Chapter 2: The Shipyard That Traveled Through Time
Even though twelve days had already passed, Yang Yunfeng still harbored a trace of wishful thinking about arriving in an unfamiliar spacetime.
After all, just like Xu Xiping had said earlier, time‑space traversal—or half a shipyard and over four thousand people traveling together—it was truly unbelievable if told to others.
Yet no matter how unwilling he was to admit it, when the wooden sailing ship bearing the Dutch East India Company flag was forced to stop by the 130 mm main guns of the Guiyang, and the nineteen Dutch sailors on board were marched up by the marines, the last flicker of hope in Yang Yunfeng’s heart shattered.
These guys, they absolutely were not actors!
Yang Yunfeng looked at the row of disheveled sailors on the deck not far away, handcuffed from behind, squatting on the ground.
Suppressing the panic and bewilderment in his heart, he turned to Liu Zhihe, who had just taken the small boat with others to capture those sailors, and in a steady tone asked, “…Xiao Liu, did you look carefully at that ship just now? Is there any documentation that can prove their identity?”
Liu Zhihe was twenty‑eight, held the rank of lieutenant, and had just become a probationary watch officer.
Hearing the captain’s calm expression, he recovered from the earlier shock, quickly saluted and reported: “Captain!
When I returned, I interrogated the lead foreigner in English, the one named Henry Houtman.
He said… he said…” Liu Zhihe hesitated.
“What did he say?” Yang Yunfeng frowned and asked.
Liu Zhihe took a deep breath and said loudly, “He said he was the captain of a Dutch East India Company ship!
Three months ago, a governor named Ma Caiyike from the East India Company dispatched him to explore New Holland!
Captain!
He also said… that today is November 25, 1671!”
1671!!!
Hearing that date, Yang Yunfeng went numb with disbelief.
Heavens!
He… had indeed come, along with the Guiyang and half of Bohai Ship Group’s shipyard, to another spacetime in the year 1671!
This was truly a cosmic joke!
“…Xiao Liu, you and your men, along with Old Wang and Xiao Ma from the gun department, secure them with weapons… blindfold those Dutchmen’s eyes and ears!
Remind everyone aboard about the confidentiality regulations!
We’re heading back now!”
Yang Yunfeng’s psychological resilience showed: once he recovered, he immediately assigned tasks to Liu Zhihe.
“Yes! Captain!” Hearing the order, Liu Zhihe felt he had regained purpose, saluted, and turned to carry out the command.
Just as he left, Vice‑Captain Xu Xiping rushed over holding an interrogation record, walking while speaking: “…Captain! The situation is not good!
Chen the chief engineer was right—we may have landed in a parallel 17th‑century spacetime… this is troublesome!”
Yang Yunfeng exhaled and slowly shook his head, looking sternly at the anxious Xu Xiping: “Old Xu! Trouble, yes—but it’s not the end!
After all, we still have half a shipyard, two warships, four cargo and ore vessels, and the factory’s supplies can last a while… the sky won’t fall!”
Seeing Yang Yunfeng remain calm, Xu Xiping also gradually steadied himself.
He nodded, then suddenly thought of something and shook his head: “…No, Captain! It’s okay for us soldiers!
But what about the shipyard workers, the nearby student residents and factory laborers?
Their families… may never see them again in this lifetime!
If their hopes are completely shattered, they’ll lose control!”
Hearing mention of families, Yang Yunfeng fell silent.
His own parents, wife, and child were settled in Qingdao, and now they were separated by an unknown distance—probably the rest of their lives apart!
“…Let’s return first.”
Yang Yunfeng finally sighed, patted his old comrade’s shoulder, “No matter what, we can’t keep hiding it from everyone—letting them grieve early helps them face reality sooner!”
With that, he strode away toward the captain’s cabin… where his family portrait frame lay, now his most treasured possession.
Xu Xiping watched him walk away and felt a pang in his heart.
Though his parents had passed, he had children and a wife who, though not very gentle, had been a devoted companion—suddenly separated across time, how could he not feel sorrow?
Still, as a soldier himself, he understood his duty.
Though his heart was heavy, he ordered the navigator to have the Guiyang tow the already‑docked Beifeng northward along the coast.
—
By the end of November, the southeast coastal region of Australia had already entered summer.
The barren shoals of what had once been the Kinscliffe Peninsula in the Melbourne metropolitan area were now occupied by a factory zone of about fifteen hundred acres, a shipyard, and a small residential area.
The boundary between the tidal flats and the newly erected factory zone was irregular, but roughly oval in shape, about 1.5 km long.
The shipyard lay near the shoreline, about twenty meters from the southern bay coast.
On that twenty‑meter tidal flat, several engineers in gray overalls were using instruments to survey the terrain.
Not far away, two men in different attire paced by the sea, discussing something.
“…Chief Engineer Chen, this morning Navy Colonel Yang detected what appears to be a ship signal on the radar.
We should soon have something to report.
What do you think—where exactly are we, and what time is this?”
A man in his fifties with a rosy, round face, thinning hair on top, and a beer belly, wearing a white shirt, smiled at the lean middle‑aged man beside him in gray short‑sleeve overalls and thick black‑framed glasses.
Hearing the bald man’s question, the lean man, Bohai Ship Group’s Chief Shipbuilding Engineer Chen Wenyun, turned to look at the afternoon‑sunlit sea surface and smiled faintly: “…We’ve calculated the latitude and longitude several times these days.
We should be at Melbourne Bay, Australia.
As for the time…”
He looked at the Bohai group owner and said with a smile, “Governor Li, historically the British didn’t begin large‑scale colonization of Australia until the 19th century.
The Aboriginal people we saw a few days ago clearly show no signs of outside contact.
And judging by the star chart, it’s definitely after the 16th century—probably between 1500 and 1800.
Unless this isn’t Earth!”
Li Yingchun listened thoughtfully and nodded: “Then right now… in East Asia, either the Ming or the Qing Dynasty would be ruling!”
Chen Wenyun shrugged and pushed up his glasses: “Anyway, it’s not our original Republic!
The four thousand five hundred of us… are now orphans of civilization!
Orphans of civilization!”