No matter what era, diving is a highly professional and dangerous job. For diving without the use of any tools, in Yin Feng's world, the highest record was a diving depth of 110 meters, and the longest underwater apnea record was 7 minutes.
Yin Feng's career as a journalist in his previous life made him very interested in these world records, so he knew these related diving records. Using his own pulse as a standard, he calculated the duration of Mai Wan'er's first dive into the water, which lasted about 4 minutes.
Half an hour.
"Awesome, so awesome..." He couldn't help but sigh, there were such powerful diving masters in China during the Ming Dynasty.
But it seems that this pearl fishing was really not going well. Dozens of Dan people have basically surfaced twice, but the pearls obtained are only less than a hundred pearls, only about 10 taels at most. Zeng Yue is Yazhou's appraiser.
He and the appraiser from Ouchi Shangbaojian brought by Wang An were inspecting the harvested pearls. The eunuch from Shangbaojian couldn't help shaking his head while watching. Wang An, who had been sitting firmly on the rocks, also began to become impatient.
He shook his fan hurriedly, wiping sweat with one hand.
Uncle Mai didn't know when he got ashore, talked to Zeng Yue and others, and was sent back by the eunuch with a wave of his hand.
Zeng Yue said to Yin Feng who was scratching his head at the side: "Mai Dantou told me that the hurricane half a month ago may have disturbed the seabed and moved the position of the sea clams. Therefore, even though we have penetrated 100 steps into the seabed, we still haven't gained much.
." He shook his head and followed the eunuch from Shang Baojian to where the big shot was.
Yin Feng came to the beach, where a group of villagers from the fishing village gathered, everyone stretching their necks to look at the sea.
"This is the fourth time!" someone exclaimed. It was obvious that the underwater time of the diving people was getting shorter and shorter, indicating that their physical strength was being exhausted.
The pearl fishing boat has moved several positions, and Wan'er of Uncle Mai's family is connecting the tin pipe around her neck to the long tin pipe on the boat with a cowhide ring, and then launches into the water for the fifth time.
After Mai Xiaohai, the eldest son of the Mai family, went into the water for the third time, he had been fixing the breathing tube for his sister. Seeing that Wan'er still only collected a few pearls after going out into the water for the fifth time, he couldn't help but become anxious and stood up to want to go into the water again.
Stop him: "Don't move, wait until Wan'er dives again, we will move south, and you can go into the water again."
"Dad, I think I won't be able to meet the quota today. It's only been half a year since I last fished for pearls..."
"Shut up! Shut up! You don't want to live anymore!" Uncle Mai looked around in panic and whispered to stop his son from speaking. Although he was nearly 500 steps away from the shore, Uncle Mai still looked at the court officials on the shore with a guilty conscience.
them.
"How about asking Xiaodan and the others to go home and secretly bring in the remaining unsold beads?" Mai Xiaohai suggested in a low voice.
"Damn it, haven't you seen a treasure appraiser from the palace? Mr. Zeng's nephew is easy to talk to, but this man will not be polite. How can he not distinguish between beads that have just come out of water and beads that came out of water half a year ago?" Mai
Bo gave his son a chestnut on the head and sighed.
"How did I know that the imperial court would suddenly come to fish for pearls? No matter whether you can collect pearls or not, you have to go into the water! The justice next to the emperor is watching! If you secretly mine the pearl pool of the imperial court, it will be a disaster that will lead to beheading and ransacking the family!
"Uncle Mai gritted his teeth and waved to his daughter: "I'll dive deeper into the sea later and look carefully."
"The pipe can't reach the bottom of the sea, so it's better not to use it." Wan'er removed the tin pipe, drank some water, took a few deep breaths, and stood up. Bob gritted his teeth and turned back to look at the coast again.
Another pearl fishing boat approached Uncle Mai's boat. A man in his 50s on the boat said in a low voice: "Boss Mai, it's too late. The kids have been in the water five times. We need to take a breather or something will happen!"
!”
Yin Feng stood by the beach and clearly felt that the atmosphere among the people around him was getting increasingly tense.
According to the habits of the people, diving five times is the limit, and it is necessary to rest. Uncle Mai went ashore again and reported to Zeng Yue.
Yin Feng saw Zeng Yue going up to the rocks from a distance, and whispered something to Zengzhou Prefect, but immediately returned and shook his head at Uncle Mai.
"What's going on?" Yin Feng asked Uncle Mai on the beach.
Bob shook his head bitterly, said nothing, and got on the boat.
"It's bad luck. If you can't collect the beads and meet the quota, the prince will be angry." A dark-skinned old man said softly to the side.
At this time, a group of Wang An's companions rushed over, drove the onlookers aside, commandeered several fishing boats and rowed them to the sea area where pearl fishing was taking place. They were to supervise the pearl fishing. Eunuch Wang
Ann was angry.
"Don't stop! Go down to work!" They used whips and sticks to drive all the sailors into the sea.
"Brother Zeng, you can't go into the water anymore, people will die." Yin Feng couldn't bear it anymore, rushed over and shouted to Zeng Yue: "At least, let the villagers have a rest!"
"No way, I didn't see those minions were already there..."
"Does it have to be dead?"
Zeng Yue smiled bitterly: "We can't stop even if people are dead. When the imperial court is fishing for pearls, how can a few poor people not be killed?"
Yin Feng frowned, very dissatisfied with Zeng Yue's understatement: "God has a good life, and Danhu is also a human life, how can it..."
There was a noise from the beach, and the two of them turned around to look, only to see a group of villagers lifting a human body from a pearl fishing boat. Yin Feng was startled and ran over, finding that it was a man in his 30s.
The young man was vomiting blood at the mouth, coughing loudly, and was lying on the beach twitching. There were people around him who covered him with clothes and caressed his chest, but he was unconscious and had difficulty breathing. He kept curling up, arms and legs
Shivering should mean that the limbs are in severe pain. This may be the so-called crotch syndrome: a symptom of diving disease.
Originally, Yin Feng did not believe that the Danfolk could dive 300 steps into the seabed, which is almost 100 meters deep. But seeing the symptoms of this diving disease, at least these Danfolk had dived to a depth of 20 or 30 meters.
Yin Feng hurriedly searched for the Mai family's boat on the sea. When he saw that only the Mai family's father was on the boat, his heart lifted. Yin Feng had always been very grateful for the family's life-saving grace. He turned around and said to
He ran toward the rocks, and Zeng Yue grabbed him. Yin Feng was strong enough to break free and continue running. He was sweating profusely and his face was red. After running a few steps, Zeng Yue caught up with him and grabbed him.
"Brother Yin, wait a minute, don't do it recklessly!!" He simply hugged Yin Feng's arm. Yin Feng was tall and strong, but he couldn't break away from the thin young man when he waved his hand. Zeng Yue's feet tilted and his body tilted.
He was much shorter than Yin Feng, and now he looked like he was hanging on Yin Feng's arm. Yin Feng smiled bitterly and stood still. Zeng Yue also felt embarrassed, so he let go and took a step away, but Yin Feng was still blocked.
From the front, he panted and said: "I know these Danhus and Brother Yin have life-saving grace, but the current matter is reckless. No matter what you want to do, it will be of no use to Mai Dantou and the others."
"Don't you want to save someone in the face of death? Is this a part of the sage's teachings?" Yin Feng asked coldly.
"I have only just met my brother. I see that you have no ambitions and a kind nature, and you don't care about our friendship. Can you take a step to speak?" Zeng Yue looked at the people rushing around him and said in a low voice: "I
This is for your own good..."
At this time, another sailor was carried onto the beach. The villagers, the Yazhou government officials, and the Hebo police officers were all busy working together. Some were rescuing people, some were asking about the situation loudly, and some women were crying.
The two came to another reef, and the noise of the crowd subsided slightly. Zeng Yue said: "Today's matter will definitely have to end with several people dying. Because it is impossible to complete the pearl fishing quota at the moment.
"
"Why? Could it be that Uncle Mai or you already knew that it would be impossible to meet the quota?"
"Haha, because there is no quota at all."
Yin Feng opened his mouth, thinking Zeng Yue was joking.
Zeng Yue said: "You have just returned from the West, so of course you don't know the details. The imperial court's mining tax envoys levy various tax items wherever they go. There are many names, and almost all of them are greedy and plundering without restraint. There is no approval.
As for the quota, you can charge as much as you want."
"That is to say, when the pearl fishing will end today, it all depends on the mood of Wang An, the eunuch of Shangbao Supervisor?"
"It can be said that these eunuchs are now so arrogant that discipline and discipline have been slackened. Although they have been quick to collect, they have leaked a lot. It is hard to say how many of these pearls will be left to enter the emperor's treasury." Zeng Yue sneered and asked Yin
Feng cupped his hands and said: "Brother, you are eager for public welfare, and you have the righteousness of the ancients. But you are just an ordinary person, and your identity is unknown. If you come forward rashly, you will only get into trouble but will not help at all."
Zeng Yue's words were very straightforward and frank, and Yin Feng calmed down. Thinking of his identity and experience, he sighed helplessly.
"Isn't there nothing Mr. Zeng can do? Just find an excuse and pick it up tomorrow. Brother Zeng, you should go talk to Mr. Zeng."
"My second uncle is helpless." Zeng Yue seemed to hesitate for a moment and said bitterly: "Now, we can only see how lucky the households are."
The wind direction changed again at some point, and now the wind has been blowing from the sea. The wind is so strong that the pearl fishing boat is shaking constantly.
Now there were six young sailors lying on the beach, and some women from the Dan people were rowing over. They rushed to the beach and screamed at the sky. Fortunately, there were no Mai brothers and sisters, so Yin Feng felt a little relieved.
After a commotion, the group of companions rushed over again, waving sticks and whips to drive the crowd away. A clerk from the Yazhou government office shouted loudly: "Go away quickly, move the people away quickly. Master Zeng ordered: Get rid of the crowd."
In addition to the sailors fishing for pearls, all kinds of people returned to the village, and the sick people were quickly carried away for treatment."
A man with a stick knocked a woman to the ground and cursed; another government servant dragged an old man to the seaside, and his accomplice kept kicking the old man while cursing; it seemed like this old man
He contradicted him. The gangsters around him were running away, and no one dared to resist.
Yin Feng returned to the beach and kept watching with a sullen face. He just happened to see this scene. He couldn't hold it anymore. He rushed forward and grabbed the kicker's trouser leg. He stretched out his foot to stumble and at the same time raised his hand to pull.
The guy immediately fell to the ground on the back of his head. Zeng Yue stamped his feet anxiously behind him, but he saw Yin Feng raised his hand to block the yamen servant's stick, bumped his front shoulder and pushed his right foot, and the yamen servant flew far away
, also landed on the back of the head.
After using a few simple judo moves, Yin Feng felt severe pain in his right arm, and for a while, his entire arm lost strength.
The surrounding villagers and Yazhou government officials were all in a daze. They did not expect that there would be such a bold person who dared to take on an official position. For a moment, there were gasps of surprise all around Yin Feng.
At this moment, a burst of thunder rolled over the sea in the distance. "Boom! Boom! Boom!"
No, this is the sound of cannons. Everyone looked towards the sea to the south, and at some point a huge sailboat appeared at the junction of sea and sky. "Boom!" There was another loud noise, and the ship became bigger and closer.
At one o'clock, a puff of smoke could be seen rising from the bow of the ship.
Yin Feng discovered that this was a three-masted sailboat, and the ship seemed to be very tattered. Only the mainmast was still hung with half a piece of canvas, and only a few rags were dragged on the front and rear masts. This was because this was a ship with large soft sails, and the main mast was hanging.
The mast is a square sail, and the hull is relatively slender. Although you can't see the specific shape of the ship, you can tell that it is not a Chinese sailing ship. Chinese sailing ships at that time were made of hard sails made of bamboo strips, which could be untied in case of emergency.
The cable falls and is retracted by its own gravity; however, large soft sails made of Western cloth cannot be used. In case of strong winds, a lot of manpower must be used to roll up the sail and tie it to the beam. In an emergency, the mast can only be cut off.
The current situation of this ship is like this: only half of the foremast is bare, the square sail of the mainmast is patched together with miscellaneous cloths, the colors are very dazzling, and only the uppermost triangular sail of the mizzen mast is still left. The hull
There also seems to be some damage.
Just now, everyone was only concerned about pearl fishing, and there was so much noise that no one even raised their heads to look at the sea in the distance. As a result, when they found this sailing ship, it was already more than a mile away from the beach here. The sound of cannons
It was getting louder and louder, but there was no impact point near the beach and rocks. It looked like a Western ship was just firing a salute.
A middle-aged yamen servant shouted: "Folangji pirates!!" He turned around and ran away at such a fast speed that he led a group of Yazhou government yamen servants to run wildly. Then, the eunuchs' companions also ran towards the reef in disorder.
.The people's pearl fishing boats were all turning and rowing towards the shore at full speed.
Zeng Yue stepped forward and grabbed Yin Feng: "You are in trouble, leave quickly!!"
However, Yin Feng still turned to look at the sea and said: "Wait a minute, it may not be pirates, this seems to be the Spanish royal flag..."
Zeng Yue continued his explanation and kept pulling him back: "Let's go quickly. Fortunately, you are fighting a local government official, so there is room for accommodation. You don't care if he is a pirate or not, he is not a good person anyway.
.”
Yin Feng stopped: "Why?"
Zeng Yue looked at him in confusion, why didn't this man know that he had gotten into a big trouble? He still had time to care about these trivial matters. He said impatiently: "It has been many years since these Buddha and Wolf aircraft ships appeared in Hong Kong.
It's not going to be good for these people to come here all of a sudden."
"Pirates! Japanese pirates!" There was a noise on the reef. Eunuch Wang An stood up in panic, hurriedly boarded the sedan surrounded by people, and ran quickly towards Yazhou City.
Zeng Qi came over and said to Zeng Yue: "I have sent people to Yazhou to report the emergency. The navy in Baisha Village is unavailable. Go back to the city quickly. I have to accompany Wang An." He looked at him coldly.
He glanced at Yin Feng, shook his head meaningfully, and turned away.
"Boom!" There was another loud noise, and then there was no more gunfire. Looking back, I saw that the Western sailing boat was approaching the beach following the direction of the wind.
At the last moment when Yin Feng was dragged away from the beach by Zeng Yue, he saw that the ship had furled its sails and dropped anchor. A small boat was being lowered, and more than ten invisible armed crew members with muskets were boarding the small boat.
The boats of the villagers had already sailed far away, or abandoned them on the beach. After a while, the beach where nearly a thousand people had gathered just now was empty.
It's just a ship, with no more than a hundred crew members at most. Even if it's a pirate, it's not like it's so full of soldiers, right? I heard that Baisha Village in Sanya Port alone is equipped with more than a thousand naval officers and soldiers.
Yin Feng was a little puzzled, but thinking about the Jiajing Japanese pirate period, more than a hundred Japanese pirates were able to traverse thousands of miles of sea territory in the Ming Dynasty, and they could attack and kill thousands of miles on land without anyone being able to defeat them. It seems normal to have this kind of effect of emptying the streets.