Volume 1 Tigers in Southeast Asia Chapter 44: The Terrible Leyte Island
This result made Lin Fei overjoyed, so he worked out a coal mining plan overnight. The refractory clay that was associated with coal was also a good thing, so it naturally had to be mined, so he worked out a mining plan for the refractory clay.
What made Lin Fei even more excited was that the coal deposits were shallow and could be mined using open-pit mining, which was much more convenient and safer than mine mining. The coal deposits were not deep in the mountains, so it was convenient to build roads, and the mined coal and refractory clay could be quickly transported to Yanhuang City.
After the coals are mined, they will be used for coking. Lin Fei also designed a coking furnace. During the coking process, a lot of chemical industrial raw materials will be generated. Lin Fei also designed related equipment to utilize these chemical raw materials.
The refined coke is used to smelt high-quality steel. To make steel, one must first smelt iron. Now the blast furnaces in Yanhuang City are all earthen blast furnaces, and the iron smelted is not of high quality. It is difficult to use such iron to smelt high-quality steel needed to build warships. Moreover, earthen blast furnaces have the disadvantages of wasting raw materials and low production efficiency, so a batch of new blast furnaces must be built.
The newly built blast furnace produces iron. In order to turn iron into steel, a batch of new steel-smelting converters must be built. Although some converters were purchased from the UK before, the production scale was too small, and new converters had to be produced. Therefore, Lin Fei designed a blast furnace and a converter.
During the design process, Lin Fei only drew schematic diagrams. He did not draw more detailed structural drawings because those drawings were simply not something that one person could complete. Lin Fei could only draw the schematic diagrams and then give them to the craftsmen to draw detailed drawings.
It was already dawn, and Lin Fei had finally finished all the schematics for the relevant equipment. He looked at the thick stack of papers on the table, and was worried, thinking: "Coal mining needs people, transportation needs people, manufacturing equipment needs people... People are needed everywhere, but the population of Samar Island is too small now. I must find a way to get more people, but where can I get them?"
Lin Fei lowered his head and thought, and suddenly thought of a place, that is Leyte Island, which is only separated from Samar Island by a strait. There should be many Chinese and Filipinos on Leyte Island, right? They should all be useful to me, but I don't know how strong the Filipinos on Leyte Island are?
While Lin Fei was thinking, the sky was already bright, and Ling Xue's pleasant voice rang out from outside the door: "City Lord, get up and have breakfast."
Lin Fei walked out of the house and saw several bowls on the table outside. There was fragrance in the bowls. Lin Fei sat at the table and saw two bowls of white rice, a plate of golden eggs, and a plate of emerald green vegetables. Ling Xue said coquettishly, "Qian Wangling's family doesn't even have a piece of meat. I can't use my cooking skills."
Lin Fei laughed and sat down at the table. Then he realized that there were only two bowls on the table, which meant that there was no portion for Qian Wangling. Lin Fei laughed and said, "No portion for Qian Wangling?"
Ling Xue raised her eyebrows and said, "He is a bad guy! I don't want to give him the food I cooked!"
Lin Fei smiled and said, "Old Qian found the coal mine and refractory clay for us, so he can make up for his mistake. Let's call him over."
Ling Xue heard Lin Fei pleading for Qian Wangling, so she called Qian Wangling, who looked aggrieved. Qian Wangling smiled as soon as he saw Ling Xue, calling her "sister". Lin Fei laughed at her. During the meal, Lin Fei asked Ling Xue, "Have you been to Leyte?"
Ling Xue shuddered when she heard this, and the smile on her face suddenly disappeared. She showed a look of fear and asked, "Why are you asking about Leyte Island?"
Lin Fei noticed the change in Ling Xue's expression and asked hurriedly, "What's wrong with you? Is there something wrong with Leyte Island?"
Ling Xue said in a trembling voice: "No... I don't know. My father told me not to go to Leyte Island..." Ling Xue put down her bowl and chopsticks and whispered: "I... I'm full..."
After Ling Xue finished speaking, she picked up her bowl and chopsticks and walked out. Lin Fei hurriedly pulled her arm and asked, "Xue'er, what's going on? What's so scary about the Filipinos on Leyte? You were not afraid at all when facing the chief of the Makaipaslo tribe, so why are you so scared when you mention the Filipinos on Leyte?"
Ling Xue shook her head and said, "I really don't know what's so scary about the Filipinos on Leyte Island, but my father often told me that I must not go to Leyte Island because the Filipinos on the island are very scary..."
Qian Wangling said at this time: "City Lord Lin, don't ask Sister Xue'er. I have heard a little about the Filipinos on Leyte Island. They know magic and can control people's hearts!"
Lin Fei was shocked and asked, "Magic? Controlling people's hearts? What does that mean?"
Qian Wangling said mysteriously: "They pinch their fingers and chant spells at a person, and that person will willingly obey their orders. If the Filipinos tell him to go east, he dare not go west! This is the magic method of controlling people's hearts!"
"How could such a thing happen?" Lin Fei couldn't help but exclaimed.
Qian Wangling nodded repeatedly and said, "It's absolutely true!"
Lin Fei was full of doubts, but he changed his mind and thought that he couldn't trust Qian Wangling's words too much. He even regarded paleontological fossils as past life stones. In this era, natural science is not well developed. People will make some natural phenomena sound magical, and then spread rumors. In the end, the rumors are far from the truth of the matter. The so-called magic method of controlling people's hearts is mostly nonsense!
What is so terrible about the Filipinos on that island? I should go and see it myself, but I should first ask about the situation on Leyte Island. If the population on the island is not large, it will be useless to capture the island.
Lin Fei then asked: "Old Qian, how many people are there on Leyte? Are there many Chinese?"
Qian Wangling nodded and said, "There are quite a few people on the island, including many Chinese. There are about ten tribes, and each tribe has more than 2,000 Chinese. Most of these Chinese are craftsmen or businessmen, and there are even more Filipinos."
Lin Fei suddenly felt delighted, thinking that if he could take over Leyte Island, the number of Chinese would suddenly increase by 20,000, and the number of Filipinos would be even greater. After assimilation and education, these people would be of use to me, and the population needed for development and construction would be available all of a sudden.
Lin Fei suppressed his excitement and said to Ling Xue, "Let's go back to Yanhuang City now. When we get back, you can bring the craftsmen from the Construction Bureau to mine the ore. Old Qian, don't mess around with fossils in this mountain anymore. Come back with me and help us find minerals."
Upon hearing this, Qian Wangling waved his hands and said, "I only know how to find fossils, not minerals."
Lin Fei smiled and said, "The formation age of ores and fossils is close. If we find fossils, we will also find ores. You should just look for your fossils. I will let Guan Shanyue find a way to find the ores."
Qian Wangling still shook his head and said, " No, no, I'm used to being alone. If I help you find ore, I will inevitably be restricted."
Lin Fei smiled evilly and said, "Come back with me, I will introduce you to a beautiful girl as your wife, how about that? Do you agree?"
When Qian Wangling heard this, his eyes lit up and he agreed immediately. Lin Fei returned to Yanhuang City, found Li Mingbai, and asked him about the recent recruitment. He learned that his army had already recruited 900 people and organized them into two battalions, totaling 840 people. The remaining 60 people were assigned to the third battalion, which would be full in the future.
In terms of equipment, the troops were equipped with 400 LBQ-1 rifles, and the rest used Mauser M1893 rifles. Lin Fei called Li Mingbai, Niu Dalong, Niu Dahu and others together and said, "We are now going to carry out large-scale construction, which cannot be separated from the support of the population. However, the population of Yanhuang City and Chiyou City is insufficient, so I decided to march to Leyte Island and get the Chinese craftsmen on the island."
Everyone was very excited when they heard this. Lin Fei continued, "Our march this time will be arranged like this. First, I will lead the sniper team into the villages and towns on Leyte Island and directly negotiate with the Filipino chieftain on the island to let us take all the Chinese away. I don't think the Filipino chieftain will agree, so our large force will have to wait in the back to eliminate the chieftain and other rulers in one fell swoop."
Lin Fei assigned tasks to everyone, and everyone agreed. Lin Fei then called Chen Jingui over and asked about the bank's situation. Chen Jingui said, "Everyone listen to Miss Chiyo. Miss Chiyo won't have any trouble."
Lin Fei felt relieved and asked Chen Jingui to speed up the organization of manpower and send bullets to Chiyou City. Chiyou City was very close to Leyte Island, so Lin Fei decided to march from Chiyou City to Leyte Island.
After several days of preparation, Lin Fei gathered the sniper team together in the evening of that day. Everyone in the sniper team wore brand new jungle camouflage uniforms and camouflage caps on their heads. Since the steel production in Yanhuang City was relatively low and the weapons of the Filipinos were very poor, Lin Fei did not make steel helmets.
At this time, the sniper team was also equipped with a new weapon - hand grenades, which were filled with nitroglycerin explosives, had a wooden handle at the back, and used a pull-fire tube as a detonator. Some time ago, due to the scarcity of saltpeter, Lin Fei used the limited saltpeter to make bullets and did not take care of making hand grenades. Now that the saltpeter mine in Bumao Mountain has begun to be mined, saltpeter is sufficient, so Lin Fei made a batch of hand grenades.
Lin Fei led the sniper team on a small wooden boat and rowed across the San Juanico Strait between Samar Island and Leyte Island. The San Juanico Strait is one of the narrowest straits in the world, with the narrowest part being only two kilometers. Lin Fei and his men quickly reached the other side.
Qian Wangling had been to Leyte Island, so Lin Fei asked him to be his guide. Lin Fei asked, "Where is the nearest town?"
Qian Wangling looked at the terrain of the coast, pondered for a while, pointed to the south, and said, "It should be in that direction. We can reach the village by crossing this jungle."
