Chapter 570: Hongji Fort

Overall, the first day the landing fleet arrived at Halong Bay went fairly smoothly: by evening, the engineering personnel who had come ashore earlier had already set up a temporary camp at the landing point.

The temporary camp consisted of a small cluster of tents. In just a single day, the engineering personnel first dug temporary drainage ditches in the camp, then raised the foundations as much as possible. After that, all that was left was to pray — no one knew whether the camp would be destroyed by a storm or heavy rain during the night.

On the outer perimeter of the little camp, the last critical supplies brought ashore under the setting sun were: iron wire traps.

In the seventeenth century, iron wire traps were an undisputed defensive marvel. The natives — natives here including Western colonizers — had no way whatsoever to deal with iron wire traps. The only drawback of this excellent item was its high cost; transport and deployment were also rather difficult.

Fortunately, this landing operation was very important, and the planners had anticipated the impact of the Annam rainy season on the landing, so the first wave of cargo space had been loaded with a priority supply of temporary gear like iron wire traps and tents.

In just a single day, amid tropical rain that alternated between heavy and light, relying on small boats shuttling back and forth, the highly motivated builders finally completed the little temporary camp before nightfall.

Next came evacuation: all tools and supplies were left behind, and personnel withdrew empty-handed back to the fleet for the night.

And then Wu Sanye hit the jackpot: he, his men, and another squad temporarily under his command were ordered to stand watch in the camp through the night... The long night was coming; from now on, their watch began, and would not end until death.

Standing on the shore, by the last faint glow of the setting sun, Third Lord pointed at the rowing small boats and jumped up and down cursing: Cowards who dare not share hardship!

The Pioneer Army comrades on the small boats laughed heartily as they rowed, one after another raising the contemptuous middle finger they had learned from the big shots... Everyone knew that going back to sleep in the ship cabins at night was the safest and most comfortable option; only a fool would be willing to stay ashore soaking in rain and feeding the mosquitoes.

Third Lord seemed unwilling, but an order was an order — he could not disobey. So when the sky turned completely dark, he directed the brothers staying behind with him to start busying themselves for the night watch.

The first step... was naturally eating. How could they not eat after a busy day?

Although kerosene was a hot-selling commodity on the trade market, perpetually in short supply, the Southbound Fleet was never short of it. The reasoning was simple: to gain, one must first invest. Now, whatever supplies the Crossing Faction could provide, the Southbound Fleet received priority allocation.

Soon, kerosene lamplight glowed inside the tents, and iron pots were set on the bases of cast-iron kerosene stoves. Next, several large military-issue green tinplate cans, each with a net weight of one kilogram, were opened — pork and egg rolls from Taiwan and duck legs from the Yingde countryside were all dumped into the pot together.

The bubbling soup, the faces of the Ming People Warriors illuminated by the fire of industrial civilization, and the sound of rain pattering outside the tent formed a strange tableau, a scroll of time and space interweaving the ancient and the modern.

After finishing this calorie-rich dinner, Third Lord first ordered that things like the empty tin cans be hung on the iron wire traps — although the loud rain would affect hearing, this little defensive trick passed down from "the higher-ups" was something Third Lord, as an old hand, would definitely follow.

Then he began arranging manpower for the night watch.

The concealed sentry post was the hardest, requiring lying in ambush and observing in the rain. The roving sentry was no better, needing to patrol in the rain over wet, slippery, muddy ground. The fixed sentry post was a bit better — one could stand by inside a tent.

After making the full round of arrangements, Third Lord ordered the entire camp to extinguish all fires and enter silent mode.

At the same time, he turned his head to look toward the coast. The fleet out at sea had long since vanished into the curtain of rain and the dark night; only the sound of the tide lapping against the shore still reached his ears from time to time.

Third Lord knew that the fleet had also entered blackout control.

Before joining a certain faction, Wu Sanye, who came from a purely rough-and-tumble background in the Edo, could never have imagined that an army would have so many meticulous and unyieldingly strict rules. This was completely different from the Great Ming's military. Don't think Third Lord didn't know what the Ming Army was like inside — he had taken in plenty of deserters under his command.

Now, standing on the coast of Annam, Third Lord had long understood what a so-called "strong army" truly should be: strict military law, sharp weaponry, generous pay, and ample provisions.

The long night finally passed.

No thrilling rainy-night surprise attack scenario occurred. A force capable of executing such a tactical maneuver would, in the seventeenth century, be a core among core forces, treated seriously by any faction; no one would throw their core strength onto some godforsaken coast where birds don't even shit.

The only one displeased was Wu Sanye.

As the temporary commander, Third Lord did not close his eyes the entire night. He not only had to patrol and inspect everywhere in the rain and mud, but also arrange sentry rotations. Every hour, he also had to go into a tent to communicate with the fleet and report the situation.

The immense pressure of command made Third Lord mentally tense; he had to steal a moment in a tent to smoke a cigarette to stimulate his spirits, all the way until the moment the morning sun rose.

On the second day of the landing, feeling that one foot was now firmly planted on shore, the pioneers' actions grew bolder.

In the early morning, the fleet first made a move: after the first batch of transport small boats set out, the two smallest escort ships departed immediately, heading straight for Cat Ba Island not far away, facing the rosy dawn light.

Cat Ba Island is not far from the mouth of Halong Bay and is the largest in area among the thousands of scattered nearby islands. 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 fine white sand beaches, is the pearl of Northern Vietnam, a vacation paradise. It has natural seaside bathing areas, various forest landforms, produces many precious timbers, and its waters abound in cuttlefish and other fish species.

However, in the seventeenth century, Cat Ba Island, like the coastal islands of the Great Ming, was just a wild island under no one's jurisdiction.

After the second batch of small boats set out, the main fleet also moved.

Yesterday, being newcomers and not yet knowing whether they could gain a foothold on shore, the fleet had anchored out at sea. Today, considering that the shore now had preliminary defensive strength, it was time for the fleet to shift its berth: entering Halong Bay.

Storms often appear along the Annam coast during the rainy season; the correct choice was for the fleet to anchor inside Halong Bay to take shelter from the wind.

At this moment, the effect of the earlier reconnaissance ships was evident. Guided by the lead ship, the fleet avoided all manner of obstructing visible and hidden reefs and sailed smoothly into Halong Bay.

While the fleet was in motion, the shore had long since burst into a hive of activity.

Today was different from yesterday. According to the plan, the engineering personnel coming ashore today would not withdraw in the evening but would spend the night at the camp, so everyone was working furiously, striving to make themselves a bit safer when night fell.

Today's top priority was the jetty.

A jetty had to be built first, even the crudest kind that could only unload light supplies, because the efficiency of ferrying supplies and personnel by small boat was simply too slow.

Thus, a large number of construction workers gathered at a beach facing the inner sea of Halong Bay and began repairing the jetty using the most primitive methods: manually digging pits, burying foundation piles, and laying bridge planks.

One good point was that although the plan was old-fashioned, the tools in the workers' hands were proper coarse-steel products — including measuring tools and even nails, all were standard products from the Kiln District Tool Factory. Moreover, the wooden piles and planks used to build the jetty were also pre-treated standardized components.

As a result, the construction progress of the jetty was very fast. With the passing standards lowered, in just one day, the base of the jetty had extended into the seawater. Judging by the situation, by tomorrow at the latest, small boats would be able to come alongside and unload.

By evening, the work on the camp's outer perimeter also came to a temporary halt.

Using various sharp tools, the construction workers had cleared the vegetation within sight outward by another 200 meters. Now the camp not only had an expanded area, but its outer perimeter also had a circle of bare open ground that did not affect the field of fire.

The final event of the day was the return of the two escort ships.

After the two escort ships returned, they quickly sent their catch ashore: a dozen or so fishermen captured from Cat Ba Island.

The arrival of fresh labor accelerated the camp's construction work. These local Annam fishermen, due to the language barrier, were initially in a state of extreme panic. Later, discovering that the construction site meals were decent, and that after each day's work they also received gleaming Ming Copper Coins, they gradually relaxed and stopped thinking about escape.

Just like that, another two days passed, and the toiling pioneers finally awaited the second wave of ships from the Qiongzhou side.

As mentioned earlier, Qiongzhou is only about a day's sea journey from Halong Bay. The reason the reinforcement fleet only arrived today was that it had to tow a special vessel: a floating dock.

Due to the low level of technology, the floating docks of the current age were all single-use. After being towed to the designated location and going through a series of procedures like beaching and securing, the dock could be put into use.

The arrival of the floating dock greatly increased the speed of cargo loading: cargo ships could finally dock directly to load and unload goods without relying on small boat ferrying.

Next, a batch of simple hoisting and transport tools came ashore. After the tools were installed in place, large quantities of construction materials were brought ashore via the floating dock.

And Zheng Yangyang, the transmigrator within the Southward Military-Political Group responsible for infrastructure, also came ashore at Halong Bay along with the main force.

Zheng Yangyang was not yet 30 years old this year, one of the youngest transmigrators. Before crossing over, this gentleman had worked illegally in America and studied house design; after crossing over, the standardized wooden houses built in Taijiang in the early days were his designs.

In fact, the standardized wooden house model now being extensively built at various construction sites and the New District across Fujian and Guangdong, as well as the industrial standards for wood production, processing, and transport behind it all, were entirely presided over and established by Zheng Yangyang.

And the primary advantage that allowed Zheng Yangyang to come south and join the pioneering enterprise this time was his youth: the several older big shots in the construction industry were all unwilling to go to the South Seas and toil under the scorching sun and mosquitoes.

And Zheng Yangyang's main task was, of course, to build a city... There was a long string of place names waiting for him, the Chief Designer, to design cities or fortresses.

So on the second day after Designer Zheng arrived at Halong Bay, he drew a circle on the map: "Dig a trench first, then put up a circle of grass sheds — Hongji Fort, I say it'll do!"