"For the people, be careful along the way. Knowing that you are busy, just send a telegram when you arrive in the United States to report that you are safe, you don't need to write to me, and you will be back in a few months anyway. ”

Happy times always pass so fast, just get together and have to separate, Wu Lijun is reluctant, and she doesn't eat much dinner. As soon as the Li family's car arrived, tears couldn't help but roll down.

Looking at her pear blossoms with rain, Li Weimin was very uncomfortable, took out a clean handkerchief and wiped it, while pretending to coax easily: "Silly girl, don't cry, it's not life and death, I'll bring you a gift." ”

"I don't want a gift, I want you to come back early."

"Don't worry, I'll be back as soon as I'm done."

Wu Dayuan looked happy in his eyes, looked at his wife meaningfully, and looked back in Chinese with a Hokkien accent and said with a smile: "Jing Chen, there is nothing to do at night, and I will send it to the people with Lijun." Jiachang, you and Jingchen take a car and let them talk a little more. ”

"Okay, I'll sit in the back."

Unlike the Li family, which likes to intervene in any business, the Wu family only has one business, which is only shipbuilding.

Wu Ji Shipyard has a long history, the earliest can be traced back to the eighth year of Tongzhi (1869), the first to build small fishing boats, and later to build bigger and bigger, more and more types.

Wuchu boat, Danyang boat, Qingtou boat, open-tail boat, Dagu boat, large row boat, frozen eagle boat, white-bottom boat, barge boat, baby boat, four-belly boat, bleaching boat, sampan boat, sampan head boat, seamount rat boat...... By the 28th year of Guangxu (1902), it was able to build a 100-ton wooden-hulled three-masted sailing ship.

Minnan fir is easy and not suitable for ships. The camphor wood is strong and curved, can only be used as boat ribs, miscellaneous tools, the most suitable for no more than teak, so he went to Hong Kong to purchase teak and flower wood, Wu and Li's friendship began at that time.

When the family is big, it is natural to divide the family.

They had the best relationship with the Li family, and at the suggestion of Li Weimin's great-grandfather, they came to Xidi to open the first Chinese shipyard.

There are many fishermen along the coast of Vietnam, but the Vietnamese are not very good at building ships. His family came early, the ship was built well, and business would naturally not be bad. Until a few years ago, fishermen from Ha Long, Haiphong, Thanh Hoa, Vinh City, Hue, Da Nang and other places still came from thousands of miles to build ships and repair ships.

The Wu family did not stop at building small wooden fishing boats, they sent their children to Mawei and Hong Kong shipyards to learn the art of building steel ships.

In the twelfth year of the Republic of China, the first steam engine ship hull was built.

In the sixteenth year of the Republic of China, the first 600-ton steel cargo ship was hoisted with 4 wooden booms and a 15-ton crane at the same time.

Now it is the largest shipyard in Saigon, with two 80-ton overhead cranes and one 20-ton overhead crane (for wharves); There are universal milling machine, 1 vertical lathe, 18-meter lathe, boring machine, 12-die thread rolling machine, 400-ton hydraulic press, 12-meter planing machine, 150-kilogram air hammer and oxygen production equipment.

It has its own wharf and dock, and its customers are all over Southeast Asia, and even provide assistance services for French ships.

Li Guanyun is known as the "shipping king", and there are 21 large and small ships in the Li family's fleet, and almost all the repair and maintenance business is handed over to the Wu family. What's more, when the Wu family first came to Xidi, the Li family provided a lot of help, both in terms of connections and economy.

Because of this, the Wu family is not a little bit good to Li Weimin, the "uncle".

sent his fiancée back, had dinner at Wu's house, and received a stack of red envelopes. As soon as he heard that he was going to the United States, he immediately wrote a check for $20,000, saying that he would make up the red envelopes of the past few years at one time.

The car slowly drove out of the Wu family's mansion, Wu Lijun snuggled on his arm and muttered: "It's 20,000 US dollars as soon as I make a move, and my dad treats you better than me." ”

Li Weimin was happy, and asked with a side smile: "Envy? ”

"Sort of."

"We divide it equally, 10,000 per person?"

"No, it's for you. Besides, the poor family is rich, and it is good to bring more money with you when you go out so far away. ”

"Don't tell me, I'm really short of money right now."

The little girl sat up straight and asked, "How much is missing, I have it!" ”

What can you do with your little pocket money, it's almost the same as letting your father cash out the dowry and deliver it in advance, Li Weimin felt very funny, and pinched her nose: "What about teasing you, who is your fiancé, can he be short of money?" ”

"Bullying again!"

On the street, many refugees who fled from the countryside to escape the war, some begged on the side of the road, some sat on the side of the road in a daze, and there were many street children struggling on the road in groups of three or five, and when they saw well-dressed people, they were entangled, pulling and looking for dollar bills.

The busiest street, Katila Street, is sparsely populated and dimly lit, except for a few drunken French soldiers. The area around Nguyen Hue Boulevard, Trung Sisters Boulevard and Saigon Pier is full of wounded mercenaries of French and African nationalities, lying limply on the corners and alleys, unheeded.

On the main road leading to Tan Son Nhat Airport, the sirens of French Red Cross ambulances carrying wounded soldiers sounded, and the whole city seemed to be enveloped in war clouds.

The front of the dock was full of people, and French soldiers and policemen struggled to maintain order with guns.

Afraid that his fiancée would encounter even the slightest danger, Li Weimin patted the driver on the shoulder and said undoubtedly: "Ah Cheng, stop here, Uncle Liu is in front, and I will go by myself." ”

It was really impossible to drive any further, so Ah Cheng stepped on the brakes in response. The little girl was made of water, and she couldn't help crying when she arrived at the dock.

Li Weimin couldn't bear it, and really wanted to take her with him. But this time I went to the United States to have something big to do, not to play, and I couldn't leave a bad impression on the people I was going to visit, so I could only grit my teeth: "Lijun, be obedient, don't cry, go home and wait for me, wait for me to go back and marry you." ”

The most painful thing in life is life and death, where can Wu Lijun control it, she covered her mouth and sobbed: "Remember to report peace to me, I'll wait for your telegram." ”

"Well, I'll send it as soon as I arrive."

Wu Jingchen came from behind the car and hugged his sister, and Li Weimin was relieved to follow Liu Jiachang into the dock along the VIP passage under the escort of a group of crew members. After talking to Liu Jinghui, who came to see him off, he went up the ramp and climbed onto the Li family's fourth-generation "Great China" passenger and cargo ship.

The ship is 76.9 meters long, 11.1 meters wide, 5.3 meters deep, 1476 gross tons, 4 meters of draft for full load, 16 knots, the main engine is a reciprocating steam engine, 2750 horsepower, daily fuel consumption of about 28 tons, built in the United States in 1943. Because it was originally used as a military escort merchant ship, the ship is thin and small, fast sailing, and equipped with advanced navigation equipment such as radar.

After the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, the U.S. military disposed of the surplus materials, which the Wu family purchased for $350,000 and spent $40,000 on decoration.

The upper part is painted milky white, and the lower part is light brownish yellow, and the appearance is clean and beautiful. The cabins are equipped with snow-white bedding and clean toilets, the beautiful dining room has radio music, and there is a piano in the library and lounge.

There are three state-class cabins on board, which are equipped with heating, sofas, separate bathrooms, toilets, dining rooms, reading rooms, lounges, smoking rooms and other facilities.

Of course, the eldest young master had to take a special class cabin when he got on the ship, and the luggage had already been sent in, and the table was full of flowers and fruits. Afraid that he would be bored, the captain specially asked people to prepare a stack of today's newspapers.

Sent away the second mate and waiter, picked up the top one, and the whole page was full of the battle situation in Dien Bien Phu.

The Viet Minh proudly shouted to the French army through radio broadcasts: In the battle of Dien Bien Phu, the choice of the French army was "death or surrender"; The French sneered at the broadcast, declaring: "If the Vietminh can pay the price of 15,000 soldiers, it can be taken." ”

World War II was fought like that, the whole country was occupied, the government surrendered, and it was a big joke to be mixed with a victorious country, and I don't know where their confidence came from.

What's more, the DPRK has just ceased fire, and it has not learned a lesson, and does not know what "war of attrition" and "crowd tactics" are. 15,000 lives are nothing, as long as you can drive you French away, as long as you can win national independence, I don't care how many people die.

Li Weimin put down the newspaper and secretly thought that the army's today is the tomorrow of the U.S. army, and the U.S. military's tomorrow may be his own day after tomorrow, and he couldn't help but sigh: "In the final analysis, it's still people!" ”