Hearing the cheers of a few children, Cheng Huailiang and the others couldn't help but turn their heads, only to find that Princess Qinghe and several other women were also pointing in the distance, as if they were very excited, and with the blowing of the sea breeze, there seemed to be bursts of cheers.

Just as Cheng Huailiang and the three of them were about to stand up and take a look, the captain's room behind them suddenly opened, and a middle-aged man wearing a neat and tidy light cyan captain's uniform and three long whiskers fluttering under his chin walked out, this middle-aged man is the captain of the ship, surnamed Chen, so everyone calls him Captain Chen.

As soon as Captain Chen walked to the deck, the crew in charge of the lookout immediately reported to him: "Report to the captain, a steamship has been found in the southeast, and the ship has issued a flag for help, it seems that the ship is out of order, please make a decision!" ”

After hearing this, Captain Chen strode to the bow of the boat to check, and did not forget to nod to Cheng Huailiang and the three during the process. And after he walked over, he found that there was a steamship moored not far from the southeast, which seemed to be a merchant ship transporting goods, with the bow facing south, and it was estimated that it should also be a merchant ship from Dengzhou.

"Pull over the boat and send a small boat over to ask about the situation!" Captain Chen quickly instructed that ships are in trouble at sea, which is a common thing, and according to the maritime mutual assistance treaty promulgated by His Royal Highness King Qi, all ships have the responsibility and obligation to come forward to help in such a situation, and this treaty is agreed by all maritime merchants, after all, no one dares to guarantee that their ships will not be in trouble one day.

The people on the steamship opposite saw Cheng Huailiang and their ship approaching, and they were also cheering at the moment, and many people waved their hats to salute the ship here.

At this time, Cheng Huailiang and the others also walked to the side of the ship. Looking at the cheering people on the opposite ship, Cheng Huailiang suddenly said, "I heard that there are some pirates on the sea. Dress up as a broken down ship and trick the sympathy of passing boats. When the other ships approached, they would tear off their camouflage and hijack the ships, so wouldn't it be too dangerous for us to just get there? ”

At this time, Captain Chen was beside them, and when he heard Cheng Huailiang's words, he laughed and said: "Childe, don't worry, all the routes from Linyi to the north, the pirates that used to haunt have long been wiped out by the navy of His Royal Highness King Qi, so the routes here are the safest, and there will definitely be no pirates." In addition, our fleet is not easy to mess with, the fleet is escorted by nearly 300 veteran sergeants, and it is well-equipped, even if we encounter thousands of pirates, the other party can't help us! ”

Hearing the captain's confident words, Li Yexu also nodded and said: "Yes, I have heard that the northern route is very safe when I was in Chang'an, and besides, we have just left Dengzhou, not far from the east, and the city of Siyu in South Korea is not far from the east." There can be a naval fleet stationed there, so even if there are pirates, as long as the other party is not stupid, they will definitely not choose to rob here. ”

Captain Chen also nodded again and again after listening to Li Yexu's words. Then he spoke: "Li Gongzi's analysis is very reasonable, since His Royal Highness the King of Qi went to Dengzhou, there is indeed no pirate worry about the routes near Dengzhou. As for the pirate disguise that Cheng Gongzi said, it used to often appear in Nanyang and other places. However, it was later cleared by the navy sent by His Royal Highness the King of Qi, and the pirates were either destroyed. Either surrender, and the remaining unwilling, they can only flee to the coast of Tianzhu in the south to continue to be pirates, but now with the development of Ceylon Island and the ongoing slave trade in Africa, His Royal Highness has also increased the crackdown on pirates along the coast of Tianzhu, and I believe that there will soon be no place for pirates there! ”

Seeing that an ordinary captain of a passenger ship actually knew so much about the situation on the ocean, Cheng Huailiang and the three of them were very surprised, and Cheng Huailiang couldn't help but ask first: "Captain Chen, where did you know all this news, did you also stay in the army before?" ”

Captain Chen was stunned for a moment, and then waved his hand again and again: "Childe misunderstood, I want to go to the navy, but unfortunately the age has long passed, and people don't accept it at all, as for what I said, most of them are learned from the Navigation Academy, and some of them are learned from other peers." ”

"Nautical Academy? Do you still need to go to the academy to study? At this time, Li Yexu was also very surprised and said, a few years ago, they were either in the military academy or in the army, and the news was relatively closed, plus they mainly focused on Taiwan's military aspects, as for other news related to the economy and people's livelihood, they did not care much, and even the famous navigation academy was the first time to hear about it.

"It's nature." Captain Chen explained with a smile, "On a ship like ours, not only does the captain need to undergo special training, but also some other important positions also need to be trained, such as steam engine repairer, surveyor, etc., and I heard that the Navigation Academy is preparing to open more subjects, and it is estimated that in a few years, even the ship's furnace burners will have to enter the academy to study before they can take up their posts." ”

Captain Chen's last sentence also made a little joke, which also caused Cheng Huailiang and the three of them to laugh. At this time, the small boat sent out finally came back, and then reported to Captain Chen: "Captain, there is something wrong with the other party's steam engine, and their steam engine repairer can't solve it, so I want to ask our ship's steam engine repairer to help take a look." ”

"Well, you go and ask Master Liu to take a look at the other party's boat, and try to help if you can!" Captain Chen also said very enthusiastically.

The crew member who reported the news agreed, and after a while, a young man in his twenties was called, and he saw that the other man had a dark face, was wearing a canvas overalls, his clothes were full of stains, and he was carrying a tool box in his hand. Although this man looked dirty, the crew respected him very much, and even Captain Chen was very polite to him.

"Why, do you have frequent problems with your steamboats?" Qin Huaiyu opened his mouth to ask, he remembered that when he boarded the ship before, the shopkeeper of this sea operation had assured him that their ship would definitely not have any problems on the way.

Affecting the reputation of running to the sea, Captain Chen hurriedly explained: "Don't misunderstand Qin Gongzi, although they are all steam ships, but in fact, they are also graded, generally speaking, the performance of passenger ships is better than that of cargo ships, and steam engines are not prone to problems, after all, passenger ships are mainly used to transport people, natural safety first, and our ship is the top passenger ship, not only the steam engine used is the most advanced, but also the maintenance engineer on the ship is also the best, so it will not necessarily go to sea ten times, so please rest assured!" ”

In fact, Qin Huaiyu just asked casually, and did not question the other party's strength, but since Captain Chen was so sure, they naturally said a few words to each other, and learned about the structure of the steam engine by the way. For these, although Captain Chen is not a maintenance master, as a captain, some knowledge of steam engines still needs to be understood, so he also told everything he knew, but Qin Huaiyu and the three of them all half understood it.

Captain Chen really didn't lie, the maintenance engineer on their ship was indeed the best, and quickly helped the other party's steamship troubleshoot, and then was sent back in the other party's thanks, and there were a few more gifts from the other party on board.

"Captain, the other party is really generous, and sent us a few bottles of good things!" As soon as the maintenance engineer known as Master Liu got on the boat, he immediately shouted loudly, with a look of excitement on his face.

"What makes you so happy?" Captain Chen also smiled a little strangely, but when he saw the bottle in Master Liu's hand, his eyes lit up, and he said with some surprise, "Ouch, it seems that we really met a noble person this time, this chili sauce is not something that anyone can get." ”

Captain Chen said, reaching out and taking a glass bottle from Master Liu's hand, which contained a dark red sauce with a thick layer of oil floating on it, which looked extremely tempting. The other crew members also looked at the bottles in Master Liu's hands with envy, but unfortunately the other party only sent three bottles, which was not enough for them at all.

"Hey, this is the legendary chili pepper that came back from America?" Cheng Huailiang They are from famous families, what kind of things have they never seen? So at first, I didn't pay attention to the things in Master Liu's hand at all, but when I heard Captain Chen say the name of chili, they all gathered around and picked up the bottle to take a closer look, wanting to see what was good about this thing that Li Su often talked about.

It's just that Cheng Huailiang and the others are disappointed that the so-called sauce made of chili peppers doesn't seem to be anything special, but the color is brighter, and there seems to be sesame seeds and other things added to it, and there is a lot of oil, it looks a little greasy, and the taste should not be very good.

And when Captain Chen and Master Liu saw Cheng Huailiang's appearance, they knew that the other party must have seen chili sauce for the first time, in fact, this is not surprising, because the production of chili peppers is very small now, and some foods made of chili peppers are only sold in Taiwan, and they are not only expensive, but sometimes they can't even be bought with money. The merchant on the ship just now was able to take out three bottles as a gift at once, and he must also be a big businessman with a head and face in Taiwan.

I saw Captain Chen give Master Liu a look, and the other party immediately understood, and immediately said: "A few sons must have not tasted the deliciousness of chili peppers, so it is better to give these bottles to a few sons, which can be regarded as a little bit of our sea operation!" ”

"This ......" Qin Huaiyu really wanted to taste the taste of chili peppers, because Li Su had mentioned the names of chili peppers in front of them before, and he always had a greedy look, but this was given to Master Liu by someone else, which made him a little embarrassed.

However, Cheng Huailiang and Li Yexu next to him were both cheeky people, so they accepted it unceremoniously and expressed their gratitude to Master Liu. Immediately afterwards, he pulled Captain Chen aside and asked how to eat chili peppers. (To be continued......)