There is a saying that there is always a time when spring goes to autumn, and sunrise and sunset are love. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 ｉｎfo

A year later, the old man and Li Lao's disaster relief activities in Maoming were coming to an end, and Lao Ba had been working hard to search for clues.

It was a day in late autumn, the old man specially invited Li Lao to come over, and then locked the door to call the old eight to come to question, Li Lao has not seen the old eight for a long time, this time he was happy to see it, the old eight was strong, and now he is even darker, and one mouth shows two rows of big white teeth, and he only knows that he has been staying in Qiongzhou.

"Old eight, I didn't arrange anything with you Li Ye today, just listen to your investigation, and sit down to talk."

"Tell the owner, after I received the errand, I went to find the shopkeeper of our Nanyang chain, he listened to me and recommended a brother to me, that person's name is Zhang Hai, nicknamed Lai Yu, 25 years old this year, Qiongzhou people, ancestors have been eating boats and going to sea for a living, and the reason why the shopkeeper recommended him is very simple, when it comes to the understanding of the South China Sea Islands, no one can compare with the people of Qiongzhou."

"So, I told him the key words you gave by the owner, and he clearly replied to me at that time, there is such an island, but he has never been there, but he heard from the elders that the water flow is strange and the reefs are dense, so it is also called the Hades Sea."

The old man nodded at the eighth child, then stretched out his hand and looked at him with a raised eyebrow.

"The owner really knows me, Lai Yu took me back to their hometown Tanmen, his grandfather is an old captain, as soon as I told the situation, he told me about the situation of the island, I painted the image of the island according to the description, and his grandfather was sure that it was almost the same, the owner please see."

I saw Lao Ba take out a picture from his arms, on which an oval island was drawn, there was a raised flat-topped mountain in the middle, there was a waterfall flowing down the mountain, and the rest was a piece of woods, and a landmark was marked with a circle on the west side of the island, which said Dragon Cave, and then on the east side there were many small spikes, which should mean many reefs.

The old man carefully looked at this map, he didn't know much about navigation, looking at the island map and drawing it out of thin air with his fingers, but in his mind, how vast the endless sea was, and it was common to encounter wind and waves during sailing, the key was that there was no reference at all in this vast sea, could it be that he sailed straight with a compass?

Li Lao looked at the old man with a smile and said to the eighth child.

"But there is an old captain of "Thinner"? How old is he? Can I still go to sea? If not, can an heir read it? ”

The old man's eyes were circled, and Li Lao's series of questions entered his ears and waited for the eighth child to answer.

"I don't want Li Ye to be so knowledgeable, indeed, Lai Yu's grandfather is 65 years old this year, and he dreams of riding the wind and waves again, he said that this island is called Jianshizhi, he seems to know very well, and he also wants to undertake our business, but he refuses to tell me more information. By the way, he asked me to copy a piece of paper by hand, which is the content of "Thinning the Road" that Li Ye said, and those who know how to do it will understand the weight at a glance. ”

Li Lao took the drawings and looked at them, his eyes lit up, he kept shaking his head, pushing his thumb in his palm, then closed his eyes again, nodded for a long time, and walked over and spread it on the table next to the old man.

"Brother Li, this article is full of heaven and earth, like a book from heaven, what does it mean?"

"The owner is right, this is "Thinning the Road", also called the Book of Navigation."

I saw that on the piece of paper, from right to left, it was written vertically: "Ziyue sailed from Datan to the East China Sea, used the Qianxun twelve, used the ugly five watches to collect the cat note, supplemented the use of Yixin and the tenth watch, entered the Yama Sea, and used the meridian to turn the Mao You, avoid the pimples, shovel to stop the collection of sharp stones, and the meridian raft." ”

Li Lao pointed to this passage and used a brush to break sentences under the key words, and then wrote "In November, the ship set off from Tanmen to the East China Sea, the ship traveled in the direction of Qianxun for twelve watches and turned to the direction of Chouwei, drove for five watches to replenish on Maozhu Island, and then drove to the Yixin route for ten watches to enter the Hades Sea, turning from north to south to east and west to avoid the reef of the secret level and stopping at Jianshi Island, and could only enter from the north and south by boat." ”

"Eighth child, can I translate correctly?"

I saw Lao Ba raise his thumb high and praise it.

"I don't want Master Li to know so much about this book of heaven, indeed, Grandpa Lai Yu asked me to copy it down and then told me that's it."

Later, I learned that the people who developed the South China Sea in China since ancient times were the first to bear the brunt of the HN people, that is, the Qiongzhou people during the Republic of China, who had been expanding the sea and ocean for generations, but at that time XSQD was not called the same as it is now, but called the East China Sea, and those islands were also named according to their shape, nature and the experience of the captain.

The sea is vast and deep, but it is like the king of Hades, and it is full of reefs and turbulence, which are enough to have a devastating impact on navigation, so the people of hn have been surveying, summarizing and recording with their lives in the ocean again and again.

As a result, their ancestors have explored and formed a sea path for generations, and organized it into a book in a special language and format, and later recorded the nearby scenery in code, including fishery, hydrology, fish, specialties, etc., which is "More Road", also called "Nanhai Tianshu".

"Brother, how do you see the eighth child's task completed?"

"Hahahaha, the eighth child can be said to have found the right person in this operation, getting twice the result with half the effort, and at the same time drawing the appearance of the island, and this thinner paper copy, it can be seen that this old man really wants to take this business, which is to prove that he has this ability. I went to Qiongzhou in order to worship Bai Yuchan, the patriarch of the southern sect of Taoism, and learned about "More Thin Roads" there, which is regarded as a secret treasure for seafaring boatmen, which can only be passed down from generation to grandchildren, and will never be shown to outsiders. I'm ashamed to say that I was also able to get a glimpse of them because of the dress of a cultivator and treating them. ”

"The owner, everything is ready now, and the rest is still for you and Li Ye."

The old man looked at the two drawings in his hand, put down the one that was thinner, carefully looked at the shape of the island, and drew a pen along both sides of the mountain into the sea, and drew a few strokes of ocean currents in the area of the dragon cave and the reef, and finally drew a question mark in the mountain under the surface of the sea.

"Brother, if I'm not mistaken, this must be a volcano, and the turbulence is caused by the volcano forming large caves and reefs under the sea level, and there is a waterfall at the top of the mountain, which means that the crater has formed a lake, or it is not known that the current has washed through the hole at the bottom to the mountain pass."

"Volcano? However, Dongfang Shuo recorded in the "Divine Sutra": "There are volcanoes outside the Southern Wilderness, in which inexhaustible trees are burned, day and night fire, the storm is not violent, and the torrential rain is not extinguished'? ”

"Exactly, but Dongfang Shuo did not know that the flame was not an endless stream of wood burning, but lava underground, and I knew when I was a young man studying Western studies with the English missionaries that there was an infinite amount of lava under our feet, and it was hotter than fire, and when they erupted, the earth was raised to form volcanoes, and many islands in the sea were formed in this way. Unfortunately, only Westerners had studied Chinese volcanoes before Xinhai, and most of them did not know what volcanoes were. ”

"Host, isn't the island floating on the sea?"

"Silly old man, the bottom of the island is not empty, it is connected to the land or the bottom of the sea, otherwise how can the island be fixed there all year round? Do you really think the island is carried by a big turtle? This time, you brought a few brothers with me and Li Ye, and also increased your knowledge of the ocean, your owner and I are also full of words and I have not seen the truth, to be honest, I am really looking forward to the vast sea. ”

"Okay, does the owner have standards for the accompanying brothers?"

"Just two, loyal and able to fight, after you choose, prepare the weapon guy, let's go to Qiongzhou to visit Grandpa Lai Yu, and pay the old man at three times the price they went to sea, presumably Grandpa Lai Yu knows about our livelihood from his grandson, there is no need to hide it, it will be this old man." Go ahead and prepare. ”

After the eighth child left, Li Lao asked the old man.

"Boss, seeing that you are so prepared, do you have any scruples?"

"Brother, the heart of defense is indispensable, this time I went to explore the treasure, we only know that it is related to immortality, but we don't know what it is or what else, just speculate wildly, although the fishermen are simple, but it is inevitable to see the money open, and this old man is willing to copy down the book and hand it to me, that is, there is a great motivation to go there. Do you think that fishermen are already afraid of the dangers of the ocean, why is this old man so enthusiastic about entering the Hades Sea? Do you just want to make more money? Therefore, be prepared, and when you get to Tanmen to investigate, you will know a thing or two. ”

A week later, on September 22 of the Jiashen year of the lunar calendar, on November 7, 1935, the beginning of winter, the old man and his party took a boat from Leizhou all the way south to Xiuying Port on Hn Island. Along the way, the eighth brother recommended the selected brothers to the old man one by one, and they were all the first time to see the real big boss, so they stood very respectfully on both sides of the deck and waited for the old man to speak.

The strongest is a middle-aged man, nicknamed the bear, more than one meter nine, the whole body is dark tendon meat, two feet like duck paws, this is a typical feature of running around at sea all the year round, he has rich sailing experience, when he was young, he has been to the South China Sea Islands with his family many times, and is proficient in driving, and is also the most important thing for the shopkeeper of the South China Sea chain, if it is not for the service of the owner, he will not let go if he is killed.

This man has big eyes and a nose, thick lips and no beard, and a shiny bald head that smiles when he sees someone, and when he sees the owner, he quickly bows.

"The owner, this time the eighth master chose a few of our brothers, we are all from Qiongzhou, since childhood with the family has been to the South China Sea islands, and later followed the shopkeeper of the South China Sea chain, but also traveled in the South China Sea, now there is food, drink and money to earn, this is first of all thanks to the owner of you. I am the oldest among them, they all call me Brother Sheng, plus Lai Yu, a total of five people, he has already gone to Qiongzhou to prepare, the five of us know the technology of navigation well, the owner can rest assured. ”

"Okay, then you can continue to introduce a few of your brothers."

"Yes, the owner doesn't know, to go to the East China Sea, you have to have at least two ships, that is, with a load of 300 to 600 quintals, and the most important thing is that the eighth master chose us, that is, there must be five first-class on a ship, that is, the five most important sailors, namely the big watch tube compass, the big reed to manage things, the aban to manage the middle wheel, the head gun to be responsible for a round and a small boat, and the three-plate tube underwater. Although we have been to the East China Sea since we were children, the Yama Sea has always been a forbidden area, since Grandpa Lai Yu has a thinner road and wants to go with him, he must know something about it, but the heart of defense is indispensable, so the owner ordered the shopkeeper Zhou to arrange for our ship to go to Tanmen is a guarantee, but the shopkeeper Zhou said that the people sent are reliable, the second is loyal, and the third is to be able to enter the eyes of the owner. ”

"The owner, the thinnest, has a bald head with sores on his head, we call him a leper head, you don't look at him dirty, but the best three boards, he doesn't like land at all, he has to sleep on the boat every day, his legs are circled, but as soon as he enters the water, he is really more flexible than a swimming fish."

The man and bear introduced, and the old man carefully remembered their appearance, nicknames and characteristics one by one. The shortest is called Short-legged, and he has learned good martial arts all his life since he was a child, and at the same time he is proficient in things on board, and he is ruthless in managing sailors, and everything is in order. There is also a one-eyed dragon nicknamed, with one eye and one ear, which is said to be a shipwrecked injury, probably because of a physical disability, so he is silent.

"Brothers, listen, although I am the owner of Zhou, but I also pay attention to the word brother, although my door is dark, but also indispensable life and death rules, after all, this Nanyang chain was set up by my own hands, so, on this chain, we are brothers to talk about righteousness, but the rules are as big as the sky, I have three chapters of the law."

"First, respect and humility are said to be human, but I will never treat you badly, this treasure hunt, regardless of success or failure, the upper fortune will be cashed in, if there is a brother broken, his parents I raised, his son as his own, his wife is my own sister, you can rest assured. Second, Li Ye and I don't know about navigation, everything is managed by Renxiong, you Eighth Master accompanies me to deal with other things, and everything other than navigation is at the disposal of Eighth Master. Third, stay vigilant, Lai Yu is his own brother, I am naturally relieved, but this time it is likely that his grandfather will travel together, it is inevitable that there will be other young people who have bad ideas, protect me and Li Ye, but also protect Lai Yu's grandfather, the old man is respected, and many things have to be relied on. Do you get it?! ”

The crowd bowed deeply and made a promise!