The caravan that went to sea to visit the island should have come back a long time ago, but Xu Guanzhong was more careful in order to find out the enemy's situation.

Let's say that Hu Cheng led the caravan, and Xu Guanzhong led the troops to escort it. The small fleet consisted of only three bird ships and three centipede ships. The fleet went south along the river to Jingyou Weishan Lake to the south, and there was nothing to do along the way, except for a few places to collect taxes and fees. When the Xuzhou fleet was replenished with fresh water, vegetables, dry firewood and other items, it then went south, and Yang Fan went to sea through the mouth of the Huai River.

It was cold and cold, and the sea was damp and cold, but fortunately, the soldiers were dressed in sheepskin warm clothes, and the sailors of the caravan were not badly dressed.

As soon as they arrived at sea, the accompanying military doctor took out the pills in small porcelain bottles, one for each person, and there were about twenty or thirty pills in one bottle.

Xu Guanzhong naturally received a bottle, took out one, put it in his mouth, chewed it, a fragrant taste, and it was sweet, it was a honey pill.

"This is the medicine to prevent bleeding at sea?" Xu Guanzhong asked.

The military doctor said: "Captain Xu is right, this is the medicine to prevent bleeding, once a day." One at a time. ”

After the military doctor finished speaking, he went to get busy, Xu Guanzhong tasted it slowly, and found that this thing actually had the smell of lemon and green tea. I don't know what kind of miracle medicine Chao Gai is engaged in.

Xu Guanzhong carefully found that as soon as he entered the sea, his diet also changed, and he served green tea and lemon tea every day. Vegetables such as Chinese cabbage and radish also account for a large proportion. The most important thing about sailing on the sea is fish, although the merchant ship does not go to catch and sell, but for the convenience of food, the merchant ship has fishing gear, and all kinds of things are very complete. Experienced sailors can hit dozens of heavy large yellow croakers in one net.

The soldiers of the navy army are also feasting, and all kinds of seafood are eaten with changing tastes.

After all, the speed of the sailboat is slow, and Xu Guanzhong went to Hu Cheng to chat in his spare time.

Hu Cheng still admires Xu Guanzhong, who is rich in knowledge and superb martial arts, and warmly entertains him.

Hu Chengdao: "The sea voyage is boring, if Captain Xu is not busy, he can come over often, after all, the centipede ship is small, and it is not as stable as the merchant ship." ”

"The boredom of sea navigation is not very harmful, the most harmful is hemorrhage, I often hear that the sea ships from Persia rushed over, a boat of more than 200 people, after three or four months of sailing to get hemorrhagic disease as many as 100 people." Xu Guanzhong said.

Hu Cheng smiled and said: "Don't worry about our fleet, don't say that this voyage will only take more than ten days, even if it is longer, there will be no such disease." You must know that our Chinese medicine is broad and profound, and this little illness is naturally handy, Chao Tuanlian has ordered the medical hall to dispense medicine for us, and as long as you eat it on time every day, you will naturally not get sick. ”

Xu Guanzhong has a deep understanding of the horror of hemorrhage, and many doctors are helpless against this disease.

"I'm just curious what kind of formula Chao Tuanlian is, and how it works?" Xu Guanzhong said.

"I don't know how to do medicine, but it's like lemons and so on. This prescription Chao Tuanlian will not be made public for the time being, and pharmaceutical factories have begun to sell drugs in large quantities. Hu Chengdao, "Isn't it also arranged, every ship is equipped with this lemon sliced tea, green tea, and all kinds of mung bean sprouts when sailing in summer." In short, don't worry, this disease will definitely not happen. ”

Xu Guanzhong sighed: "If this disease is solved, the Age of Exploration is coming." ”

In fact, Chao Gai is a trick, and the so-called medicine to prevent bleeding is nothing more than lemons, green tea and other things that contain high vitamin C. Hemorrhage, also known as scurvy, is caused by a lack of vitamins caused by the long-term inability of sailors to eat fresh vegetables.

All the way was uneventful, except that there was sometimes no wind, and the speed of the voyage was somewhat slow, until on the morning of the tenth day, on the watchtower of the Bird Boat, the sailors shouted: "There is a huge island ten miles ahead." ”

Hu Cheng invited Xu Guanzhong here, and the two studied the chart for a long time, and said happily: "This should be that island, a few years ago." ”

Xu Guanzhong said: "Since this is the case, let's go over and find out what is going on." Xu Guanzhong ordered the water to be armed, the crossbow was on the Xuan, and the cannon was loaded.

The fleet slowly approached, and the temperature on this island was no longer as cold as Yuncheng, and even a little warm.

After walking along the coast for more than ten miles, it was deserted, and there was no port in sight.

Hu Cheng sighed: "I remember that when I came a few years ago, this island was quite lively, why is it so deserted today." ”

Xu Guanzhong said: "Maybe I'm misremembering, after all, the island is so big, it is impossible to have ports everywhere." ”

"Yes, I was just a little sidekick back then, and I don't remember many things clearly. In this case, it is better for us to find a sheltered harbor to dock temporarily, and then send someone to the island to investigate clearly. "Hu Chengdao.

Xu Guan said: "Okay, let's find a port." ”

The fleet searched for half an hour, found a natural harbor, docked over, put away the sails and anchored.

Hu Chengdao: "I took the caravan to the shore to investigate, how about Brother Xu and the others here?" ”

Xu Guanzhong said with a smile: "How can this make the island, there may be many unknown dangers on the island, I will take people to the island to check." Take twenty men, and the ships and soldiers will be under your command for the time being. Back in two days at most. ”

Hu Cheng said: "Okay. Be careful. ”

Expeditions are naturally done by the navy, and Xu Guanzhong took the lead and went ashore by boat. Xu Guanzhong didn't bring many people, just twenty people, but they were well-equipped, all of them were bows and arrows, waist knives, and steel armor.

Because they were worried about getting lost, the soldiers kept using chisels to carve marks and directions on stones and trees along the road.

Xu Guanzhong looked around and found that there was a small hill bag here in the port, and it was a plain beyond the mountain bag, although it was winter, the temperature here was not low, and there was a small amount of green grass.

In the distance, more than a dozen deer were grazing on the grass with their heads bowed, and they were not afraid to see people coming, and it was obvious that few people came here. A river is crystal clear and there are small fish swimming in the river.

Xu Guanzhong took a military shovel and dug up the grass, and dug half a meter deep, but it was still fertile soil.

"If you have good land, you will have a bumper harvest if you grow rice." Xu Guanzhong sighed.

There is a lot of meadow, and the woods next to it are also very lush, and the trees are very tall, and the birds are chirping in the woods.

The team has been walking for more than 30 miles, still plains, and occasionally you can see traces of human activity, but this area should be uninhabited.

"Captain, there's a roe deer ahead?" A sailor said, pointing to the grass ahead.

"Grab it for dinner, we have to spend the night on the island tonight." Xu Guanzhong said.

Three sailors took bows and arrows and passed over with cats on their waists, the wild boar was not big, about 100 catties, the bow and arrows of the navy were not small, and a few arrows were shot to death. The soldiers dragged the boar to the river, cleaned and killed the meat, and then set up a bonfire to roast the meat.

Because he had to spend the night, Xu Guanzhong ordered ten people to cut down arm-thick trees to build tents and strengthen the fence. The fragrant wild boar meat was fragrant, and everyone was full. Everything was peaceful in the first half of the night, but in the second half of the night, the wolf howls came and went. The crowd woke up with fright.

The soldiers laughed and said, "Captain Xu still has a long-term plan and has built a strong fence, and he is not afraid of wolves." ”

Xu Guanzhong looked at the green wolf eyes in all directions, not to mention that there were dozens of wolves, it seemed that it was a wolf pack.

"Burn the other four bonfires, and prepare all the bows and arrows. Five people were left on duty, and the others went to sleep. Xu Guanzhong ordered.

Immediately a roaring bonfire burned at the four corners of the camp, and the wolves could see clearly from any angle. These water armies are basically local to Yuncheng, and the entire Jingdong Road is famous for many wolves, and ordinary people have to bring a whistle stick to scare wolves when they go out, so they are no strangers to wolves, not to mention that the water army is well-trained and not afraid of wolves.

When the wolves saw that the bonfire was too strong, they were very afraid of the fire, and they did not dare to approach, and they howled one by one, which was strange and annoying to hear.

The soldier on duty took out the horn and blew it. The muffled horn traveled far away and drowned out the sound of the wolves.

Xu Guanzhong said: "I will continue to explore tomorrow, and I can't let the wolves disturb the rest." Who dares to go out with me to scare the wolves. ”

Everyone said: "Don't say it's to scare wolves, it's okay to fight wolves." ”

There is no need for many people, plus Xu Guanzhong, there are five people, three with bows and arrows, and two with torches.

The man walked out of the fence, and the wolf was surprised and frightened, and it was clear that this was not the white rabbit they liked. Whoosh, two feathered arrows shot next to the wolves, which was a warning. The wolves howled again, and one of the soldiers scolded, "Dog's day, if you don't give them color, you think we're easy to bully." took out a second kick and lit it and threw it to the wolves, and the frightened wolves scattered and fled with two bangs, not even daring to turn their heads back. ”

There was nothing to do all night, and the next morning everyone packed up their things and left, and as for the camp, they did not move, and they still stayed here. On this day, I walked more than 60 miles, and looked around. I saw that there was wasteland everywhere that could be cultivated, and there were many rivers, and the water conservancy conditions were very good. There are many trees, just enough to build a house.

A soldier pointed to a sorghum field not far away and said, "Look, there's land planted there." ”

Xu Guanzhong looked at it in the past, and it was indeed a sorghum field, although the sorghum had been purchased, but the sorghum straw was still obvious. It's just that the skills of the people here to grow crops are obviously too ordinary, and the sorghum grows thin. And the ground does not look like it has been ploughed, at most it is dug with shovels.

Xu Guanzhong said: "There must be people living around here, everyone should be cautious." ”

"Yes." The soldiers agreed.

After walking through a small hill in front of me, a small mountain village appeared in front of me in the shade of the woods, the small village was not large, there were about fifty houses. This house is completely built in the style of the Great Song Dynasty, but it is a little simpler, free-range grass chickens run around, dogs looking for food wander back and forth, and there are many children playing happily. The people in the village also discovered the armed team led by Xu Guanzhong, and there was a commotion, forming a team of dozens of people, one by one with knives and guns gathered at the entrance of the village.