When Li Zhang found Commander Hu, the other party was holding a telescope and looking at the sea in the distance. What surprised him was that Dong Qing was also here, and he saw that the place where the sky and sea were intersecting opposite the two was dark, and it seemed that a storm was brewing.

"Commander Hu, is there any change in the weather in the distance? Should we dock and hide?" Li Zhang couldn't help but ask worriedly when he saw the dimness of the skyline. Although they had just gone out to sea for a few days, they encountered a heavy storm the day before yesterday. At that time, Command Hu immediately ordered the fleet to dock and hide. But even though he got anchored on the shore, the ship was still like a fallen leaves of rain in the storm. It was the first time that Li Zhang experienced the violent and power of nature.

"Don't worry, there is only a passing rain in the distance, and it will not disturb us!" Unexpectedly, before Commander Hu spoke, he saw Dong Qing next to him taking the lead. Dong Qing was the plaintiff of the case, so he naturally accompanied Li Zhang to the south. Moreover, he has been following his family to travel on a boat since he was a child, and he is very familiar with the climate at sea.

"Brother Dong knows the sea, and I have also asked him for advice during this period. I feel that I have benefited a lot!" Commander Hu also smiled and said, "He didn't know Dong Qing's identity, nor did he know what Li Zhang went to Quanzhou to do, but since Dong Qing was brought by Li Zhang, the Marquis of Dingbei, he dared not neglect anything."

"So that's it, then I'm relieved!" Li Zhang breathed a sigh of relief when he heard this. The storm the day before yesterday scared him very much. Moreover, this was not a typhoon, but a relatively large storm at the sea. This made Li Zhang, who had rarely gone to sea for two lives, unable to imagine the scene of a typhoon raging on the sea.

"Mr. Marquis, you must have something to discuss with Commander Hu. The villain will give up!" Dong Qing was a versatile person. At this time, he immediately guessed Li Zhang's intention, so he took the initiative to say goodbye.

Li Zhang originally planned to talk to Commander Hu alone, but now when he saw Dong Qing, he suddenly had an idea and called him: "No, I just asked Commander Hu about some situations at sea. Dong Qing must be clear about this. Let's talk together!"

Dong Qing is a big sea merchant in Quanzhou and has been running on the sea since he was a child. He must be more clear about the situation at sea than anyone else and should also know the navy of the Song Dynasty. As the saying goes, Qing is the bystander. Perhaps Dong Qing can put forward a different view from Commander Hu, so Li Zhang asked him to stay.

Hearing Li Zhang's words, Dong Qing had to stop. Then Li Zhang turned to Commander Hu and said, "Commander Hu, I want to inquire about the situation of our Song Dynasty Navy, mainly the situation of the sea navy, so there is no need to say about the inland river navy."

Commander Hu was stunned when he heard Li Zhang's inquiry. He hesitated for a moment before speaking: "Qi Zhu, even the situation of the navy at sea is very complicated. Generally speaking, there are naval troops stationed in all coastal ports, and the number of people is uncertain. However, as far as I know, the number of navigators in the Song Dynasty should be no less than 100,000, but most of them are inland waters, and some are like our Hangzhou. The inland waters and seas run at both ends, and they are not very clear between each other."

Li Zhang obviously felt that Commander Hu did not dare to tell the truth, so he only chose some open words to deal with him, which made him smile helplessly: "Commander Hu, you don't have to worry about it. I am just interested in the sea trade and plan to let my family do some sea trade business. But I heard that the biggest danger of sea trade is the pirates, in addition to natural disasters such as storms, the biggest danger is pirates. I wonder if our Song Dynasty navy can protect the safety of the fleet?"

Li Zhang did not dare to say that he came to investigate the navy under Zhao Zhen's order, otherwise Commander Hu would have more concerns, so he lied and inquired in his private capacity, which would be more convenient.

Sure enough, after hearing Li Zhang's explanation, Commander Hu seemed to be relieved quietly, but he immediately smiled bitterly: "To be honest, although the business at sea is good, the risks are also very high. I won't talk about various natural disasters. However, natural disasters can be avoided, but man-made disasters are difficult to hide, especially many pirates entrenched on the waterway. If merchant ships want to pass, they must pay them money, otherwise the ship may be destroyed and people will be killed. As for the navy..."

Commander Hu paused at this point, and then he said helplessly again: "Mr. Marquis must know better than me. The main threat of our Song Dynasty is in the north, so the Northern Army has always been the main force of the army. The Southern Army does not pay much attention to it at all. As for the navy, there are not much to mention. Look at the many ports along the coast of our Song Dynasty, but the navy stationed at each port can only protect itself and cannot go to sea to suppress bandits. In addition, the military disciplines have been corrupted over the years, and many navy troops do not even have a few warships, and they do not go to sea once every ten days and a half months. In recent years, some bold pirates have dared to kill ashore."

"Marty, I have been traveling around the country since I was a child with the fleet. We have been to all ports along the Song Dynasty and are very clear about the navy. The navy in large ports such as Guangzhou, Hangzhou and Quanzhou is quite good. At least it can protect the safety of the ports, but other smaller ports have long been rotten, and the warships of those navy are even worse than merchant ships." Dong Qing also added at this time.

Dong Qing's words are not exaggerated. In fact, the maritime merchants and pirates in this era are not separated. Some people enter the port and become pirates at sea. It is precisely in this chaos that maritime merchant ships generally have a certain combat power. If they really fight, the navy's warships may not be their opponents.

Li Zhang frowned when he heard this. Although he had known that the situation of the Song Dynasty's Navy was very bad and did not even have any hope, he did not expect it to be so bad. But it was not surprising that the navy was not as good as the army in terms of military terms, and the southern coastal areas were not valued. With the double weakening, it was not surprising that the navy would become like this now.

However, Li Zhang was still comforting himself in his heart that no matter how weak the Navy of the Song Dynasty was, it was at least stronger than the Ming Dynasty in later generations. Of course, it was the Navy of the Ming Dynasty after Zheng He. Especially after the ban on the sea, the Ming Dynasty actually moved all the fishermen on the coast to the inland and handed the coast to the Japanese pirates. This also led to the complete decline of the Navy's navy. Even the small Japanese pirates dared to chase after them and killed them, which completely lost the face of the Navy.

After learning about the general situation of the navy, Li Zhang was not satisfied. Then he inquired about the situation of the navy from Dong Qing and Commander Hu in detail. Unexpectedly, Dong Qing knew more and more details than Commander Hu, which made Li Zhang feel that the decision he had to leave was very correct. He had known before that he should have asked the other party for more information.
Chapter completed!