The sea is full of waves, and the coastline is blurred, leaving only the endless sea and sky. In the roaring sea wind, the sails on the thick mast were pumped to the extreme; they also drove the huge hull with all their strength to cut through the waves, leaving behind a trail of wakes.
On the sea surface split by the long scissor-shaped hull, countless white and gray-black gulls circled and danced endlessly; but they were chasing the fish that were lifted out of the water by the wake of the hull; from time to time they emitted A satisfied chirping sound. Occasionally, a pod of dolphins chases us.
At this time, the watermen and boatmen on the boat will feed some slaughtered fish and poultry offal, bread, chopped vegetable leaves and other sundries according to the occasion. From time to time, there will be gray-white dolphins, taking advantage of the momentum, jumping up from the water, grabbing the meat and throwing away the water on the faces of people waiting beside the boat.
Then, people on the railing of the ship started laughing one after another. Despite this, the large and small booms hanging on the side of the boat were still tilted up from time to time; and as the tough ropes were rolled up, huge sea fish of different shapes were pulled up one after another.
Under the extreme pull of struggling back and forth in the water, he could not escape in the end and was carried by the boatmen between the gangways and carried on the deck to continue to survive; he was quickly slaughtered and sorted on the spot. The fishy offal, head, tail, and fin scraps are thrown into the water to serve as bait.
The remaining parts will be further decomposed, cooked with various kitchen utensils, and processed into various ready-made meals. For example, fish bone and seaweed soup specially catered to boatmen and watermen, or grilled fish pieces and fried fish fillets; even fried fish cakes wrapped in batter and cake residue; belly rolls wrapped in rice balls and pancakes.
Only the most plump belly white and middle loin meat will be cut into thin slices that can be seen through the light, and laid out like butterfly clothes on Yuezhou rain-colored floral celadon plates; after a small amount of old vinegar, The aged seasoning is garnished with shredded green onion, white garlic, minced pepper and mustard, and is presented to the cabin.
Finally, it appeared on the top of the three-story boat building, with its carved beams and paintings, red railings and colorful screens, and lanterns and flowers, just like home furnishings on land. It was in a hall specially used for banquets; The materials were put together respectfully in front of Jiang Tian.
The large food table with guardrails in front of him was already filled with rich dishes such as Jian Yun Ji Fish Soup, Yu Gong Duan Xing Bream, Guangming Shrimp Grilled, Floating Stuffed Fish, Ding Xiang Lin Wan, Wuxing Braised Bream, and so on. Southeastern maritime food; the staple food is shrimp pancakes and fish porridge.
But as the finale, the fish meat is caught directly from the boat and killed alive; it is also called five-color carp. Made with five kinds of sea fish and different styles of seasonings. There are more than ten kinds of dipping flavors including onions, ginger, garlic, cloves, mustard, soy sauce, vinegar, etc.
Just as it is described in Du Fu's "Song of Watching Fishing": "I wave my swords left and right, and my fish flies high on the golden plate and the white snow is high." One look at it makes one's mouth open. The tea wine that goes with the meal is Wucheng Liquor/Ruoxia Chun (light wine) made from Wuxing's three-year yellow brew, and Wujian Baiya from Tianmu Mountain in Lin'an.
The former is used to detoxify and remove the greasiness after eating too much seafood, without overpowering the umami flavor of the dishes themselves; the latter can be used to cleanse the mouth and appreciate the similarities and differences between the dishes; therefore, Jiang Tian is also eaten He was filled with admiration, and soon he was full of wine and food, and rarely looked tipsy.
Through the ventilation windows and white glazed partitions of the banquet hall in the top cabin, one can also see the swaying sea in the distance, accompanied by the shadows of large and small ships and clusters of sails; among which there are only three or four. , as many as five or six. There are at least dozens of them, far and near.
And Jiang Tian was on board one of the largest ocean-going dock-tailed ships (Honglan). As a giant ocean-going ship that can sail on the sea for several months or more than half a year, it has four floors below the deck and three floors above the deck, plus a layout of transverse watertight compartments, which is enough to carry a huge amount of people and cargo.
As a result, a small space with complete functions is formed, just like the space on a ship in a small city on the sea. There are thousands of watermen, boatmen, and other permanent fire cooks, doctors, craftsmen, handymen, and guards who work on daily operations and operations.
At the same time, it can also carry the same number of passengers, or several times as many animals, horses, and slaves; therefore, the living facilities on the ship are also divided into three, six, and nine grades, including free cabins on the bottom of the ship for ocean-going immigrants, and some that are like those of a wealthy family. The courtyard is a courtyard with its own roof area with flower beds and fruit trees.
Compared with the classification of military warships such as building ships, sterns, fighting ships, walking boats, yachts, and sea falcons; large civilian ships are classified according to Qian material (stone), and the names below Qian material are all kinds of strange, each with local characteristics. Shachuan, Fuchuan, Guangzhou, etc., but the above Qianchuan are relatively unified.
Starting from the flying fish boats and scissor boats with the most basic ocean-crossing capabilities, Qianliang and Qianwu materials standards, they are divided into swordfish class, shark class, shark class, whale shark class, small whale class, giant class according to the draft load. Whale levels vary. But the larger the ship, the higher the requirements for port water depth and berths.
Therefore, usually only the ports where major shipping companies are located can provide conditions for short-term berthing and subsequent maintenance and construction. It was precisely because of this that Jiang Tian happened to encounter such a large patrol ship group heading north in Gantang Port, where the shipping envoy of Fuzhou City was located.
The so-called patrol fleet is a very special and indispensable existence on the routes throughout the world. It can be traced back to the end of Liang Gong's reign; because the overseas expansion movement was in the ascendant, private maritime transport capacity had been squeezed and used to the limit.
Because, unlike the traditional route of the South China Sea - Tianzhu - Kunlun Ocean - Red Sea on the southern route, which is dotted with Fanbang cities and towns along the route for convenient supply; ships departing from the southeast coast, crossing the ocean to reach the New Island continent, only Some scattered wild islands are available for relay.
Therefore, the early navigation conditions were quite difficult and harsh; a large proportion of ships heading to the New Island continent were damaged by waves and lost. It was only thanks to the explorers of the early Tang Dynasty who established successive strongholds and docks on the islands deep in the ocean that they were able to slowly persist.
Therefore, as one of the virtues and legacies left by Liang Gong in his later years, he built hundreds of giant ocean-going ships; the government also set up training centers to conduct surprise training for a large number of boatmen, watermen, navigation, surveying and mapping and other auxiliary personnel; Form a fleet that regularly patrols the East China Sea.
Finally, after paying countless costs, a relatively stable route was found. That is to say, starting from Jiaozhou Dagang at the southernmost tip, going all the way north through major coastal ports, replenishing supplies, manpower and immigrants, and then arriving at Jinshan Port of Drifting Ghost Kingdom (Sakhalin Island) at the northern tip.
Then, we sailed for more than a month along the ocean tide at the edge of the vast frozen soil and ice sea to reach the protruding peninsula (Alaska) at the northernmost tip of the New Island continent. From here, we used the coastline as a reference to go south and arrived at the Tang Dynasty princes' territory on the western coast of New Island. And the settlements of various ethnic groups where the Yin people were naturalized.
After repairing and replenishing here for several months to half a year, we will continue to the South China Sea Islands (Central America); we will pass through and transit the southern coast of New Island, the cities established by the Tang Dynasty and many Tu tribe states; It will re-enter the ocean and turn eastbound.
After more than a month, he arrived at Xiao'ao and then returned to Jiaozhou via the countries in the South China Sea. These ocean-going fleets that circled around the sea eventually formed a relatively fixed tradition; this is the origin of the name of the large patrol fleet, which relied on the laws of monsoons and ocean tides to cruise between the East China Sea and the South China Sea for many years.
As the saying goes, you come by the wind and go by the current. Up to now, there is no specific starting port area and long-term docking place. Basically, wherever the large patrol fleet passes, ships from the government, private and private sectors continue to join, and during the long or short voyage, ships continue to leave one after another.
However, no matter how the past dynasties have changed, the hundreds of giant ships that first went to sea have remained relatively stable in scale to this day. This has even led to the formation of many so-called shipping families that have lived on the ships for several generations; only The new and old ships will only come ashore briefly when the old and new ships are replaced.
Even if the imperial court only maintains and replenishes it every year, it has to spend a huge amount of manpower and materials, and it still persists despite constant disputes in the past dynasties. Because the large fleet not only supports and drives the livelihoods of huge industries and people in the upstream and downstream. It also represents the power and power of the imperial court in overseas vassals.
Compared with those Tang princes, city lords, and city chiefs who had close relations with China and relied on many of them; any surrendered foreign tribesmen who wanted to change their minds again; the next big ship group would no longer bring precious silk porcelain tea. Paper; and the roaring army and the earth-shaking shelling.
Of course, compared with the Neijiang fleet of vehicles and ships that traveled all the way down the coast, there are no specific requirements and tasks for the return journey, and it is obviously much faster and more convenient to take the sea route. Coupled with the issue of their respective belongings, Jiang Tian divided his men into two parts and went on their own way.
Among them, some lay sergeants and the sick and wounded who were inconvenient to travel by sea and land, together with the attached Xiaowei Regiment, and the navy sergeants attached to the vehicles and ships, returned directly to Jiangling Mansion on the upper reaches of the Yangtze River along the original route. Of course, having this experience of going south to pacify the monsters was very important to them.
Therefore, according to the results of Jiang Tian’s subsequent negotiations with North Korea and China. Even after returning to Jiangling Mansion, this part of the naval force with experience in fighting monsters, together with the existing eight large and small vehicles, were directly included in the lay establishment of Xijingli Xingyuan; they served as the emergency transportation force of the permanent local branch.
But as a disguised exchange, the other regiment's 353 soldiers of the Xiaowei, together with the wounded, were returned directly to Jianwei. As expected, these warriors will be incorporated into the newly established special forces of the Sixteenth Guards, just like Liu Jingchang's Shengjie Battalion.
The remaining lay sergeants of the first brigade (109 people), as well as eight groups of expert team members, assistants, and auxiliary personnel, followed Jiang Tian to board the ship and go to sea. By the way, I monopolized the remaining empty space of this small whale-class ocean-going dockless ship (Honglan). Also because this ship is big enough.
Therefore, there are still large deck and floor spaces between the bow, stern, and midship deck superstructures to provide daily fitness activities and formation and confrontation drills. Jiang Tian could see his subordinates flexing their muscles in twos and threes on the deck. Until the clouds gather in the distance.
