Neon Clothes and Iron Clothes

Chapter 826 Sailing
"Yes, Master!" Pushan replied with a grimace. He didn't expect that after a few days of comfortable life, he would board a ship and go to sea. It was just a matter of going to sea, but he would actually have to be a spy to monitor a group of prisoners. Seriously? Extremely unlucky.

"Pu Shan, this is an important matter, don't be careless!" A wise disciple is like a master. Chongjing knew his disciples very well, so he reminded: "Don't forget, we are all on the boat!"

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He Wu fulfilled his promise. Five days later, he sent someone to inform Sutuo that the four ships were ready and ready to go to sea at any time.

"You go back and tell He Wu and ask him to tell all the captains! There is plenty of time, and he can be more prepared!" Sutuo said: "This time we may go very far north, and all the barrels on the ship must be Use it well, and there are cables. There must be dry biscuits, dried meat, grain wine, dried vegetables and citrus in the cabin in June. After leaving Cangzhou, we will not be able to dock for a long time! "

In the evening of the same day, He Wu came to the inn. He said to Sutuo in a frank tone unique to a man at sea: "Please rest assured that every ship has sufficient reserves. This season is the best time. With the east wind blowing, Next, we can run two hundred miles in one day. If we set off now, we will be able to see the white cliffs at the end of the Liaonan Peninsula at noon on the third day at the latest! On the sea, the wind can easily disappear without a trace! If it’s missing, then we’ll just have to wait little by little!”

"Okay, let's do as you say. We'll set out early tomorrow morning!" Suta nodded.

Just as He Wu said, when the fleet left the port, the northeast wind blew the sails bulging, the sharp bow cut open the sea, and white waves splashed, even over the side of the bow and flying across the deck. When the sun climbed over the shimmering blue sea, the soft wind gradually became smaller and began to turn east-north, blowing straight from the stern of the ship. He Wu did not order all the sails to be hoisted, but only the jib of the bowmast and the mainmast, and the gaff sail on the cable between the mainmast and the bowmast.

The Herring rose and set lively again and again against the remnants of the long westward tide. This made Situo couldn't help but recall the days on the whaling ship. She sailed briskly with the wind, except for the sound of the water lapping against the hull below the side, and except for the rhythmic creaking of masts, cables and countless pulleys with the bumps, she was almost completely silent. Suddenly, a localized snowstorm suddenly fell in the sky. He Wu had to yell loudly and asked the sailors to clean the deck. It turned out that two sailors accidentally broke a pillow while moving things, and the goose down inside was covered by the main sail. Wrapped in the vortex, it flew upwards, rotated in the air currents caused by other sails, and finally scattered on the deck. He Wu took off his hat, patted the fluff on it, and complained: "These damn fluff! Damn it, it's really not a good sign!"

Sutuo didn't pay attention to He Wu's complaints. He stood on the forecastle and looked at the busy sailors on the deck. Here he could clearly hear the noise coming from below. The cooks were busy preparing meals for the sailors. On the deck, the old sailors were directing the prisoners who had just boarded the ship to clean the deck, tie rope knots, and climb the mast. This is what every sailor must know. Every half an hour, a bell will ring and the sun will get higher and higher. When noon comes, the first mate will take four teenagers and teach them how to use the sun to measure the latitude. These teenagers are already in school. After two years, they will participate in the voyage as midshipmen and then be evaluated based on their performance during the voyage. After graduation, they will start as senior sailors and work hard to become captains.

"Sir, lunch is ready! Please dine with the people on the ship!" He Wu whispered.

"Yeah!" Sutuo nodded: "What's lunch?"

"Sea chowder!" He Wu said with a smile: "I caught a lot of red plate fish at the stern of the boat this morning. It tastes very good when put in chowder!"

"Then I'm really lucky!" Sutuo laughed.

At this time, a sharp whistle sounded from the deck, which meant that it was time for the sailors to have lunch. Amid the roars of the sailors and the banging of barrels, the old and new sailors lined up on the deck, took meals one by one, and then ate under the awning next to the mainmast.

Sutuo walked across the deck and came to the restaurant under the stern of the ship, which was a place for senior crew members headed by the captain and distinguished guests on the ship to dine. Of course Sutuo was sitting in the middle, with the captain He Wu on his right and the chief mate on his left. The other senior crew members and Sutuo's entourage sat on both sides of the long table. The cook moved a large copper pot onto the table, and Sutuo picked up a copper spoon and served himself rice while smiling: "I often ate this when I was on the whaling ship, but there must be some whale meat in it. There is nothing as good as red plate fish!”

The crew members at the long table all showed knowing smiles. There may be nothing less valuable on a whaling ship than whale meat. The most valuable part of a whale is its blubber, which can be used to make the best candles. Whale bones and baleen are also very good, and can be used to make bows and arrows or other crafts. Whale meat will rot quickly unless it is Enough space is saved, otherwise it will be discarded so as not to take up space for more valuable goods. So it is not difficult to imagine what kind of whale meat the sailors on the ship ate at that time. It was usually marinated with a lot of salt. The red plate fish, also known as the sea bream, is one of the top-quality fish in the sea even today, so naturally it cannot be compared to the same level.

It should be said that He Wu didn't lie. He spent a lot of money on today's sea chowder. There was a thick layer of grease on the surface of the copper pot, and underneath was a large amount of crumbled dry biscuits, millet, onions, bacon and many other things that were cut into quick slices. Akapan fish, also sprinkled with a lot of garlic. Sutuo took a few bites and felt it was a bit too greasy. He looked at the people at the long table. Most of the people at the table had grown up in the very difficult sea. They had endured extreme heat and cold. Dryness and dampness, shipwrecks, injuries, hunger and thirst, violent winds and rains, they endured it all, including of course the chowder in front of them. Thinking of this, Sutuo stuffed a big mouthful into his mouth: "It tastes very good. I like these garlics very much. They make the chowder taste even better!"

"Really?" He Wu looked overjoyed: "Then it seems that you have chosen the right boat. The cook on the Herring likes to use garlic the most. Do you want to add some wine? So that the chowder can be washed down your throat!"

"That's not necessary!" Sutuo refused: "I have something to do after lunch, so I'd better wait until the evening to drink!"

He Wu did not force it. While eating and drinking, he chatted with the people at the long table. They mainly discussed things about making money: What is the most profitable thing to transport from Japan to Cangzhou? Some people say it is brown sugar, and some people say it is honey. , and some people say it is sulfur and various furs; but there is no controversy about transporting it from Cangzhou to the Japanese state. It is generally believed that medicines, porcelain, various textiles, and metal utensils are very profitable.
"In my opinion, whether you go to Japan or Haidong, the most profitable thing is not medicine, porcelain, or silk, but people!" The first mate is a lean man named Huang Qiuhe. He has already drunk four drinks. After drinking a glass of rice wine, his face turned red: "The most lacking thing over there is people, don't you think so?"

"That's a good thing!" The man sitting next to him nodded: "Take Zhenbeibao as an example! The weather is a bit colder, but the ground is fat, and the fish that come upstream every autumn are fat and thick. There is so much that you don’t need to use a net to catch it. You can just stand by the river and hit it with a stick, then dry it and pile it up like a pile of firewood. It will be enough for you to eat for several years. You can use whatever you want at the mouth of the river. We got a lot of rare things from Manzi, but there is no one there. If there were people, it would be a big market town in a few years.

"Yes! And have you noticed that there is a shortage of wool here in Cangzhou, and there is lush vegetation and no shortage of water over there in Ezo. If you can set up a large ranch to herd sheep there and sell the wool back to Datang, you will definitely There’s something going on!”

"That needs people!" Someone at the long table sighed: "Even if you don't need a few people to herd the sheep, you still need people to shear the sheep, pack them, and transport them to the boat, right? And there are a lot of Ezo people there, don't you?" Prepare for guarding, no matter how much money you make, it will be for the Ezo people!”

"That's true!" Someone sighed: "So every time I go back to Cangzhou, I feel very strange when I see so many people in the Tang Dynasty working hard for others and doing hard labor all their lives. Why don't these people do that? How about going to Haidong? You can easily enclose a large piece of land there and leave a legacy for future generations!"

"Mostly you are afraid of death, right? It's dangerous to go to sea, and it's dangerous to get there! It's better to stay in your hometown for safety!" "Is it safe to stay in your hometown?" Someone sneered: "Don't tell me that you have never farmed, and you are starving, working, What's not dangerous about military service? The risk of going to sea is for yourself, but the risk of staying at home is not for yourself!"

"You're talking lightly!" Someone next to him retorted: "You just went to sea when you wanted to? On the way, the county magistrate and the clan in the village would not let you go so easily. And if you ran out, who would your parents, wife and children be?" To take care of it?”

"That's true! And we know what's going on in Haidong because we saw it with our own eyes. Those people have lived in the village all their lives, poking cows in the buttocks with whips and walking from the head of the field to the end of the field, and then from the end of the field to the head of the field. A trip to the county town means a long trip. How can they go there if they don’t know what Haidong is?”

"That's true! So it's difficult for us to get more sailors!"

Sutuo sat at the long table, sipping wine and listening to everyone's complaints. Of course he knew the intentions of these people, but he had long learned to listen more and speak less. After a while, he stood up and said, "I have already It’s almost time to eat, you continue!”

After leaving the dining room, Soda returned to his bedroom, a small room at the bottom of the stern of the ship. The wine made him a little dizzy, and he hadn't been on the ship for a long time, so he simply lay back on the bed, closed his eyes and planned to take a rest.

Boom!

There were two knocks on the hatch door, and Suda knew that only one person would disturb him at this time: "Come in!"

Chongjing came in from outside: "Young Master!"

"Is this news from Pu Shan?"

"Well! Someone is trying to bribe him!"

"So fast?" Sutuo opened his eyes: "I thought they would wait at least a few more days!"

"The ship is going to the deep sea!" Chongjing said: "I think they are also afraid that the ship will be beyond reach when it reaches Zhouliu or Japan!"

"That's true! After all, we are all in the same boat, and no one wants to die!" Sutuo nodded: "Why do those people want to do good deeds?"

"I haven't said it clearly yet, but I just said that we all come from the same place and we need to stick together so that Pushan can follow orders when the time comes!"

"Well, that's a good excuse!" Sutuo said with a smile: "Then let's just act according to the situation. By the way, they won't hurt Pu Shan, right?"

"Don't worry, young master, my disciple is not that useless!" Chongjing said with a smile.

"That's good!" Sutuo sighed: "Father asked me to run some errands, but I didn't expect that it was my own family who was holding me back!"

"Young master, don't worry too much!" Chongjing said with a smile: "Since ancient times, most of the bad things have happened to my own family members!"

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Driven by the northeasterly wind, the fleet arrived at the Bohai Strait on the afternoon of the third day after setting sail. Standing on the stern of the ship, Sutuo's head was covered by a vast, cloudless, soft blue sky. To his left, the gray cliffs almost It inserts straight into the Bohai Sea; on the right side, there is a sparse island chain, the end of which has been submerged under the sea level. Directly ahead, the stretches of sea water are connected with the white mist. His cheeks could feel the coolness brought by the gentle sea breeze, and a long, loose formation of birds took off from the other side of the strait. They flapped their wings and soared easily and unhurriedly, sometimes It is a sparse horizontal line, sometimes much denser, gathered into a group. There are always birds flying in the sky, and it is never empty for a moment. Some birds even use the mast of the Herring as a resting stone, stopping on it to comb their feathers. Sutuo can even see their eyes of various colors clearly.

"This is a good sign!" He Wu said with a smile: "We will definitely return safely from this voyage!"

"That would be great!" Sutuo smiled: "How are the new crew members doing?"

"They are all good boys!" He Wu said with a smile: "They are obedient, able to endure hardship, and willing to work hard. I believe that in three months, they will be good sailors! Master, why don't you give us all these poor guys?" What about being a sailor? Really, they can wash away their original sins with sweat, and as long as they don't go too far as a sailor, they can still have some savings when they are older, which can allow them to buy a family property in the northern immigration settlement. Marrying a wife and having a bunch of babies is good for the country and themselves!"