Kangzhe looked at the trapped treasure ship and quickly shouted to Zhang Yu's flagship twenty feet away: "You retreat first. The longer the delay, the more disadvantageous it will be. Retreat to the outside first!"
Zhang Yu looked deeply at Kangzhe's treasure ship that could not move, turned around and ordered Zhang Lang: "Row with all your strength and get out!"
"But them!"
Zhang Lang was a little anxious.
Zhang Yu's face was gloomy: "Execute the order!"
Zhang Lang stamped his feet, turned around, arranged for his sergeants, and ordered to row with all his strength to exit the Sargasso Sea.
But no matter how many hundreds of sergeants waved their oars, the treasure ship only moved back a dozen feet, and there were still more than twenty feet of sargassum behind it, but these twenty feet of distance were blocked.
It's not that the sergeant doesn't use his strength, but the treasure ship itself is large, carries a large amount of supplies, and has huge ballast stones. The draft is deep. On ordinary seas, the sergeant needs to start slowly to shake the deep oar. After a certain amount of power is formed, , it is possible to accelerate progress.
But now, the treasure ship is surrounded by dense sargassum. There are sargassum in all directions. If you take a step back, the sargassum in front will climb over, and the sargassum in the back will pile up, blocking the way like a small mound, even the ones on both sides. Sargassum will also grab onto the hull of a boat.
Sargassum and sargassum are connected together, like a "smart" devil's snare. It can easily let the boat in, or prevent the boat from leaving.
"Push harder!"
Zhang Lang personally ran to the cabin to boost morale.
Qianhu Shuzheng personally rocked the oar, shouted slogans, and cooperated with everyone, but there was still not much movement on the treasure ship.
Zhou Zheng gritted his teeth and shouted to Zhang Lang: "The seaweed outside is too thick. If we don't clean it up, we can't move much water with our oars. If we want the boat to leave here, we must first clean up the sargassum around the boat."
Zhang Lang had no choice but to arrange for the sergeant to rest and took Zhou Zheng to the deck to discuss countermeasures with Zhang Yu.
Zhang Yu recognized Zhou Zheng's analysis and after discussing with everyone, said: "The only way now is to put down the boat and arrange for the sergeants to clean up the sargassum around the treasure ship. To ensure safety, the sergeants on the boat must tie safety ropes in case of danger. , Horse up immediately."
Zhou Zheng frowned: "There is only Sargassum here. Some places with water are extremely clear. You can see deep at a glance. There is no danger here. The emperor also said that there are no huge sea beasts in the Sargasso sea area. The biggest danger is This is Sargasso. Tying the safety rope will make it difficult for the sergeant to do anything."
"Safety comes first. I'm afraid this Sargasso is not simple. We have only entered this sea area, and the treasure ship has already been entangled. The small boat must be cautious."
Zhang Yu ordered.
Zhou Zheng agreed and personally directed the sergeants to lower the boat from both sides of the ship, while he followed the rope ladder down the treasure ship and landed on the boat.
Four sergeants were arranged in each small boat, holding long poles in their hands.
Zhou Zheng used a wooden pole to push aside the sargassum and looked at the crystal clear water below. He was very surprised. He had walked countless seas and had never seen such a clear sea.
Sergeant Xue Hua used a wooden pole to push the sargassum and found it was a bit difficult. He lifted the wooden pole and saw that some sargassum was also clinging to the wooden pole. He stretched out his hand to remove the sargassum. He looked at the sargassum on the edge of the boat and stretched out his hand. He walked over and plucked the sargassum with his hands, his expression changed involuntarily.
"not good!"
Xue Hua felt his hand hurt, so he quickly took it back and brought out some sargassum. A foul smell came out, which was disgusting. Xue Hua quickly tore off the sargassum with his other hand and threw it into the sea water. Looking at his right hand, it was already covered with blood stains!
"This thing eats people!"
Xue Hua's face turned pale.
Seeing this, Zhou Zheng shouted loudly: "Don't touch the sargassum with your hands. This thing is very sucking and seems to have thorns!"
After Zhang Yu heard about it, he ordered people to spread the news to all the sergeants on the surrounding boats.
Fortunately, Sargassum is in the sea water. As long as it is not connected and adsorbed in large areas, it can still be artificially pushed away some distance. When the sargassum around the treasure ship was cleared for nearly ten feet, Zhang Yu ordered the sergeant to rock the oar and the treasure ship retreated a little distance.
With the strategy of the small boat clearing the perimeter and the big ship following closely, it took nearly an hour before Zhang Yu's treasure ship was able to exit the Sargasso Sea and reach a sea area where there was no Sargasso seaweed.
Zhang Yu breathed a deep sigh of relief. Fortunately, it was a treasure ship. If a small ship sailed to the depths, wouldn't it be difficult to escape? Even so, a lot of damage was done to the bottom of the treasure ship. Some sargassum was adsorbed on the rudder blades and the bottom of the ship, corroding the hull. Zhang Yu had to arrange for a sergeant to dive into the seabed to deal with it.
The biggest trouble is still the treasure ship where Kang Zhe and Liang Si are. It will be much more troublesome for them to withdraw. However, fortunately, the military morale is stable, the treasure ship has sufficient supplies, and is equipped with a large number of small boats. It is possible to clear a path and slowly withdraw.
Kang Zhe and Liang Si did not dare to stay for a long time, so they arranged for the sergeants to take turns to deal with it, and finally withdrew from the Sargasso Sea before evening.
Zhang Yu ordered the sergeant to take out a wooden board, paint it with a sun and moon flag, write a warning such as the Sargasso Sea ahead, and then throw it outside the Sargasso Sea.
The wind here is very weak, and there is not much movement in the ocean currents. If the plank is thrown on the sea, it will hardly flutter. Once other naval ships arrive here, they will be able to find the plank to avoid mistaking it for land and rushing into it.
That night, Zhang Yu held a meeting to discuss the next plan.
Spread out the chart, but it has no effect.
Zhang Yu asked Wang Ke, who was in charge of the star board, but he couldn't tell where the fleet was at this time. Fortunately, the direction could be determined by the sun, moon and stars.
Wang Ke deduced and calculated for a long time, and after discussing with many people, he said to Zhang Yu: "Based on the time of our voyage, if our voyage is not too far off course, we should be in the southeast of the Sargasso Sea at this time. Even to the south.”
"What is should?"
Kangzhe was very distressed.
Sailing on the sea, there are no islands around to replenish supplies. The sergeants have not disembarked for a long time. If they go the wrong way and the supplies cannot keep up, it will be fatal.
Zhang Lang sighed: "Don't embarrass Wang Ke and the others. This is a sea area we have never been to. No one can say whether the technique of leading the star across the ocean can be applied. They can make this judgment, so it should be credible." of."
Zhang Yu nodded slightly, seeing that everyone was a little dull, he couldn't help but smile and said: "We have arrived at the Sargasso Sea, probably to the south of this sea. If you look at the chart, at least it means that the chart the emperor gave us is correct. And now we are most likely not too far from the South American continent!”
Kang Zhe, Liang Si and others looked at the chart and felt a little heavy in their hearts. According to the established route, the naval fleet does not need to pass through the Sargasso Sea, but everyone has come here. This can only mean that they have deviated in the process, and they have deviated quite a bit.
This was probably caused by the navigation when the clouds covered the sun some time ago. It cannot be entirely blamed on Wang Ke and others. There are times when the compass and compass are not useful, let alone them.
Zhang Yu said firmly: "The existence of the Sargasso Sea has proved that there is no big mistake in navigation. As long as we adjust our navigation and go southwest, we will definitely reach the South American continent!"
Hearing Zhang Yu's voice, Kang Zhe, Liang Si and others felt confident.
Yes, if you take the wrong path, just walk a little longer. As long as you are willing to correct the direction and pay hard, you will reach the destination.
Zhang Yu issued the order: "Starting from tomorrow, the fleet will sail southwest. The most important thing now is to get out of this windless zone. During this time, I have worked hard, sergeant. In addition, increase the intensity of distilled water and ensure the water supply!"
"yes!"
Everyone agreed.
When Zhang Yu left the Sargasso Sea, a Dafu ship was trapped in the western part of the Sargasso Sea. This was the third batch of ships. The captain Hu He was from Wang Jinghong's fleet.
During the voyage, Wang Jinghong also transferred the sergeants of the Dafu Ship to the treasure ship. However, as the voyage progressed, the sea conditions improved much. In order to explore the sea area on a larger scale, Wang Jinghong reactivated the Dafu Ship.
It went well at first, but seven days ago, a heavy rainstorm caused Hu He's Dafu ship to lose contact with Wang Jinghong's fleet. In addition, the voyage was in the wrong direction, resulting in the loss of the ship.
Hu He was an overly prudent person. He did not look for Wang Jinghong's large fleet, but directly sailed with the Dafu Ship. Later, when he saw the "grassland", he plunged into it and was trapped in the Sargasso Sea.
The stability of his character led to the near-annihilation of the Hu He fleet.
Hu He believed that there was not much danger in the Sargasso Sea, and the sergeant became extremely disappointed because of the "grassland" or the sea, so he ordered the sergeant to rest for the night.
But it was this night that the Dafu Ship was completely trapped in the sargassum and could no longer move.
Overnight, the sargassum has climbed up to three feet high on the Dafu Ship. Three feet, nearly the height of a child. And this is just above the sea surface. The sargassum under the sea surface is even denser.
No matter how the sergeant on the Dafu ship shook the oar, it was to no avail. The dense sargassum locked the Dafu ship, making it impossible to move forward or retreat.
Hu He also thought of decentralizing small boats to clean up the sargassum. However, due to lack of sufficient vigilance and the limited number of boats equipped with the Dafu ship, he forced the sergeants to deal with the sargassum non-stop, which caused the sergeants to slack off and complain a lot, so that time was delayed. It was so long that the sargassum even clung to the boat, completely panicking the sergeant.
The material reserves of the Taifuku ship itself were not sufficient, especially water sources. Coal was needed to distill seawater, but there was not much coal in the cabin of the Taifuku ship. In addition, the efficiency of distilling seawater was very low, which caused most of the sergeants to have chapped lips and dry bodies due to thirst. Powerless.
Hu He ordered to abandon the Dafu ship and seize small boats to break out. However, because the breakout time was at night, and the compass lost its function and kept swinging, the breakout direction was chosen in the wrong direction, and it went deeper into the Sargasso Sea.
There was no water source, and some were trapped in the depths of the Sargasso Sea. More than a hundred Ming Dynasty sergeants died of thirst here. Some sergeants were sitting on the boat, covered with green sargassum. Some sergeants were Dragging it to the bottom of the sea, it slowly turned into withered bones...
