In addition to military training, there are many things to prepare, and logistics supply is particularly important.

100 ships, 7,800 people, all the way to the South Seas, to the West, at least two years, more than three years and five years, all the food is a big problem, for safety reasons, all the food must be brought by themselves, so as not to encounter a crisis, difficult to deal with. There are also medicinal herbs, complementary foods, vegetables, meat, etc., all of which need to be purchased in sufficient quantities in advance.

The tide ebbed and flowed, time passed, and the time was in a blink of an eye to late September.

Ten days ago, Guo Qing had already transported the last batch of grain and pickles needed by the Xuanwei army to Changguo, and after Jiang Kai settled the money with him, Yang Congyi signed a contract with him on the supply of logistics materials for the Huiyi fleet, and handed over all the logistics supplies of the 8,500 people of the Huiyi fleet to him for purchase, except for military materials and ordnance. In order to ensure that there are a lot of materials needed for life at sea, Yang Congyi also invited many old sailors to help him complete the list of supplies as much as possible.

Regarding whether to supply with the ship, after some communication, the two found that they could not be sure, and Guo Qing immediately left Changguo to purchase materials and transport them to Quanzhou. As for the procurement costs, Yang Congyi paid 30,000 yuan in advance, and other logistics costs had to wait for the materials to be transported to Quanzhou Port, and then find Deputy Yi Tang Xun to collect them.

Mingzhou is located at the mouth of Hangzhou Bay, is the mouth of the Qiantang River, shipping is developed, commerce and trade are prosperous, there are many merchant ships between Mingzhou, Goryeo and the Japanese Kingdom, and it is naturally a big shipbuilding port.

After Yang Congyi returned to Changguo with a warship from Quanzhou, he immediately went to Mingzhou* Twenty 2,000-material sea ships, which could be newly built or refurbished within three years of being at sea. In terms of the time required for delivery, a month and a half to build a new ship is definitely not enough, and if you buy an old ship for refurbishment, the time is more than enough.

After the shipbuilding matter was confirmed, Yang Congyi personally went to Mingzhou every ten days or so to see the progress of shipbuilding in a timely manner, and if anything could not be determined, it could also be discussed and solved in time.

After Shen Jin solved the problem of flag language, Yang Congyi found him again and discussed the problem of needle plate with him. Whether it is a warship or a sea ship, although they have already used needle plates, they are relatively simple, just a pointer, plus a bowl filled with water, the direction indicated is not very accurate, do not teach battalion commanders and other officers and helmsmen at all levels to identify and use, they basically do not know.

Yang Congyi took out a sketch, put it on the table, pointed to the sketch and said: "Brother Shen, please look, I thought that the needle plate could be made like this, the middle of the disc is concave like a bowl, the four major directions of the southeast and northwest are symmetrically marked around, and six scales are divided between the two directions, so that the direction indicated by the magnetic needle is more accurate, and it is found that the ship has a small deflection, and it can be adjusted in time. Once you can't see the ship in front at night, the boat behind you deviates in the direction and doesn't keep up with the fleet, you are very likely to get lost in the sea, the sea is vast, you are unlucky, and you will even be lost forever. ”

Shen Jin took the sketch over and looked at it carefully, and said, "What Brother Yang said is reasonable, I also had such concerns before, and I also had the idea of changing the needle plate, but I didn't think of a good way." This method is very good, after getting the needle plate, as long as you can understand the needle plate, you can identify the direction. It's just that according to Brother Yang's sketch, I'm afraid it's a little troublesome to make, the middle is concave, and it's okay to engrave twenty scales around it, but it's not easy to put a lid on the needle plate. ”

Yang Congyi said with a smile: "Brother Shen thinks too much, although I want to be able to see the pointer clearly after adding a lid to the needle plate, but it is impossible now, and when I come back from the West, it may be possible." Now I just want to put a lid on it when I don't use the needle disc, so that the water inside will not leak out, and the magnetic needle does not need to be taken out, and when I need to look at the direction, I just need to open the lid directly, and I don't need to pour water into it, and I don't need to turn the magnetic needle again. ”

Shen Jin looked at the sketch and thought for a moment, and then said: "It's still a little difficult, the needle disc is covered and does not leak, such a needle disc is very convenient to use, but I am afraid it is difficult to do." If you don't save the magnetic needle and accidentally break the needle disk, the magnetic needle is likely to be lost. Unless it is made of wood, but the wood will rot after soaking in water for a long time, and it will not be preserved for a long time. ”

Yang Congyi said: "The wood is very good, the boat has been soaked in water is fine, the needle plate is no problem for three or five years, there is no need for a needle plate to be used for decades, if necessary, brush the tung oil several times, it can also be waterproof and corrosion-proof to a certain extent." Just make a batch of wood, what does Brother Shen think? ”

Shen Jin thought about it and had no other way but to try it with wood, so he asked, "You can also make wood, but I don't know how many Brother Yang wants to make?" ”

Yang Congyi said with a smile: "The more the merrier, at least two hundred are needed." ”

As soon as he heard this, Shen Jin was immediately shocked, quite stressed, this is a delicate work, it is difficult to make one, how to make two hundred, really to make so many, stay in Changguo, stay in Mingzhou is definitely not good, after a little thought, he replied: "Then I have to go back to Lin'an to find the help of skilled carpenters to see if I can make two hundred." ”

Yang Congyi said: "Yes, the needle plate is very important to the fleet, and it would be great if such a needle plate could really be made." I will give you a thousand yuan, and strive to bring two hundred new needle plates to Quanzhou in late October, before the fleet leaves, you must remember the time and go to Quanzhou before the fleet leaves. ”

Shen Jin put away the draft drawings and said with a smile: "Brother Yang, don't worry, I can still do this well." ”

Yang Congyi said with a smile: "Naturally, Brother Shen can't help it, it's just that Lin'an is prosperous, I'm afraid that Brother Shen will forget about us and the Xuanwei Army when he returns to Lin'an." ”

Shen Jin said: "Brother Yang, rest assured, Lin'an can't keep me." Before the fleet leaves, we must go to Quanzhou to see Brother Yang again! ”

Yang Congyi smiled: "That's good, when everything is ready, let's go to sea together." When is Brother Shen going to return to Lin'an? ”

Shen Jin said: "There is not much time, I will leave tomorrow." ”

Yang Congyi said: "I will write a letter, and Brother Shen will bring it back to Lin'an for me tomorrow, take it to Baominfang and return to Yi Supervision, and hand it over to the watchman there." ”

Shen Jin took a sip and agreed.

The journey back to Lin'an was long, and some of the circumstances were urgent, and the letter had to be sent back earlier. The horse that Yang Congyi brought from Quanzhou naturally had to be lent to Shen Jin, so that he could go back earlier, make a needle plate and go to Quanzhou earlier.

Before leaving Quanzhou, Yang Congyi reported the progress of the construction of sea ships and warships to Lord Huang in Lin'an, and asked him to prepare to come to Quanzhou as soon as possible, and it was best to come to Quanzhou in mid-October, not more than late October at the latest, otherwise the winter wind had passed, and it would not be easy for the fleet to go to the South Seas.

Now the Xuanwei Army has been training for four or five months, and it has a certain combat effectiveness. At the same time, most of the ships in Quanzhou should have been built, and the materials purchased by the Huiyi Supervision Office should have been transported to Quanzhou and entered the port one after another, and a huge amount of commodities and materials need to be guarded, and the responsibility of the Xuanwei Army is to protect the Huiyi fleet, so the Xuanwei Army needs to be transferred to Quanzhou immediately.

The transfer of the garrison army needs to be ordered by the imperial court, Yang Congyi naturally has no right to apply for the transfer of the Xuanwei army, he needs to write to Lord Huang, Lord Huang as the commander of the Xuanwei army, it is appropriate for him to do this, only by completing the various procedures for the transfer of the Xuanwei army, Yang Congyi gets the transfer order, the Xuanwei army can leave Changguo and go to Quanzhou, otherwise he can only stay in Changguo.

In fact, the appointment should have been applied for earlier, it is already late September, Mingzhou is hundreds of miles away from Lin'an, and it will take four or five days on the way to the fast horse, plus the time required to handle the appointment, and when the appointment is sent to Changguo County, it should be half a month later.

Yang Congyi is in Changguo, he doesn't have to think about it to know that Quanzhou needs people very much at this time, more than 12 million yuan of contract commodities and materials will be transported to Quanzhou within two months, and a large number of official kilns and brocade materials will also be transported to Quanzhou, how much manpower is needed in the three ports, he can't imagine how embarrassed Tang Xun is in Quanzhou at this time, even if there are people brought by his father to help, but it is not easy to come.

After the letter to Lord Huang was written and handed over to Shen Jin to take away, Yang Congyi found Zhao An to discuss, he planned to use five sea ships to send a part of the reserve army to Quanzhou first to help maintain order in the port.

At a critical juncture in the training of the Xuanwei Army, once the ship is transferred, it will directly disrupt the training plan formulated by him and the teaching regiment; if there are fewer ships, the training will seriously lag behind, which will directly affect the combat strength of the Xuanwei Army and will not be conducive to going to sea to escort the escort.

Zhao An also makes sense to say this, there are not many ships brought over, and there is little time for training at sea, and if five more ships are removed, it will be even more difficult to complete the training task at sea.

Helpless, Yang Congyi had no choice but to give up, hoping that Tang Xun could hold out for half a month, and when the sea ships of the Mingzhou Shipyard were built, he could immediately bring all the reserve troops to Quanzhou, and then he would have both labor and the strength to patrol and defend the port.

At the end of September, Yang Congyi went to Mingzhou and went to see the shipyard, they had already bought 20 sea ships, judging from the appearance and color, six of them were new ships, which had just been launched from the factory. The new ships did not need to be overhauled too much, only simple inspections and repairs were carried out, and the six ships were directly brought back to Changguo by Yang Congyi as training ships.

All the Xuanwei troops have been on the ships for a long time to train, and the ships are limited, but the new army has never had the opportunity to train at sea. Now that they have brought back six ships, it is natural to start training the new army to adapt to the bumps and life at sea in advance.

Six sea-going ships, each carrying 300 new troops, were operated by helmsmen and sailors brought from Quanzhou, and circled the main island of Changguo County. Some of the new soldiers, who had never been to sea before, had no spirit at all after a day, but continued to go to sea for the next few days, and when they got used to the bumps in the sea, they found that the boat ride was also a pleasure.

The 3,500 recruits took turns to practice oaring, and paddling was their main errand after going to sea.

After that, in ten days, each new soldier touched at least a quarter of an hour of oars, and it was not difficult to master the relatively simple skill of paddling, and a quarter of an hour was enough.

At this point, the entire Xuanwei army has been training at sea almost every day, familiar with the sea, familiar with warships and sea ships, and is always ready to leave Changguo and escort ships south.