After replenishing fuel and supplies in Cam Ranh Bay, the fleet set off for the next destination port, and when it left, another Wuchang-class battleship joined it, and this fleet currently consisted of seven ships (ships).

The next port of destination is Haikou on Hainan Island, and the purpose of anchoring in Haikou is to inspect the rubber trees on Hainan Island and to give material and spiritual commendations to the rubber tree working group engaged in rubber planting on Hainan Island.

On June 20, the fleet arrived at Haikou.

Now, Huaxia has also begun to plant rubber trees in a large area in Nanyang, which can be cut in November and December this year, for this reason, Gao Hongbing is responsible for Nanyang has also opened more than 20 rubber refining plants, and next year, the factories derived from rubber will greatly increase, and the era of making a lot of money from rubber is coming.

Haikou has become an important port because of the rubber, with more than forty or fifty ships coming and going every day, and most of them are large ships.

This wharf can dock 10,000-ton ships, which is to facilitate the transportation of rubber, so a large wharf was built in Haikou.

The six ships of the fleet are all waiting in the open sea, and the "Jinling No. 1" sails into the wharf and docks, and Gao Junshan is about to land on the island for inspection.

Accompanying Gao Junshan to the island were Ma Wen, Minister of Agriculture Tian Ruilong, Deputy Director of the Ministry of Military Affairs Yao Yong, and Li Hu followed closely with more than a dozen Cao Gang brothers as escorts.

There is a division stationed on Hainan Island, and this division is the 208th Division of the Second Army Corps under He Renlong, and the division commander is He Guoyong.

He Guoyong took a guard company to wait for the arrival of Gao Junshan at the wharf, and as soon as the "Jinling No. 1" docked, the guard company cleared the irrelevant personnel on the wharf.

As soon as He Guoyong saw Gao Junshan, he saluted him: "He Guoyong, commander of the 208th Division of the First Army, salutes the emperor!" ”

Gao Junshan asked, "Why are there so few people on this wharf?" ”

He Guoyong said: "In order to ensure the safety of the emperor, we invited all the idle personnel away. ”

Gao Junshan criticized: "I came to Hainan to see the prosperity and development of Hainan, and now that you have cleared all the people, isn't it against the purpose of my visit to Hainan?" ”

He Guoyong reviewed: "This is all ill-considered, and I only think about the emperor's safety." ”

Gao Junshan said: "I don't want to have a next time!" ”

Marven played a round for He Guoyong: "Father, the people coming and going in this place of Hainan are complicated, General He is worried about your safety to do this, after we leave the dock, this place will soon return to normal, General He, right?" ”

He Guoyong hurriedly said: "Yes, yes." ”

Gao Junshan asked, "Is the carriage ready?" ”

He Guoyong replied: "It's all ready, just wait for the emperor!" ”

Ma Wendu He Guoyong said: "You quickly let the carriage come over, and the emperor will go directly to the rubber farm." ”

"We have prepared a banquet in Haikou, please go to the city for a day of rest!" He Guoyong said sincerely.

Gao Junshan said: "Your filial piety is content!" ”

……

The weather in Haikou was unusually hot, and when the sun was shining in the sky, there were not many workers on the farm. Accompanied by technicians, Gao Junshan visited the rubber plantation.

The rubber trees here are planted in rows, very neat, the trunks are two or three meters high, each tree has the thickness of a bowl, and there are two rubber tappers under the tree.

Gao Junshan stepped forward to watch, and the rubber tappers used a small shovel to shovel a small groove obliquely on the bark, and a white liquid flowed out of the rubber tree, and the liquid flowed out slowly along the groove, and the rubber workers used a wooden bucket to catch the liquid that flowed out.

According to the technicians who accompanied Gao Junshan, rubber trees generally tap rubber when the temperature is relatively low in the middle of the day, so rubber tappers come out to tap rubber in the early morning, because in the bark of rubber trees, there are a large number of milk tubes that can make latex, and when the bark is cut, it will overflow. The speed and quantity of flow are closely related to temperature and air humidity.

Early morning is the time of the day when the temperature is lowest and the humidity is the highest, and at the same time, after a night of rest, the rubber tree is full of water in the body, and the transpiration of the leaves is also the least, so the early morning time is the best time to tap rubber. When the temperature exceeds 27 °C, the water evaporates quickly, the latex solidifies quickly, the debinding time is short, and the yield is low.

Gao Junshan asked: "In this way, the lower the temperature when tapping, the better?" ”

The technician said: "It can't be said that if the temperature is too low, the latex flow rate will slow down, the debinding time will be long, the latex concentration will be low, and the quality of the glue will be affected." When tapping rubber at low temperatures, it is also easy to cause bark disease or dead skin. So the timing of rubber tapping is important. ”

Gao Junshan asked again: "Now these rubber tapping masters are specially out to tap rubber for me to see?" ”

The technician replied: "The same cannot be said, they are checking the rubber tree to determine when it is best to cut it." ”

Because the weather was too hot, Gao Junshan walked around the rubber trees and returned to the farm.

Gao Junshan said some words of encouragement to the field director and rubber science and technology personnel, and rewarded the scientific and technological personnel who insisted on being on the front line of production, and then returned to the "Jinling No. 1" battleship.

"The conditions here are too harsh!" Gao Junshan said as soon as he returned to the ship.

Marven said: "I didn't expect the weather on Hainan Island to be so hot, so no one can stand this ghost weather." ”

"Amazing, amazing!" Gao Junshan exclaimed, "Think about our rubber tree working group, it is really not easy for them to persist in conducting research work in such an environment for many years. ”

Tian Ruilong said: "I really don't know if I don't come!" Your Majesty, you really have to reward them a lot! ”

Gao Junshan said: "Our rubber technicians, our geological engineers, and our petroleum engineers should all improve their salaries. ”

The fleet left Haikou that night, and it was not possible to leave it, because it was too hot. Hainan Island is located south of the Tropic of Cancer, and the sun shines for a long time, so the weather here is particularly hot.

The fleet left Hainan Island at high speed, thinking of sailing to the next target, which was Hong Kong.

Hong Kong was originally just a small fishing village, but since Gao Junshan sent Pan Zide to bring an urban construction team to Hong Kong, it only took two years for Pan Zide to build it into a harbor city that has begun to take shape.

Gao Junshan admires his right-hand man very much, and in terms of urban construction, this is a rare talent. So he applied to Gao Junshan several times to return to the capital, but Gao Junshan did not approve it, and in the end, it was not because he was old, Gao Junshan was still reluctant to let him go back to Beijing.

Now that Pan Zide has returned to the capital, Gao Junshan has also made him the commander-in-chief of the water diversion project of Lake Belga.

As the fleet sailed at full speed, the fleet arrived in Hong Kong just after dawn.