Wang Hou explained the rules of playing cards to Jin Minhui and Li Zhixian, and the four of them played. After a while, Jin Minhui clapped her hands and shouted: "Okay, I'm a card, draw yourself!" "Everyone saw that she was indeed a fool. The second card is Li Zhixian's paste. Liu Hanyan shouted: "No, no, no, this is what the nerd taught you on the side...... We're now officially playing cards. Nerd, you go while playing. ”

Wang Hou shook his head and walked out of the room, re-boarding the main deck, the ship had entered the sea, and the formation of the fleet had changed: Zheng He's "Tianyuan" was still at the front, the center of the entire fleet, responsible for navigation and command decisions, and the other treasure ships followed in three columns. Some of the horse-ships loaded with goods were parallel, while others were scattered between the treasure ships.

The grain ship with grain and fresh water is related to the survival of everyone, and there can be no mistake in the slightest, so it is in the center of the entire fleet. Because the warships and ships are well-equipped, there are many archers and musketeers, and many ships are also equipped with "red-coated cannons", which are divided into the front battalion, the rear battalion, the middle battalion, the left battalion, and the right battalion in the fleet, which play the role of escort.

Under the blue sky and white clouds, above the blue waves of the sea, 243 huge ships lined up in five columns, stretching for more than ten miles, with no end in sight, drawing a magnificent navigation chart between heaven and earth. Just when Wang Hou sighed, someone next to him asked, "Hou'er, is it the first time you have seen this formation?" ”

Wang Hou was stunned, and when he turned around, he saw that it was Sect Leader Liu standing beside him, and it was the first time he heard Sect Leader Liu call himself "Hou'er", so he nodded and replied: "Yes, this formation is spectacular, and it is the first time I have seen it...... Uncle Liu, why did you come up too? ”

Sect Leader Liu said with a smile: "Although I am the captain of this ship, there are not many things, and my subordinates have been specially trained in Nanjing, and they can master the skills of sailing, and the management of personnel has been arranged for five elders to be in charge." The command room is equipped with a water compass, which combines a compass and an azimuth disk, relying on the water compass and the sun to guide the course during the day, and combining the 'transoceanic astrology' to maintain the course at night. ”

Seeing that Wang Hou was surprised, Sect Master Liu continued: "The Crossing the Ocean Star Pulling Technique is to determine the height of the sky according to the twelve star pulling plates, so as to judge the position of the ship and determine the route...... But we don't need to do this, we just need to follow the 'Tian Yuan' in front. Because at the stern of each ship, a row of wind lanterns must be hung at night to guide the ships behind, and if the rain and fog are heavy and it is difficult to see, they will use gongs, horns or screws to communicate. ”

Wang Hou sighed and secretly thought: It seems that the "Tianyuan" where Zheng Zongbing is located has the heaviest task, and there may be masters from all walks of life gathered on it, so I have a chance to go and see it. Suddenly remembered something and asked, "Uncle Liu, what if the ship encounters strong winds and waves at sea?" Sect Master Liu's face changed, and he said in a reproachful tone: "Hou'er, you can't ask such a question on the ship in the future, it's a taboo...... If you really encounter such a situation, you can only resign yourself to fate, the treasure ship is so big, there will be no risk, besides, there is also the blessing of the sea god. ”

For several days, the five women sat around the small square table, playing mahjong tiles, and after four rounds, whoever won gave way and replaced it with another person. In addition to watching the battle on the side, Wang Hou went to the boat to go around everywhere, and originally thought that the treasure ship was like a manor, but when he turned down, he realized that the ship had four floors, and each floor was like a manor.

On the afternoon of the fourth day, Wang Hou, as he had done a few days before, was still sitting on the sidelines, watching the four of them play mahjong. Liu Hanyan won more than 500 wen because of a lap, and changed to Zhou Qingzhu with a smile. Wang Hou stretched out his right hand: "Yan'er, you won so much money, don't you give a few rewards?" ”

Liu Hanyan slapped Wang Hou's palm away: "I lost yesterday, and I didn't see you rewarding me." "Why don't you follow the rules, how can you win money without rewarding?" I brought this card with me. Zhou Qingzhu said: "Brother Wang, can you go outside to quarrel, I have made a mistake with a good card......

As he was talking, someone outside the door whispered, "General Wang." Wang Hou looked back and saw that it was Tang Jing, sighed, got up and asked, "Commander, why are you here?" Tang Jing bowed and said, "General Wang, I came here by warship." Mr. Zheng asked me to invite you over. ”

Wang Hou answered "Okay" and walked out with Tang Jing, Liu Hanyan followed, and the three of them went up to the main deck, and next to the treasure ship, there was a warship marked "Tianji". The warship was the smallest ship in the fleet, with a length of 18 zhang and a width of 6 zhang, and it was flexible and flexible, and in addition to being used for combat, it also doubled as a manpower between ships.

Tang Jing led the two down the soft ladder to the deck of the warship, the warship accelerated forward, caught up with the "Tian Yuan" in front, slowly approached, threw down the soft ladder from above, and the three of them boarded the treasure ship, opened the bow hatch, and went down the stairs.

Zheng He's council chamber was on the third floor, near the bow of the ship, twice as large as an ordinary room, with a partition in the middle, and the inner room was Zheng He's resting place. As soon as you enter the door, the floor is covered with a dark blue carpet, which is soft and simple and solemn to step on; The wooden walls are carved with plant relief patterns such as hyacinths and calamus, which look stretched and leisurely; The dome is painted with round, lattice-like patterns.

On the inside of the door, a wooden case is placed on the door, on which the statue of the concubine is enshrined, and there are also offerings. There are many chairs on both sides of the room, and there is a coffee table between the chairs, and in the middle of the room is a large, low table, covered with paper, pen and ink, and rulers, on which Wang Houjian is painted with images of water and islands.

Wang Hou was looking around, and suddenly heard someone behind him laugh and said, "General Wang, are you here...... Come, let me introduce you. Wang Hou hurriedly turned around and saw Zheng He striding in from the door, followed by more than a dozen people, some of whom had seen it last time when they worshiped the Xianying Palace, and some of whom had seen it for the first time. Zheng He introduced them one by one, including Hubu Langzhong, Yin and Yang officials, teachings, supervisors, translators, and the head of the Xi'an Mosque.

"These people are my right-hand men, and without them, I can't move an inch." Zheng He said as he motioned for everyone to sit down, and Wang Hou was also arranged in the closest position to Zheng He. Someone had already brought the teacup up and placed it on the coffee table between the seats. Zheng He took a sip of the cup and said, "General Wang, this is the Pu'er raw tea from my hometown in Yunnan, which belongs to the black tea series, the color is brownish red, thick and bright, you taste it, and Elder Liu also tastes it." ”

Liu Hanyan took a big sip, suddenly remembered something, and wiped the tea cup with the lid of the bowl. Wang Hou saw it, laughed secretly in his heart, picked up the bowl, saw that the color was different from the ordinary Wuyi Da Hong Pao, took a sip, the taste was mellow, the fragrance was unique, and praised: "It is really a good tea, I have heard Pu'er tea for a long time in the world is a famous flower, and today is the first time to taste it...... I can't wait for a cow drink. ”

Everyone laughed, Zheng He put down the teacup, and said, "General Wang, I invite you over today because I have something to discuss with you." Wang Hou hurriedly said: "Where is it, I didn't know the difficulties of navigation before, but I know the hardships of navigating the general army these days." If there is anything, the chief soldier may share a little for the chief soldier in spite of his orders, and it is an honor to be able to share a little for the chief soldier. ”

Zheng He smiled and told what had happened. It turned out that in the past three days, the fleet encountered a tricky thing: the more than 2,000 sailors newly recruited in Changle were divided into 20 treasure ships in groups of 100 people, and after these people got on board, they felt that their food was not as good as the old fleet, but they did more things than others, so there were conflicts, and some even started to move.

The old flotilla relied on the large number of people, and did not pay attention to these newly recruited sailors at all, and the two sides had a very stiff quarrel in the past two days, although there were officials on the ship to suppress it, but the contradiction was not fundamentally resolved. After Zheng He got the report, he knew that this was not a trivial matter, and once it triggered internal commotion, it was a dilemma to suppress it or not: if it was not suppressed, the aggravation of contradictions would inevitably become a scourge; Suppression, and if it gets out, it will become a joke.

The solution is to gather the new members and avoid contact with the old ones, but in this way, on the one hand, these people are not familiar with the treasure ship after all; On the other hand, since the contradiction has already arisen, it must be resolved, otherwise it will inevitably cause friction in the past two years at sea.

So Zheng He thought of mediating the conflict between the two sides, but the problem was: if the official came forward to mediate, it would give the newly recruited sailors the impression of favoring the old genera, after all, most of the old genera came from the sailors; If the unofficial comes forward to mediate, it will be difficult for the old family to be convinced. In a hurry, Zheng He thought of Wang Hou's special identity: he participated in last year's Beijing Martial Arts Conference and belonged to the people in the rivers and lakes; He won the championship at the conference and was named General Zhaoyi, and he had an official status, so he was the best candidate for mediation.

After listening to Zheng He's words, Wang Hou pondered for a moment and arched his hand: "I should do my best in this matter, but it's just ...... It is impossible to gather them, I wonder what specific arrangements the general army has? ”

"We have learned that the conflict was first caused by the treasure ship 'Tianqian', and the leader of the newly recruited sailors was on that ship, tracing the source of the stream, and when we started with the 'Tianqian', I want to let Tang Jing accompany General Wang to go tomorrow to find those leaders and explain the benefits...... I'm worried about whether there's someone manipulating this, and if so, I'm going to find out who is behind it. ”

Wang Hou saw that it was still early, so he said, "Since this matter cannot be delayed, I will go now." Seeing him like this, Zheng He was greatly moved, and arched his hand and said, "Then it's hard work." Everyone sent Wang Hou and Liu Hanyan out of the room, and Wang Hou said: "Chief soldiers, adults, you still have important things to discuss, you don't have to send them off, please stay." "Ascend to the main deck with Tang Jing, go down the soft ladder again to the 'Tianji' warship, slow down, and wait for the ship behind to approach.

After about half an hour, he finally saw the treasure ship of the "Tianqian", Tang Jing ordered the warship to approach and maintain the same speed as the treasure ship, at this time the "Tianqian" threw down the soft ladder, and the three of them climbed up. Open the cockpit door, go down the stairs, just to the third floor, he heard the sound of chaos below, Tang Jing was shocked, and walked down to the second floor quickly, only to see that there were no less than 100 people in the open space in the middle of the ship, and the noise was made by these people.