December in the East China Sea is no longer a suitable season for the maritime shipping industry in East Asia. The wind is strong and the wind is not in the right direction, and the possibility of going to sea at this time of year will greatly increase the possibility of subverting and capsizing.

-- But this is only for those traditional small ships, and the galleons that have been transformed by the Joan Navy are basically unaffected. As long as it is not a terrible typhoon, the stronger winds are more conducive to the navigation of those galleons. At this moment, on the offshore sea near the Ningbo area of Zhejiang, the northbound fleet of the Qiong Navy, with four such galleons as the core, is riding the wind and waves and speeding north.

The journey to the north was very slow, not that they were slow, but that they had to stop at a distance as long as they passed through larger ports and important state capitals along the way. This stop will definitely have to deal with the local government, and this contact with the government will not have a time to delay.

Guo Yi, Hu Wen and others in the delegation were a little dissatisfied with this arrangement, feeling that it had dragged on for too long, and they always had to entertain those local officials, which made it very difficult for people. But Wen Desi, who was in charge of the fleet's itinerary, had a different idea - his public reason was to familiarize the sailors on the "Great General" with the Ming Dynasty's own important ports as much as possible. As the future of the maritime power of the Ming Dynasty, there is no doubt that the first-class warship, the sea frontier that the General needs to protect is incomparably wide, if you are not even familiar with your own port, isn't it a joke!

These words made the accompanying Ming Dynasty officials nod their heads again and again, but on the side of the Qiong Navy, even Hu Wen, who knew the least about military affairs, was secretly laughing - whether Wen Desi's move was to let the sailors on the Great General familiarize themselves with the coastal ports of the Ming Dynasty, or to let his own Qionghai fleet take the opportunity to learn more about the hydrological conditions of those ports, it is really difficult to say.

Speaking of which, the officials of the Ming Dynasty were not without doubts about the scale of the northward movement of the Qiong naval fleet this time - the general's northward departure was justified; You send an important delegation, and it is no problem for the Princess, which you know at a glance to be an ultra-luxury yacht; But what are the two big guys "Governor" and "Earl" also doing in the north? The public reason given by the Joan Navy at first was to accompany the protection, and the officials did not know about the situation, so they agreed. However, when they actually saw these huge ships and went up to see them for themselves, they all jumped to their feet......

- You're a ship. It's a giant fortress floating on the water! It was also equipped with superior firepower - the heavy artillery carried by the General alone was more than all the other places in the entire Ming Dynasty combined. Not to mention that this thing is used against sailors, even those cities in the coastal areas, as long as they come into the range of their artillery. I'm afraid none of them will be able to stop its attack. Unless Zheng He's treasure ship reappears, it is probably likely to be its opponent.

Qiongzhen Shorthair actually gave such a big killing weapon to the imperial court lightly? After really understanding what the imperial court got this time, those Ming officials who came to accept it fell into ecstasy one by one without exception at first. But then, when they found out that three more of them, at least two of them as big and terrifying as the Admiral, were bound for the north, they all immediately became nervous.

In the concept of those Ming Dynasty officials, such a sea giant was already invincible in itself. Not to mention the coastal area of the Ming Dynasty, even as far as North Korea and the Wa Kingdom, it is impossible for any strength to threaten it. This monster still needs protection? And do you want to get two big guys similar to them to come over to "protect"? It is difficult for those officials to understand this. What they are easier to understand is the other side - there is no Chinese literati who does not read history. And the story of the "false way" in the Spring and Autumn Period is also well known to everyone - what do these shorthairs want to do?

In the face of such doubts, Wen Desi had to come up with another reason - the sailors on the General were all newcomers, and they were not familiar with the port situation in Daming, nor were they familiar with the operation of such a large ship. There are many seaports along the coast of Daming, including the Tianjin port, which is scheduled to be the home port of the General in the future. I'm afraid there is also no experience in accepting large ships of this type. If the ship runs aground, runs aground and other accidents due to improper operation of the sailor, lack of experience of the navigator, or unfamiliar hydrogeological conditions, such a large ship must be rescued by a large ship of the same type, and one is not enough, at least two!

These words are spoken. To say that he can make those officials believe in this must be to underestimate the other party's IQ. But all matters involving this kind of galleon were originally decided by the Joan Navy. Since they came up with such a reason, even if the Ming Dynasty officials were skeptical, it was difficult to refute it. And more importantly, by now, the Ming court has completely lost out what Qiong Haijun thinks-it stands to reason that they are willing to sacrifice such an important thing to the imperial court. No matter how you look at it, it should be a posture of being brave and loyal to the Ming Dynasty wholeheartedly. Then, according to the script that the officials are used to, the next thing Shorthair should do his best to please them, and find ways to get the corresponding rewards and more favors from the court.

However, judging from the usual speech and behavior of those people, as well as their attitude towards court officials. But this trend is completely indiscerning. The behavior of these short-haired people seems to be completely opposite to their attitude - as if the surname Xie put down the Dengzhou Rebellion in one fell swoop and established an unprecedented honor since the Three Great Expeditions of Wanli. If it is changed to Daming's own generals, it is not impossible to use this to become a marquis. However, in the end, this person not only failed to get the reward of the imperial court, but was also criticized for a "rebellious and rude" comment, isn't it because his mouth is too stinky?

So now, for the words and deeds of these short-haired people, even the officials who often deal with them don't dare to make judgments lightly-for example, this time, if you really send a secret report saying that short-haired intentions are wrong, then the imperial court should take some precautions? To take precautions is nothing more than to ask the General to go north alone - it is impossible for the imperial court not to have this big ship. But in this case, if the group of sailors on the Admiral are really not capable of anything, and somewhere they run aground or run aground, then the shorthair will spread their hands anyway - this is all your own fault. The Son of Heaven is to blame, who is responsible for this?

-- Whoever writes the secret report is responsible! The question is, how many Ming officials are willing to take this responsibility? So naturally, no one would write such a report.

And Wen Desi is also very measured in this regard - if you move slowly, stop all the way, make the momentum bigger, and allow local officials and gentry to visit the ship everywhere you go, then there will be no bad associations with the people. But if you don't make a noise and don't make contact with people, or rush to Tianjin at full speed, then people who are not suspicious will probably be suspicious.

Under such a reason, Hu Wen, Guo Yi and others had to cooperate with them to visit them one by one along the way. And as they made their way north, the fleet grew in size - many merchant ships joined along the way. It stands to reason that this season is not the traditional time to go to sea, and the maritime merchants and sailors often go home to prepare for the New Year at this time, but this is not a problem in the face of interests - even if the northbound fleet only stays in a certain place for two or three days, the local merchants and ship owners can prepare one or two ships of cargo in such a short time, gather enough manpower, and then sail with the large fleet.

As for why the Qiong Navy took them with them, all merchants who were able to go to sea in these years must have the support of bureaucrats and magnates behind them, and when they were socializing with local officials, what they heard most was "The old man has a few boats of local products here, and he plans to take them to the north to give them to relatives and friends, and if he wants to go to sea with you by the way, can he make a convenient ......?" and so on.

As long as the other party is willing to abide by the rules of the fleet, obey his dispatch, and don't get into trouble, Wen Desi will not refuse to come - the more ships of the Ming Dynasty in this team, the less cranky those officials will be. And the reason why the Qiong Navy wants to take the two major ships of "Governor" and "Earl" to the north together is to deter the Ming court, lest they get carried away and have some ideas that they shouldn't have. The more Ming merchant ships joined this fleet, and the more Ming merchants saw these giant ships up close, the more rumors about the might of these great ships would naturally spread in Ming society—and this was exactly what he expected.

The number of private ships of those officials is limited, and there are only two or three, three or four. What really made the scale of the northbound fleet expand dramatically was when the fleet passed through Fujian, and a large number of Zheng merchant ships joined - Zheng Zhilong was very annoyed when he heard that Qionghai Town was ready to negotiate with the imperial court to cede the profits of the salt industry. His horizons are the broadest among the people of this era, but it is still difficult to understand Qionghai Town's strategy of exchanging salt industry for the right to mint coins from the imperial court. In his opinion, no matter how good the prospect of coinage is, after all, it is an ethereal thing, not to mention that the imperial court may change its fortune at any time. And those white flowers of salt can be seen and touched, dried on the beach, shipped out can be exchanged for a large number of silver taels of the same white flowers, really in their own hands, anyway, the same is to make money, why bother?

And the more critical point is that their Zheng family has just built a large number of salt drying fields in Taiwan and the coastal areas of Fujian, and now it is harvest time. Qiong Haijun took a break, but they left the beach to dry. Of course, Qiong Haijun did not ask the Zheng family to stop drying salt, just as he could not influence the decision-making of Qionghai Town. But Zheng Zhilong is not stupid - without the big man of Qiong Haijun in front of him, he will be alone with the court if he continues to do it. If it was that Zheng Zhilong in history, he might have the courage, but now, he Zheng still wants to take the position of Fujian coastal defense guerrilla general in peace. L