Late Ming sea owl

Chapter 35 The Oracle of the Concubine
Lin Hai thought the boat was going to capsize several times. Fortunately, the Bowang stumbled in the rough waves, and there was no danger every time.

Years of undercover service have given him an ironclad nerve, and he can remain calm even if the mountain collapses.But when he glanced over the chaotic crowd in the official hall, he found a calmer person.

Zhang Yong pursed his lips and remained silent, with a normal expression on his face and no fear in his eyes.He grabbed Qizai who had fallen to the ground with one hand, and found a rope from nowhere with the other hand, and was tying Qizai and himself to the leg of the table.

The legs of the table were fixed to the hull. Chen Yaozu and Lun Yi each held one of the table legs. The former sat on the ground crying for his mother and screaming loudly, while the latter had a tense face and a dull look on his face, not knowing what he was thinking. .

Suddenly, Lun Di vomited out with a loud sound, and his white-washed potato shirt was suddenly in a mess.He, who was always clean and tidy, couldn't care about so much at this time. After vomiting, he was still in a daze.

The last table leg was grabbed by Lu Tiedan, and his other hand grabbed Fang Xiu'e's arm to help her maintain balance.Both of them looked frightened and pale, and screamed from time to time as the Bowang bumped.

Whenever the Bowang became a little more stable, Fang Xiu'e muttered words, as if she was praying to gods and Buddhas.Lu Tiedan occasionally showed a sudden smile, which looked a bit strange.

The most powerful one is Zhu Niang. She can still stand firm on a boat that is tossed around by the waves. This is the balance she has developed through years of working at sea. The Danjia boat will be bumpy when encountering slightly larger waves. .

She put her arms around Lin Hai's arms, seemingly using her strength to maintain balance, but in fact she was pulling or supporting Lin Hai to stand more firmly.

Lin Hai held the table with his other hand and said softly to Zhu Niang: "Don't worry, I just asked for the oracle from the Concubine Tian, ​​​​and she said that we will definitely be able to turn bad luck into good luck."

Although Zhu Niang could stand firm, she was already frightened inside. She was very clear about the current situation, and she felt a little relieved after hearing Lin Hai's words.

Lin Hai added: "Help me go out, and I will convey the oracle of the Concubine to the brothers."

So Zhu Niang helped Lin Hai to the door of the official hall. Lin Hai grabbed the door handle and pushed open the wooden door. At this time, the sea wind blew faster and the Bowang began to bump violently again.

Lin Hai suppressed the desire to vomit, raised his breath and shouted to the open deck: "Brothers, don't panic. Just now, the Heavenly Concubine made an oracle to me, saying that I am waiting for this experience. risk……"

With a crash, a huge wave hit, and the waves surged onto the back deck, turning Lin Hai into a drowned rat...

The violent storm lasted for two days and nights, and then gradually became lighter.The sky was still gloomy, and although the wind and waves were not as violent as the previous two days, they were still unable to sail normally. The Bowang could only continue to drift with the waves in the vast sea.

Fortunately, everyone can finally eat something serious to fill their hungry bellies.Of course, there are also some crew members who are miserable and will vomit as soon as they eat, such as Lun No. [-].

As most people regained their strength, the atmosphere on the ship began to become subtle. Some people were depressed and silent, some were impulsive and irritable, and some kowtowed to the Tianfei flag on the top of the mainmast all day long. .

Lin Hai, Shi Bi, Zheng Tingqiu, Miguel and other leaders gathered together to discuss.The first is to confiscate the weapons carried by the crew and send someone to take unified custody.The second is to impose severe penalties on fights, with those who strike first being directly sentenced to death.The third is to increase the work of catching rats and scrubbing the deck, so as to keep the sailors from being idle as much as possible.

Lin Hai also began to walk around the ship frequently, preaching Mazu's oracle everywhere.Except for Miguel and a few other foreigners who had no chance to listen, everyone almost had their ears ringing from hearing it.

After enduring like this for another five or six days, the anger of the Sea Dragon King finally subsided completely. The sea area where the Bowang was located was sunny and sunny again, and the sea conditions finally met the conditions for sailing.The sailors carefully inspected the Bowang and found that there was basically no major damage. Some minor injuries could be repaired on the ship, or they could be repaired after docking and would not affect the voyage.

"I insisted on getting this duck's butt. The Sea Dragon King showed his great power, and the rudder of the ship actually had to be completely stern." Listening to the reports of the sailors, Shibi said with emotion.

"No, it's a good thing that Mr. Lin changed the boat. Otherwise, Lao Zheng would have fed the more than 200 kilograms of fish to the sea dragon king. I'm afraid it would have to be salted for the winter." Zheng Tingqiu joked as usual, but his face was a little solemn. .

The two of them were looking at Miguel not far away, who was holding a cross skymeter and observing attentively.The Bowang has long been far away from the route recorded in the Zhenlu formula. Now no one knows its location. The team leader's tricks are not working anymore, so we can only count on this foreign devil.

Both Shi Bi and Zheng Tingqiu had spent time in the Pearl River Estuary, and they had long heard that the ghosts in Hao Jing had some skills. They didn't need to look at the shape of the mountains and the water, as long as it was sunny, they could know the direction of north and south.This is why they can travel far across the ocean to the East, but Chinese merchants basically cannot go west of the Strait of Malacca.

What they don't know is that when the Sanbao eunuchs went to the West, they did not rely on the acupuncture formula when they passed the Sumatra Island.The principle of the star board is similar to that of the cross skymeter. They are both derived from the astronomical navigation technology of Arab sailors, but there are very few Chinese captains who know this.

There was no later-generation quadrant in this era, and the cross telescope could only look directly at the sun for observation, so Miguel had to squint to endure the dazzling sunlight.Beside him stood an Indian servant, standing on a wooden stick to observe the shadows on the ground.

The shadow of the wooden stick is changing at an extremely slow speed as the sun moves.Lin Hai stood next to the Indian, staring at the shadow of the stick, trying to capture the shortest moment of the shadow.

Suddenly, the Indian said something in Portuguese to Miguel. Lin Hai guessed that it was the time when the shadow is the shortest.This moment is not so easy to judge and requires a lot of observation experience. Lin Hai quickly raised his hand and glanced at the time on his watch.

Sure enough, Miguel put down the telescope and the observation was over.He closed his eyes and wanted to take a rest, but suddenly Lin Hai's voice came to his ears: "Master Marquis, may I ask what the latitude is?"

Miguel opened his eyes in surprise and looked at Lin Hai with surprise: "Do you know the latitude?"

Lin Hai smiled and nodded: "Master Hou, do you understand?"

"North latitude 18 degrees 50 minutes." Miguel took out the arctangent function table and solar declination table from his pocket, and gave the answer after some mental calculations.

Then he took out another nautical chart, made a few gestures and said to the team leader beside him, "Keep going with a single needle. If we are lucky, we will be able to see land in a few days."

"Wait a minute." Lin Hai reached out and gestured on the chart, "We use the Renzi needle."

Miguel's Shangan needle is 45 degrees north by west, while Lin Hai's Renzi needle is 7.5 degrees north by west.Of course, this direction ignores the geomagnetic declination. The geomagnetic declination in the low latitudes of Asia is very small, which is completely negligible compared to the compass scale of this era.

"Are you crazy? If we were here now..." Miguel pointed to the Philippine Sea northeast of Luzon Island on the chart, and moved his finger roughly along the direction of the Renzi needle, crossing the East China Sea and the Yellow Sea, and finally stopped at Liaodong Peninsula.

"When will we see land? The fresh water on the ship won't last until that day!"

(End of this chapter)