On the blue sea, sails were hung, and the fleet moved forward like an arrow.
Sun Xu, the imperial supervisor, did not fiddle with the star board, but looked towards the distant sea with his telescope. When he saw the blue and white clouds, he put down the telescope with peace of mind. He looked down at the deck and saw a devout priest praying and another sailor walking uneasily. With.
Zheng He stood in front of the stern rudder and let the sea breeze pull up the corners of his clothes.
Ma Huan, the general manager, was observing how the monks were praying, and shouted to the sailors wandering aside: "Are you tired of walking around? Why don't you take a rest?"
Adam pointed to the sky in the distance, Java spoke, and Ma Huan plucked his ears to express that he did not understand.
Although Ma Huan was also a translator on the treasure ship, the language he was proficient in was Arabic and he knew nothing about Italian.
Adam pulled Ma Huan, pointed to the sea in the distance, and danced.
Ma Huan said with a smile: "Do you want to thank us for rescuing you from the island? Now that you are back on the sea, you are very excited and want to dance to express friendship?"
Seeing that Ma Huan didn't understand, Adam continued to shout pointing to the sea in the distance.
After the priest William finished praying, he said to Ma Huan in a relatively blunt Chinese language: "Adam said there is a storm ahead, so you should slow down as soon as possible..."
Ma Huan's eyes widened and he looked at the sea that suddenly turned black in the distance. He punched William and shouted angrily: "He has been yelling here for a long time and you didn't translate?"
William is aggrieved. If he prays to Allah to save himself, where will he have time to translate for you? The people of Ming Dynasty are so rude, it is probably a bit difficult to civilize them...
Ma Huan shouted to the helm tower. Sun Xu also noticed the abnormality. Looking at the sudden change in the sky in the distance, he quickly found Zheng He: "There seems to be a big storm ahead! Slow down and avoid it!"
Zheng He stared into the distance, his pupils appearing darker.
The sky was clear and blue in the distance, but now there are dark clouds over the sea. A strong and compelling momentum is coming. The sails that were originally downwind began to flutter. It seems that a strong wind will blow from a distance. The treasure ship's The bow of the boat split a heavy wave, and the water spray flew up high.
"Command all ships to turn to starboard and head east at full speed!"
Zheng He's voice was like thunder.
The herald kept ringing the gong to attract the attention of other ships, and flew out the turning flag. After other ships heard the news, they quickly turned their rudders to follow.
Luo Guanying lay on the side of the ship, watching the waves surge, and shouted sternly: "Go eastward with all your strength. Unrelated personnel should evacuate the deck and return to the cabin. All deck personnel should tie up their ropes!"
Shen Wei looked into the distance with a solemn expression. The sky seemed to be collapsing, and it was so dark that it was almost nighttime in an instant. What was even more disturbing was that something seemed to be rolling in the dark sky.
"Hurricane! It's a big hurricane! Follow the treasure ship quickly!"
Shen Wei's voice became sharp, and he ordered the sergeant to take control of the helm, and then threw the rope to Luo Guanying. After Luo Guanying took it, he gave it directly to the sergeant beside him: "Tie the rope!"
Whoops!
The wind direction suddenly changed. The north wind suddenly became a southwest wind, and black clouds rolled in.
Zhang Yu looked at the black clouds flying in the distance and shouted to Zheng He: "It's too late to evacuate to the shore. There is no natural harbor nearby!"
A black column reaching the sky appeared in Zheng He's pupils, and the strong wind blew violently from the sky, and the sail kept shaking!
"Lower the sail!"
Zheng He gritted his teeth and ordered!
Zhang Yu shouted: "No, once the sail is down, we will have to face the hurricane here, and the dragon will absorb the water. If we get involved, we will suffer heavy losses! We need power!"
"It's too late. Once caught in the hurricane, the sails and masts can't bear it even if they are spread out! Lower the sails and order the treasure ships to line up in a row and let all the lucky ships stay on the right side of the treasure ships! Quick!"
Zheng He gritted his teeth and shouted!
"Lower the sail!"
"Let the great fortune ships gather on the right side of the treasure ship!"
Zhang Yu shouted at the top of his lungs.
The sails on the treasure ship continued to be furled, but by this time the wind had picked up and the rain began to fall.
"When other personnel enter the cabin, all deck personnel must restrain their ropes!"
Zhang Yu shouted, and the sergeant responded in an orderly manner.
Seeing the sky change in the distance, Ma Huan pulled William and Adam and ran towards the cabin. They didn't dare to stay outside in this situation!
Zhao Shiyu held on to the side of the ship and through the rain curtain saw the light signal of the treasure ship and heard the gong of the treasure ship. He immediately ordered: "The Dafu ship retreats to the starboard side of the treasure ship! Quick!"
Yuan Yichen repeated it loudly, then tied the rope to Zhao Shiyu and shouted: "What kind of sea area is this? Why does it change at the mercy of God! Could it be that we picked up two plague gods and provoked the Sea Dragon King?"
Zhao Shiyu pulled the rope around Yuan Yichen's waist to make sure there was no problem: "Stop pulling that. If the Sea Dragon King really wanted to deal with those two people, he wouldn't have let them survive until we landed on the island! This hurricane is a bit big and not easy to withstand. Go over there!”
Yuan Yichen looked at the undulating waves, then looked up at the sail: "We can't keep up with the treasure ship like this, let the brothers use the oars to speed up!"
Zhao Shiyu nodded and gave the order to speed up.
High up in the cabin, there are rows of oars deep in the sea, extending into the sea water. The oars are swaying uniformly, and the big fortune ship continues to break through the waves and move forward!
"anchor!"
Zheng He shouted.
Zhang Yu and other sergeants shouted: "Drop anchor!"
More than two hundred sergeants shook the winch and threw the huge iron anchor into the sea. With a pop, the water flew up more than ten feet high. The anchor rolled up the iron chain and rope and continued to fall.
"The sea is deep and there is no anchor!"
The sergeant saw that the anchor had been lowered to the bottom, but the treasure ship was still not stable at all, and it tilted eastward from time to time in the strong wind.
"Zhang Yu, let the other ships gather quickly! I will take the helm!"
Zheng He took over the rudder and saw the violent storm coming towards him. He turned the rudder to the right, and the rudder blades at the stern of the ship turned to the left. Driven by the current and wind, the bow of the ship turned to the right.
Dafu ships, grain ships, etc. appeared on the right side of the treasure ship, and the three treasure ships were connected end to end.
Woo!
The terrifying sound of a hurricane penetrated everyone's ears, and the heavy rain became a rain curtain. It seemed like a waterfall appeared above the head, and the rain poured directly on the ship!
"Lower the sail!"
"Lower the sail!"
The sound penetrated the heavy rain and spread over the sea.
In fact, before the treasure ship could give the order to lower its sails, the other treasure ships saw that the strong wind was already in this state and their masts were swaying, so they did not dare to leave the sails anymore and took them up one after another!
On the vast sea, dozens of ships are like a leaf, letting the wind blow and the waves beat!
The treasure ship made a creaking sound, and what was disturbing was that the mast on the ship seemed to be shaking. Zheng He looked at the rolling dragon sucking water and shouted: "Hold on!"
Woo!
A strong wind blew, and dozens of soldiers rose into the air, struggling in the violent storm, and the rope was pulled straight!
"Help!"
Zheng He looked up at the sergeant who was blowing up and ordered the rescue!
If you don't pull these people down while the wind is strong, once the rope breaks or the wind stops, they will either be blown away or fall to death. You must pull them down in the wind!
But with such a strong wind, who can reach out to save them?
Seeing this, Zhang Yu grabbed a rope with one hand, grabbed the side of the ship with the other hand, and pulled back violently, but Zhang Yu's hand had been pulled out and bled, but there was no movement. The strong wind swept by, and it was no longer invincible by human power!
Luo Guanying and others looked at the sergeant flying up from the treasure ship, feeling extremely anxious, but there was nothing they could do.
The violent wind accompanied the heavy rain, or rather the heavy rain mixed with the violent wind, all rushed over. In one's ears, there was either the sound of wind or the sound of rain, and no other sounds could be heard.
The huge treasure ship shook violently, then suppressed the waves and regained its balance. Then it was blown to one side again. A lot of cargo in the cabin that had no time to be fixed kept sliding to the right. Fortunately, there were divine machine guns and so on. Fix it, otherwise if it falls out, it will not only kill people, but also damage the boat.
A rope broke and the sergeant screamed and flew out.
Zheng He held on to the rudder tightly, and the strong wind blew violently. Zheng He felt that he could no longer support himself. The moment his body flew out, he hung the rope around his waist on the rudder and flew three steps directly. , then when my waist tightened, I felt pain in my abdomen. I quickly stretched out my hand to wrap the rope around my arm and shouted: "Hold on!"
The wind was blowing wildly, the waves were crashing, and the ship was rocking constantly. The magnitude was surprising! Fortunately, the treasure ship was large and had a deep draft, so it was not overturned by the strong wind!
The hurricane circled away a hundred steps away from the treasure ship, and the wind slowly became smaller.
Not only fish fell from the sky, but also sergeants. Fortunately, they didn't fly very high. Although three people unfortunately fell to death and more than a dozen people were maimed, fortunately they didn't cause too much damage.
When the strong wind and huge waves swept past, the originally dark sky slowly brightened.
Zheng He untied the rope around his waist, quickly ran to the starboard side, and shouted, "Is there any ship capsized?"
The sergeants on a ship came out one after another, lined up neatly, and saluted Zheng He and the treasure ship: "The Ming Dynasty is mighty! The Navy is mighty!"
Luo Guanying and others thank Zheng He with the most sincere hearts!
If he hadn't made a prompt decision and turned the treasure ship sideways to block the storm, the Dafu Ship and other ships would not have been able to withstand it at all!
Bao Chuan used himself as a mountain to save others!
Zheng He breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that one ship was still there. As long as the fleet was not damaged, it was fine. However, this time it was indeed too dangerous. If it was directly hit by the hurricane, the treasure ship might capsize. By then, the entire navy would be The fleet is afraid that they will all be ruined here.
"Save people."
Zheng He gave orders to everyone.
Zhang Yu arranged for sergeants to rescue him and ordered people to check the damage of the treasure ship.
William and Adam walked to the deck and stared at the busy Ming army.
William sighed: "It was able to withstand such a huge hurricane. Is this how powerful the Seris country is? Daming, I want to go to Daming! Go and see why the people there are so brave and fearless!"
Adam in tears, months ago. Brother Jacob and everyone encountered a hurricane, and the ship was destroyed and everyone died! And that hurricane was much smaller than this one!
I didn’t expect that the powerful Ming Dynasty in faraway Seris would have such powerful navigators. Yes, such a huge ship cannot be manufactured by ordinary countries. There is no such huge ship in Venice.
"Don't be afraid, the matter is over." Ma Huan came over, thinking that Adam was afraid. After encouraging him, he said to William: "Can you translate for me and ask him how he knew there was a hurricane ahead?"
William asked Adam and said to Ma Huan: "This is his ability. He can keenly feel the changes in wind direction and climate. It should be tempered by long-term sailing."
Ma Huan's eyes lit up, and he took William and Adam to find Zheng He and said seriously: "This person may be able to observe changes in the weather and can be arranged to be used in the helm tower."
Zheng He looked at Adam deeply, and after asking him carefully, he arranged for him to be placed on the top of the helm building, where he was responsible for observing the weather and sea currents with Sun Xu and others.
The fleet continued to move forward and arrived in Khrumos (Iran, possibly transliterated as Hormuz) in early November. This is an important commercial country where countless businessmen gather here. Here there are dazzling diamonds, Amber, cat's eye, emerald, pearls as big as longan, and precious cashmere blankets.
The whole country of Khrumos believes in Islam and prays five times a day. Zheng He came here with his own faith.
