Mei Ergu and others saw Wu Kanbei's angry expression and asked quickly: "Brother Wu Kanbei, do you also have a grudge against the red-haired man?"
"They killed my wife and children!"
After hearing this, Meiergu couldn't help but sigh, and reached out to pat Wukanbei's shoulder. Four years ago, his eldest son also died in a fight with the red-haired men. Not only him, Sembakul and the other six also had family members die at the hands of the red-haired men.
Liu Sheng said to Wukanbei at this time: "Tell them to lead us and find the red-haired people. I can give them ten steel axes."
Wukanbei looked up at Liu Sheng with a grateful look on his face. The reason why Wu Kanbei joined Beihai Town in the first place was mainly because of the oath Liu Sheng made before his hospital bed.
Mei Ergu listened to Wu Kanbei's translation and thought for a while before saying: "Although there are many of you, I don't think you can win. The red-haired people are all strong and tall, and they also have iron pipes that can spit fire. I just came in. I looked all the way, and your people are too thin." He paused and shook his head.
Zhao Xin understood Meier's ancient meaning. Although there are more than 3,000 refugees here, most of them are thin and short, and their physical fitness is really poor.
It is said that when these Henan refugees first disembarked, both men and women had dark faces, malnutrition, and no light in their sunken eyes. After a few months, although these people had enough food for a period of time, with the current capabilities of Beihai Town, it could only keep them full. It was simply impossible to achieve comprehensive nutrition.
In the late eighteenth century, China's population exceeded the 300 million mark. According to the data recorded in the "Unification of the Qing Dynasty", the cultivated land area in the country at this time was more than 7.01 million hectares, and the per capita cultivated land area was only 2.45 acres (grain production was less than 800 kilograms, and accounting for shelling, loan repayment, tax payment, etc. Factors, the final amount of grain in hand was less than 400 kilograms). According to the level of agricultural productivity and the situation of rent and taxation in this era, four acres of land was the warning standard to support one person. If you fall below this standard, you will only be struggling in poverty and death.
This is just data for one person. In this era, most Chinese peasant families did not even have four acres of self-cultivated land, and had to rent land from landlords to survive.
To put it simply, physical fitness depends on nutrition, and nutrition depends on unit grain output and per capita cultivated land area.
Zhao Xin smiled and said to Wu Kanbei: "Go and call your company commander over." No matter how much explanation you have, it's useless. For natives like Mei'ergu, all you can do is rely on your strength. The physical fitness of the refugees is not good, but the nutritional level of the soldiers is completely guaranteed. Two companies of troops are enough to fight hundreds of red-haired Russians!
Not long after, the guard company commander arrived. After seeing the ceremony, Zhao Xin said to him: "Ask a squad to gather at the guard post in the south. Set up a few targets a hundred meters away to give our friends a firepower demonstration. Also tell our people that when the gunfire sounds, Don’t panic, just do whatever you have to do.”
After the guard company commander left, Zhao Xin smiled at Mei Ergu and others and said, "Friends, please, let's go take a look together."
When Zhao Xin and Liu Sheng stood up from their seats, Mei Ergu realized how tall they were. With his height of 1.6 meters, the top of his head can only reach Zhao Xin's shoulders; as for Liu Sheng, don't mention it because it's too embarrassing!
The seven confused Kuyefeyaka people followed Zhao Xin and Liu Sheng to an open area in the south of the residential area. At this time, five targets were already erected a hundred meters away. A dozen migrant workers were carrying several large logs towards the target. These logs were to be erected behind the target to stop stray bullets.
Although the soldiers in the guard company are not new recruits, they still need to be well protected to avoid stray bullets. It doesn't matter if he hits a wild beast, but if he hits a Feyaka native on the butt, it will be a big deal.
After ten minutes, everything was ready. Liu Sheng didn't wait for Meiergu to ask questions before giving the order to prepare for shooting. The five soldiers walked to the shooting position, first pulled the gun bolt to expose the magazine, and then took out a magazine containing ten bullets and pressed it into the magazine. After the sound of "click, click, click", the five soldiers pulled out the magazine. , pull the recoil machine and load the bullet.
"Report, the shooting is ready!"
The squad leader shouted loudly: "Kneel down and prepare to shoot!"
The five soldiers now stood with their left legs upright and their right legs bent back while aiming their guns.
"Turn on the insurance!"
"Start shooting!"
"Bang! Bang!"
When the first gunshot rang out, Sembakul and the other six people lay on the ground with their heads in their hands on the spot. They were so scared that they peed themselves as soon as they got wet! Mei'ergu also turned pale and his bladder became so tight that he almost couldn't hold it in.
By the time the shooting was halfway through, the six people from Sembakul were so frightened that they couldn't help but retreat. They squatted on the ground and covered their ears, shouting: "God of Fire, spare your life! God of Bear, spare your life!" However, in the background of bursts of gunfire, Next, their shouts were ignored by others.
By the time the ten rounds of bullets were fired, Mei Ergu had already covered his ears and retreated to Sembakul and others, but his face turned red. I thought that the fire-breathing iron pipes of these people were much more powerful than those of the red-haired men!
After the five soldiers got up, checked the magazine, and left in formation, Liu Sheng asked Wu Kanbei to take the seven ancient Meer soldiers to the target. Everyone walked to the target cautiously, only to see that the five targets made of wooden boards had been smashed to pieces. On the logs at the back, bullet holes as thick as fingers were covered on the surface.
"God of Fire! You are the messengers of God of Fire!" Dang Meiergu walked back to the shooting position with a stunned look on his face and said to Zhao Xin and Liu Sheng.
After listening to Wu Kanbei's translation, Liu Sheng looked disdainful, while Zhao Xin said to Wu Kanbei calmly: "Didn't they say they wanted to see the boat? Take them to the mouth of the river to see it."
Wukanbei, who was well aware of the beliefs of the Feyaka people, already understood at this time that Zhao Xin wanted to use Beihai Town's powerful firearms and mountain-like ships to frighten the opponent.
In fact, for Ukanbe, he was also shocked by this at first. Although he had joined the army for a few months, he didn't know very well what was going on with the other boats and tractors except for the rifle in his hand. In Wu Kambei's view, these are things that only gods can possess; so whether it is Zhao Xin or Liu Sheng, they are both existences like gods in his eyes.
At this time, the vigorous construction of houses was still continuing in the residential area; and in the oil refining workshop, the workers started busy after breakfast.
Hundreds of workers wearing gas masks first used large iron ladles to scoop crude oil from the oil pit into long wooden boxes that had been prepared in advance. Because the gaps between the boards of these wooden boxes are covered with a layer of plaster, there is no need to worry about leakage yet. Then the workers carried wooden boxes filled with oil in pairs and poured them into the oil storage pool dozens of meters away.
When the oil storage tank was halfway filled, Zhang Bo started an oil pump, and the viscous crude oil was pumped into the reactor in the kiln through a hose inserted in the oil storage tank.
The top of the earth kiln is equipped with a smoke exhaust port and an oil outlet. There is a thermometer and pressure gauge on the side of the reactor to monitor the temperature and pressure inside the tank. There is a circular sealed hatch on the top of the tin. When you open the hatch, you can see the oil transfer situation in the tin. There is also a sealed hatch below the tin, which is used to extract the batch of diesel oil. , open and drain out the oil waste residue after cracking, that is, asphalt and heavy oil. Zhang Bo felt that there was a chance that these waste residues could be used, and he planned to dig a big pit for storage.
When he saw that the crude oil in the reactor was less than half full, Zhang Bo ordered someone to shut down the oil pump. Then, a migrant worker poured a bag of zeolite that had been prepared through the sealed hatch and stirred it with a long iron rod so that it was evenly distributed at the bottom of the tank (the purpose of adding zeolite is to prevent the liquid from violently rolling and boiling.) etc. Once everything is done, close the hatch and tighten the bolts.
It is said that petroleum is less dense than water, sticky and thick, and does not have a certain melting point or boiling point. The oil refining earth kilns built by Zhang Bo are actually enlarged versions of laboratory stills.
At this time, cold river water had been introduced into the cooling box. Zhang Bo immediately ordered his men to light the earth kiln, and the first oil refining earth kiln in Beihai Town finally started operation.
As the temperature of the furnace fire gets higher and higher, a large amount of charcoal is thrown in, and the crude oil in the reactor begins to gradually atomize and crack. Zhang Bo stared intently at the thermometer and pressure gauge outside the reactor, and kept ordering his men to add firewood.
As the crude oil in the reactor begins to boil, the mercury column on the thermometer continues to rise. About an hour later, when the temperature on the thermometer exceeded 200 degrees and approached 250 degrees, Zhang Bo ordered someone to open the valve of the oil outlet pipe at the top of the reactor.
At this time, there was a burst of gas roaring from the end of the oil outlet in the distance, which sounded a little breathtaking. After a while, a drop of liquid with a faint change of color finally flowed out.
"Sir! Oil is coming out!" A worker responsible for observation hurriedly ran to Zhang Bo and shouted. After Zhang Bo heard this, he quickly ran to the oil outlet, reached out and dipped his hand into the transparent liquid that flowed out. He first rubbed it twice with his fingers, and then put it to the tip of his nose to smell it.
At this time, Zhao Xin, who came after hearing the news, also came over, squatted next to Zhang Bo wearing a gas mask, and asked in a muffled voice: "How is it?"
"No problem!" He turned to several workers and ordered: "Hurry up and connect the hoses and steel pipes."
Upon hearing this, several workers quickly connected a hose connected to the oil storage tank to the oil outlet pipe, and tied it tightly with iron wire.
Zhao Xin let out a sigh of relief through the mask, thinking that it was really hard work! We have been preparing for this little bit of diesel for several months, and thousands of people have traveled across the ocean. It is really not easy!
"Does this thing need to be desulfurized? Doesn't the gasoline and diesel we use over there need to be desulfurized before it can be used?"
Zhang Bo said dissatisfied: "Mr. Zhao, this is for ships. If you can use diesel, you have to eat high-priced food! And desulfurization? What national standard do you plan to set? Let me hear it?"
Zhao Xin was speechless and thought to himself, even without desulfurization, this is still of better quality than the heavy oil used in ships. It is said that heavy oil and asphalt are the things that settle to the bottom during the fission reaction of crude oil. They are incomparable with diesel!
Zhang Bo said to Zhao Xin at this time: "I won't chat with you anymore. Once the fire starts, it cannot be stopped, otherwise the asphalt precipitated below will solidify. I have to keep an eye on the temperature, otherwise it will no longer be diesel once it exceeds 350 degrees!"
As he spoke, he walked to the cooling water tank, stretched out his hand to check the water temperature, and continued to instruct the workers behind him: "After a while, the water in the water tank feels a little warm to the touch, so open this valve to let cold water in, and at the same time open this The valve drains out the previous water. When the water is cold to the touch, it stops waterproofing and water inflow. Do you understand?"
The worker didn't understand the logic behind this, but he had completely mastered the tasks of drainage and water discharge in the past few days, so he kept nodding in agreement.
Now that there are no problems with the trial operation, the next step is to burn a large amount of charcoal to prepare for the ignition of several other earth kilns. Zhang Bo shook his head while calculating the amount of remaining charcoal, wishing he had coke.
Zhao Xin dusted himself off, stood up and looked at the billowing smoke coming from the top of the kiln. Then he saw the migrant workers who kept transporting charcoal to the kiln. He thought to himself that this is not environmentally friendly! All the good trees were cut down to burn charcoal, alas! Zhao Xin shook his head and left the oil refining site with his hands behind his back.
On the other side, when Meiergu and others walked with Wukanbei and a squad of Beihai Town soldiers to the mouth of the Oha River, they didn't need Wukanbei to point them out. The seven Meiergu people saw Jing Lei parked in the lagoon at a glance. Number.
The seven people suddenly took a breath of cold air and looked at the mountain-like boat in the distance with stupid expressions.
"What did I say? Poseidon! They are the messengers of Poseidon!" Sembakul suddenly jumped up, waving his arms, and shouted excitedly. "Who just said they were from Vulcan?"
"It's whatever you say it is!" The other five scumbags looked at each other helplessly. The big ship looked bigger than a hundred whales. It seemed that it must be the messenger of Poseidon.
Mei Ergu was extremely excited at this time, with a strange look in his eyes. He danced towards the thundering horn in the distance and sang a prayer babblingly.
Wukanbei had been shocked the day before yesterday. At this time, he was thinking about the red-haired people in the west. When Mei'er Gu had finished singing, he asked: "Brother Mei'er Gu, can you take us to find the red-haired man now?"
"No problem, no problem! You take me to see the Poseidon and the Bear God first."
"What?!" Wukanbei blinked, thinking, "What a surprise!"
When Mei Ergu and others saw Zhao Xin again, they bowed and saluted seven or eight meters away. Zhao Xinxin said that his attitude was the same after seeing the boat. Was he shocked?
"Messenger of Poseidon! I, Mei'er Gu, hereby ask you to help us return to our hometown! My people and I will follow all your instructions!" After saying that, Mei'er Gu followed his example and went to visit Manchu in Deleng'enmu City. The scene he saw when he was an official of the Qing Dynasty, he fell to his knees, bowed and kowtowed. When Sembakul and others saw it, they quickly kowtowed together.
"Everyone, get up!" How can you say this? It's not the New Year yet! Zhao Xin quickly came over and helped Mei Ergu up. He turned to Wu Kambei and asked, "What is he talking about?"
When Zhao Xin heard Wu Kambei's explanation, he almost laughed out loud.
At noon, they finally ate the big white steamed buns from Beihai Town. Because there are oil pits everywhere at the mouth of the Oha River and there are no wild animals, Zhao Xin and the others have been eating canned meat or vegetables these days, and they are almost vomiting from the food.
However, this was a rare delicacy for the Meer people in ancient times. The large pieces of beef and pork with white grease made them full of intestines and fat. Sembakul shook his cheeks and ate fiercely, finishing ten large steamed buns and four cans of meat in a row. Finally, he touched his swollen belly and told Ukanbe that he would kill a deer as a gift one day.
