The fleet set sail and headed straight for the South China Sea.
From this moment on, it is considered the official voyage of the Ming Dynasty Expedition Fleet.
It was nearly October, and the wind direction was still a little uncertain at first, but soon the north wind gradually picked up, and the fleet relied on the power of the north wind to sail faster. With the blessing of the wind, the soldiers rocking the oars could take a rest.
In order to avoid the leakage of information, the general waterway sailed close to the coast, and the southward route through Qiongzhou was abandoned. Zhang Yanling formulated a method of going directly south, deep into the South China Sea, and avoiding traditional waterways.
This is done because we don’t know how many warships and soldiers there are in the new port occupied by the Folang robots. A surprise attack is most effective. If we encounter an enemy ship or merchant ship on the waterway, the leakage of the fleet’s track will give the enemy
If you are on guard, this is what Zhang Yanling does not want to see.
Of course, this is entirely out of caution. In fact, after analysis at several military meetings, all the generals, including Zhang Yanling, believed that the Fo Lang robots who harassed the Ming Dynasty dispatched six warships and a thousand and five warships.
More than a hundred soldiers. Really a lot of troops.
The Folangji occupy Xingang as a trading port and stronghold. The number of troops stationed there will not be too many. This may be the majority of the troops dispatched by the opponent. The current number of troops in Xingang should not be too many.
The sea route is long and thousands of miles away. Although the sailing speed of the big ship is impressive, it is not really fast. With the help of wind, it can only sail a hundred miles in one day. It will take at least more than twenty days to reach the new port.
The sea is vast, with water on all sides. Although the soldiers and horses led by Zhang Yanling are navy troops, they are actually land ducks in the Beijing camp. At first, I was quite excited to see the vast sea and sky. But after sailing for several days, everything was boundless.
The sea water is tossed amidst the noise of the waves every day, and many soldiers cannot hold on looking at the monotonous scenery every day.
Some people start to get seasick and vomit until they feel dizzy. This is actually nothing. The wind oil essence that they carry can alleviate the symptoms.
What worries Zhang Yanling most is the psychological problems of the soldiers. After a long voyage, trapped on a large ship, facing the boundless sea water, the mood will become low and depressed. This is a natural thing.
For this group of sailors who were originally landlubbers, they did not have much experience in sailing and did not know how to regulate their emotions.
Zhang Yanling himself was actually a little depressed. Of course, it was just a momentary thing. With Zhang Yanling's strong heart and heading towards a great goal, she had already made psychological preparations. The so-called depression was just because she was extremely bored.
Zhang Yanling realized this problem and began to organize various ships to carry out various activities.
The first activity is racing. It is limited to one day, and each ship races at a high speed. At sunset, the one that has traveled the farthest is the winner. The whole ship is awarded with banners and drinks. All officers and soldiers on board are rewarded with ten taels of silver.
After a day of competition, the Jiangnan led by Zhang Yin came out on top. His warship sailed twenty miles further than other warships. That night the fleet gathered, and Zhang Yanling personally boarded the ship to present the bonus flag. All the ships in the fleet gathered around
All around, soldiers stood on the side of the ship to perform a military salute and shouted three times, "I'm glad to be defeated!"
Although the reward is not high, it is not just a trick to rush on the road. Zhang Yanling just hopes to arouse the emotions of the soldiers. In order to speed up the ship, the soldiers go shirtless and take turns rocking the oars. In this way, all the energy is dissipated in the sweat. Exercise
It can adjust their mood. Just think of it as letting them do some fitness exercises.
The second event is the fishing competition.
Each boat organizes fishing for one day only. It only lasts until sunset. The one who catches the biggest sea fish wins.
In fact, many soldiers don't know how to fish. But anyway, they have more time and there are rewards to get. If you don't fish, you won't catch anything.
Then I saw the entire fleet of soldiers gathered on both sides of the deck and at the stern of the ship, throwing down their fishing lines, staring at the sea, staring at the buoys fishing like clay and wood sculptures.
Zhang Yanling likes fishing. In later generations, he was also one of the fishing guys. This skill was a survival skill to match his love of backpacking and traveling in the mountains. Once trapped in the wilderness, as long as he has a pair of fishing gear
With it in hand, at least you won't starve to death.
But seeing Zhang Yanling adjust one after another, this ancient sea fish is really easy to catch, and not smart at all. He bit one after another, and was pulled up to the deck to jump around happily.
Tan Changshun, who was responsible for Zhang Yanling's little follower, was very excited at first. Every time Zhang Yanling caught a fish, he cheered happily and ran to pick up the hook. But as Zhang Yanling caught more and more fish, the number of fish caught was increasing.
The more the conversation happened, the more Tan Changshun lost his excitement. He just called out out of politeness. It had become commonplace.
Although the harvest was a lot, Zhang Yanling was not satisfied because the fish caught were not big. Moreover, news kept coming, and soldiers kept shouting that a big fish was caught on a certain boat, how long and heavy it was, etc., which made
Zhang Yanling was even more annoyed.
A fisherman will never fly, and similarly, a fisherman will never admit defeat. Zhang Yanling, who thinks that his fishing skills are good, refuses to accept the reality of failure. But the reality is that as the sun sets little by little, Zhang Yanling still catches all kinds of fish one after another.
There were small sea fish in various shapes and colors. He was so angry that he broke his guard and swore.
As the sun sets, Zhang Yanling throws the hook again. He knows that this is the last time before the sun sets. If he can't catch a big fish this time, he will definitely lose.
A navy soldier on Wang Hong's Liaodong caught a large yellow croaker, which weighed more than ten kilograms and was as long as a person from head to tail. It should be the biggest fish today.
Zhang Yanling stood at the stern of the boat holding the fishing line. The boat moved forward slowly, and the fishing line was dragged in the water behind it. After a while, Zhang Yanling felt that the fishing line moved. So he quickly took the line. When he started, he felt light and light, and Zhang Yanling felt
Disappointed. Looks like another small fish.
However, suddenly, the fishing line in his hand tightened, and the huge force pulled Zhang Yanling's palms painfully. The spool rotated loudly and was pulled into the seabed.
Zhang Yanling shouted loudly and began to control the fishing line, preparing to fight with it. Based on his feeling, he knew that this was a big fish. It was big enough.
After Zhang Yanling's game, the big fish was obviously tired and slowly surfaced from the water.
Everyone looked at the size of the fish floating in the water and made a roar. This fish was really too big. The back was so dark that it was hard to tell what kind of fish it was, but it was clear that it was a huge fish.
If you catch this, you will definitely come out on top.
In the afterglow of the sun, a big tuna lay on the deck. When measured with a ruler, it was actually seven feet long, which was bigger than any other fish caught.
Without measuring it, you know that this is today’s king of fish.
When taking out the fishhook, Tan Changshun found that there was a small silver fish hanging on the fishhook. He hurriedly told Zhang Yanling. When Zhang Yanling saw it, he shouted that he was lucky.
It turns out that I just caught the saury at the beginning. I didn't notice it. A tuna found the hooked fish, rushed up and swallowed the saury into its mouth. Now the fish and the hook were all stuck.
In the throat, it becomes a trophy.
When everyone heard about this, they were all surprised and laughed. It was really a fluke that the Duke of Guo got the first place. It was simply God's help.
Zhang Yanling was so happy that she won the first place. She was even more proud than winning a battle. The fishing competition was also a complete success. At least there was a delicious dish for dinner, which was freshly stewed sea fish and this white steamed bun. It was simply delicious.
Although fishing is not a physically strenuous sport, Zhang Yanling hopes to exercise the soldiers' patience through fishing. After all, fishing requires calming down.
Afterwards, there will be archery activities at sea, sail raising and lowering competitions, rope climbing activities between two ships at sea, deck basketball games, and indoor mahjong competitions on rainy days, etc.
All these activities, on the one hand, keep the soldiers busy and not idle, and on the other hand, they regulate their emotions and psychology and cheer them up.
I have to say that the effect is quite good. Since the launch of various activities, the soldiers have smiles more on their faces and their mood has been relieved a lot.
In this way, more than ten days passed. The fleet had sailed thousands of miles and arrived in the South China Sea.
When the soldiers heard that they had arrived in the South China Sea, they all said they wanted to find the Guanyin Bodhisattva in the South China Sea and see which fairy mountain she lived in.
However, what they Bodhisattva didn't see was a strange sight. After a sudden heavy rain, a seven-color rainbow appeared in the sky, spanning the horizon, and it was beautiful and beautiful.
On the sea, there was another strange scene. A group of white dolphins with smooth bodies and shiny bodies were chasing and leaping on both sides of the fleet, making crisp sounds. They jumped into the water with extremely vigorous postures, which attracted everyone's admiration.
I was amazed, applauded and cheered endlessly.
The rainbow in the sky is like a chain, and the dolphins are flying and chasing each other on the sea. This scene is not that the fairy mountain is better than the fairy mountain. Everyone is relaxed and happy. Although they do not see the Bodhisattva himself, everything in front of them is like the Bodhisattva appearing. This kind of fairyland
The ordinary scene remained in the memories of the soldiers for many years. It became the most beautiful picture in their memories.
…
Two days later, the fleet arrived at the Champa Kingdom on the west side of the South China Sea. When the distant coastline appeared in sight, all the soldiers breathed a sigh of relief. Finally they saw land and saw that this was not the Ming Dynasty, but the Ming Dynasty.
The vassal country occupied the city. However, my heart felt at ease when I saw the land.
Before dark, Zhang Yanling issued an order to turn off the lights on the entire ship and use the cover of darkness to approach the new port.