Chapter 1021 Advance Team (2)

After Morgan finished his dinner and saw that the agreed time had arrived, he asked the guard to fetch the radio, and he personally sent a telegram to the Penghu base to inform him of the current situation. Although nothing went wrong with today's landing, due to time issues

There is still a large amount of supplies that have not yet been unloaded ashore, and Morgan estimates that it will take at least one day to unload the goods and set up the temporary camp.

One of the tasks of the advance team is to establish an advance base here to serve the large forces that will follow. This means that Morgan must also direct his men to complete some infrastructure facilities. For example, setting aside material storage areas and personnel

Residential areas, building fortifications outside the camp, digging drainage facilities and storage tanks, building public health facilities, etc. Although these facilities are not big projects, they still require a lot of manpower to be implemented. Fortunately, Morgan has two

The platoon is not a rookie, and Liu Shanxia has sent several of his foremen to help with dispatching and commanding, so there should not be too many technical problems in completing these tasks.

The biggest trouble Morgan faces now is actually the weather. Although the main reason for rushing to Miaoli is to take advantage of the better navigation conditions in Longxi in two months to rush things and people into the mountainous area, but this is not the case during the rainy season.

The non-falling rainfall is really annoying. Judging from the conditions we saw today, the riverbank near the mouth of the sea is completely muddy. If we want to start some infrastructure projects under such weather conditions, the progress will inevitably be delayed. Morgan

The telegram also requested Penghu to send an additional group of migrant workers as soon as possible to make up for the negative impact caused by the weather by increasing the labor force.

Morgan called his two platoon commanders and several foremen to the headquarters tent and assigned tasks to them one by one. This kind of work of coordinating and commanding the joint operation of multiple departments is actually not what Morgan is good at. He prefers

Holding his precious M200 gun and carrying out hidden assassination missions alone in the wild, that kind of unrestricted freedom is what Morgan enjoys most. But unfortunately, he was restricted to Sanya most of the time after traveling, and

In recent years, there have been fewer and fewer opportunities to go out on missions, so as soon as he heard about the opportunity to leave Hainan Island, Morgan immediately signed up to lead the troops.

Of course, leading troops to fight is not an easy task, not to mention the need to coordinate and command other non-military departments in this mission. Although Morgan's military rank is not low, he has only commanded company-level troops on the battlefield before.

, has never really independently commanded a large-scale mission. This time Haihan is expected to deploy more than 1,500 personnel in the Miaoli area, and it will be necessary to go tens of kilometers inland to establish a long-term stronghold. Such a mission is actually a big deal for him.

A small test.

But Morgan also knows that he doesn't have many opportunities to perform in the military now. If he doesn't make some achievements, he will be able to get fewer and fewer military leadership tasks in the Ministry of National Defense in the future, and he is unwilling to retire early in Sanya.

Therefore, he paid special attention to this mission. After assigning the work, Morgan began to study the map and consider designing an action plan to enter the inland mountainous area.

About ten kilometers inland from the current temporary camp along Houlong River to the east, the river will turn south at a right angle, and inside this right angle is a triangular alluvial plain with an area of ​​about ten square kilometers. In this area

On the west side of the alluvial plain is a hilly area called Maoli Mountain, which is also the location of the Maoli Society of the Dajia Clan. According to the information currently available, this community has a population of about seven to eight hundred people, and it has also cultivated land on the plain.

With a small amount of land, it is the tribe closest to the seaside in Miaoli. In fact, the place name Miaoli most likely comes from the name of the tribe Maolishe.

According to Yu Yao, the last time he led a team into Houlong River to survey the terrain, the natives of Maolishe showed obvious hostility towards their arrival, and there was even a brief confrontation between the two sides in the forest, but

In the end, no direct armed conflict occurred. How would the natives of Maolishe view "invaders" such as Haihan? Morgan was not optimistic about this. He believed that the other party was unlikely to change their attitude and welcome his arrival. In fact,

Even the area where the current camp is located is also the activity area of ​​the Maolishe people. The pier and trestle that were vandalized are probably the masterpieces of these natives.

After Houlong River changes its course to the south, it has to go through a journey of more than ten kilometers before it turns 90 degrees to the east again and enters the mountainous area. The inside of this 90-degree angle is also an alluvial plain, and on its east side

It is the Central Mountain Range of Taiwan Island. These two small alluvial plains are actually river valley plains that were washed out by Houlong River from the Central Mountain Range over millions of years. They are also home to the few cultivated lands of local indigenous tribes.

However, if Haihan wants to ensure the safety of the Houlong River Basin, he must take control of these two plains in his own hands. However, it is unlikely that the local indigenous people will obediently hand over the land to Haihan.

, there will inevitably be some troubles.

According to the map provided by Yu Yao, Morgan once again measured the length of the channel, which was a full 27 kilometers. This voyage is not long, but in the current environment, it gives Morgan a slight headache. With the steam inland river

Judging from the ship's horsepower and channel conditions, dragging a barge upstream at a speed of about four knots would be considered an incredible speed. This means that the entire voyage may take seven or eight hours. If the water channel conditions remain the same after entering the mountainous area,

If the navigability can be maintained until the final destination is out of the sulfur pit, it will add at least an hour to the voyage.

Of course, the length of the channel is not a problem. It is just that more coal is consumed along the way. That is not an issue that Morgan needs to consider. But how to ensure the safety of this section of the channel is a more delicate matter.

Morgan has two options at the moment. One is to deploy more armed strongholds along the waterway to ensure the safety of the entire waterway in a segmented manner. But how many strongholds need to be deployed for a thirty-kilometer long waterway? 10

One or eight? The command and supply problems caused by such scattered strongholds will most likely become another kind of trouble that is difficult to solve.

Another way is to equip every fleet that travels between the seaside and Chulunkeng with armed guards. But how many armed guards does a fleet need to be equipped to ensure safety? If there is an emergency on the way, what will happen?

How to ensure timely assistance and reinforcements?

Both of these methods have obvious loopholes, so Morgan planned to use them together. On the one hand, he would build strongholds to station troops on the way, and on the other hand, he would also send a certain number of armed personnel to accompany the ship.

The choice of base in the middle of the voyage is undoubtedly the two river bends where the water flows at 90 degrees. The water flow in these two places is the slowest during the entire voyage, and it must also be the most dangerous place. Control these two places.

It is almost equivalent to avoiding half of the risk. And if a stronghold with complete defensive facilities is built, with the Haihan Army's absolute advantage in combat effectiveness, there is actually no need to station a large force. One to two platoons are enough to control the situation.

Of course, the most thorough solution is undoubtedly to completely expel potential hidden dangers from this area, but this kind of operation involves entering the mountainous area to fight, and the Haihan army, which is not familiar with the local geographical conditions, has to complete this task.

Obviously there are still certain difficulties and risks. Morgan does not want to devote all his limited troops to military confrontation with the indigenous tribes for the time being. After all, opening up the Houlong River channel is his first priority. If it is not necessary, he will

There is no need to take the initiative to start a war with the natives.

In the middle of the night, the rain became heavier and heavier. Morgan couldn't worry about the soldiers on duty outside. He put on his raincoat and went out with his guards for a inspection. After confirming that there was no problem, he returned to the tent to rest.

Early the next morning, the advance team members followed Morgan's instructions and began to carry out construction work separately. However, due to the continuous rain, the progress of infrastructure projects that required excavation was slow. Morgan even had to order water storage at designated areas.

A tent should be set up above the pool area before excavation. Otherwise, the pit will be soaked in water no matter how deep it is dug, and the construction purpose will not be achieved at all. However, there is no such condition for digging trenches outside the camp.

If you insist on open-pit excavation, you may have to wait until the next batch of workers arrive, and rely on manpower to overcome the impact of weather conditions.

However, there is good news amidst the chaos. According to hydrological survey results, the water level on the river bank today has risen by about three inches compared to when it arrived yesterday. Considering that the width of the river at the mouth of the sea is much wider than that of the upper reaches, the water level of the upper reaches should rise by

It will be larger, which means that the upstream navigation capacity will increase with the increase in precipitation during the rainy season. It is not conjecture, but a fact that actually happens.

At noon, Morgan saw that the rain was decreasing, so he asked the technician responsible for operating the steam engine to start debugging the steam barge, preparing to lead a team to explore the road first.

After a brief lunch, Morgan took twenty soldiers on a steam barge from the temporary base and headed upstream along the Houlong River. After only sailing about two kilometers, the river began to narrow rapidly, shrinking to the mouth of the sea.

About one-fifth.

While observing the conditions on both sides of the river with a telescope, Morgan asked the soldiers to measure the water depth and flow speed, and record them according to the voyage. Judging from the flat terrain on both sides of the river, the Houlong River is obviously not as safe as it looks.

Well, there must have been many years when the river water overflowed the river bed and flooded the surrounding area. It seems that although this waterway was named after a stream in later generations, its current flow is obviously a full-fledged river rather than a creek.

.

What makes Morgan feel a little relieved is that there are not many shelters on the river banks on both sides. Even with the naked eye, you can get an excellent observation field, and you will not be easily ambushed. At that time, the soldiers responsible for the armed escort will have rifles in their hands.

The killing distance is advantageous enough that there is no need to be afraid of the indigenous bamboo bows, arrows and spears.

Taking into account the return time, Morgan did not go too far on this trip. He only went upriver for about two hours before turning back. During this period, the steam engine on the ship was working normally without any glitches. In order to prevent this kind of reliability

The steam engine, which was not high enough, broke down halfway. The barge was also equipped with a single mast sail, oars, poles and even fiber ropes. At least the ship would not lose its forward momentum due to machine failure. Of course, if such misfortune really happened,

In the event of an accident, the cargo barge being towed would probably have to be unloaded to the river bank and parked, waiting for the next steamship to come and transport it away.

The progress of the advance team's projects in the camp that day was indeed not ideal. Except for the repair of the trestle and the excavation of the reservoir under the tent, which was relatively smooth, other projects that required open-air operations were progressing slowly. It was originally thought that at least four projects could be completed locally.

The construction of five simple houses was completed, but only two were completed due to rain. However, the tents in the barracks area were basically completed, and tonight all the soldiers could finally go to land to spend the night.

After dinner, Morgan continued to contact Penghu via the radio. After receiving his report the previous day, the base had sent a fleet of 300 workers to Miaoli this morning. If everything goes well, perhaps this fleet

Arriving early tomorrow morning, Morgan can free up the few troops he has and prepare to go inland to inspect the conditions of the upper waterways.

This news made Morgan finally relax a little. If the infrastructure construction project of the temporary camp continues to be delayed like this, the main force should arrive in a few days, but he still has no time to go upstream to obtain first-hand hydrological and geographical data, then

It would inevitably delay the exploration team's time to enter the mountain. Morgan immediately ordered people to prepare supplies for operations and planned to enter the interior the next day.

The next day, Morgan still set out with twenty soldiers, but today there was an extra barge towed behind. On the one hand, this was to test the conditions for the towed barge upstream, and on the other hand, it was also convenient for loading this group of people into the mountain.

After all, they have to get to their final destination out of the sulfur pit, and it is definitely impossible to go back and forth on the same day. Considering the time required for the itinerary and inspections along the way, Morgan believes that this trip will take at least three days to complete.

Various inspection tasks.

Because a loaded barge was towed behind, today's sailing speed was even slower. It took an extra twenty minutes to reach the turnaround point the day before. However, the good news is that the water level continues to rise today.

, it seems that it is indeed possible to directly enter the mountainous area through waterways.

After more than three hours of sailing from the mouth of the sea, Morgan's team arrived at the first turning point in the upper reaches of Houlong River. Considering that a stronghold might be established here, Morgan ordered to dock and personally led a team of people

Go ashore and walk overland to find a suitable place to stay.
Chapter completed!