Chapter 723: Boys' Camp Again
The northern country is already in the cold winter with thousands of miles of ice, but the southern ocean is still hot enough to wear only single clothes, with the temperature generally above 20 degrees.
It's time for the annual Boy Scout training again. Chen Ming did not let his eldest son climb the snow-capped mountains and forests this winter, but this does not mean that Chen Ding is lucky. He was sent to the southern ocean thousands of miles away by Chen Ming's idea, and sent to a slave ship floating on the ocean.
If it weren't for the fact that the distance between the mainland and Nanmingzhou was too far at this time, and there were too many uncertainties on the road, Chen Ming wanted to abandon his eldest son to Nanmingzhou.
At the same time, the younger brothers and sisters who are younger than Chen Ding have also reached the time for the Boy Scout training. From this year on, this "honor" is no longer a beautiful day that Chen Ding enjoys alone.
Chen Ding is now serving on a ship. The driver of the latter is of course an adult, but the security work is all boy soldiers of Chen Ding's age, each carrying a musket and a serious attitude.
In addition to the internal guards who were secretly protecting him, only Zhang Fusheng, the leader of the entire team, knew Chen Ding's true identity. Although there were many "little nobles" who went south with Chen Ding, they were all in Singapore, and it was common for the slave transport fleet to change personnel. No old man would have thought that the person who suddenly boarded the ship would be the eldest prince of the current emperor, and those who were adjusted together were his bodyguards.
Zhang Fusheng is also an old man in the Chen Han transportation system. He first worked in the transportation team, then entered Hongji Wharf, and then came to Singapore.
The first five days were very peaceful on the road. The trouble Chen Ding encountered was limited to the difficulty of resting due to the bumpy sea ship. This was not like the treasure ship they took when they left Nanjing, which was just a small-tonnage slave ship. In the second half of the night on the sixth day, a fleet suddenly appeared in front. The number of fleets was quite large, and the lookout responsible for night duty actually reported that he could not see the end of the fleet.
The atmosphere on the ship immediately became tense.
In theory, there are almost no pirates in Nanyang now, especially large pirate fleets. Although there are many forces in the South China Sea that can mobilize such a large fleet, they can't get around Chen Han. Compared with the huge fleet in front, the slave fleet consisting of only five ships is really a small shrimp.
The security regulations of shipping require them to be vigilant at all times, and the guards immediately notified Zhang Fusheng, the leader of the small fleet.
Upon hearing the news, Zhang Fusheng hurried to the bow. Looking at the dark shadows of the ship in the dark night in the distance, Zhang Fusheng, who had no combat experience at all, was still a little nervous. He searched for the shipping regulations in his mind, and before he ordered the release of signal flares, three flames flashed on the last ship of the opposite fleet.
In the night, flag signals are useless. The transmission of messages depends on signal lights.
"Who are you?" The signalman of the fleet translated the signal transmitted by the opposite ship through the signal lights.
"Ask them which part they are from?" It doesn't mean that those who can send signal lights are our own people. In addition to the internal set of signal lights promoted by Chen Han, a public version was also promoted to the outside world. Now at least it is now used in the East.
Zhang Fusheng knew that the eldest son of the emperor was on his ship, so safety was the first priority and he could not be careless at all.
The signalman lit the light inside the glass cover and then typed out Zhang Fusheng's instructions.
After a while, the fleet over there replied, "We are the second detachment of the Nanyang Navy Transport Team. Which part are you from?" When they learned that Zhang Fusheng's unit was a slave fleet, they no longer paid attention to Zhang Fusheng and his team, and completely ignored Zhang Fusheng.
When the sun shone on the earth again, the slave fleet had left the second detachment's transport fleet far behind.
Chen Ding, who had been standing guard at the hatch with a musket on his back for a whole night, had red eyes. He was not very used to the sudden life at sea, and he had a bad rest, and the duty time was long, but his eyes were red at the beginning. Moreover, the wind and waves on the sea were strong, and a person who had never lived on the sea was naturally not used to it.
However, Chen Ding would not show any discomfort, not only because he knew it was a test for himself, but also because he saw the people in the cabin.
The cabins of the slave transport fleet were specially designed and reinforced. To be honest, if the ship was really finished, in the minds of many Chen Han leaders, they would rather let these serfs and prisoners drown in the sea than see them escape.
The slave transport fleet transported prisoners and serfs as families, with men and women separated, and young children were locked up with their mothers. There was only a layer of ship wall between the husband and wife, and there were many holes in the middle. Each cage also had a toilet with a toilet. The surroundings were covered with straw mats, and anyone who dared to peek would be severely punished.
Those who were imprisoned, whether adults or children, had two bowls of thin rice porridge every day, plus a little pickled vegetables. It can ensure that people will not die of thirst or hunger, but also make them have no enough strength to resist.
Today is the sixth day of sailing. We will soon reach Singapore. All the prisoners are suffering from hunger. Their stomachs are rumbling. How can they resist?
Moreover, the cabin is crowded with people. The air is already polluted. Add to that the smell of the toilet. The smell is really sour.
Carrying a bowl of rice with large pieces of braised hairtail and taro on top and a bowl of seaweed soup, Chen Ding ate up the food in a hurry, just like the night watchmen who came to eat together, but the people who were secretly observing him nodded.
Returning to the narrow dormitory in the cabin, Chen Ding felt a kind of heartfelt happiness. Without comparison, there is no harm, and with comparison, there is the most sincere happiness.
Compared with those imprisoned people, how happy Chen Ding, who is now just a boy soldier, is.
…
At 5:30 in the morning, when the morning mist was still shrouding a boy camp in the northwest of Singapore, the melodious and clear wake-up call had been blown by the bugler standing in the playground. The red cloth tied to a bugle swayed gently in the breeze, and the red glow of the dawn sky set off the upright and solemn figure of the bugler.
Not long after, the sound of footsteps and the shouts of the instructors began to sound more and more in the camp.
These sounds became more and more numerous and louder, and finally merged into a rumbling sound.
In the Boy Scouts, morning exercises are a routine, and all officers and soldiers, including the camp's general manager, must get up on time. Each team and battalion formed a square array according to their respective organizational units. The noise soon subsided, and the sound of roll call of each team rang out in the camp.
The roll call work was soon over. At the command of the officer in charge of training, the gate of the camp opened, and each organizational unit started one after another, lined up in neat rows, stepped on neat steps, and filed out of the gate one after another. Daily morning exercise running officially began.
This is a training for discipline, organization, and physical strength.
Chen Ding has become accustomed to this kind of life. In fact, when he was in Sungkyunkwan Public School, he also had to run exercises every morning, but the time was not so early and the distance was not so long.
The Boy Scouts use 12 years old as the dividing point, the previous is five miles, and the later is ten miles. Sungkyunkwan Public School does not even have half of this amount.
This is also a display of strength.
There are thousands of little kids in a Boy Scout camp. Although their ages vary, the Boy Scouts have frequently followed the regular troops in Southeast Asia, at least responsible for post-war security.
You can look down on little kids under the age of 12, but anyone who does not regard hundreds or thousands of soldiers aged 14, 15 or 16 as real combat power is a fool.
The daily morning exercises are the beginning of the day. Chen Ding had dinner after the morning exercises today and did not return to the team, but came to the regiment headquarters. He is now the military representative of their team.
In addition to the organization, there is also a representative meeting system in the Boy Scout Camp. A team can select two to three people to form a representative meeting in the battalion-level system and set up an agency; then select five to seven people from the representatives of the entire battalion to form a standing committee. At the same time, they will also enter the representative meeting at the regiment level. The representative meeting at the regiment level will also set up a permanent agency, and then select five to seven people from them to form a standing committee.
This is not a power organ, but a simple auxiliary agency. It is a weakened version of the rabbit's soldier committee back then. They can supervise the daily management of the army; maintain the discipline of the troops, but do not have the power to punish; supervise the economy of the army; and promote political education in the troops.
Chen Ding's identity is the representative of the regiment.
The first regiment is the number of the boy soldiers over 15 years old in this camp. According to Chinese tradition, a fifteen-year-old child will be sixteen years old in the next year. Next year, it is time for them to leave the boy camp and go to various positions.
Some of them joined the army, some were admitted to various colleges and vocational high schools, and some entered the positions assigned to them, such as nurses corresponding to female soldiers.
As the New Year approaches, there are more things in the camp. Especially in the first regiment, these oldest children have long been accustomed to staying in the camp. Seeing that the day of departure is getting closer and closer, it will soon be the last New Year's Eve spent in the camp. A kind of illusion of leaving home and never coming back rises in their hearts, and it is inevitable that some troubles will arise.
Last night, the head of the first regiment talked to them about the various rumors that have been circulating in the team recently, as well as the opinions expressed by many military representatives. The superiors criticized the nonsense that is now circulating in the first regiment, which is almost "disregarding military discipline".
The Singapore Boy Camp is a very young boy camp. This year's "first regiment" is the first "first regiment" they have faced in the true sense. The situation must be controlled and managed.
So today, after the morning exercises and breakfast in the camp, all the members of the regiment representative meeting gathered at the regiment headquarters to assist the adults in the regiment headquarters to solve the problem of "disregarding military discipline" one by one. It was one problem after another. It may be an irresponsible rumor, or it may be a quarrel caused by irritability and mental tension, or even a conflict or fight. The general person in charge of the camp went to the first regiment in person and asked the person in charge of the first regiment to focus on solving specific problems in the next few days, specifically one person in each class and platoon.
Now there are more and more people who are "extra" diverted from the Boy Scouts, which has given rise to a problem: the rejection of individuals within the Boy Scouts is increasing. In the past two years, there have even been cases of top students deliberately failing the exams or not signing up for the exams in order to keep their buddies together.
The Boy Scouts nowadays are not like the original Boy Scouts. The Boy Scouts in the past were all in the army, and those with no outstanding military skills could join the logistics forces. The Boy Scouts nowadays are more like the military primary and secondary schools under Chen Han, and the "top students" there correspond to not only military skills, but also cultural subjects. The former enters the military academy, but at least they have not left the army; the latter enters the civil higher education institution, and it is almost impossible for them to return to the army after graduation.
These children, who have lost their parents and grown up in the camp and in the group, have a strong attachment to the group, and the Boy Camp is like their home. So when these children are about to leave the group, this "resistance" is also very strong.
Chen Ding had never thought of this before, but after coming here and really coming into contact with the Boy Scouts who are about to "graduate", he thought of himself from these people.
Not to mention whether he can inherit the throne in the future, or whether he should go to the mainland immediately, just say that after a few years after his wedding, he will move out of the palace. The mansion is now under construction, and it is very likely that his father will put him in the local area to work. As long as Chen Ding thought about it, he couldn't help but feel sad.
After the Chinese New Year, Chen Ding went to the countryside.
It was Tekong Island on the northeast side of Singapore. It is adjacent to the Johor Strait to the north and east, and is a small island in the narrow Johor Strait. Tekong Island is less than ten miles away from the main island of Singapore and is the second largest outer island in Singapore. The land area of the island is about ten miles in radius.
There is a large mangrove forest on Tekong Island. The ecological environment of this island was very rich at the beginning, with more than ten kinds of mammals and more than one hundred kinds of birds. Early immigrants often saw groups of wild boars in the mangroves, but now these have become a thing of the past.
The large and small hills were opened up by immigrants into orchards, and the forests were cut down. Not to mention the groups of wild boars, the birds were killed and there were only a few left. It was a very small island, but it was completely filled with humans in a few years.
But there was a period of time in the middle when Tekong Island was taken back by the court. Because the navy felt that Deguang Island was too close to Singapore, if it was not restricted, it would cause a major flaw in Singapore's confidentiality.
However, this measure was only implemented for a period of time before it was completely abolished.
Chen Ding went to Deguang Island because of the arrival of a new batch of immigrants.
These people were organized by the court to come to Southeast Asia from the mainland. It stands to reason that the two sides should have established a certain degree of trust, right? But on Deguang Island, Chen Ding saw what it meant to be "the people's hearts are tricky."
"I have already told you about the rules of land distribution. The first thing to do is to have land for everyone to farm and food to eat. We also need to build water conservancy projects. Not to mention droughts and floods, we can still survive minor disasters. The court hopes that everyone can live a better life, rather than simply moving everyone from the mainland to Southeast Asia."
"Let's talk about the distribution of land later. Let's talk about the current situation. As you can see, this was originally a village, and the houses were built only a few days ago. However, due to the collective evacuation of the previous batch of immigrants, these lands that have been reclaimed for a few years have become barren, and the houses have been demolished by the Singaporean garrison. They took away all the wood."
"Our first task now is to clean up the residence. We can't live in tents all the time, right?"
"Let's count the points. Whoever has the most points at the end will get to choose the house and land first..."
The rules set by the officials are very conventional rules, but the officials have forgotten the cunning of Chinese farmers.
In just ten days, a total of one hundred immigrants lost 22 axes, 35 saws, 29 shovels, 70 shovels, and 10 machetes...
Is this really "lost"?
The person in charge of the immigration point must be mad, otherwise he would not let the Boy Scouts supervise. It is real supervision.
The two teams of the first battalion of the first regiment really went to the immigration point with dogs. In one day, they found more than 20 places around the immigration point where axes, saws, shovels, shovels, machetes and other things were hidden.
Chen Ding was stunned!