Chapter 99 - 89 What a Trivial Matter!

Words : 2163 Updated : Sep 12th, 2025

Chapter 99: Chapter 89 What a Trivial Matter!Under normal circumstances, the trial sailing takes two to three days. The various tests and trial sail of 001 need to be completed within one day, which involves a lot of work and difficult tasks. After lunch, Director Dong and others returned to Bailong Port Passenger Pier for the towing test. Xu Sanye could not help much. He stayed in the restaurant’s private dining room chatting for more than an hour, until he sent off Director Wei and Director Yu, and then hurried to the pier with Zhang Junyan. They thought the towing test was almost finished, but it turned out that 001 was still roaring and belching black smoke, pulling hard one moment and easing the next, then pulling ahead again before releasing. It was burning all oil! Searᴄh the Nôvel(F)ire.nёt website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Xu Sanye felt a bit heartache. The testing area was also very dangerous. He could not move any closer and had to watch from afar. It was until half past two in the afternoon that the dock’s master scheduler announced that a ferry would dock in twenty minutes, and the towing test was finally declared complete. Han Yu slowly reversed the car, and Zhu Baogen, who was waiting in the safe area of the dock, quickly ran up to release the cable, while Liang Xiaoyu started the machinery to retract the rope at the stern of 001. One ship inspection officer was busy dismantling the load indicator, and another was holding a folder and calculating something. When 001 docked at the pier, Xu Sanye jumped onto the deck and climbed to the second-floor cockpit asking, "Salted Fish, how many times did you pull, and why are you still testing now?" Han Xiang Ning was a bit scared of the fierce-looking director, and hurriedly squeezed out of the cockpit. Han Yu, seeing his senior colleague leave, explained, "We pulled it fifty or sixty times. The towing test is mainly affected by the towline length, water depth, current, wind speed, and the ship’s trim. Instruments also have errors, so we had to pull several times to get an average value." Xu Sanye didn’t expect it to be so troublesome and asked further, "Is it measured now?" "Waiting for the calculation results." "Doesn’t that table show it, why still calculate?" "The data needs corrections, and we need to measure the sustainable towing capacity and the maximum net towing force, which is the instantaneous maximum towing force or the peak towing force, not as simple as weighing something." Before we never conducted these tests, didn’t the ships still operate on the river? Xu Sanye muttered under his breath, overlooking Director Dong and others calculating data on the dock, and asked, "You should know roughly, right?" "We know that. The maximum towing force is around three thousand kilograms, and the sustainable towing force is about two thousand eight hundred kilograms." "We have two one-hundred-horsepower main engines; such big oil tigers, how come we can only tow less than three tons!" "Director Xu, this is just the towing force, not the tons of fully loaded ships it can tow on the river, because the ship has buoyancy in the river." This directly concerns the upper weight limit of the ships that can be rescued in the future. Xu Sanye stared at him and asked, "How many tons can 001 tow?" Han Yu considered for a moment, holding onto the helm and smiling, "We need to consider wind direction, wind speed, current, waterway conditions, and the type of the towed vessel. In calm conditions without wind and waves, it could tow about twelve hundred tons upstream, and about eighteen hundred tons downstream." The barges sailing on the river weigh about one hundred tons. Being able to tow more than a thousand tons means 001 could tow ten fully loaded barges. On the Linghai side, the North Branch waterway does not have thousands of tons of cargo ships; the main ones are machine ships of a hundred or two hundred tons, cement ships of less than eighty tons, and fleets composed of iron barges of around a hundred tons. Thinking that these ships, if they encounter emergencies, 001 could completely handle them, Xu Sanye couldn’t help but laugh, "That’s enough, this towing power is sufficient for us." Han Yu was also very satisfied with the test results, curiously asking, "Director Xu, where is Staff Xiao?" "He left, went with Old Wei’s car." "Oh." "What’s the next item?" "Trial sailing." Xu Sanye, looking at Director Dong and others boarding the ship, asked further, "During the trial sailing, should we conduct any tests?" "Yes." Han Yu glanced stealthily at his senior colleague who was talking to Director Dong, and with expert knowledge said, "We need to first test the engine’s output power and rotation speed at full throttle. Then at seventy-five percent power, test the bearing temperature and cooling water temperature. Follow this with a maneuverability test, which involves steering thirty-five degrees to the left, thirty-five degrees to the right, several times to see how responsive the controls are. We also need to conduct an inertia test, first sailing at full speed, then stopping to see how far it glides. Then go full speed in reverse, stop again... complete all the items on the schedule, likely until it gets dark." In the evening, only one passenger ship will dock, and it will have a short docking duration, just dropping off and picking up passengers, making it impossible to carry out anti-hijacking and hostage rescue drills. We can only conduct a rescue drill on the way back from the trial sailing. On a sandbar seventeen kilometers east of Bailong Port, a cement ship ran aground and broke in two; the front half sank in the water, while the rear half, not submerged, stayed on the shallow sandbar in the middle of the river. The current water level isn’t high, so passing ships can still see it. Next year when the water rises, the un-sunken half might drift eastward, potentially colliding with passing ships. Xu Sanye decided to tow that half of the cement ship back. Seeing Salted Fish looking at that senior colleague again, he teased, "This girl is quite good, works well, looks good, and is a schoolmate of yours, you can consider." "Consider what?" "Consider dating!" "Director Xu, don’t joke, she has the same surname, Han, as me." "So what if she’s a Han, at Xin Hai Middle School there is a teacher named Zhang Xigen, his wife is Zhang Xifang, both surnamed Zhang, and they even come from the same village, yet they are married just fine as long as there’s no blood relation." "Director Xu, she’s older than me!" "How many years older?" "Two years older." "A woman three years older brings gold bricks, you two are only two years apart, age is not a problem." She’s the school beauty, a fairy from the heavens! Compared to her, I’m just a toad on the ground. Han Yu can’t even dare to think about what Xu Sanye is talking about, feeling embarrassed by the teasing and quickly grabs the intercom: "Captain Wang, Captain Wang, I need to go to the engine room, please take the helm!" The kid is actually shy, seems like he lacks confidence... Xu Sanye chuckled and stopped teasing. The trial run in the afternoon went very smoothly and the rescue drills were very successful. Despite finishing half an hour earlier than planned, by the time they returned to the shipyard dock, it was already dark. Can’t let them go back on an empty stomach, dinner was arranged in the station’s cafeteria, inviting the ship inspection personnel to eat river delicacies cooked by Old Qian. They didn’t drink at noon, so they could have some drinks in the evening. Director Dong was originally here on a task to inspect whether Yanjiang Police Station was worth collaborating with the Port Supervision Bureau. After a day of interaction, especially today’s experiences, he felt that Yanjiang Police Station could indeed be a big help to the bureau in the future, and he couldn’t stop drinking once he started. He clutched Xu Sanye’s arm tightly with one hand, holding a wine glass in the other, and said staggeringly: "Director Xu, although I don’t enforce law on the river, my colleagues do, and they will need your help in the future. Here’s a toast to you on their behalf!" "It’s not trouble at all, what are we police for if not to clear obstacles for your law enforcement on the river." "Thank you, I’ll drink to that first." Director Dong downed his drink in one gulp and then, holding onto Xu Sanye’s arm, said, "Director Xu, from now on, we’re family. If there’s anything you need, just say the word. Our Director Feng is from the military; he’s a straightforward person. You might not believe it now, but you’ll see in the future." Xu Sanye wouldn’t miss this opportunity and, supporting him, asked, "Director Dong, you mentioned about staff allocation this afternoon, are our staff numbers insufficient?" "We have enough people, just not enough licenses, but it’s no big deal. Xiao Han, where’s Xiao Han?" "Director Dong, I’m here." It’s embarrassing for their leader to be like this, Han Xiangning felt ashamed. Director Dong turned to look at her, then turned around and pointed at Zhu Baogen and Liang Xiaoyu sitting opposite, "Xiao Han, today on the ship you also saw, they are all good crew members, just lacking licenses. You arrange the training, and you handle the licensing!" Han Xiangning smiled bitterly, "Okay, I’ll organize it when I get back, I’ll take responsibility for this." "Director Xu, did you hear that? Xiao Han has made a commitment." "Thank you, thank you, Director Dong, I actually want to get a license myself." "Let’s do it together, call me when you get to Binjiang, I’ll host." Xu Sanye loves dealing with comrades like this, supporting him and turning around with a smile, he asked, "Salted Fish, didn’t Captain Wang mention the other day you wanted to install some sort of equipment?" Han Yu paused, then hurriedly said, "I was just kidding, that equipment is too expensive." Before Xu Sanye could speak, Director Dong asked, "What equipment, how expensive is it?" "Reporting to Director Dong, our waterways here are very shallow, and our 001 isn’t like other tugs that only need to tow iron barges and can navigate in deeper waterways. We need to enforce law on the river, if a suspect vessel flees to shallower waters, do we pursue or not?" "Of course we pursue, we must bring criminals to justice!" Director Dong waved his hand grandly, looking more like the station director than Xu Sanye. Han Xiangning covered her face, unable to continue watching. Li Weiguo and Old Zhang kept their silence smiling, while Captain Wang even picked up the wine bottle, ready to pour him another drink. Taking advantage of the momentum, Han Yu said, "Criminals aren’t afraid of running aground, but we are. That’s why we’ve always wanted to install a depth sounder, but the equipment is too expensive, we can’t afford it." "A depth sounder, right? That’s a minor issue, leave it to me, just trust me." "Thank you, Director Dong." "No thanks needed, you and Xiao Han are classmates, I’m good brothers with your Director Xu, we are family, no thanks allowed." "Yes!" "Director Dong, you’re so right, such a small issue, let’s have some soup." Xu Sanye laughed heartily and pulled Director Dong to sit down. A depth sounder, that’s expensive! None of the department’s law enforcement boats have it installed, and Director Dong agreed in his befuddled state. Han Xiangning saw it all and felt anxious; she made an excuse to go to the toilet but didn’t know where it was, and asked Han Yu to show her the way. As soon as Han Yu followed her out of the cafeteria, she pulled him into a corner. "You Dead Salted Fish, what are you guys doing." "What are we doing..." "Don’t play dumb with me." Han Xiangning peeked at Director Dong, who was being buddy-buddy with Xu Sanye, and gritted her teeth in anger, "Getting our Director Dong drunk, setting a trap for him, that’s not how you do things!" Han Yu made a bitter face, "It’s not my fault." "Then why mention the depth sounder?" "Our Director Xu asked about it." "Don’t make excuses, I didn’t expect you to be so little but with such a scheming mind." "Squad Leader Han, I... I just started working. I have to listen to the leader, if I didn’t say that, our director wouldn’t be happy." Han Xiangning, a head taller than Han Yu, scolded him like a teacher reprimanding a primary school student, poking at his forehead, "You’re abetting tyranny!"

Chapter 99 - 89 What a Trivial Matter!

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