Captain Gu went on to explain that there are now three routes to choose from.

The first route is through Sulu all the way north, passing through the waters off Manila and the Balintang Strait to the southern waters of Dayuan Island, and then turning west to reach Macau, which should be considered the eastern route.

The other is the western route, which goes out of the sea east of Jolo, then crosses the Sulu Sea into the northern shore of Kalimantan Island, then goes north across the southwestern part of the South China Sea to the southern coastline of Annam, then sails north to Qiongzhou Island, and then northeast along the coast of the mainland and Guangzhou to Macao.

Let's talk about the western route first, the advantage of this route is that there are many land islands along the way, in this season, the ocean storms are relatively weak, and there are many ports for supply and refuge, but this route also has disadvantages---- there are a lot of pirates, obviously another disadvantage is that the road is a bit detoured.

Gu Jin emphasized that I hope you will not underestimate pirates, especially in the process of coastal navigation, you need to be vigilant at all times and at all times to prevent pirates from sneak attacks.

Especially in the evening and at dawn, although our ships are strong and guns, hand-to-hand combat is a weakness, and in the event of a sneak attack on the ship, casualties are inevitable.

Whoever is hurt is not a good thing, so it should not be taken lightly.

Therefore, if you take this route, you will be nervous along the way.

The third route is to go north directly after leaving the Celebes Sea, enter the Sulu Sea, and then bypass Palawan, from south to north through the South China Sea to Macau, this road is the closest, because this road is almost all deep oceans, and there are almost no pirates, and the possibility of encountering the fleets of other forces such as the Spaniards and the Zheng family is also very small, but the disadvantage is that the wind is high and the waves are strong, and you need to be prepared for a bumpy and tiring journey, especially the crew on the Pride.

After introducing the route, Gu Jin did not continue to talk, but asked everyone to express their opinions on the route issue.

At this time, Zhu Beiguo raised his hand and asked to speak, and when Gu Jin agreed, Zhu Beiguo got up and made a long speech:

"The Eastern Route is a traditional route, and it has always been the shortest route for Nanyang ships to the mainland, Japan and South Korea. But we should note that there were only two or three supply and safe havens along the way, and Manila, the largest and most prosperous port, was under the control of the Spaniards, and the relationship between the Spaniards and the Han Chinese was sometimes good and bad.

Moreover, this route is a busy and popular route, and we can easily meet the Spaniards or the Dutch or even the Zheng family's fleet, but these maritime powers are not good at stubble.

For example, the Zheng family, once the ship is not hung with the Zheng family's numbered flag at sea, then the ship must be detained and the goods confiscated, if you don't want to be so neat, you can also pay silver to buy the numbered flag, according to Xue Laixiang, like the pride of this tonnage, a flag seems to be ten thousand taels of silver a year.

This is a bit like the concept of a driving license, it seems that now the Dutch are forced to buy flags, although the Spaniards do not buy them, but they are also sailing with fear all day long, for fear of being robbed by the Zheng family.

This is also the reason for the tension between the Chinese in Manila and the Spanish authorities, there are rumors that the Zheng family has the idea of occupying Manila, of course, in history, the Zheng family did not really occupy Manila, but first bullied the Dutch to occupy Taiwan, and then Zheng Chenggong died, and the occupation of Manila was shelved.

So now the question is, what if we meet the Zheng family? ”

"There's no way we're going to give in to the Zheng family, right?"

Someone in the restaurant replied.

"yes, spend money on flags? If that's the case, let's not talk about the losses and grievances, let alone the attitudes of other people in the family, you guys in the Huotang Club will be able to eat me raw! ”

Wei Dongli didn't forget to bring the people from the Huotang Club at this time.

"What then? Let's fight? ”

Hu Xiaolin asked with some excitement.

"It's no problem to start fighting, not to mention the Zheng family's hard sail boat, it's a Spanish galleon, that's how much to fight, the problem is that this start of fighting, it doesn't seem to conform to the principle of 'quietly entering the village, don't shoot on the ground'! Don't let your eyes light up when you hear the fight......"

At this time, Xu Zhi glanced at the excited young crew members opposite, and his tone was quite dissatisfied.

"Yes, once we meet, maybe the Zheng family's gang really wants to provoke us......"

"If you meet Nicole, you may be honest, but when you see the Pride, maybe you really want to come up with the protection money!"

"That's right! I remember Xue Laixiang told me that those people are very crazy at sea, and they are all rampant and domineering on weekdays......"

"Yes, the problem is that they definitely won't be obedient, in short, maybe they really want to open the film!"

"It's not beautiful like this, if you offend the Zheng family, it won't be easy to meet in the future, so we still have to do business......"

"Yes, the opening should be avoided as much as possible, so as to be in line with our trade strategy......"

In the midst of everyone's discussions, Wei Dongshu raised his hand and spoke loudly:

"So in order to avoid this kind of embarrassment, I suggest that you should hide, how about taking the Western Front!"

"Well, although the western route has taken a little detour, the forces of the countries along the way are weaker, and it seems that there is no Zheng family to make trouble on this route."

"There are a lot of pirates on that line! I heard Brother Zhu say that that sea area is a pirate paradise, and the so-called Oriental pirates, who are as famous as the Caribbean pirates of this era, operate in these waters......"

"Afraid of a woolen pirate?!"

"Of course, if you can fight, you can beat it, but the problem is that you can't sleep well, anyway, I don't think it's good!"

At the end of the discussion, it seemed that they couldn't agree at all, so they had to look at Captain Gu together, which means that we won't beep, let's let the old driver make the final ruling.

Seeing that everyone had said almost, Gu Jin ended his state of bowing his head and contemplating, and looked around at everyone for a while before he said slowly:

"I think, let's take the western front, it's safer there, although there are pirates, but I look at the eyes of everyone here, they are full of excitement to try, you, when you talk about fighting, your emotions suddenly rise......"

Gu Jin paused again when he said this with a smile, and there was immediately a laugh in the restaurant.

"Well, Nicole isn't really a big problem, it's actually hard for pirates to climb such a tall hull.

Now the focus is on the Pride, your ship is relatively low, and the pirates are likely to use hand-to-hand combat tactics against you, but as long as you strengthen the patrol and staffing, well, the Nicole can support some of your crew in shifts, then, it's settled, take the western front!

Now I announce that in order to strengthen the defense of the Pride, it is necessary to send people to the Pride duty in shifts, and I will not do a one-size-fits-all approach, voluntarily, please come to me after the meeting is over, the Pride needs to be strengthened at the moment...... Well...... Eighteen people are all that, all right, now adjourn! ”

After Gu Jin finished speaking, he waved his hand and ended the discussion.

In the end, most of the crew members of the Nicole, including the recognized landlubber Ren Kewei @ Hong and others, asked to be on the Pride, considering that the conditions of the Pride were indeed relatively difficult, Gu Jin used short shifts to arrange support personnel, and rotated a team of six people every two days and nights.

The first class is the four brothers Wei Dongli, the second class is Yue Chu and Wang Liwan and a few other brothers, and the third class is joined by people with actual combat experience like Airush.

All of these people from the Nicole were organized into a special sailor team, led by the first mate Zhu Beiguo, and their task was to work in pairs, carrying out deck patrols and lookouts in three shifts a day, and together with the other crew members of the Pride, they were on guard at all times to prevent pirate sneak attacks.

These people are all excited, they think that according to the density of pirates in this area of the legend, there will definitely be naval battles along the way, and it will definitely add a lot of fun to the boring sea voyage, which is very exciting to think about......

In addition, Sun Lao and Hou Xianglin also insisted on exercising on the Pride, and the two said that since our main means of transportation to go to sea in the future will be a sailboat like the Pride, we must adapt to the travel of this kind of ship for the sake of future work and career.

Sun Lao also said that he is not young anymore, and if he doesn't hurry up to adapt now, it will be even more difficult to adapt in the future.

Everyone felt inappropriate at first, after all, the bumps in the Pride were obvious to all, but both of them insisted on going, and everyone couldn't resist them, and in the end Gu Jin could only reluctantly agree.

However, Hou Xianglin is relatively young, and it is not a big problem to be assigned to the sailors, but Sun Lao only stays in the kitchen to cook on the Pride, or a shift of three days, and he has to wait for the next shift three days later to get on the Pride, everyone said, as your old man who went to sea for the first time, it is better to stay on the Nicole for a while first, let the body get used to it, and make more adaptable preparations, Sun Lao readily accepted everyone's kindness, and said that he would try his best to provide everyone with three meals no less than the Red Mansion......