Late Ming sea owl

Chapter 73 The Magical Sailor (please follow up)

Two days later, the brand-new Ganfu sailed out of the dock of Shenji Shipyard. The bottom of the Bowang was also cleaned in the dock. Lin Hai and his party said goodbye to Chongming and sailed northeast.

Lin Hai recruited a total of more than 70 people in Chongming. Both Jiuzhi and Ruan Jin were assigned to the Bowang, and most of the new recruits served on the Ganfu.In addition, Zheng Tingqiu was transferred to the Ganfu, and about twenty old sailors came with him.

Lin Hai also took Chen Yaozu and Zhang Yong aboard the Ganfu, as well as Lao Ruan and Ruan Mei's father and son.In addition, all cargo was moved to the cargo hold of the Ganfu to reduce the draft of the Bowang, because the sea area north of the Yangtze River Estuary is full of shoals and dark sand.

In addition to the sediment brought by the Yangtze River itself, the more important reason is the history of the Yellow River taking the Huaihe River and entering the sea in the past 500 years.This incident began in the early Southern Song Dynasty. The Jin soldiers went south in the winter of the second year of Jianyan. Du Chong, who succeeded Zong Ze as the garrison in Tokyo, abandoned the city and fled, opening the Yellow River embankment to stop the pursuing troops.

In the following hundreds of years, the southern branch of the Yellow River seized the Huaihe River and entered the sea, while the northern branch danced like a long snake.The Jianghuai Plain, which has always been famous for its beauty and fertility, has been turned into saline-alkali land. Lakes of all sizes have been blocked by sediment. The Huaihe River, which has lost its outlet to the sea, has therefore become a disaster river, with floods occurring almost every year.

It was not until the Hongzhi Dynasty in the mid-Ming Dynasty that the imperial court spent countless manpower to build a thousand-mile embankment on the north bank of the Yellow River to cut off the northward flow of the Yellow River. This temporarily calmed the anger of the mother river. However, the entrance of the Huaihe River is still occupied by the Yellow River.It is precisely this 500-year history of the Yellow River diverting the Huaihe River into the sea that has resulted in the seawater along the entire Jiangsu coast being full of yellow sand.

Therefore, in the Ming Dynasty, the coastal areas along the Yangtze River and Huaihe River were called Huangshui Ocean, the coastal areas of Huaibei and southern Shandong were called Qingshui Ocean, and the east of these two sea areas were called Black Water Ocean.The three together are roughly equivalent to the western half of the Yellow Sea in later generations, but this does not include the North Yellow Sea surrounded by the Jiaodong Peninsula, the Liaodong Peninsula and northern Korea.

Lin Hai's two boats sailed toward the northeast under the guidance of his partner, Elder Ruan. That evening, they left the Yellow Water Ocean and arrived at the Black Water Ocean far away from the coastline.The sea water here is deeper, the sea surface is dark blue, and the transparency is very high. Lin Hai finally breathed a sigh of relief, and did not have to worry about hitting the rocks or being stranded.

He invited Lao Ruan to the deck of the Ganfu, and while admiring the vast sea, he smiled and said: "Dad Ruan, thanks to you, otherwise we would not have been able to reach Phi Island in years and months."

The main reason why Lin Hai dared to spend so many days in Chongming was because Lao Ruan was familiar with the Blackwater Ocean Route.Otherwise, with the Bowang's draft, he could only move at a snail's pace in Huangshuiyang, and he would have to be on tenterhooks all the way. By the time he reached Pi Island, he might not be able to keep up with the big deal.

With Miguel here, Lin Hai could have used latitude and longitude navigation to navigate the Heishuiyang, but from Chongming to Heishuiyang he had to pass through the Huangshuiyang.

This part of the voyage is too dangerous without Lao Ruan, because most team leaders are not familiar with this part of the voyage. Most sea-going ships traveling on the Northern Route follow the coastline, where there are enough landmarks for navigation, but the whole The route is also much longer and more winding.

Old Ruan carefully stroked his beard and looked around before saying: "My boss is so polite. The old man and his son received wages for six people, and my boss saved the old man's useless eldest son. I really don't know how to repay my boss." Kindness.”

Lin Hai smiled and said nothing, thinking that there will be a time when you can repay him.

Seeing that he didn't speak, Lao Ruan added, "My boss has something to do with the old man. If nothing happens, the old man will go back to the acupuncture room to change shifts."

Lin Hai smiled and said: "Don't rush, don't rush. Dad Ruan doesn't need to take shifts from now on. He only needs to decide the position of the needle. It is quite troublesome to look at the needle and steer the steering wheel. Just leave it to other team leaders."

Father Ruan nodded. To be honest, at his age, it was really hard for him to keep staring at the compass.There is no technical content in this matter, and many helmsmen know it. The value of the team leader lies in using the needle, not looking at the needle. The ability to use the needle is the most important indicator to measure the level of the team leader.

Lin Hai said again: "I'm very curious. There are almost no islands in this black water ocean. How does Father Ruan use needles?" Old Ruan's eyes showed a rare look of confidence. He stroked his beard and said: "The depth of the sea water is hot or cold. , the smell of sea mud, and the direction of sea currents can all be used to identify directions. Even the types and abundance of sea fish, the subtle differences in sea breeze and waves, can't escape the old man's tricks."

What Lao Ruan said was very mysterious, but Lin Hai believed that this was definitely not bragging. Navigation in the age of sailing was full of dangers, and this kind of danger also pushed the limits of human capabilities.In fact, there are indeed some very magical old sailors in this era who have the miraculous abilities that Lao Ruan mentioned.

Not only can they use needles, they can also detect clouds and wind, predict the weather based on the behavior of sea creatures, and even know whether there are nearby islands or reefs just based on the ripples of the waves.Sometimes subtle signs can be found that predict that parts of the ship are about to fail.

Most of these magical old sailors are captains or helmsmen. Many ancient books record their incredible abilities and their ability to turn the tide when a ship is in danger.

However, Lin Hai didn't quite believe that Lao Ruan could travel across the Black Water Ocean just by relying on this. This magical ability was often used when in distress or lost, and should only be an auxiliary means during regular navigation.After all, this thing sounds mysterious, and it shouldn't be that reliable.

Lin Hai said with a smile: "Apart from what I just mentioned, maybe Father Ruan also has some unique skills to keep the bottom of the box?"

Old Ruan also smiled: "Sure enough, I can't hide it from my boss."

Lin Hai asked curiously: "I wonder what the unique skill is? If it's not convenient for Dad Ruan to tell me, forget it."

Lao Ruan replied: "Since my boss asked, how dare I not say anything? In fact, it doesn't matter. The most important thing when traveling to Heishuiyang is to see the color of the sea water, and the second is to see the stars in the sky. If you don't know these two things, , there is absolutely no way he can escape the Black Water Ocean."

Lin Hai's heart moved: "Dad Ruan is talking about the art of traveling across the ocean to attract stars?"

Old Ruan smiled and said: "My boss has also heard about it? The second thing the old man said is to watch the stars."

Lin Hai probably understood that from the Yellow Water Ocean, the Green Water Ocean to the Black Water Ocean, the color of the sea water gradually changes. Through this subtle change, the distance from the coastline can be roughly judged, and the star-crossing technique can be used to measure latitude. In this way, it would be possible to position ships at sea.

In short, the color of the sea water determines the east and west, and looking at the stars determines the north and south. This is the secret of navigation in the Black Water Ocean.It is also because of this that the Blackwater Ocean Route became the main channel for grain transportation in the early Yuan Dynasty. Unfortunately, sea transportation was abolished in the early Ming Dynasty. Today, only a handful of gang leaders master this high-end technology.

Lin Hai was overjoyed. Lao Ruan's ability was of great significance to the reconstruction of the Ningbo-Japanese route. He felt that the long-lasting prosperity of this route from the Song Dynasty to the middle of the Ming Dynasty was based on this navigation technology.

After all, Wang Zhi during the Jiajing period could come and go between China and Japan freely, but during the Tang Dynasty, it took Monk Jianzhen more than ten years to go to Japan and went through five maritime disasters. It was not until the sixth time that he successfully crossed east. .Presumably, the navigation technology at that time was far less developed than that of later generations, and sailing across the East China Sea was still very unreliable.

Thinking of this, Lin Hai hurriedly said: "Dad Ruan, can you open my eyes tonight and see your old skill of traveling across the ocean to attract stars?"

(End of this chapter)