The officials at the building where the news was blocked were quite surprised. Why did this sorcerer, who was supposed to be wanted, appear here in such a grand manner?
But those who are more knowledgeable know that Xu Fu has been exonerated: last year, shortly after the Zhutian rebellion was put down, when the court was settling accounts after the fall, Linzi and Jibei County magistrates submitted evidence about Fang Warlock's possible participation in the rebellion, and this group immediately became street rats.
, everyone shouted to beat him.
At the same time, Xu Fu, who had disappeared for half a year, was discovered in a dungeon on a small island off the coast of Qingdao by Gong Ao, who was out on patrol...
Xu Fu was also bitter. He was imprisoned by the black husband for more than half a year, and he was not tortured indiscriminately. He was left alone without even seeing the sun. He visited him every three to five and asked him to explain to Lu Ao, Han Zhong and other magicians.
Black stuff.
He didn't say anything at first, but then he couldn't bear it any longer and started to reveal it one after another.
"Do you know?" Heifu asked him.
"Know...know."
Heifu laughed at that time and said: "You didn't report what you knew, and you still wanted to deceive your majesty with Lu and Han. It's really a capital crime. Fortunately, I had someone intercept you in Langya, otherwise, you would have no chance of survival."
After that, Heifu abandoned Xu Fu and refused to see him for four months in a row. Xu Fu had no one to talk to for more than a hundred days. The old man who delivered the food was also mute. He wanted to die.
When Hei Fu came back, he simply said that the rebellion in the fields had been put down by him, and then asked Xu Fu to draw a map of the Jiao-Liao Sea.
Xu Fu still wanted to hide it, because he felt that if he told everything he knew, Hei Fu would soon no longer need him and would kill people and silence him.
But after Heifu saw the first version of the chart he presented, he just smiled lightly, picked up the charcoal pen next to him, and sketched it on the paper.
After a while, a map of Jiaodong, Liaodong, and the Korean Peninsula appeared on it.
After Xu Fu saw it, he was also shocked. The general direction of the coastline was exactly the same as what he remembered in his mind! What's even more amazing is that Heifu could draw coastlines that Xu Fu had never been to, even in the southeast of the Korean Peninsula.
, also added a huge island, pointed at it and joked:
"Xu Fu, Xu Fu, if you want His Majesty to give you boys and girls, this is not the place you want to go to... What do you call this place? Japanese? Fusang? Japanese? Land of the rising sun?"
It didn't matter what it was called. Xu Fu was almost scared to death. He thought it was a little secret he had thought up for himself, but Hei Fu ruthlessly exposed it. How did he know?
Xu Fu couldn't figure it out. He just thought it was a god. He was so impressed that he couldn't hide it in front of Hei Fu anymore.
He didn't know that this was the map of China that had been hung on the classroom wall for many years when Heifu was in junior high school in his previous life. He used mysticism to frighten the alchemist, which was regarded as repaying him with his own medicine.
After intimidating Xu Fu into obeying his plan, Heifu told Xu Fu in a high-spirited manner that the fact that Warlock Fang colluded with Zhutian to rebel had been exposed, and the group was completely desolate. Xu Fu was outraged and became a wanted criminal.
Xu Fu was a little desperate. Would he, a smart man like him, have to be a prisoner for the rest of his life?
Hei Fu didn't say anything at the time, and it took Xu Fu a while to wake up. Hei Fu hinted so much, and he was just telling him: You only have one chance left, and that is to stand up and expose Lu Han!
Xu Fu was willing to cooperate. After he was brought back to Jimo, Hei Fu and the county magistrate interrogated him together. Xu Fu followed the script provided by Hei Fu and claimed that he had suddenly disappeared and did not go to the Chengshanjiao meeting. He was not deliberately deceiving the emperor, but was shocked to hear that
The alchemist Han Zhong and others tricked the emperor into going to sea in order to plot evil.
"I wanted to report, but I was discovered by Lu Han's men. I was kidnapped and thrown into a dungeon on an unknown island. I was able to escape recently. Now I heard that His Majesty was assassinated and the fields rebelled. All of the above are Lu Han's treacherous plan.
!”
Governor Heifu took this matter very seriously and immediately sent Xu Fu to Qin Shihuang.
After no longer believing in Warlock Fang's lies, how could the emperor condescend to see him? Everything was left to the trial of Ting Wei Ye Teng.
Xu Fu found that all his escape routes were blocked. From being escorted to being interrogated, it was Heifu's people who were handling the matter. Even when he arrived at the emperor's palace, it was Heifu's husband. Ting Wei Ye Teng came to interrogate him. If he said a wrong word, he would be punished.
The opponent has plenty of ways to kill him immediately.
What's the point of suddenly betraying the black man and exposing him? The black man is in chaos, he is granted the title of concubine, and he is favored. The nonsense of a wanted criminal will not cause any harm to him, but will kill himself.
Xu Fu is a person who cares about himself and his life. He knows that the most important thing he should do is to listen to Hei Fu and completely draw a clear line with Warlock Fang...
As a result, his testimony became the last straw to bring down Warlock Fang. Qin Shihuang became furious and deceived hundreds of people in total.
The unlucky Hou Sheng was implicated simply because he was "unaware", but Xu Fu, as the first prosecutor, could be pardoned according to the law.
But Xu Fu was still not free. Afterwards, Hei Fu also requested that although Xu Fu was a magician, he had never dared to deceive the emperor and was extremely familiar with maritime affairs, so that he could be allowed to serve in Jiaodong. Qin Shihuang agreed.
At the beginning of this year, Xu Fu returned to Jiaodong and worked under the county magistrate's office, but he kept a low profile and seldom appeared.
But Xu Fu didn't expect that after returning to Jiaodong, the errand Heifu gave him was to manage Fang Warlock...
After the warlocks were trapped, this group had disappeared. Only Jiaodong remained, those warlocks who had helped Heifu search for gold mines and improve the technology of drying salt. They had made meritorious service to the court and were spared.
But after this scare, the relationship between Fang Warlock and Hei Fu has changed dramatically compared to before. In the past, they were full of hostility, but now they regard Hei Fu as their thigh. Once Hei Fu no longer protects them, they may be captured and executed at any time.
kill.
Heifu divided the remaining ten or so alchemists into two groups and learned "Zhizao Zhiwu", that is, playing with cinnabar to refine mercury, and gold and iron to form a batch, and secretly developed a project in Qingdao.
Those who are fond of seeking immortality overseas, have taken many trips to sea, and are familiar with the wind, waves and hydrology are one group.
The final shape of the sea chart was drawn by Xu Fu and the second group of people. It is not an exaggeration to say that he drew it.
Today, Hei Fu brought Xu Fu to Yantai Port, and his intention was also very obvious: Hei Fu wanted to take charge of this cross-sea grain transportation, and he deliberately asked Xu Fu to pretend to refute the plan proposed by Ren Xiao!
As a person who has been in this sea area for twenty years, in terms of familiarity with Shaohai and Donghai, all the people present combined cannot catch up with him, right?
After deciding on the scenario, Xu Fu started his performance.
He walked to the center of the hall, bowed to Ren Xiao and the officials of the building and ship, then pointed to the location of Liaonan on the map and said:
"Commander Ren, you just said that the boat from Lushun to Mazishui was traveling very slowly, as if it were sailing against the current. It took seven or eight days. Do you know why this is?"
…
"Ocean current?"
Ren Xiao and the officials of the building and ship were a little confused when they heard this strange term coming out of Xu Fu's mouth.
"Yes, ocean currents."
"As rivers flow, so do seas! Anyone who has been out to sea all year round will know that the same ship, the same cargo, and the same calm seas. The journey from Yantai to Chengshanjiao saves time and only takes one day, while the return journey takes more effort and more time.
One and a half days.”
What causes this situation is what Xu Fu calls "ocean currents". Those who follow it are like going down a big river, and those who go against it are like sailing against the current. It's weird if you don't slow down.
What he said was in line with the common sense of Ren Xiao and the officials of the building and ship, but most of them came from the land of Chu and Yue, and were familiar with rivers and lakes. Xu Fu really didn't know the temperament of the sea as well as Xu Fu.
Seeing that everyone no longer looked down upon him, Xu Fu, an alchemist who had been working in the sea for half his life, used charcoal pencil to draw a line on the chart starting from the mouth of Mazi River (Yalu River) along the coast and ending at Lushun.
Stop and mark an arrow, indicating that it is heading from northeast to southwest.
"There are ocean currents along the coast of Jiaodong, and also in southern Liaoning. Unfortunately, they are in the opposite direction of transporting grain. Therefore, it takes time to travel from Lushun to Manfanhan, but it saves effort on the return trip!"
"I see."
Everyone nodded. Xu Fu had finally solved an unsolved mystery by explaining this.
Heifu sat high in the hall and let Xu Fu explain the various "ocean currents" along the Jiao-Liao coast. Xu Fu had some skills and had gone to sea many times. He had long known the existence of this kind of thing, and secretly summarized the rules, but gave it
The name is still Heifu.
The two coastal currents mentioned by Xu Fu are both rooted in the "Yellow Sea Warm Current", which is a branch of the "Kurotide", the world's second largest ocean current.
The Yellow Sea Warm Current flows north along the west coast of the Korean Peninsula. Near the Yalu River, due to the influence of the Liaodong Peninsula, it turns southwest. Under the influence of the current of the Yalu River, it becomes stronger and rushes directly into the Bohai Bay!
This warm current will circle along the coast of the Bohai Bay, bringing heat, making "Jieshi" or Qinhuangdao a freeze-free port, and then flowing out from the south side of the Bohai Sea. Near Yantai, Jiaodong, it receives fresh water from Laizhou Bay.
It turns into the coastal current of the Yellow Sea, bypasses Chengshanjiao, and continues to flow to the Langya area...
This is the circulation of ocean currents in the Bohai Sea and the Yellow Sea, and it is also the root cause of the early emergence of the Jieshi-Zhifu-Langya route.
Once you understand this, you can make full use of ocean currents for sailing.
Xu Fu said: "It is summer now, and the ocean currents in southern Liaoning are weak enough to make navigation difficult for ships. In autumn and winter, the ocean currents are twice as strong! By then, it will be really difficult to transport grain from Jiaodong to Lushun.
It’s difficult! One round trip may take a whole month!”
Ren Xiao and the officials of the building and ship pondered. If what Xu Fu said is true, then their grain transportation strategy can be barely accepted in summer, but once autumn and winter arrive, it will be difficult.
"But if you go the other way and set sail directly from Chengshanjiao, arrive at the coast of North Korea, and then go north to Manhan, the ocean current along the coast of Korea is from south to north. In this way, you can avoid the countercurrent and follow the ocean current on your return journey.
OK, you can get twice the result with half the effort and save a lot of time!"
(The previous article is incorrect. The easternmost boundary of the Qin Dynasty was Manfanhan, and the Liekou was still to the south. It should be the port of Jizi Korea)
Everyone knows that if you go with the flow, you will go faster, if you go against it, you will go slower. Everyone was gradually convinced by Xu Fu, but there was still a problem standing in front of them." I heard that there is enough time to sail directly from Chengshanjiao to North Korea.
It's four hundred miles away, and the boat takes four or five days to travel..."
Ren Xiao's most experienced ship officer looked troubled, shook his head and said: "I have also asked many old Yanqi boatmen. They have been to sea countless times, but they dare not use this waterway."
For this era, there were very few ocean voyages away from the coast. First of all, the sea was unpredictable. The sails of this era were still primitive and could not make good use of crosswinds. They had to go with the wind. If there was no wind, they had to rely on oars.
Draw.
To make matters worse, after losing the land markers, the ship's heading has also become a problem. During the day and clear nights, you can rely on the sun, moon and stars to judge the wind direction, but on cloudy days and cloudy nights, the fleet becomes
I'm a headless fly and I'm lost...
Among the Yanqi magicians, there were many who tried to sail long distances, but most of them seriously deviated from the route. The unlucky ones had their ships destroyed and people died. The lucky ones, when they finally got back, it would be the Year of the Monkey and the Moon of the Horse.
"That's because they are ignorant and don't know how to observe the wind direction."
Xu Fu did not take it seriously. As someone who dared to encourage the emperor to go to sea, and even took thousands of people on voyages to foreign lands in history, he naturally had a few brushes.
Xu Fu looked back at Hei Fu, and when his master nodded, he continued: "I have spent ten years studying the wind direction, and I have gained a little bit. At present, the wind mostly blows from east to west. It is a bit difficult to sail far, but once autumn comes,
But God helps us!”
"God help?"
Everyone frowned: "What do you mean by this?"
Xu Fu changed to chalk. On the chart, in addition to the black ocean currents, he also added some small white arrows. They went from north to south, or from south to north, or hovered...
"This is……"
How could the building and ship generals who have been working hard at sea all year round be unfamiliar with this thing?
Xu Fu clicked off the chalk: "Monsoon!"
This is the new name given to this special wind by Hei Fu, a maniac on naming. Xu Fu thinks it is very realistic. Monsoon is the wind that changes with the seasons!
"Xu Fu is right."
Hei Fu also stood up and clapped his hands to let everyone look at him.
"With the help of this wind, it is easy for ships to sail far away, cross thousands of miles of sea and conquer overseas countries!"
