In the eastern part of the river in March, the warm south blows the deck of the Shao Si Ming, and the rigging and rigging, the cable and the cable, and even the sail and the sail are constantly colliding and shaking. The sound was mixed with the tide and the rattling of the boat as it shook and twisted, and accompanied the sailor cadets on the lower deck to sleep.

Hong Mou woke up very early, and as the fake captain of the Shao Si Ming, he remembered Xiong Jing's teachings, and checked the entire sea boat again with a lamp before dawn. The Shao Si Ming has just been built, and the wood used in the palace has been dried for nearly ten years, making up for the shortcomings of her short construction time, but there are also problems with new construction.

The seams of the plates are not all twisted, and they continue to leak from the time they are launched; The quality of the ropes was also substandard, the sails were heavy, and the braiding was not strong enough; The problem of the sail is the biggest, last year when the first voyage into the sea blew the sail as soon as the wind blew the sail - the canvas weaving is not good, the sewing is even worse, especially the stressed sail legs, the sail edge, because of the relationship between sewing and force, every time the wind will be destroyed.

Fortunately, most of these problems have now been improved, the ropes and sails have become stronger, the sewing of the sail legs has also been changed, and the sail line was unharmed due to strong winds during the course last winter. The leaking area has been carefully repaired, and although it can't solve the water seepage, it is much better than at the beginning.

Adhering to his father's meticulousness, under the dim light, Hongmu knocked every beam with his own hands, and carefully checked every cable and bolt. He also carefully looked at the latest sails, dyed with 'Chu' and the three-headed wind logo representing the royal court. Everything was fine, the whole sea boat was like a spear array of the Chu army, and the spearhead was aimed at the raging tide, ready to stab a dazzling blow at the sea after dawn.

After inspecting the first sea boat, Hongmu checked the supplies and cargo again. For the voyage, the Shao Si Ming, which is equipped with twenty people as standard, stuffed forty-five people, plus one of Zhu Fangyi's honorable men and his retinue, the total number of people will reach forty-seven. The voyage was expected to be only two months, but the boat was equipped with food and fresh water for four months.

In addition to the provisions, there are the things needed on the boat, spare sails, masts, wood, iron, bolts, chains, wires, ......, these things are arranged in two parts, so that the damage can be repaired in time. In addition to the raw materials, there are tools, axes, saws, pliers, hammers, shovels, drills, oil for lighting, lamps and candles, all of which are indispensable.

All the things that are available on land must be on the boat, and those that are not on land, such as the compass for navigation, the hourglass timer, the quadrant, and the newly created sextant, are all available. The most bizarre thing is that there are thousands of hooks and dozens of fishing nets on the boat, which are used to catch fish along the way. Although tinplate canned food is delicious, it is the last meat reserve, and if you can catch it, you can catch it first.

Eventually, it was expected that the boat would sail to Korea, Yandi, Zhao, and Qi, and that some goods would be prepared for trade exchange. There are Lu Lijing, Lu Lizhu, some pig iron farm tools, paper, lacquerware, a huge iron machete less than three feet, a bronze sword that has been eliminated, and so on. These things are not expensive, but they are treasures for northerners.

Furs that were not precious in the north were also precious to the southerners, and the priest suggested that Haizhou try to trade with Koreans in exchange for Wen (tiger) skins, red leopard skins, yellow bear skins, and mink skins. In particular, Wenpi, the so-called "beauty of the Northeast, there is a Wenpi of the mountain", has always been valued by the Qi State.

The sea boat implements a four-shift system, one shift for four hours. At the dawn of the day, the bell for the shift rang on time, and Hongmu roughly completed the verification of the sea boat's cargo. After another half an hour, the drum of breakfast sounded, except for the first shift after sleeping and the second shift on duty, the whole crew of the boat, whether they stayed overnight on the boat or under the boat, boarded the boat and dined.

Xiong Jing woke up early. Last night, Zhu Zhu actually sent a beautiful woman to sleep, it was inappropriate to refuse, and the reception was not fully developed, so he could only leave this woman in the room for the night, so that he did not sleep well all night. It's no wonder that Zhu Zhu and others, in terms of Chu rulers, Xiong Jing is more than six feet tall, and he is still one foot away from a dignified seven-foot man. It's impossible to be at such a height, and it's natural to go to bed. As for the actual age, it is a great rebellion to inquire about the king's birthday, and no one knows how old the king is.

The stern building of the young division is the dining place of the officers, there is no separate case, everyone gathers on a table to eat. Under normal circumstances, in addition to the acting captain Hong Mou, there are also the first mate, second officer, third officer, and Wu Qi and Yi Yin, who are responsible for piloting, but this time, in addition to Xiong Jing, there are also left and right Shi, Ma Yin, and Zhu Zhu, the honorary sergeant. Even if the first officer, second officer, and third officer all avoided it, the others were crowded.

"How's the boat?" Xiong Jing was on one side, occupying a small half of the table, and after eating, he asked about the preparations.

"Tell the king, the sea boat has been checked, and everything is in order." Hongmu reported.

"Where's the provisions?" Xiong Jing nodded and then asked for supplies.

"There are forty-seven people on board, each of whom has one and a half buckets of water a day, and has been prepared for one hundred and twenty days; Eight catties of food a day have been prepared for one hundred and twenty days. Hongmu replied again.

"How's the rest of the supplies?" Three kilograms of fresh water and two kilograms of food a day are the most basic equipment for going to sea. It's just that these things are not light, adding up to twenty-eight tons.

"The materials, tools, and goods are all ready." Hong Mou handed over the thick list of goods and replied.

"Ji no?" Xiong Jing asked Wu Ji again. As in war, you must first divinate when you set sail.

"To the king, Yoshiya." Shao Si Ming's call is horizontal, and he was devout divination when Hong Mu checked the whole boat last night.

"Then set sail." Xiong Jing breathed a sigh of relief, he had waited too long for this day.

"King," Heng's expression was a little uncertain, "Do you want a road sacrifice?" ”

In this era, you have to go out to the road sacrifice, and you don't know if you want to go to sea or not.

"The boat travels on the sea, and the sea can be sacrificed, and there is no need for road sacrifices." According to hydrology, Danming Zhu Fang began to fall tide, and Xiong Jing did not want to wait until after the low tide before setting sail, so the probability of running aground on the reef greatly increased.

"Yui." Hong Mou and the others all saluted Xiong Jing. After the order to lift the anchor was issued, the anchor chain rattled.

"Up—anchor!" The Shao Si Ming was the flagship, and the order to anchor was transmitted to the Xiang Lady and the two accompanying pawn wing warships. The purpose of these two warships is to open the way, and after passing the shallow part of the bay, they will return to the sea.

"Anchor!" The Pawn Wing Warship was the first to set off, and while the Xiang Lady was still at anchor, they rowed their oars and sailed away from the Zhufang Wharf.

"Heading for zero ninety-five. "The young acting captain has become an old sailor, and he gives orders in an orderly manner.

"Sail to zero ninety-five, drop the sails." While the helmsman determined the course, the Shao Si Ming had already descended eastward along the river, and the sailors climbed up the mast and lowered all the sails one after another.

As soon as the sail fell, you could feel the body of the Shao Si Ming sinking to the left, and the speed of the boat was greatly accelerated, but the angle of the sail had not yet been adjusted. Under Xiong Jing's gaze, Hong Mou looked at the streamers flying with the south wind above the stern, and ordered loudly: "The wind is fifteen degrees south-west, tailwind." Turn the cross 50 degrees to the left and control the sail edge. ”

"The wind is fifteen degrees south-west, downwind. Turn the cross 50 degrees to the left and control the sail edge. "The boatswain drank wildly on deck. The king was on the boat, and everyone wanted to behave flawlessly, and he personally led the sailors to turn the sails.

'Whew, whew——! It was evident that once the mainsail was in place, the canvas was even more windy, and even though the sail had been tightened with tendons during sewing, it still swelled. Xiong Jing shook his head for a while, the sail will reduce the propulsion efficiency when the wind blows, but the sewing of the sail is still unqualified, which may take more than ten years or decades to gradually improve.

"The king thinks it's inappropriate...... Right Shi is the first time to take a sea boat, and after all the sails are adjusted, he feels that the sea boat is almost about to rise into the air, but he really doesn't know why Xiong Jing shook his head.

"The sails are bulging, and they don't eat the wind." A simple explanation of Xiong Jing.

"I see." Right Shi looked at the sails above his head, bulging and rising on the one side, as if they were about to be blown up. "Why, then, do you want to turn slanted?" He asked again, "The wind is coming from the south......

"When there is a downwind crosswind, the angle between the wind and the course, or the angle between the wind direction and the bow, is divided by two, which is the windward angle of the sail, and this angle wind has the greatest thrust." Xiong Jing Road. It's not a secret that this is the simplest principle of sailing.

"The angle is divided by two?" Right Shi doesn't have the concept of a compass in his head. The course 095 is the direction in which the bow is aligned, that is, five degrees south-east; The wind is 15 degrees south-west, which is 180 degrees west, or 195 degrees. The angle between the bow direction and the wind direction is 195 degrees minus 95 degrees, which is equal to 100 degrees.

Because the beam of the sail is the same as the bow, it must be turned 50 degrees to the left to face the wind, which is the most efficient. Because of this, whenever the wind changes or the course changes, the sailor adjusts the bogger angle so that the sail is optimally facing the wind.

"What about headwinds?" Zuo Shi interjected, although he didn't figure out how to divide the angle by two, he might as well swallow the dates.

"Headwind...... Xiong Jing groaned. It's not that he's worried about the historian writing how to sail in the history books. Shipbuilding technology, sailing technology, and waterways are the support of navigation and are indispensable. The waterway can be broken in a sentence or a latitude, but sailing technology is the same as shipbuilding technology, no one has taught it by hand, and no one has seen others actually sailing, so you can't learn it with just a few words. He groaned because the problem was so big that it needed to be organized, otherwise it would not be clear to explain.

"There are two headwinds: one is to turn headwinds into tailwinds, and the other is true headwinds." Xiong Jing Road. "To turn a headwind into a tailwind is to change course and walk sideways like a crab. In this way, the headwind becomes a tailwind, and you can take advantage of the wind. However, because it is a sideways walk, 80 miles of walking a hundred miles is actually a deviation course, so you have to turn around and walk sideways from the other side once after walking a section. It's a lot of work to walk a hundred miles or less than twenty miles like this. ”

This time, the two understood, and Zuo Shi asked again: "Please ask the king to really go against the wind." ”