After Morgan finished dinner, he saw that the appointed time had arrived, so he asked the guards to fetch the radio, and he personally operated it to send a telegram to the Penghu base to report the current situation. Although today's landing did not go wrong, due to time problems, there is still a large amount of supplies that have not had time to be unloaded to shore, and Morgan estimates that it will take at least a day to unload and set up this temporary camp.

One of the tasks of the advance team was to establish an advance base here for the arrival of the large army, which meant that Morgan would have to command his men to complete some infrastructure. For example, demarcating material storage areas and living quarters, building fortifications on the perimeter of the camp, digging drainage facilities and water storage tanks, building public health facilities, and so on. Although these facilities are not a big project, they require a lot of manpower to implement. Fortunately, the two platoons under Morgan are not rookies, and Liu Shanxia sent a few of his foremen to help dispatch and command, so there should not be too many technical problems in completing these tasks.

Although the main reason for rushing to Miaoli, the main reason for coming to Miaoli in a hurry was to take advantage of the better navigation conditions in Longxi in the next two months to rush things and people into the mountains, but the rain that could not be stopped in this rainy season was really annoying. As we have seen today, the banks of the river near the mouth of the sea are all muddy, and the pace of construction of some infrastructure works in such weather conditions will inevitably be delayed. In his telegram, Morgan also asked Penghu to send an additional group of migrant workers as soon as possible to make up for the negative impact of the weather with increased labor.

Morgan summoned his two platoon commanders and several foremen to the tent of the headquarters and assigned them tasks one by one. This kind of work of coordinating and directing multiple departments is actually not Morgan's specialty, he prefers to carry his baby M200 gun alone in the field to carry out tasks such as hidden assassination, that kind of unrestricted freedom is what Morgan enjoys the most. But it's a pity that he was confined to Sanya for most of the time after the crossing, and in recent years, there have been fewer and fewer opportunities to go out on missions, so as soon as he heard that there was an opportunity to leave Hainan Island, Morgan also signed up to come out to lead the troops as soon as possible.

Of course, it is not an easy thing to lead troops to fight, not to mention that this mission also needs to coordinate and command other non-military departments, although Morgan's military rank is not low, but before that, at most he had only commanded company-level troops on the battlefield, and he had not really commanded large-scale tasks independently. This time, Haihan is expected to put more than 1,500 personnel in the Miaoli area, and he needs to go dozens of kilometers inland to establish a long-term base, and such a task is actually a big test for him.

But Morgan also knows that he has few opportunities to perform in the army now, and if he doesn't make some achievements, he will only get fewer and fewer tasks to lead troops in the Ministry of Defense in the future, and he is not willing to retire in advance in Sanya, so he also attaches special importance to this mission. After the assignment was completed, Morgan began to study the map and consider designing a plan of action for access to the inland mountainous areas.

About ten kilometres inland from the present temporary camp along Houlong Creek eastward, the creek will turn south at right angles, and on the inner side of this right angle is a triangular alluvial plain of about ten square kilometres. On the west side of this alluvial plain is a hilly area called Maoli Mountain, which is also the seat of the Maoli Society of the Dajia clan. According to the information available so far, the population of this society is about seven or eight hundred, and a small amount of land has been cultivated on the plains, and it is the tribe closest to the sea in Miaoli. In fact, the place name Miaoli is very likely to come from the name of the tribe Maolishe.

According to Yu Yao, the last time he led a team into Houlongxi to survey the terrain, the natives of Maoli Society showed obvious hostility towards their arrival, and even had a brief confrontation between the two sides in the forest, but in the end there was no direct armed conflict. Morgan is not optimistic about what the natives of the Maoli Society will think of Haihan as an "invader", and he believes that it is unlikely that the other party will change their attitude and welcome his arrival. In fact, even the area where the current camp is located is also the area of activity of the Maoli people, and the pier trestle that was artificially destroyed is likely to be the masterpiece of these natives.

After Houlongxi was diverted to the south, it had to go through a distance of more than ten kilometers before turning 90 degrees to the east again and entering the mountainous area. The inner side of this 90-degree angle is also an alluvial plain, and on the east side of it is the central mountain range of the island of Taiwan. These two small alluvial plains are actually river valley plains that Houlong Creek spent tens of millions of years scouring from the central mountain range, and they are also the few arable land areas of the local indigenous tribes. However, if Haihan wants to ensure the safety of the Houlongxi Valley, the control of these two plains must be in his own hands, but the local natives should not be able to obediently hand over the land to Haihan, and there will inevitably be some trouble.

According to the map provided by Yu Yao, Morgan once again measured the length of the channel, which was 27 kilometers, which was not a long distance, but in the current environment, it made Morgan feel a little headache. Judging from the horsepower of the steam river vessel and the condition of the channel, the speed of towing the barge upriver can be about four knots, which means that the whole voyage may take seven or eight hours, and if the waterway conditions can still maintain the navigability until the final destination out of the pit after entering the mountainous area, then at least an hour of voyage will be added.

Of course, the length of the channel is not a problem, it is just an extra ignition of coal on the way, and that is not a problem for Morgan to consider. However, how to ensure the safety of passage in this section of the waterway is a more elaborate matter.

Morgan now has two options: one is to deploy more armed positions along the waterway to ensure the safety of the entire waterway in the form of sectional responsibility, but how many strongholds will be deployed along the 30-kilometer-long waterway to be enough? Ten or eight? The command and supply problems brought about by such scattered strongholds are very likely to become another kind of trouble that is difficult to solve.

Another approach is to have armed escorts for every fleet that travels between the beach and the pit, but how many armed guards does a fleet need to ensure safety, and how can they be rescued and reinforced in time if they encounter an emergency on the way?

Both of these methods had obvious loopholes, so Morgan intended to use them together, building strongholds on the one hand, stationing troops on the way, and sending a certain number of armed men with the ship on the other.

The choice of base in the middle of the voyage is undoubtedly two river bays with a 90-degree bend in the current. These two places are the slowest and inevitably the most dangerous places during the entire voyage, and controlling these two places is almost equivalent to avoiding half of the risk. And if a stronghold with complete defensive facilities is built, with the absolute superiority of the Haihan Army in terms of combat effectiveness, in fact, there is no need to station a large army, and one to two platoons are enough to control the situation.

Of course, the most radical solution is undoubtedly to completely drive potential hidden dangers out of the area, but this kind of operation involves going into the mountains to fight, and it is obviously difficult and risky for the Haihan army, who is not familiar with the local geography, to accomplish such a task. Morgan didn't want to devote all his limited forces to a military confrontation with the indigenous tribes for the time being, after all, opening up the Houlong Creek channel was his first priority, and he didn't need to take the initiative to start a war with the natives if it was not necessary.

In the middle of the night, the rain became heavier and heavier, and Morgan was relieved that the soldiers on duty outside were relieved, so he put on a raincoat and took the guards out to inspect the circle, and only after confirming that there was no problem did he return to the tent to rest.

Early the next morning, the various departments of the advance team began to work separately according to Morgan's instructions. However, due to the continuous rainfall, the progress of infrastructure projects involving excavation has been slow. Morgan even had to order a tent to be erected above the designated reservoir area before excavation, otherwise the pit would have been soaked in water as deep as it had been dug up, and there would be no way to achieve the purpose of the construction. Those who dig trenches on the outskirts of the camp do not have such conditions, so they can only insist on digging in the open air, perhaps waiting for the next batch of laborers to arrive, and relying on manpower to overcome the effects of the weather.

But there is good news in the midst of the chaos, and according to hydrological measurements, the water level on the riverbank is about three inches higher today than it was when it arrived yesterday. Considering that the width of the river in this estuary is much wider than that of the upstream, the water level in the upper reaches should rise even more, which means that the navigable capacity of the upstream will increase with the increase in precipitation during the rainy season, which is not a hypothetical, but a fact.

At noon, Morgan saw that the rain was decreasing, so he asked the mechanic in charge of operating the steam engine to start commissioning the steam barge, preparing to lead the team to explore the way.

After a brief lunch, Morgan and twenty soldiers set off from the makeshift base on a steam barge and marched along Houlong Creek. After only about two kilometres, the river began to narrow rapidly, to about one-fifth of the inlet.

Morgan used a telescope to observe the conditions on both sides of the river while he had the soldiers measure the depth and velocity of the water and record the voyage. Judging from the flat topography of the river banks on both sides, it is clear that this Houlong Creek is not as peaceful as it seems, and there must have been many years when the river overflowed the riverbed and flooded the surrounding area.

To Morgan's relief, there was not much shelter on either side of the riverbank, and even with the naked eye, he could get an excellent view and would not be easily ambushed. At that time, the soldiers in charge of armed escort will have enough advantage in the killing distance of their rifles, so that they do not need to fear the bamboo bows and spears of the natives.

Considering the time of the return trip, Morgan did not go very far this time, only going upstream for about two hours before turning back. During this period, the ship's steam engine worked normally, and there were no problems. In order to prevent the steam engine, which was not reliable enough, broke down halfway, the barge was also equipped with a sloop sail and oars, struts and even fiber ropes, at least not because of a machine failure that would cause the ship to lose momentum. Of course, if such an unfortunate accident had happened, the barge of goods towed would probably have to be unloaded on the riverbank and docked until the next steamer came to transport it.

The progress of the advance team's work in the camp that day was not satisfactory, except for the repair of the trestle and the excavation of the reservoir under the tents, which was relatively smooth, the other works that needed to be carried out in the open air were progressing slowly, and it was originally thought that at least four or five simple prefabricated houses could be completed in the local area, but only two were completed due to the rain. However, the tents in the barracks were almost set up, and the soldiers could finally go up to land for the night tonight.

After dinner, Morgan continued to contact Penghu by radio, and after receiving his report the day before, the base had sent a fleet of 300 laborers to Miaoli this morning. If all goes well, the fleet may arrive early tomorrow morning, so that Morgan can free up the few troops at hand to go inland to survey the situation of the upper waterways.

This news finally made Morgan feel a little relieved, if the infrastructure construction of the temporary camp was delayed so much, the large army should arrive in a few days, and he did not have time to go upstream to obtain first-hand hydrological and geographical information, it would inevitably delay the exploration team's time to enter the mountain. Morgan ordered the men to prepare the operational supplies, intending to enter the interior the next day.

The next day, Morgan still set off with twenty soldiers, but today there was an extra barge towed behind, on the one hand, to test the conditions for the upstream to pass through the towing barge, and on the other hand, to facilitate the loading of all kinds of supplies needed by the group to enter the mountain, after all, they had to go to their final destination out of the pit pit, and it was definitely impossible to go back and forth that day. Considering the itinerary and the time required along the expedition, Morgan believes that the trip will take at least about three days to complete the various expeditions.

With a loaded barge in the back, the sailing speed was even slower today, and it took more than 20 minutes to reach the switchback point the day before, but the good news is that the water level is still rising today, and it seems that direct access to the mountains by water is indeed possible.

After more than three hours of sailing from the estuary, Morgan's team arrived at the first turning point in the upper reaches of Houlong Creek. Thinking that a foothold might be established here, Morgan ordered a landing, and personally led a group of men ashore by land in order to find a suitable place to stay.