Complaining is complaining, but everyone is an adult and knows that things have to be prioritized, and since everyone has chosen to participate in the crossing, then they must do their part in this collective. There will certainly be some tough jobs going through the initial expansion of the group, but at least it will give the members a clear vision of the hope ahead. Whether it is a Vietnamese bride or a Ming Dynasty bride, Tian Yeyou also knows very well that these things are not a problem at all for the future crossing group, as long as they survive the initial entrepreneurial period, these hundreds of people will sooner or later become privileged figures in all walks of life under the new regime. The good days are still far away, but they are not out of reach.

After a barbecue lunch, the two ships pulled anchor and hoisted their sails to leave the Yingge Sea Salt Field, bypassing Yingge Tsui and heading north along the west coast of Hainan Island. The coastal area on the west coast of Hainan Island has a large alluvial plain and rich water resources, and you can see large and small river estuaries along the coast. The largest Thanksgiving Plain on Hainan Island is located here, covering an area of more than 4 million acres, almost all of which are plains and plateaus below 50 meters above sea level. The geography was ideal for large-scale tropical crop cultivation, and the fleet docked several times along the way, bringing the team member from the Ministry of Agriculture ashore to sample the soil.

This section of the coastal plain is a fertile area, and when the expedition team landed, it could also be seen that a lot of fertile land had been reclaimed in the far inland area. However, compared to the future large-scale collective farms planned by the Ministry of Agriculture, the current land development process here is purely a small fight.

In the later location of Dongfang City, the expedition team could see with a telescope on the boat that there were relatively densely populated villages by the sea. However, when the two strange-looking sailing boats of the expedition appeared on the surface, several small fishing boats floating on the sea quickly fled to the shore, and it seemed that they were once again regarded as uninvited guests. The expedition team did not choose to land here, but directly bypassed the coastal headland and sailed to the lower reaches of the Shilu River.

The lower reaches of the Shilu River are a very typical river, which is surrounded by sediment and long-term alluvial formation of delta plains. According to the satellite map carried by the expedition team, the sediment accumulated at the mouth of the Shilu River has made the area completely impassable for large ships. However, perhaps because the expedition arrived here 400 years in advance, the sediment accumulation in the river is far less severe than in the satellite photos. Tian Yeyou believes that this difference is caused by the vigorous exploitation of Shilu iron ore in later generations, and the effect of large-scale surface mining on the surface water and soil in the upper reaches of the Shilu River directly formed the sediment accumulation in the downstream sections, which can be regarded as an example of the negative impact of textbook mineral development on the ecological environment.

The fleet only traveled a few miles upriver before stopping. The river ahead was getting narrower and narrower, and Tom Wang was worried that he would be troubled if he couldn't turn around and drive out when the boat came in. As for the rubber assault boat that can be navigated along the lì, but it is still a full 30 kilometers from the location of the Shiroku iron mine, and it is obviously not practical to send a small team in the assault boat to go deep into the interior to conduct surveys.

"It seems that the only way to do this is to build a transfer dock downstream near the mouth of the sea, where the ships dock and unload the coal, which is then transported to the iron ore upstream by flat-bottomed cargo ships with shallow draft. Xie Chun of the shipping department saw that he could no longer swim against the current, so he had no choice but to design another freight plan.

Xie Chun has always been very enthusiastic about military operations, and since attending the second Victory Harbor Battle and Artillery Design Seminar, he has spent even more time in the Military Police Department than in the Maritime Department. This time, I heard that the executive committee's overseas ore distribution plan needed to organize an exploration team, and Xie Chun also signed up to participate in it as soon as possible.

"The executive committee is bent on developing the Shilu Iron Mine as soon as possible, and they should really come to this place to see it in person, this place can't be developed in a while!" Tian Yeyou also sighed: "It's so far from the coast, and it can't be directly navigated, so we have to copy the model of the base camp again, first establish an advance base by the sea, and then transport things to the inland little by little." Moreover, this distance is several times farther than that between the two bases of the base camp, and the amount of work will definitely not be small if the land passage is to be repaired in the future. ”

The fleet continued to travel north for several miles according to the directions on the satellite map, and arrived at the location of the later Changhua Port. Although it has a port name, it is not a large seaport, but just a small fishing port near the sea. It is already at the northernmost point of the alluvial plain of the delta at the mouth of the Shiroku River, and the sandbar formed by perennial erosion forms a natural large breakwater on the outside of the port, and then forms a pocket-shaped harbor in the inland near the north shore.

The crew continued to measure the hydrological numbers on the sailing boats, and finally confirmed that the harbor could accommodate at least ships with a displacement of about 2,000 tons. If the channel into the harbor can be cleared and excavated at a deeper level, it will not be a problem for larger ships to enter the harbor. All that will be needed to develop the harbor in the future is to build a row of docks and trestles on the shore for ships to dock.

Seeing that the sky was getting dark, the expedition team chose to anchor and stop the ship here, and sent two reconnaissance teams to conduct a simple search and reconnaissance within three kilometers of the shore. The results of the investigation made the members of the expedition feel both relieved and slightly disappointed that the neighborhood was sparsely populated, and the reconnaissance team only found four or five sparse homes in total, and even a decent village could not be formed. In such an environment, there will naturally be nothing that can threaten the strength of the expedition, but in the future, if the Executive Committee wants to develop this place, it will undoubtedly need to bring in a large number of laborers from other places, which will also be a considerable burden.

After the expedition team had dinner, Tom Wang first arranged the night shift, which began at 9 p.m. and ended at 6 a.m., a total of nine hours, divided into three shifts to change the guard. All personnel are not allowed to disembark and go inland without permission. Then, in accordance with the tradition of the crossing group, the heads of various departments gathered in the living room of the cabin for a brief meeting, the main content of which was to sort out the contents of today's day's inspection.

At 8 o'clock in the evening, the expedition team contacted the base camp by radio at the agreed time and reported the contents and gains of the first day's inspection. Relying on military shortwave radios, the expedition team could still easily get in touch with the base camp even if they went thousands of miles away. Of course, this connection is affected by terrain and weather for a large extent, but in this time and space, radio is the only fast and efficient way to communicate over long distances.

There was nothing to do that night, and the next morning the fleet set off again. Due to the abundance of time, the fleet did not rush to the west to sail to the Beibu Gulf, but continued to sail north along the coastline, and by noon it had already arrived at Danzhou Bay, the largest bay on the west coast of Hainan Island.

The shape of this bay is similar to that of Victory Harbor, and there is a huge deep-water harbor hidden behind a narrow gorge, but Danzhou Bay is several times larger than Victory Harbor. In later generations, the coastal strip here was a very prosperous seaport, but in this era, it is clear that there is not so much logistics to pass through here, and in addition to some fishing villages on the coast, you can also see the salt pans on the shore.

"There is coal in Danzhou, but unfortunately the quality is not too good, it is all lignite. Tian Yeyou introduced what he knew to his teammates: "In fact, most of the coal we imported in the early stage came from Danzhou. I once reported that the Executive Committee would consider taking the initiative to participate in the development of Danzhou's coal mines, but it seems to be a little more troublesome here than Yazhou, so the Executive Committee does not plan to extend its hand here for the time being. ”

Among the cities in the north of Hainan Island in this era, in addition to the capital city of Qiongzhou, Danzhou should be regarded as the second. After repeated research, the Executive Committee believed that there would be many variables in sending people to Danzhou to operate coal mines at this stage, and the base camp was basically separated from the entire Hainan Island, and if there was an emergency, it would be too late to lead to rescue, and finally decided to temporarily abandon direct business and trade activities in Danzhou.

The expedition team did not dock at Danzhou Bay, but just quickly walked around the harbor and then left quickly. However, the local people obviously did not turn a blind eye to the appearance of these two strange ships, and soon a local security guard reported the sightings to Danzhou City, but because the expedition team did not go ashore to harass the people, the matter was finally closed.

After sailing out of Danzhou Bay, the fleet first found an uninhabited shore nearby, and the crew went ashore to bury the pot and cook. At two o'clock in the afternoon, the fleet readjusted its course and headed west. For most of the members of the expedition, it was the first time in their lives that they had sailed on a real ocean away from the coast, so everyone was extremely excited. However, the crew responsible for driving the ship and calculating the route were not so easy, and although the map clearly indicated the location of the next target, it was not easy to find a small island of no more than two square kilometers in the middle of the sea without satellite navigation.

Although there were several veteran crew members on both ships, the unfamiliar waters they faced this time made the voyage difficult, and the crew had to constantly adjust their course to the changing currents and wind direction during the voyage. It wasn't until the sky had begun to get dark that Tom Wang, who had been standing at the bow of the ship and looking at the target with a telescope, exclaimed excitedly: "It's here! We've arrived at our destination!"