"Your Highness, are you up so early?" On board the flagship of the Indian Ocean Squadron of the Ming Dynasty's Nanyang Fleet (specially set up to attack Egypt), Li Jiqian, the fleet commander with the rank of deputy general, walked onto the deck and saw standing on the ship.
A person by the bridge was stunned for a moment, then walked over and asked softly.
"There are no outsiders here. There is no need to call me with a formal word like 'Your Highness'. Even if you don't dare to call me by my name, you can just call me Qi Lang or Young Master." Wen Di turned his head when he heard the voice and said with a smile.
.
"Then I'll ask you to call you Qilang." Li Jiqian was not a cautious person, and there was no one within ten steps of them at this time, so he said the new title cheerfully.
"That's right." Wen Di smiled again and said, "You are my uncle, my only biological uncle. It's weird to hear you call me His Highness. It's best to call me this way."
He added: "I woke up due to harassment in the early morning, and couldn't sleep after that. I tossed and turned in bed for half an hour and still couldn't fall asleep, so I just got up. It happened to be that I could watch the sunrise. Uncle, look, this sunrise
How beautiful." Wen Di said, pointing to the sun in the east.
"It's indeed beautiful," Li Jiqian said. However, he had seen the sunrise on the sea so many times since he was a pirate that he had already become numb. But looking at the sun that had just crossed the sea, Li Jiqian's mind moved.
Suddenly something occurred to him and he said: "Qilang, do you feel that the sunrise is getting later and later every day?"
"The sunrise is getting later and later every day?" Wen Di shook his head: "I don't think so. When we rely on the land to buy food, vegetables and other things, isn't it okay to see the time?"
"Qilang, that's not what you are saying. Time all over the world is set according to the rising and setting of the sun. Since the sun here rises at this time, it is the beginning of the Mao period here. Of course, the time on land will not be the same as that on the sea.
There is a difference in time.”
"Then what do you mean?" Wen Di didn't understand what Li Jiqian was going to say.
"That is, how do you say, now, at this time, the sun rises, but in the Central Plains, the sun has already risen?"
"How could this happen?" Wen Di said in surprise.
"If according to the theory put forward by Sichengtang of Gezhiyuan, the earth under your feet is a ball, then the time when the sun shines on every inch of land must be different. In some places, the sun rises earlier, and in other places, the sun rises later.
." Li Jiqian said.
"The earth under your feet is a sphere?" Wen Di was even more surprised. It was the fifth year of Jianye's reign when Sichengtang and others proposed this hypothesis. It was also discussed by many people in the court in that year. Wen Di was only one year old at that time.
For many years, it was impossible to know. When he got older, few people mentioned this hypothesis, so Wen Di had never heard of it.
"This is what Sichengtang, the chief secretary of Gezhiyuan, said. It is said that it was first proposed by Fu. However, it has not been verified so far, so I don't know whether it is true or not. It is just a hypothesis at the moment." Li Jiqian explained.
"This can't be true." Wen Di refused to admit.
"It shouldn't be true." Li Jiqian also thought so and agreed.
"Forget it, let's not talk about it." Wen Di said something else. "Uncle, these days, pirates come to harass us every day. Why do these pirates do this? Our fleet is so eye-catching, and pirate ships are far away.
You can see it from a distance. Why do they still come to harass me when they know that they can’t grab anything and may even die?”
"This must be a strategy of the Ottomans or the Mamluks." Li Jiqian immediately replied: "The Ottomans did not want the Ming Dynasty to occupy Egypt, and the Mamluks were even less willing. In order to delay the arrival of the army in Egypt, they hired pirates to harass our army
.”
"Moreover, they may also have the intention of tiring their troops. They sent pirates to harass them day and night, so that the soldiers of the Ming Dynasty could not have a good rest and were more tired than usual. This not only slowed down the ship's speed, but also prepared for an ambush of the fleet."
"Ambush the fleet? Uncle, are you saying that the Ottomans or the Mamluks want to ambush our fleet?" Wen Di asked.
"That's definitely the case." When it comes to our business, Li Jiqian is confident in his judgment.
"Then where will they ambush? How to deal with it?" Wen Di asked again.
"If my prediction is correct, it should be the place where the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea meet." Li Jiqian took out a pen and paper, briefly drew a map of the Great Sea, pointed to the place where the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea meet, and said, "According to people who have traveled here
Businessmen there and the pilot on the ship said that although there is a waterway connected here, the waterway is extremely narrow. The widest point is only fifty or sixty miles, and the narrowest point is only more than forty miles. There are also islands in the strait.
, divides the entire strait into two halves, one half of which is only five or six miles wide, and although the other half is wider, there are many reefs under the water, making it difficult to sail."
"The enemy must have someone who is very familiar with the sea conditions to pilot and command, and can make full use of the complex sea conditions to ambush our army."
"Then how to deal with it?" After hearing what Li Jiqian said, Wen Di was a little worried.
"Don't worry, Your Highness. Although our army is not as familiar with the sea conditions as the enemy, there are still people who have sailed by here and know the safe channels. The officers and men of the Navy are all experienced in battles, and the generals are also experienced and face-to-face."
We will not panic against the enemy. Our artillery must be better than the enemy's. Even if the enemy has many ships, it may not be our opponent. And the narrow waterway is the same for the enemy. They cannot invest too many ships at one time to besiege us.
With our military and warships, we will definitely not lose this battle." Li Jiqian said confidently.
Wen Di didn't completely believe what he said, but he always knew that he couldn't attack him at this time, so he pretended to be confident and said: "Since uncle said this, I feel relieved."