Su Chen pointed to the sextant and the navigation bell and said: "Your Highness, if you have nothing to do, you should take some tutoring in mathematics and the application of these things."
"Once you understand it, you won't be so worried!"
Li Chengqian sighed and said: "I just can't accept it for a while. You said that the earth is a ball. It's so ridiculous!"
Su Chen glared and said, "What's so ridiculous about this? This is a fact!"
Li Chengqian shook his head: "I'd better ask Mr. Song for advice on the application of trigonometric functions first. When I studied with Wang Xiaotong, I didn't find it so difficult!"
Ocean sailing was very boring, and navigation seemed to be very important, so Li Chengqian had no choice but to start cramming in mathematics, astronomy, geography and other knowledge with a book in hand.
This voyage is much faster than the previous trip along the coast of Datang.
The fleet sailed at full speed, day and night,
The voyage of more than 4,000 miles arrived in less than ten days.
"This is what the monks from Tianzhu call Sinhala?"
Li Chengqian held up the telescope: "Across the way is the southernmost tip of the Tianzhu Peninsula?"
Su Chen nodded: "Well, that's it, I still like to call it Lion Country."
"I heard that the relationship between the Sinhalese and the Tamils on the other side is very bad and they often fight,"
"Let's not go to that strait and go around the southern end of the island."
"Find a port in the west to replenish some fresh water, fruits and vegetables, and then continue westward."
The fleet stayed on the island of Sri Lanka for three days, loaded up supplies and continued westward.
What follows is the longest section of the voyage.
While Su Chen was heading west and Yang Fan was sailing towards the Arabian Sea, Fang Yiai also led the return fleet back to Datang.
Fang Yiai did not go around the Indochina Peninsula again, but went directly through Nanyang.
When Su Chen went to Malacca, he had to go around the Indochina Peninsula. This was because, firstly, the fleet's navigation skills had been honed in sea water, and secondly, the typhoon period had not yet completely passed.
Things were different when Fang Yiai returned. The fleet's navigation skills had improved, mainly because there were no strong winds or waves in the South China Sea at this time.
When three ships appeared in Lingding Yangtze, Guangzhou Governor Xie Shu was not at all lucky.
"Haha! You came back so soon, and there are only three ships left. It seems that the cannibal has succeeded!"
"I just don't know if Li Chengqian and Su Chen were both killed by the cannibal!"
Xie Shufang took a shower and changed clothes, and then took people to Panyu Pier.
When the fleet returns, the local magistrate must welcome it.
More importantly, let's see if Su Chen was killed by the cannibal!
When we arrived at the dock, we found that three ships had already begun to weigh anchor and were preparing to continue heading north.
Xie Shufang hurriedly sent someone to inquire about the situation, but was stopped by navy officers.
The warship simply replenished some fresh water in Panyu and left in a hurry.
The officials in the governor's office said that the governor was at the dock. Fang Yiai stood on the deck and saw Xie Shufang in the distance.
But he didn't say hello to him.
Seeing that the ship had left, Xie Shufang, who was left hanging on the shore, looked confused.
Is Su Chen dead or not?
No matter what, the fleet only returned three ships anyway. I wonder what Li Er can do to suppress us.
On the warship, a group of soldiers looked at Fang Yiai in confusion:
"Captain, my brothers have been drifting on the sea for so long and finally reached the border of the Tang Dynasty. Why are you still in such a hurry?"
Fang Yiai took out an envelope:
"Everyone is keeping an eye on me. This is an order from His Royal Highness the Crown Prince and the Marshal."
Opening the paper in the envelope, I saw two large bright red seals, which were indeed the signatures of Li Chengqian and Su Chen.
"All returning soldiers, please listen carefully. The Crown Prince and the Marshal ordered not to inform anyone about anything that happened across the strait, nor to reveal the itinerary of His Highness and the Marshal."
"That is to say, after we go back, we are not allowed to mention anything about the Royal Navy to anyone! If anyone dares to disobey military orders, they know what will happen."
After Fang Yiai finished speaking, he handed Su Chen's military order to everyone for circulation.
"But, Captain, didn't we come back to report to the court?"
"I will personally deliver the military report to His Majesty!"
Seeing the confusion on everyone's faces, Fang Yiai explained to everyone:
"His Royal Highness and the Marshal suspect that there is a cannibal traitor in the court,"
"The reason why we were ambushed in Malacca is because someone tipped off the big eater in advance."
"You also know that the commander-in-chief once sent General Sun to Guangzhou in advance to arrest all the cannibals in Panyu, but in the end he failed. It was because someone tipped him off."
When everyone heard this, they realized that this was indeed what happened, and some of them were involved in the action at that time.
"This damn traitor!"
"It's inappropriate for a dignified Tang Dynasty man to become a dog for a big cannibal."
“Are these people filled with shit in their heads?”
Everyone cursed and discussed in low voices.
"Forget it, if you don't want to say it, then don't say it,"
"There's nothing to say when we come back anyway!"
"that is!"
"Captain, when can we go ashore to rest?"
Fang Yiai replied: "When you get to Fuzhou, just do whatever you want."
"If you want to continue going north with me then, you can go north. If you want to take a rest, you can go again,"
"I'll take the boat back by myself then."
"I heard from the commander that there are new ships in the Fuzhou shipyard, and there are also many merchant ships heading north from Fuzhou,"
"Every half month there is a fast ship that goes directly to Chang'an, arranged by Her Royal Highness Princess Changle."
Everyone thought about it and discussed quietly for a while.
"Hey, let's go to Yangzhou together and talk about it."
"I've been floating on the sea for so long, I don't care about the last few days."
Fang Yiai nodded and said, "Okay, when we get to Yangzhou, everyone can do what they want."
"If you want to go to the capital, come with me to change boats to the capital. Our gunboats can't go through the canal."
"But those whose injuries haven't recovered yet should rest in Fuzhou County. The commander-in-chief has arranged a place for them."
They had a good discussion on the road, but they changed their minds when they arrived in Fuzhou.
When Fang Yiai and others arrived in Fuzhou, they were returning from the trial voyage of a new ship from Fuzhou Shipyard.
When everyone heard that the new ship was twice as fast as their gunboats, their eyes immediately lit up!
The task Su Chen assigned to Fuzhou Shipyard was to build a light, high-speed sailboat.
The drawings he took were the flying shear ship drawings that Su Chen redeemed from the system.
Clipper boats are said to be the fastest wind-driven sailboats.
It is said that it can run from Fuzhou to London and around the Cape of Good Hope in Africa within a hundred days.
The speed is as fast as a sailboat.
This is a high-speed cargo ship that Su Chen prepared for future business activities.
Before the advent of steam engines, clipper ships were the fastest ships.
Su Chen plans to use it to replace part of the existing eight thousand stone cargo ships.
The remnants of the aristocratic families have built a large number of ships that are similar to eight thousand stone cargo ships.
If we don’t update the technology, Su Chenhai’s advantage will be gone!
