When Li Zhang found Commander Hu, the other party was holding a telescope and looking at the sea in the distance, to his surprise, Dong Qing was also here, only to see that the place where the sky and the sea met opposite the two were dim, and it seemed that there was a storm brewing.

"Commander Hu, is there any change in the weather in the distance, should we take shelter from the shore?" Li Zhang couldn't help but ask worriedly when he saw the dimness of the skyline, although he had only been out to sea for a few days, but the day before yesterday they encountered a big storm, when Commander Hu immediately ordered the fleet to dock to take shelter, but even if it was anchored on the shore, the ship was still like a fallen leaf of rain in the storm, and Li Zhang also experienced the fury and power of nature for the first time.

"Master Hou, don't worry, it's just a passing rain in the distance, and it won't interfere with us!" Unexpectedly, Commander Hu hadn't spoken yet, but he saw Dong Qing next to him taking the lead, Dong Qing was the plaintiff in the case, so he naturally accompanied Li Zhang to the south, and he had been running with his family since he was a child, and he was very familiar with the climate at sea.

"Brother Dong knows the sea well, and I also asked him for advice during this time, and I feel that I have benefited a lot!" Commander Hu also smiled at this time, he didn't know Dong Qing's identity, and he didn't know what Li Zhang was doing in Quanzhou, but since Dong Qing was the person brought by Li Zhang, the Marquis of Dingbei, he didn't dare to slack off.

"I see, then I'm relieved!" Li Zhang also sighed when he heard this, the storm the day before yesterday scared him a lot, and this was not a typhoon, but a relatively large storm at sea, which made Li Zhang, who rarely went to sea in two lifetimes, unable to imagine the scene when the typhoon raged at sea.

"Master Hou, you must have something to discuss with Commander Hu, and the villain will retire!" Dong Qing was a delicate person, and at this time, he immediately guessed Li Zhang's intentions, so he took the initiative to leave.

Li Zhang originally planned to talk to Commander Hu alone, but now when he saw Dong Qing, he suddenly had an idea to stop him and said, "No, I'm just asking Commander Hu about some sea conditions, Dong Qing you must know this regard, let's talk together!" ”

Dong Qing is a maritime merchant in Quanzhou, and he has been running on the sea since he was a child, he must know the situation at sea better than anyone else, and he should also know the sailors of the Great Song Dynasty very well.

Hearing Li Zhang's words, Dong Qing had no choice but to stop, and then Li Zhang turned to Commander Hu and said, "Commander Hu, I want to ask you about the situation of our Great Song Naval Division, mainly the situation of the Maritime Naval Division, and there is no need to talk about the Inland Water Division." ”

Commander Hu was also stunned when he heard Li Zhang's inquiry, and hesitated for a moment before he spoke: "Lord Qiqi, even if it is the situation of the naval division, it is also very complicated, generally speaking, there are naval divisions stationed in various ports along the coast, and the number of people is also uncertain, but as far as I know, the number of naval divisions in the Great Song Dynasty should be no less than 100,000, but most of them are inland river divisions, and some are like us in Hangzhou, the inland river and the sea run at both ends, and the division between each other is not very clear. ”

Li Zhang obviously felt that Commander Hu didn't dare to tell the truth, so he only picked out some words to deal with him, which made him smile helplessly: "Commander Hu, you don't have to worry about anything, I'm just interested in maritime trade, and I plan to let my family do some business in maritime trade, but I heard that the biggest danger in maritime trade is that in addition to natural disasters such as storms, the biggest danger is pirates, I don't know if our sailors of the Great Song Dynasty can protect the safety of the fleet?" ”

Li Zhang didn't dare to say that he came to investigate the sailor on Zhao Zhen's order, otherwise this Commander Hu would have more concerns, so he lied and inquired in his private identity, which was more convenient.

Sure enough, Commander Hu seemed to be quietly relieved after hearing Li Zhang's explanation, but he immediately smiled bitterly and said: "Don't hide it from Lord Hou, although the business at sea is good, but the risk is also very large, not to mention all kinds of natural disasters, but natural disasters can be avoided, but man-made disasters are difficult to dodge, especially many pirates are entrenched in the waterway, and if the merchant ships want to pass, they must pay money, otherwise the ship may be destroyed and people will die, as for the sailors, ......"

Commander Hu paused when he said this, and then said again helplessly: "Hou Ye must know better than me, the main threat to our Great Song Dynasty is in the north, so the Northern Army has always been the main force of the army, and the Southern Army does not pay much attention to it at all, not to mention the naval division, you see that there are so many ports along the coast of our Great Song Dynasty, but the naval divisions stationed in each port can generally only protect themselves, and they are not able to go to sea to suppress bandits. In recent years, some daring pirates have dared to kill ashore. ”

"Master Hou, I have followed the fleet to the north and south since I was a child, and I have been to all the ports along the Great Song Dynasty, and I am very clear about the sailors, the sailors of the big ports such as Guangzhou, Hangzhou and Quanzhou are relatively good, at least they can protect the safety of the ports, but some other smaller ports have long been rotten, and the warships of those sailors are even inferior to the merchant ships." At this time, Dong Qing also opened his mouth and added.

Dong Qing's words are not an exaggeration, in fact, the maritime merchants and pirates in this era are not separated, some people enter the port as maritime merchants, and when they go to the sea, they are pirates, and it is precisely under this chaos that the merchant ships of the maritime merchants generally have a certain combat effectiveness, if they really fight, the ships of the sailors may not be their opponents.

Li Zhang also frowned when he heard this, although he had long known that the situation of the Great Song Water Master was very bad, and he didn't even have any hope, but he didn't expect it to be so bad that this situation would be. But it's not surprising to think about it, in terms of troops, the naval division is not as good as the army, and the southern coast is not taken seriously, and under the double weakening, it is not surprising that the naval division has become what it is now.

However, Li Zhang was still comforting himself in his heart at this time, no matter how weak the sailors of the Great Song Dynasty were, at least they were stronger than the Ming Dynasty in later generations, of course, referring to the Ming Dynasty sailors after Zheng He, especially after the forbidden sea was determined, the Ming Dynasty actually relocated the coastal fishermen to the inland and handed over the coast to the Japanese Invaders, which also led to the complete decay of the Ming Dynasty Naval Division, and even the little Japanese Invaders dared to chase their butts and kill, which simply lost the face of the Naval Division.

After learning the general situation of the water division, Li Zhang was not satisfied, and then asked Dong Qing and Commander Hu about the situation of some water divisions in detail, unexpectedly, Dong Qing knew more and more details than Commander Hu, which made Li Zhang also feel that his decision to let him stay was very correct, and he should have asked the other party more when he knew that he was on the road before.