Datang Nongsheng

Chapter 714 Voyager

At the beginning of October, the climate is still warm along the coast of Lingnan. Sun Feng, Sun Wanyu, and a few other little fellows will go barefoot, carry a basket, and follow their father to the beach by the sea to pick up crabs and seashells.

Ever since Kang Bao was caught and cried by a crab, he never dared to get close to that thing again. Jumping fish is his favorite thing to play with.

As for their new favorite, the little monkey named Gohan is unwilling to come to the seaside, he is afraid that the seawater will wet his hair, and he will get sick later and need to eat very bitter food.

"Look, Daddy, the big ship is coming." The third daughter, Sun Wanxia, ​​has very good eyesight, and from a distance, she saw dozens of large steel-clad ships coming.

If there were fewer and smaller boats, Sun Xiangfu would have smiled more joyfully, because that might be Li Chunfeng's return.

But now!Obviously not, the [-] stone Baotou steel ship leading the way can only be a new product of the shipyard, and the leader of this fleet should be Zhao Long.

"Well, let's go back! Let the mothers cook for you today."

Sea fish without thorns, after being cooked, brushed with a layer of tomato sauce, is the favorite of the little ones in the family, sweet corn buns, older children like Sun Feng and Sun Wanyu, sometimes a meal can be Eat two, and later, the tender corn they like to eat will come out. In fact, fried shredded potatoes are also their favorite, but it is a pity that Sun Xiangfu always asks the cook to put those red peppers and a lot of vinegar. After that, it turned into hot and sour potato shreds that they couldn't eat at all.

"Daddy, I want to sing." Apart from playing games of catching fish and digging crabs in the sand, Sun Feng's mouth is basically restless, especially on the way back and forth.

Sun Xiangfu naturally never refused such a request, and said with a smile, "You sing, I'll listen!"

"You give me a head start."

"Sing what?"

"Whatever, I will."

Sun Xiangfu liked Sun Feng's confident state, and sang, "Small Conch, Didi Dip, Seagulls spread their wings and fly, ready to go."

Sun Feng immediately sang, "Small Conch, Didi Chui, Seagulls Spread Their Wings and Fly, Little Conch, Didi Chui, Waves Smiled Weiwei..."

One big and one small, singing songs, carrying the harvest of the morning, bouncing and walking to the home not far from the beach.

Every day at this time, Yu Xiuer and his daughters will practice their voices in front of the piano. After they come back, they will not be able to practice. On the contrary, the culinary skills of the orchid concubines have been trained, no matter when they come back after playing , have breakfast served immediately.

"Where's Uncle De?" Sun Xiangfu asked in surprise when he didn't see Uncle De at the dinner table.

Yu Xiu'er replied, "I went for a walk on the city wall. The old man said that if I don't sweat a little here every day, I feel uncomfortable."

Sun Xiangfu nodded and said, "It's humid in the south, indeed, then I'll ask Zhang Ke to prepare a car, and I have to go to the city after eating. Zhao Long and the others will be there soon."

Yu Xiuer divided a piece of corn bun into two halves, brushed Kang Bao with some ketchup, and handed it to him, before asking, "This is it, are you going to sea again?"

"Well, the development of Lingnan is extremely difficult and requires labor. After the route is stabilized, Zhao Long and the others can travel to and from South America once a year. Not only can they bring back many species, but they can also bring back many Mayans who are more suitable for farming new crops. , to help take care of these South American species. Oh, look at this kid, the taste is really weird, corn buns are eaten with tomato sauce, sour and sweet, who can I learn from!"

Kang Bao only took two bites, and his face was covered with ketchup. This kid doesn't eat steamed buns, he just wants to lick the ketchup on top of the steamed buns. He has to lie to him with ketchup every day before he can eat a steamed bun. These boys made trouble at the dinner table, but they looked warm.

After returning from South America, Zhao Long and the others also rested for half a year. During this time, his crew has expanded a lot. If these newcomers want to learn sailing skills, it is better to take them to run on the sea.

Of course, the most important thing is that they can bring benefits to Datang by running overseas. The shareholders of Changan’s overseas exploration and investment companies are not happy to see them idle. After the sports meeting, the stock price has been going up. Descending, it is necessary for Heraclius and these people to be locked up in a high position.

The new crops grown in the south of the Five Ridges were sold at a good price in Jiangling City, and they were loved by everyone. At the same time, they were snapped up by countries in the Western Regions.

Therefore, the debts owed by the countries of the Western Regions in the Tang Dynasty have increased a lot.

Now, they are equally eager to explore the fleet to find new crops to detonate the stock price again, so that they can gain some benefits and recover some losses.

Sun Xiangfu doesn't think that they can solve the problem in the short term, nor does he think that the seeds they bought back in Datang can quickly change their own domestic situation.

From figuring out the correct planting technology to national promotion, even in Datang, it will take two or three years. It will only take longer to go to them, and what will happen in three to five years, God knows .

Without Feng An in Lingnan, it would be inconvenient for Li Tai to do things. However, he still worked hard. With the help of Feng An's more than 30 sons, the stall was basically taken over smoothly. Ang's previous foundation was laid well, and the situation of tribal division and rule was completely shattered.

Now, what he needs to consider is to continue to maintain the rapid Sinicization of the people in Lingnan, and to open up some economic and financial resources projects to support the transformation of Lingnan and ensure the people's livelihood and welfare policies in Lingnan.

When Sun Xiangfu arrived at the chief executive's yamen, Zhao Long's fleet was about to dock, so he joined Li Tai and came directly to the pier.

"Mr. Rong brought a lot of ships this time! It's three or four times more than before."

After a while, the two arrived at the pier with the welcoming team. Li Taimo said happily after counting the number of big ships.

Sun Xiangfu smiled and said, "Looking at the configuration of the fleet, the overall carrying capacity should be more than five times larger than the previous ten ships. The continuous sailing ability of these ships is also much stronger than before. Not only can they bring back more South American species, and more skilled labor can be sent back.”

Speaking of skilled labor, Li Tai became even more excited. He strode up and down the boat to meet Zhao Long, with a warm smile on his face.

You know, the Mayans brought back by them before are very useful in Lingnan. They have grown sweet potatoes and corn for generations. Sun Xiangfu asked them for some technical improvements, and they were able to accept them very quickly. , The comprehension in farming far exceeds that of the local people in Lingnan. Now, they are all leading the local people to plant.

After greeting each other, Li Tai said with a smile, "It's going to be a hard trip to Duke Rong again. The king has already ordered people to prepare the supplies for the trip. There are still good wine and meat in the city. You can Let everyone have a good time eating, drinking and playing in the city for a few days before leaving."

Zhao Long was about to say a few polite words, but he heard a cry of "Ouch" from the shore of the pier.

"It's the first time for these raw melon eggs to go to sea. They only walked for a few days, and when they landed, they couldn't stand still. His Royal Highness Wei Wang and Master Sun laughed at them." Zhao Long said a little depressed.

"Hehe, this is what new crew members must go through when they go to sea. I saw that there are quite a few newcomers!" Sun Xiangfu laughed.

Zhao Long replied, "There are a total of 5000 people in this group. I have brought all the people from the shipping class of my vocational technical college. From now on, there will be at least this many people in each class. When the Maritime Academy opens, there should be more students." more."

A seaman, without more than two or three years of experience in sailing at sea, basically doesn't know what the real sea is. Before the level of technology can predict the weather and detect underwater reefs, this occupation will always be a high-risk occupation. However, , demand, will promote the progress of science.

Because, always walking on the edge of danger will force these people to think of more ways to fight against danger, and these new crew members are not the ordinary Lingnan people who joined the sailing business in the early days.

They have received two or three years of culture in the vocational technical college, as well as physics, mathematics, and a certain amount of astronomy education. After they really understand the temper of the sea, there will definitely be more detailed things that will be explored and recorded by them. Passed on to the next generation of sailors.

Soon, Sun Xiangfu saw Zhao He, and he took thirty or forty agricultural students who vomited to pieces and went ashore. Due to the abundant manpower in the field of agriculture, he did not need to go alone with Wang Erxiao to explore the sea this time. Yes, he directly led a large team. These agricultural students have been enrolled in the agricultural college since the very beginning, have received several years of relatively systematic agricultural education, and have shown strong agronomic talents. Among them, Many, in terms of biology, have some research, and are the seed members that the farm gate is going to absorb for more planting research.

With the help of this team, Zhao He's exploration and collection work will be more comprehensive and meticulous, but it will not be like before, rushing to and returning in a hurry. This time, they found valuable and cultivable species, which will Station directly in the local area, and after understanding it, decide whether to introduce it, or, some will directly open up a planting base in the local area, and then transport the raw materials back.

Anyway, now Datang is at sea and has no opponents. If someone dares to disturb Datang's overseas business, Zhao Long would not mind applying to the court to lead a naval army to kill all dissatisfied.

It was Li Tai's business to entertain Zhao Long, talk to him about Lingnan's needs, and ask him for help, and it was Sun Xiangfu's business to tell the training of agricultural children and agricultural students. After a while, everyone set off for the city, had a banquet and chatted, I don't mention it.

At night, half-drunk Zhao Long and Sun Xiangfu each carried a wine bottle and sat on the beach by the sea, looking at the waves under the moonlight, they were somewhat melancholy.

"Before March next year, if you don't find Zhao Gang and Li Chunfeng on the South American continent, you should make supplies locally and go to the Atlantic Ocean! If they are trapped in a certain place, you may still be able to Bring them back."

Three years is the scheduled return date of Li Chunfeng's global exploration fleet, because even a steel-clad ship will become very unsafe after three years of turbulence in the sea without some major maintenance and repairs. Well, it has been getting closer and closer to three years since the day when Li Chunfeng and the others went to sea.

Previously, when Zhao Long and his team came back from South America, the ships they were driving had become rusty, and in some places, the cladding steel plates might even fall off, because these ships were only connected by molten iron. A layer of thin steel plates wraps the wooden hull, and the entire interior is actually made of wood, not the all-steel or all-alloy boats of later generations.

Therefore, long-term turbulence, or being washed by rain or immersion in highly corrosive seawater will cause a series of problems such as looseness and deformation of those wooden structures. Once the steel plate joints are rusted, they may fall off. With a steel structure keel, the whole ship may fall apart.

Therefore, the later Li Chunfeng and the others returned, the greater the risk they encountered, which was also the reason for Sun Xiangfu and Zhao Long's melancholy.

"Don't worry, I'm ready to find them when I go to sea this time. I believe that even if they encounter wind and waves, they will not be wiped out. Maybe they are trapped because of supplies or some other reasons." , In addition, my brothers, even if they die, I still need to know where their souls are, and if anything happens, I will continue this round-the-world voyage." Zhao Long took a big gulp of wine and said.

(End of this chapter)