On the rough sea.

The Jizhou struggled to sail, the raging waves crashing against the wrecked hull.

On the way back from Jiaozhi, the fleet encountered a storm, seven warships were washed away, and several of them were buried at the bottom of the sea. After battling the storm for a day and a night, the storm is over, but where they are now, it's a maddening question.

Fortunately, the dilapidated ship could barely float on the water.

As far as the eye could see, the waves were raging, and the boat boss was holding the rudder and looking at the sea in despair, and at this time, he was also very eager to see the land.

The sails torn by the storm have long been lowered, and now the sea ship follows the sea breeze, but the hull of the ship is blown by the sea breeze and drifts with the current, which should be farther and farther away from the direction of the coast.

"Island!"

The sailor in charge of the watch from the mast suddenly danced and shouted, but the voice he shouted out did not know where it was blown by the strong wind, but the signal flag in his hand made the people below understand what was going on.

"Right front land!"

The officer on duty outside the cockpit saw the watchman's flag and reported to the ship's boss at the helm.

The boss of the ship was slowly adjusting the rudder, and Wu Tianxing, the commander, also came up from the cabin below at this time.

The warships of the Tang Dynasty Navy Division struggled to sail towards the island called Lantau Island.

……

In June, the weather in the south is not to mention, but it is also very humid.

The news of the drifting of the two naval warships blown away by the storm to Penghu Island was reported to the imperial court, and as a result, Xia Chengting was appointed as the envoy of Quanzhou and the supervisor of the city's ship. At the same time, the imperial court ordered the Quanzhou army to be changed to a naval division, half of which was stationed in Quanzhou, and half of which was transferred to Liuqiu, and changed the island of Liuqiu to Yizhou, and asked the naval division to open up reclamation in Yizhou.

Pinghu (now Penghu) was inhabited by many fishermen in the Tang Dynasty, and because it was often harassed by pirates, in the early years, the imperial court also sent a garrison of 300 people to Pinghu to maintain law and order on the island.

The imperial court recruited 3,000 Tuntian soldiers from Quanzhou and Zhangzhou, and 3,000 Tuntian troops from Dengzhou, Xuzhou, Haizhou and Laizhou in the north.

The imperial court was considerate of Huo Ming, and specially allocated ten steam warships to be under the control of the newly formed Yizhou Naval Division, which greatly increased the strength of the naval division in Huo Ming's hands. The strength of the original Quanzhou Naval Division was not weak, with more than 300 warships of various sizes, one-third of which were also allocated to the Yizhou Naval Division.

Liu Jiang and Xia Chengting rushed to Quanzhou Wharf to see Huo Ming off.

"The first Yizhou Thorn History, this is a great credit to the history, you kid is really lucky. Now I want to put this Harbour Master in your place. Liu Jiang patted Huo Ming's shoulder and said in an envious tone. He made a special trip to Quanzhou to supervise the renovation project of the Sailor Shipyard, just in time for the Sailor to go on the expedition.

"It's okay, it's full of giant trees tens of meters high, and we can sell it to the shipmaster if there is any shortage of wood." Although Liu Jiang is now at a very high level, everyone is originally classmates, so they talk very casually. After receiving the order from the imperial court, Huo Ming had already made two visits to Yizhou Island.

From Quanzhou, Penghu can be used as a transit point, or you can go directly to Yizhou, the distance of this strait is about 70 nautical miles, and the fleet only needs a day to travel between the two sides of the strait.

The warships of the Quanzhou Navy Division are all offshore warships, only more than ten zhang long, and those newly built sea-going ships are still just beginning to be built on the slipway. On this voyage, those old-fashioned wooden ships did not hang sails, and directly let the steam warships tow them.

"How far is Liuqiu Island?" Liu Jiang asked Xiang Huoming again.

"If the wind is downwind, it will only take more than three hours to sail, and there are still some natives living on the island, covering their bodies with branches and animal skins, like savages." Huo Ming said.

"Oh, so to speak, it's similar to the mountain people in Lingnan." Xia Jiting nodded, "Looking at the meaning of the official document of the imperial court, can you still farm on the island?" ”

"Hehehehe." Huo Ming had a rare and strange expression, "Let me tell you, that Liuqiu Island seems to be bigger than the whole of Quanzhou, and I rode a horse for three days without seeing my head." ”

"Ah, how can it be that big?!" Liu Jiang was taken aback when he heard this, "Is this talking about the island?" ”

Huo Ming said with a smile: "It is said that this Liuqiu is even bigger than that Danzhou, you can think about it, otherwise it is impossible for the imperial court to directly set up a state." "Comparing Qiongzhou and Danzhou in the South China Sea, it may be easier for people to understand.

It is no wonder that the imperial court will mobilize thousands of troops to Liuqiu to open up and reclaim at one time.

The surging waves are constantly lapping against the hull, and these steam warships are still mainly made of wood, but some of the load-bearing parts of the keel and ribs are made of forged steel and riveted, which is much stronger than traditional wooden ships.

The bay is full of sails, and the newly formed Yizhou Naval Division and the garrison army have begun to board ships one after another.

As part of the pioneering troops, more than 10 groups of sailor vanguard units have landed in Liuqiu and have begun to explore and plan. This time, Huoming was to take the main force to Liuqiu, and the army would start from Quanzhou and directly cross the sea to Liuqiu. The original plan was to transit through the Pinghu Islands, but after Huo Ming made several round-trips from Liuqiu, he found that the distance from the northern part of Pinghu Lake to Liuqiu was closer.

"What is the attitude of the natives on the island?" Liu Jiang seemed worried about triggering a large-scale war.

"It's okay, it's not very convenient to communicate, but it's relatively mild, and there is not much hostility. In addition, there are not many natives on that island, so you don't have to worry about that. Huo Ming explained to him.

"I'm not worried about your safety, but I'm still afraid that there will be too many killings, and the historian will not be able to cover up for you in the future." Liu Jiang also said with a smile, "This sailor is equipped with a musket, I'm worried about what you're doing?" ”

Xia Chengting said: "There is no way, if you have strong hostility and continue to make trouble in the local area, you can only rely on force to deter and suppress it." ”

Liu Jiang looked at Xia Chengting: "I heard that the imperial court ordered you to explore the south of Liuqiu Island, when are you going to start?" ”

"Storms are too frequent this summer, after autumn, there is no winter in the south anyway." Xia Chengting said, "Now is to pay close attention to training, this is a good way to run back and forth to Yizhou, and transport the timber back, which can not only allow personnel to be trained, but also have economic benefits." ”

"You can't just cut down trees, you have to plant trees, otherwise it will be too damaging to the environment." Liu Jiang said.

"Well, these have been arranged in detail for a long time." Huo Ming said, "Now that even a few tuntian areas have been arranged, the problem is that I haven't found a place yet." ”

The steamers in the bay are honking their whistles, and the advantage of steamers is that they are not afraid of wind and rain, and they can sail on time even when the wind is headwind......

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