It was the time of sunrise. The ship was full of sails and carrying the wind, and its speed was astonishing. Soon the scenery on the shore was no longer visible, and all that could be seen with the naked eye was the vast sea water.
Not only Changsheng has never been to the sea, but Datou and others are also the same. Going to sea for the first time makes them feel a lot of novelty, but at the same time they can't help but feel nervous and panic. The sea is far more than a river, it is endless and unfathomable, and the big ship under your feet is the only place to stay. Being in the vast sea, once an accident occurs, it is not only extremely difficult to deal with, but also has nowhere to escape.
Since there was no need to paddle from the cabin, the captain of the ship and the first crewman stood on the deck waiting for orders from Chang Sheng and others, because until this moment they did not know where the destination of their trip was.
Changsheng did not tell everyone where the big ship was going, but just asked the boss of the ship to move to the southeast. Naturally, the boatmen were confused about such an order. Changsheng also knew that everyone was confused and curious, but he did not explain in detail, because as the leader, he had no idea. You are obliged to satisfy your subordinates' curiosity, and you are not obliged to tell them your specific plans.
After pointing out the general direction, Changsheng took Datou and others to inspect the big ship. This big ship has five floors, two floors below the deck and three floors above the deck. The water area at the bottom is where the boatmen paddle and rest. The second floor It is a storage area, the third floor is the kitchen and dining hall, the fourth floor is several spacious guest rooms, and the highest floor is an observation deck for observing the situation.
Changsheng, Datou and others settled down in the guest room on the fourth floor. Although they had not slept all night last night, they were not sleepy. After settling in, they went to the observation tower on the fifth floor. There were not only rooms for people to lie down in the observation tower beds and a table for eating and drinking tea.
Since the ship was very large and had a deep draft, although there were ups and downs during the voyage, it was not very bumpy. Seeing the tea set on the table, Changsheng ordered Datou to go down and fetch some tea leaves.
Not long after, the big head came back, bringing back hot water and tea, and the boss of the boat came up with him.
The boss of the ship came to inquire about the destination, but Chang Sheng was worried and did not answer the call immediately.
Seeing Chang Sheng's hesitation, the boss of the ship said cautiously, "Master, please don't misunderstand me. We accept your money and we should do our duty. We will never inquire about anything we shouldn't. However, the sea is not like the land. The sea surface looks flat, but in fact there is much underwater." There are reefs, so we must know where we are going in order to chart a course and avoid risks."
Hearing the words of the ship boss, Changsheng turned to look at Da Tou, who nodded, indicating that the ship boss could rely on him.
"Maritime map." Changsheng stretched out his hand.
Upon hearing this, Datou hurriedly took out the maritime map sent by the Ministry of Rites and handed it to Changsheng. Changsheng took the maritime map and spread it out on the table.
Changsheng had seen the map many times when he was in charge of the Yushitai and the Ministry of Finance, but it was not until he spread out the maritime map that he discovered that the maritime map was different from common maps. There were no mountains, rivers, and only a few places on the maritime map. The island and a long dotted line have several forks at both ends of the dotted line, and each fork is marked with a place name.
The maritime map is much simpler than the map. Not only Changsheng can understand it, but also Datou and others. The long dotted line is undoubtedly the route from China to Japan, and the branches at the beginning and end of the dotted line are respectively Several offshore cities in China and Japan.
The boss of the ship knew the rules very well. When he saw Chang Sheng unfolding the maritime plan, he hurriedly lowered his eyebrows and lowered his head to avoid suspicion.
"Come and take a look." Changsheng waved to the ship boss.
Hearing the call of immortality, the ship's boss stepped forward and looked at the maritime map on the table. This maritime map was written by the Ministry of Rites. It was all Chinese characters. The ship's boss knew the characters and just glanced at it to know where everyone was going. .
"My boss is really going to Japan." The boss of the ship seemed to have expected it.
Seeing Changsheng turning to look at him, the captain of the ship hurriedly explained, "My boss has prepared so much water, rice and food, so naturally he wants to cross the sea for a long journey. There are only two foreign countries in the East China Sea, Silla and Japan. Silla is here. East, and Japan is in the southeast of here, so if the owner wants to go southeast, he naturally wants to go to Japan."
"Have you been to Japan?" Changsheng asked casually. People in his party called the Japanese Japanese or Japanese pirates as a hostile and derogatory term. In fact, the name Japan existed hundreds of years ago. In addition, Japan has frequently visited Japan in recent years. He sent envoys to the Tang Dynasty, so the people of the Tang Dynasty knew about the existence of Japan.
"No," the boat boss shook his head, "You need a big boat to cross the sea. The furthest the smaller one can go south is Lingnan Road."
Seeing the disappointment on the faces of Datou and others, the ship's boss hurriedly said, "My boss's chart clearly marks the islands along the way. With this chart, I will be able to safely send my boss to Japan."
"Do we have to take this route?" Changsheng asked with a frown. The maritime map of the Ministry of Rites was drawn based on the description of the envoy sent to Tang Dynasty. Therefore, the Japanese pirates must also know the route marked on the maritime map.
"You can only take this road," the ship's boss said, pointing to the maritime map. "This road has been walked by the person who drew the map. This is the safest road. If you change the path at will, you may not only encounter undercurrents, but also run aground on rocks. Danger of shipwreck.”
"What is the undercurrent?" Da Tou asked the question Chang Sheng wanted to ask.
"Back home, the seemingly calm sea is actually not calm. There may be undercurrents and vortices hidden under the sea. If you don't know why you sail in rashly, the ship will get stuck in it and will not be able to sail out."
Yu Yi vaguely guessed what Chang Sheng was worried about, so he said, "Your Majesty, are you worried that they will set up an ambush on this road?"
The captain of the ship knew that they were not ordinary people, but he did not expect that Changsheng was actually a prince. Hearing Yu Yi's words, he couldn't help but tremble. However, he was well-informed and mature, so he pretended not to hear even if he heard it.
Changsheng did not answer Yu Yi's question, but looked at the boat boss again, "How long will it take for us to sail on this route?"
"It depends on where we merge from," the ship's boss said, pointing to the maritime map. "If we go straight south, we can merge in two hours."
"No, then it ran back to Huating County." Changsheng shook his head repeatedly. They snatched this big ship from the Huating County Pier in Jianghuai. If they went straight south, they would return to that sea area.
"Then move slightly southeast and merge later. In short, the further away from the coast, the longer it will take and the greater the possibility of us running aground on the rocks." The boss of the ship said seriously.
Chang Sheng did not answer, but frowned slightly, thinking anxiously in his mind. If he robs the ship, the Japanese pirates will immediately think that they are going to kill the Japanese mainland. As the Japanese pirates who just came by boat, they must be familiar with this round-trip route. , after the incident, it is very likely to send ships eastward into the sea, observe the situation from around the route and wait for opportunities.
"In addition to these three large ships, there are many passing merchant ships on that pier," Yang Kai said. "Those merchant ships may not be able to cross the ocean, but we can set sail first to make sure we really want to go east." It is possible to cross Japan. Moreover, after we grabbed the ship, we went around in a circle. If they really sent the ship, they would have already gone ahead of us. No matter where we cut into this route, it would be impossible. Avoid them."
After Yang Kai finished speaking, Yu nodded and answered, "Yang Kai is right, if we want to avoid them, we must not take this path."
"Are you worrying too much?" Shi Xuanming raised his eyebrows and said, "What will happen even if they find us? Can they stop us? Besides, if we don't let them see us, how will they know where we are going?"
"We can't take it lightly," Chang Sheng shook his head and said, "In order to avoid alerting the enemy, Yang Kai and I did not explore the reality of Qilin Town before. We don't know how many purple energy masters the Japanese pirates in Qilin Town have. If they really take the boat first and stay guard along the way. , they will never send out just a few minions to see if we have really gone to Japan, but will send out all the purple energy masters. Once they find that we appear on that route, they will immediately take action to drain the fire. To eliminate future troubles.”
"We don't seem to be afraid of anyone in a fight." Shi Xuanming was full of pride.
"Haha, we are certainly not afraid of a fight," Datou said with a smile, "but are you afraid of them burning our ship?"
"This must be scary, but don't you have a bird?" Shi Xuanming raised his finger, "What's it left for? Let's all cheer up. Once we find their boat, go over and throw tung oil first, so we can strike first. To be strong.”
"Why don't you go and throw it?" Datou curled his lips, "It doesn't hurt to stand and talk. Do you think throwing tung oil is easy? If you fly too high, you won't be able to throw it accurately. If you fly too low, you may be hit by a hidden weapon."
"I don't have any birds. If I want some, I'll go and throw them away." Shi Xuanming said.
"Yes, you don't have any birds, so you squat down to urinate." Big Head laughed.
Changsheng waved his hand to interrupt the bickering between the two, and turned to look at the ship boss on the side, "If we don't take this route, what are the chances of an accident happening?"
Seeing that everyone did not shy away from talking about him before, the ship boss knew that everyone trusted him very much, and he was deeply moved. Hearing Chang Sheng's question, he immediately pointed to the maritime map and said, "Masters, please see, the Tang Dynasty has been merged into There are five forks in this route, and there are three forks on the Japanese side that are merged into the route, which means that only this route is safe. If other routes are also passable, there is no need for these eight forks to be merged into this route."
Changsheng nodded and said, "I understand this truth, but I don't know the specific situation at sea. Before this, I didn't even know that there were rocks and undercurrents in the sea. You only said that if we didn't take this route, there was a chance that we would have a disaster. Accident?"
The ship boss thought for a while, frowned and said, "Ninety percent."
"The risk is too great to take," Chang Sheng said decisively, "merge into this route as soon as possible."
After Chang Sheng finished speaking, he rolled up the maritime map and handed it to the boss of the ship, "You are the boss of the ship, take this."
The boss of the ship took the maritime map with both hands and said, "Thank you, my boss, for your trust. I'll go down and lead someone to change the sail and turn the ship."
"Thank you for your hard work." Changsheng waved his hand.
"My boss, you're welcome. This is all within my scope." The boss of the ship bowed and retreated.
Changsheng suddenly remembered something, "By the way, when sailing on the sea, which one is faster, a big boat or a small boat?"
"Going back to my boss, if the draft is the same, the boat is still faster." The boss of the boat replied.
Changsheng nodded.
After the captain of the ship retired, Da Tou began to make tea for everyone. Chang Sheng took the chair and said, "If nothing else happens, we will definitely have a battle with the Japanese pirates at sea. If everything goes well, we will go back after the battle."
"If we can only go back and forth this way, we won't be able to go back by boat." Datou said.
"Let's talk about it then." Changsheng said.
"Why is it so complicated?" Shi Xuanming clicked his tongue.
Changsheng said, "There is no way. We wasted a lot of time recuperating from the previous sneak attack on the Four Mountain Villas. After that, the Japanese pirates attacked Shuzhou at night, and I lay down for another half a month. I also wasted a few days on a trip to Tangzi Mountain, so As a result, the Japanese pirates have been ahead of us for more than half a month, and now we have lost the opportunity. We can only use this method to lure them back to Japan and regain the opportunity."
As soon as Chang Sheng finished speaking, Miss Bai from above suddenly let out a cry.
Everyone heard the sound and hurriedly opened the door and looked around.
Chang Sheng originally thought that Miss Bai had discovered the traces of Japanese pirates, but after looking around, he found that there were no ships on the sea.
"Your Majesty, look." Big head raised his finger.
Upon hearing the sound, Changsheng looked into the sky following the direction pointed by his big head, and saw a huge black bird flapping its wings and flying westward from high altitude.
The black bird was at least several hundred feet above the ground. Because it was flying too high, I couldn't see clearly what kind of black bird it was. I could only vaguely see a graceful woman in yellow sitting on the back of the bird. …
