Volume 1 Tigers in Southeast Asia Chapter 8: Gunfire on the Island
Everyone stood up happily and were about to go to their respective posts when Lin Fei suddenly said, "By the way, everyone come back, I have one more thing to tell you."
Everyone turned around and looked at Lin Fei. Lin Fei said, "There is a Japanese girl on our ship, Chiyo Mika. The one who has a grudge against us is the devil. The girl is innocent. Everyone, please don't bully her."
Seeing that Lin Fei was very serious, everyone agreed. Lin Fei then asked everyone to return to their respective posts and cook some more whale meat for everyone. So Liu Daming went to the command room to steer the ship, Yu Xier went to the steam engine room to take care of the steam engine, and Lin Fei selected a dozen people from the infantry to follow the sailors of the Zhiyuan ship to learn how to be sailors. Li Mingbai personally led people to cook the whale meat.
Soon the whale meat was cooked and everyone had a bowl. Whale meat tasted very much like beef. In the prisoner-of-war camp, everyone ate food that even pigs and dogs wouldn't eat. Now when they ate whale meat, they suddenly felt that it was the most delicious food in the world.
Lin Fei carried a bowl of whale meat and walked to the captain's room. He pushed open the door and walked in. He saw Chiyoko curled up in the corner of the bed, her hands wrapped around her knees, her head buried in her knees, her shoulders heaving and crying. Lin Fei said softly, "Miss Chiyo, don't cry, eat something."
Chiyomika raised her head and saw Lin Fei. She recognized him as the person holding her hostage, and shrank back to the corner of the bed, looking at him timidly, her whole body trembling. Lin Fei put the dishes on the table and said, "Don't be afraid. We will let you go when we have a chance. We won't hurt you."
Chiyomika hugged her legs tightly against her chest without saying a word. Lin Fei sighed softly and walked out.
Lin Fei gave the whaling ship a new name - Pangu, which means Pangu created the world. At Lin Fei's call, everyone cut off their ugly braids. The Pangu whaling ship sometimes used sails and sometimes used steam engines. It drifted in the vast East China Sea for ten days and ten nights. A small island appeared in sight. Lin Fei flipped through the "World Route Guide" published in the UK that he found in the captain's room, and learned that the small island was an island north of the Philippines called "Ibayat Island".
Lin Fei said to Liu Daming: "Let's go to the Ibayat Island first."
Liu Daming laughed and said, "Why go to such a small island? Don't we go directly to Manila, the capital of the Philippines?"
Lin Fei laughed and scolded, "Nonsense, we have a total of 63 people now, and we don't even have a gun. Going to attack Manila, which is heavily guarded by the Spanish, isn't it courting death? Let's find a small island to live on first, and take it step by step."
The Pangu whaling ship slowly approached the island. When it was two kilometers away from the island, Lin Fei said to Liu Daming, "Prepare the depth hammer and measure the water depth. If conditions permit, drop anchor. The hydrological conditions on the shore are unknown. It will be troublesome if it runs aground when approaching."
You can't just anchor a ship at sea. There are water depth restrictions for anchorages. Generally speaking, the water depth of an anchorage must be three to five times the draft of the ship. If you drop anchor in shallow water, the anchored ship is likely to hit the bottom due to wind and current. Liu Daming then shouted through the megaphone: "Ready the sounding hammer, report the water depth."
A sailor from the Zhiyuan immediately took out a sounding hammer. At that time, Japan had already implemented the metric system of weights and measures nationwide, that is, units such as "meter", "second" and "kilogram", so the scale on the sounding hammer was also in "meter". This made Lin Fei, a modern man, very comfortable. However, Liu Daming , Yu Xier and the sailors of the Zhiyuan were not so comfortable. The Beiyang Fleet learned from the British and used the imperial system of weights and measures, that is, units such as "inch" and "foot". As for the infantry on the ship, they were more accustomed to the traditional city system of weights and measures, that is, units such as "city foot" and "city inch".
At this time, the sailor shouted: "The water depth is 12 meters, equivalent to 37.3700 feet, which is four times the current draft depth. We can drop anchor."
Lin Fei listened to the sailor's report and thought to himself: "People on one ship actually use three sets of weights and measures! We must unify the weights and measures in the future."
After hearing the report, Liu Daming said loudly: "Drop the anchor!" A sailor ran to the front of the anchor machine, pulled the anchor handle, and the anchor fell into the water, causing the anchor chain to rattle. The anchor quickly sank to the bottom of the water and penetrated deeply into the mud and sand. The boat slowly stopped.
Lin Fei said to everyone, "Put down the boat. I will take a few people to the island to have a look." So everyone put down the boat from the whaling ship. Liu Daming wanted to go to the island with Lin Fei. Lin Fei shook his head and said, "Go call Lao Yu. I will go to the island with him."
Liu Daming was stunned and said, "I don't know what monsters there are on the island. I, Old Liu, can fight and I'm not afraid of death. What can that old foreign fish do?"
Lin Fei smiled and said, "This island is Spanish territory. There might be Spanish people . Lao Yu has a European face. If I bring him with me, we will have another way to deal with the Spanish. You don't have to worry too much. Just focus on taking care of the Pangu whaling ship. It is our lifeline. If it loses its anchor, hits a reef, or runs aground, we will be finished!"
Liu Daming then said nothing more and asked someone to find Yu Xier, who soon arrived. Lin Fei picked two more infantrymen, one named Niu Dalong and the other named Niu Dahu, a pair of brothers. The brothers had practiced Dahongquan for a year and were considered to be skilled among the infantrymen.
The four of them paddled towards Ibayat Island. When they were almost at the shore, Lin Fei put down the paddle, took out a monocular telescope from his pocket, and looked at the island. This telescope was found on a whaling ship. Although the maximum magnification was only four times, it was much better than the naked eye.
Lin Fei was looking at the island when he suddenly saw Yu Xier take out a notebook and a pencil from his pocket and write something on the notebook. Lin Fei couldn't help but ask, "Old Yu, what are you writing?"
Yu Xier shook the notebook in his hand and said with a smile: "I want to study Chinese culture well, so I decided to write down everything I heard about Chinese culture. I just heard Niu Dalong say..."
Yu Xier was talking when he suddenly heard a "bang-bang" sound from the island. The faces of the four people changed, because the sound was a gunshot! And it was fired from a rifle, not a hunting rifle.
Niu Dalong asked hurriedly: "Lin Shangguan, why are there gunshots on this island?"
Lin Fei looked at the island through a telescope and saw only a large coconut grove. He put down the telescope, shook his head and said, "I can't see anyone. I don't know where the gunshots came from."
Niu Dalong then asked: "Then are we still going to the island?"
Lin Fei pondered for a moment, pointed at the Pangu, and said, "Let's go back first and come back at night."
Yu Xier said at this time: "We don't have to wait until night, we can go up now. I know some Spanish, enough to deceive the Spaniards on the island so that they will not kill us."
Lin Fei said: "What if the people shooting on the island are not Spaniards but pirates? Can your Spanish save us?"
Yu Xier was speechless and nodded. Lin Fei grabbed the wooden paddle and rowed the boat to turn. At this moment, gunshots rang out one after another on the island.
Lin Fei and his companions returned to the Pangu. When Liu Daming saw Lin Fei, he smiled and said, "I heard gunshots in the distance and thought you were killed by the Spaniards. We were just about to go to the island to avenge you when you came back."
Lin Fei laughed twice and said, "There is something strange on the island. Let's go to the island at night." At this time, gunshots were heard again on the island. Until dark, the gunshots on the island were heard every once in a while. Everyone discussed: "What is going on on this island? What's going on with these gunshots?"
It was not until it was completely dark that Lin Fei brought Yu Xier, Niu Dalong and Niu Dahu to the island. This time they brought harpoons and machetes, which were from the whaling ship. After arriving on the island, they went into the coconut grove and quietly walked towards the direction where the gunshots came from.
Lin Fei was walking in the front when he suddenly heard a noise coming from the bushes in the distance. His rich experience in jungle combat told him that this sound was definitely not made by an animal, because the sound is continuous, while this noise was intermittent.
Lin Fei waved his hand to ask the three to stop, pointed in the direction where the noise came from, and whispered: "Someone is coming, everyone hide." The four people hid behind the trees, and looked in the direction of the noise in the moonlight. After a while, they saw two people carrying something walking out of the woods. As for what they were carrying, it was too dark to see clearly.
Lin Fei signaled the three to keep quiet and wait and see. Two people disappeared into the woods on the side. Not long after, they came out again. The things they were carrying were gone. The two walked back the way they came. Lin Fei whispered, "Let's go and see what they are carrying."
Lin Fei stood up and walked towards the woods in the distance. Suddenly, a strange smell came from deep in the woods. Yu Xier, Niu Dalong and Niu Dahu all covered their noses. Yu Xier asked in a low voice: "What is that smell?"
Lin Fei frowned and said, "This is the smell of a corpse. It seems that the two people were carrying a corpse." As he was speaking, a deep ditch appeared in front of him. A strong stench of corpses came from the bottom of the ditch. There were corpses lying in all directions at the bottom of the ditch. Niu Dalong asked in a low voice, "Whose corpses are these?"
Lin Fei shook his head slightly and said, "I don't know either. I guess the two guys who carried the corpse will come again. When they come again, we will find a way to catch them and then ask them about the situation."
Niu Dahu came over and said, "Lin Shangguan, what do you need us to do?"
Lin Fei said, "Those two guys are not tall and strong. I can handle them alone. I'm just afraid that they will shout and attract their accomplices. Prepare the gags and cover their mouths when I catch them."
