The Ming Dynasty was founded 300 years ago, and its navy has never been defeated!
Of course there is a reason for this!
Zhu Ping'an stood on the deck and looked at the warships arranged in an orderly manner according to the formation on the vast ocean, and nodded. Although the scale and size of the Ming Navy's warships had shrunk by more than half after the Ming Dynasty's maritime ban began, the warships that were more than thirty or forty meters long floating on the sea still maintained an absolute advantage over the nearby Japanese pirates, Korea and Southeast Asian countries with backward navigation.
Linhuai Hou Li Tingzhu is still quite capable, whether it is his level or the level of his generals or staff. The fact that he can command this fleet in such an orderly and smooth manner shows that Linhuai Hou Li Tingzhu is still qualified to serve as the Admiral of Caojiang.
The fleet was divided into two parts, one was combat ships and the other was non-combat ships. There were more than 20 combat ships in total, of varying sizes. The flagship where Li Tingzhu was located was the largest; there were only eight non-combat ships. Except for the one where Zhu Ping'an and Li Shu were located, which was more like a cruise ship, the other non-combat ships were responsible for tasks such as supply and rescue. The flagship was a Fu ship about 40 meters long, with two masts and three cabins. There were thick guardrails outside, like a miniature city, and the bow was covered with iron sheets. When at the dock, Zhu Ping'an roughly counted that there were more than 30 cannons on the flagship. As for the other weapons on the flagship, Zhu Ping'an was not aware of them, but they should be mainly firearms such as fire tubes and bird tubes, supplemented by cold weapons such as crossbows and javelins.
In addition to the Fujian ships, there were also small and medium-sized warships, such as the Haicang ship, the two-masted gunboat, the Cangshan ship and other ships.
The fleet was commanded by flag signals, gongs, drums and horns.
Soon after the fleet set sail, Zhu Pingan saw the flagship where Li Tingzhu was waving flags of different colors, and then the fleet followed the flag instructions in an orderly manner. The warships were distributed in an arc in the front, guarding and on guard; the non-warships sailed in the back, at a slightly slower speed, and the ships kept a considerable distance from each other. This is because when sailing in the sea, if two ships are running parallel and too close, they are prone to collision under the pressure of the water flow.
Zhu Pingan was on the deck, looking at the warship ahead, and could only vaguely see a row of black dots. He could see the outline of the nearby supply ship.
With a compass during the day and star-gazing at night, and with a nautical chart along the coast of Daming, the fleet sailed smoothly. The next day, the fleet sailed until almost noon. The wind direction changed, and the flagship sent out a flag to rest on the coast.
It is impossible to drop anchor in the sea, and you can only drop anchor and rest when you are close to the coast. With the nautical chart and the experienced sailors, there is no worry about finding a beach to stop the ship. They quickly found a suitable coast for a stop, and the fleet lined up. Each of them dropped anchor and rested temporarily.
This beach is concave. Although the wind and waves are strong outside, the sea here is relatively calm. In the distance, there are several huge seabirds gliding over the sea. The warm sunlight in the sky shines on the sea, leaving a sea of golden light.
During the rest period, Marquis Linhuai also sent out six warships to patrol and guard the nearby sea.
Zhu Ping'an leaned against the railing, looked at the warships sent out by Linhuai Hou, and nodded with satisfaction.
"Miss, look, there are fish." The chubby little maid leaned on the railing, looking at the splashing water under the boat, her face flushed with excitement.
"Really?" Li Shu's eyes also lit up.
"Yes, miss, it's at least this big." The chubby little maid had a red face and stretched out her little hands to gesture, very excited.
Li Shu walked to the railing holding up her skirt, and looked at the sparkling sea below the boat with interest. The little maidservant Baozi stood beside Li Shu, stretched out her little hand to point out the place where the big fish jumped out just now. When another fish flipped over, the two maids shouted excitedly.
"Let's go fishing. Let's go fishing, miss." The chubby little maid suggested with her bright eyes blinking as she looked at the fish tumbling in the sea.
The child is teachable.
Li Shu looked at the maid Baozi and nodded with satisfaction. In fact, Baozi would have wanted to go fishing even if she hadn't said it. When she was on the sea, Li Shu wanted to go fishing, but she couldn't because the boat was moving. Now that the boat has stopped, she naturally can't miss the opportunity. Baozi's suggestion of fishing just hit the nail on the head for Li Shu.
So Li Shu asked someone to take out the fishing gear they bought when they boarded the boat, and installed the fishing gear on the deck to prepare for fishing. However, none of them had installed fishing gear before, and they looked at the float, fishing line, fish hook, fishing rod and bait, and they were completely clueless and didn't know what to do.
"Let me do it."
Zhu Ping'an walked over, squatted down, and skillfully installed the float on the fishing line. He then tied three fish hooks to the fishing line, and then tied the fishing line securely to the fishing rod, installing a set of fishing gear. The whole process took no more than three minutes.
"Master, you are so awesome." Seeing Zhu Ping'an set up the fishing gear so quickly, the little maidservant Baozi was full of admiration and there were little stars in her eyes.
Li Shu curled her lips in disapproval and rolled her eyes when she heard what the maid Baozi said.
"You seem very disdainful, then do it yourself." Seeing this, Zhu Ping'an curled the corners of his lips slightly, put the installed set of fishing gear in the hands of the little maid Baozi, and then handed the uninstalled set of fishing gear to Li Shu.
"Who cares? Just come by yourself!" Li Shu glared at Zhu Pingan and said angrily.
"Miss, please use this." As she said that, the little maid handed the fishing gear in her hand to Li Shu.
"I don't care if someone does it."
Hearing this, Li Shu glared at the little maid Baozi, and then the little maid Baozi shrank her head and dared not stretch out her claws again.
However, although installing fishing gear may seem simple, it is not easy, especially for Li Shu, who has never touched a single finger. Although she was confident at the beginning, Li Shu tried several times but still could not install it properly. She had no choice but to ask Zhu Pingan for help.
"Hey, you've got me." Li Shu walked up to Zhu Ping'an and said, even though her face was slightly red, her tsundere nature did not diminish at all.
"Hello? Who is this? Where are you?" Zhu Ping'an deliberately turned his head and looked around, then pretended to look at Li Shu with a confused expression.
It seems that teasing a certain arrogant little girl and watching the arrogant and cocky girl blush is quite interesting.
"Zhu Ping'an, you've given me peace." Li Shu's pretty face turned even redder than before.
"I want to be safe too, but someone seemed a little disdainful just now." Zhu Ping'an stretched.
"You..." Li Shu glared at Zhu Ping'an angrily.
Zhu Ping'an shrugged, indifferent to Li Shu's rolling eyes.
Finally, after Li Shu blushed and said to Zhu Pingan, "You are awesome!", Zhu Pingan smiled with satisfaction and gave the fishing gear to Li Shu. Of course, he also gave himself a set of fishing gear. (To be continued.)