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Chapter 776 A Long Way to Go 3
A Han-class ship led three Qin-class ships, plus two armed cargo ships, and sailed out of the Bohai Bay, close to the North and South Chenghuang Islands. They did not go all the way south, but headed southeast towards the Korean Peninsula.

The monsoon had already started, and the fleet was sailing at a high speed of 8 knots on the sea surface with the help of the north wind. At this time, the advantages of the Han class's large thrust-to-weight ratio were reflected, and the full sail was 3 knots faster than the Qin class.

But racing on the sea is just a daily routine. Every two or three hours, the fleet commander would give orders to the other five ships through flag signals. Sometimes they would sail in a long line, sometimes in unison, and sometimes they would spread their wings like rocs. All the formations that were in and out of the naval textbooks would be used.

Moreover, regardless of day or night, sometimes when the emperor was eating, he would put down his bowl and immediately change course and formation, causing chaos in the entire fleet, and many officers and soldiers went hungry because they ate slower than the emperor.

On the eighth day after leaving Dagukou, the fleet arrived in Hokkaido. On the nautical chart of the Ming Navy, this was the northernmost point with detection data, and the charts further north were blank.

"Have you ever been further north?"

At lunch time, the fleet commander held a silver bowl that looked like a small pot and mixed rice, seafood, canned whale meat, cabbage, and bean sprouts together. Then he waved a silver spoon with a head like a four-pronged fork and put the mixture into his bloody mouth one spoonful at a time without interrupting his speech.

This is the main reason why the emperor ate quickly. As the saying goes, if you want to do something well, you must first sharpen your tools. With this sharp weapon that can be used for both forking and lifting, sweeping across a large area and attacking a key point, no matter whether you eat thick or thin, round or flat, you will be successful in everything.

"The General Staff sent a communication ship there, but it encountered an iceberg at night and one of the ships was sunk. The next day, there was a storm and the mast of one of the ships was blown off. Only one ship returned safely. From then on, naval ships were not allowed to enter the waters north and east of Hokkaido."

Most of the officers were busy eating, and even if they knew, they didn't want to answer, otherwise the emperor would really dare to put down his bowl and order an immediate turn. Only Miao Buzhun and Wang Yuanjing were not afraid, holding their bowls and eating while answering.

Huang Nanping once privately asked Wang Yuanjing why he was not afraid of going hungry, but his answer was very frustrating. This guy said that he had been used to it since he was a child, and he had never had a full meal in his memory until he was taken in by the emperor and sent to the Haihu Division.

"Yes, it is a bit dangerous, but we can't not go just because it's dangerous. Write it down and instruct the Navy General Staff to set up a special exploration fleet. Let the Dagu Shipyard design and build a sturdier fast sailing ship. Come here in the summer to complete the map, and then come in the winter to test the performance of the ship."

Where is further north and east from Hokkaido? The Sea of ​​Okhotsk and the Bering Sea. In winter, there are indeed a lot of floating ice and strong winds, which are not suitable for civilian ships to sail.

But it is still useful for the navy, where they can test the performance of ships in cold waters and train high-latitude navigation capabilities. These skills will be indispensable when they come to Europe, especially Northern Europe, in the future.

"Commander, that's the graveyard of the sailing ship, and there are huge sea monsters in the deep sea!"

Most officers had no objection to the emperor's idea, but there was one exception, the former captain of the Montanes, Colonel Rodrigo Escalante, and now the captain of the Cancer Guard, Rodrigo.

"Captain Luo, don't listen to your God, it always lies. Oh, yes, are you still a Catholic?" Hong Tao smiled faintly, not taking it seriously at all. It is true that Rodri is a captain, and a regular captain of the Spanish Royal Fleet. But his captain is only an administrative position, and he basically doesn't know anything about navigation. The specific work of the ship is all handled by the operating captain Angelo.

"...I didn't have the chance to withdraw..." Hong Tao asked casually, but Rodri immediately became nervous, and his already poor Chinese became even more stuttering.

"Well, it's not urgent. If you just live in the Ming Dynasty, it doesn't matter whether you change or not. No one will force you. But you are a soldier now. Sooner or later, the Ming army will increase religious restrictions, and then you will be passive. Since you have to change sooner or later, you might as well do it sooner.

Speaking of religion, I have something to ask. There is a Zhengyi Taoist temple in Manila. It seems to be located in the original church. Has anyone heard of it? How is its popularity? "

Hong Tao really didn't intend to force Rodri to change his beliefs, but he also wanted to remind him of the future trend, so that he wouldn't be unable to be promoted because of this problem. Now that we are on this topic, I can't help but think of the three books I gave to Taoism.

Almost two years have passed. As a strongly supported religion, Taoism has a good momentum of development in the Ming Dynasty. At least the Taoist temples in the capital have opened clinics to provide free medical treatment to believers. However, it is difficult to fully understand how it is developing on Luzon Island based on the few words mentioned in Zuo Guangdou's official documents.

"Those high-ranking officials know that there are indeed some tricks. The doctors in the army are good at treating external injuries, but not good at recuperating. Many officers and soldiers and their families will go to Zhengyi Medical Clinic to ask the Taoist priests for treatment when they are sick.

What's abominable is that those idiots don't charge the locals for their consultations, but they demand money from the navy officers and soldiers. I mentioned this to the Left Governor, but he defended the Taoists in every possible way and made excuses for them! "

What does it mean to remember to eat but not to be beaten? Huang Nanping was a little like that. When he heard a topic of interest, he couldn't help but put down his bowl and interject. But his motive was obviously not pure. Rather than answering the question, it was more like giving Zuo Guangdou acupuncture.

"The Taoist priests are great! They delivered my son... Both mother and child are healthy, I thank them!" Rodri also had something to say, but unfortunately his Chinese expression was so poor that he couldn't find the right words after struggling for a long time, so he simply switched to Latin for the second half of the sentence.

"Oh, if you can't speak, then say less. It's really strange, why does Li Rumei like you? You can't even speak fluently, how can you command a battle?" Rodri's Chinese is not good, and Huang Nanping's Latin is not good either. They immediately criticized him and did not forget to mention the commander-in-chief of the Marine Corps.

"I'm a good military commander! I've participated in naval battles between the Invincible Armada and the British! I'm really capable! And I also... and..."

Although Rodri doesn't speak Chinese very well, he has good listening skills and is very angry about someone questioning his work ability. Even if the other party is a commander-in-chief, he has no control over the land warfare commander-in-chief, so there is no need to be afraid and he will fight back on the spot.

"Bang, bang, bang... I'm at the Daoguan. You can talk about irrelevant things in private. Besides opening the clinic, what else did they do in Luzon?" Hong Tao had no intention of settling trivial matters with the captain of the Marine Corps and the commander-in-chief of the South China Sea Fleet. He knocked on the table with a spoon and stopped the quarrel in time.

(End of this chapter)