The geographical location of Laizhou Port in the Tang Dynasty was different from that of later generations. It was not located in Yantai City, but in Ye County.
Laiju Bay has a flat terrain, a deep port draft, and is inland on three sides. It is a natural haven. Visitors from Silla, Ryukyu and other places often come ashore here.
Although the size of Laizhou Port cannot be compared with southern ports such as Quanzhou in Jiangnan, it has been relatively complete after hundreds of years of development and maintenance since its opening in the Han Dynasty.
On this day, the soldiers of Yan Army stationed at Laizhou Port were inspecting passengers and ships coming and going at the port.
Several black spots appeared on the sea, slowly enlarged, and were heading towards Laizhou Port.
The soldier who was in charge of the lookout on the watchtower noticed the black spots. Looking carefully, he found that they were three two-masted single-deck sailing ships that were not common in Laizhou Port.
This kind of sea-going ship has a total weight of 800 tons, a bow sidemast, aft mainmast, and a triangular sail. It is completely different from the sea-going ships of the Tang Dynasty that often weighed more than a thousand tons, so it is easy to identify.
Doubts arose in his mind, so the lookout sounded the gong and pointed to the sea.
The Yan army in charge of the inspection pulled up the big flag with the word "Yan", lined up on the platform, and looked at the three strange-looking ships in the distance, slowly approaching here.
Someone whispered: "That doesn't look like a Silla or Japanese ship."
Someone else said: "Except for Silla and Japan, ships from other countries usually dock in the south. How come they are here?"
As the ship slowly approached, people in Laizhou Port finally saw its full picture.
The original color of the sails of these three sea-going ships has long been lost. They are densely covered with various patches, and there are traces of repairs up and down. There are even scratches from swords, guns, bows and arrows on the outside of the ship. It can be imagined from this.
, what kind of wind, waves and dangers these ships have experienced.
Seeing that the three sea-going ships showed no sign of reefing or slowing down, the soldiers at the port rang the bell desperately to remind the former.
However, instead of slowing down, the big ship took advantage of the wind and rushed directly into the Gulf Stream of Laizhou Port, knocking over several sampans blocking the road. With its skillful control, it avoided the Yan army's blockage like a loach.
, and avoided the huge Yan army vehicles and ships, and then quickly left the port.
Due to the sudden incident, the soldiers of Laizhou Port, which had not been engaged in battle for a long time, allowed the enemy to break through and leave before they could send out warships to stop them.
The three schooners, under the watchful eye of the Yan army, had rushed into the Bohai Bay and headed northwest.
To the northwest of Laizhou Port, there is another port called Yuyang Port (today's Tianjin Port), which was used to transport grain and goods from the south of the Yangtze River to the north in the early years.
Later, the Anshi Rebellion broke out. Since Yuyang Port was close to Fanyang, An Lushan was worried that southern warships could make a surprise attack northward, so he ordered all port facilities to be dismantled, and the coastline was blocked and no longer used.
It was not until the first year of Tianyou that Fan Yang was captured by Zhou Jun, and Li Guangbi led his troops to liberate most of Hebei. As a result, Jizhou Yuyang Port fell into the hands of the Tang army again, and the coastline was reactivated.
However, since coastal areas such as Cangzhou have not been open to maritime traffic for several years, only some fishing boats go fishing in the territory, and there are very few seagoing ships entering and exiting.
In order to prevent the Yan army from attacking from the sea, the Cangzhou Prefecture set up guards and beacons in the Pingshu area of Lucheng near Yuyang.
At this time, the three large two-masted ships, taking advantage of the wind, passed through Laizhou Port and spent three days and two nights approaching Yuyang Port.
The ship was soon discovered at the beacon tower near Yuyang Port. The guards immediately lit the beacon and sent fast horses to the nearest Rongbao to report the military situation.
When the sea ship approached, contrary to the expectations of the Tang army in the beacon tower, the lead ship slowed down and raised a large canvas flag on the mast. On the flag was written a crooked "
"Tang" character.
The soldiers of the Tang Dynasty in the beacon tower looked at each other in shock.
After everyone put it all together, they felt that these ships were nondescript and did not resemble the designs of the Tang Dynasty ships at all.
Seeing the three large ships floating on the sea, no longer approaching the coast, another small ship was lowered.
A dozen sailors from the sea-going ship jumped on the boat, rowed the oars, and sailed all the way to the shore.
Sergeant Tang mounted his crossbow, raised his shield, and carefully formed a formation to the shore. Looking at the group of sailors who looked like savages, he shouted nervously: "Who are you? Tell me your name!"
The group of savage-like sailors ignored Tang Jun's questions at all. When they came to the shore, the first thing they did was grab the sand under their feet, dance happily, and shout some unknown words.
The Tang sergeant raised his crossbow, pointed it at the group of people, and shouted again: "If you don't want to die, tell me your name!"
Among the group of sailors, the leader had a beard and his clothes were in tatters, with the original style almost unrecognizable.
He brushed aside his messy hair and shouted to the soldiers of the Tang Dynasty: "I am a member of the Tang Dynasty Jingzhao, the military code of the left front chamber of the Anxi Army, Du Huan!"
The soldiers of the Tang Dynasty were stunned and looked at each other. Then someone cursed: "That's nonsense! I am a sergeant of the Anxi Army. I have never heard of a military officer named Du Huan in the army!"
Du Huan scratched his head, looked down at himself, and shouted to the Tang soldiers: "I know Zhou Duhu, please take me to see him!"
Someone in the Tang army sneered: "You look like you, how dare you say that you know the commander-in-chief?"
Du Huan was so anxious that no matter what he said, the other party didn't believe him.
After a while, a horse army came from the Rong Fort closest to Yuyang Port.
The commander of the Ma Army was a captain in the Anxi Army.
When the captain saw Du Huan, he didn't believe it at first when he heard that he was from the Anxi Army.
Du Huan later talked about the Battle of Talos in the tenth year of Tianbao. The Dashi army captured tens of thousands of Tang soldiers and took them to Damascus.
Zhou Jun, who was the envoy of Anxi at that time, went to Dashi as an envoy and rescued countless prisoners.
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! And there was a Tang army with a thousand people. Because they were familiar with the secrets of ordnance, drills, formations, etc., they were secretly imprisoned in a fortress by the cannibal.
, tortured and extorted information.
Later, thanks to Zhou Jun's men secretly sneaking into the fortress, the thousand-man Tang army was rescued.
The more the captain heard, the more frightened he became. What Du Huan said was almost exactly the same as the rumors he heard in the Anxi Army.
When the matter reached this point, the captain did not dare to make the decision without authorization, so he could only ask Du Huan and a group of Tang army sailors to get off the warship first.
Then, everyone set off to Lucheng where the Qianning army was stationed.
Du Huan and his entourage finally had their first hearty meal from their hometown in Lucheng, then changed their clothes, took a shower, and slept.
The next morning, the Qianning Army sent people to send Du Huan and others to Jizhou where Fanyang Jiedushi Li Guangbi was located.
After some communication, Du Huan and his entourage finally arrived at the palace city in Liangzhou City a month later.
Zhou Jun, who learned about Du Huan's return from a messenger, along with his civil and military officials, waited at the gate of the palace early, and hosted a banquet of the highest standard to receive this group of soldiers of the Tang Dynasty who had sailed almost halfway around the world.
Walking into the Long Street of Miyagi City, Du Huan was among the crowd. The moment he saw Zhou Jun, he couldn't control his emotions and fell to his knees on the ground, bursting into tears.
The latter stepped forward and helped him up.
Zhou Jun couldn't help but sigh when he saw that Du Huan's appearance and body shape had changed drastically due to being at sea for a long time.
Welcoming him into the central hall of Shangshu Province, Zhou Jun looked at Du Huan and asked: "We have been apart for three years. How did you get here these days?"
Du Huan: "Reporting to the Governor, I and the thousand prisoners of the Tang army escaped with the help of the Yinmen and the Umayyads. First we entered the Red Sea from Fustat (Cairo City) in Egypt, Then we sailed all the way south for dozens of days and arrived at the southernmost point of Dashi, Muha Port."
"Our supplies ran out, and we had to venture into the city at Mucha Port to replenish fresh water and food. However, because the Tang Dynasty's face was too conspicuous, we were discovered by the local defenders when we left the port, and a battle broke out. In order to cover the enemy, we The troops fled, and the 120 Tang troops on the tail ship decided to stay and break off the rear... In that battle, none of the Tang troops who broke off the rear surrendered, and none of them survived in the end..."
Hearing this, Zhou Jun sighed.
Du Huan continued: "After leaving Muhar Port, we were wanted by the entire Dashi Navy. There were about sixty warships wandering near the Arabian Sea, searching for us all the way. At that time, I and several leaders of the army, After some calculations, I felt that the Egyptian merchant ship I was traveling on was too conspicuous, so I designed a trap on the islands near Oman."
"We stranded our ship on the shore, making the Dashi people think we had encountered a storm and had to go ashore to take shelter. When the Dashi battleship docked, we attacked them by surprise at night and captured the ship. Finally, we got on the The Dashi battleship successfully passed through the heavy siege of the Dashi Navy border city of Markland Port and officially entered the West China Sea."
"After entering the West Sea, we no longer have to worry about the pursuit of the Dashi Navy. However, along the way, storms, reefs, and pirates have kept our people attrition. When the fleet left Tianzhu and arrived in Luoyue Kingdom (now Malaysia) At that time, the number of survivors in the fleet was less than half compared to when it set off. Later, the disease spread during the voyage, and everyone in the fleet had to go ashore to recuperate. That great epidemic reduced the number of the fleet by another hundred There are many people, and the only people alive are over 300 years old."
"After that, it took several more months for the fleet to finally arrive at Guangzhou Port. We originally wanted to go ashore here and go to the local government to report. But after some inquiries, we found that other places in Jiangnan and other places have been established.
New Dynasty. At this time, the Tang Dynasty was actually divided into north and south, and there were two more emperors on the throne."
"I discussed with the team leaders for a long time, and finally decided to leave Guangzhou and continue northward to find Beitang where Zhou Duhu was. Along the way, we inquired about news while sailing carefully, and finally sailed into Yuyang Port.
Arrived in Hebei."
Although many parts of Du Huan's narrative may sound ordinary, the dangers within them are actually chilling if you think about it carefully.
He and the 300 Tang soldiers who survived spent three years avoiding pursuers and dealing with disasters. They wandered the sea for thousands of miles and finally returned to the Tang Dynasty. It can be said to be a miracle in the history of human navigation.