Volume 1 Tigers in Southeast Asia Chapter 17: Everything is crushed to dust
Liu Daming laughed, and he understood. Lin Fei continued, "Old Liu, don't we have more than 50 barrels of whale oil on our ship? Where did you put them?"
Liu Daming laughed and said, "The whale oil doesn't taste good. We wanted to throw it away, but you didn't let us. So we put it in a cave on the shore."
Lin Fei said: "Very good, now the whale oil will come in handy, you take the natives to move the whale oil to the sugar factory."
Liu Daming frowned and asked, "What use can the whale oil have?"
Lin Fei smiled and said, "They are very useful! When Chen Fu buys the saltpeter , you will know what they are useful for."
Liu Daming didn't ask any more questions and left with his men. Lin Fei called the chief technician Su Yunzhao to come forward. Su Yunzhao was a sugar-making craftsman. Ancient China had a long history of sugar-making, so the Spaniards recruited many sugar-making technicians from China.
Su Yunzhao is in his fifties. His wife and children live in Laoag, Luzon. People with families are afraid of getting into trouble, and Su Yunzhao is no exception. He is a little afraid of Lin Fei, and obeys Lin Fei's orders without daring to disobey. Su Yunzhao came to Lin Fei and asked, "Captain Lin, what do you want ?"
Lin Fei said politely: "Mr. Su, could you please take these technicians to clean all the equipment in the sugar factory and the winery?"
To make sugar and brew wine, sugarcane must be crushed first, so there are a lot of sugarcane residues in the equipment. Su Yunzhao took people to clean up the equipment after receiving Lin Fei's order. Lin Fei also asked Chen Jingui to find fifty natives. Lin Fei took them to the ammunition depot and asked them to move out ten large boxes of bullets.
Many natives had been killed by bullets, so they were trembling when they saw boxes of bullets. Lin Fei said, "Don't be afraid. These bullets can't kill anyone. I want you to take the bullets apart."
Lin Fei took out two pliers and bit the shell casing with one and the bullet with the other, twisting them gently. In this era, the connection between the shell casing and the bullet was not strong, so Lin Fei used some force to twist the bullet off.
Lin Fei held the shell and said, "Do you see the gray-white powder inside? This thing is called 'nitrocellulose', a kind of gunpowder. I want it for an important use. Your task today is to disassemble these ten boxes of bullets and put the nitrocellulose in the boxes."
Chen Jingui didn't understand what "nitrocellulose" was, so he translated it into "divine powder", which added another layer to the natives' admiration for Lin Fei.
The natives started to get busy, and Lin Fei went to see the training. On the training ground, Li Mingbai was leading 36 infantrymen to practice aiming. Lin Fei originally wanted them to practice physical fitness, but later found that these infantrymen were all strong, and each of them could run 5 kilometers with light equipment in about 20 minutes, which was already an excellent standard in the army during Lin Fei's time, so they lacked physical training.
Lin Fei taught everyone some tactical moves, and then encouraged them: "We don't have enough bullets now, so we can't let everyone fight freely. When we have our own bullet factory in the future, we can make mountains of bullets and let everyone fight to their heart's content."
Chen Jingui asked in a low voice: "Captain Lin, since we don't have enough bullets, why do you let those natives disassemble the bullets?"
Lin Fei laughed and said, "You won't understand even if I tell you now. You'd better wait for your son to come back. When he buys the saltpeter, you will understand everything."
At this time, Liu Daming led more than 50 sweaty natives to Lin Fei and said breathlessly: "Damn it, I will never go ashore again. I will just stay on the boat. It's too tiring to move those oil drums."
Lin Fei chuckled and said, "After we move the buckets, let's go dig some soil, okay?"
Liu Daming frowned and said, "Damn it, moving oil drums and digging soil, what on earth are they doing? Aren't they talking about making weapons? What does this have to do with making weapons? If you don't give me an explanation, I'm going to rebel!"
Lin Fei laughed, picked up the shovel and left. Liu Daming complained, "If I had known this would happen, I would rather stay in the prisoner-of-war camp!" After that, he took the shovel and followed Lin Fei, complaining all the way. Liu Daming is just that kind of person. He will definitely complain a lot before working, but he will work harder than anyone else.
Lin Fei walked to the outside of a woods, pointed to the ground and said, "Dig the soil here." So everyone started digging the soil from the ground, putting it into large, clean wine barrels, then closed the lids, rolled them on the ground and sent them back to the sugar factory and brewery.
The people in the sugar factory and the winery were cleaning their equipment. Lin Fei called the technician Su Yunzhao over and said, "Mr. Su, our sugar factory uses sulfite to clarify the sugar, right?"
"Sulfite clarification of cane sugar" is a key process in the sugar industry.
Su Yunzhao's expression changed, and he bowed and said, "Captain Lin actually knows the process of using sulfite to clarify sugar cane? I really admire you!"
Lin Fei smiled and said, "I also know that the sulfite in the sugar factory is made from sulfur dioxide generated by calcining pyrite. Is that true?"
Su Yunzhao bowed again and said, "Yes, that's right."
Lin Fei said: "You ask the relevant technicians to continue calcining the pyrite ore, but this time ask them to pass the sulfur dioxide directly into the water. Do you understand?"
Su Yunzhao agreed, and everyone on the island took action. Lin Fei felt deeply short-handed at this time, and also realized the importance of grabbing territory. Ibayat Island was still too small and there were too few people. If he wanted to make great progress, he must develop southward and seize the entire Philippines.
Lin Fei was thinking, when suddenly a delicate voice came from behind him: "Lin Feijun."
Lin Fei turned around and saw Chiyo Mika and asked, "What do you want?"
Chiyomika said a little embarrassedly: "I see that everyone has something to do, but I am the only one who is idle. I feel embarrassed. Can I do something too?"
Lin Fei thought for a moment and asked, "What can you do?"
Chiyomika thought for a long time, then counted on her fingers and said, "I can sew sunny dolls, make matcha, arrange flowers, and make rice balls. I can even shape the rice balls into the shape of a five-pointed star..." As Chiyomika spoke, her tone was filled with pride, which made Lin Fei laugh and cry. He thought to himself, the Spaniards are about to attack, what's the use of knowing these things!
Lin Fei said helplessly: "Japanese girls seem to know all the things you know, right ? But you are the general's daughter, and you can receive an education that ordinary girls can't even dream of. Don't you know anything else?"
Chiyomika blushed and lowered her head, saying ashamedly, "My father made me learn a lot of things, like judo, kendo, math, English, etc., but kendo and judo require fighting with others, and it hurts when you get hit. Math and English are too difficult and give me a headache to learn. It's easier for me to learn sewing and cooking from my mother."
Lin Fei smiled helplessly again and said, "Then go help in the kitchen if you can. If you can't help, go pick some wild flowers and make our place look better."
Chiyomika's eyes lit up and she left happily, but the people working in the kitchen were all natives. Chiyomika didn't understand their language and couldn't help, so she went to the woods to pick flowers and then decorated the house with them.
The next day, Lin Fei was checking the situation and suddenly saw Chen Jingui running towards him as if there was an evil ghost behind him. Lin Fei hurriedly asked, "What happened?"
Chen Jingui panted and said, "Big...big things are happening. My son...is back!"
Lin Fei was so angry that he laughed and cursed: "How come your son is back and things are still bad? Is your son the god of plague?"
Chen Jingui said: "My son brought back a piece of news. The news is about a disaster of great magnitude!"
Lin Fei's heart skipped a beat, and he asked hurriedly, "What disaster is this?"
Chen Jingui said: "My son didn't say anything. He just told me to find you alone and tell you alone. If this matter were known to everyone, it would definitely cause panic."
Lin Fei was shocked and thought to himself: "What a cunning Chen Fu!" Lin Fei said: "Let's go and find your son."
When they reached the seashore, two sailors were directing a dozen natives to unload saltpeter from the ship. Chen Fu was sitting on a large rock on the side, drinking water leisurely. Chen Jingui jumped behind Chen Fu, stretched out his hand and slapped him on the back of the head, cursing: "Little turtle egg, Captain Lin is here, tell me what's going on!"
Chen Fu stood up helplessly and said to Lin Fei: "Captain Lin, when I was in Taiwan, I heard from a Spaniard that the Spanish Governor Sanders has ordered the Spanish Royal Army to send out 2,000 elite soldiers and the Royal Navy to send out a cruiser to attack Katipunan."
Lin Fei was stunned and asked, "What does this news have to do with us?"
Chen Fu said: "The Spanish merchant said that the Katipunan they were going to attack were entrenched on Ibayat Island, which means they were going to attack us!"
Before Lin Fei could say anything, Chen Jingui was so scared that he sat down on the ground and said, "Oh my God, two thousand elite soldiers and a cruiser! If one of them pees, we will be drowned. Captain Lin, let's run away!"
Chen Fu looked at his father with embarrassment on his face. He coughed and said, "Captain Lin, in my humble opinion, the Spanish have more soldiers and generals, stronger ships and more powerful guns. We really can't fight them. It's better to retreat."
When Lin Fei heard “two thousand elite soldiers and a cruiser”, his heart skipped a beat. However, he knew that as the commander, showing even the slightest panic would lead to a devastating disaster. So he straightened his chest and laughed loudly, “Isn’t it just two thousand elite soldiers and a cruiser? I, Lin, regard them as worthless and will crush them into dust!”
