After three days, it was loaded with goods, and the ship was about to set sail. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 ｉｎｆｏ

On the day of sailing, the owner invited the statue of Our Lady of Heaven from the stern tower to the terrace and held a festival.

Our Lady of Heaven is Mazu Niangniang. The fishermen and boat merchants in Fujian all worship Mazu Niangniang as the god of the sea. But when there is shipbuilding, sailing, and fishing, we must sacrifice to the Virgin Mary for peace.

The festival was presided over by the lord Xiao Xiangui as the main sacrifice, and the four officials in charge of the ship were the priests, master of ceremonies, incense stickers, and reading blessings. In addition, there are deacons such as bells, drums, musicians, and clerks, who are also important personnel on board. Li Tu only heard a cannon sound, and several boatmen who played music began to blow the suona, and Xiao Xiangui and the priests took their places, reverently incense, and performed three kneels and nine bows.

Then, the crowd prostrates in front of the statue of Our Lady in Heaven for the "First Offering", the "Sub-Offering", and the "Final Offering".

Observing with his eyes, Li Tu only felt that the owner Xiao Xiangui was particularly pious in sacrifices. Every prostration is a great prostration. When the incense was served, Xiao Xiangui was even more terrified and fearful, as if he was betting his entire life on that stick of incense.

But I don't know if I was too nervous or why, Xiao Xiangui was burned by the incense when he put on the incense.

With a shake of his hand, the pillar of incense fell out of Xiao Xiangui's hand and landed on the deck.

At this moment, Xiao Xiangui suddenly felt as if he had lost his life, and his face turned pale. With a plop, he knelt in front of the pillar of incense, bowed three times and bowed with his mouth full of damn damned, and prostrated on the ground for a long time before he raised the incense again with a sad face.

Li Tu looked at Xiao Xiangui's exaggerated behavior, secretly amused, and slowly moved with the person in front of him, ready to salute. As he walked, he saw that Xu San, who was thrown into the sea by himself that day, happened to walk to his side.

When Xu San saw Li Tu, his face turned red, so he turned his face away and pretended not to see it.

Li Tu stretched out his hand and patted Xu San's shoulder, and said indifferently,

"Third Brother Xu, when I was learning martial arts that day, the younger brother was eager to win, and he was offended, and he looked at Haihan!"

Hearing Li Tu's words, Xu San was stunned.

On such ocean-going vessels, there is a daily risk of encountering pirates. Once you encounter pirates, you must rely on the brave to charge into battle. Therefore, on the ship, the strong have always been important.

Xu San was thrown into the sea by Li Tu alive that day, and saw Li Tu's ability and arrogance, and only regarded Li Tu as a brave maniac in his heart. When he heard Li Tu talking to him, he thought that Li Tu was going to ridicule him. The other boatmen around saw Li Tu talking to Xu San, and they also thought that this madman Li Tu was going to ridicule each other.

Unexpectedly, Li Tu said such comfortable words, Xu Sanyi didn't react for a while.

It took him a long time before he turned his head.

Seeing Li Tu apologize to him, he had already changed a smile on his face. The reddened face grinned, and it looked a little funny.

"It's okay, it's okay! Brother Li is very capable, I am convinced! ”

When Li Tu saw these three degrees, he couldn't help but say casually:

"When I first arrived, I should have been at the top of the list. Helplessly, there was a special reason that he had to win that day, and he collided with Brother Xu, and the little brother was really upset! ”

Hearing Li Tu, who had defeated him, say such respectful words in the crowd, Xu San laughed out loud and slammed his fist into Li Tu's chest, knocking Li Tu backwards.

"It's nothing, it's nothing, didn't you defeat the head shop that day, and it's not my business alone!"

Seeing Xu San like this, Li Tu knew that this man had truly forgiven himself. Looking at his intimate appearance, he even regarded Li Tu as his own.

Funny in his heart, Li Tu took a step forward and asked casually, "Third Brother Xu, why is this Lord so sincere and scared when he sacrifices to the Virgin Mary?" ”

When Xu San heard this, he tilted his head, as if he remembered something very funny.

"Brother Li, you just got on the boat and you don't know yet, there are a lot of interesting things on this ship!"

"Let's just say that this owner seems to be very stable, but in fact, he is very timid!"

"Timid?"

Xu San turned his head and whispered:

"Although this owner bought a ship and went to sea, he was actually very afraid in his heart, for fear of encountering a hurricane of pirates, and he was terrified every day! When he sacrificed to the Virgin, he worked very hard, always trying to use the power of the Heavenly Virgin to escape those pirates! ”

"I've been gone for two years, and I'm really lucky that I didn't encounter a pirate storm."

"I heard that after running for two years at most, the owner will leave his hands and return to his hometown. Why don't you hurry up and ask for the blessing of the Virgin Mary, and ask for a smooth two years. ”

I see, no wonder this Xiao Xiangui is so pious.

Li Tu listened to Xu San's introduction, and his heart was funny, so he didn't ask anymore, but just worshiped with everyone on incense.

Finally, the burning of blessings, the burning of treasure silk, in the smoke of incense, the sound of cannons shook the sky, the Virgin Mary sacrifice ceremony was completed. After the sacrifice was completed, a gong sounded, and the Zaixing put away the iron anchor and raised the hard sail, which was to open the ocean.

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As soon as the sails were raised, the wind blew the ship, and the Zaixing gradually left Mui Wan and headed for the fairway.

When the ship is driving in the sea, it is most afraid of reefs and hurricanes, and once it encounters, it will be the ship destroyed and people will die.

In order to avoid stranding reefs and high winds and waves, the voyage does not draw a straight line from the beginning to the end point, but travels on a fixed course. These waterways are the result of the experience of previous generations, just like the roads at sea. The ship's guide, the surveyor of later generations, was responsible for measuring and guiding the way along the course and prompting the helmsman.

Most of the shipping lanes in the late Ming Dynasty were close to the mainland and islands for easy measurement and comparison.

There is a patrol and guard mission at the tip of the eye. Today it was Li Tu's turn to patrol, and Li Tu walked on the terrace. From his side, the northwestern horizon never disappeared. That is, the ship has been sailing near the sea more than a dozen kilometers from the mainland.

At this time, the southeast wind was blowing, and the Zaixing was driving in the northeast direction, which was considered a cross wind. The guide threw a plank from the bow of the boat, measured the time it took for the plank to float from the bow to the stern, and calculated the speed of the ship, saying that it could drive three hundred and twenty miles in a day and night. Converted to later weights and measures, the speed is about six or seven kilometers per hour.

According to Nabayashi Chao'er, the ship would have to sail for about 20 days before it could reach Japan.

Li Tu patrolled back and forth on the boat and saw Wang Jian, the head shop.

Probably staying in the cabin, Wang Jian went to the terrace to get some air, but just happened to bump into Li Tu who was patrolling.

When Li Tu saw Wang Jian, he hurriedly went up to say hello,

"Mr. Wang is ready!"

But that Wang Jian didn't care about Li Tu, he regarded Li Tu as nothing, and he passed by Li Tu with an expressionless face.

This Wang Jian is not easy to deal with, Li Tuzheng secretly wondered, but saw the owner Xiao Xiangui walking out of the tail building.

"Losing to you that day, Mr. Wang is still in his arms!"

After a pause, Xiao Xiangui said again:

"Don't worry, Mr. Wang is the most face-heavy person. But as long as you are sincere, over time, Mr. Wang will definitely release his suspicions and make friends with you. ”

Li Tu looked at Wang Jian's back and was about to answer Xiao Xiangui, but he heard the shouts of the lookout from the mast:

"There's a big fleet to the east!"

Hearing this, Li Tu looked at the sea in front of him, and sure enough, in the farthest distance, he saw a huge fleet.

These ships had just departed from Zhangzhou Yuegang and were approaching the channel where the Zaixing was located. The fleet consisted of fourteen ships, all of them three-masted ships of the same water, and the oars were connected from end to end, and slowly drove northeast.

Such a large fleet sailing on the surface of the sea is spectacular.

Xiao Xiangui walked to Li Tu's side, rolled up his sleeves and said, "Such a large fleet must be Li Dan's ship." ”

Hearing Li Dan's name, Li Tu remembered the history he knew before he traveled and knew that Li Dan was the biggest maritime merchant in this era. Li Tu also knew that the reason why Zheng Zhilong, the later overlord of the East China Sea, was able to rise was first because he inherited Li Dan's power.

Hearing Xiao Xiangui's words, Li Tu nodded and asked curiously, "Has the owner seen Li Dan?" ”

Xiao Xiangui smiled, shook his head and replied: "I haven't seen it, Li Dan is the overlord of the East China Sea, and I, the little master, don't fall into his eyes." ”

Without a word, Li Tu and Xiao Xiangui were chatting at the stern of the boat, but suddenly heard the lookout shouting:

"There are three small boats in the west, approaching this way at high speed!"

When everyone heard this, they all looked to the west, and sure enough, they saw three bird boats, which quickly drove towards the side of Zaixing.

When the three boats were a hundred feet away, the lookout shouted loudly:

"It's a pirate! These three boats are pirates! ”

There was a clang, another clang, and the lookout struck the gong desperately, sounding the alarm.