang, the owner of the tugboat, took his son and nephew, rowed a small boat, and transported Peng Zhicheng and his people onto the freighter.

As soon as Peng Zhicheng got on the boat, he went straight to the captain's room, and soon, all the committee members rushed over to gather.

"Lao Peng, let's talk about the situation." Xiao Bailang couldn't care about being polite, and was the first to ask.

Peng Zhicheng walked to the table and drank a large glass of water vigorously before nodding lightly and spreading out his notebook again. "We traveled roughly up the river, about ten kilometers or so, to a lake. Except for some woods on the way, there are endless barren meadows. Well, the total length of the river is estimated to be more than twenty kilometers, the upper reaches of the river are slightly narrower, the current is slower, and it leads directly to the lake. By the way, the lake is a saltwater lake, and the water of this river is naturally salty, which cannot be used as a source of water for our drinking and domestic use. On the south bank of the river is a large area of primeval forest, and there are several freshwater streams with abundant water. There are also some small rivers in the grasslands on the north bank, with a mediocre amount of water, but more than enough for a few hundred of us. There were no large beasts in the vicinity, and there were no signs of human activity. ”

"What is the size of the lake? What about fishery resources? Liu Weimin is very concerned about this issue.

"Due to time constraints, we haven't had time to survey the lake, and we don't even know the full picture. I'm pretty sure it's an inland lake, not an inland bay, though. Because this lake is a brackish water lake, it has a completely different taste from the seawater. Fisheries are abundant, and many schools of fish can be seen with the naked eye, so I think it's a treasure trove of nature, a gift from God. Peng Zhicheng took the pen and clicked it on the notebook a few times, his black face was also a little red, and he said excitedly.

"Didn't you meet the Indians?" Ma Qianzu combed his big back hair, which looked oily and shiny. He considered the problem more comprehensively, and had always been angry about the Indians who came to attack, and felt that he should try to solve the problem first.

"Nope." Peng Zhicheng shook his head, "The Indians fled into the forest on the other side of the river in the morning, maybe they have a stronghold there, or their tribe's nest is there. ”

"So if we get off the boat to do construction, we will definitely go to the other side of the river to cut wood, how can we ensure safety at that time?" Shao Shude had already planned a large number of buildings, and these needed timber on the other side of the river.

"It's really not okay to start from the periphery first, let's send more people and pay more attention to safety, it should be no problem." It's not a dense forest, and it's not difficult to find out in advance if there's any movement. Wang Qinian pondered.

"Then let's do it." Ma Jia said loudly, he was already impatient, "Stay in this cabin, stuffy and suffocate." Without further ado, I will use the loudspeaker to inform everyone, and by the way, I will solicit more opinions, and start work early tomorrow morning. ”

"Done! That's it! The crowd quickly agreed.