After a day and night without proper rest, it's important to catch up on sleep.

When Han Yu woke up, it was already two in the afternoon. Without bothering to greet the Deputy Commander and Chief of Staff who were with the Field Battle Group, he inquired about the weather forecast for today and tomorrow, and then set out with comrades from the Fishery Administration Fish Port Supervision Station to inspect the ships.

In the harbor, the anchored fishing boats were lined up one after another, with red flags waving, making a spectacular sight.

Over a thousand officers and soldiers were about to be transported, making transportation safety the top priority. Han Yu began the inspection with Jiangyu 701, which was docked right next to the pier.

Jiangyu 701 is a 198-ton, 400-horsepower trawler built by the Dongqi Fishing Ship Factory. It is steel-structured, with a single deck, a short bridge deck, a single pilothouse, with an aft rake, a keel, and powered by a diesel engine through a dual-ratio gearbox.

The fishing vessel is 38.3 meters in total length, has a mold depth of 3.7 meters, and a designed displacement of 366 tons. The fish hold is rated to carry 90 tons, primarily used for ice and fish boxes, as the catch is generally sold to purchase boats that accompany the fleet shortly after being brought on board.

There are three fuel tanks, two large ones for heavy oil and one for light oil. The heavy oil tanks can store 21 tons of heavy oil, while the light oil tank can store 16 tons of light oil.

Since heavy oil needs to be heated before burning, both heavy oil tanks are equipped with heaters using residual heat from the main engine cooling water, and the daily service fuel tank has its electric heater.

Anywhere involving electricity and heating is prone to fire; should a fire occur, there would be nowhere to run on the sea. After thoroughly inspecting the engine room and fuel tanks, Han Yu proceeded to the bridge for inspection, accompanied by the ship captain.

"The number of foam extinguishers is insufficient. Prepare four more of the same model."

"Alright, the dock has them. I'll arrange for someone to go ashore and buy them."

Han Yu opened the inspection book, taking notes while asking, "Captain Xu, what's the capacity of the freshwater tank?"

The ship captain, who met Han Yu three years ago at a firefighting and marine safety training session organized by the Agricultural Bureau, naturally didn't underestimate Han Yu due to his young age and answered without hesitation, "35 tons."

"Is the freshwater fully loaded?"

"It's fully loaded. We cleaned out the tank because we were worried the soldiers coming on board tonight might not acclimate to the water. The water in the tank is very clean; it's never been this clean before today!"

"I appreciate your effort."

"It's not much effort; it's the trust from my superiors!"

The ship captain looked proud.

Han Yu deeply respected and was genuinely moved; he wouldn't have made this trip for ten thousand yuan. Participating in the transportation operation comes with a fuel subsidy, but compared to losses from being unable to fish, the subsidy is practically nothing. Yet, at the notice, they returned without hesitation.

However touched he was, safety couldn't be neglected.

Han Yu further inquired, "How many crew members are there?"

"The designated crew is eighteen, with two extra bunks. We're all staying in the pilothouse, leaving the crew cabin free. Squeezing in, it can accommodate twenty-five people."

"Good."

Glancing at the troop transportation plan drafted by Village Chief Li and Chief of Staff Zhang, Han Yu asked, "Under wind power of level four to five, what's the cruising speed?"

The ship captain, confident in his vessel, laughed, "10 knots."

"At 10 knots, what's the main engine's RPM?"

"Around 400 RPM."

"Captain Xu, what mesh size of trawl nets do you usually use?"

The ship captain hadn't expected Han Yu to ask this and quickly responded, "750 mesh by 20 centimeters."

Han Yu pressed on, "With a net length of 500 meters, what's the usual trawling speed, and what's the tractive force?"

These are technical questions crucial during fishing operations.

The ship captain replied, "We usually don't need to trawl that fast, generally 3 knots, but it can certainly reach 3.5 knots, with a tractive force of about 4.8 tons."

Han Yu opened the hatch, turned to the aft deck work area, and inquired, "What's the capacity of the winch?"

"Five tons. We use a 70-meter tandem hydraulic winch, the drum can hold 1,000 meters of steel cable, but the cable varies in thickness; 550 meters of 38 mm steel cable, the rest is 22 mm."

"What's the pulling capacity of the net winch?"

"The net winch can pull four tons."

Han Yu thought for a moment and asked, "What's the loading capacity of the net winch boom?"

The ship captain, surprised by the detailed questions, pondered, "We usually hoist about two and a half tons."

Han Yu asked these questions for a reason. Back in the pilothouse, he smiled and said, "Captain Xu, your ship has good horsepower and condition, and you're the squad leader of the Dongru Civilian Transport Squadron; hence, Jiangyu 701 will not only undertake troop transport tasks but also serve as a towing rescue vessel should other fishing boats encounter malfunctions at sea."

"I was wondering what this was about; towing fishing boats is simple, we do it often."

"You have more experience in rescuing fishing boats than I do, so I won't try to show off. However, we're about to participate in a landing exercise. Your vessel is a high-power fishing boat, and it's steel, so it can't ram ashore like small wooden fishing boats. We need to consider how to get the troops participating in the exercise disembarked."

The Captain paused, then asked with a wry smile, "Aren't there any landing craft coming to pick them up?"

"We must be prepared for the possibility that no landing craft will arrive; after all, the exercise undoubtedly includes armed swimming crossings."

Han Yu doubted the Navy could organize so many landing crafts; otherwise, they wouldn't have requisitioned six power boats from the Linghai Reserve Camp. But he couldn't explain too clearly. He opened the cabin door again, pointed at the sea, and continued, "With the freeboard so high, having the troops simply jump down is unrealistic."

The Captain asked in a low voice, "Then what do we do?"

"This morning, I requested emergency procurement of rope nets from the superiors, and they agreed. The rope nets will be delivered by 6 PM at the latest. We can lower the rope nets from this side of the ship to allow the troops to climb down."

Han Yu turned around and pointed to the davit on the aft deck, smiling, "Captain Xu, can you find a way to use the winch and davit specifically for deploying and retrieving the rope nets? The rope nets are heavy, and relying solely on manpower is too slow."

"Sure, I'll think of something."

"I just noticed that there are several machine repair workshops at the dock. If modifications are needed, they can be done quickly. Don't worry about the cost; it will be settled centrally by the Military District."

"Okay, Secretary Han, I won't hold back then."

"Be quick."

"I know."

...

The inspection of the other 21 high-power fishing boats similar to the Su Yu 701 went quickly.

These high-power fishing boats are considered modern, with advanced equipment. The captains and crew have received training, and the navigation, fishing aids, and communication electronic equipment are complete.

Almost all are equipped with 315-type radar, WY-D3 positioning device, single sideband radio, ZD100 mid-shortwave main transmitter, 340-type full-wave receiver, walkie-talkies, and ultra-shortwave radios.

By contrast, there are more safety hazards on the small fishing boats weighing fifty to sixty tons.

Han Yu inspected one boat after another, first identifying eliminateable issues, and for those that couldn't be solved, adjusted the formation plan set by Village Chief Li and Chief of Staff Zhang based on actual conditions.

Advanced large fishing boats were mixed with small fishing boats, so that if a small fishing boat encountered problems at sea, the paired large fishing boat would be responsible for towing and rescue.

They were busy at the harbor until nightfall, when Political Commissioner Chen's call came through on the walkie-talkie. It turned out that Secretary Lu, Vice Mayor Qin, and Military District Commander Wang had arrived, and the three leaders wanted to inspect the Binjiang Civilian Transport Team's preparations before deployment.

Han Yu moved through the fishing boats back to the shore, where Secretary Hua of Dongqi City and Minister Li of Dongqi Armed Forces Department were reporting on work.

Secretary Hua was being seen for the first time; without Political Commissioner Chen's introduction, Han Yu wouldn't recognize him. Minister Li was an old acquaintance, having previously been the Deputy Minister of Linghai Armed Forces Department.

"Comrade Han Yu's suggestions are excellent. We've mobilized two boat engine parts vendors who have transported all potentially needed parts for fishing boats to Binjiang. Timing it, they're currently loading them onto the supply ships of the Rescue Boat Team."

The participating fishing boats for the landing exercise aren't all from Dongqi, but Dongqi is the deployment base for the Civilian Transport Team.

Secretary Hua excitedly continued, "The comrades from the Army said the main forces will arrive by 8:30 at the latest. We're organizing seven nearby restaurants at the dock to prepare boxed meals for the participating troops, three meat dishes and three vegetarian dishes, to ensure they're well-fed."

Secretary Lu nodded, reminding, "Pay attention to hygiene; we can't have the participating troops with upset stomachs."

"Rest assured, Secretary Lu. As soon as we received the notice, we arranged for the hygiene and epidemic prevention station to ensure food hygiene at the restaurants participating in the catering, with supervision from the station's staff."

"And traffic?"

"The Police Bureau received the Binjiang City Bureau's notice at 11 AM. Officers were stationed at each junction from Linghai to here, ensuring unobstructed passage for the troop convoy."

Secretary Hua paused and added, "Our City Committee also considered confidentiality. During this time, there are more than a hundred police, auxiliary police, and armed border guards from the Police Bureau and Border Police Station on duty around the dock. The armed forces department is responsible for the security on the dock."

Secretary Lu looked around and noticed, aided by the lights, that there were indeed quite a few civilian soldiers standing guard at the dock.

"Comrade Han Yu, how are your preparations here?"

"Reporting to Secretary Lu, everything is ready. If we're given another ten hours, we'll be even more prepared."

"There should be time; we probably won't set sail tonight." Secretary Lu patted Han Yu's arm and asked with interest, "Salted Fish, do you have confidence in completing the mission?"

After all, transporting a regiment to the landing exercise isn't that challenging, Han Yu said without hesitation, "Rest assured, leaders, we will complete the mission!"

"Good, you've been busy all afternoon and probably haven't eaten. Go have a meal."

"Yes!"

Indeed, Han Yu's stomach felt a bit empty. He saluted the three leaders and then turned to run towards the temporary command center.

Secretary Hua looked on in shock, incredulous that the 'Branch Captain' leading the team took 'Boss Lu's' courteous words seriously and went off to eat.

Minister Li was used to this, wanting to laugh but restrained.