endless route.

Chapter 371 11. Ancient pilotage and lighthouse control the sea

My adoptive father arrived near the ancient city of Nanze the year before last. At that time, something had happened to the ancient city of Nanze and it was discovered by Western explorers, causing waves in the exploration and archeology circles in the East and West.

Think about it this way.

It's possible that the adoptive father came here after hearing the news.

Perhaps Qili Guimeng had not yet shown its fierceness at that time, so after his adoptive father learned that the Nanze ruins were exposed, he did not go to the ancient city of Nanze, but came to this lighthouse.

But even this can fully illustrate one thing. The things in Nanze Lighthouse are very important and must be dealt with first, with higher urgency than Qili Guimeng.

"Brother Zheng, can you go in and take a look?"

Huzi looked at Zheng Yun and said eagerly.

Judging from the detection results of the drone, there is no danger in the ancient river. There are only some swamp creatures around. Apart from the weird sounds before, there are no other hidden dangers.

It's very quiet near the river.

Swamp vegetation is lush and lush.

Only the water in the river is turbid and black-green, with a large number of swamp floating algae and vines floating there. Areas illuminated by the sun have green bubbles, and there are a lot of small bugs in them.

After all, it is a pool of stagnant water. Any stagnant water that remains in the swamp ecosystem for no more than three days will be covered and occupied by algae and swamp insects. This is also normal.

"There's no rush, let's first grasp the situation nearby, continue to use the drone to look around, and set up some detectors to see if we can get in." Zheng Yun chose to slow down his pace.

"Okay, I'll explore the surroundings."

Xiao Hu controlled the drone to change direction.

"There is also a semi-submersible detector here. Let the drone be hoisted into the ancient river water. I will control it."

Liu Ming rolled up his sleeves and got started.

He didn't know how to use this kind of advanced detector before. It was because of this scientific expedition with Professor Zhang that he slowly learned to use it and continued to grow and improve with the scientific expedition team.

Everyone performs their duties.

Get out your device and explore in all directions.

Not only Liu Ming and Xiao Hu, but everyone present except Zheng Yun were members of Professor Zhang's scientific expedition team and had all been exposed to professional exploration equipment during this period.

They have to learn even if they don’t want to learn.

Some of the latest equipment has not even been seen by Professor Zhang, so the young people in the team can only fiddle with it. If Liu Ming and the others can't handle it, no one can use it normally.

"Go further down."

"Just throw it into the water."

Liu Ming asked Xiao Hu to put down the equipment.

The semi-submersible detector he mentioned is a small submarine-like drone that can detect the underwater environment and is a commonly used type in biological scientific research.

Its propeller is semi-enveloped, so in theory it is not worried about algae plants, but you still have to be careful in actual use.

The probe has just been launched.

A picture appears on the screen.

Similar to the original detection footage of the floating city in the deep sea, the water quality of the ancient river was extremely poor, the video image was very blurry, and the image was dim and green, creating a somewhat eerie feeling.

It's like entering another world.

Their perspective becomes smaller. The dead branches and leaves on the water surface are like boats, the roots of plants underwater are like mountains, and the turbid and dirty stagnant water is like paradise in the eyes of swamp fish and insects.

Various impurities in the water are like dust, floating evenly in the water. The sunlight thrown into the river turns into small light beams, which sink into the bottomless and dark depths of the river.

The visual distance is only one or two meters.

But these two meters are extremely fulfilling.

This ancient river has long been occupied by mosquitoes and small fish. When the detector moves slightly, the screen is filled with swamp creatures scurrying around. Just looking at it makes people's scalp numb.

"This is so disgusting."

"Sister Song, are you not afraid at all?"

Huzi scratched his scalp with some discomfort.

Even a grown man will feel uncomfortable when he sees the densely packed swamp bugs that he barely recognizes, especially after knowing that he may go in to explore.

But Song Wan, the only girl on the boat, stared straight at the screen without blinking, as if she hadn't seen it.

"You're not used to it yet?"

Song Wan glanced at Hu Zi.

"What Sister Song said, I haven't been in Nanze for a long time, how can I get used to it." Huzi curled his lips and retorted.

"Actually, this water is a bit strange. I have seen stagnant lakes before, but it is not exaggerated like this. In fact, stagnant water is difficult to provide a large number of nutrients needed by living creatures."

Liu Ming interrupted the communication between the two.

He knew that the personality of Song Wan, a school girl, was completely different from her appearance. It would not be good for anyone to talk about it anymore, especially when it came to bugs. Others could easily be accidentally injured.

"You mean that there might have been a lot of corpses at the bottom of the ancient river channel. The densely packed corpses rotted and decomposed, so they could support so many swamp creatures?"

Huzi immediately answered and continued to speculate.

This guess is not unreasonable. After all, Huzi has seen with his own eyes what is called "densely packed corpses" soaking in the water in the underground corpse lake, and that image exists in his mind.

"If you can speak, speak more."

Xiao Hu's face darkened and he said to Hu Zi.

"If you say a few words, no one will treat you as a mute." Hu Ruihua sighed softly, looking at Hu Zi's face with helplessness.

Not only did he remember it, everyone present also remembered that time. He could recall the scene of thousands of corpses floating and swirling in the underground corpse lake separated by half a meter of ice.

Let’s look at ancient river channels again.

A pool of stagnant water, black and green, turbid.

A large number of ancient corpses were stuck in the mud at the bottom of the river, and the parts above the water were eaten away by fish and insects. Only the bones were left soaked in the water, and the lower bodies were slowly rotting in the mud.

There is indeed this possibility.

But it's really too weird.

"It's not necessarily a corpse, it could be a wooden coffin. Let's go down with the detector and take a look." Zheng Yun then ordered.

The most numerous objects in Nanze Ancient City are the wooden coffins from Huzumaying, and they may also be found inside the lighthouse ruins.

There is no way a mere carcass could have been eaten by swamp creatures for hundreds of years and still have remnants that would not provide nutrition today.

But wooden coffins do.

The wooden coffins are stacked and stored, and the swamp fish and insects need to bite through the wooden coffins layer by layer, or wait for the wooden coffins to naturally decay layer by layer before they can slowly eat the corpses in the wooden coffins layer by layer.

This is natural reincarnation. Zheng Yun respects objective laws. If he chooses to be buried after his death, he will not be able to escape natural erosion, so he will not comment on this matter.

The physical body dies and there is no more restraint.

It was also a relief for the generals of Hunumu camp.

"The river is twenty-four meters deep. I'll go down and have a look." Liu Ming nodded and controlled the detector to dive.

The screen moves slowly.

The water layers at different depths show different scenes. When it drops to about ten meters, the light is already very dim and the number of creatures in the water drops sharply.

I can vaguely see that there is indeed an ancient building underneath the stalagmite, which should be a lighthouse. The hollow stalagmites I saw before are the 'light lamp' and the 'chimney'.

The navigation beacon lights used in the Ming Dynasty are completely different from those in the West in later generations. There are many types of beacon lights that not only emit strong light, but also emit brightly colored smoke.

In the ghost dreams of the ancient battlefield, they had seen a kind of 'gold and jade sea stone', which was a typical representative. After being ignited, it would release a golden light that made people feel like they were at the bottom of the sea.

That kind of material is suitable for use as a beacon light.

Because compared to ordinary sea areas, the ancients needed navigation lights to guide the direction when sailing in the foggy sea.

The Sea of ​​Mists is vast.

From the water surface to the high altitude, there is water mist. Moreover, the fog in the Sea of ​​Fog is difficult to transmit light. No matter what method is used, the light cannot be illuminated dozens of nautical miles away. Even modern technology has not solved this problem.

So the ancients chose to join.

Since it can't penetrate the fog, it's better not to penetrate it at all, and merge directly with you, and also create smoke to guide the navigation.

The fog within the Sea of ​​Mist is all white, which left an opportunity for the ancients to take advantage of. As long as they create smoke of different colors, it will be very conspicuous in the white fog.

The wind direction is difficult to control, and there is no guarantee that the smoke will spread in the right direction every time, but it is better than nothing.

For ancient navy masters, if they lost their way in the foggy sea, as long as a wisp of pilot smoke drifted near them, they could seize the opportunity to correct their route.

This kind of smoke can float for dozens of miles. The ancients could calculate the location of the lighthouse based on the wind direction and navigation charts at that time. By constantly tracking the smoke, they could reach the vicinity of the lighthouse.

Just a wisp.

Even if it was just a strand of hair that lasted only a few seconds and then turned invisible, it was enough for the ancients to find their way.

Therefore, this kind of navigation smoke is widely used. Even the lighthouses outside the foggy sea are equipped with smoke equipment according to the standard and can produce navigation smoke.

The hollow bamboo shoots from before.

In fact, it is a kind of 'chimney'.

The slender shape and delicate hollows allow the smoke to disperse evenly throughout the foggy sea, making it easier to observe.

This approach is no longer used today because radio buoys are more accurate, cheaper to make, and can even use wave power to continuously emit signals.

Large ships are also equipped with various direction correction devices as standard, making it difficult to have an accident unless extreme weather occurs.

The only purpose of learning this knowledge now is probably that after leaving the Heavenly Palace in the west, when they go to various abandoned places, they must master the use of navigation lights...

The probe continues to dive.

When the depth reaches twenty meters, the detector can only use its own light source to detect the environment. At the same time, the impurities in the water are more concentrated, and the stagnant water sediments seriously affect the forward movement of the detector.

Click, click, click.

The propeller makes an abnormal noise.

"This is the limit. I'll lean forward and see if I can see the ancient buildings." Liu Ming said helplessly.

"Well, let's go around in a circle."

Zheng Yun nodded and stared at the screen.

As the detector circles, the underwater parts of the lighthouse are revealed, allowing the full picture to be pieced together.

This is a square ancient tower made of blue bricks. It is similar to the corner tower of an ancient city wall. It is about ten meters in diameter. There is a lookout window outside the tower.

That's ok.

This is a Ming lighthouse.

You don’t need to read the rest of the details. Just search online for the lighthouse ruins of Xian’en Ancient Port. The format is exactly the same.

This lighthouse consists of two parts.

The upper part is what you see in front of you, a square blue brick lighthouse, divided into floors every three to four meters, with pointed cornices, observation corridors and fences on each floor.

Lighthouses usually have nine stories.

The total height is about thirty meters.

The top is similar to a bell tower, with square stone pillars supporting the dome. There are no walls on all four sides and they are all hollowed out. However, the copper and iron hanging bells that are as tall as a person are replaced by light lamps and chimneys to create light and smoke.

The lower part is a huge 'base', which looks like a city wall. It is also made of stone bricks and can reach a diameter of thirty to fifty meters.

The height varies from ten to twenty meters.

There may be another ten to twenty meters of foundation underground.

This extremely solid city wall base made of stone bricks has stood on the seaside for hundreds of years without any damage. The erosion of the waves is like scratching it, and it remains firm even if the waves are huge.

Most of the Ming Dynasty lighthouses are like this, with a total height of 40 to 50 meters. They are built along the coast. They not only take into account practicality, but also have an ancient charm and beautiful appearance. After all, they are the "face" of the Ming Dynasty.

What it will look like in the end.

Very similar to the seal.

It is square and wide at the bottom and narrow at the top. If you take out the ghost seal or search for a picture of the jade seal on the Internet, the lighthouse will look like that.

The details of the lighthouses in each place are different, depending on the regional characteristics and "fairy tales".

When all countries in the eight directions pass through the territory of the Ming Dynasty, they can all see the Daming Lighthouse in the distance. It is majestic, strong, equal in height and width, like a square jade seal, majestic and heavy on the coast.

This is the feeling that ancient seals give people. The ancients placed the seal on the seaside, which is in line with the meaning symbolized by the seal from ancient times to the present. It is both a face and a stable one.

After confirming that it is a lighthouse.

There's only one question left.

The end point marked by the adoptive father on the route map is the tower part of the lighthouse or the 'base part' below. After all, there is space inside the base.

Similar to the original Hades Pavilion.

The Ghost Seal is in the Hades Pavilion above, but the base is enough to fit a maze and countless mechanisms and Yin soldiers.

Logically speaking, the lighthouse built by the Ming Dynasty would not engage in those foul and evil tricks, but at this moment Zheng Yun had to consider what might be hidden in the Nanze Lighthouse.

The lighthouse is the face of Ming Dynasty.

The location is also closest to the sea.

Therefore, when the Ming Dynasty was at war with foreign countries, the lighthouse was the most conspicuous target. It was also the first decisive battle area after the naval division was defeated or delayed and the enemy attacked the coast.

Once the lighthouse is under attack.

This means that the boat division cannot stop the enemy.

And once the lighthouse is destroyed.

It means that the enemy army is about to approach the city.

Therefore, the strategic significance of the lighthouse is very important. In this case, what things would the ancients stuff into the lighthouse to ensure that the lighthouse is difficult to be destroyed by the enemy?

If it were elsewhere, Zheng Yun might not have such doubts, because no one could break the Ming Lighthouse in ancient times.

But the situation on the Eastern Sea Route is different. Ming Dynasty encountered at least one kind of enemy here, which could annihilate the entire army of the Ming Dynasty Marine Division, and even force Daming to cut off the Eastern Sea Route.

Therefore, the Nanze Lighthouse may really have something. The farther back the Eastern Sea Route is, the more dangerous it becomes. Many things will be taken into consideration at the beginning of the construction of the lighthouse. It is impossible to simply build a lighthouse.

"..."

Zheng Yun was silent for a moment.

If you think about it this way, there might be some magic in the Nanze Lighthouse. Enemies coming from the sea can cover hundreds of miles, and the magic in the tower can sweep away all directions. This is exactly the effect the ancients needed.

Lighthouse Zhenhai.

How can I suppress it without magic?
Different from battlefield magical arts such as Qili Guimeng's, the magical magic in the lighthouse does not require battlefield assistance at all. Its only goal is to kill all invading enemies on a large scale.

At least Hanxian level.

Even more powerful than Hanxian.

If you cannot clear the entire sea in one fell swoop, you are not qualified to enter the Ming Lighthouse, and you are not qualified to be regarded as a sea-suppressing magic.

No wonder my adoptive father abandoned the ancient city of Nanze.

The purpose of the Nanze Lighthouse is completely different, and there is no upper limit to the danger. If an accident occurs accidentally, it may cause large-scale casualties along the entire Nanze coast.

"Brother Zheng, the situation is not optimistic?" Hu Ruihua asked when he saw Zheng Yun's expression was wrong.

"Maybe I'm thinking too much. Anyway, let's withdraw today. I'll go back and look for information and come back later."

Zheng Yun shook his head and made a decision.

No matter how urgent the situation is, they cannot act rashly. The best option is to go back to Tiangong to find the blueprints.

Tiangong has an ancient city construction yearbook, and even the construction drawings of the ancient city of Nanze. There may also be construction drawings of lighthouses in various places. Let the little Taoist Li Huawan and the others look for them first.

(End of this chapter)