Chapter 512 - The Sanya Expeditionary Battalion

"You have to understand the mentality of these petty producers—at their core, they're unreliable," Jiang Muzhi continued airing his distrustful views. "Let me tell you something."

It turned out that an "alert" worker with a "positive attitude"—though his motives were suspect—had already come forward to inform on Bao Lei. He reported that the master craftsman had been secretly sketching on scraps of paper and often lingered alone in the workshop at dawn, long before the shift began, examining vehicle parts.

"Really?!" Li Chiqi's eyebrows shot up. "So the indigenous people really can't be trusted!" In his view, the collective had rescued the whole family from the brink of starvation, and they enjoyed the highest compensation in the Vehicle Works. Yet they still harbored ulterior motives!

"It's not about being trustworthy or not—selfishness is a human weakness."

"Looks like we'll have to reassign him away from key positions…"

"That's unnecessary. So he drew a few awkwardly proportioned sketches—does that mean he can build a Purple Lightning Kai? He can't even source the materials. Besides, he works hard now, and his machine-operating skills are solid—he's our top technician," Jiang Muzhi said.

"Hmph, I just can't stand that type of person." From then on, Li Chiqi's opinion of Bao Lei soured considerably.

The sheer volume of vehicles needed for the Tiandu development kept the Vehicle Works running around the clock, yet the gaps remained large. The problem of the Machinery Works' small scale was laid bare. Lingao's current industrial system was small but comprehensive—capable of producing many things, but incapable of scaling up for true mass production.

After some thought, Ma Qianzhu ordered a temporary reduction in railcar output—those were the most complex to manufacture and consumed the most materials—in favor of prioritizing wheelbarrow production. At the construction launch, demand for the nimble little carts would surely be high.

Ma Qianzhu then endured harassment from Zhang Bailin. Hearing that cannon and shell production had been halted and all capacity diverted to civilian machinery, Zhang marched straight to the Executive Committee to "demand an explanation."

"Director, you're dismantling our own defenses!" Zhang Bailin adopted a pained expression. "When the enemy attacks, are our Army brothers supposed to resist with second-generation spears and cutlasses? I beg you to reconsider! Boo-hoo-hoo."

"Production is only being suspended for a few months. Besides, the recent casting quota was mainly for naval guns."

"Is that so?" Zhang Bailin's tears vanished instantly. "…Still, naval guns are also part of the nation's armaments—they shouldn't just be cut. And as for ammunition, what we have now would be used up in a flash. Without artillery, how do we counter enemy human-wave tactics?"

"The Machinery Chief wrote on the OA that concrete could be used as a shell substitute. Not as good as iron shells, but workable in a pinch," Ma Qianzhu recalled Jiang Ye's post. Concrete shells might even serve as training rounds later; recovered iron shells always suffered some attrition losses…

"Would the ballistics be the same?" Zhang Bailin tried to continue.

"Do you want Soviet-level quantities of guns and American-level unlimited ammunition? If you do, then bear with it for now. I'm very busy—let's talk later." Ma Qianzhu finally managed to coax him out, wiping sweat from his forehead. Clearly, he would have to establish a formal visitation system. He couldn't have every Tom, Dick, and Harry barging into his office; otherwise, major initiatives would become impossible.

Chen Haiyang, though he had reservations about halting artillery production, was at least a cadre schooled by the Party and accustomed to obeying organizational directives. When he reflected on the payoff once the Tiandu mining operation succeeded, he made his peace with it.

"The order to build a thousand-ton iron ship was issued ostensibly for developing Tiandu, but by the time it could be finished there was no iron. Now we're short on iron and re-smelting it would be wasteful, so it's shelved as a non-performing asset. A textbook case of seat-of-the-pants leadership," Meng De groused about Project 854 sitting on the slipway. The ship was supposed to mark an epoch; instead, it sat weathering sun and rain, now streaked with rust—an unsightly spectacle.

"At the time, we didn't know we'd acquire so many wooden ships. Hindsight is easy." Chen Haiyang shut down Meng De's complaints. When the Executive Committee had been seized with enthusiasm for the big iron ship, he, as the Navy's head, had been an ardent supporter.

"Can wooden ships compare to steam-powered iron ships? Getting ready to go to Tiandu—just preparing the vessels is a huge job!"

In preparation for the Tiandu development, the Maritime Forces Division had been ordered to undertake a large-scale vessel-readiness campaign, driving the naval personnel into overdrive. Simply assembling crews had taken considerable ingenuity. Most of the pirate chiefs who had defected with their ships were still "studying"; many sailors were not yet out of quarantine. Some of these ships had arrived with incomplete rigging or damaged hulls; their sanitary conditions were hellish—infested with rats, cockroaches, lice, and fleas. The sanitation team had sprayed disinfectant and laid poison bait to exterminate vermin multiple times. Vessels in particularly dire shape were simply moored in the harbor's quarantine-zone waters and left sealed, allowing their onboard life forms to die off on their own.

After a night of calculations and planning, the naval staff under Ming Qiu concluded that, in addition to Swift Whale, Great Whale, the Type 67 landing craft, and Sanya One, at least ten sailing ships of 200-ton displacement or more would need to be made ready to meet the first wave's material-transport requirements. These vessels would not only support the initial landing but also execute subsequent shuttle runs, ferrying a continuous stream of personnel and supplies ashore.

Simply readying all of them would take considerable time. Large sailing ships had not been built for transporting construction materials; many oversized or extra-long items required special modifications before they could be loaded. The shipyard was swamped.

The escort force comprised two 8154-class fishing trawlers, the steam-powered gunboat Zhenhai, and the sailing gunboat Fubo. Each of the other sailing vessels was armed with eight 48-pounder carronades and two "Typewriters" for self-defense.

Swift Whale had two Typewriters mounted on its deck. As for Great Whale—now motorized after its diesel-engine refit—it would carry an Army artillery platoon. Two 12-pounder Model 1857 field guns were emplaced in sandbag-walled positions on deck, along with one 12-pounder mountain howitzer. If Anyoule Town proved cooperative, all would be well; if not, the Artillery Training Detachment would have a chance to practice.

Additionally, the expedition carried two disassembled naval 120mm muzzle-loading rifled guns. These would be installed at the Luhuitou naval battery.

Great Whale and Swift Whale also had varying numbers of transport boats lashed to their decks. Some had been hastily fitted with small steam engines; others were oar-powered. They would provide mobility within the bays of Dadonghai and Yulin Harbor. Chen Haiyang regarded this as a rare opportunity for a large-formation naval operation, so he sent all the naval officer cadets aboard for shipboard training.

Finally, several small sailboats were readied for use as courier vessels and fishing boats—the waters around Yulin Harbor had good fishing grounds, and fresh provisions could be obtained locally.

He Ming was in charge of Army readiness. He was, after all, a career officer who had actually served in a military unit and held the highest rank among Army transmigrators; compared to the senior command cadre—dominated by NEET self-defense armored generals and enlisted or NCO veterans—he was clearly the most professional.

The expeditionary infantry battalion was commanded by Xi Yazhou. A great many people had been denouncing him on the BBS for chronic absenteeism, claiming he was hiding out at the sanatorium on the pretext of photophobia and wind sensitivity as sequelae of tetanus. (Shi Niaoren had established a sanatorium outside Bairen Fortress, away from the industrial zone, for military personnel, Long-Range Exploration Team members, and workers in heavy-labor or hazardous positions.)

According to the accusations, Xi Yazhou not only malingered for extended periods but repeatedly tried to become "intimate" with the nurses assigned to the facility—though all such attempts had been righteously rebuffed by the young nurses Shi Niaoren had trained. After Ma Qianzhu telephoned him several times, Xi Yazhou finally checked out of the sanatorium—his photophobia had reportedly improved, though he still told anyone who would listen that he must have contracted tetanus during the battle aboard Great Whale and that it simply hadn't manifested yet.

"Look, my persistent aversion to light is proof," Xi Yazhou whined to Ma Qianzhu from behind sunglasses.

"Tetanus causes photophobia?" Ma Qianzhu was skeptical. "I don't think that symptom matches…"

"Of course it does. I'm enduring the pain to serve the organization…"

"All right. The organization has decided: you're being posted to Yulin Harbor as Sanya garrison commander." Ma Qianzhu stood with hands clasped behind his back, gazing out the window. "You should know there's a lot of discontent toward you—apparently you made quite a few enemies on the BBS back in the day. A good number of our core people were active posters there."

"When I was a moderator, I deleted a lot of posts. I did offend a few petty people."

"They're comrades now." Ma Qianzhu turned around; the sunlight streaming through the window behind him cast a dazzling halo around his figure. "Your thinking is quite off-track. If you keep this up, it could get dangerous."

"All they do is mouth off—"

"There you're wrong. Anyone who was one of the Five Hundred will, in the future, be capable of doing far more than mouthing off." Ma Qianzhu said no more. "You've been on extended sick leave; plenty of people in the Army have grievances against you. There's no going back to the Training Detachment. Go to Yulin Harbor—there's room to make a name for yourself."

"Very well. I'll definitely do a good job. You can count on it!"

"Of course I can count on it. Turn Sanya into the transmigrated collective's southern bastion. The place has great potential." Ma Qianzhu smiled. "Report to He Ming and put your team together. Discuss the details. Once you're in Sanya, you may have to open fire a few times."

Xi Yazhou returned to Army Headquarters and conferred with He Ming over the deployment details.

From Lingao to Sanya, a sailing ship took seven days. With the number of motorized vessels limited, once the Yulinbao garrison encountered a large-scale attack and sent a distress telegram, they would have to hold out for at least ten days before reinforcements could arrive. The area to be secured was also substantial, so He Ming judged that a force of three infantry companies was not excessive.

Note: The seven-day sailing time from Lingao to Sanya is based on records in the Zhengde-era Qiongtai Zhi.

(End of Chapter)