"Take back your senseless orders, Uncle Friedrich. We don't need to prove ourselves strong with these animals. ”

As he spoke, Franz walked over to the toolbox, grabbed a bucket and a shovel, and found a rope to tie around his waist, and then went straight to the boat.

Looking at his eagerness, the onlookers around him felt very strange and puzzled. Da Shioshanyin seemed to think of something, but felt that it was too ridiculous to give up, and just as she was stunned, he jumped out.

In fact, this is what Franz has always dreamed of in his previous life.

Leaping from the side of the boat, he landed right on the whale's back. Of course, his strange intruder was like an ant to the giant baleen whale, and he didn't mind the uninvited visit, but deliberately slowed down so as not to throw the person out.

His actions caused an exclamation, and the ship's men desperately shouted to pull him back, but were sternly refused. Later, Franz's actions accelerated everyone's heartbeat, and they saw him pick up his shovel and start smashing it at the forehead of the sea monster.

Everyone thought Franz was crazy, and he actually wanted to kill such a huge ancient beast with a shovel. However, instead of fighting back or trying to shake off the tiny human, the whale that was attacked made a strange call.

Franz was actually using a shovel to buckle barnacles, a parasite often found in baleen whales. The reason why they used to jump out of the water so often was to get rid of these burdens.

Given that the barnacles are glued so strongly, the whales' efforts are doomed to be in vain. Barnacle parasitism has only one eventual end, and that is death, but before that, they will experience a long period of suffering.

Barnacle damage is fatal to whales, as well as to boats, but a delicacy for foodies who can enjoy it.

The strange behavior of the Grand Duke aroused the great curiosity of the entire fleet members, who could not have seen it with their own eyes, and it was hard for them to believe that there were such "crazy" people in the world.

They witnessed his agility as he walked to and from the ground with agility, jumping nimbly from the back of one whale to the other, drawing exclamations from onlookers.

These gentle sea beasts didn't attack the tiny visitor the whole time, but instead circled around him.

Franz also sent barrel after bucket of barnacles to the ship by rope until the cleanup was finished. He put the shovel back in the bucket and sat down on top of the whale and slowly moved along with the waves, feeling much better.

The surrounding battleships had fallen silent at this time, and the officers and men were like riding a roller coaster, from the initial horror, to the exclamation later, and finally only silence remained, leaving endless emotion. It turns out that there are really people in this world who are different.

At this time, the female whale in the pilot suddenly let out a mournful roar, and then the whole whale group became restless, and they desperately tried to drive the "little friend" away.

He was constantly sprayed with water, which seemed to others to be a very fun thing to do, but he could feel the uneasiness of the whole pack.

Franz returned to the ship, and Friedrich no longer knew how to communicate with his nephew, so he could only say.

"Are you a youkai?"

"Of course not, but we don't have time to talk about that anymore. There seems to be some bad sign ahead. Franz said.

"Is it a sea monster? Don't worry, with our strong ships and cannons, even if the North Sea Monster can help me? ”

Friedrich's subjective consciousness told him that a monster was coming, which made the hot-blooded commander babble.

To be honest, Franz really didn't know what could make these behemoths scared in the sea, after all, in theory, adult baleen whales should have no natural predators, of course, this is only common sense in later generations.

Suddenly, the whales swam in front of the Venice and tried to steer the giant ship in a different direction.

"It's unbelievable! What the hell are your beast friends doing? Friedrich asked.

"I don't know. Could it be that there is some natural miracle ahead? Franz asked rhetorically.

"It's Kolkata!" Da Shioshanin said excitedly while carefully holding the map, at this time she had completely regarded Franz as a "god", or some kind of supernatural existence.

Suddenly, a large number of seabirds flew in from the southwest and passed over the fleet. The sea was also bustling with activity, with a large number of fish surging wildly towards the east (the direction from which they came), jumping out of the water and slapping the waves.

"What the hell is going on!"

The strange natural phenomenon made Friedrich mutter. But now changing directions means not being able to get to Mumbai on time and delaying your trip.

"I think it's safer to follow the whale's lead."

At this point, Franz's words seemed to have a magical effect, and for the first time, the sailors and officers on board crossed Friedrich, the captain and commander-in-chief, and began to move.

"Well, it looks like we've been kidnapped by this damn whale pack!" Friedrich complained, after all, that he felt that his authority had been challenged and that he had to find some face to come back.

"Uncle Friedrich, maybe you'll be grateful for them later. Even if nothing happens, let's think of it as an intimate encounter with the nature of the ocean. ”

At this time, Kolkata was the center of British rule in India, serving as both a political and economic center, and it was the largest port in the eastern part of the vast British South Asian colony and the center of the entire hemp textile industry, with a population of nearly 400,000 at one time.

Faced with growing demand, the British embarked on their own ambitious plans to build a direct railway to Peshawar and a telegraph center to connect the Indian subcontinent.

In addition to this, this city in the Ganges Delta in eastern India is also the largest opium trading center in the whole of Asia and the whole world.

The city is also home to nearly 400 Chinese, either tea farmers who have been tricked into coming here or opium traders who have come here to trade.

After several hours of sailing, the whales, who acted as "navigators", led Franz and his party to Calcutta. The clever creatures that had completed their mission let out another cry as if to say goodbye, and then quickly dived into the sea and disappeared without a trace.

"It looks like we're going to be woolened twice by the British, and that's really unpleasant." Friedrich laughed at himself, saying that he was still obsessed with the fact that he was going to land in Calcutta.

In fact, after leaving Malacca, according to the number of supplies carried on the ship, there was no problem at all in sailing directly to Mumbai.

But if you are staying in Kolkata, it is very necessary to replenish enough food and water as well as fuel. The same is true for Mumbai, otherwise it would not have been possible to support the port of Mombasa.

Mombasa is a port located in eastern Africa, which was an important treaty port for more than 3,000 years. It was also one of the farthest ports that Zheng He went to in the Ming Dynasty.

Unfortunately, there is no refueling station, which means that Franz's steam warships are at risk of shutting down. But in order to reach the Cape of Good Hope, enough fuel must be left, so the next voyage from Mumbai to Mombasa must rely on the wind.

The prerequisite is that the fleet has enough supplies so as not to capsize in the gutters of the endless sea. The Cape of Good Hope was one of the most dangerous routes in the world, not because of the haunting pirates, but because of the terrible westerly storm.

Also known as the "Cape of the Storm", the most famous natural phenomenon in the area is the "Killing Wave", which can be nearly 20 meters high, like the top of Mount Tai, and can easily tear large merchant ships to pieces.

(End of chapter)