"Fish! What a big fish!"
Ocean sailing will inevitably become boring after a long time.
The only fun is probably fishing.
The fleet heading north for exploration suddenly became lively.
Zhang Keda leaned on the railing, watching a group of people helping to drag the fishing rod, and couldn't help but smile.
After a while, a large fish nearly one meter long was dragged onto the boat by the combined efforts of more than ten people.
"Political Commissar, this is the first time I have seen such a big fish."
Zhang Ke laughed and said: "What is this? This place is called the Whale Sea. I don't know when we will see whales."
Some people don't believe it.
"No matter how powerful it is, how big can it be? It's just like a cow, right?"
There are many people who don't believe it either.
"I'm thinking, this whale is probably similar to the fish we caught. It can be considered seafood at most."
"Yes, yes, seafood...seafood!"
Zhang Ke laughed loudly and didn't know what to say to these guys.
He had only heard of the terrifying size of whales, but had never seen one in person. If Zuo Menggeng hadn't told him to listen to it before going to sea, he would have thought he was just listening to strange stories.
Just when he was about to let this matter go, there was a sudden violent vibration on the side of the boat.
The whole big ship swayed wildly, throwing everyone out.
For a moment, there was a cry of surprise on the ship.
Zhang Keda's expression changed drastically, thinking he had encountered a strong wind and huge waves.
But look around, the sun is shining brightly, there are no clouds in the sky, the south wind is bringing warmth, and there is no sign of a big storm.
Before he could figure it out, the seawater suddenly erupted like a volcano, and then a huge fish head as big as a mountain suddenly emerged from the water.
Just one fish head was as big as the boat under their feet.
Then came the black fish body, as if a city wall was pressing towards them, making everyone so frightened that they forgot to breathe.
The strange fish jumped tens of meters high out of thin air, covering the sky and the sun, and casting a shadow on everyone's hearts.
"monster!"
"Oh my God, my God!"
"Help!"
Amidst all the cries of fear, the strange fish rose to the highest point and suddenly fell to the side.
The fish head and body hit the water heavily, as if the earth was shattering. A huge wave surged from the bottom of the boat, and the warship flew up several meters, almost capsizing.
The seawater splashed down from the sky, as if there was a heavy rainstorm.
All the people on the boat were not spared and were soaked in the rain.
"Wow..."
When the strange fish submerged into the water, another tail separated from the left and right swept across the water.
It seemed to be the largest oar in the world. Just a casual movement of the water surface caused the warship to move sideways involuntarily.
Everything passed, and the sea became calm again.
Only a battered wooden boat and a boatload of dumbfounded people were left behind.
"puff……"
Zhang Ke opened his mouth wide, spit out the salty sea water, and wiped a handful of water on his face. Looking at those terrified people, they were so angry.
"Haha, seafood..."
"Why are you still standing there? Check the damage quickly."
The political commissar's roar seemed even more terrifying than the strange fish just now. Everyone came to life and rushed to their respective posts.
At the same time, the discussion became lively on the boat.
"Oh my god, that fish is so big."
"How long will it take to eat so much meat?"
"You can't catch it and eat it for meat? It's bigger than our boat. If it had hit the boat just now, we would have fed it to the fish."
"what is that?"
A sudden scream came from the people in the watchtower, and all the noise was quickly suppressed.
The lookout picked up the telescope and looked hard, and suddenly said with great joy: "There is a river, there is a river ahead!"
The fleet immediately became commotion.
They have been wandering on the sea for a long time.
Although we have been heading north along the coastline, we did not find any water source for about ten days during the previous journey.
The water storage on the ship is about to be used up. How to replenish the water source is a headache for everyone.
"Send orders to all ships to sail over."
If there is a river, fresh water can be replenished, which is absolutely great news.
After receiving the order, each ship immediately followed the flagship and went straight to the mouth of the river to kill.
But as the fleet continued to move north, more and more information came back from the watchtower.
"Political Commissar, there is also land to the east."
Zhang Keda picked up the telescope and looked toward the east of the sea.
However, all he could see was a vague outline on the horizon, and he couldn't determine what it was.
Zhang Keda was so anxious that he simply climbed up the watchtower.
Now I can see it clearly.
Sure enough, far away from what they originally thought was the vast ocean, there was a black line stretching across the sea, with no end in sight to the north and south. It seemed to be a large piece of land.
Zhang Keda was thoughtful, came down from the watchtower, took the map for comparison, and said hesitantly: "We seem to be not far from Yongning Temple."
The nautical chart obtained from the imperial court showed that opposite Yongning Temple, across a narrow strait, there was a very large island.
After calculating their sailing schedule and comparing the surrounding geographical environment, Zhang Keda couldn't help but get a little clued up.
Bai Dasheng quickly ordered: "Staff staff, hurry up and survey."
In fact, the surveying and mapping staff had already taken action without his order.
The fleet's trip this time, nothing else is important, it must get a complete chart.
Song Kuan showed a relieved smile.
"Our voyage has come to an end."
The mouth of the river that the lookout saw was surrounded by a large bay.
The southern part of the bay is mostly steep cliffs, while the northern part is an endless plain.
As far as the eye can see, there are towering trees reaching into the clouds.
"This is all good wood. I wonder how many ships can be built?"
Now as a naval general, when Zhang Keda saw these thousand-year-old trees, the first thing he thought of was to use them to build ships.
Don't talk about him, almost all the generals think the same way.
One of the biggest problems in the development of Shandong Navy is timber.
Although there was a lot of wood received from Dengzhou, it was only enough to build a new warship.
Where to get the follow-up materials, I have no idea from top to bottom.
Unlike here, there are countless trees that are thousands of years old.
The fleet sailed into the bay, and the surroundings were quiet. There was nothing except animals jumping in the grass.
The harsh winter is over, spring is warm and flowers are blooming. The beauty here is like a fairyland on earth, which is intoxicating.
"Leave half the ship on guard and the rest dock."
They are all unfamiliar areas, so Zhang Keda is very cautious.
At that moment the fleet was divided into two.
The warships responsible for guarding were spread out, each responsible for an angle. The cannons on the ship are also filled with ammunition and are ready for combat at any time.
The other half of the boats approached the shore, put down their sampans, and carried the combat troops to land first.
After the combat troops docked, they first built fortifications and then began to expand outward.
After the second batch of troops docked, they immediately cleared obstacles around the coast and cleared the field of vision.
In this way, there will be a blank area of nearly a kilometer between the landing point and the virgin forest, so there is no need to worry about being attacked.
It was not until these two steps were completed that Zhang Keda and Bai Dasheng led the main force ashore.
