Yuan Xi stood on the bow of the boat, facing the cold and pungent sea breeze, which was like a cruel slap in the face in winter, burning on his face.
There was another reason he didn't tell Lu Xunming.
As a person who knows the technology of later generations, many of his ideas are either too advanced or unfeasible for this era. Some ideas that may seem absurd are actually more suitable for this era.
How to select the weapon technology that promotes the productivity of this era and changes the battlefield situation of this era can only be done by him personally going to the battlefield and thinking and understanding it personally.
Water battles, in particular, are crucial to Yuan Xi's future development strategy, so he must plan ahead and test whether his ideas are feasible.
The waves came and the ship jolted. The two guards on the deck slipped and hit the side of the ship hard. They couldn't stand up straight for a while and were laughed at by the people next to them.
Although some of them are proficient in water skills, being able to swim is different from riding a boat, so some people feel dizzy after boarding the boat, and it may take some time to adapt.
Yuan Xi was used to it. He turned his head to look at Lu Lingqi, who had a pale face, and said jokingly: "Marquis Wen, Tiger Girl, turns out to be seasick too."
Lu Lingqi's teeth were itching with hatred. She couldn't help but vomited it out not even two hours after boarding the boat. She finally started to get used to it, but the wind and waves on the sea became stronger again, which made her stomach churn.
She endured the discomfort, held on to the side of the boat tightly, and said, "How can we fight a war when the sea is so stormy?"
"And if you fall into the water, it will be difficult to save your life, right?"
Yuan Xi nodded in agreement, "Indeed, if you fall into the water on the river, you can still have a chance of survival. This battle at sea is extremely dangerous. To say that you will survive a narrow escape is an exaggeration."
"Especially in winter, the sea water is so cold that if someone falls in, he will freeze to death within a few seconds."
Lu Lingqi thought thoughtfully, "So, if the two parties are fighting at sea, it will be a life-and-death battle for both sides, and neither side will have a way out?"
Yuan Xi replied: "You can say that."
"Surrender immediately when the situation is bad, and you may be able to save your life, but unless the enemy has a good reputation, he will usually fight to the death."
"After all, it's much easier to kill prisoners at sea. Just throw them into the sea and no one will know about it afterwards."
Lu Lingqi stared at Yuan Xi with suspicion, "You said it so vividly, have you ever done this kind of thing?"
Yuan Xi sweated profusely and quickly defended: "No, I just heard it from hearsay."
Suddenly, the sailor on the mast who was watching the wind blew his whistle, and the shrill sound spread throughout the deck. All he heard was shouting and staring, and the soldiers below the deck rushed up one after another with their halberds in hand.
This halberd is not only much longer than those used on land, but has also been specially modified. An iron bar of equal length is fixed along the halberd shaft to prevent it from being cut off by the enemy.
At that time, water warfare meant long-distance warfare with bows and arrows, while close combat consisted of jumping onto the opposite ship to fight, or stabbing with long weapons. At this time, the size of the ship played a decisive role.
A big ship means you are high, so you can fight high and low, and it will be difficult for the other side to jump on the bow of your own ship. If the ship is small, it will be at a great disadvantage.
Yuan Xi saw that the soldiers were a little panicked and said: "Don't run around, hide your weapons under the side of the ship, don't be seen by the other party, each find a place to cover your body, and stabilize your body!"
Although these soldiers have been trained, many of them went to sea for the first time. They were a little confused when they heard the signal of encountering the enemy. Now they woke up when they heard Yuan Xi's words. They held their breath and concentrated, and gradually calmed down.
It would be too embarrassing for people like you to perform badly if you send Jundu to fight in person!
Seeing everyone's reaction, Yuan Xi nodded with satisfaction, thinking that this was the benefit of the general supervising the formation. These soldiers could not become fat in one bite, and now they were able to calm down quickly, which was already a pretty good performance.
However, as the other side approached, everyone realized that there was a false alarm. It turned out to be a ferry for people fleeing from Qingzhou to Liaodong. The boat was packed with people. Seeing Yuan Xi's ship approaching, everyone had a look of fear on their faces.
When they saw the logo of the Zhen family caravan, they looked relieved, and some even waved in this direction.
When Yuan Xi saw it, he couldn't help but laugh. Seeing that everyone, whether it was soldiers or civilians, was crossing the ocean, they felt scared.
The ships on both sides lowered half of their sails, slowed down, shouted a few words to each other, and confirmed the direction with each other. Then they raised the sails and went their separate ways.
The reason for this is that in this era, the navigation compass did not appear, and navigation received many restrictions. If you want to identify the direction, you must either stay close to the land to prevent getting lost, or confirm based on the sun and stars.
The compass appeared in China very early. It was called Sinan. It was first used for Feng Shui. Its shape is like a spoon, which is acceptable on land but very inconvenient at sea.
Wang Chong of the Eastern Han Dynasty said in "Lunheng Shiying Pian": "When the spoon of Sinan is thrown to the ground, it will guide you."
According to later research, the transformation from Si Nan to compass, and from spoon to needle, may have occurred during the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, and was perfected during the Tang Dynasty. This may have something to do with the development of the navigation industry in the Kingdom of Wu.
The principle of the compass is not complicated. The key is that it needs a soil for growth, and sea and land trade is the catalyst.
When it comes to improving the compass, the Zhen family caravan has an absolute advantage.
When Yuan Xi met Zhen Yao in Haixi, he mentioned that magnets could be polished into needles to indicate the direction. If combined with other methods of identifying directions, ocean navigation would be much safer.
Zhen Yao followed the method proposed by Yuan Xi and went back to find craftsmen to trial-produce it. Sure enough, he made a compass suitable for navigation. Since then, the Zhen family's caravan's trade speed on the sea has accelerated a lot.
The only thing that worried Yuan Xi was the missing ships of the Zhen family's caravan. If the compasses on them were stolen by Qingzhou pirates, it would be troublesome.
Of course, there may be another hidden danger, but Yuan Xi is not sure.
If the Qingzhou pirates had that thing in their hands, then the probability that Yuan Tan knew about the robbery of the Zhen family's merchant ship was very high.
Yuan Xi saw the boat carrying refugees approaching and said, "Where are you coming from and where are you going?"
Several of them saw Yuan Xi's extraordinary demeanor, and one of the leaders said: "We all escaped from Qingzhou."
Yuan Xiqi asked: "Is there a war in Qingzhou?"
The man smiled bitterly and said: "There wasn't much fighting, but thieves were on the rise. In the past two years, the governor of Qingzhou has imposed excessive taxes and increased taxes. Everyone can't survive, so they want to go to Liaodong to see."
After hearing this, Yuan Xi said: "It's bitterly cold in Liaodong, I'm afraid it won't be as comfortable as in Qingzhou."
The man had a look of helplessness on his face: "At least there is no harsh government. Now the officers and soldiers are ruthlessly looting, and even eating is a problem. At least we have to let people live."
Yuan Xi was silent, and he suddenly remembered that after Yuan Tan obtained Qingzhou, the people of Qingzhou were happy for Yuan Tan's victory at first because the Yuan family had always been generous, but later he lost the support of the people because of Yuan Tan's improper employment of personnel, plundering everywhere, and unfair rewards and punishments. .
Yuan Xi was most likely convinced that Yuan Tan had recruited a lot of thieves and rogues during the process of pacifying the Taishan bandits. These soldiers were disorganized and their generals did not respect the law. They were afraid that after joining Yuan Tan, they would still abuse the people. The crowds are proof of that.
This also served as a warning to Yuan Xi. After recruiting Gongsun Zan's remnants, he must promptly rectify military discipline to avoid losing the support of the people in Youzhou.
Yuan Tan acted like this and sent many talents to the Gongsun family. Many famous people in Qingzhou went to serve Gongsun Du.
Thinking of this, Yuan Xi shook his head. He found that Yuan Shao chose Yuan Shang over Yuan Tan. It was not a simple matter of personal likes and dislikes. Yuan Tan had a willful personality, and his subordinate Guo Tu was also a person who made wrong ideas all day long. These two people came together. , there is indeed a shortcoming in managing internal affairs.
Several large ships of the Zhen family's caravan slowly sailed towards Donglai in the cold winter wind. On the land dozens of miles away, only the vague coastline hung on the horizon.
The ship walked for a day and a night, bypassing the port of Huang County, Donglai, and found no movement until near Zhifu Island. This made Yuan Xi, who had been alert all night, a little depressed. It was the Qingzhou pirates who had gone home for the New Year, and they still saw that they were Is there a problem with the caravan?
After walking for another half day, when they arrived near the night-time port in the northeasternmost part of the peninsula, Yuan Xi was alerted by several corpses floating on the sea and entrenched fish schools.
These people should have died not long ago before the fish gathered!
Sure enough, dozens of ships of various sizes sailed out of the Evernight Port, speeding towards Yuan Xi's fleet of only five or six ships. When Yuan Xi saw it, he ordered: "Set up the sails and go northeast. .”
He thought that they had already reached Beihai Port, and the pirates were still so blatant. Qingzhou really had a mess.
The helmsman turned around desperately and headed towards Liaodong. According to the agreement, the Gongsundu family's ship was within half a day's journey of Yuan Xi. Once Yuan Xi was in danger, he could sail in his direction and seek rescue!
A few hours later, Yuan Xi's fleet saw the Gongsun fleet, but there was a fierce battle on the opposite side. Surrounding them were more than a dozen large pirate ships!
Yuan Xi's expression became serious. Gongsun's ship was obviously ambushed and attacked!
In all likelihood, it was because there was a spy in Gongsun's fleet that the whereabouts were leaked. In this era when it was extremely difficult to obtain information, spying had almost become the most convenient and effective method.
He looked towards the stern of the ship and saw dozens of boats following him, still chasing after him. He thought to himself that he was really being attacked from both sides.
But although the situation was bad, it was not unexpected. He said to Lu Xun who caught up, "It's up to Lai Boyan."
Lu Xun took the order and asked the soldiers to hide below the deck. The sailors on the deck tied their waists to the ship with ropes.
Then Lu Xun gave an order, and the sailors on each bow pulled the mechanism, and the original wooden bow fell directly into the sea.
What was then revealed was a huge and sharp iron horn that shone with cold light!
Lu Xun raised his hands high, "Full sails, each marked to hit the ship!"
The pirate ships that had surrounded Gongsun's fleet and kept firing arrows saw that the people on the ship were suppressed and could not lift their heads. They were about to get close to board the ship, but saw several large ships appearing behind them, heading towards them at high speed!
(End of chapter)
