In the South China Sea, where the blue waves are thousands of miles away, an engineering fleet is riding the wind and waves, cutting white tracks in the endless blue.
The surging gas turbine drives the propeller, causing the giant ship to split the waves.
Countless seagulls, puffins, albatrosses, and small frigatebirds followed the fleet. From time to time, they stopped on the ship's deck or island, or skimmed across the sea, grabbing fish one after another with their claws.
The targets of seabirds are the fish hit by the propeller in the white trace behind the propeller.
The flagship of the engineering fleet is a 100,000-ton sandblasting ship. Li Nuozhen, the captain in charge of leading the team, is in the cab.
Captain Zhang Dahai was commanding the fleet.
Li Nuozhen, who was reading the document, raised his head and asked: "Dahai, where are we?"
"We have now passed the 10th parallel of north latitude and are about 47 nautical miles away from the Yinqing Islands." Zhang Dahai replied.
"Call me when you get to your destination."
"OK."
The destination of the engineering fleet is Nan'an Reef, which is about 420 kilometers away.
As for the task, of course it is to blow sand to build land on Nan'an Reef and expand the land area on Nan'an Reef.
In fact, at this time, there were already two sandblasting ships working on the Nan'an Reef, continuously pumping sand and gravel from the sea floor onto the islands and reefs to expand the area of the islands and reefs.
In Li Nuozhen's engineering fleet, one of the humble supply ships was transporting something special.
Passing by the Huayang Reef of the Yinqing Islands, the supplies and some personnel were unloaded on the Huayang Reef, but the supply ship did not continue southward with Li Nuozhen's fleet.
This 50,000-ton supply ship looks ordinary, but in fact, the things transported inside are very special.
Captain Zhang Chenggong and squad leader Gao Yuan were discussing something, and Zhang Wei, the reef commander stationed at Huayang Reef, also boarded the supply ship.
At this time, the area of Huayang Reef was 0.32 square kilometers, which is about 32 hectares, equivalent to 320,000 square meters.
This area is the result of land creation by blowing sand in 2013-2014. The previous area was only about 0.14 square kilometers, and it has now more than doubled.
"Captain Gao, I am Zhang Wei, the leader of the Huayang Reef garrison." A middle-aged sergeant saluted to the plateau.
Being buffeted by the sea breeze all year round, Zhang Wei's skin appears bronze and slightly rough.
"Chang Zhang Jiao, it's a great honor to meet you."
After everyone exchanged ideas, they finally entered into the main mission of coming to Huayang Reef this time.
"Chief Zhang Jiao, you are familiar with the hydrological conditions of Huayang Reef, please lead us."
"no problem."
The supply ship Xinzhou, led by Zhang Wei, soon entered the waters east of Huayang Reef, where there is a reef about 8 kilometers away from Huayang Reef.
The so-called reefs are islands and reefs that are under the sea level during high tide and exposed above the sea level during low tide.
Through the active sonar system on the Xinzhou and the hydrographic data provided by Zhang Wei, Zhang Chenggong quickly docked the ship between Huayang Reef and the reef.
Zhang Chenggong turned his head and said, "That's it."
"Okay, everyone, please take your places." Gao Yuan picked up the walkie-talkie and ordered.
"receive."
The Xinzhou's unloading boom threw a 5-meter-long black cigar-shaped object into the sea. When the object entered the sea, it immediately started a micro engine and pushed the "cigar" toward its intended target.
Several staff members on board the Xinzhou used remote controls to correct the direction of the "cigar".
After a while, the "cigar" reached the designated location, the staff entered the password and pressed the red button.
Then the "cigar" exploded, and countless powders were dispersed into the seawater. Once these powders encountered seawater, a violent chemical reaction immediately occurred.
A material similar to rock was "growing" crazily from the sea water. In less than ten minutes, a piece of land covering an area of more than ten square meters appeared on the side of the reef.
at the same time.
The Xinzhou is constantly releasing "cigars" into the sea. As the powder is continuously released, pieces of rock protrude on the sea surface.
On the morning of June 3rd.
As the sun rises in the east, Huayang Reef has been connected to the reef eight kilometers away, forming an island with an area of 1.6 square kilometers.
The artificially created land is about 3 meters higher than the sea level at high tide, and the overall appearance is gray-white.
The land-building work is still in progress today.
Zhang Wei, the leader of the reef, led a group of garrisoned soldiers to install some equipment. These equipment were materials that had been unloaded by Li Nuozhen's fleet.
Setting foot on these lands that were just created yesterday, all the soldiers were very curious.
"Captain Jiao, this place is not very reliable and I feel a bit unsteady."
Others also stepped on it and felt that this kind of land was not very safe. After all, 1.2 square kilometers of land were created in one day. You must know that the average water depth near Huayang Reef is about 50 to 100 meters, which is not a shoal.
Zhang Wei smiled and scolded: "If you are not safe, you will have to use your hands and feet more quickly when you get here."
"okay!"
Since no formwork frame is used, these artificial rocks appear to be in a state of wild growth, with uneven surfaces.
Several people wore protective clothing and carried a box that looked like a pesticide spray box on their backs, and several others carried a water pipe.
When you see an obvious ravine, one person sprays stone-making agent and the other person sprays sea water. In this way, rocks are quickly created.
With their efforts, a large area of land was soon leveled.
The Xinzhou, which was making rocks in the sea, was making rocks on the south side of the former reef, forming an L-shaped layout.
The part of the land that will be renovated today is an airstrip of about 3 kilometers, as well as a reserved location for a simple airport tower, radar station, supply warehouse, etc.
Two days later, two 50,000-ton supply ships docked at the simple dock of Xinhuayang Reef. At this time, it had turned into an "earth" type distribution map, and the area expanded to 3.6 square kilometers.
A regiment's strength accompanied the supply ship to reinforce the Huayang Reef.
On a reef near Nan'an Reef, Li Nuozhen's fleet also used rock-forming agents to quickly create land around the reef, and the scale was even larger than that of Huayang Reef.
In less than a day, an artificial island in the shape of a "ten" was built, covering an area of 2.4 square kilometers, and a regiment of troops was also deployed on it.
In addition to the Li Nuozhen fleet, there are four other fleets doing the same thing, quickly building artificial islands through reefs or uninhabited islands.
This rock-forming agent is a special catalyst developed by Siweishe Materials Research Institute, which can cause chemical reactions between sodium chloride and calcium ions and water molecules in seawater to form a solid rock material.
As for whether it will have an impact on the environment, the only impact may be that the sea water will become fresher, that is, the concentration of sodium chloride will decrease.
However, the sodium chloride concentration decline range is only around the island, and will soon be replenished and balanced by sodium chloride from other sea areas. It is equivalent to a medium freshwater river flowing into the ocean, and will not have an impact on the ocean.
Unless large-scale land reclamation is carried out, such as building tens of thousands of square kilometers of land at once, this may cause terrible ecological problems.
For possible ecological problems, the Academy of Sciences has conducted simulation calculations to ensure that ecological problems are reduced to a minimum.
However, what China sees as small-scale land creation is simply super large-scale in the eyes of others.
Faced with this step-by-step approach, the relevant countries can only protest.
Anyway, everyone goes their own way. If you protest, I will build my island, but I will not tolerate you. If the big hooligan acts like a hooligan, no one can do anything to me.