The sea breeze was blowing gently as Zhao Changhe lay leisurely on the deck, looking at the blue sky and white clouds. He took out his wine gourd and drank from it in small sips.
It is clearly a busy journey with unpredictable storms ahead, but on the contrary, one can find a rare kind of leisure during this journey. Perhaps this is the biggest difference from the past.
It’s a pity that I can’t travel with Chi Chi after all.
She went directly to the Langya seaport and sailed out to sea openly, but Zhao Changhe could not leave and had to go south to Ningbo.
Everyone went out to sea for different reasons. Although they might have the same destination, Zhao Changhe wanted to observe the secrets and movements of the sea people from the side. If he stayed with Chi Chi, he would be exposed to the eyes of the sea people, which might not be a good thing. It would also reveal the fact that the Four Elephants Sect and Zhao Changhe were in the same boat, which was not worth it.
It is better to have one light and one dark, which is much more practical. It’s just a pity that I can’t live a shameless life at sea with Chi Chi.
Zhao Changhe didn't know that Xia Chichi had been copying books even during her trip to the sea, and she hadn't finished copying yet... Perhaps the Venerable agreed with Xia Longyuan's words that she was "not calm enough" and deliberately trained her to calm down a little...
The Tang family’s ship also had a legitimate reason to go to sea.
In this proposal to abolish the canal and replace it with the sea, Tang Wanzhuang opposed it because the timing was not right, but most of the Tang family supported it. Even Tang Buqi rarely followed his aunt in this matter, because it was good for the family. No matter what the timing was, or what was bad for the overall situation, who would be like his aunt, who was full of loyalty to the emperor and the country, we are a noble family.
Then Tang Buqi was beaten by his aunt and sent back to Gusu.
The sea transport was temporarily closed due to the Cao Gang's rebellion, but the Tang family had been trying to engage in foreign trade for a long time, but the scale was small and the nature of the experiment was strong. The Tang family also had a small amount of exchanges with the small country called Penglai on Haitian Island.
This time when Tang Buqi returned to Gusu, he immediately started to arrange a new round of sea voyages to Penglai. He thought his aunt would be angry, but the letter from his aunt said: "Changhe is going to sea, please make arrangements."
Tang Buqi was so angry that he didn't know what to say.
We want to open the sea, you object. Your Zhao Changhe wants to go to the sea, you suddenly don't object, we are very useful at this time, right? We can let you show your treasures in front of your lover, "already arranged", right
So when Zhao Changhe came to ask for the boat, Tang Buqi had a sour face and was too lazy to talk to Zhao Changhe from beginning to end.
Zhao Changhe lay on the deck and recalled Tang Buqi's arrogant expression, and he still wants to laugh.
"Mr. Zhao, the sun is about to set and it's windy at night, so it's better to go into the cabin." Captain Tang shouted from the cabin.
The captain's name is Tang En, which is a name that can often be used as the protagonist in Chinese fantasy stories. It seems to be quite suitable for the background of the great voyage. He is the son of the Tang family. He has been engaged in maritime life for more than 20 years and has extremely rich experience. He has also been to the so-called Haitian Island. This time he went there with a legitimate reason for maritime trade, which is similar to the meaning of Li Si'an before, so as to cover up the existence of Zhao Changhe.
Zhao Changhe smiled and said, "Since the ship is not afraid of wind and waves, I am not afraid either. I never thought that the Tang family's ship is so strong."
This is a real sea ship. Zhao Changhe is not an expert on it and does not know its tonnage, but it is really big and stable, which makes people feel at ease. There is also a smaller fleet following behind. It is unknown how much profit a shipping trip can make. No wonder Tang Buqi does not listen to his aunt...
Tang En said: "It's just a coincidence. The Gusu was not completed last year. It was just put to sea trials in the first half of the year, and now it's officially in use."
Zhao Changhe asked: "How do you determine the direction? Si Nan?"
"This is complicated... As for tools, we mainly use the astronomical ruler and compass needle to measure the altitude angle of stars, etc. We also need to observe astronomy, wind direction, tides... Without ten years of experience in following a ship, we dare not go out to sea blindly. At most, we can sail along the coast."
Zhao Changhe nodded and sighed, "It's like a mountain between two different trades."
In fact, what I lamented was not the difference between martial arts and navigation, but that I was a liberal arts student back then. With the advent of the Age of Discovery, it seemed that I could not pretend to be anything, and the navigation experience and scientific knowledge of the natives were enough to beat me.
The Tang family is not the best in this regard, the Wang family may be stronger.
To be honest, my own way of thinking is not modern anymore. I was previously taught dialectical materialism by a blind man... Including this trip to the sea, my mind is full of medicines, materials, martial arts secrets, while Tang En and the others are looking for all kinds of spices, gums, gold, silver, and brand-new crop seeds. My brain circuits are completely different now.
In an era when everyone worships martial arts, civilization is still developing inexorably, but people usually pay too little attention to this aspect and have been assimilated into martial arts thinking.
Zhao Changhe felt a little embarrassed. He used to read Spring and Autumn Annals...
He tried to justify his martial arts thinking: "Are there any pirates?" "Not many in the early years, occasionally seen. In recent years, there are more and more, but they don't appear near this coast, mostly around the islands in the far sea." Tang En pointed to the back: "We have a fleet of thousands of people, with countless powerful bows and crossbows, we are not afraid."
Zhao Changhe was keenly aware that there was something wrong here: "Why has it increased in recent years? Has the frequency of your maritime trade increased? Or has there been more fishermen going out to sea?"
"We don't have it, and others don't know." Tang En said, "Maritime trade has high profits, but not everyone can do it. A ship that can go to the high seas is a natural barrier. If it capsizes once, not only will you lose all your money, but you may even lose your life. If someone increased the frequency of maritime trade, it could only be the Wang family. Maybe they have accumulated wealth over the past few years and are rich enough to rival a country, so they rebelled..."
It is true that the Wang family's rebellion should also have economic-related factors, but we have indeed given less thought to this aspect in the past.
Zhao Changhe pondered and said, "In other words, the pirates are mainly causing trouble for the Wang family? Could there be an organization deliberately targeting them?"
"We really don't know about that." Tang En said: "Miss has analyzed it. If there is an organization, it can only be that person..."
A name popped up in Zhao Changhe's mind.
Seventh on the Heavenly Ranking, Dragon King Hai Pinglan.
Regardless of his name or nickname, he is definitely a person who makes a living on the sea, but in fact he became famous in Middle-earth and has nothing to do with the sea.
He was once the third on the Heavenly Ranking and the leader of the southern separatist forces. He was called the Dragon King because of the Yangtze River naval battle, not the Dragon King of the sea. Later, he was defeated by Xia Longyuan, who was the seventh on the Heavenly Ranking at the time. Not only did he swap positions and fall to seventh, but his country was also destroyed. He fled alone and his whereabouts are unknown...
After Xia Longyuan advanced to the third place, he challenged Timur, who was the second at the time, and the Great Shaman Bo, who was the first, and beat them to the second and third place, reaching the top. As for his subsequent practice becoming more and more abnormal, and starting to fight the steppe Hu gods, that was a later thing.
In the process of unifying the world, Xia Longyuan is definitely the protagonist of the exciting story.
Hai Pinglan became a background figure in Xia Longyuan's ascent to the summit, and has since disappeared. No news of him has been heard for more than 30 years, as if he did not exist. If it were not for the fact that his name had not been removed from the book of chaos, I'm afraid everyone would have thought he was dead...
If this person had fled far out to sea and disappeared, that would make sense. With his strength, it would be normal for him to become the leader of a large pirate organization, but the problem is that he should have cooperated with the Wang family to fight against Xia, so why would he hinder the Wang family
This speculation may not be true.
In fact, in the overseas data report of the Demon Suppression Bureau, there was another suspicion that the Kingdom of Penglai might have been established by Hai Pinglan.
One guess is the king, and another guess is the pirate. The difference is quite big.
Xia Chichi had also tried to find out about this person the last time he went out to sea, but found nothing. The king of Penglai said his surname was Yuan, and it seemed that he had nothing to do with Hai Pinglan. Of course, if Hai Pinglan deliberately concealed his real name and didn't want Xia Longyuan to know, it wouldn't be surprising.
Zhao Changhe was quite curious. These overseas lives, whether pirates or various small countries in the sea, as well as sea tribes and fishmen, etc., were not listed in the book of chaos... Miaojiang had a land list, but overseas had never seen a hidden dragon.
I don't think their cultivation is really that low. It is very likely that the Book of Troubled Times was not included for some reason.
I wonder how good the martial arts are of the overseas strong men
While I was thinking, the sun had set below the sea level. A half-moon of the setting sun still peeked out from the sea and sky, casting a brilliant glow on the distant sea surface.
The tips of several sails appeared in the distance, and a fleet was coming through the waves.
Tang En's expression changed drastically: "Why are there pirates here?"
——
PS: I didn't make it to the top 10 this month, I'll try again next month. There will be an extra update at 0:00.
(End of this chapter)