In the thirty-third year of Qin Shi Huang, in the middle of May, Yantai Port was crowded, and many Jiaodong officials, including the county shou Heifu, gathered here, all under the eaves of the sunshade, looking forward to it.

Heifu sat in the middle, Chen Ping stood next to him, whispering something in his ear, Heifu seemed to have a calm face, but he was still a little anxious in his heart.

"I still shouldn't let Yu Yang venture out to sea......"

It has to start from half a month ago, after making a series of technical preparations such as the star pulling technique and the compass, it coincides with the time to enter May, as Xu Fu said, the monsoon from the south blows on time.

"The wind off the coast of Jiaodong changes with the four seasons, from October to March, the north wind is more. In April, the monsoon alternates, and the wind direction is unstable, so you should not rush to sail away. In May, the wind turns southerly, and from June to August, along the coast of Jiaodong, there are strong winds blowing from the southwest to the northeast! ”

From May to August, it is the best time to sail to North Korea, and Heifu will not miss it. In just a few days, the first official fleet to open a new route was ready, one large ship and two small ships, disguised as merchant ships, with a crew of 400.

When selecting military officials, one five hundred lords and two hundred lords were needed, and Wei Yang, who was one hundred masters, took the initiative to request to participate in this voyage.

Heifu was a little hesitant at first, and said to his nephew in private: "The sea is unpredictable, if you have any mistakes, how can I explain to your father and mother?" ”

Yu Yang is the eldest grandson of the family and the heart of his mother, and Heifu doesn't want him to have any accidents.

Wei Yang was a little ambitious, he straightened his chest and said: "Uncle Zhang (Zhang Cang) told me a story, touching the dragon and talking about the Empress Dowager Zhao, one of the passages, my nephew still remembers. ”

He recited: "The son of the master, the relatives of the flesh and blood, still can't rely on the respect of no merit, the service of no labor, and the weight of gold and jade, and the subordination of people? ”

"Father Zhong asked me to be the official of the ship, hoping that Wei Yang can gain a foothold in it, but the most obedient thing in the army is courage and guts, if I can only shadow the authority of Father Zhong, how can it last long? Ocean currents, monsoons, latitudes, stars, guides, and a modified galleon, my father has made so many preparations for this voyage, and now that the south wind is blowing, why not let my nephew give it a try! ”

Wei Yang strongly asked, and in the end, Heifu couldn't resist him, so he could only agree to let him be in charge of one of the three hundred boats, and let Xu Fu also go with the boat.

In early May, three ships left Yantai. They initially traveled along the coastline and spent the night at Chengshanjiao, and a day later, when the fog cleared at Chengshanjiao, the three ships left the mainland completely and gradually disappeared on the horizon, accompanied by the Xiangfeng bird pointing to the north at the top of the mast......

According to Xu Fu's plan, the big ship sailed with the wind, even if the speed was only five knots, it could travel 200 miles a day, and in just two days, it could reach the sea off the coast of Minzi Korea and stop at the "Liekou" of its Jingang port. After a short rest, you can continue to the north, reaching the barrier at the very edge of the Qin Dynasty, full of sweat.

From there, it is the route that the Jiaodong boat division has explored clockwise, and the ship will return to Jiaodong along the ocean current through Liaonan, and the speed will be very fast, but in ten days, you can return to Yantai.

Today is the date of the return of the fleet, but from morning to noon, the boats and boats on the sea are sometimes shuttling, but they are all passers-by, not returnees.

"Didn't something happen?"

"I knew the warlock was unreliable......"

The officials of the building boat under Ren Huan whispered a lot, and their strategy was denied by Heifu and used Xu Fu's plan instead, although Xu Fu was right-headed in theory, but everyone was inevitably a little unconvinced.

Of course, these disconvincings were blocked by the fact that Heifu asked his own nephew Wei Yang to go to sea with the first batch of ships.

Just when Heifu was a little worried, the little official overlooking the port raised a fiery red flag!

Then, the jingle was sounded!

This is the golden drum banner born in the army, which heralds the return of the army to the camp!

Everyone was overjoyed, and they all stood up and looked forward to it, but they saw that on the sea reflected by the setting sun in the distance, two ships were approaching the port at a speed visible to the naked eye.

"Two?"

When Chen Ping heard this, his heart jumped, and at this time they also saw clearly that it was a ......500-hundred

Compared to the three when I went, there is one less!

And where Yu Yang is is precisely a small boat!

The hearts of the Black Husband's staff were lifted again, but the Black Husband was calm and expressionless, watching the two ships docked, and the people on the ships disembarked one after another and walked towards them.

He didn't immediately ask if his nephew was inside, but was he okay? Instead, he indifferently ordered: "Play Kai Song." ”

For these hundreds of warriors who braved their lives to go to sea, it is worth greeting them with Kaige!

There was a burst of cheers and drums on the shore, and soldiers crowded the streets to welcome the robes who crossed the sea!

They approached, and the five hundred masters in charge of the big ship stepped forward, next to Xu Fu, who was talking and laughing freely, and a familiar young figure followed, it was Wei Yang, who was in charge of the small boat!

The three of them walked through the mezzanine to welcome their colleagues, walked to the county guard Heifu and the county lieutenant Ren Huan, and bowed down.

"The county guard, the county lieutenant, the subordinates, etc., do not disgrace their mission!"

Heifu bowed his head, helped up the five hundred lords and Xu Fu, and looked at his nephew, after more than ten days of sea breeze blowing, scorching sun, his face was red, and some peeling, his eyes were a little sad, but he also had a little more energy.

Heifu was a little relieved that when he returned home from his service more than ten years ago, he dragged his clothes with his dirty little hands and asked for candy. The little boy who clenched his fists and opened his eyes wide with yearning when he went on an expedition and told what he had seen.

Now, he's grown up.

"Zhong ...... Junjun! ”

Wei Yang bowed down and presented the map drawn by this voyage, the distance between Beichen and the earth observed at different places, the calculated "latitude" data, and the "Navigation Log" that Heifu told him to write when he left Weiyang.

After Heifu took it, he didn't look at anything else, opened the map first, and after scanning it twice, he applauded again and again, pointed to the three people, and the three hundred shipwreaks who were disguised as merchants and sailors, and said loudly:

"A year ago, when Your Majesty was at the corner of the mountain, he changed the end of the sky to the endless sky! In order to encourage the people of the building ship to find a way across the sea, so that the territory of Great Qin has the East China Sea in the east. Now, you are waiting for you to return from patrolling the sea, which is equivalent to allowing Daqin to have an extra 200 miles of sea territory out of thin air! For such a feat, I will ask Your Majesty for credit! ”

……

That night, in Yantai Harbor, Xu Fu and Wei Yang reported to Heifu what they had seen and heard on this voyage, as well as the whereabouts of a 300-hundred-hundred-hundred-hundred-

Wei Yang said with some sadness: "When crossing the sea, the first day was quite smooth, but the next day, there was a torrential rain, the wind and waves were very strong, and many people were thrown overboard......

The hundred masters on that ship are his colleague Pao Ze, who have sailed together in the past few months, learned the art of leading stars, and have a good relationship, and the life and death of him and a hundred crew members are unknown, which makes Wei Yang a little sad.

Xu Fu added: "We waited for an extra day in Liekou, but we didn't see the ship return for a long time, so we could only return first. ”

I went to three, but when I came back, there were only two left, which was a big price, and it also made some strange voices in the county lieutenant's office, thinking that it was still too dangerous to cross the sea directly.

But Xu Fu assured that it was just an accident, and the more autumn and winter it gets, the less windy and rough the weather will be, and the route will be safer and safer.

"Really?"

Heifu can only pretend to be forced in theory, scare and scare Xu Fu, but he has no concept of how to deal with the wind and waves when he goes to sea in practice, which depends on the experience of the old ship's sailors for ten years and decades, and laymen can't point fingers. And even after 2,000 years, even the most advanced ships will not be pleasing to the good of the waves.

He glanced at Wei Yang, the wind and waves were ruthless, and he didn't recognize the virtuous, foolish, noble, and lowly, just a little bit, his nephew was about to become a martyr of this exploration, which is also the reason why the world is afraid of the sea.

"Maybe that's the price you have to pay for exploration......"

Heifu was a little helpless, but immediately hardened his heart again:

"Immediately send five more ships to the sea, take the southwest wind to the sea, the same route, this time you don't have to pursue speed, you have to go slowly, measure the latitude of the North Korean coast, and find out the reefs along the way, to ensure that nothing goes wrong! By the way, look for the lost ship and the servants along the coast! Tell the people of the building boat that this official will never abandon anyone! ”

……

The new route still needs to be explored and improved, but time waits for no one, while successively sending out several batches of ships to sail across the sea, on the other hand, under the escort of the boatmaster, more than ten grain ships also set sail from Yantai Port to the north, they will go against the current, take a longer time, but also relatively safe, there is no big wind and waves of the old route.

Shi Chenping, the county warden, as the plenipotentiary representative of Heifu, was also on board, and the destination of this fleet was the mouth of the Yalu River, a small coastal town called "Xi'anping" (Dandong), and they had to send the first batch of grain there to stock up before the arrival of Gongzi's Fusu army, and take advantage of the convenience of the boat master to build a pontoon bridge for Fusu to cross the river......

"Don't worry."

Before parting, Chen Ping smiled: "Your subordinates, you will definitely follow the instructions of the lord to supervise the grain and straw well and assist the prince to cross the river!" ”

This sentence made Heifu frown, although Chen Ping was loyal to him and very effective in his work, he seemed to have a little too many thoughts recently......

But there is no better candidate at the moment, Heifu doesn't want to send Xiao He and Cao Shen to see Fusu, Chen Ping is also a long history when he was in the north, and he has met with Fusu, so it is more convenient to deal with him.

After thinking about it again, he still let Chen Ping go, but beckoned Chen Ping to come over, and warned in his ear:

"No trouble is allowed without my permission!"

"Ping is also a Qin official, serving the country, it is not enough to be conscientious, how dare you come nonsense?"

Chen Ping seemed to be frightened, but only agreed, but after boarding the boat, he looked back at the black man who waved goodbye to them, and after a deep sigh, he straightened up, looked at the coast that was gradually moving away, and said with a smile:

"The king of the king, not the king of mine......"