"Your Highness, I guess it won't be long before the pirates supported by aristocratic families can also carry artillery onto the ship!"
"ah!"
Li Chengqian was stunned for a moment when he heard what Su Chen said.
"Then how will the naval battle be fought in the future?
Cannon fire from both sides?"
"Your Highness is extremely intelligent!"
Li Chengqian rolled his eyes at Su Chen, are you praising me?
Why do I feel like you are scolding me!
"I hope the cannibal hasn't moved the cannon onto the ship yet!"
Su Chen nodded and said: "Indeed!"
"If we find out that the big cannibal also has a sail gunboat, we will turn around and run away!"
Li Chengqian looked at Su Chen: "We haven't set off yet, and the teacher said this, it's so discouraging!"
Su Chen shook his head: "I am telling the truth. There is no need to fight forcefully. With the few people we have, fighting forcefully is courting death."
"But even if the Linghu family directly gives the gunpowder and cannon technology to the cannibals, the chance that they can build a naval gun in a year and a half is less than half a percent!"
"So we shouldn't be able to encounter each other's sail gunboat this time."
As the two chatted, the gunboat gradually moved away from the coastline.
When Li Chengqian couldn't see the land even with the telescope, he suddenly became panicked!
Looking at the same sea water all around, I can't tell whether it is the sky or the sea in the distance. There are no signs around me, no matter how far or near, and even the distance feels blurry!
Li Chengqian also noticed that the gunboat seemed to be constantly turning, and said with a trembling voice: "Teacher, we can still tell the direction, right?"
Su Chen smiled: "Your Highness, anyone who enters the depths of the sea for the first time will have such fear, and this needs to be overcome slowly!"
"Your Highness, please rest assured. There are many ways to identify directions and calculate positions on the sea. We will not get lost!"
Li Chengqian tried to calm down his mood, but found that it didn't work at all.
"Your Highness, don't look around on the sea, otherwise you will become even more panicked!"
As he spoke, Su Chen took out a compass and handed it to Li Chengqian.
Li Chengqian took it and looked at the slightly shaking hands on it. He breathed a sigh of relief, but also felt embarrassed at the same time!
Su Chen gave several of these to himself and Si'er, but he actually forgot to bring one with him!
"The direction of Snake Island, how long until we can see it?"
Liu Rengui replied: "Twelve degrees east by south, you can see it with a telescope in about a quarter of an hour!"
Su Chen said to Li Chengqian: "Your Highness, how about coming with me to the cabin for a glass of wine?"
Li Chengqian followed Su Chen into the cabin, drank a glass of wine, and finally felt better.
"Teacher, the student has embarrassed you!"
Li Chengqian knew that his panic expression just now must have fallen into the eyes of Su Chen and Liu Rengui.
Su Chen smiled: "It's like this for the first time when you enter the depths of the sea. You'll get used to it! I'm not sure what Liu Rengui looked like at that time. There are also Cheng Laosan and the others. Your Highness doesn't need to worry about it!"
After a while, Su Chen stood up: "Let's go! Go to the deck and have a look, we should be there soon!"
Snake Island is where the navy usually gathers and is not too far from the coastline.
The two walked onto the deck again. Li Chengqian's condition improved a little.
Su Chen asked Li Chengqian to look at the compass scale and use a telescope to search for the location of Snake Island.
After a while, Li Chengqian suddenly shouted: "Ha! I saw it! I saw it!"
Li Chengqian jumped up and said happily: "It's a small island, and there seems to be a boat!"
In this era, ships were still very small, and the resolution of the human eye was limited, so telescopes were still very useful on the sea.
"Your Highness! You must believe in your naval officers, they are the people who know the sea best in the world!"
"Although there are risks in this voyage, they are not serious. Otherwise, I would not allow His Highness to take the risk myself!"
Li Chengqian raised his hand to Su Chen and said, "Thank you teacher for your teaching! The student has taken note of it!"
…
In the evening, the gunboat finally arrived at Snake Island.
"Wow! So many warships!"
Looking at the anchored ships nearby and the naval warships cruising in the distance, they are densely packed everywhere!
Li Chengqian couldn't help but become excited again.
"There are only more than sixty ships in total, which is too shabby for the Tang Empire!"
Su Chen was very dissatisfied with this warship.
But considering that the Navy has only been established for half a year, and there is no other sailing gunboat fleet in the world, forget it!
As I said before, just use it!
Seeing Liu Rengui put down the traffic boat, Su Chendao pointed to a huge warship in the distance and said:
"Your Highness! Let's go to that transport ship, that will be your ship from now on!"
"The naval officers are all waiting above to greet His Highness!"
Li Chengqian seemed to still have many questions to ask, but Su Chen said that the officers were still waiting, so he had to take a transport boat to the transport ship.
The fleet greeted Li Chengqian and Su Chen, and almost all officers above the intermediate level were there.
Li Chengqian discovered that he had many acquaintances. Not to mention Cheng Laosan and Eweichi Baolin, there were also many descendants and nephews of famous generals in the court here!
"Fang Jun?
You came here like this?"
Fang Yiai laughed: "Your Highness, aren't you here too?"
A group of people came to pay homage to Li Chengqian, and also met the commander-in-chief Su Chen.
Then a simple dinner was prepared.
Su Chen smiled and said: "Your Highness, we are at sea, so I won't arrange a dust-washing banquet for you. Let's just get to know each other!"
Li Chengqian didn't care about this and asked casually: "Does the Tang Navy have no military port?
Why are you all here gathering?"
"Yes, it's just north of the estuary, but we rarely go there!"
"The commander-in-chief was trying to hide the gunboats, so he would sneak in and fill up the supplies before coming out. Later, he got used to it!"
"We usually hang out between Snake Island and Shengsi Island!"
Li Chengqian glanced at the person who answered and recognized him.
"Liu Laoqi, didn't you go to Goguryeo?"
"I was thrown here by someone sent by my uncle after walking half way. I have been exposed to the wind and sun for half a year. Look at how dark I am. My mother-in-law may not even recognize me when I get home!"
After Liu Laoqi finished speaking, he suddenly shouted: "Xue Li! Get out! Compete with me again!"
"Damn it, the captain has no role for me. You want to snatch the captain of the Marine Corps from me..."
Liu Laoqi cursed and went to find the man named Xue Li to compete.
"Who is this Liu Laoqi?
Do you know His Highness?"
Su Chen didn't know this person.
"Liu Jingren, Duke Kui's nephew, is regarded as his own by Duke Kui!"
"Gong Kui?
Liu Hongji?"
"Um?"
Li Chengqian nodded.
"Who was he yelling at just now?"
"Xue Li, this guy came out of nowhere and beat up the little horse thief several times!"
Fang Yiai's face was full of gloating.
"Xue Li, Xue Li..."
Su Chen always felt something familiar. This guy's surname wasn't Xue, his name was Li, and his given name was Rengui, right?
"Go and call them both! We have nothing to do. Let them have a wrestling match to entertain everyone!"
