There are some coconut trees in the southeastern part of the island. The coconuts recently transported back from Yulin have made the travelers tired of it, so they are not interested in these poor resources. [Read the latest chapter] The island is wild and grassy, dominated by shrubs. The snow-white beach looks a bit like a tropical island, but it is covered with all kinds of algae washed up by the sea. Some are of considerable economic value. However, this place is still far away from Lingao and is inconvenient to use.
Bai Guoshi led a few people to search for struvite stones while walking, and soon found a thick accumulation of struvite stones near the lagoon. In spring and autumn, a large number of migratory birds stop by the lake. These struvites, produced over many years by the accumulation of guano from passing migratory birds, amount to 600,000 tons on Dongsha Island.
It was summer at this time, and only seabirds such as seagulls stayed by the lagoon, and the air smelled of fish. At this time, it started to rain, and Bai Guoshi put on the hat of his jacket - it was the rainy season in Dongsha Islands.
"This is it," Bai Guoshi hit the next piece with a hammer and confirmed, "Knock this kind of stone down."
The sailors and marines on the ship, as well as the workers specially equipped for this mining operation, braved the rain to board Dongsha Island and mined the struvite by hand.
Struvite is not very hard and is easy to mine. The mined ore was packed in rattan baskets and transported to Zhenhai. The birds resting by the lagoon were disturbed by this and suddenly flew up and down over the island, cooing wildly.
Bai Guoshi and Gao Xiaosong, who came with the ship for exploration, conducted an investigation on the island. Gao Xiaosong is very interested in Dongsha Island, but his motivation is different from Bai Guoshi. He values the strategic location of Dongsha Island more.
The Dongsha Islands are located at the hub of international shipping routes from East Asia to the Indian Ocean and Asia, Africa, and Australia. The routes from Guangzhou and Hong Kong to Manila or Kaohsiung, Taiwan, pass through nearby waters, which is of great shipping significance. In the 20th century, a weather station and a lighthouse were set up here. The Ministry of Maritime Power has long regarded this island as one of the intermediate links to Taiwan and has a strong interest in it. Chen Haiyang specially assigned Gao Xiaosong to inspect this place this time.
The two people patrolled all the way in the rain, and found shacks and drying racks left by fishermen along the road. It was summer now, and the fishermen had all retreated to the mainland, and the entire island was deserted.
"There is a well!" Gao Xiaosong called out.
Not far away, there is indeed a stone fence circle for a well.
"It's useless." Bai Guoshi shook his head, "You can't store fresh water on this kind of coral island. There is fresh water in the sand layer, but it is easily penetrated by sea water. The water in the well should be lighter than the sea water. You can probably survive by drinking it. .”
"What a pity." Gao Xiaosong felt regretful, "I have heard that there are wells on Dongsha Island..."
"It seems that except for Woody Island, no island in the South China Sea has fresh water resources available." Bai Guoshi said, "If you want to stay permanently, you must install desalination equipment or build a rainwater collection system - the rainy season here is not short. The amount of rainwater stored is still very large.”
"If there is such a shortage of fresh water, it is impossible to send people to stay permanently without some construction." Gao Xiaosong assessed the situation of Dongsha Island, "The island is large enough, but it lacks a harbor for ships to berth. It is inconvenient for people to enter and exit. At most, it can be used as a A temporary rest stop on the way to Taiwan.”
"Look!" Bai Guoshi suddenly shouted and yanked Gao Xiaosong's arm.
"What's going on?" Gao Xiaosong was startled. What did he do in surprise? Is there anything dangerous on Dongsha Island?
"What is this?!" Bai Guoshi's finger pointed directly at the sea southeast of the island.
At first glance there is nothing on the sea, but there is a strange triangular iron frame. 1u is less than one meter above the water. It's low tide now and I've just emerged from the water. The waves on the sea are undulating. It's really hard to spot it without looking carefully.
Gao Xiaosong took a closer look and felt that it looked very familiar.
"It looks very much like the mast of a small ship..." Gao Xiaosong hesitated. He was a coast guard, and this thing was very familiar to him. It was a typical tripod-type mast on an ocean-going fishing boat.
The two people suddenly felt terrified. Where does such a mast come from in this time and space? Gao Xiaosong had already pulled out his pistol.
"Don't panic." He said in a deep voice, "There is no one on the island, and you can't hide people in a place like this. Let's go over and take a look."
"well--"
Gao Xiaosong first used the walkie-talkie to call Lin Chuanqing, telling him that there might be something going on on the island and asking him to pay attention to the surrounding environment.
"What's going on?" Lin Chuanqing was surprised.
"It's not clear yet. Bai Guoshi and I will go over and investigate."
"Okay, you have to be careful."
"If there is a situation, I will shoot and call the police." Gao Xiaosong looked at the surrounding environment, "The place we are going to is at the southeastern end of the island."
"clear."
The two people carefully walked to the promontory closest to the iron shelf. The coral reef here was rugged and pebbly, extending into the sea. The iron frame is located in the atoll about 70 to 80 meters away from the cape. It will be clearer now. Apart from being rusty and missing some components, this is a tripod mast of a ship.
Gao Xiaosong tried hard to look underwater, and there seemed to be a vague shadow of a ship on the reef - because of the rain, the wind and waves were strong, and the transparency of the water was not high, so he couldn't see carefully.
"There seems to be a boat under the sea." Gao Xiaosong concluded.
"This...this...what's going on..." Bai Guoshi's teeth were chattering. Obviously, in 1629, neither the Ming Dynasty nor the Europeans had ships equipped with such masts.
"Didn't you have any lost or missing ships during this operation?" Gao Xiaosong was following his suspicious wife and was eventually deceived into boarding the Fengcheng ship, so he knows very little about the entire operation so far.
"No." Bai Guoshi said with certainty, "When passing through the wormhole, not a single ship was lost. Now many of them are parked in Bobu Port."
"That's strange-" Gao Xiaosong naturally understood the seriousness of it. If this is indeed a modern fishing boat from the 20th century, then besides them, there are people who do not belong to this time and space.
The rain was getting heavier and heavier, accompanied by a strong east wind. The waves surged and crashed against the promontory. The two people stood blankly, a little at a loss.
"Should we report to the executive committee immediately?"
"I'm not busy." Gao Xiaosong calmed down and wiped the rain off his face, "Let's find a place to take shelter from the rain first. By the way, let's talk to Captain Lin and let's discuss what to do. If you want to report, you can't just say that you have a tripod. Mast.”
"Okay, I'll listen to you." Bai Guoshi said loudly, and the two of them returned from the cape. There was no shelter on the island, and there was no place to take shelter from the rain. I had to run all the way to hide under the fishermen's scaffolding. The scaffolding was actually riddled with holes, which was better than nothing. Due to the heavy rain, the intercom was blocked, so the two of them had to wrap up their jackets and wait for the rain to stop.
Bai Guoshi looked at the torrential rain outside the scaffolding and the surging waves on the sea, and he felt fear in his heart.
"Instructor Gao." Gao Xiaosong used to be an instructor of the Coast Guard, so everyone respectfully called him that. "Do you think the people on this boat are still on the island?"
"Although Dongsha Island is not too small, there is no place to hide people." Gao Xiaosong said, "We just walked along the road and saw no fresh signs of human activity. It should be gone." He then comforted Bai. Guo Shi, "Maybe it's not a ship at all."
"It's best this way." Bai Guoshi muttered, feeling extremely uneasy. He would rather face a group of pirates from this time and space than meet an unregistered time traveler. If this person appeared in front of Bai Guoshi now, he would not hesitate to shoot him in the head, plus make up for it - no matter whether this person is a man, a woman or a child, whether he is Chinese or a foreigner .
"Don't worry too much. Even if it's a ship, it's probably just an empty ship and got sucked into the wormhole accidentally." Gao Xiaosong saw that he was overly nervous and a little nervous, so he quickly comforted him.
"The place we are crossing is in the Qiongzhou Strait, and this is Dongsha Island."
"This," Gao Xiaosong poured out the rainwater accumulated on his clothes, "maybe it is some kind of space-time disturbance..."
After the rain stopped, Lin Chuanqing was called to the island. After Gao Xiaosong introduced the situation, he was taken to the promontory to see the strange iron frame.
Lin Chuanqing's face turned pale: "I am familiar with this kind of mast... This type of mast is commonly used by ocean-going fishing vessels on the west coast of the United States."
"So maybe it's still an American ship?"
"It's very possible." Lin Chuanqing used to be an American fisherman, so his words are naturally very credible. "It would be great if I could go there and have a look. Isn't the water deep?"
"Probably Xiaosong said.
"Just dive down and take a look." Although Lin Chuanqing said this, he still looked embarrassed. The depth of 8 meters was nothing to him and Gao Xiaosong. They could just plunge in without diving equipment. The problem is that there are sharks swimming freely here, and he doesn't have the courage to swim with sharks.
"It seems that the Planning Commission warehouse has diving equipment, shark-proof clothing, shark repellent, etc., but there is none on the Zhenhai."
The three people discussed it and decided to conduct a blanket search of the entire Dongsha Island first. If the people on the boat were really still stranded on the island, they would be found.
"There should be no one on the island," Gao Xiaosong said, "but just in case."
Whether you can find someone or not. This situation must be kept secret from the outside world. Except for them, no one else on board the Zhenhai will be informed. After collecting the struvite, go back and report directly to the executive committee.
Immediately, the action of digging up guano was ordered to be suspended, and the entire ship was placed on first-level alert. Sentries were posted in every corner of the Zhenhai, and then a carpet-like search of the entire island began.
"If you find someone, try to capture him alive." Gao Xiaosong ordered. ! ~!
