Chapter 798: Sea Breeze (Medium)

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The sky was dark, the clouds were rolling, the sea was dark, and the waves were raging. The storm swept across the vast sea, setting off wave after wave of monstrous giants*, and with that earth-shattering sound, proclaiming the supreme power of nature On this boundless, boiling sea, there is a fleet struggling with all kinds of struggles. These behemoths that usually flaunt their might seem so thin and small at the moment, so vulnerable, as if a giant* pounced on them, and could easily sweep them into the rolling waves.

However, if you have a discerning eye, you will find that although these ships are crumbling and precarious in the giants, they are not restrained by this incomparable power, and the sailors on each ship, under the command of the captain, have risked their lives to fight against this storm

Even the connection between them was not cut off by the boundless darkness and monstrous waves, and each ship had a special lookout, who used a clairvoyant mirror to keep an eye on the stern of the largest ship, counting the bright spots there, and conveying the orders of the fleet leaders to their respective captains as soon as possible. In short, in order to cope with all kinds of smooth and bad situations, they have a whole set of night signal language, which is conveyed to every ship through these highlights.

Every bright spot is actually a huge oil-paper lantern, and inside the lantern is a blazing torch; Behind each torch is a metal parabolic mirror, which can easily transmit light to 30 miles on a sunny day. But now the wind and rain are too strong, the line of sight is already extremely poor, and even the torch soaked in grease must be covered with a lantern. Such a sudden light, less than one-tenth of the usual, had to use a clairvoyant mirror to barely see the flagship a few miles away.

Under such harsh conditions, the ability of the commander of the fleet is most tested, and he must know the wind direction, wind speed, ocean current, rainfall, as well as the difference in displacement and speed of each ship in the fleet, and make a comprehensive judgment, and constantly change the course and speed of the fleet, so that the fleet can avoid the most dangerous winds and waves, and the ships behind will not be left behind...... In this vast ocean, as long as a ship is lost, for the fleet, it is lost in the boundless ocean with no route.

At this moment, the life and death of the entire fleet are in the hands of the captain of the flagship. By the light of the air death wind lamp, it can be seen that he is not very old, and he should not be more than thirty years old. Despite the violent jolting of the deck, he still stood still, pursing his lips tightly, his eyes staring resolutely ahead, showing a maturity and firmness far beyond his years.

At this moment the storm was coming even stronger, and the sea was so great that it swooped down on their ship in a short time, and the waves rolled over, and the hull shook violently, and even made a moan that made the teeth chatter, and even the most experienced sailors showed a timid expression. The first mate and the boatswain came to the captain's room and begged the young captain to cut off the foremast, otherwise there was a great possibility of capsizing.

But the captain refused their request, and instead ordered the rudder to be turned west-southward, with the side sailing downwind...... It's a big risk, because if it does, it's tantamount to handing over control, and the winds dictating where they're going. Once it deviates from the course, it is unpredictable to run aground, get separated, and even ship crash and death due to the speed of the voyage.

The deputies advised him to think again, if he cut off the mast and tie the front and rear jacks into the sea, at least he could make the ship more stable.

"Stupid, although our ship is strong, but because the load is too large, the draft is too deep, if it slows down and stiffens the hurricane and waves, the hull will definitely not be able to withstand it" The captain finally changed his face, suddenly drew his sword, waved it fiercely, and said categorically: "Hugh has to say again, pass on my orders and dare to disobey, cut and decide"

At this time, a general wearing a mountain armor also nodded heavily and said, "Obey the captain's orders."

Seeing that the two people with the highest status were in agreement, everyone knew that there was nothing to change, so they had to turn around with earthy faces and staggered out of the cabin.

Seeing the signal from the flagship, the captains of the rest of the ships were incredulous, and they all thought that the man was crazy. But the flagship had adjusted its course and accelerated sharply to the southwest, not giving them time to think at all. In order to avoid falling behind, he had to curse loudly while ordering the rudder to follow.

Crackling - a lightning bolt swept through the sky, illuminating the dark sky, but seeing the huge sea ships on the sea one after another, cleaving the waves with the direction of the typhoon, and rapidly advancing in the southwest direction, forward, forward - under the strong wind, manpower has no effect, although the sailors on the deck, still under the command of the boatswain, tied and fixed the cables, although the first mate has led people to jump the auxiliary sails to the best angle, but under the power of nature, this is only a drop in the bucket...... It still depends on where this typhoon will take them.

Everyone is praying sincerely, Mazu Niangniang, Guanyin Bodhisattva, and the Virgin Mary bless us, God forgive us

In this dark ordeal, the young captain always maintained a javelin-like uprightness, and there was no trace of panic on his face. As soon as the sailors looked up, they would see that he was calm and calm, and his posture was as steady as Mount Tai, and they were not so panicked in their hearts, and secretly said: "It seems that he can escape this catastrophe......

I don't know how long it took, although the wind was still howling, the waves were still howling, and the dark clouds were still hanging all around, everyone clearly felt that they were getting farther and farther away from danger. Because the roaring waves have gradually weakened, the roaring typhoon has become much smaller, although it is still rough and raining, they can all see that they have gradually left the danger zone.

"Mazu Niangniang has appeared", "Hallelujah", "Amitabha Buddha ......" sailors knelt on the deck one after another, kowtowing to their respective beliefs in thanksgiving.

"Actually, it's you who they should really be thanking for." The general, who was dressed in a mountain armor, walked up to the captain, who finally had a relaxed expression, and said, "It seems that you are right. ”

"Help me untie it first." The captain bared his teeth and said that he had tied himself to the pillar, no wonder he could stand so steadily.

"I'm still curious, though." The general, while untying him and helping him to sit down in his chair, asked, "Have you decided to ride with the wind, with confidence or by chance?" ”

"We're not going to joke with the lives of more than 2,000 people." The captain rubbed his sour back and said coolly: "You can't avoid a hurricane, the boat must not stop, only pass in a semicircle downwind." ”

"How do you know you can get out with the wind?" The general was still puzzled: "What if I get involved?" ”

"If you see a lot of waves, you know that this thing also has a temper to touch." The captain said, "This hurricane has an eye of the wind, whirling from south to north, and the west wind blows north of the eye of the wind," and said counterclockwise, "and then there are northwest, north, east, southeast, south, and southwest...... I observed that it was moving due north, and naturally it should have stayed downwind of it, but opposite to the direction of movement of the eye of the wind, so that it could sail downwind and gradually move away from the hurricane. ”

"Forget it......" The general was dazed when he heard it, how could he understand the east, west, north and south winds, so he had to give up: "As long as you get out of danger." ”

"I don't dare to say that early, if the eye of the storm changes direction, we will be completely helpless." Looking at the sailors who had relaxed, the captain said lightly.

"......," the general said depressedly, "you can't be so irresponsible. ”

"You should continue to pray, we can get to Luzon smoothly." The captain closed his eyes, and after a while, he let out a slender snoring sound.

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When the captain awoke, the east was already shining, the wind had completely stopped, the sky was blue, and the sea had returned to a calm turquoise.

Stretching and standing up, the captain walked to the lookout and looked in the direction of the stern, one, two, three, four...... All five ships were there, and he finally relented. After receiving the cheers of the sailors, they signaled them to hurry up and clean the deck and repair the damage in preparation for the next storm. He poured himself a glass of Western whisky, leaned on the railing, looked at the vast sea, breathed in the sweet sea breeze, and said softly in his heart: "It's good to be alive......"

At this moment, he recalled the afternoon ten years ago, when he left his hometown for the first time and went to Macau to beg for a living, at that time he did not have a tuba, only a small name A Feng.

Originally, Macao was just a small fishing village called Ho Kiang O, because it had two bays in the north and south, which were as round as oyster shells...... It is also called 'oyster glass' and gets its name. I heard that it was the Francois people and the government who rented this place that gave it the nice name 'Macau'.

Not only did the name of the place change, and the old small fishing village was gone, replaced by tall houses, wide roads and crowded streets, and bustling with businessmen. Many strange-looking strange-looking people from exotic countries have come here with strange smells and countless rare inventions, exchanging their new gadgets for soft silk, fragrant tea, and fine ceramics as thin as cicada's wings......

The sun of that day, with the salty smell peculiar to the tropics, shone on his still immature face, and those young and curious eyes did not blink, lest they show their eyes at this strange world. But when he came to the wharf, and stood in the shadow of the tall ship, and looked up at the side of the ship that covered the sky, and the mast that stood against the sky, there was nothing else in his eyes.

He couldn't help but reach out and stroke the rough cable, his heart beat violently, and a strong premonition burst out, this is his destiny in this life. At the age of seventeen, he came from his hometown of Raoping, Chaozhou, to the 16th Ponte Pier in Macau, and embarked on the largest sea-going ship, becoming a lowly-ranking sailor, and at the same time having his own tuba-Li Benma, a name that soon became fearful.

At first, the apprentice sailor Li Benma's career was very ordinary, washing the deck, pulling cables, painting every day, and carrying it to wash the feet of the leaders. But the times did not give him the opportunity to follow the step-by-step process. At that time, the war between the Japanese and the imperial court had reached a fever pitch, and normal business could not go on at all, and the successive victories of Xu Hai, Chen Dong, Ye Mazi and others in eastern Zhejiang made the maritime merchants see a better opportunity to make a fortune - if you don't have to trade, you can make a fortune by robbing it directly, and there is no danger, I believe that no one in this world will do business. As a result, many maritime merchants who used to specialize in smuggling have transformed into 'sea forests', including Li Benma's shipowner, Tai Laoweng.

Because of his wit and bravery, he was even more talented in naval warfare, and the trainee sailor Li Benma quickly stood out among the pirates, was appreciated by the old Tai Weng, and became the pipe belt of his capital ship at the age of 20, creating a great name in the Minguang generation. After his death, he succeeded him and became the leader of the pirate army.

Unlike ordinary pirate leaders who only want to eat large pieces of meat and divide the money in large scales, Li Benma is a far-sighted and thoughtful person, he knows that there is no future for burning and killing ordinary people, and sooner or later he will be exterminated by officers and soldiers, so he made up his mind to change the livelihood of the green forest on the sea. Perhaps he learned from the experience of "Water Margin", he erected the banner of 'using Suotu Ba to help the poor, killing corrupt officials and supporting honest officials', and chose Penghu Island as a base to recruit poor people and expand the team. Taking advantage of the drunken robbery of others, he actively expanded maritime trade. A few years later, it had more than 300 ships and more than 40,000 people. And across the sea, he has never killed innocents indiscriminately, and the assets obtained are fairly divided by the people, supported by the people, and his power is expanding day by day.

However, at this time, the situation changed, Chen Dong and Ye Ma successively conferred the head, Xu Hai accepted Zhao'an, and even the old shipowner escaped death, instead of taking revenge, he still accepted the court's Zhao'an. Lin Feng also wanted to emulate them, but Xu Haiwang was unwilling, the strength of this offspring expanded too fast, and if he didn't eradicate it as soon as possible, he would have to have an extra pair of chopsticks to grab food in the future. So Wang Zhi fabricated evidence that he colluded with the Japanese to occupy Taiwan, hoping to attract the wrath of the government...... Of course, Li Benma was not wronged, his subordinates did have all races, and there was an elite Japanese ronin squad, whose purpose was indeed easy to arouse suspicion.

At that time, Hu Zongxian, the governor of the southeast, also needed to fight constantly to maintain his position, so he regarded it as the main opponent in the later period of his leadership against the Japanese. First of all, Qi Jiguang, the chief soldier of Fujian, crossed the sea to destroy his old nest in Penghu Mountain. He made a comeback, and was defeated by his successor commander-in-chief, Hu Shouren, and fled to Qianao to ask the imperial court for peace, but Xu Yunyi, the governor of Liangguang, refused to allow it. Li Benma, who had no base, although the ship was large and wide, could only travel to and from Fujian, and the sea area between Guangzhou, the result was the southeast naval division of the Ming Dynasty, united with the Wufeng fleet to encircle and suppress, Wang Zhiyi's son Mao Haifeng personally commanded the clipper to chase to the Tamsui Ocean, sank his boat, and the whereabouts of the Japanese chief Li Benma are unknown.

The official record of Li Benma ends here, and no one knows what happened next, and everyone thinks that he will definitely die, including himself who was seriously injured and fell into the water at that time.

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However, when he woke up, he found himself lying in the city of Macau, where he had set sail, and outside the window was the memorable Ponte 16 Wharf, where a row of huge sea ships were quietly docked, which looked much more advanced than those of those days.

Recuperated for a while. When he was almost recovered, a scribe named Mr. Kaiyang, accompanied by two warriors, appeared in his room.

There was no greeting, Li Benma asked directly, why did you save me.

"Because you're valuable." Mr. Kaiyang did not hide it: "So we bribed Mao Haifeng to come forward as soon as your battleship sank, and fortunately rescued you." ”

"What am I worth?"

"You're the most gifted navigator I've ever met, with strong leadership, calm, confident, ambitious, and still young." Mr. Kaiyang looked at him with bright eyes and said, "I want to take you as an apprentice." ”

"What do you do?" Li Benma looked at this man suspiciously: "It's not a good man to hide his head and show his tail. "Does the heart say you are worthy?

"Since I want to accept you as an apprentice, of course I won't hide it from you," Mr. Kaiyang said lightly: "My name is Zheng Ruozeng, you may have heard of me." ”

"You are Hu Zongxian's staff" If it weren't for the two big men staring at each other, Li Benma would probably jump up and strangle him, and said: "It was you who made plans there to kill my brothers."

"No, I've been away from Dashuai for several years." Zheng Ruozeng said with a sad face: "And the handsome has also been disarmed and returned to the field." ”

"And what is your status now?"

"President of Nanyang Company." Zheng Ruozeng said lightly.

"Nanyang Company, I haven't heard of ......"

"Newly formed." Zheng Ruozeng looked out the window and said, "This wharf, and all the ships on the wharf, belong to this company. ”

"The strength is not small...... Li Benma narrowed his eyes and said: "There are thirty of the most advanced sea ships and fifty cargo ships, all of which have just been launched. ”

"Not bad." Zheng Ruozeng nodded and said, "It seems that there are no sequelae left in the brain, I am very relieved." ”

"......" Li Benma rolled his eyes and said: "Nanyang Company is a Francophone?" "He didn't believe that this poor and sour guy was the owner of this company.

"No," Zheng Ruozeng said lightly: "I won't tell you, the owner is a wealthy family in the southeast." ”

"Nine?" Li Benma frowned and said, "Forget it, don't ask, I know too much, it's not good for me." As he spoke, his face sank and he said, "How are my subordinates and the people who follow me?" His expression visibly tense.

"Hehe, don't worry, it's good," Zheng Ruozeng laughed and said, "Shen Jingluo accepted their surrender, and placed them in your hometown, re-registered them, and lived in peace in the future...... You can go back to them at any time, yes, go back in the open, you have been forgiven. ”

"Really?" Li Benma's heart was racing, his eyes tightened, and he stared at Zheng Ruozeng tightly and said, "It seems that the energy of Nanyang Company is not small." ”

"That's right," Zheng Ruozeng nodded and smiled: "What's the matter, you agreed to be my apprentice?" Saying that, he lobbied and said: "It's very cool to be my apprentice, not only will it not beat and scold you, but it will also raise you to another realm." And after you become an apprentice, you can also directly arrange for you to join the company and become the head of the navigation department......" said and pointed outside: "These ships are under your command." ”

chattered for a long time, only to get a big roll of Li Benma's eyes: "Do I have a choice?" Not to mention that those subordinates and the people are his bonds, just talking about this powerful fleet outside is enough to arouse his ambition to set sail again.

"Hehe, too." Zheng Ruozeng laughed and said, "By the way, how do you call you after becoming a teacher, call you a galloping horse?" ”

"......" Li Benma said in his heart that this person was really shameless, and he had not yet apprenticed, so he claimed to be on it first, but he was too lazy to bother with him, and thought about it: "The name Li Benma has become history, my surname is Lin, and my nickname is Ah Feng, so call me Lin Feng." ”——

Segmentation –

This one is very important, and it makes up some of the plots that readers have made up in their minds.