If there is a way in which Lingao County in this time and space is most well-known, it is the place "Lingao Corner".
On the evening of April 16, 195o, more than 18,700 people from the 118th Division and the 119th Division of the 15th Corps of the Fourth Field Army, the deputy commander of the corps and the commander of the 40th Army, Led by Han Xianchu and Deputy Commander Jie Fang, they took 318 sailboats and 32 motor boats and set sail from Dengloujiao, Xuwen County, Leizhou Peninsula, crossed the Qiongzhou Strait, and headed towards the Lingaojiao Lighthouse. Landing at Lingaojiao Harbor at around three o'clock in the morning the next day marked the beginning of the Battle of Hainan Island.
Lingaojiao in another time and space has never seen such a magnificent scene, but it has always been an important place in Hainan Island. Yu Eshui specifically pointed out at the intelligence briefing before departure that a beacon tower had been installed at Lingaojiao since the Yuan Dynasty. In the Ming Dynasty, a Bopu Inspection Department was set up here to "examine the affairs of the admiral." During the Zhengde period, there were thirty archers and three patrol boats here. By the end of Wanli, there were still twelve archers here, and it was estimated that there was at most one small boat. However, this place has always been a haven for Lingao fishermen, and you may encounter local fishing boats.
Bei Wei carefully searched the terrain in front of the bow. Three months before the arrival of D-Day, some members of the military team conducted a staff trip to Hainan in the time and space of the 21st century. A key survey was conducted on the topography of the planned landing site 6: Lingaojiao-Bopu Port, as well as the candidate Majiao Bay, Hongpai Bay, Houshui Bay and other places.
As the leader of the Climbing 6 reconnaissance team, Bei Wei not only inspected the terrain in detail at the time, but also reviewed the local topography and landforms based on the data many times afterwards to ensure that nothing was missed.
The sky is white in the east, and everything on the shore appears very clear in the telescope. The motorboat has now entered an open bay. According to the chart, this should be Longhao Bay southwest of Lingaojiao. Because the wind and waves are small, fish often migrate here to inhabit, making it one of the important fishing grounds of Lingao.
Bei Wei searched with a telescope and soon saw the familiar triangular promontory about one kilometer long extending from northwest to southeast - yes, this is Lingao Cape.
Lingaojiao forms a natural breakwater here, which is 1.5 kilometers long and 5oo meters wide. The middle of the embankment is filled with sand washed up by the sea, which is crystal clear and white, forming a sand embankment road. There are stone bunkers, watchtowers and a lighthouse built by the Qing Dynasty Customs in the 19th year of Guangxu (1893) on the promontory in the 21st century. Although there is nothing on the embankment in this time and space, the overall landscape is very different.
"Minus, pay attention to the underwater." Bei Wei reminded. In addition to the part of the embankment exposed on the water at Lingaojiao, there is also a considerable length of submerged part underwater. Although the draft of the motorboat is almost negligible, the loss will be considerable if it is rubbed off by the rocks.
The water is crystal clear and the fine white sand between the underwater rocks is almost clearly visible. The boat crossed Lingaojiao and entered Changgong Bay. Even without binoculars, the people on the boat could see Bopujiao extending to the southeast corner. The entire Changgong Bay is surrounded by two corners. The bottom of the bay, which is about two kilometers wide, is as calm as a mat. The sand is bright and the water is calm. Only fine white waves roll on the shore.
"I really want to swim here." someone said.
"Build a sanatorium for senior officials here in the future!"
Everyone laughed. It felt a bit ridiculous to say this now, just like a group of poor people talking about what they will do after they get rich.
Bei Wei carefully asked the boat operator not to go too deep into the bay, as it would not be a joke if an arrow was fired.
"Captain, what kind of mountain is this?" Li Jun pointed at a huge oval-shaped thing emerging from the green trees at the corner of Bopu in the distance.
"It's not a mountain, it's a beacon tower."
"The beacon tower is so big?!" The people on the motorboat were all surprised - the beacon towers in their minds were all earth platforms that were completely eroded by wind and sand on the Silk Road in the Western Regions. And this platform will still be 16 meters high even 400 years later. At this time, Bei Wei visually determined that its height was at least 20 meters, with a slope of 45 degrees. At first glance, it looked like a small hill common in hilly areas. The entire platform is built with pieces of stone, and the interior is made of rammed earth. It is completely different from the 21st century barren hills that are severely collapsed and peeled off and covered with trees and weeds.
"Everyone, please be safe. There are Ming troops stationed here. Pull down your mask!"
Following the order, all personnel pulled down the visors of their riot helmets. The motorboat quickly passed Bopu Point and entered the southeastern waters.
"Bopu Port!"
This is the mouth of the Wenlan River, the largest river in Lingao County. This large river with a total length of less than 90 kilometers has formed an open harbor here, with the mouth of the bay facing north. A shadowy black island in the distance is Red Rock Island - the eastern edge of Bobu Harbor.
"Minus! Enter the harbor. Be alert!"
The harbor beach opposite Hongshi Island is muddy and sandy, covered with large tracts of lush mangroves. In some places, you can see very abrupt traces of being burned and cut down. Behind the mangroves, there are undulating terraces. It's not high, and the top is uneven. Opposite these mangroves, the southern part of the harbor is a completely different environment, with overgrown grass. There appear to be ruins of houses as well.
There are withered seaweeds and a large number of uprooted trees scattered on the beach, which is evidence that the typhoon has visited not long ago. One of the important reasons why we chose to go to 6 in the ninth month of the lunar calendar is to avoid the 15th day of August every year. Typhoons and storm surge disasters will come.
The interior of the harbor is quite open, with large mangroves and tidal flats crisscrossing the area close to the water, and a variety of waterbirds rising and falling in the sky. The water quality is unclear and the mud bottom is clearly visible. The shore is flat and slightly undulating. Unexpectedly, there were no fishing boats in the telescope - something was wrong...
"This ghost place is so desolate!" Some people have already lamented.
"This is the county that the executive committee said is mature for development? Then aren't the places that are not mature for development all virgin forests?"
Bei Wei glanced at the speaker with displeasure - he had been retired and working as a member of the public for so long that he had almost forgotten the basic military discipline.
Although Bopu is known as an important gateway into and out of Hainan, pirates have always regarded it as a shortcut every time they invaded Qiongbei. Over time, except for a small number of Dan people living here for fishing, it was still desolate until the Kangxi period. At that time, Fan Shu, the magistrate of Lingao County, came to inspect the place. After sighing, he wrote a poem to describe the environment here:
Horses frequently travel along the seashore,
Jiuguanjin, deep in the desolate smoke;
White waves fill the entire Chengcheng world,
The yellow hat covers the head and the stove man;
Three-foot low eaves prevent hurricanes.
Punch a small stone to worship the dragon god
…
"Turn off the servo! Measure the water depth."
They have complete hydrological data on Bobu Harbor. According to the hydrological data, the water depth in the estuary harbor ranges from 2 meters to 10 meters, but this is the 17th century. There will be a large error in the changes in sedimentation and river channels in 400 years.
The motorboat began to row slowly, and Li Jun erected an armed police steel anti-riot shield to cover the hydrology staff as they put down the lead rope.
Bei Wei knew that the motorboat at this time had become a good target, with no obstruction on the open water. He is not afraid of someone shooting an arrow. Anyway, the rough iron arrows cannot penetrate stab-proof clothing and helmets. But if the other party has a small cannon hidden in the grass on the shore, it can hit a meal of iron sand from 50 meters away. Lead will definitely cause casualties.
The people in the military group all had guns in hand and loaded bullets, monitoring every corner of the surrounding area.
At this moment, on the beacon tower, a figure was observing the boats in the bay.
This man wore an iron helmet with a thick layer of yellow rust on his head, and a moldy leather armor - which was purchased when the imperial court increased the number of guards' weapons in Hainan in the 10th year of Jiajing. In his hand was a waist knife of the same age. The wooden sheath was so rotten that it fell apart and was barely wrapped with rattan.
Behind him was a soldier, who also had a rusty iron helmet on his head. He had no armor and was wearing a tattered mandarin duck war jacket that was indistinguishable from the inside out. He carried a pair of bows and arrows on his back, and also had a waist knife belonging to the young man Gao Dexun.
Fu Bowen was a native of Qiongshan County. He practiced martial arts when he was young, and was awarded the title of a martial arts scholar, but he has never been able to pass the exam again. When he was nearly forty, he took up the post of inspector from the ninth rank, leading twelve archers to guard this "Qionghai Fortress". Although this place is known as Guanjin, there are not many tourists coming and going. The only people who can be checked on weekdays are Dan family fishermen and small businessmen who come from Leizhou to sell the sea. That is, there is no oil or water, and it is desolate and lonely. The ones I saw the most were pirates.
Because Hainan is located on an important maritime transportation route, it has always been a place where pirates are extremely rampant. In history, pirates have raided Lingao many times and even besieged the county. In the eleventh year of Shunzhi, they actually captured Lingao County. The governments of the Ming and Qing dynasties did not have any countermeasures against this. They simply built beacon towers and raised fire to call the police whenever they saw any movement at sea.
The pirates parked their boats here to get water, but everyone was safe. Once deep into the harbor, launch the boat and board 6. The only thing Inspector Fu could do was to immediately run to the beacon tower, light the horse dung fire, and then lead his people to find a place to hide. At the first sign of a beacon fire, fireworks could be seen for dozens of miles around the Wenlan River and Lingao County. People hid and the city gates were immediately closed.
Every year after the 15th day of the eighth lunar month, the typhoons gradually subside and pirates raid the coast more frequently. The fishing boats that usually take shelter here have stopped coming recently. Naturally, they, the patrolling archers, cannot neglect it - although the rations are small, they are still a piece of money.
As soon as the reconnaissance team's motorboat entered Changgong Bay, the archers on the beacon tower saw it. Normally, he would not alert the inspector with such a small boat, but the boat was traveling so fast, which surprised him. When the boat entered the estuary, he saw a tall man coming, wearing an iron helmet and black armor. , still holding a black iron firegun in his hand, this situation was terrible, so he quickly invited Fu Inspector to the beacon tower.
"Inspector Fu, who are these," the archer asked softly from behind, "Do you want to go up and investigate?"
"I haven't seen it before." Although Hainan is a southern border county, the people have a lot of knowledge. Fu Bowen has seen Japanese people, Folangji people, and red-haired Yi people. At present, this ship and people are not within the scope of his common sense. The only thing that can be seen is that this group of people is obviously not easy to mess with.
"It seems like you are measuring the depth of the water?"
Fu Bowen nodded: As the boat rowed, someone behind the black shield was constantly retracting and unwinding the rope. Sounding the water means a big ship is coming in.
"Want to light a fire?"
He hesitated for a moment and then made up his mind: There were only a few people coming, but they were all covered in armor. They were already outlaws and definitely not good citizens. They also measured the depth of the water here privately. It was obvious that a large number of people were coming. Now that daylight is about to dawn, the people have to go out to make a living. If bandits rob them, they will be severely punished!
"ignition!"
