The battleship slowly docked in Niutou Port, and the soldiers in the port had already received the news of Zhao Jia's arrival, so General Xu, who was responsible for managing the port, had been waiting for them on the dock for a long time, and now Niutou Port was still under military management, and all affairs related to the port were managed by this General Xu, but after Niutou Port settled down, the imperial court would send civil officials to take over here, and then it would officially become the territory of the Great Song Dynasty.

General Xu is a middle-aged man in his forties, who has fought side by side with Hu Yanqing before, so the two are also old acquaintances, when he saw Hu Yanqing accompanying Zhao Jia off the battleship, he immediately stepped forward and said: "The last general will meet the little prince and General Huyan!" ”

"General Xu doesn't have to be polite, in the future, our logistics will depend on General Xu, you have to worry more!" Zhao Jia also said very politely at this time, their expedition to Europe, Niutou Port is their logistics base, and General Xu is the person who dispatches in the middle, so the performance of the other party is also directly related to the success of this expedition.

"Haha, Lao Xu, don't be polite to us, hurry up and prepare wine and food, gnaw fish bones every day along the way, and the birds are about to fade out of your mouth!" Hu Yanqing also laughed at this time, the two have known each other for many years, so naturally there is no need to be so polite.

Hearing Hu Yanqing's words, General Xu also laughed and scolded a few words, and then invited Zhao Jia and them to come to a courtyard in the port, which was the residence he prepared for Zhao Jia and Agnes, and also set up a reception banquet here, the three of them sat down to eat and chat, as for the other soldiers on Agnes's ship, they were naturally taken care of by other people on the dock.

"General Xu, how is the construction of Niutou Port now, is the material stored in the port sufficient, and if we go on an expedition to Europe, can the logistics keep up with our progress?" After Zhao Jia sat down, he chatted with General Xu for a few words, and immediately asked about the situation in Niutougang. After all, this is not only related to the success or failure of the expedition to Europe, but also to the lives of these people, so they have to be careful.

"Little Wang Ye can rest assured that although the construction of Niutou Port has not been started for a long time, the preliminary planning has been completed and it can be put into practice. As for the materials in the port, don't worry, the most selected warehouse in the port is the warehouse, and since we arrived, we have been hoarding materials uninterruptedly, and now even if the rear no longer transports materials over, just relying on the materials in the port is enough to support the expedition of the little prince. ”

When he said this, he saw General Xu pause for a moment and then said: "As for the transportation of materials, we have also made arrangements, and we have also made arrangements for the transport fleet in the port, which are divided into two parts by us, and one part of them will set off with the little prince." The rest of the group was divided into several teams and took turns to deliver supplies to His Highness's fleet to ensure that the fleet was properly supplied, and even if possible, His Highness could build several supply ports on the European side, so that it would be better for steamships to get there, so that it would be much easier to transport supplies in the future. ”

"The port is definitely going to be built. It's a pity that we are not very familiar with the situation on the west side of Africa and the European side, and if we were to study the terrain as we walked on the road. I'm afraid it will slow down our trip, so even if we want to build a port, I'm afraid we will have to wait until we get to Europe, and then slowly look at the situation along the way to pick a suitable port. Zhao Jia pondered for a moment when he heard this, and said, he also hoped that a few supply ports could be built on the west side of Africa or in Europe. It was the most difficult thing to make it easier for steamers to reach Europe directly from the Great Song Dynasty, but they didn't know anything about the situation there.

General Xu also nodded when he heard this, and immediately sighed and said: "That's true, although our Great Song Dynasty's maritime trade is developed. But Niutou Port is already the limit of most maritime merchants, and the knowledge of the western side of Africa is almost blank, let alone more distant Europe, so it seems that the construction of the port can only be postponed. ”

Talking about this, General Xu may feel that the atmosphere of the conversation is a little heavy, so he immediately diverted the topic and began to talk about some interesting stories at sea, such as the local people here in Niudao have a peculiar custom, that is, every four years, the ancestral grave will be dug up, and then the corpse of the ancestor will be turned over and changed, called the corpse turning festival, which is completely different from the Central Plains' view of entering the earth for peace, so Zhao Jia and Hu Yanqing are also full of interest.

"By the way, some time ago, we found a strange person in the port, little prince, you will definitely be very interested after hearing it!" At this time, General Xu suddenly thought of an interesting thing, and spoke again at the moment.

"Oh? What kind of strange person? Zhao Jia couldn't help but ask curiously when he heard this, he knew that there were many strange people overseas, for example, there were many monks in Tianzhu who could live for years without eating or drinking, and some people could come back from the dead, this kind of thing is the most suitable for drinking and talking.

"Little prince, this strange man is still our Song people, just a few days ago, he suddenly drove a wood felling from the northeast of the port, when he was in tatters, his hair and beard were messy, he looked like a wild man, and he was very difficult to speak, he could only say a few simple words, after a few days of communication, we understood that he was a Song man, a few years ago he was blown into an archipelago northeast of Niu Island by a storm, where there was no human population, so he lived there alone for a few yearsIt wasn't until some time ago that he saw that the lights here were red at night, and some garbage drifted to the island where he lived, that he knew that there were Song people here, so he took the risk to come here on a raft. General Xu said with a smile.

"Hey, a person has lived on a desert island for a few years, so how has he spent the past few years?" Zhao Jia couldn't help but shout in shock when he heard this, as a naval officer, he naturally understood that in addition to the natural risks at sea, the biggest threat was the loneliness at sea, if a ship sailed at sea for too long, some crew members would not be able to bear this loneliness and go crazy, it was still a whole boatload of people, there were people around to talk, if a person lived on a desert island for a few years, that kind of loneliness was definitely not something that ordinary people could bear.

"We also want to know about these, but he probably hasn't spoken for a few years, and now it is very difficult to speak, fortunately, he is literate and can communicate through text, but this communication is very slow, and the last general is also preparing to welcome the little prince in the past few days, so I haven't paid attention to it anymore." General Xu said at this time.

"Where is this person, I would love to meet this person." Zhao Jia suddenly said on a whim, but even he didn't expect that this time he would get a big surprise. (To be continued.) )