Nan Hai Bing 36, we set sail and left the port early the next morning.
The rising sun had just jumped out of the sea, illuminating the sea for a long time and making it look red, as if it was on fire.
After leaving Jinjiang Estuary and entering Quanzhou Bay, John and Yin Sak were watching the sunrise from the bow of the ship. They suddenly saw a fleet of ships coming diagonally from the line between the sky and the sea.
These ships are taller and larger, with towering masts that are taller than the city walls and castles. The half-hung canvas seems to be carrying the wind from the place of departure. They cut through the waves, covered with golden clouds, and sailed quickly.
"Dago, what kind of ship is this?" John asked, pointing there.
Duda, who was talking to someone, turned his head and looked along John's fingers. After staring for a while, he didn't bother to answer John's words and shouted to the other crew members in surprise: "Sailor! Our navy!"
The first one to arrive was Old Xu Tou at the bow of the ship. He stood on the bow of the ship, holding up an old monocular telescope. After looking at it for a while, he grinned and showed his scorched teeth and said: "What a fool, I never thought we would meet someone like this." Those bastards who came to the second ship!"
He turned around and shouted loudly at the sailors, "You bitch, raise the flag of the Wind and Waves quickly! If you lose etiquette, I will be laughed to death by them on this sea in the future! Raise it quickly, if If you are too slow, I will throw you all down to feed the fishes!"
Several sailors seemed to be whipped, and they walked as if they were jumping. They quickly found a flag from the captain's cabin, tied it to the rope of the main mast in a hurry, and then clattered It reached the top of the pole with a clatter.
John looked up and saw a long and thin flag fluttering in the wind, with a white background and blue stripes, like a silver hairtail fish swimming quickly in the sea.
When I turned around again, I saw that the surrounding ships were all hung with similar flags. In the distance, a fishing boat with no desire for anything might not have this flag, but actually tied a blue cloth strip to the mast. top.
The naval fleet was getting closer and closer, and John felt more and more threatened by these ships. They were like castles, moving proudly.
Judging from the shape of the ship, it is very similar to the three-masted sailboat we saw before, but it is longer and "stronger". The bow is more inclined forward and looks sharper. The stern is taller, like a tower. You can see to two rows of windows, evenly distributed on both sides of the hull.
You can see that the wind and waves flags have also been raised on the main masts of these six large ships. A dozen sailors busy on the deck, wearing white shirts and cyan bloomers, took advantage of the opportunity to wave to this side.
Six large ships passed by quickly. Standing on the ship No. Bing 46, John felt like a tiny yellow croaker, witnessing six blue whales swimming by.
"Dago, can you tell me now, what kind of ship is this?"
"The six third-level battleships of the Second Fleet of the Song Dynasty Navy, Gyeongju, Yanzhou, Yanzhou, Huazhou, Shangzhou, Liangzhou, and the Six King Kongs of the East China Sea."
Duda replied.
"Third-level battleships? How are they divided? It looks like this ship is very big. Da Geer, do you know how big it is?"
"I don't know, we don't dare to inquire about the navy's affairs." Duda, who had always known everything before, started to speak in a flash.
John suppressed his curiosity, forced a smile, and slowly walked among the sailors.
The sailors who were still immersed in excitement began to talk in low voices, and John listened in secret.
"Where did these guys from the second ship come from?"
"I heard that most of the gangs of pirates who came from Srivijaya to the east of Daliuqiu Island were wiped out in the east sea of Qiongya Island, and the remaining ones escaped without a trace. Some said they escaped back to their homes.
Some say Livers is hiding on a small island in southern Luzon. A few days ago, some fishermen found him hiding on the east side of Daliuqiu Island."
"I'm scared, I hid there. If the fishermen hadn't discovered this accidentally, who would have known!"
"Yes, there are only a few fishing stops on the east side of the island, and there are not many ghosts there."
"How many disabled pirates are left? Is it necessary to send the second ship over?"
"Military training, you don't understand military training? Didn't you see Yishui's new battleship? I heard that a battleship uses so much copper?" The sailor made a gesture in secret.
"Oh my god, so many? There are so many on one ship. If all six ships are loaded, Nan'an Copper Factory cannot use half of the copper production in it."
"Now it is not as good as in previous years. Copper is not valuable, but silver is. In our Song Dynasty, there is more than one copper factory in Nan'an. Xinhui, Longhai, Baoshan, no copper factory is smaller than Nan'an."
"yes..."
The more John listened, the more frightened he became, but he also had more doubts.
New battleship?
When we passed each other just now, it looked like it had been launched not long ago. New warships mean new tactics and training. Training with pirates is in line with the habits of the Song people who are full of martial virtue.
Use copper? Why is copper used on ships?
The copper used by six ships covers half of the copper production of Nan'an Copper Factory. Doesn't it mean that the copper used by one ship requires the production of Nan'an Copper Factory for one month?
I once asked, Nan'an Copper Factory, during the tailwind season, thirty big-bellied ships come to transport copper ore every month. According to the calculations of the Song Dynasty, each ship transports three to four hundred tons of copper ore, and one month
Approximately 10,000 tons.
According to his own mining data from the Imperial Copper Mine, the content of copper ore is not high, generally at 1%. Ten thousand tons can extract one hundred tons of copper. But Duda said that big-bellied ships are not only used to transport copper ore.
Most of the stones are rough copper ingots that were first refined in Luzon Island.
Calculating this way, the monthly copper output will be even higher, probably more than 1,000 tons.
God, why do those six battleships use so much copper?
Regarding this question, John did not dare to ask Duda, because he knew that Da Geer, who seemed to know everything, was actually not a simple person.
During the next voyage, John and Yin Sak pretended to be nonchalant and continued to ask Duda about the customs and customs of the Song Dynasty. These days, John asked Duda more about the emperor and governance of the Song Dynasty.
.
One day, Yinsak accidentally discovered that the second officer and navigator was reading a piece of paper full of words while taking measurements, as if he had discovered a new continent.
After listening to Duda's explanation, John immediately asked Yinsak to take out the money, ask Duda to collect all the newspapers and magazines on the ship, and then read them to him one by one.
John's current simple conversations are okay, but asking him to understand those wonderful square characters is simply delusional.
From then on, the four masters and servants of John were completely immersed in those newspapers and magazines.
They will carefully understand every word in the "Donghua Chaobao" about who is appointed as deputy chief envoy of such and such county, who is appointed as magistrate of such and such Zhili prefecture, etc.
They heard the least of the poems and songs in Wenbao.
They are currently unable to understand the artistic conception inside, nor can they understand the way Duda, the second officer, the warehouse manager, the clerk and others shake their heads in fascination and intoxication every time it is read aloud.
The ship arrived at the outskirts of Mingzhou Port, dropped off the passengers on the ship, and let them take the traffic boat into the port. Then it lifted anchor and set sail, and continued northward.
On the fourteenth day after setting off from Guangzhou Port, Nanhai Ship No. Bing46 sailed into the mouth of a large river with a width that John and Yinsak had never seen before.
"This is the mouth of the Yangtze River. After walking for half an hour, we will enter the Songjiang Estuary and reach our destination, Suzhou and Shanghai Port."
"We're finally here," John murmured, and suddenly he saw another string of big-bellied boats moving forward slowly in front of him.
"Dago, are there also copper ships here?"
Duda looked at it and said, "No, this is not a copper ship, but an iron ship bound for Baoshan."
"Iron ship?"
"Yes, the iron ore is transported from the Qiongya Island Iron Mine to Xinhui, Guangzhou, and the coal transported from Guangning Port is added to refine the crude iron ingots. Then it is transported by big-bellied ship to the Baoshan Steelmaking Plant ahead. I
The largest steelmaking plant in the Song Dynasty."
"Baoshan Steelmaking Plant? The largest steelmaking plant in the Song Dynasty? How big is it?"
Duda showed six snow-white teeth and smiled, "Mr. Yue, I can't explain this clearly. You can tell by looking at it from a distance."
"Can I go see it?"
"It's definitely not possible to go in and take a look, but it's still okay to take a look outside through the fence." This chapter has been completed!