Wentang

Chapter 717 Whaling
Li Shimin and others were not the only ones who spotted the whale. Almost everyone on the deck saw it, and those who were not on the deck were also attracted by the exclamation of others and ran out.

The shocking power brought by this behemoth is unparalleled, making people fearful, and at the same time, they are even more in awe of the sea.

Deep-sea phobia is a thing that everyone has, and the difference is only the severity. At this time, most people are aroused by whales.

Of course, it wasn't pure fear, but mixed with inexplicable emotions such as excitement. In short, everyone's emotions were very excited and complicated after seeing the whale.

When the fleet stopped, more and more people came to the deck to watch the whales.

At this moment, five small boats sailed out of the fleet and rushed towards the direction of the whale group.

Was someone with sharp eyes the first to spot it, and shouted: "Look, what are those ships doing?"

"They seem to be headed for the whale."

"What are they going to do?"

"It's not because you want to provoke those whales, don't you."

"Can a whale capsize a boat with one flip?"

"Don't go, don't provoke those whales."

There was a lot of noise in the boat, some people discussed what they were going to do, some people called them back.

Li Shimin and the others didn't bother to talk anymore, they came to the deck and looked over there.

"What are they going to do?" Li Shimin vaguely guessed something, but asked in disbelief.

"Whaling." This time, Yue Shan didn't play tricks, and directly revealed the answer.

"Hiss..." Hearing this answer, everyone couldn't help but gasp.

However, they did not persuade them to come back like the others. Although it was still very soon, deep down they still expected them to kill the whale.

The five boats were not big, about ten meters long and two meters wide, but a circle of crossbars was added around the boats, and there was an extra springboard-like thing on the bow.

The five boats soon came to the whale, four of them began to chase the whale away, and the remaining one set up a bed crossbow and aimed at the water, but did not launch an attack for a long time.

Until a whale did not know why it surfaced with a black back, and even sprayed out a jet of water.At this moment, the bed crossbow was fired, and it stabbed the whale's back accurately.

The crossbow bolt penetrated deeply into the back of the whale, and the presence of barbs on the arrow made it impossible for the whale to break free from the crossbow bolt.The most important thing is that there is a thick rope behind this crossbow, and the other end of the rope is on the ship.

The whale began to roll and run, but it still couldn't get rid of the crossbow arrows, nor could it get rid of the whaling ship behind it. It could only drag the boat and scurry around on the sea.

At this moment, there was another scene on the ship that everyone couldn't believe. Four naked people came to the front of the deck.

It can't be said that they are completely naked. Everyone has a bulging skin bag on their back and holds a spear in their hand.

Under the eyes of everyone, a person stood on the springboard in front of the deck, jumped high with the help of the springboard, raised his spear in mid-air, and stabbed fiercely at the whale.

"Ah!!!" There were screams from the fleet behind. This scene was more shocking than seeing a whale.

Even Li Shimin and the others widened their eyes excitedly, watching this scene without blinking.Three other naked men also came on deck one after another and drove their spears into the whale.

It can be said that the shock that the whale brings to people is as great as the shock that these people raised their spears and dived to stab the whale at this time. The shock was even doubled.

But there are some exceptions, such as...

Cen Wenwen turned his head to look at Yue Shan, and said angrily: "You are taking life tables..."

However, before he could finish his words, he heard loud voices from the surrounding ships: "Wow, look, look, they're still alive, they're still alive."

Cen Wen subconsciously turned his head to look, and found that the few diving people turned over the boat by grabbing the crossbars around the boat, and saw that they didn't even have any injuries on their bodies.

"Just now I wondered why these boats were changed into such strange looks, but now I understand. The board at the bow is for jumping, and the surrounding crossbars are for those who kill whales, so that they can get on the boat " Cheng Yaojin said.

"It's very thoughtful. It seems that this is not the first time they have hunted whaling." Li Ji said.

"The movements of these people are very skillful, they should be veterans." Changsun Wuji also said.

Everyone on the bow knew that these words were actually meant for Cen Wenwen, and at the same time, they also expressed their attitude and supported Yue Shan.

Yue Shan also knew that it was Cen Wenwen's fault. After all, anyone who saw this scene for the first time would be shocked, and would think that he would take human life to hunt and kill whales.And he didn't want to have conflicts with Cen Wenwen, so he took the initiative to say:
"The Dizhou navy comes here every year to hunt whales. Firstly, it can exercise the courage of the recruits and eliminate their fear of the ocean. Secondly, it can also earn funds for extra meals for the soldiers."

"Since the establishment of the navy, there have been only four deaths caused by whaling. They were all caused by inexperience in the first two years. No one was injured in the last five years."

Cen Wenwen said seriously: "Is this really true?"

"This kind of thing is well documented, you can find out after you investigate it yourself." Yue Shan said seriously.

Only then did Cen Wenwen's expression ease, but he still said: "This kind of behavior is the courage of a man, so be careful."

"Heh..." Yue Shan chuckled, but he didn't make any answer, but his attitude was unmistakable.

Cen Wenwen said angrily: "Why is Yue Hou laughing, but what I said next is wrong."

Unexpectedly, Yue Shan ignored him at all, not only Yue Shan, but many people around him began to shake their heads.

It was Yang Shidao who stood up and helped him out, saying: "Cen Shilang is a literati who doesn't understand military accidents, so it's understandable."

Then he said to Cen Wenwen: "Cen Shilang, the morale of an army is very important to an army, it can be said that it is the foundation of an army."

"If the morale of the army can be improved by killing whales, let alone taking these risks, it is worthwhile to sacrifice three or five people but ten or eight people."

"Although it seems risky now, it has improved the morale of the army. On the battlefield, thousands of people will be sacrificed less, and even the outcome of a battle can be determined."

Only then did Cen Wenwen understand what was going on, and he wished he could find a crack in the ground and get in embarrassingly.But he still solemnly bowed to Yueshan and apologized: "It was my ignorance that wrongly blamed Yuehou, please forgive me."

Yue Shan said with a sigh of relief: "Cen Shilang is too polite, you are also out of benevolence, I will not blame you."

"But I still want to say a few words, don't speak lightly about things you don't understand."

"This is also the reason why the imperial court wants to separate the military and the government. It is not just to prevent someone from rebelling, but also to prevent laymen from commanding experts."

"In the past, when the military and government were not separated, Zaifu's power can be said to be below one person and above ten thousand people, and he could intervene in anything. There have been many civil servants who don't understand military affairs interfering in the military, causing irreversible consequences."

"Now the princes in the court are all killed in the war-torn era. It's okay to know some military affairs."

"But in the next few decades or hundreds of years, those literati who grew up in the Taiping period who have never experienced war and who don't know anything about military affairs will become prime ministers. The consequences may not be much better than those of the previous dynasty."

"That's why the sage's policy of separating the military from the government is to prevent laymen from directing experts. Now that civil affairs are not involved in martial arts, and military affairs are not involved in literary works, everyone performs their own duties. Let professional people handle professional matters, which can prevent many troubles. "

Cen Wenwen was even more ashamed of what he said. Wasn't his behavior just now a civil servant interfering in military affairs? It was a joke.

While the others acted like they had suddenly realized, they said in a sincerely convinced way: "The sage has a far-sighted vision, and the ministers are convinced."

Li Shimin smiled gratifiedly and said, "It's good that the Zhuqing family can understand my painstaking efforts. Cen Qing's family should not worry too much. Cuilan is just talking about the matter, not against you."

"And just now I had the same thought as you. It's simply disregarding human life to kill whales with human life. If you didn't say it, I would be the one who made a fool of myself. I also want to thank you for blocking this for me."

How could Cen Wenwen not know that Li Shimin was saving face for him, and he was moved and said: "Thank you saint, I will repay the grace with all my heart."

"Get up, get up, how awkward is this?" Li Shimin comforted him by holding him.

Li Shimin had already spoken, and it was hard for others to say anything.Only Yue Shan felt helpless and offended another person.But he doesn't regret it, as he said just now, he hates laymen commanding experts the most.

At first you questioned that we should use human life to hunt whales, but later you told you that it was to eliminate the fear of recruits and improve the morale of the army, and it was not as dangerous as imagined, and you are still like this.

Then don't blame me for not giving you face.

It's fine if you don't hold grudges against me, but if you hold grudges against me because of this, you can find fault in private... Come here, whoever is afraid of others.

The emperor is my father-in-law, the queen is my god-sister and mother-in-law, the crown prince is half my apprentice, the princess concubine is my apprentice, and the emperor's grandson is also my apprentice... The only person who can wrestle with me in terms of connections is my eldest grandson. Bogey.

But just now, Changsun Wuji jumped out to speak for me. It can be seen that he also hopes that the competition between the two of us will remain on the level of fighting but not fighting, instead of falling into a deadly fight, and even stand on the same front when we are in danger.

In this case, if you, a foreign minister, want to fight with me, you can't do it with one hand.

While everyone was talking, it had come to the end stage. Although the whale was huge in size, it was getting more and more seriously injured after being stabbed by successive spears.

The most serious thing was the constant blood loss, and the surrounding sea area was dyed red.In the end, due to excessive blood loss and loss of strength, the whale stopped struggling and was dragged back by the boat.

"Call them over." Li Shimin said happily.

Immediately, someone conveyed the order, and five whaling ships dragged the huge whale all the way to the ship where Li Shimin was on and stopped.

Although there is still part of the body submerged under the water, it is roughly estimated to be at least ten meters long, and the wounds around the body are still bleeding out at this time.

Under the support of the small boat, more than [-] crew members from the whaling ship boarded the big boat together and stood apart in front of everyone.Among them, the few naked people who dived to assassinate the whale stood at the forefront of the queue.

It was late autumn and the weather was relatively cold. Yue Shan stood on the deck wearing a leather jacket and it was still a bit chilly, but this group of whaling men showed their breasts, and many of them were still sweating, as if they didn't feel cold at all.

Li Shimin came in front of the crowd and said loudly: "Okay, you are all good men, you are good boys from my Tang Dynasty."

Seeing the emperor with their own eyes, and being praised by the emperor himself, these people were very excited, and many of them cried.

"Are you afraid of diving to kill whales?" Li Shimin asked, patting the shoulders of the four big diving men one by one.

"Don't be afraid, it's a bigger beast, we humans are the most powerful in this world." A big man said excitedly.

"Oh?" Li Shimin was very surprised. He didn't expect an ordinary soldier to say such a thing, and asked, "Who taught you this?"

"The lieutenant told me, the lieutenant said it was Yue Hou who said it, and Yue Hou is a god, so he would not lie." The soldier said loudly.

Li Shimin turned his head and glanced at Yue Shan, he didn't expect to hear his name in this matter.Yue Shan was also very surprised, he himself forgot when he said such a thing, nine times out of ten it was these people who used his name to deceive people.

But at this time, he didn't dare to stand up and object, otherwise it would not be as simple as slapping someone in the face, and it might cause the army's morale to shake.

"Is it cold?" Li Shimin turned his head and asked with concern.

"It's not cold, I can kill another whale and dedicate it to the saint." The soldier continued.

"Haha... as long as you have the heart, one whale is enough." Li Shimin burst into laughter immediately.

He touched the skin on the back again and asked, "What's on your back?"

"This is an airbag, which will float in the water. Sometimes you will lose your sense of direction underwater, and you can return to the surface by following the airbag." The soldier continued to reply:
"Sometimes when you are unlucky and get stuck on a whale, you will pass out. If you have a skin bag, you can float up, and the boat behind you can pick up people without drowning."

"Not bad, not bad, very thoughtful." Li Shimin nodded repeatedly.

Then he asked a lot of questions, some of them were whalers, some were training for war, and he chatted with almost all of the thirty or so whalers.

Anyway, these thirty or so people were very excited, they seemed happier than entering the bridal chamber, as if they were honoring their ancestors.

In the end, it was Yue Shan who saw that these men were shivering from the cold, and it might turn good things into bad things if they were cold, so he quietly reminded Li Shimin that Li Shimin suppressed his enthusiasm and let these people go to rest.

What follows is a whale feast.

Afterwards, they measured it, and found that the whale was [-] meters long. It was really huge, and it was estimated to weigh at least [-] tons. Everyone in the entire fleet was given a piece of whale meat.

Li Shimin couldn't help but sigh with emotion, wouldn't it be possible to solve the world's famine problem if more people were caught.

Yue Shan was so frightened that he hurriedly came out and explained: Although whales are huge, they are rare in number and difficult to reproduce.The whole world has a limited number, and if fishing is released, it will not be extinct in a few years.Occasionally catch a head or two.

These words can be regarded as dispelling Li Shimin's thoughts. Although he has no concept of animal protection, he doesn't want this kind of creature that shocked him to disappear.

What Yue Shan said is pure nonsense. Although there are not many whales, they are definitely not few, at least for the current earth.

But as he said, it is difficult for whales to reproduce. If the fishing is really open, they may be caught before the day when animal protection appears.

Besides, there is no shortage of food in Datang now, and the reason why the people are starving is the uneven distribution, which cannot be solved by fishing whales.

Moreover, he was afraid that Li Shimin would hunt whales wantonly, so he didn't even dare to say the value of the whales.

The whales caught in the past few years were not wasted at all. The meat, bones, etc. were all bought by rich people, and the fish oil was bought by the Royal Commercial Bank.

The fish oil of a whale can make several 10 yuan or even millions of pieces of soap, which is to pick up money.

So calculated, the profit that a whale can create back and forth exceeds [-] gold coins.

If it weren't for Yue Shan's death order to catch no more than [-] whales a year, it is estimated that these people in the navy could catch all the whales off the coast of China.

The shock brought by the killing of whales is huge, and the influence is long-lasting.For many people, including Li Shimin, most of the fear of the ocean has subsided, and then the pride of conquering the ocean has arisen.

This kind of emotion is conducive to Datang's development of the ocean, and it is also the reason why Yueshan has people performing whaling in public.

After the whaling was over, the fleet arrived in Dizhou within a few days of setting off again.

(End of this chapter)