Dream Island is vast and sparsely populated. The Ming Zhu Mansion is wide and spacious, and there are many pavilions and pavilions.

Ming Zhu Gong arranged for Ling Xue to live in Wenyuyuan on the west side of the mansion hall, and assigned two maids Ruoyun Ruoxia to serve, and Mingyu's Zhuo Yuyuan was close to each other; arranged for Song Qi to live in Dexian Garden in the east, and also assigned two small servants Ai Cai Ai Fu to serve.

The two houses are separated by four or five hundred steps.

For several days in a row, Ling Xue was sullen, depressed, listless, and languishing.

On this day, Mingyu sat on the edge of Ling Xue's bed, stroked Ling Xue's hair, and gently comforted: "Xue'er, people can't be resurrected after death, you have to cheer up." Uncle Ling will be unhappy to see you so sad in the sky. ”

Ling Xue's hair was a little messy behind her head, her eyes were dull, and she said in a hoarse voice: "Sister Mingyu, I understand what you said. I'm fine. ”

"Can you say it's okay like that?" Mingyu said solemnly, "It's always like this, I want to hold back my illness." Why don't I take you out for a walk, breathe some fresh air, and you'll feel better. ”

"You don't have to worry about me. I'll just lie down and sleep for a while. Ling Xue fell down as she spoke, covered the quilt over her head, and said in a sullen voice from the quilt: "You still take Brother Song out for a walk, so that he can get familiar with the environment." ”

"Okay then." Mingyu sighed, helped her cover the quilt, pinched the corners of the quilt, and said softly, "You can sleep well for a while." When you wake up, tell the girl what you want to eat. He turned around and whispered to the maid Ruoyun Ruoxia: "You two serve Miss Xue'er well here." The two maids said yes, and their voices were crisp and tactful.

Mingyu turned around and gently exited Ling Xue's bedroom.

Taking advantage of the time when Ling Xue was sleeping in bed, Mingyu led Song Qi out of the Ming Zhu Mansion, along Dream Island Avenue, towards the center of the island. The close-fitting maid and the other four little maids closed the flowers, the shy moon, the sinking geese, and the falling fish also followed closely.

The group walked through a grove of dates, through a long verandah, over a babbling stream, and over a small hill, with a wide meadow beyond, and the blue sea outside the meadow.

Song Qi walked along with Mingyu, and looked around, seeing the island's greenery, mixed peanut trees, the sky is high and the sea is wide, the gulls are flying wildly, and the scenery is beautiful, so he can't help but praise loudly: "The scenery here is so beautiful, like a paradise!" ”

"Thank you!" Mingyu smiled lightly, "The Peach Blossom Paradise is not a lot, but we are indeed isolated from the world. ”

"Have you been living here?" Song Qi asked curiously.

"Yes. Since I came into the world, I have always lived here. Mingyu stared at the turbulent sea, his eyes gloomy, "But eighteen years ago, this was still a deserted island off the beaten track. Eighteen years ago, my father bought the island from the Emperor for two million taels of silver. After nearly a year of construction and construction, the pavilions and pavilions and the Quxie garden have begun to become large-scale. In the following years, it was added everywhere and gradually built, and it became what it is now. ”

"The young lady was born in the year she moved to the island." The eyebrows are similar in age to Mingyu, and their appearance is very neat, and he added with a smile at this time.

"Oh, I see!" Following Mingyu's narration, Song Qi's mind couldn't help but flash the strange scene of pavilions and pavilions on a desolate island quickly erected from scratch, flowers and trees growing rapidly from seedlings, and babies turning into young girls and then into girls as soon as they opened their eyes.

The group rested a little on the seashore for a cup of tea, and then went all the way to Mengyu Mountain, the highest peak in the center of the island.

Along the way, Mingyu introduced to Song Qi: "More than 30 years ago, my father personally founded the Mingzhu Firm, which was headquartered in Chen Guoan Customs at that time. Later, the business gradually grew, and there were branches in various countries, so the headquarters was moved to the province of Wai Kok Doan. After buying Dream Island, he moved his headquarters to the island. ”

Song Qi nodded while listening and exclaimed: "Your father is really not easy!" ”

"Yes, we can't imagine the hardships of his business." Mingyu nodded, her eyes as clear as water.

This Mengyu Mountain is much lower than Huanglongling, less than 100 meters high, and there are stone steps up the mountain, so it is very easy to climb. It was just the work of the two pillars of incense, and a few people appeared on the top of the mountain.

An antique pavilion stands on the top of the mountain, and there is a plaque hanging on the pavilion, with three words inscribed on it: "Listening to the Sea Pavilion". This listening to the sea pavilion is unobstructed, you can look around, unobstructed.

The island is surrounded by the sea, with the boundless sea to the east and the mainland to the west.

Overlooking the island from the top of the mountain, it is about 30 miles long from north to south and about 20 miles wide from east to west.

The island is dotted with whitewashed houses and courtyards, which seem to loom among the yellow and green foliage.

After Song Qi took a look at the scenery all around, he couldn't help but exclaim: "The scenery here is beautiful and the climate is pleasant. Your father chose to live here, and it was a wise move! ”

"Yes." Mingyu raised his hand and swept the sideburns that were blown by the wind twice, "This is also the need to do business, it is convenient to transport goods from here to Chen Guo, Wei Guo, and Liang Guo!" ”

Song Qi looked at Mingyu in surprise and asked, "Do you transport goods to these countries by sea?" ”

"yes!" Mingyu looked back at Song Qi, raised his hand and inadvertently pointed to the mainland, "It will only take a day's boat journey from here to Chen Guoan Customs Wharf, it will only take two days to reach the nearest wharf in Weiguo, and it will only take half a month to reach Liang Guo." Compared with land transportation, the sea is fast, stable and safe. And not affected by the war. ”

"What are sea vessels powered by?" Song Qi couldn't help asking.

"Power?" Mingyu was slightly stunned, and quickly glanced at Song Qi, "You asked how to row." It's all about manpower. Sailors are rowing under the holds. There are hundreds of sailors paddling at the same time in the bilge of the big ship. ”

Song Qi half-opened his mouth, greatly surprised.

"Nothing out of the ordinary." Mingyu waved his hand and said with a smile to Song Qi, "I'll take you to visit the big sea ship when I go back." ”

"Thank you! To be honest, I'm also a small businessman, and I'm looking forward to seeing how big ships work. Song Qi smiled, raised his hand and pointed to the bottom of the mountain casually, and asked casually, "How many people are there on this island?" ”

Mingyu was still pinching his fingers and calculating, and hurriedly replied with raised eyebrows: "Except for our young lady's family, most of them here are the men, guards, sailors, plus maids, servants, housekeepers, etc., as well as each person's family, about five and five hundred people." ”

"Yes. It's better to make it clearer with raised eyebrows. Mingyu smiled slightly, then raised his hand and pointed to the mountains on the continent in the distance and said, "The high one over there is Huanglongling, and the short one is Longwei Mountain." It was only from afar that we saw a fire in there the other day, and we sent a ship to look for you. ”

Song Qi looked in the direction of her finger, and as far as the eye could see, she saw the coast twenty or thirty miles away, infested with smoke and clouds, and mountains looming. His eyes couldn't tell which was Huanglongling and which was Longwei Mountain. However, in his brain, the images of Huanglongling and Longwei Mountain are extremely clear. Even the scenes of fierce fights on the dragon's tail are very clearly revealed......

Song Qi looked at Huanglongling opposite, and suddenly remembered something, so he turned his head to Mingyu and asked, "I remember that at Daddy Ling's funeral, there were a few people kneeling in front of the coffin and crying for the master. Are they Daddy Ling's apprentices? ”

"Yes." Mingyu withdrew his gaze from Huanglongling, glanced at Song Qi, and replied slowly: "Uncle Ling has been the head coach of Dream Island for more than ten years, and he only retired to Longwei Mountain five years ago. Uncle Ling has taught martial arts to most people, so most of the guards on the island can be said to be Uncle Ling's apprentices. However, Uncle Ling was very cautious in accepting disciples, he had to go through strict tests, and he only accepted one every year, so there were less than fifteen disciples who could really be counted as entering the room. For example, the current head coach Hua Meng, the deputy head coach Mao Yong, the head of the guard Feng Dan and so on. ”

"Oh, I see." Song Qi had an understanding.

Mingyu's eyes burst with tears, his eyes were gloomy, staring at the sea, and he sighed and said, "Even my martial arts were taught by Uncle Ling. "You also know martial arts?" Song Qi blurted out, but he regretted it as soon as he spoke, but he couldn't take back his words, so he could only scratch his head embarrassedly and smile stupidly.

"yes." Mingyu didn't mind, swept her hair back of her head, and said with a smile: "But my martial arts are too bad to enter the house." So he can't be considered Uncle Ling's disciple. After a pause, seeing that Song Qi bowed his head and didn't make a sound, he asked again, "Is there anything else you want to ask?" ”

Song Qi still has a lot of doubts in his heart, such as whether Ming Zhu Gong has a book of heaven, such as the relationship between the Ming Ling family, such as whether there is a relationship between Mingyu and Xia Fei, and so on, but at this time, he is a newcomer, and his friendship with Mingyu is still shallow, so it is inconvenient to ask deeply, so he smiled and shook his head: "It's gone." ”

Mingyu turned his face sideways, his bright eyes turned slightly, looked at Song Qi, smiled, and said, "When you think of something, just ask me, I will answer all questions." ”

"Okay." Song Qi smiled and readily agreed.

The next day, Ling Xue was still bedridden, sick and sleepy. I called the doctor to check the pulse, but he said that it was fine, and he only needed to rest for a few more days.

Mingyu comforted Ling Xue a few words, and then took Song Qi and the others to the southeast wharf to visit the big sea ship according to yesterday's words.

Dream Island has two piers, one in the northwest and one in the southeast. The northwest wharf is called Baibuwan Wharf, which is close to the mainland and is mainly used for small sea boats that berth people. The southeast wharf mainly berths large sea vessels transporting goods.

Walk through the central green boulevard of Dream Island, bypass the foot of Mengyu Mountain, and then go three and a half miles to the southeast wharf.

As soon as I entered the wharf area, I saw a tall archway standing in front of me, with five big characters on it "Peach Blossom Bay Wharf".

The Peach Blossom Bay Wharf is much larger than the Baibu Bay Wharf, and it is much more imposing.

A mile outside the pier, there are two small islands facing each other, forming a natural harbor. Every 100 meters, a stone embankment about 100 meters long was built, stretching straight to the sea, forming berths and mooring large sea ships. As far as the eye can see, there are always more than two dozen large ships.

The largest sea ship is about 100 meters long, the side of the ship is about 10 meters high, and the mast is as high as a cloud. The smallest is also more than 30 meters long.

Song Qi stuck out his tongue, he didn't expect that there would be such a big sea ship more than a thousand years ago.

As if he knew Song Qi's thoughts, Mingyu patted him on the shoulder and said with a smile: "Either go on the boat and take a look." ”

Song Qi nodded, and followed Mingyu to the boat.

The sea ship is a major secret of the Ming Zhu firm, and ordinary idle personnel are not allowed to trespass. However, at this time, Miss Mingzhu personally led, and no one dared to stop her. Besides, Jade will not come here easily, and now Fang is here, which is also their glory.

Le Wugan, the head of the dock, and Fan Yinao, the captain of the sea ship, got the news from nowhere, and suddenly came out of the ground, and hurriedly asked Mingyu for peace.

"Why didn't the young lady say hello in advance when she came to the dock?" The dock manager Le Wulu, who was about fifty years old, his face was full of wrinkles, rubbing his calloused black hands, and his face was full of spring breeze.

"Don't bother, I'll just take my friends to take a look." Mingyu waved his hand to Le Wugan and said with a smile, "You're still busy with your own work." ”

Le Wugan and Fan Yinao were willing to follow, and insisted on leading Mingyu and Song Qi to visit. Mingyu didn't want to push hard, so she had to smile and nod in agreement.

Under the guidance of Le Wugan Fan Yinao, everyone stepped on the gangway and boarded the deck of the longest and largest sea ship, and suddenly a fresh air with a strange smell came to their noses.

"This ship is called 'Wan Jiu'. I am the captain of the 'Wan Jiu' sea vessel, and my name is Fan Yinao. Everybody calls me annoyance. As soon as Fan Yinao came up, he made a hearty self-introduction, which caused everyone to laugh. Then he raised his finger and pointed to the bow and then the stern, and proudly explained: "The 'Wan Jiu' is 35 zhang long, 15 zhang wide, 12 zhang high, and has a draft of 10 zhang, and can carry 2,000 tons of cargo when fully loaded. Unique in the present day. ”

Song Qi listened to the introduction and was quite interested, and couldn't help but look back at Fan Yinao a few more times, and saw that he was less than forty years old, with a dark face and strong spirits. While listening attentively, he nodded in appreciation. He leaned on the railing on the deck and looked down at the cabin, looking around with curiosity, and saw that it was very large underneath, the size of a small football field.

Suddenly, my eyes flickered, and it seemed that there was a figure in the bilge that shook for a moment and disappeared again. Looking down again, the cabin was empty. Only the shadow of oneself on the deck is cast by the sun on the bilge. Then he turned around and asked, "Captain Fan, is this sea boat usually empty, or is there someone living in it?" ”

Fan Yinao shook his head and said: "This 'Wan Jiu' is dedicated to high-sea transportation. I only go to sea once in almost half a year. When it is not out of the sea, it is left here for renovation. ”

"Oh, I see!" Song Qi couldn't help frowning when he heard this.

"Brother Fan, can you please take us to the bilge and the paddling room for a visit?" Mingyu smiled and asked Fan Yinao.

"No problem!" Fan Yinao heartily agreed, and led everyone down the stairs to the bilge mezzanine, while reminding loudly, "This staircase is very steep, you should be careful and slow down!" ”

"It's okay, it's okay." Everyone smiled and agreed.

After going down a few flights of stairs and turning a few corners, I entered the mezzanine. The light dimmed.

Song Qi rubbed his eyes, looked around, and browsed intently. It's empty.

In the middle of the partitions on both sides of the cabin and in the middle of the ship's plank, there is a narrow dark room, and a small window is opened every other zhang, and beams of light penetrate from the outside, illuminating the window around it exceptionally brightly. In each window was a bowl-thick oar that had been sharpened and polished, reaching out into the sea outside the window.

Song Qi casually asked, "How many miles can this ship reach?" ”

Fan Yinao shook his hand in the air and raised it, and said, "Let's see how much manpower is used to row the pulp." If one hundred and sixty people were to row at the same time, the speed of the full load would be thirty miles in an hour. Up to fifty miles when unloaded. ”

At this time, Song Qicai noticed that there were four reclining seats placed next to each oar, which should be the position of the sailors when paddling. The compartment on one side had twenty oars, requiring eighty people to row at the same time, and the compartment on the other side should have the same number.

Song Qi couldn't help but stick out his tongue again.

He didn't know why he was so prone to gaffes today, it stands to reason that he had seen tens of thousands of tons of nuclear-powered ships with his own eyes, and there was no reason to be surprised by this small manpower ship