"Captain, there is a coastline in front of you! You can see the coastline! It's the direction where the sun rises!"
On the main ship of the Fuchuan Fleet, a naval soldier stood in the watchtower on the mast and shouted excitedly.
When "Dudu Gan" heard this, he immediately took to the air with armor and looked far away to the east where the sun had just risen...
Before going to sea, in addition to keeping Gan Ning's position as prefect, which symbolized waiting for his return, Bai Tu also made him the naval commander.
It means that Gan Ning has the supreme command authority over the naval fleet, which can avoid possible disagreements after going to sea to the greatest extent, and decentralize power to ensure that Gan Ning has the highest authority!
It can be said that if Gan Ning wanted to be "Xu Fu", he could just float along the current...
Of course, Bai Tu knows very well that Gan Ning will never become the Savage King - he has supreme power, but he has to cut corners, stay away from prosperity and enjoyment, and even stay away from aesthetics? How others will choose, Bai Tu doesn't know, but
Bai Tu believed that Gan Ning must be the same as him and would never choose this way!
Going to sea is different from being on land, especially if it is the first time to explore a sea route. No one knows how long it will be at sea. Any slight restriction at this time may become the foreshadowing of the complete annihilation of this navy.
Giving Gan Ning the maximum authority is a sign of trust in Gan Ning and is also responsible for the safety of this navy!
Gan Ning soared into the sky and looked into the distance. The armor's helmet had "far-sighted lenses" protruding from the eye sockets - this was the function of a telescope.
Sure enough, it is the coastline that I have longed for, and although it is not like the land of China, it is also covered with mountains and forests, and there seem to be several islands connected, unlike ordinary small islands - it has been three months since I set out to sea, even Gan Ning, it seems
Arriving at this coastline, I felt a little excited.
After all, it has been two months since I left the last land port. In the past sixty days, all I could see was the boundless sea, and the small islands I occasionally found were all miserable places. Everyone would be mentally disturbed.
Fortunately, we had prepared enough before. Not only was there sufficient fresh water, but also to prevent the fresh water from spoiling. We also brought a large amount of light wine for blending, beans for sprouting to prevent scurvy, and tea leaves for making tea. We even brought special entertainment supplies.
The utensils used were well prepared in all aspects...
This also enhances the confidence of the navy officers. Otherwise, if there is insufficient water on the way, in a place with no village in front and no store in the back, morale will quickly disappear and people will easily become impatient.
During the Eastern Han Dynasty, there were already terms such as Yizhou and Danzhou.
Although there are some folk rumors that this is the name of "Overseas Fairy Mountain", in fact, some among the Jiangdong gentry are vaguely aware that there are two such islands overseas.
Because in the coastal areas of Wu and Yue, you can occasionally see natives from the two states who come to trade, so in the middle and late period of the Three Kingdoms, Sun Quan would send Zhuge Zhi and Wei Wen out to sea to find Yizhou and Danzhou, hoping to plunder overseas barbarians to enrich Wu.
country.
It was not that Sun Quan had a sudden idea to go overseas to look for "fairy mountains". At least at that time, Yizhou and Danzhou had some exchanges with the land of Wu and Yue.
Even Sun Quan believed it, based on the common sense summarized from "hearing and guessing", such as... I believe that Yizhou has more than 100,000 households, and I believe that Danzhou is further away and has a larger population...
The scholarly Confucian scholars at that time also inherited the mantle of Confucius, and relied on imagination to figure out things they didn't know.
He swears that Yizhou is two thousand miles southeast of Linhai County...
Well, Linhai County is a county east of Jiaozhou, which is roughly the location of Fujian in later generations. The general direction of southeast is correct, but...two thousand miles? This number is three or four times false!
Although many Wu officials at the time thought this was unreliable, Sun Quan still insisted on sending Zhuge Zhi and Wei Wen out to sea - it can also be seen that Sun Quan was so desperate for the Northern Expedition that he would rather seek overseas barbarians.
.
In history, Zhuge Zhi and Wei Wen were even more miserable than Gan Ning. They sailed for more than a year, going around in circles according to those people's imaginary charts, and 90% of the tens of thousands of soldiers they brought with them died, and the fleet
The number of ships was also greatly reduced, and finally a year later, they arrived at Yizhou, which was the treasure island of later generations...
This was also the first time that Chinese civilization began to have a cultural impact on Treasure Island!
It is a pity that Zhuge Zhi and Wei Wen, together with the remaining soldiers, deceived and robbed thousands of barbarians back. After returning, they were accused of "violating the imperial edict" and executed by Sun Quan - after all, the loss was
It was too disastrous, and the gains outweighed the losses, and a group of ministers had previously opposed it, and Sun Quan didn't want to take the blame!
In comparison, Gan Ning is much luckier now. Not only is he more prepared, but the route is clearer, and the Fuchuan fleet is also larger in scale and more technologically advanced. It only took three months from the time Wu Jun went to sea.
, the last time I went to sea at a coastal port was two months ago, and now I have seen "Yizhou"...
This is why Bai Tu regarded "finding Yizhou" as a novice mission for the navy instead of going north to Liaodong.
Judging from the historical experience of Soochow, it takes longer to go to Liaodong from Jiangdong than to find Yizhou. This is just because you can dock along the coast, so it is much safer, and more importantly... you will not lose your way.
In terms of actual distance and location, it is much easier to go to Yizhou than to go north to Liaodong.
However, the "Yizhou" that Gan Ning saw at this time was not a treasure island, but the Penghu Islands not far from the treasure island!
But in the eyes of the Eastern Han people, these all belong to the category of "Yizhou".
Because the structure of Fuchuan is a single-keel pointed-bottomed boat, the requirements for port depth and water conditions are higher when docking. Therefore, Gan Ning only found a good location after circling for a short half of the circle. After getting as close to the island as possible, he dropped anchor.
, take a boat and go to "Yizhou"!
Such a ostentatious way around the island naturally attracted the attention of some "indigenous people". When we landed, some people had already gathered on the shore...
But Gan Ning is not worried - he has elite soldiers here, and for these natives, some metal spearheads are considered "artifacts", so what's so scary about them?
This means that I don’t have any malicious intentions, otherwise the other person should be afraid!
And in fact, in the Penghu Islands, the two sides can still communicate simply...
The treasure island itself has been influenced by Chinese civilization since the Three Kingdoms period, but... the Penghu Islands had refugees from various Xia countries who came here to seek refuge in the pre-Qin period.
As for why the Penghu Islands are so close to Treasure Island, yet they failed to bring Chinese civilization to Treasure Island?
The main reason is that these people are here to avoid disaster, and most of them are survivors of the subjugated country who cannot survive. Although the indigenous people on Treasure Island are still very primitive, they have already grown in size and cannot be affected by these refugees.
For primitive civilizations, "advanced" does not necessarily spread to "backward". If the fist is not big enough, the reverse is possible!
Moreover, the environment of the Penghu Islands, to be honest, has a very low livability index. It is far from the result of the development and improvement of later generations. These Xia remnants who came from the pre-Qin Dynasty to avoid disasters have not developed much, and even the civilization index is gradually deteriorating.
They can export culture, which is difficult for others...
But it is better than landing directly on the treasure island and facing the local indigenous people directly. At least the navy brought by Gan Ning has the same roots as the people of the Penghu Islands. Although the two sides have 80% language barriers, they can still speak and gesture.
Simple communication.
And as pre-Qin immigrants, although they have thrived in such harsh conditions for hundreds of years, many of their living habits are already very different from those of the Han Dynasty, and conditions do not allow them to abide by the cumbersome etiquette of the pre-Qin Dynasty, but... at least they will not be like the primitive tribes.
They are just as barbaric, even if they fight each other, there are no cruel religious rituals and mutual massacres.
They even preserved some of the bamboo slips and utensils brought by their ancestors.
The Penghu people...that is, the Yizhou people considered by Gan Ning's navy were still very enthusiastic at this time.
Although he was initially frightened by the large ship Gan Ning and others were riding on, and was a little wary, after discovering that Gan Ning and others did not have any malicious intentions, they quickly brought out food and water to entertain these guests from afar.
At this time, Gan Ning specially brought only a few dozen human generals. In order not to arouse the other party's alertness and tension, not too many people came, and he did not bring Ji Zao soldiers.
The leader was a man in his thirties, but he looked to be middle-aged. He seemed to be familiar with Gan Ning. The two of them talked and gestured, but they didn't know if each other's meaning was really conveyed...
Gan Ning also ordered the crew to bring some wine, preserved meat, tea and silk as a return gift to these "Yizhou people".
Of course, the heaviest gift was what Bai Tu reminded him to bring - boxes upon boxes of hoes and the iron head parts of rakes!
Gan Ning even took off his own sword and gave it to the man who was chatting and laughing with him.
After seeing Gan Ning's kindness, these pre-Qin survivors also took them to their own settlements.
These metal farm tools allow them to welcome guests from afar in the grandest way...
They were originally remnants of the pre-Qin period, and there were not as many rules at that time as they are now.
Zhou Rites? Zhou Rites are for the upper class and scholar-bureaucrats, and have nothing to do with "refugees" like them.
Especially since they have thrived in this environment for hundreds of years, the customs... Well, in Gan Ning's opinion, everyone is dressing a little "sexy" anyway.
After both sides gradually lowered their guard, Gan Ning took the middle-aged man in the lead and returned to the beach. He gestured to him and told him that there were many companions.
After that, the entire fleet, three thousand humans, and more than ten thousand Ji Zao soldiers began to land one after another.
The middle-aged man looked at Gan Ning excitedly after reading the first half, pointing and shaking his head.
Gan Ning also understood that this was telling himself - there is not so much food!
Gan Ning signaled that they had brought food and were not fleeing, and the middle-aged man felt relieved.
However...Gan Ning is really worried - if the so-called "Yizhou" is this size, they will really suffer a loss this time.
Although he was not worried that Bai Tu would take the blame, Gan Ning himself was not willing to give in...
Fortunately, there are still twenty scribes in the fleet - when they were selected, it was called the selection of dead soldiers!
Because the discovery of "Yizhou" was not the focus, and Bai Tu did not want to plunder the population and resources, but wanted to immigrate and control it, so he specially recruited a group of scribes - all "new learning" scribes trained by the General's Mansion.
They may have been able to read before, but what they really went to for "further study" was the "new learning" they learned in county schools.
Moreover... most of them come from a relatively poor background, otherwise they would not be able to learn new things, let alone sign up to go overseas.
Three days later, these scribes finally figured out the situation here through those antiquities and difficult interactions with the indigenous people, and Gan Ning also knew that this was not the real "Yizhou" yet...