With the exception of a few North American Gang Special Operators who were armed to the teeth, everyone else who joined the expedition was required to at least learn how to use a pistol. Of course, in view of the limited ammunition reserves, the Military Police Department did not arrange live-fire training, so these selected members only used guns under the guidance of instructors, and the level only reached the basic essentials of mastering the use of pistols. For security reasons, they had to wait until the time of departure to receive the pistols and ammunition that were dispensed. Although there is little chance of a battle during this survey, the Military Police Department still has to prepare its members for anything.

In addition to the military training, all the team members also had a four-day intensive training in seamanship, mainly to teach them how to steer the two catamarans, as well as some simple knowledge of sea navigation. This is also to avoid the possibility of a situation where several professional crew members are unable to steer the ship, while others can temporarily take on the role of sailors. Due to the short time, this kind of training is naturally not very effective, but as long as there is an old crew member to direct these novice operations, it can barely move slowly at sea.

The Ministry of Information Industry worked overtime to collect and sort out a detailed map of the Halong Bay area from a large database, as well as a map of the construction of the port area of the later Hongji Port. In addition, there are various local customs and customs, and of course the main source of this information is various travel reports from later generations.

Among all this complicated information, the nautical charts of the Halong Bay area are particularly important. Located off the coast of Hong Kai Port, Ha Long Bay covers an area of about 1,500 square kilometers and is dotted with 3,000 islands of various sizes and complex shipping lanes. It was also one of the most famous scenic spots in Vietnam in later generations, and several people who traveled through the city have traveled to Halong Bay. In this era, not many people would choose to live on small islands far from the mainland, but it cannot be ruled out that there will be a small number of fishermen and even pirates on these islands.

The day before departure, the Executive Committee held a meeting, and a question was raised: "What should I do if I don't understand the language of the Vietnamese?" ”

Only then did the executive committee realize that it had been ignoring this seemingly unimportant issue before, not to mention that among the more than 400 people in this team, even in the entire crossing group, there was no one who could speak Vietnamese. The meeting was also temporarily stopped, and people went to find Ning Qi, who was taking classes in the night school, quickly.

Ning Qi smiled after listening to the question: "Don't worry, there is no language problem when going to Vietnam in this era." After that, Ning Qi gave everyone a brief popular science.

The relationship between Vietnam and China has a long history, from the time of Emperor Wu of Han in 111 BC to the time of Vietnam's independence in 939 AD, when Vietnam took advantage of the great turmoil in the last years of the Tang Dynasty. However, Vietnam continued to pay tribute to China and recognize China's suzerainty until the French invasion of Vietnam in the second half of the 19th century, when China was replaced by France.

However, for hundreds of years after Vietnam's independence, those in power still adopted the imperial examination system and Confucianism imported from China to maintain their rule, so that all dynasties and dynasties in Vietnam have always regarded Chinese characters as the orthodox and the only official script used. All Vietnamese people can only read Chinese characters if they are literate, and they can only read Chinese books when they read books, so there is no difference in language in communication.

"Does this mean that the language may even be less different than our local dialect from Hainan?" Yan Chujie hurriedly asked. He has struggled to make progress in the dialect since the crossing, so every time he goes to the boot camp to train the soldiers, he still has a headache, the recruits do not understand the Hainan dialect he speaks, and he does not understand the Mandarin that the recruits have not yet mastered.

Ning Qi shook his head and said, "That's not necessarily. In fact, in this era, the situation in Vietnam is somewhat similar to that of Korea and Japan, although our Chinese characters are used, there are still some differences in pronunciation and usage habits. ”

"As soon as you say that, I understand that it's a Vietnamese dialect. Yan Chujie nodded as if he didn't understand.

Almost in this sense, the Vietnamese call this localized Chinese 'Zi Zi 喃', and at the same time, there are corresponding new characters. However, even if you learn this kind of localized script, you still have to learn Chinese characters first, otherwise you will not be able to understand the meaning of '字字喃'. Ning Qi patiently explained to Yan Chujie.

"What about the Vietnamese language and writing that we know in later generations?" Since this topic was discussed, Tao Donglai also asked with interest.

Ning Qi was stunned for a moment when he heard this, and suddenly slapped it on the table, and everyone was shocked when they saw this, did they not take the medicine or took the wrong medicine?

Ning Qi didn't care what the others were thinking now, and said loudly: "It's a good time for us to intervene in Vietnam now, so that we can cut off their chance of cultural independence!"

Although the local script had begun to emerge in Vietnam during this period, its roots could not be separated from the Chinese character and the Chinese system, and the created characters were often more difficult to write and read than Chinese characters. It wasn't until the beginning of the 17th century that European missionaries began to enter Vietnam, and in order to better communicate with the locals, they devised a new writing system for the Vietnamese language using their familiar Roman characters. The first dictionary of Vietnamese romanization was published in 1651 by French missionaries, and this script has been continuously revised and improved over time before becoming the script used in Vietnam in later generations.

Of course, at this time, this Vietnamese character is still in its infancy, and its spread is extremely limited, except for a very small number of missionaries and parishioners. The intervention of the traversal is very likely to affect the birth and dissemination process of this kind of writing.

In the present historical period, it is almost impossible for a region that does not have its own language and script to break away from the status of a colony or vassal state. And once it has its own language, it is almost certain that it is only a matter of time before the region becomes independent.

Ning Qi knew that there were not a few people in the Crossing Group who had a deep hatred for the future generations of Vietnam, and even he himself was one of them, and he felt that it was necessary for the Crossing Group to intervene in this kind of historical turning point that could affect the future trend of Vietnam.

After Ning Qi explained the reason, he immediately won the support of Yan Chujie, the main force of the "anti-Vietnamese faction": "This must be done! I think that after we have a certain strength in the future, we must offer a reward for the capture of those European missionaries in Vietnam, so as to put an end to the possibility of their cultural independence, so that these monkeys can be vassal states for another few hundred years in peace, lest they want to turn the world upside down all day long...... Well, I'm also thinking about the future generations of the monkeys. Yan Chujie spoke righteously, without the slightest consciousness as an aggressor.

The executive committee members did not pay much attention to Yan Chujie's casual nonsense, and even if they really wanted to fight European missionaries in Vietnam in the future, it would not be something that could be done in the near future. At present, the most important thing is to ensure the smooth sailing of the expedition. However, although everyone did not clearly express their approval of Yan Chujie and Ning Qi, they all thought that this was the correct posture of the ** monkey.

June 17, 1627, the fifth day of the fifth month of the seventh year of the Great Tomorrow's Apocalypse. The crew members who are about to set off for Hongji Port for the route inspection have gathered at the wharf, and they all know that this 10 to 15-day inspection trip will determine the direction of the development of the group in the future, and the invisible pressure has also made the young people who were clamoring in advance to go to Halong Bay for free travel become stable.

Almost all the members of the Executive Committee who were able to spare time were present, which also shows the importance that the Executive Committee attaches to this inspection. Due to the fact that many important construction projects have reached a critical moment recently, there is no executive committee member to join the expedition team, and Tom Wang, who has always been calm in various sea missions, has been appointed as the leader of the expedition team, and the elder Morgan of the whole team has been appointed as the deputy captain, and the two will be fully responsible for the command of all the actions of the expedition team during this journey, and have the power to decide whether to use some unconventional means to ensure the smooth progress of the operation if necessary, such as taking the initiative to use force to defend themselves when threatened by external threats。 This is also the first time that the members of the North American Gang have been given such a heavy responsibility by the Executive Committee after the crossing, which shows that these outsiders rely on their long-standing expressions, and their loyalty is slowly being affirmed and trusted by the Executive Committee.

"Today is the Dragon Boat Festival, so the food group has made some zongzi in a hurry, and you can eat them slowly on the road. Tao Donglai handed a large bag of steaming rice dumplings to Tom Wang.

"Please thank Chef Fan and his friends for me!" Tom Wang had apparently learned the more fashionable way of joking at the moment.

"You are all veterans, and the Executive Committee believes that you are capable enough to complete this expedition. But I still have to repeat the same old tune, and once again, you must put your own safety first in all circumstances!" Tao Dong stretched out his hand and shook it tightly with Tom Wang.

The members of the expedition boarded the two sailboats, then untied the cables and hoisted the sails, and slowly sailed away from the dock. In just over ten minutes, they had already sailed out of the harbor of Victory Harbor and slowly disappeared from the field of vision of the send-off team.

According to the voyage arrangement made by the crew in advance, the expedition team will mainly inspect the coastal conditions on the west coast of Hainan Island during the voyage to Hongji Port, and will select several suitable places for shore rest. If possible, they will also make a brief stop near the Changjiang River on the west bank to see if the water conditions here allow small boats to sail upstream to the Shilu iron ore mine, and make some preliminary preparations for the future development of the Shilu iron ore mine.