No matter how unpleasant it is, since we have invited people ashore, the night banquet still has to be held.
Han Qian and his father also stayed overnight in the house. The next day, they excused themselves because they had a long way to go and could not stay too long. After lunch, they left.
Han Daoming and Han Daochang had ulterior motives and insisted on sending Han Daoxun and his son to Suiyingwu Port to set sail.
After riding out of the Governor's Mansion, Han Qian reined up his horse in the street and stopped, as if there were stones in his boots that hurt his feet. He took off his boots against the corner of the street and let the tops of the boots dangle down for a few times before putting them on again and getting on the horse.
After boarding the ship, several boatmen pulled up the somewhat tattered mat sail. Only then did Han Daoxun see Han Qian take out a wax pill from his arms and twist it open. There was a note hidden in it, which saved Han Qian from going out.
The boss of the governor dismounted in the street. It turned out that someone had hidden the wax pill in the corner in advance and marked it for Han Qian to pick up.
"When did you arrange someone in Chizhou?" Han Daoxun asked.
"When the Ministry of Civil Affairs used the seal on the official memorial, I asked Guo Nuer, Lin Zongjing and other family soldiers to go west first, and inquire about the local customs along the way. I also hoped to find out some interesting things to pass the time for us," Han Qian said
, "I just thought that the uncle would not let us go so easily, so I asked them to keep an eye on Chizhou to see who would come in and out in the past few days!"
"What's unusual in Chizhou?" Han Daoxun asked curiously.
"Comments on the Yongjian Chapter" was compiled by Han Daoxun and Han Qian together. We also know that Han Qian's principle of Yongjian is to alternate between light and dark lines. Currently, their boat is sailing in the river with a clear goal, which can be regarded as a bright line; Zhao Wuji, Guo Nuer, etc.
If someone led Zuosi's scouts to set off first, it would be a hidden line.
Hidden threads lurk in the dark, so you need to endure loneliness. Unless you get key information, you shouldn't take the initiative to contact them.
"Uncle, the second uncle can still think of using this stupid method to alienate the relationship between us and the third prince, but that doesn't mean there isn't a ruthless person in the uncle's house," Han Qian curled his lips and asked with a smile, "Dad is interested.
Do you know who secretly contacted Zhao Mingting’s men last night?”
"Alas..." Han Daoxun did not ask Han Qian what the scout Zuo Si who had lurked in advance discovered last night. He looked up and saw the boss on the river embankment. The second brother had already returned to the city surrounded by people. He just sighed lightly, no
say what.
Even the elite scouts under the Privy Council's Staff Division would not have too many secret rooms, let alone the Secret Cao Zuo Division that Han Qiancai was responsible for building in less than a month.
Han Qian mobilized all available manpower to the maximum extent, which was only forty or fifty people.
After leaving Jinling, the sky is high, the mountains are deep, the mountains are far away and the forests are dense. The limited manpower of both sides are lurking in the dark. It is extremely difficult to find clues about the other party; they can't even confirm whether Zhao Mingting has any intention of sending people.
Not good for him.
Neither Han Duan nor Han Jun could stand Han Qian's provocation last night and went out of the city to contact Zhao Mingting's people. This was not what Han Daoxun wanted to see, but it also proved that Zhao Mingting had indeed sent people to harm him.
There are river embankments in the Chizhou City River section. In addition, the river water swelled and submerged the shoals on both sides. The ship sailed westward along the south bank of the river.
At this time, the wind direction changed, and strong winds blew from the southwest. The old shipwright Ji Fu familiarly directed the boatmen to adjust the angles of the hull and the mat sails, so that the hull turned to the southwest, and the mat sails formed an acute angle with the wind direction.
This is also the so-called "being exposed to the wind from all sides and sailing on the wind." Zhao Ting'er, Qingyun and other girls saw it and were surprised. They didn't expect that they could still sail against the wind.
Ji Xiyao, son of Ji Fu, smiled proudly and said: "This is still a headwind. If there is a headwind, my father can still make the boat go backwards."
Han Qian was sitting on the deck, tapping the side of the ship with his bare feet. He did not think about Han Jun going to see Zhao Mingting's subordinate Ji Kun late at night.
Ji Kun was very vigilant. After Guo Nuer saw him meeting Han Jun, he soon lost his whereabouts. This also confirmed that the Anning Palace did not want his father to smoothly take up his post in Xuzhou.
What Guo Nuer and the others are sure about now is that there are not many troops sent by Zhao Mingting in Chizhou City. From Chizhou to the east, the Yangtze River is relatively straight, and no suspicious ships are seen stranded on the river. Zhao Mingting seems to know it too.
No matter how dissatisfied Han Daoming is here, he will not condone their actions in Chizhou.
Before Guo Nuer and the others could further understand the whereabouts of Ji Kun and others, Han Qian could only sit back and watch what happened. At this time, he was distracted by other things.
The principle of sailing against the wind seems incomprehensible, and Han Qian also knew that he had mastered the technique of sailing against the wind a long time ago.
He noticed that the ship was traveling diagonally against the wind at this time. Even after adjusting the angle of the hull, the wind was pouring back from their diagonal front, and the hull moved significantly sideways.
This is obviously caused by the flat bottom of the boat, which cannot offset most of the lateral force.
Also due to the constant deflection of the hull, Ji Fu had to direct the boatmen to constantly adjust the sails and rudder to correct the hull. This naturally took a lot of time, but in fact Han Qian found that the speed of the boat sailing against the wind was not much faster.
slow.
Doesn’t this mean that if some time for side correction can be saved, the speed of sailing against the wind will actually be much faster than that of sailing with the wind?
This made Han Qian confused. It was obviously in conflict with some of his fused dream memories.
How can a boat sailing sideways against the wind be so much faster than a boat sailing with the wind?
Could it be that when a sailboat moves forward, the sails are not driven by the wind and move the hull forward?
Is the dream knowledge wrong, or is his integration of dream knowledge not deep enough?
This is not surprising either.
The person in the dream, Zhai Xinping, is good at finance, literature and history, and has a weak foundation in science and engineering.
A sailboat built thousands of years later could only reach a speed of a thousand miles a day by borrowing the power of the wind. However, this time they were sailing on an open river. On average, they could only reach a speed of two hundred miles a day if they traveled day and night. There was a difference in speed.
Four or five times, Han Qian knew that this was obviously not something that could be explained with simple mechanics knowledge.
Of course, even if Han Qian didn't know why, he could figure out a way to greatly increase the speed of the new sailboat.
He couldn't help but think, don't expect to travel thousands of miles a day. If his father in Xuzhou can really build a fast sailing ship that can travel five or six hundred miles a day, the journey of the Xuzhou ship to Jinling can be shortened from more than a month to about ten days.
.
If we can find out the water conditions and travel day and night, the itinerary will be greatly reduced, and the efficiency will be increased four to five times. From the perspective of commercial transportation, the advantages here will be far beyond everyone's imagination.
Although it would take a very long time to build a new type of fast ship, Han Qian thought carefully that traditional sailing ships could not be modified.
"Are you thinking about the secret room sent by Anning Palace?" Han Daoxun walked through the cabin, sat over and asked, "Are you going to go ashore in person?"
If Guo Nuer and the others find out the whereabouts of the men sent by Zhao Mingting, Han Qian will naturally go ashore to break the situation in person, but he is in no hurry now. He will wait for Guo Nuer and the others to give further signals.
Han Qian shook his head and said: "I'm thinking that even if we don't build a new ship, the ship under our feet can be modified. Dad, have you discovered that the actual speed of a ship sailing diagonally against the wind has increased a lot, just because the hull is constantly changing? It was pushed sideways by the crosswind, and it was necessary to constantly adjust the direction of the ship, which delayed a lot of time, so it didn't appear to be moving quickly?"
"Well!" Han Daoxun, who has been led by Han Qian these days, has been thinking a lot about the boat he is riding on. He nodded to show that he had also noticed this and said, "I am also very confused. Why is the boat so fast in the crosswind? It will improve so much. I just went to the stern of the ship to find Ji Fu to think about it, and he didn’t know why."
Han Qian couldn't figure out the reason for crosswind acceleration. This was obviously not something that people in the world could understand at that time. He changed this and said: "Ignore the crosswind acceleration thing. The child is thinking in his heart, if nails are added to the bottom of the boat to block water, With thick plates, when the wind pushes the ship sideways, the thick plates can use the force of the water flow to resist the force. The hull should become more stable, shorten the time to adjust the hull, and the actual speed can become much faster."
Han Daoxun thought for a while and felt that what Han Qian said was quite reasonable. He smiled and said: "This can be modified and verified immediately after arriving in Xuzhou."
"Maybe you don't need to go to Xuzhou to verify it." Han Qian said with a smile.
"How to verify?" Han Daoxun was also quick in thinking. As soon as he asked, he realized that there was a way to verify whether what Han Qian said was feasible. "The root of your idea is to block the water flow from the side to stabilize the hull. We are now There is no way to turn the boat over and add a water deflector to the bottom, but you can add boards to the sides of the boat to insert into the water?”
"I think so too. I will call the Ji family father and son over to see if we can discuss a way to implement it immediately." Han Qian had already become an activist. He stood up and called Ji from the stern of the ship across the neck-high low cabin. Fu, Ji Xiyao and his son are here.
Ji Fu heard what Han Qian said and thought about it for a long time. His son Ji Xiyao secretly pulled his lapel and finally said reluctantly: "...it seems like we can give it a try."
Of course, Ji Fu felt in his heart that Han Qian was just messing around. If the craftsmanship passed down from generation to generation could be improved, there would be no shortage of bright and talented shipbuilders among the predecessors. Wouldn't they have changed it long ago?
However, Ji Fu knew that his son was secretly tugging at his lapel to remind him that the young master in front of him was really not easy to mess with. He also wanted to ask him to go through so much trouble, but nothing big would happen, so he reluctantly agreed to give it a try.
There are a lot of materials in the bottom of the ship to repair the sailboat in case the ship is damaged on the way.
After making room at the bow of the ship, Han Qian directed his men to join two old rudders together with thick plates to widen them, and insert them into the water from both sides of the ship to fix them. It was not completed until the sun set over the river, but at this time he continued to sail sideways against the wind, and the hull was indeed stable. many.
By eliminating the need for correction of the ship's side motion, Ji Fu, as an experienced shipwright and master craftsman, was able to accurately estimate the ship's speed, which increased by at least 40%.
"Young Master, this is a wonderful idea. Old Ji Duanduan never thought that this method would be so feasible." Ji Fu said with praise. He didn't expect that simply splicing two old rudders together with thick plates and inserting them into the water would have such an obvious effect. Not only does the speed increase, the hull does not shake, the people in the boat are much more comfortable, and the boatman no longer needs to frequently adjust the hull, which saves a lot of effort.
"In addition to being able to kill people, I don't seem to be stupid either." Han Qian smiled slightly.
Ji Fu, Ji Xiyao and his son were too frightened to answer the question.
Han Qian raised his head and looked at the sky. It was cloudless. A light moon had already appeared in the eastern sky. It was destined to be full of stars and moon tonight. He said to Ji Fu: "You can use the crosswind to sail as much as possible. We will not rest at night. We will see tomorrow.
Can I enter Jiangzhou before noon?"
Seeing Ji Fu looking over inquiringly, Han Daoxun also nodded and asked Ji Fu to do as he was told. He knew what Han Qian was thinking.
They didn't see many suspicious people watching on both sides of the river along the way. This meant that the number of troops sent by Zhao Mingting was not particularly large - and it could not be particularly large - and at the same time, they were also on guard against being seen whereabouts, and being caught again.
Think of it as an ambush between enemies.
The men and horses sent by Zhao Mingting probably roughly estimated the time they would arrive in Jiangzhou, Ezhou, Yuezhou and other places based on the speed of their ships, and then someone watched them at a fixed location.
If they could speed up significantly, they might disrupt the deployment and rhythm of the men sent by Zhao Mingting, which would expose them to more flaws, and call Secret Cao Zuosi's scouts to capture them, thereby seizing the initiative.
