Generally speaking, the landing fleet's first day in Halong Bay went smoothly: by the evening, the engineering personnel who had gone ashore earlier had set up a temporary camp at the landing site.

The temporary camp consists of a small area of ​​tents. In just one day, the engineering staff first dug a temporary ditch in the camp and then raised the foundation as high as possible. The rest was to pray. No one knew whether the camp would be open at night.

Destroyed by storm or heavy rain.

Outside the small camp was the last important material shipped ashore under the setting sun: barbed wire.

In the seventeenth century, barbed wire was a well-deserved defensive artifact. The indigenous people here, including the Western colonists, had no way to deal with barbed wire. The only disadvantage of this good thing is that it is expensive, and it is also difficult to transport and lay out.

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Fortunately, this landing operation was very important, and the person in charge had deduced the impact of the Annan rainy season on the landing in advance, so a lot of temporary equipment such as barbed wire tents were prioritized in the first batch of cabins.

In just one day, under the tropical rain that came and went, and relying on small boats to transport people back and forth, the highly motivated builders finally built a small temporary camp before nightfall.

Next comes the evacuation: all tools and supplies are left behind, and the personnel withdraw to the fleet empty-handed for the night.

Then Mr. Wu hit the jackpot: he and his men, as well as another team temporarily under his command, were ordered to keep watch in the camp... The long night was approaching, and they would keep watch from now on until death.

Standing on the shore, taking advantage of the last rays of the setting sun, the third master pointed at the rowing boat and jumped up and cursed: You are a rat who dare not share the trouble!

The colleagues in the pioneer army on the small boat laughed while paddling, and they all raised the contemptuous middle finger they learned from the big boss... Everyone knows that it is the safest and most comfortable to go back to the cabin to spend the night. Only a devil would do that.

Stay on the shore and soak in the rain to feed the mosquitoes.

The third master seemed unhappy, but military orders were military orders, and he could not disobey them. So when it turned completely dark, he directed the brothers who had stayed behind to get busy with the night vigil.

The first step...of course is to eat. How can we not eat after a busy day?

Although kerosene is a hot-selling item in the trade market and is always out of stock, the fleet going south is not out of stock. This is a very simple truth: if you want to get it, you must first invest. Now, any supplies that the time-traveling forces can provide can go south.

The fleet will receive priority supply.

Soon, a kerosene fire lit up in the tent, and an iron pot was placed on the cast-iron kerosene stove chassis. Next, several large tinplate green military cans with a net weight of one kilogram were opened, and pork egg rolls from Taiwan and

The duck legs produced in the countryside of Yingde were boiled into the pot.

The gurgling soup, the faces of Ming warriors against the fire of industrial civilization, and the sound of rain outside the tent formed a strange time-space picture of ancient and modern intertwining.

After eating this calorie-rich dinner, the third master first ordered to hang all the empty cans and other things on the wire fence. Although the sound of raindrops would affect hearing, this kind of sound was transmitted from "above".

As a veteran driver, Mr. San will definitely follow these defensive tips.

Then start arranging manpower for night duty.

The latent sentry is the hardest, requiring ambush and observation in the rain. The mobile sentry is not much better, requiring patrolling in the rain on slippery and muddy land. The fixed sentry is better, and can be kept on standby in a tent.

After the arrangements were made, the third master ordered the entire camp to turn off the lights and enter silent mode.

At the same time, he turned his head and looked towards the coast. The fleet on the outer sea had long disappeared into the rain and darkness, and only the sound of the tide lapping at the coast still reached his ears from time to time.

Third Master knows that the fleet has also entered a blackout state.

Before joining a certain force, Mr. Wu, who was born as a pure gangster, had no idea that there were so many detailed and stoic rules in an army. This was completely different from the Ming Dynasty's army. Don't think that Mr. Wu didn't know this.

What kind of virtue is there in the Ming army? There were many deserters under his command.

Now, the third master standing on the coast of Annan has already understood what the so-called "strong army" should look like: strict military laws, sharp weapons, generous military pay, and sufficient food and grass.

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...

The long night finally passed.

There is no thrilling rainy night raid plot. The force that can make such tactical moves was the core force in the seventeenth century. No matter what force it is, it will take it seriously. No one will put the core force in their hands on the bird.

Go to the coast without shit.

The only one who was unhappy was Mr. Wu.

As the temporary commander, Mr. San did not sleep a wink all night. Not only did he have to patrol and inspect everywhere in the rain and mud, he also had to arrange for the changing of posts. Every hour, he also had to go to the tent to talk to the fleet and report the situation.

The huge command pressure made Mr. San nervous. He had to take a break to smoke a cigarette in the tent to stimulate his spirit until the morning sun rose.

On the second day after landing, after feeling one foot firmly planted on the shore, the pioneers' movements became even louder.

In the early morning, the fleet made the first move: after the first batch of transport boats set off, the two smallest frigates immediately left and headed straight for Cat Ba Island not far away in the glow of the sun.

Cat Ba Island is not far from the mouth of Halong Bay and is the largest of the thousands of scattered islands nearby. The entire island is 24 kilometers long and 18 kilometers wide, with a total area of ​​315 square kilometers.

In later generations, Cat Ba Island, with its natural white sandy beach, was the pearl of North Vietnam and a holiday paradise. It has natural bathing beaches, various forest landforms, produces a lot of precious wood, and the sea is rich in cuttlefish.

However, in the seventeenth century, Cat Ba Island, like the coastal islands of the Ming Dynasty, was just a wild island that was ignored.

After the second batch of small boats set off, the large fleet also moved.

Yesterday, because we had just arrived, we didn’t know if we could stand on the shore, so the fleet anchored in the open sea. Today, considering that there is preliminary defense force on the shore, it is time for the fleet to move to Halong Bay.

Storms often occur on the Annam coast during the rainy season, so it is the right choice for the fleet to anchor in Halong Bay to take shelter from the wind.

At this time, the effect of sending ships for reconnaissance in the early stage was reflected. Under the guidance of the pilot ship, the fleet successfully sailed into Halong Bay while avoiding various light and dark rocks blocking the road.

While the fleet was moving, things were already in full swing on the shore.

Today is different from yesterday. According to the plan, the engineering personnel who came ashore today will not evacuate in the evening, but will stay in the camp overnight, so people are working hard to make themselves safer when night comes.

The top priority today is the trestle.

There must be a trestle first, even the simplest one that can only unload light supplies. After all, the efficiency of transporting supplies and personnel in small boats is too slow.

So a large number of construction workers gathered at a beach facing the inland sea of ​​Halong Bay and began to repair the trestle bridge using the most primitive methods: manually digging pits, burying bottom piles, and laying bridge decks.

The good thing is that although the plan is old-fashioned, the tools in the hands of the construction workers are serious crude steel products, including measuring tools and even nails, which are all regular products produced by the Kiln District Tool Factory. In addition, the wooden piles used to build the trestle bridge

and wooden boards are also standard parts that have been processed in advance.

In this way, the construction progress of the trestle is very fast. With the passing standards lowered, it only took one day to reach the base of the trestle into the sea water. Depending on the situation, the small boat can be unloaded by tomorrow at most.

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By evening, the work outside the camp had come to an end.

Using various sharp tools, the construction workers cleared another 200 meters of vegetation within sight. Now the camp has not only expanded its area, but also has a circle of bare open space around it that does not affect the shooting range.

The last program of the day was the return of the two frigates.

After the two frigates returned, they quickly brought their harvest ashore: a dozen captured fishermen from Cat Ba Island.

The arrival of the new force accelerated the construction work of the camp. Due to the language barrier, these local Annan fishermen were extremely panicked at first. Later, they found that the food at the construction site was good, and they could also receive bright Ming Dynasty copper coins after work every day, so they gradually relaxed

I have made up my mind and no longer consider running away.

Just like this, another two days passed, and the hard-working pioneers finally arrived at the second fleet from Qiongzhou.

As mentioned before, Qiongzhou is only about a day's sea journey from Halong Bay. The reason why the reinforcement fleet came today is because it has to tow a special vessel: a floating dock.

Due to the low level of technology, today's floating docks are disposable. After being towed to a designated location, the dock can be put into use after a series of procedures such as beach fixing.

The arrival of floating docks has greatly increased the speed of cargo loading: cargo ships can finally load and unload cargo directly on the shore without small boats.

Next, a batch of simple lifting transport tools came ashore. After the tools were installed in place, a large amount of building materials were brought ashore through the floating dock.

Zheng Yangyang, a traveler in charge of infrastructure in the military and political group that went south, also landed in Halong Bay with the large troops.

Zheng Yangyang is less than 30 years old this year and is one of the youngest time travellers. Before he time travel, he worked illegally in the United States and learned house design. After time travel, he designed the early standardized wooden houses built in Taijiang.

In fact, Zheng Yangyang single-handedly presided over the revision of the standard wooden house model currently being built at various construction sites and new areas in Fujian and Guangdong, as well as the industrial standards for wood production, processing, transportation, etc. involved behind it.

The main advantage of Zheng Yangyang's ability to go south to participate in the development business this time is that he is young: none of the older construction industry bosses are willing to go to Nanyang to work under the scorching sun and mosquitoes.

Of course, Zheng Yangyang's main task is to build a city... There is a long list of place names waiting for him, the chief architect, to design a city or castle.
Chapter completed!