In fact, the construction of the wharf in the port of Long Beach is still in progress, and in order to rebuild ships, a dock will be built in the port, which is a big project that cannot be completed for a while. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 These sailboats, with a displacement of only a few hundred tons, at most a thousand tons, can harvest a lot of marine fish by dragging large fishing nets around the surrounding dozens of nautical miles, and these catches have also become important by-products in the colony.

Baeknam is still an officer in the navy, but most navies, especially modern navies, can't do anything but maintain their ships. However, Zhao Daling prefers to use Bai Nan as one of his henchmen, or assistants, and Bai Nan either follows up to make suggestions, or guides the work of some units with the orders of the final committee.

"Lieutenant Colonel Bai, the commander informs you that the Spanish priests seem to want to communicate, and the commander asks you to go over and see what they want to say." A soldier of the peacekeeping battalion who gave the order found Bai Nan and announced.

Bai Nan has now moved to live on the mainland, and he has been allocated a separate officer's dormitory, due to the shortage of housing in the colony, except for those who have families and families can be allocated a separate house, most single people, especially soldiers, live in a dormitory for eight people. Of course, although the dormitory in Bainan is a single room, the actual area is not large, only a desk and a bed, all of which are temporarily made of North American redwoods by the carpenters, although it is not beautiful, but it is also durable. There are also no separate bathrooms in the officers' quarters, and the officers also have to go to the public toilets.

After receiving the order, Bai Nan followed the soldier to the place where the priests were being held. Their original mission house has been requisitioned, and the small building is now used by the Army. The Spanish priests first lived in tents, but when conditions improved, they were locked up in a wooden bungalow, which was also a makeshift prison.

He took off his military cap, which was a little polite to the priest, and then asked in a proficient Spanish: "Priest, do you have any hope to talk to me?" ”

Kruzado asked, "Lieutenant Colonel White, do you have any arrangements for us as innocent shepherds of God?" ”

Bai Nan shrugged: "There is no arrangement for the time being, we are very willing to go on like this." ”

Cruzado understood that these Orientals really hadn't made up their minds what to do with themselves, so it would be more beneficial to his plans.

"With all due respect, you occupy this land and we have nothing to say. Having witnessed your astonishing level of construction and reclamation, we are confident that you will be able to bring civilization to this wild land, which is what all gentlemen of the civilized world want to see. The Franciscans of our mission house are also more than happy to contribute to Los Angeles, oh, you call it so, at least it's much better than treating us as prisoners. Cruzado asked tentatively.

Bai Nan was a little puzzled: "You mean, you want to work for us?" And what about the Spanish kings to whom you are allegiant? ”

"What we serve is always God." No matter what kingdom you sweat in, it is for the glory of the Father. ”

However, the cunning Cruzado immediately said: "But we are also very pleased to see your friendship with the great Kingdom of Spain, and we are willing to make efforts to establish a strong and lasting friendship and reciprocal relationship between the two sides." Assuming that you can approve, I can at once send my assistants to Mexico and to Spain to obtain for you the recognition of His Majesty the King and the Bishops for your possession of the jurisprudence of Alta California. ”

Bai Nan couldn't help but sneered and said, "Our sovereignty over this land doesn't need other countries to endorse us. Moreover, if your people are really gone, I am afraid that what they will bring back will not be friendship, but war. ”

"Only the most stupid people would go to war with you," Cruzado argued, "but do you think the army of the colonies of New Spain is capable of defeating your invincible army, the valiant and wise Lieutenant Colonel White, who is a soldier yourself?" ”

Bai Nan didn't expect Kruzado to denigrate his country's military power so much and raise the power of the Los Angeles colony. Bai Nan is not a guy who is easily fooled by others, he just smiled faintly and said: "It's not a problem to defeat nature, but we don't like wars, and we hate trouble." So, in order to avoid unnecessary trouble, you still don't think about leaving for the time being. ”

Knowing that this was not yet a good opportunity, Cruzado retreated: "In that case, allow us, ascetics, to work for Los Angeles." If possible, we would like to be your people and continue to preach the gospel for God. ”

Bai Nan immediately became alert, he had already dealt with a group of spontaneous missionaries in the Republic of China, and now if he released a group of professional 18th-century missionaries, it might cause him more trouble.

"Fr. Cruzardo, I beg your pardon for not being able to make up my mind what to promise you, I need to report the situation to the fore and see how my superiors make a decision, please be patient."

Of course, even if Bai Nan informed the decision committee of the matter, the decision committee would take an extremely cautious attitude, and there was no shortage of these manpower in the colony, and it was still manpower with different intentions.

Walking out of this small prison, Bai Nan bumped into several reckless soldiers.

"What's going on, so panicked?" Bai Nan grabbed a soldier and asked.

"Lieutenant Colonel Bai!" The soldier first saluted, then explained: "Our prospecting team, which has been attacked by the Indians, is now trapped in the mountains and forests!" A miner desperately ran back to pass the information back, and the decision-making committee had already held a meeting to discuss countermeasures. ”

"What did you say?" Bai Nam was taken aback.

The prospecting team, led by Yang Honglin, a geologist from the Industrial Bureau, went to the surrounding mountains to look for coal for the colony.

The Los Angeles area is surrounded by the Coast Mountains and the Sierra Nevada Mountains, facing the sea on one side, and belongs to the two mountain ranges of the Rocky Mountains, which are also rich in mineral resources. The low combustion value of these lignites is sufficient for heating, kiln firing and even power generation, but if you want to coke and then make steel, it is not enough.

Yang Honglin also inquired about the information and found that there is another bituminous coal producing area near Los Angeles, although the output is not large, but it is not a problem to supply Los Angeles for use. One of the core plans for the industrial development of the Los Angeles colony is to make steel, so the Industrial Bureau sent Yang Honglin to lead more than 20 people to trek to the coal field on foot, in order to determine the location of the coal field and the difficulty of mining, and then carry out large-scale mining after grasping the situation.

However, it also gives others an opportunity to take advantage of it.

At this time, a man who was not tall but very strong came over and shouted: "What countermeasures are still discussed, those dead natives dare to attack us, see if Lao Tzu does not chop them up!" ”

"Tarahach." Bai Nan called.

Tuo Lahachi saluted Bai Nan and immediately said, "Lieutenant Colonel Bai, you go to the committee members and talk about it, what is there to discuss here, just send troops to fight." ”

As soon as he finished saying this, he saw Liu Fangwu striding from the direction of the Municipal Building of the Decisive Committee, and before he could reach him, he shouted: "Trohachi, take your people, ride your horses, and rescue our prospecting team for me!" ”

Tuo Lahachi smiled heartily and applauded: "Haha, I said, how can this kind of thing be delayed, it's just a matter of your words, general." ”

Liu Fangwu didn't have much scheming, and his speech was relatively straightforward, and said: "I don't follow the rules when I transfer troops, I still have to give the chairman of the committee to give an order in person, so that the troops can be dispatched, okay, stop talking nonsense, hurry up!" ”

"Okay, General, please come on, and watch me bring all of our people back."

Bai Nan couldn't help asking, "Do you know the way?" Familiar with the terrain? ”

He was stunned for a moment and said, "That mountainous area has never been to our hunters, this ......"

At this time, Su Muri, a young man from Chumash who had returned to Los Angeles, also came over, "I, know the road!" Tunwa, Bad Guys, Chumash, Hunter, Together, Fight! ”

His words could not be coherent into sentences, but the basic meaning could be expressed clearly, and Tarahchi immediately cracked his mouth and said: "That's fine, you are familiar with the terrain, so come with us to beat these natives." ”

Sumuri came to Los Angeles with several "good warriors" of Chumash, all of whom brought their own horses, which were also the most valuable treasures. Sumuri was a big proponent of bringing horses to Los Angeles because he also knew what horses meant to Los Angeles. In this way, Sumuli also had eight Chumash riders around him, along with a platoon of chassars led by Tolahachi, and more than 30 people participated in this rescue operation.

Bai Nan had already asked for more information from the miner who ran back to report the news, the prospecting team was not completely unarmed, there were six former Republic of China soldiers with weapons, but it was obvious that the prospecting team was ambushed, although their weapons counterattacked, but there were too many enemies, they also panicked, and had to retreat into the woodland, trapped on a high ground.

The most likely person to carry out this attack was probably the Tunwa people in the Los Angeles colony, whose interests were clearly encroached upon by the presence of Los Angeles, and some of them began to move out of fear, but it seems that some of them chose to fight against each other.