Nanyang Storm 1864

Chapter 154: New Style, New Scene (The third part of the -word update has been sent. Please support with monthly tickets and recommendation tickets.)
Leisure
"How is it... Is your throat better? I've been a burden to you, brother. Can you still speak?" Hu Erdan handed the water to Wang Dali and asked with concern.

Hu Erdan's broken little finger has been applied with medicine and is tightly tied to his ring finger with gauze. He is not in serious trouble for the time being.

He felt very sorry for implicating his good brother Wang Dali, so he brought up food and water.

Wang Dali took the bamboo water bottle, tilted his head back and gulped down the water, almost filling up the entire bottle. Then he wiped the water stains from his chin with relief and handed the bottle back.

He patted Hu Erdan's shoulder again and said in a hoarse voice, "It's okay."

His voice was like a wooden axle without oil. After three and a half hours of standard mooring movements and five hundred loud reports, Wang Dali was almost speechless.

Wang Dali silently pushed back the food handed to him by Hu Erdan, with an expression that said "I don't need it".

His throat was now swollen and red from overuse, and he couldn't swallow any food. What he needed most was a cooling pill to reduce internal heat.

We'll have to wait until we get back to the port and use the silver to buy one.

Hu Erdan silently withdrew his hand. In his hand was half a pancake, which was a good thing.

The food standards for officers and soldiers in the navy fleet are much higher than those in the army. They can basically see meat every day and often have flatbreads to eat.

To others, especially people from the north, it is simply a life of god.

The problem of food and clothing has long been solved on Mindanao Island. The price of rice is very low and the yield is very high, so everyone can have enough food.

But that's about it.

The rice that is harvested three times a year in the tropics is not tasty. It is neither soft and sticky nor fragrant, and it is not filling. When you cook the rice, the grains are dry and tasteless.

The soldiers served their rice in a large, pointed bowl. When they slid the rice down with chopsticks, the dry rice grains rolled straight down without getting sticky at all.

This is the disadvantage of tropical rice. It is far less delicious than the rice grown on the black soil in the north, which is soft, sticky and sweet.

Flour is a good thing in Mindanao and its price is several times more expensive than rice.

Wang Dali and Hu Erdan sat quietly on the cable. Their ironclad fleet cut through the waves and was on its way back to the port.

It's early afternoon

The fleet's one-day exercise ended. The vanguard fleet in the front was running the fastest, and its towering masts had gradually disappeared on the sea. It arrived at the dock at least an hour earlier than the ironclad fleet.

"These bastards ran home so quickly." Hu Erdan showed a rare smile on his face and cursed.

Wang Dali just made a "hmm" sound in his throat. He felt much better after drinking so much water.

He and Hu Erdan were in the same group, assigned to the port side of the foremast. The group consisted of 11 sailors, led by a team leader, including five rigging hands.

The rigging hand is the sailor who climbs the mast. "Furling the sail", "lowering the sail" and "tying the sail" are all part of their job. Most of them are thin and agile and very flexible.

They need to climb up and down tall masts, which is extremely dangerous.

Wang Dali saw that one of the ship's rigging hands was operating the sail. Because the ship suddenly tilted due to huge waves, he lost his grip and fell directly from a great height onto the deck.

His joints were twisted when he fell, and his death was quite tragic.

Wang Dali is a refugee born in northwest Shandong. He is tall but thin. After eating full meals for several months, he has become much stronger.

He is very content with such a good day.

"Would you like a cigarette, buddy? It'll make you forget all your worries." Gunner Charlie appeared from somewhere and took out his pipe to show his friendship.

Wang Dali looked up and saw that Charlie's gray-blue eyes were full of sincerity, so he said in a hoarse voice, "Thank you, sir."

He reached into the cloth bag and pulled out a piece of paper. He pinched some tobacco leaves with two fingers and placed them on the paper. He wrapped them up skillfully, and finally wet the leaves with saliva before rolling a cigarette.

After ignition
Wang Dali took a deep breath of the thick smoke, looked at Charlie and laughed together.

Although they couldn't talk much due to the language barrier, the men's friendship was very pure. They just smoked and drank together, and chatting was an additional thing.

As the former captain of the main battery, Charlie was a middle-level officer on the ship. Like the boatswain, he received a monthly salary of 28 taels of silver, which was about 26 US dollars.

In addition, there are subsidies for combat training, rewards for participating in battles, military merits, fields, houses, money, and women. This treatment is very good.

Charlie admired this sailor very much. During the three and a half hours of punishment, he meticulously completed 500 mooring operations without missing a single one.

Even without supervision, the quality of the work is still very high.

Everyone likes a good soldier, and Charlie is ready to have a chat with the sailor.

If they are willing, wouldn’t it be great to recruit them to serve as gunners in your own artillery?

On the way back
This white officer and two Chinese sailors stood at the side of the ship, gesturing with their hands to help them chat, and the conversation was quite lively.

In the captain's room at the rear, Captain Fu Hongyu was writing today's training report, and also had to write an accident hazard report. He submitted the two documents together and asked for punishment.

In this accident hazard report
Captain Fu Hongyu requested to fine himself one month's salary. His position was deputy commander of the firepower strike squadron and captain of the "Zhennan". His monthly salary was 66 taels of silver, so the punishment was not light.

Captain Fu Hongyu picked up the brush, signed his name at the end of the report, and then pushed it forward.

The boatswain Zheng Tiechui, who was standing upright in front of the table, hurriedly took it with a humbly expression. He saw that the captain planned to fine himself one month's salary, and the boatswain planned to fine him half a month's salary. The two sailors would each receive a punishment, and his face suddenly fell.

He said, "Sir, it is my incompetence that has caused me to bear such a heavy punishment. Please punish me severely."

"Sign it and get out of here right now, otherwise I'll change my mind at any time and fine you half a year's salary." Fu Hongyu was in no mood to argue with him and threatened him directly.

Zheng Tiechui was shocked when he heard this. He quickly took the brush, dipped it in ink, signed his name behind the captain's signature, and handed it over respectfully with both hands.

"What are you doing for me... Have those two sailors sign as well, and bring it over together at the end."

"As you command, sir."

"Get out of here right now and don't be an eyesore here."

"As you command, I will get out of here immediately!"

Zheng Tiechui took the written documents and brush, bent down and bowed, and then easily escaped from the captain's room.

This training has caused a big mess. If we continue to stay here, the captain's eyes will really kill us. It would be wise to retreat.

By the time the ironclad fleet had safely docked at the pier, the high sky was already filled with brilliant sunset glow, and a cool sea breeze was blowing gently, feeling extremely comfortable on the body.

Navy Pier

The sailors lined up in neat rows, sang military songs, and marched in a formation into the distance, their destination being the naval barracks.

During the stay in the port
The daily meals are provided by the navy barracks’ kitchen. Compared to eating dry biscuits and pickled vegetables at sea, how much better are they?
There must be a meat dish in the barracks cafeteria in the evening. Although there are not many pieces of meat, there is still oil and water, right?

There was also plenty of rice, and sometimes even steamed buns, usually two per person. There were large buckets of egg drop and kelp soup in the cafeteria, and anyone who wanted some could get some.

Such food is of course delicious.

The Chu army had a strict hierarchy of officers and soldiers. Lower-level officers had their own meals and usually ate together with their own soldiers.

The difference is that each lower-level officer has a seat, and there are more varieties of dishes, with the standard being four dishes and one soup.

The soldiers could only squat on the ground to eat. They ate a pot of food, which was a large pot of food for ten people. There was no such thing as a few dishes.

There was only one dish, but there was plenty of rice and soup.

The treatment of middle and senior military officers is higher. They have their own separate dining room with white tablecloths, flowers, fruits and wine, as well as hard dishes such as steak, lamb chops and braised pork. The standard for each meal is eight dishes and one soup.

There were guards serving during meals. The soup and leftovers that the officers couldn't finish would be given to these bastard guards. After eating, they would often shave their teeth to show off.

These bastards make me angry whenever I think about them.

The ironclad fleet was the last squadron to arrive at the dock. The officers and soldiers completed a series of tasks such as furling sails, berthing, and dropping anchor in an orderly manner.

The deck had been polished to a high shine when the ship returned.

All the cables are tied into loops and arranged neatly.

The captain, along with the first mate, second mate, third mate, boatswain and other officers, inspected the ship from the bow to the stern. Finally, everyone signed and signed the navigation log, which marked the completion of the day's maritime exercise mission.

Leaving behind the sailors on duty, the majority of the remaining officers and men began to line up at the dock. Then, led by an officer, they marched towards the naval base, singing military songs along the way, appearing neat and orderly.

Every officer and soldier is full of anticipation when they return home, eat delicious meals, and sleep on clean and tidy beds.

During this period of high-intensity training, all officers are not allowed to leave the naval base, nor can they return home to reunite with their wives and children. They eat and live in the base.

As the maritime training subjects are passed one by one, the next step will be to launch more difficult training subjects, including full fleet formation, night formation navigation, maritime artillery confrontation exercises, etc. The fleet's strength is also rapidly improving in the high-intensity training.

Now in Mindanao

The slogans of the Northern Expedition were shouted loudly, and the government used various channels to publicize the brutal behavior of the Franks in the "311 Massacre", which aroused the indignation of Chinese immigrants and created an atmosphere of fighting and killing.

A campaign to "eliminate the barbarians" was launched across the island. It started with the Marshal cutting off his braids, and then spread to government officials and the military. The purpose was to promote the orthodox bloodline of the Han and Tang dynasties and restore the Chinese people's pride in their civilization that had lasted for thousands of years.

In society, wave after wave of enthusiasm is surging, advocating a "new era, new trend", advocating civilized language, and advocating the ancient custom of "respecting the elderly and loving the young", which makes people see a complete difference from the old world.

Today, Mindanao is full of prosperous new scenes.

(End of this chapter)