On the sparkling sea, a fleet of eighty ships of ten thousand stones, which had been sailing on the sea for nearly thirty days, replenished coke and fresh water in Luzon and Rhino Point, respectively, and was now about to reach the third supply point, Nuami Island.

In addition to Fanning's family and luggage, this fleet also carried 1,000 Kunzhou horses and 1,300 families from all over the Great Song Dynasty who settled in Beidao, a total of about 6,000 people.

In addition, 50,000 quintals of cotton and 10,000 barrels of syrup were procured in Luzon.

Fanning's time to go to sea coincided with the period when the storm subsided, and the sea was relatively calm, but this calm was only relative to the strong wind and waves, and the sea was still undulating, and the turbulence made many people with poor physical fitness vomit in the dark.

Fanning stood on the second deck with his hands in his hands, his eyes were fixed ahead, his ship was a huge ship of 20,000 stones, equipped with two steam engines and two propellers, after nearly a month of sailing, he clearly felt the advantages and disadvantages of the propeller.

The biggest advantage of the propeller is, of course, to save energy, which can save almost half of the coke than the paddle wheel, and greatly reduce the cost of long-distance voyages, which is very important for merchant ships, and the speed is not increased much, which is not a problem with the propeller, but the steam engine power is not enough.

However, for passengers, the biggest advantage is that the rumbling noise is gone, and the rotation of the paddle wheel is like thunder, which is unbearable for passengers, and without this noise, the journey becomes easier.

At this time, Zhu Pei walked up to Fan Ning and stood side by side with him, Fan Ning glanced at her and asked, "How is Brother Ouyang's family?" ”

Fan Ning said that Ouyang eldest brother is Ouyang Xiu's eldest son Ouyang Hua, he has resigned from his official position and took his family to follow Fan Ning to Beidao, Fanning decided to appoint him as the governor of the Chu Prince's Mansion and the general leader of Beidao government affairs.

This position was originally reserved for Su Liang, but Su Liang is now the prefect of Pingjiang in Zhengwupin, and his family resolutely opposes his resignation to follow Fan Ning overseas, and Fan Ning has no choice but to give up, and another friend Li Dashou served as the pacification envoy of Hexi Road, and he is already a high-ranking official from the fourth grade, and the future is immeasurable, and they stay in the Great Song Dynasty, which is still good for Fan Ning.

Zhu Pei said: "Brother Ouyang is a little seasick, his wife and children are fine, and the children are reading and writing together!" ”

Speaking of seasickness, Fan Ning suddenly thought of Cao Xiu, and hurriedly asked, "Is Ah Xiu better?" ”

Cao Xiu was severely seasick and tormented by the undulating waves, and Fanning wanted her to recuperate in Luzon for a while, but Cao Xiu resolutely refused, so she had to continue to go south with the ship.

Ju Pei nodded, "Since yesterday, she has been a little used to it, after drinking some rice soup, she no longer vomits, but her face is still very pale." ”

"After arriving in the North Island, it will take at least half a month to recuperate."

Zhu Pei smiled again: "The children are very happy, talking and laughing all the way, nothing happens, my brother is also very quiet, but the most surprising thing to me is that my mother can still sit in front of the window and thread the needle, I was very worried about her at first." ”

Fan Ning smiled dumbly and said: "My father is a fisherman on Taihu Lake, how can she be seasick, like my grandmother, she can still go to sea by boat when she is almost eighty years old, don't look at her back is rickety, but she was a fisherwoman when she was young, and she has long been accustomed to the wind and waves on Taihu Lake, and the child's adaptability is also fast, don't worry, among all of them, I am most worried about Sister Qian and Ah Xiu." ”

"Sister Qian is okay, it's just a little seasick at the beginning, and it will be fine after two days of rest in Luzon, Ah Xiu's congenital physique is slightly weak, and she is prone to seasickness, I'm afraid she won't be able to travel long distances in the future."

Fan Ning said lightly: "Then she will live in Beidao in the future!" ”

"Husband, are we really not going back to the Great Song Dynasty in the future?" Juppe asked in a low voice.

Fanning gently hugged his wife's thin shoulders and smiled, "What do you say?" If you are not afraid of a bumpy journey, you can go to the Great Song Dynasty every year for vacation, we have houses in Quanzhou, Wu County and the capital, as well as money shop industry, in addition, I also want to wait for Chu'er to go to Chunren Tangzu when he is sixteen years old, study with him and participate in the imperial examination, I must leave a root in the Great Song Dynasty. ”

Of course, Zhu Pei knew that the eldest son, Fan Jing, was going to inherit his father's business, and she didn't ask, but what about the other two sons?

"Qi'er and Zhou'er, what do you think?"

"Qi'er follows Uncle Akihito to do business, and he will often return to the Great Song Dynasty, and he will take care of the money shop in the capital, Zhou'er, I plan to let him practice martial arts, and he will be in charge of the naval army in the future, he is the grandson of the Cao family, and he will have a closer relationship with Nandao."

"Maybe my husband will have a son." Juppey smiled a little shyly.

Fanning was stunned and looked at his wife with a look of surprise, "You mean, you are pregnant......"

"Shhhh Be quiet, and you'll be heard. ”

Fan Ning was overjoyed, and hurriedly hugged his wife a little tighter and asked, "When did it happen?" ”

"I just felt it, the reaction was very small, and I have a light taste, I'm afraid of being greasy, I'm afraid I'll be a little lady again."

"Huh! Hello little lady, I like it the most. ”

Zhu Pei gave him a blank look, "The two in the family have been spoiled to the sky, and if there is another one, I'm afraid the family will be turned upside down." ”

"It's okay if your daughter can be spoiled, but your son has to be strict, let's go! It was windy outside, so we went back to the cabin. ”

Juppe nodded, took her husband's arm, and went back to the cabin together.

..........

At noon the next day, the fleet arrived at Nuami Island and anchored at the southernmost Suzaku Castle, which was a supply military city built by the North Island in Nuami, with a garrison of 200 people, the military city was not large, with a circumference of ten miles, and there were military camps and dozens of large warehouses in the city, as well as seven or eight prostitutes from Japan and the Three Buddhas.

In addition, there is a post house, which can accommodate more than 100 people at the same time, can eat and bathe, and can sleep comfortably for one night.

The North Island has land about 400 miles in circumference, overgrown with coconut palms, and two streams flowing down from the mountains, which became the fresh water resources of the military city.

A few hundred steps from the city is the wharf, which is a bay where the wind and waves are calm, and the big ships anchor in the bay.

The commander of the military city was none other than Fan Ning's former personal guard Zhu Ying, who heard that the lord had arrived, and hurriedly rushed to the dock to meet him.

Fan Ning was very happy to see Zhu Ying, and asked about the situation of several other subordinates.

"Several of us are very important, Brother Hu is currently the commander of the capital, the 1,500 soldiers on the island are commanded by him, the second is the commander of Songcheng, the third is the commander of Yuecheng, I came here last year to serve as the commander, there are three hundred brothers in the city."

Fan Ning knew the situation of the North Island army, the Song army had withdrawn to the southern mainland, and they set up a 1,500-strong North Island militia, which was extremely well-equipped, with the most advanced weapons such as steam warships, iron fire mines, and steel ballistas, and was divided into two major arms, the naval army and the cavalry, and they were well-trained, highly paid, and very strong in combat effectiveness.

This army obeyed Fanning's orders, but Fanning was not in the North Island, so it was under the management of Pham Minh Nhen, and the main tasks of the army were two, one was to defend the North Island, and the other was to escort the ships.

"It's not bad to get along with the Nouame!"

"It's not bad, their island is rich in coconut and sandalwood, so they exchange coconut and sandalwood with us for grain and pig iron, and the coconut oil in the North Island is refined from their coconuts."

"Are they still fighting the surrounding tribes?"

Zhu Ying nodded, "After we got our leather armor, war knives, and bows and arrows, our combat effectiveness was very strong, and we almost swept through the surrounding islands, and wiped out half of the tribes in just two years. ”

"What's in that shed?"

Fanning asked, pointing to a huge shed on the docks.

"Lord Qiqi, there is white copper ore inside."

Cuproux is nickel ore, the nickel ore reserves of Nuamey Island are the world's first in later generations, cupronickel is still a precious metal, Europeans especially value, the value is comparable to silver, the North Island mining cupronickel here, mainly used to trade with Europeans.

"Why don't you smelt it on the spot and bring the coarse ingots back to the North Island?" Fanning asked, puzzled.

"It's the meaning of the trade line, maybe I'm afraid that the local natives will learn to smelt, and it will be difficult to deal with it in the future!"

Fan Ning shook his head, this kind of thinking is not right, always let the natives be in a primitive state, then they will always be a threat, to slowly integrate them into the Han people, evolve into an agrarian nation, this is the right way, he will talk about this matter with Akihito in the future.

Fanning told his family to go into the city to rest, and asked the other people to go ashore to rest, and he said to Zhu Ying, "Take me to their tribe to see." ”

Zhu Ying took fifty soldiers and Fanning together and rode to the Nuami tribe a hundred miles away.