Chapter 1036: Landing
The Fubo, smallest in displacement, broke formation and sailed alone at the very front. Its diesel engine power meant low engine noise, high mobility, and no continuously spewing thick smoke—making it the designated aviso of the Second Fleet, executing missions of reconnaissance, infiltration transport, and surprise attacks.
Following the chart drawn by Haitian, the Fubo carefully dropped buoys while sailing, guiding subsequent ships into Seongsan Bay.
Standing on the deck of Fubo was Special Reconnaissance Detachment Squad Leader Xue Ziliang. Nearly all squads under the Special Reconnaissance Detachment Command had been dispatched for various operations. Apart from the direct squad commanded by Bei Wei himself, only Xue Ziliang's squad remained uncommitted.
Xue Ziliang had long served as an instructor in the Special Reconnaissance Detachment, so his unit was effectively a training squad. However, the combat environment on Jeju Island was relatively simple—everyone in the Senate held extreme contempt for the combat effectiveness of the Joseon army, refusing to grant them even the title of "Combat Power 5." This made it perfect for the training squad to practice.
For Xue Ziliang, it didn't matter whether the opponent was Combat Power 5 or Combat Power 1. Having been cooped up on Hainan Island for far too long—leading his team in daily runs across the island, climbing mountains, crossing ridges, swimming across the sea—he was bored out of his mind. A chance to go on a real operation was not to be missed. He immediately selected the twenty best-performing members from the training squad to form the Jeju Island Special Task Squad.
Fubo lowered its sails and used the diesel engine to approach Seongsan at a crawl. Xue Ziliang had visited South Korea during his time as an American soldier, and had naturally toured Jeju Island.
The Seongsan before his eyes was almost identical to his memory—only more desolate and quiet. The beautiful beach south of Seongsan was devoid of human traces. Only occasionally could a few small fishing boats be seen sunbathing bottom-up.
No hotels, no resorts, and certainly no sight of gorgeous women in bikinis. Though Xue Ziliang had felt at the time that those beauties looked decidedly un-Asian, now he missed them very much.
Though he had managed to win Salina—attracting every variety of envy, jealousy, and hatred, especially from Xiao Bailang, who declared every time he got drunk at the farm café that he would "shoot Winnie Xue and take back the big foreign mare"—he had no share of maid subsidies. He was entitled to the subsidy, of course, but out of consideration for Salina's feelings, he had painfully forfeited the opportunity.
Damn, a tree or a forest—that is the question! He muttered to himself on deck. Thinking of recent rumors at the Nanhai Café that many girls had been brought from Shandong, he couldn't help letting his thoughts wander.
They said there would be a local Ziming Tower in Lingao. Why isn't it open yet!
While his imagination ran wild, the lookout suddenly shouted: "Fifteen degrees starboard ahead, distance 380 meters, active targets!"
Xue Ziliang hurriedly raised his telescope, a grin spreading across his face as he quickly adjusted the focus.
In the lens was a group of bare-bottomed young women.
No—strictly speaking, they weren't truly bare-bottomed, but wearing loincloths similar to T-back thongs. Despite the biting cold sea wind, these women wore only cloth towels wrapped around their heads and straw-woven capes draped over their bodies, running barefoot among the reefs, rattan baskets in their hands, moving as agilely as antelopes.
"Catch them alive!" Xue Ziliang roared unconsciously, drawing suppressed snickers from several squad soldiers behind him.
"Laugh my ass! I bet you bunch of virgins are seeing bare-bottomed women for the first time!" Xue Ziliang scolded.
"Reporting to the Squad Leader! We can't see..." the scolded soldier replied.
Xue Ziliang bellowed, "All prepare to land!"
Fubo approached the beach and lowered two speedboats—neither rowboats nor heavy motorized boats with steam engines, but fiberglass motorboats with outboard motors, specially equipped for the Special Reconnaissance Detachment.
Xue Ziliang was first to leap into a motorboat. Before the last soldier to drop in could regain his feet, both motorboats shot toward the beach like arrows from a bow.
Xue Ziliang's eagerness to go ashore was of course to capture some women, but his motivation wasn't mere novelty-seeking. Capturing prisoners was the most common method for reconnaissance squads to obtain intelligence. He guessed these near-naked women were Haenyeo—"sea women"—harvesting seafood in the area. He had witnessed their performances at this very location during his travels in South Korea, and had even tasted fresh abalone harvested by Haenyeo.
Though the motorboats were fast enough and the squad members rigorously trained, the distance was too great. By the time the Special Reconnaissance Detachment hit the beach, the Haenyeo had already fled five or six hundred meters away. Even sprinting flat out, they couldn't catch up.
"Sergeant! Take a few men and track them in the direction they fled—they should be from a nearby fishing village. Maintain contact, do not fire at will." He issued orders to the sergeant beside him.
"Understood!" The sergeant saluted, turned, and picked four soldiers to track together.
"Everyone else spread out, search the vicinity!"
According to Xue Ziliang's experience, in sudden situations like this, some people would choose to run while others would choose to hide in place—especially given the many small groves and rocky formations on this part of the beach, giving an impression that hiding was possible. Someone would definitely be hiding.
Sure enough, soldiers soon brought five or six semi-naked Haenyeo back. The women huddled, some draped in straw cloaks and some simply naked, walking over barefoot.
The escorting soldiers were all young lads. Though Lingao didn't maintain a culture of strict separation between men and women—female naturalized citizens under the Senate's rule typically wore skirts and short-sleeved clothes in summer—they had never seen such nearly naked women. Though the Haenyeo varied in age, naked thighs, breasts, and buttocks swaying before their eyes made several soldiers blush, lower their heads, and avoid looking.
Xue Ziliang glanced at them in dissatisfaction. "What the hell are you shy about! Eyes open wide! Watch the prisoners! I'll ask how many hairs the prisoners have later! No dinner for anyone who can't answer!"
Though the soldiers tried desperately to look serious, their expressions struggled not to laugh.
"Take them aside and detain them." Xue Ziliang had no time for interrogations now. Besides, he didn't understand Korean. A Senator fluent in Korean had been specially assigned for this operation as translator, but he remained aboard the flagship.
"Contact Admiral Li Haiping on Zhenyang immediately!"
The soldier carrying a 2-watt radio nearby hurriedly began calling, and soon raised Zhenyang. Xue Ziliang took the handset and spoke loudly:
"This is Xue Ziliang at the radio. Over."
"This is Li Haiping at the radio. Over." Static crackled through the headset, but Li Haiping's voice came through clearly.
"I have landed on Seongsan Beach. Encountered no resistance. Will proceed to the beacon tower shortly. Current bearing 1167. I will fire a signal flare in five minutes. Marking landing beach with three bonfires of white smoke. Over."
"Copy. Over."
"Communication out." He set down the handset and ordered soldiers to execute their predetermined tasks.
The soldiers dispersed and set up three bonfires on the beach. One soldier scattered special chemicals on the fires, producing white smoke—distinguishing the signals from the black smoke of the beacon tower.
According to Haitian's intelligence, a Joseon beacon tower stood beside the landing zone—located at what would become the Seongsan Bathing Beach in the old timeline. Where there was a beacon tower, there must be garrison soldiers. Useful information could be extracted from soldiers, so his first task was to capture the beacon tower and take prisoners.
The beacon tower was highly conspicuous—visible from the beach without searching. Xue Ziliang didn't go personally but dispatched a small squad. Half an hour later, they returned with five Joseon soldiers and reported that observation posts had been established on the beacon tower.
The Second Fleet sailed into Seongsan Bay, steam engines roaring, black smoke billowing. From the H800s that dropped anchor in the Seongsan anchorage, small motorized boats began to be hoisted down. Four motorized boats were equipped with "typewriters," serving as patrol boats for the bay while moonlighting as tugboats.
The combat engineer company was first to climb down rope nets from the transport ships onto small boats. Wooden pier components bundled on pallets with float drums were hoisted from the Harmony Wheels and placed directly on the water. Engineers wearing life jackets quickly tied towlines to the pallets, which were towed to shore by motorized boats and assembled by the engineers.
A specially modified flat-bottomed barge was unloaded from a Harmony Wheel's deck—equipped with a small steam engine and boiler set to power a pile driver.
Large barrels of pure water for the boilers and coal were unloaded from the collier Haifeng. Engineers busied themselves on the engineering barge, adding water and coal. Before long, thick black smoke rose from the boiler chimney, climbing straight into the sky. However, several hours would pass before the steam engine became operational. Laborers from the direct squadron of the Jeju Agricultural Reclamation Regiment headquarters began climbing down rope nets from the H800s in batches—each carrying a luggage bag, wearing a rattan safety helmet, with a machete at the waist. The future Jeju Island Agricultural Reclamation Regiment would be built with these men as its core.
Around noon, the first dispatched Special Reconnaissance Detachment scouts returned. They had marked several villages on the map. One lay less than two kilometers from the landing beach—right at the foot of Seongsan. Xue Ziliang examined the map; it was roughly the location of the Seongsan Folk Village in the old timeline. The scouts reported it was a fishing village—the Haenyeo who had fled earlier were from there.
"The villagers have all run away. We didn't pursue," the scout reported. "We searched the village. No suspicious locations."
The commoners had fled in a hurry—even the fires in the stoves hadn't been extinguished. The scout reported the village was very poor. Apart from a small amount of seafood catch, almost no grain or valuables could be found, nor any livestock.
"Very good." Xue Ziliang expressed satisfaction. "Rest up. There are new missions tomorrow."
(End of Chapter)