The weather is actually a bit bad, especially when the seasons change.
The Ping Navy currently has three "Marine Din" type ships and has trained a group of sailors who are familiar with the ships.
The three large ships were named by Shao Sheng himself: Dingyuan, Zhenyuan and Fuyuan.
Each ship carried more than 200 soldiers and some logistical supplies. The bottom cabin was crowded, and there were even many people standing on the deck.
The wind is blowing from the southeast today, very strong.
The wind swept the sea water, forming huge swells, which hit the sea surface from time to time, making a huge roar and splashing countless white water foam.
The three pilot ships were rising and falling on the sea like helpless fallen leaves. Fan He, the commander of the Chishui Army who landed on the sea for the first time, looked pale. His hands firmly grasped any place where his body could be fixed, and his knuckles turned white.
Zhu Liang and Zhao Zongjie, the two chief admirals of the Ping Navy, walked over one after the other and introduced Fan He into the cabin at the stern of the ship with a smile.
Fan He had vomited twice and was feeling weak and weak.
When Zhu Liang and Zhao Zongjie helped him, he couldn't feel the strength of this land tiger at all. He couldn't help but sigh in his heart, no matter how brave the warrior is, once he reaches the sea and vomits all kinds of meat, he will just
Lamb to the slaughter.
"I didn't expect the wind and waves in the Liaohai Sea to be so strong." Fan He said with a bitter smile after taking a few sips of water to clear the smell from his mouth.
"It's not usually this big. I'm not lucky today." Zhu Liang gradually got used to the wind and waves on the sea.
He was an old man from Xicheng and was familiar with Fan He, so he joked: "King Hailong will be happy when the fourth son of the Fan family comes."
Zhao Zongjie's expression changed. You can't make such a joke on the sea.
"Have a good rest. It will take at least two days to arrive." Zhu Liang threw a blanket to Fan He and said, "The wind is strong on the sea. If you feel cold, just cover him with this blanket."
Before Fan He could speak, he heard a loud rumble and a big wave came in. Fine water spray swept across the entire deck. The remaining force flowed into the poop cabin, wetting the tabletop and the blanket.
.
"Wow!" A nautical chart hanging on the bulkhead fell down and was gradually soaked by the sea water.
"I have to go see the soldiers." Fan He threw the wet blanket aside and stood up unsteadily.
Zhu Liang had no choice but to ask two sailors to follow Fan He and take care of him at all times.
The wind and waves continued, and the ship's hull continued to sway, and the tilted angle looked scary.
Fan He came to the deck. The cold sea breeze poured into his mouth, making it difficult to speak.
Fan He raised his head again, and the flag on the mast was blown loudly, making a terrifying crackling sound from time to time.
The sailors in the mast basket have already come down. No one would be stupid enough to climb up and look out in this weather. If he is accidentally blown into the sea, who can he cry to?
"It's really like separated by mountains." Fan He sighed.
The sea and the land are really two completely different worlds. He used to look down on the Ping Navy, but now he has no such idea at all. The power of the ocean is really beyond the power of human beings. But he can calmly control it in such sea conditions.
The ships and the sailors who sailed hard were all first-class warriors - at least Fan He did not dare to fight against the wind and waves at sea.
"Boom!" Another big wave came head-on, and everyone on the deck exclaimed.
The bow of the ship seemed to have been lifted up by someone, and then it fell heavily on the sea surface, splashing a large amount of water foam.
Two sailors, one on the left and one on the right, held Fan He's arm tightly.
Fan He's face turned even paler. Just now, he even felt like he was falling from a high altitude. It was really scary.
I heard that this is a new ship, with a thick keel and densely packed ribs. Probably only a ship like this can go out to sea, right? The deep sea far away from the land should be even more violent, and ordinary ships really can't withstand it.
"Crash..." All the drainage holes on the ship have been opened, and the seawater that has entered the deck has begun to be discharged.
Fan He suppressed his nausea and slowly moved down the cabin weakly.
The cabin was filled with an unpleasant smell.
As soon as he entered, Fan He, who had been able to hold back just now, immediately vomited. In the end, almost all of the vomit was dark brown. He finally couldn't hold on anymore and slowly collapsed in the cabin.
"Alas!" The two sailors sighed softly, supported him against the bulkhead, and waited for him to recover.
No one can help you with these things at sea.
People have died of seasickness, let alone paralyzed on the ground. They are used to the situation in the bottom cabin.
In fact, these soldiers and warriors are pretty good, but the immigrants and civilians are even worse. Not everyone can adapt to sailing.
A group of sailors walked over from the deck and entered the bilge. They brought cleaning tools, endured the sour smell, and carefully cleaned the dirt in the bilge. When they encountered people who were really uncomfortable, they held them
Go up to the deck and take a breath of fresh air.
But to be honest, this is not necessarily a good thing. When someone saw the huge waves outside, he almost fainted from fright. At this time, if you give him two choices, one is to continue sailing on the sea, and the other is to attack the city first.
, he definitely chooses the latter.
Not everyone can tolerate the hardships at sea.
******
The bad weather lasted for half a day and then disappeared, just as it had appeared without warning.
Unpredictable weather at sea has always been one of the risks of sailing.
Zhu Liang sent people to climb up the mast basket and watch from a distance.
The two ships, Zhenyuan and Fuyuan, followed closely behind and did not get separated.
Further away, you can still vaguely see some masts and sails, which are other ships of the Ping Navy.
The lookout's eyes widened, and he carefully searched the entire sea surface, and then reported a number: "Seventeen ships."
Zhu Liang nodded. There were a few missing ships, and they were probably blown away by the sea breeze. This is a common thing. Fortunately, the Liaohai Sea is just a big bathtub, and the sea conditions are not particularly complicated. If these ships are adjusted, they will probably be able to survive.
Find the right heading and follow it slowly - if it doesn't sink.
"After I go back, I have to ask the court to allocate money to replace all the old ships." Zhu Liang said.
"It must be changed." Zhao Zongjie nodded in agreement.
Just say that in the bad weather just now, the swells rushed in from the side, and the damage to the hull was very obvious. If the hull design is not good, the keel is not strong enough, and the ribs are not tight enough, if there are a few more waves, the ship will fall apart.
Some people may think that such big storms and waves come and go quickly, so they may not necessarily be encountered. But those who have sailed for a long time know that bad weather will accompany them throughout their careers. If you don’t encounter it this time, you will not encounter it next time.
There is no way to escape, sooner or later you will encounter it.
During the Pre-Tang Dynasty, envoys to Silla and Japan, and merchant ships traveling to and from Silla, often encountered bad weather. Fleets were blown apart, ships lost their way, and sank. It was not uncommon - in July of the 14th year of Kaiyuan, "Cangzhou strong wind,
Twenty-one-tenths of the shipping ships were lost, more than 5,000 stones of Pinglu's military supplies were lost, and everyone on the ship died."
This is still in the big bathtub of Liaohai, and it is also offshore of Cangzhou. It can be seen that "two out of ten" ships were sunk when encountering a sudden strong wind.
This may be an important reason why ancient sea transportation could not replace water transportation.
You ship ten times, and you succeed seven or eight times. But if you fail once or twice, a bunch of people will stand up and complain, insisting that you abolish the shipping policy.
Their reasons are actually not entirely untenable.
This is not high-profit commodity trading. More than half of the ten merchant ships sank, and the remaining ones still made huge profits after sailing back to the port, because the profits were ten times or even dozens of times.
In the case of a grain ship, even if 20% is lost and the remainder reaches its destination safely, the gap is still a headache. What's more, the sea is rough and the waves are strong. No matter how well the moisture-proofing work is done, the loss of food in the cabin is still very alarming.
Far more than inland water transport.
There is no other way to solve this problem than to develop better ships. When the ships are good enough to carry out regular trade across the ocean, and the shipping losses are controlled within a tolerable range, it will be considered a success.
But in this case, it obviously doesn't work, unless you are willing to ignore those losses and regard them as acceptable.
"Hang the following flag, slow down, and get into formation. You take command, and I will go down to the bottom to take a look." Zhu Liang handed over the command of the fleet to Zhao Zonghui, and then went to the bottom.
The cabin was still gloomy and gloomy.
The weak warriors were lying or sitting, their eyes dull and their faces pale.
Seawater seeped in through cracks and holes and flowed freely in the cabin. Every time it was contaminated with the dirt in the bilge, it changed color and smell.
"Sewage is overflowing, ugh." Zhu Liang sighed softly, and called a team of sailors to clean the bottom tank.
After the sailors came in, Zhu Liang didn't bother to look anymore and returned to the upper deck.
The weather was nice. The sailors used wooden barrels to fetch seawater and clean the deck repeatedly.
There was another lookout in the mast basket, looking at the sea with wide eyes.
Zhu Liang had communicated with Zhao Zonghui before, and he felt that the fleet might have yawed. At present, it can only be said that the general direction is correct, but it is difficult to say how much it has yawed.
They have tried their best.
After the Anshi Rebellion, the shipping industry in Yuanhai towns has been in decline. It cannot be said that the relevant talents are completely out of stock, but there is also a serious shortage of talent.
What they are doing now is more restorative work to expand the size of the fleet and train relevant talents. What's more, even before the Anshi Rebellion, deviations were common. Maybe you succeeded in your voyage this time, but the same thing will happen next time.
Ships, with the same sailors, may get lost, this is normal.
The fleet sailed slowly like this, and another day and night passed. When everyone seemed a little anxious, Zhu Liang suddenly heard a few bird calls in his ears, and he felt very happy.
There are seabirds, which means we are not far from land.
Sure enough, it didn't take long for the lookout in the mast basket to shout: "The coast is in sight!"
Zhu Liang took a quick step and rushed to the railing, holding his head and looking into the distance.
Wherever the eye can see, a crooked "black line" vaguely appears.
As the distance gets closer, the "black line" becomes clearer and clearer. Obviously, it is the outline of the land.
"Notify the good news." Zhu Liang waved his hand and ordered happily.
After a while, warm cheers erupted from inside and outside the deck.
Men at sea always take every voyage seriously as their last. Every successful landing is a happy event worth celebrating. Therefore, after landing, they often need food, alcohol and women to comfort and numb themselves.
So that you can regain your energy and courage to go to sea before the next voyage.