"From practice to completion, and then to sea trials, it will take at least three to five years. Even if the sea trials are successful, it is only the end of this stage, or even just the beginning."
At this point, Mr. Hua's eyes sparkled: "The improvement of a country's strength is always inseparable from national defense construction. And we old men have been ready to devote our lifelong efforts to our country's national defense since the day we returned to China."
"So," Elder Hua smiled at Cui Yan, his eyes gentle and kind, "We old guys have decided to settle down here in the future. As long as you are willing and can endure this kind of life, you can live here for as many years as you want. I, an old man, can guarantee you this!"
Cui Yan didn't know why after hearing these words, tears started to fall uncontrollably again.
But this time I no longer felt panic and anxiety, but rather a sense of steadiness and ease.
"Yes, of course I don't want to. As long as you two elders and your comrades in the expert group don't despise us, our whole family will stay here. We will also,"
She thought about it and followed Mr. Hua's words: "We will also devote our life's efforts to the cause of national defense."
"Yes! We all stay here and devote our life to the national defense cause!"
Inspired by their words, Liu Chang was the first to stand up. He patted his chest hard with his hands, his eyes full of excitement.
But Mr. Hua was obviously not moved by their statement.
He and Ning Gong looked at each other, and a hint of bitterness appeared in the eyes of the two old men.
Ning Gong shook his head and said, "There are many ways to contribute to national defense, and you don't have to stay here for your whole life. We are old, and we have seen everything we should have seen. We don't want to run around anymore.
You are still young, and there will definitely be more important careers and a better future waiting for you in the future. ”
At this point, the old man's eyes swept across the faces of everyone at the table, and he sighed slightly: "Whether it's Liu Chang, Qing Yun, or Qi Feng, we don't want you to stay here for too long. You still have a long way to go... Just think of this place as a stop on your life journey."
The old man didn't say anything else, but everyone present knew what he was about to say.
No matter how good an island is, it is still an isolated island. It's fine to stay here for a day or two, or a year or two as a paradise, but if you want to stay here for a lifetime...
Even if they stayed, what about the children?
Are they destined to be trapped on an island like this for the rest of their lives from such a young age?
Ask yourself, no one would be truly willing.
The room fell silent again for a moment.
Shen Qingyun looked at everyone, frowned and glared at Liu Chang first: "What are you thinking! We are soldiers, and obeying orders is our duty. We have to be where our superiors tell us to be. Can we change this just because we want to?
What changes will happen in the future, whether to stay or leave, are not things we should consider. What we have to do now is to obey orders and follow instructions and complete the tasks assigned to us by the country and the people!
If we stay on the island, we will do our best to ensure the safety of the experts and improve the construction of the island. Even if you are going to leave in the future, you must stand guard on the island for the last day you stay there. When handing over, we must also let later generations see that our work was completed with quality and quantity, and did not bring shame to the security battalion! ”
This one sentence suddenly enlightened everyone.
Yes, whether to leave or stay is not something that can be decided by an individual, so why think so much?
Just as Shen Qingyun said, if we stay for one day, we should do our own work and build the island well. This is what we should consider and do most now.
"Yes, Qingyun is right!"
Mr. Hua clapped his hands and laughed.
"It's our fault. We old guys have been locked up in the lab for too long and have lost our energy. Don't let us lead you astray. Just like Qingyun said, do your jobs well and your life will definitely get better and better in the future."
At this point, he turned around and looked at Shen Qingyun again: "By the way, Qingyun, have you ever considered growing some food on the island?"
Food is always the most important topic of this era.
After hearing Mr. Hua's question, everyone's expressions became serious.
Shen Qingyun pondered for a moment and said, "We have thought about this before. I have also discussed it with the veterans in the camp who have experience stationing on the island, and in the end everyone felt that it was a bit difficult.
Firstly, there are many typhoons here. No matter what you plant, it will be destroyed when a storm comes. Come again,"
He pointed outside helplessly: "It's just a rocky mountain. There's not even a flat piece of land. Where can we plant crops?"
"You're not right." Old Hua shook his head.
"No matter how troublesome it is, there are always more solutions than problems. If we follow your idea, our research team can all take a holiday and go home directly. What do we do that has fewer difficulties? Just find the problem and solve it.
If there is no land, find one wherever you can! In your words, a storm comes and everything is over. Have you ever thought that if there is a big storm and the supply ship cannot arrive for several months, would all the people on this island be doomed?
Are there enough food reserves on the island? ”
Shen Qingyun's expression suddenly changed after hearing these words.
No matter how talented or capable he is in military affairs, Shen Qingyun was not someone who grew up by the sea. He hadn't even been in the previous pioneer camp for very long.
He had absolutely no experience with island life.
Although he has learned various theoretical knowledge and understands basic skills, talking about it on paper and experiencing it personally are two completely different things.
He has been on the island for a year and has not experienced a major storm yet. The supply ship delivers supplies on time every month.
Whether good or bad, food can be guaranteed. So, the string that was once taut gradually loosened.
Now, Mr. Hua’s words were like a heavy hammer hitting Shen Qingyun’s head, waking him up all of a sudden.
There are more and more people on the island now, and there will be more in the future. If there really comes a day when they are forced to close the island, how long will their food reserves last?
As the head of a battalion and the highest-ranking commander on the entire island, how can he ensure the lives of the soldiers and civilians on the island?
Seeing that he had taken it in, Mr. Hua continued, "My suggestion is that we should not only grow crops, but also develop all possible side businesses. For example, Xiao Cui is about to start beekeeping. Is this something you have fought for? That's great! Why not fight for more?"
It's like planting some peanuts and beans, and then making your own oil and tofu in the future. ”
At this point, Elder Hua sighed, "I know you have too few people to take care of everything. Just like the tofu, not only Xiaoman knows how to make it, but many soldiers in the kitchen squad have also learned it in advance. But it's because there are not enough people that they can't make it. In this case, why don't you recruit more military workers to work on the island?"
"Don't talk to me about confidentiality."
Mr. Hua waved his hand disapprovingly: "Don't use those words of your Lupin to perfunctorily deal with me. If you want to find the right person, he has plenty of ways! Besides, we are already on this island, what is there to keep secret?"
After saying this, the old man uttered a dissatisfied sound.
It was rare to see the old man show such a childish side, and everyone couldn't help but laugh. In fact, they all understood Mr. Hua’s ideas and agreed with them deeply.
Zhongshan Island is an isolated island in the sea, with no land on any side, making it easy to get in but difficult to get out.
Without anyone sent by the regiment to pick them up, it would be impossible for ordinary people, even soldiers like Shen Qingyun and Qi Feng, to leave the island.
What's more, even if ordinary soldiers and military workers arrived on the island, they could not even touch the living area of the expert group without permission.
Even if you know some inside information, it is still very difficult to give it away.
Moreover, what Mr. Hua said is the actual situation.
After discovering for the first time that the supply ship could not deliver meat and soy products due to the hot weather, Yin Xiaoman suggested to Ren Pingan that they should send a stone mill, or else they could grind soy milk and make tofu on the island themselves.
As a result, he was hit hard by Ren Ping'an's words.
Ren Pingan said, "Sister-in-law, who will do it? How many will be done each time? Is it only for the expert group, or for everyone?"
The biggest difference between Zhongshan Island and other places is that resources here are shared.
Apart from the milk powder, eggs, meat and refined grains specially approved by the state for experts, no one will take any of them no matter what they say, all other fish caught and vegetables grown will be eaten together.
It's not difficult to get a small mill and grind some tofu for the experts every now and then, but they will never accept this kind of specialization.
But there are so many people in the camp, who will feed them all with tofu, even for one meal?
The people in the kitchen can’t take care of everything.
As for Yin Xiaoman, she is now in charge of three meals, two snacks and one midnight snack for eleven experts.
Compared with the soldiers who were moving stones, this job might not be considered heavy, but it was enough to keep her and Da Mi busy all day long.
Therefore, if we want to improve the quality of life of the military and civilians, it is simply impossible without manpower.
But even if we knew, who would dare to respond to Mr. Hua's words? Everyone turned their eyes to Shen Qingyun at the same time.
Shen Qingyun smiled bitterly: "It's not like Commander Lu is unaware of this situation. The regiment is also working hard. If you don't believe me, ask Sister Cui if the regiment is also training the newly recruited military workers now?"
"Yes." Cui Yan nodded quickly.
"I was in a hurry to come here, so I didn't follow the large group of people. In fact, it shouldn't be long before quite a few more people come to the island."
After hearing what they said, Mr. Hua's expression eased a lot. He and Mr. Ning looked at each other, and then he took out a piece of densely written paper from his pocket...
Yin Xiaoman and Cui Yan asked the men to go to another room to discuss matters, and the two of them quickly cleaned up the tables and chairs.
When I went to the kitchen, I saw that Da Mi had thoughtfully brought his brother and sister-in-law to deliver the midnight snack to the expert group in advance, and had cleaned up the kitchen. I finally breathed a sigh of relief.
Cui Yan took the two children home first, and Yin Xiaoman also urged the three little ones who had finished their homework to go to bed. After busying around for a long time, Shen Qingyun finally came back to the house over there.
Seeing that she was still awake, he was a little surprised: "It's already ten o'clock, why don't you go to bed quickly? You have to get up early tomorrow!"
Yin Xiaoman yawned, turned around and walked out the door: "I'm going to close the stall."
As a result, he was grabbed by the man.
"Yes, Liu Chang and I received it."
After saying that, he reached out and rubbed Yin Xiaoman's head: "Go to bed early and take the time to rest. You may have to work harder in the future."
"What do you mean?" Yin Xiaoman turned and looked at him.
Shen Qingyun smoothed her messy hair and said, "Mr. Hua asked me to accompany him to Beijing. He has work to report. In addition, we may have to pick up some people."
"Pick someone up? Who?" This sentence woke Yin Xiaoman up from his sleep.
“Families of some of the comrades in the expert group.”
Yin Xiaoman was silent for a moment, and instantly understood what was going on.
She didn't continue to ask, but changed the subject: "Are you not spending the New Year at home?"
"It's impossible." Shen Qingyun smiled.
Yin Xiaoman's expression flashed a trace of disappointment, but she quickly put it away and nodded: "Okay, who's going? I'll prepare some food for you."
…
Although not everyone is here, we still have to celebrate the New Year.
Yin Xiaoman and Ren Ping'an discussed the New Year's menu for several days. Either they think it's nothing new or they think it's too troublesome and they can never reach a conclusion.
In the end, it was Cui Yan's words that woke the dreamer up.
Cui Yan said: "Isn't it the Chinese New Year to eat dumplings? What is there to discuss? Rich people have their own way of eating, poor people have their own way of eating. As long as there is flour in the family, you have to make a few dumplings and eat them! Do we need to make a menu for this?"
These two people who were stuck in a rut were instantly speechless after hearing these words.
Yes, what could be more representative of the New Year than dumplings? Moreover, this is a job that can be done by all the soldiers in the battalion together. Just grab a few people from any squad and they can do this job. You can pack as much as you want!
Finally, they discussed it again and prepared to make dumplings with two kinds of fillings.
One with celery and shrimp filling, and the other with tofu and mushroom filling.
If you were to ask which vegetable grows best on Zhongshan Island, it would definitely be water celery. Once you plant it, it will grow into a patch soon. It is crispy and has a unique aroma. It is very delicious. It is a perfect match with seafood.
It is said to be fresh shrimp filling, but with so many people in the camp, it is unlikely to gather enough shrimps. So this time, the filling also included cleaned scallops, oysters, octopus... In order to make it more flavorful, Ren Ping'an was very "generously" enough to add two full spoons of oil residue.
This was made by cutting it from the bacon that was transported here. He felt so heartbroken while cutting it.
Yin Xiaoman used the refined oil to make tofu-filled dumplings without hesitation.
When they learned that they were going to make dumplings, the little ones were so excited that they volunteered to take on the task of picking mushrooms and looking for bird eggs.
If this kid gets serious, his efficiency will be extremely high. Fortunately, they were lucky enough to catch a drizzle.
In the end, it can be said that we returned with a full load.
Not only did they fill several large bamboo baskets with the mushrooms they picked, but they also had no idea where the mushrooms went and even found some wild wood ear mushrooms. Such good stuff will naturally be delicious when mixed into dumpling fillings.
This time the supply ship actually brought some eggs, and there were also a few chickens that Ren Ping'an treated as treasures, which had laid a few eggs in the past few days.
Yin Xiaoman had originally planned to use these.
But she didn't expect that these children were so amazing. They actually brought back fifteen eggs!
Except for five small ones which are wild pigeon eggs, the remaining ten are all sea duck eggs!
When watching Da Mi take the eggs out of the bamboo basket one by one, not only Yin Xiaoman, but also Ren Ping'an's eyes changed.
He reached out and grabbed Da Mi's arm, looking at him seriously: "Da Mi, would you consider coming to our kitchen to help? You don't have to do anything else, just go to the mountain to find something. Once you find it, I'll let you get the first portion every time I serve you food!"
Da Mi rolled her eyes at him and said, "Rare."
This made everyone laugh.
Anyone who takes a look at Da Mi's little face, which is now obviously rounder, knows that he eats well and lives well in the Shen family. How could Ren Ping'an's "sugar" possibly impress him?
Early in the morning on the 30th, Yin Xiaoman brought Cui Yan and rice to the kitchen, ready to start making the stuffing.
At this time, Ren Ping'an had already asked someone to take out the food that was "refrigerated" in the warehouse, and had packed and cleaned it all according to her prior requests.
At the same time, several little soldiers were already waiting here. The large basin in front of them was filled with mixed flour. They were just waiting for her order to start kneading the dough.
The support battalion is established with a staff of 500 people, but it is not fully staffed now. There were probably only about three hundred officers and soldiers on the island. Including the experts and their two families, there are about three hundred and fifty people.
But even so, it is a big project to prepare the necessary vegetables and noodles.
So when they arrived, no one even had time to chat and they all got busy right away.
Yin Xiaoman first cut the prepared red amaranth, blanched it in boiling water, then took it out and squeezed the juice with a clean gauze. Soon a large basin of purple-red amaranth juice appeared in front of everyone.
She took the squeezed vegetable juice to a young soldier who was preparing to knead dough, took the basin from him, poured in the vegetable juice, and kneaded some dough herself.
Everyone was amazed to see the originally yellowish and gray flour turn into a beautiful pink color. They all ignored what they were doing and came over.
"Sister-in-law, why are you painting the noodles red?"
"Sister-in-law, will this color fade? Will it dye the dumpling soup red?"
"Sister-in-law, will this dyed noodles taste better?"
"sister in law……"
The soldiers in the kitchen squad are generally young. Except for Ren Pingan, the others are basically sixteen or seventeen years old, which is the age when they are most curious.
With something new to play with, the kids had no time to think about anything else. They all surrounded Yin Xiaoman and started talking. The kitchen suddenly became lively.
"It won't fade, and the taste won't change. It won't taste better because of the color. Dyeing it is for differentiation. Otherwise, if they are all cooked in the same pot, who can tell which one has the three-fresh filling and which one has the tofu filling?"
This was also within Yin Xiaoman's expectations, so she answered promptly.
"But……"
After hearing her say this, a young soldier asked hesitantly: "But sister-in-law, why do we have to divide them? All the fillings are delicious, why do we have to choose? If you divide them, they will all rush for the red ones, what should we do then?"
These words suddenly made Yin Xiaoman dumbfounded.
She really hadn't thought about this.
"You are smart and you think a lot!"
Before Yin Xiaoman could reply, the young soldier was "criticized" by a group of people.
"We made the dumplings, and we divided the dumplings. How can we be picky? Isn't it good to have a little red? Red is festive! It's Chinese New Year, a little color is a good thing, but you are the one who makes a fuss."
"That's right, I haven't eaten red dumplings yet!"
"Me too, I've never seen one. Isn't this better looking than the gray one?"
Although Ren Ping'an "reluctantly gave up" and added a lot of white flour to the dumpling flour today, corn flour and bean flour are still the main ingredients. If it weren't for the pink noodles for comparison, everyone would think it was beautiful.
But with this pink ball of dough here, looking at the other bowls that have not had time to be mixed, it seems a little not enough.
"Then squeeze some more spinach juice and make it colorful."
The reason why I squeezed some amaranth juice before was actually due to my many years of experience working in the imperial kitchen. I did it subconsciously, purely to distinguish them. To be honest, Yin Xiaoman didn’t think that much before coming here.
But now, when she heard a young soldier say, "It's the New Year, so it's better to have some festive colors," she suddenly felt that this idea was really good.
When the little soldiers heard that spinach could be squeezed into juice, they ran as fast as they could. After a while, someone brought back a huge handful.
This time Yin Xiaoman did not do it herself. She told them how to chop and extract the juice, and the right proportions when mixing with the dough, and then went about her own business.
She also invested heavily in this dumpling banquet. He took out most of the various seasonings that he had exchanged from Lichun.
In addition to the essential ingredients such as peppercorns and aniseed, there is also the imperial kitchen's unique soybean paste for enhancing the flavor, and the best cooking wine.
Chop the shrimp, octopus, and scallops, add ginger slices and cooking wine to marinate to remove the fishy smell, then blanch the other vegetables and dice them.
After finishing all the preparations and preparing to mix the stuffing, I heard a cheer from the little warriors who were kneading the dough: "Oh my god, the noodles made from spinach are so delicious!"
Yin Xiaoman turned around and saw two little soldiers, each holding a piece of dough in their hands, surrounded by the others.
The two balls of dough, one red and one green, look very eye-catching in this slightly dim kitchen.
But what attracted her most was not that side, but the smiles from the heart on the soldiers' faces.
It was so brilliant and so contagious that everyone who saw it couldn't help but curl up the corners of their lips.
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