Chapter 1014 The People of Hong Kong

The observation tower atop Victoria Peak had just been completed—in this dimension there was no Governor's House here, only wilderness. The Lingao Construction Company's Hong Kong project team, commanded by Shi Dafu, had spent several months opening a mountain road wide enough for two-wheeled handcarts to race along, then leveled a small area at the summit and built a three-story stone observation tower for monitoring the entire island and nearby waters.

The observation tower also served as a wireless transmission tower. Thanks to the excellent terrain advantage and pure radio environment, it functioned as a communication hub connecting Zhejiang in the north to Lingao in the south.

On the observation tower's top platform, several Senators were "looking down on all the small mountains." They wore various uniforms, surrounded by orderlies, secretaries, and maids.

A gray-haired, dark-skinned Senator gazed down at the Ocean Fleet ships in the anchorage. "The Navy is really strong now! What a pity—we're outdated people who can't keep up..."

Li Di, wearing staff officer aiguillettes, laughed. "Boss Lin! You're Navy too. In terms of rank, your lieutenant commander rank is rare in the Navy."

"How can that compare?" Lin Chuanqing, in naval uniform, repeatedly shook his head. "I'm a fisherman—Fishery Fleet. Plainly speaking, just a fisherman in uniform—same as the army's production companies: three years as a soldier just means farming and raising pigs."

"Fishing is also revolutionary work," Hong Huangnan said. "Your Fishery Fleet is much more important than production companies growing vegetables and raising pigs—you've solved the meat problem these past few years. I'm counting on fisheries for more protein." He pointed at the distant, shadowy Lantau Island. "The purified population up there is all waiting to eat seafood congee!"

Lin Chuanqing laughed heartily. "Staff Officer Hong—no, Director Hong, I'll accept the flattery. I understand fishing's significance. It's just seeing the young fellows going out to see action and fight—I'm very envious!"

He rubbed his buzz-cut stubble. "Fishery is of course my old profession, but I often think about firing some cannons for fun."

Everyone laughed at this. Li Di said: "How about later you also become a Fishery Patrol Fleet Admiral? First go to Japan and stir up a fishing dispute or something, then you shell Sakai Port."

"Why shell Sakai Port? Too wasteful. That's a commercial port—occupy it and it's an excellent cash cow." Hong Shuiyin's eyes gleamed with greed. As the commercial director stationed in Hong Kong, he wasn't very satisfied with current operations.

Hong Kong's commercial activities had already developed greatly. Hong Kong's transportation advantages as Guangzhou's outer port far exceeded Huangpu, Macau, and other places. Especially after signing the trade agreement with the Dutch and opening Hong Kong as a trading port, Dutch fleets regularly sailed to Hong Kong for trade.

Though Dutch trade was highly profitable, the scale was ultimately too small. Dutch ships heading to China weren't many—only a few dozen voyages per year. For twenty-first-century people, it was pitifully small.

Because the Ming court had blockaded the Pearl River mouth and canceled the Portuguese's right to enter Guangzhou for trade, in original history the Macau Portuguese couldn't obtain reopening permission despite various activities, falling into great crisis. But in this dimension, the Macau Municipal Council had reluctantly turned its eyes toward Hong Kong—the Australians entered and exited the Pearl River mouth as if uninhabited, and officials didn't dare prohibit them. Moreover, the Australians had semi-public consular commercial offices in Guangzhou, making merchandise distribution extremely convenient. So some Portuguese merchants switched to conducting trade in Hong Kong. Hong Shuiyin discovered Hong Kong was again playing the role of trade "window"—a window connecting offshore and the mainland.

Hong Shuiyin welcomed the Portuguese: They had purchasing power and sales channels, and all their Hong Kong business activities brought income—from rent and port fees to taxes.

The Portuguese also felt Hong Kong had advantages as a window: They no longer had to face insatiable Ming officials and Chinese merchants who frequently defaulted on payments. The drawback was profits weren't as generous as before—the Australians knew all commodity prices like the back of their hands.

However, this alone couldn't satisfy Hong Shuiyin's "grand ambitions." He often gazed toward the mainland direction—there lay the real gold mine to be developed.

Unfortunately, conditions weren't yet right for mining gold. Hong Shuiyin could only sigh at the ocean.

His gaze turned toward the mountain below. Around Causeway Bay and Central, rows of warehouses had been built. Large steam cranes had risen one after another—Hong Kong's appearance as a logistics center was already taking initial shape. Ships from Hainan and Guangzhou unloaded massive quantities of goods here daily; various materials piled up like mountains.

Unfortunately these goods had nothing to do with him—all were materials needed for Operation Engine. However, he had been on edge for a while—Hong Kong's defensive forces were insufficient. Besides one company of marines, there were only the Hong Kong Naval Detachment's armed patrol boats.

As for Luo Chen's Agricultural Reclamation Regiment's militia, though called soldier-civilians, they actually hadn't a single rifle—only armed with standard spears and machetes. Moreover, the entire Reclamation Regiment, besides clearing land and farming, was used on construction sites, with little time for training—Hong Shuiyin deeply doubted their combat capability.

If attacked, ensuring the safety of the massive materials stored here would be difficult. When that happened, as one of Hong Kong region's main responsible persons, he would definitely be in serious trouble.

These anxious days continued until before summer, when troops finally came to Hong Kong from Lingao—besides naval strength increasing, the Northern Expedition Detachment and newly formed Security Army also gradually crossed to Hong Kong Island. Now Hong Kong was well-garrisoned. The Northern Expedition Detachment alone had nearly two thousand people, not counting several hundred Security Army troops just transported in.

As the group was surveying the scenery, Luo Chen's female secretary came to report: The D-Day Third Anniversary reception was ready. Once the chiefs went over, it would officially begin.

D-Day was the day they came to this dimension—highly commemorative. In some sense, it was equivalent to the Senate's National Day. Therefore, the Senate designated it as "Commemoration Day." The 1629 and 1630 D-Day anniversaries, due to internal and external troubles, had no activities besides simple Senator banquets and improved meals.

But this year, despite Operation Engine, their surrounding environment had greatly improved, and material conditions were incomparable to before. To strengthen naturalized citizens' cohesion and natives' allegiance, the Senate held simple celebration activities around D-Day. Besides Lingao, all counties and trading posts under Senate control held banquets and receptions. The former rewarded core naturalized citizens; the latter entertained native collaborators.

The reception was in the trading post's external hall, buffet-style—roughly a scaled-down New Year's reception. Though Hong Kong was far from Lingao, it was close to Guangzhou. Large quantities of fresh ingredients could easily be bought from Guangzhou, so richness wasn't inferior to Lingao.

In the trading post hall, long tables covered with snow-white tablecloths were already filled with dishes and tableware. The cuisine here was "Australian-style"—through Ziming Tower's diffusion, various modern dishes the Senators liked had gradually spread in the Guangzhou region. Hong Kong Base's chef was transferred from Lingao, trained at Cooperative Restaurant.

Hong Shuiyin saw several large platters of sushi and sashimi on the tables. Fresh raw fish gave off an enticing luster—absolutely rare items in this dimension. Though sashimi and sushi weren't unusual among Senators in Lingao, this was the first time they'd been made in Hong Kong. There had been no cold storage locally before, nor refrigeration facilities on fishing boats. Caught fish couldn't be preserved via cold chain, so for safety reasons they never made raw foods like sashimi. Moreover, fish suitable for sashimi had rarely been caught locally in the past.

"Old Lin, this is all your achievement," Hong Shuiyin said with a smile.

The South China Sea was one of the main habitats for Pacific yellowfin tuna and skipjack. Yellowfin tuna was expensive in the old dimension. Skipjack, the smallest tuna, though not as pricy as famous bluefin and yellowfin, was still a rare delicacy in this dimension. Tuna were deep-sea fish, mainly living in the cold water layer twenty to fifty meters deep, often diving below one hundred meters. Thus they contained large amounts of fat and myoglobin, appearing red. For Senators lacking red meat, they were irresistibly appealing.

However, Ming dynasty ordinary fishing boats had neither blue-water seaworthiness nor deep nets—the only nets dozens of meters deep were a few brought with the 8145, all used at the Beibu Gulf fishing grounds. The Senate couldn't manufacture these nylon trawl nets. So the Hong Kong-stationed Fishery Detachment had always only used small nets for fishing—catches were few and economic value low.

To solve this problem, Lin Chuanqing decided to switch to fishing with lines. He converted a sailing trawler that the naval combat forces had retired to the Fishery Fleet into a longline fishing vessel.

This ship towed cables several kilometers long, with a string of buoys on the cables. Each buoy dropped a fifty-meter line, each line with twenty hooks. This ship went out twice monthly. As long as sea conditions were good, it always brought back a boatload of impressive catches. Besides tuna, Spanish mackerel, and large sea bass, there were also swordfish, sailfish, large sharks, and other rare items.

Trial results were satisfactory. Lin Chuanqing immediately submitted a report requesting conversion of several ships to longline fishing vessels. The Naval Department agreed—on one hand, increasing protein supply was everyone's wish; on the other, the Navy considered needing to strengthen South China Sea patrols. Fishing boats' fishing operations were essentially also patrols.

(End of Chapter)