Great Wei Overlord

Chapter 1038 The Crisis of the Challenger

Chapter 1046 The Crisis of the Challenger

For this exam, everyone in Wei State did not pay attention to it. After all, it was related to their jobs. In addition to the cabinet ministers, ministers and ministers who were exempted from the exam, even the governor of the state had to take the exam.This sudden examination made officials at all levels feel as if they were being approved. You must know that a considerable number of Wei officials are actually former officials who stayed in Qin, Liang, Jin, and Shu. They have no idea whether they can pass the exam. .For a time, counties and counties across the country were holding hands with books to sharpen their guns before the battle, and some were looking for ways through the back door.

The exam for officials this time was formulated by Ran Ming himself. It is mainly based on practical affairs, including household registration, childbirth, enlightenment, taxation, business, infrastructure, and judiciary. There are 36 sub-items in seven major items, with a total of [-] questions. Questions, take the method of drawing questions, draw out [-] questions, each question is one point, the hundred points system, how many points you get, and it is clear at a glance when you reach the tenth level.

The official examination in the state of Wei in [-] of the Yellow Emperor era did not actually hurt the officialdom. Almost [-]% of the officials remained in office, [-]% of them were promoted, and [-]% were dismissed.

Although this time the official examination did not clear all the bad guys out of the official ranks, it made the officialdom more positive.

Just after the official examination was over, those newly promoted scientific scholars were also appointed as officials by the Ministry of Officials, filling the vacancy of the officials who were expelled this time. Ran Ming included the "Official Assessment Law" as a normal state and submitted it to the cabinet for review.A pool of stagnant water is easy to deteriorate, but running water does not have this phenomenon, so Ran Ming wants to revitalize the pool of water in the officialdom.

When Ran Ming submitted the official assessment method to the cabinet for deliberation, the cabinet also submitted a memorial to Ran Ming, "Please establish a prince to strengthen the country!"

Faced with this request, Ran Ming also started to have a headache. Although he has many sons, Ran Ming has not yet made up his mind on who he wants to be the crown prince.However, Ran Ming's attitude was a little loose, so he had no choice but to dismiss the request, "We will discuss it later!"

Ran Ming really didn't think about who to appoint as the prince. The centralization of imperial power can certainly concentrate all the power for development, but once the emperor loses control, the end will be fatal.Every page of history is mottled with blood and tears.Yang Guang in the Sui Dynasty and Li Longji in the Tang Dynasty were simply typical examples of brilliance and martial arts, but they had supreme power in their hands, but because they had no restrictions, they led the country into the abyss.

Ran Ming wants the country to avoid the tragedy of reincarnation in the vicious circle of Chinese civilization as much as possible. As a person of later generations, his ultimate wish is to regard the emperor as the spiritual leader of a country, and the real authority maintains At the heart of the nation's operations will be the Cabinet.

However, the cabinet of Wei State at this time is not the cabinet in Ran Ming's ideal. At this time, the prime minister of the cabinet, Wang Jian, still has not broken away from the traditional way of thinking of bureaucrats and politicians, so he is trying his best to please Ran Ming, as long as Ran Ming is willing to do it , he made every effort to make it happen.Such a cabinet is not a cabinet in the true sense.As a transition, Ran Ming intends that the future Wei cabinet can exercise state power and bring the entire country and the entire Chinese nation to prosperity.

In Ran Ming's final vision, the cabinet has national power and needs to be restricted, that is, through the House of Lords and the House of Commons. Members of the House of Lords are composed of knighthood holders and judges, and have the power to veto bills passed by the House of Commons.The House of Commons has the power to legislate, supervise the cabinet and governments at all levels, and supervise finances.

But at present, Wei State does not have this kind of democratic concept of political governance. The key is that people's thinking has not changed. Ran Ming's plan is to use 30 to [-] years to cultivate the people's sense of responsibility and mission for the country. sense of law, and cultivate the legal awareness and sense of ownership of the people across the country.

Although Ran Ming was not the founder of Wei State, he reversed the fate of Wei State's demise with thousands of soldiers and horses, and swept the world with hundreds of thousands of soldiers and horses. Not only did he develop from a northern vassal state into a unified big country, Moreover, he used his ability to let the people live a life without worrying about food and clothing, and opened up borders and cracked the ground, developing his prestige to the peak.At this time, Ran Ming is simply a god in Wei State. His views, whether right or wrong, will be supported by the subjects of the whole country. Anyone who tries to oppose Ran Ming will be attacked by people. Anyone who opposes Ran Ming The voice of Ran Ming will be drowned in the cheers of Ran Ming's supporters in an instant.

In this situation, Ran Ming can completely rely on his personal prestige to carry forward his political ideas.Ran Ming decided to start with himself. The emperor is only a symbol of a country, with a ceremonial nature, the right to consult, encourage and warn, and eventually become the spiritual leader of the country like the British royal family.

It's just that at this time, Wei's cabinet has not yet developed into the cabinet in Ran Ming's heart. At this time, the prince is not a spiritual symbol, but the future emperor has real and supreme power.If Ran Ming finally changes the national system to his own ideal, it is likely to arouse the resentment of the future prince, and may even cause fierce conflicts with the cabinet.Even if the future emperor does not have a single soldier, but relying on the prestige established by Ran Ming and Ran Min and his son, this emperor will have a very high influence.Moreover, in the eyes of the common people and the people of the world, if the cabinet competes with the emperor, it is the cabinet itself that is at fault, and it is just that the prime minister wants to be Cao Cao.At that time, many people will definitely stand on the emperor's side and have fierce struggles with the cabinet. This situation is the last thing Ran Ming wants to see.

Ran Ming felt a little tricky about the current situation. Under the same sky, Wang Ding, the ship king of Wei State, and Meng En, the deputy captain of the Wei State Ocean America Expedition Team and the intelligence chief of the Wei State Royal Secret Service Major, were standing in the Wei State. On the deck of the "Challenger", the flagship of the ocean-going expedition, there is an endless sea in front of it, which rises and falls with the waves under the blowing of the sea breeze.

At this moment, Wang Ding's face changed drastically.As a ship king who often sails, looking at the clouds and knowing the sky is his basic skill. He can see that a very big storm will appear soon.

Meng En said, "Brother Wang, what's the matter?"

Wang Ding handed the telescope to Meng En and said, "Come and see!"

Meng En was also horrified when he saw the huge waves in the distance. "Oops, I actually encountered a dragon sucking water (tornado)"

"Attention all personnel, always be alert to the huge waves on the sea surface, and keep sailing smoothly!" Wang Ding turned his head and shouted at the sailors beside him: "Life and death are at stake, no one should be careless!"

Wei Guo’s ocean-going expedition to the Americas consisted of five “Sea Shark”-class ocean-going transport ships. The standard deadweight of this “Sea Shark” transport ship was [-] shi, equivalent to [-] tons in later generations.This kind of ocean transport ship is already the largest sea ship in Wei State at present, but in the ocean, this kind of ship is not much stronger than a flat boat.

Meng En's face became more and more gloomy, and suddenly, a big wave hit the bow of the boat, and the splashed water sprayed Wang Ding and Meng En.Wang Ding's face suddenly changed at this time, "Send a semaphore to inform the "Warrior" and "Follower". Immediately avoid the waves!"

The watchman on the watchtower had already tied his body to the watchtower at this time, but with the turbulence of the huge waves, he still conveyed Wang Ding's order as if twitching, and the other helmsmen, after receiving Wang Ding's order, Steer immediately.However, due to the high speed of the big waves, although the leading "Challenger" successfully avoided the huge waves, the "Warrior" and "Follower" just passed the bow and the hull, and the huge waves still hit. At the stern of the second ship.

The "Warrior" and the "Follower" seemed to hit the rocks. The entire hull danced, and several sailors on the deck were also thrown into the waves. About a dozen or twenty sailors didn't even have waves. Lift it up and disappear into the sea.The worst thing was that one of the sailors still had a rope around his waist, but when the sailors on the ship pulled him out of the sea, they found that his head was like a rotten watermelon. Obviously, he was swept up by the huge waves and hit the ship on the string.

Whether it is Wang Ding or Meng En, they are all used to it. The Wei Guoyuan Ocean America expedition has a total of five ships, with a total of 150 people. Now the "Pioneer" has run aground and sank. Of the two people in 190, only 78 people were rescued, while the four people in 110 had no bones left.Wang Ding asked lightly: "Send a semaphore and ask about the losses of the Warrior and the Follower!"

After a while, the second ship reported the loss, and the clerk on the Challenger recorded the names of the victims. Wang Ding said, "This is just the beginning, and the waves will get bigger and bigger!"

Meng En said: "The seagulls have already left us. Animals have the instinct to seek advantages and avoid disadvantages. It seems that these beasts don't like us either!"

"It doesn't matter, we still have Haotian, he will protect us!" Wang Ding smiled and said: "Besides, we are traveling under the emperor's order, and God dare not disobey the emperor's order!"

The dark clouds in the sky are getting thicker and thicker, like real dark clouds falling on the sea. At this time, a bolt of lightning illuminates the dark sky and sea level, and the earth-shattering thunder rolls in, and the lightning like a dragon surrounds this mere There were only four small fleets of "Sea Sharks" left, and everyone's faces were extremely serious.

The sailors and helmsman selected by Wang Ding are all the most experienced people under his command. In fact, without Wang Ding’s instructions, the sailors on every ship are busy. Some people climbed up the mast to check whether the ropes on the sails are safe or not, regardless of the wind, waves and danger. It is firm, and some people have to check the watertight tank at the bottom of the ship and every corner. In this case, any small negligence on the hull will be fatal.So in order to go down to the sea, everyone is cautious.

As the dark clouds got lower and lower and the line of sight became smaller and smaller, the semaphore could no longer convey the message. In such a noisy environment, the drum horn also could not convey the message, but this did not bother the brave sailors of Wei.The sailors of the State of Wei had already used fish floats to make lamps similar to glass lanterns, which could replace semaphore to convey messages in the dark.

The torrential rain on the sea finally came, like a downpour that drenched everyone on board, Wang Ding suddenly found that the clerk beside him had disappeared suddenly, and he shouted: "Hurry up and save people!"

When the storm came, the sailors on the deck used ropes to fix themselves on the ship. Of course, the ropes also reserved a certain range of movement, but the clerk was very unlucky and was swept away by the huge waves.Several sailors hurriedly pulled the rope tied to the clerk, but the end of the rope was empty.

Before Wang Ding had time to express his emotions, a news came from Wangdou that the expedition ship "Intrepid" was overturned by huge waves, and the sailors on board were swept away by the huge waves just after they fell into the water.Wang Ding could only watch them being swallowed by the sea.

At this moment, the main rudder of the "Challenger" was broken by the huge waves with a click, and the "Challenger" without the main rudder was like a headless fly, spinning in the sea.Wang Ding said: "Quickly start the auxiliary rudder."

The sea shark class transport ship has one main, two auxiliary and three rudders, but usually the two auxiliary rudders are stored in the hull and are not used. Once the main rudder breaks, the auxiliary rudder can be extended to support it for a while.Just when the "Challenger" was not out of danger, the bad news came again and the "Warrior" fell into a whirlpool!
Hurricanes can not only set off huge waves to overturn ships, but even shake ships to pieces. What is even more frightening is that sometimes hurricanes can form countless vortices, and the suction formed by the huge vortexes can directly suck ships into the seabed.

At this time, Wang Ding had no way to command the fleet. The captain of the "Warrior" was also an experienced old captain. At a critical moment, the captain of the "Warrior" ordered all members to quickly throw the contents of the ship into the sea, so as to reduce the weight of the ship. out of the vortex.

The precious silk, porcelain, gold, silver and bronze wares on the Warrior ship, and even the armor of swords and guns were all thrown into the sea.But despite this, the Warrior was not out of danger. The captain of the Warrior continued to order: "Throw away the food, drinking water, canned food, medicine, and bedding!"

"Captain, what are we going to eat after throwing away the food!"

"If you don't throw it away, you won't even have a chance to eat anything!"

At this time, the Warrior finally regained its vitality due to the weight loss, but the crisis has not yet been resolved. At this time, the Warrior is struggling with the huge vortex, struggling like a tug-of-war.

The captain of the Warrior shouted angrily: "Then mother, it's okay, throw down the anchor too!"

The Warrior Sea Shark has four iron anchors each weighing 1 jin. These four [-]-jin iron anchors together with the iron chains tied to the anchors weigh more than [-] jin. Throwing away these [-] jin With a weight of more than [-] pounds, the Warrior finally broke free from the entanglement of the whirlpool like a snail.

The captain of the Warrior did not relax at this time: "The warriors on the Warrior, charge forward with all your strength, life and death are all in one fell swoop!"

Wang Ding has never encountered such a dangerous situation in his sailing career for more than ten years, but the god of luck is still on his side. With the Challenger as the leader, the Warrior in the middle, and the Follower in the lead, they slowly left a huge vortex.Slowly, the sky became darker and darker, but the wind and waves became smaller and smaller, and finally the hurricane's influence on the fleet became weaker and weaker.

The difficult night finally passed, the sky finally brightened slowly, and the expedition team finally escaped a catastrophe. However, for the expedition team, the danger was not completely lifted. Both the Challenger and the Follower lost all their drinking water, food, and medicine. If the Challenger's own consumption alone, the drinking water on their ship would be enough for them for half a month, but if the other two ships had to share the drinking water, then It can only be supported for five days.What was even more embarrassing was that the sun could not be seen on the vast sea at this time, and Wang Ding didn't know their current course. At this time, the expedition team had lost their way.

At this time, there were only three ships left in the Wei State Oceanic America Expedition. A total of 650 people survived including the medical officer, and nearly half of them died in the sea.This is not the most deadly. At this time, apart from the relatively good condition of the "Challenger" ship, the "Warrior" and the "Follower" of the expedition team were damaged to varying degrees, especially the Warrior. After a major overhaul, even a slightly bigger wave could knock it apart.

In fact, in the case of the expedition, the loss of food and drinking water became secondary.There is endless food in the sea. As an expedition team, most of the crew and sailors are fishermen. Their ability to find food in the sea is not weak. Although they have long lost their appetite for fish and shrimp, they can persist is the most important.In fact, neither the lack of food nor the lack of fresh water is the most deadly thing. The most deadly thing is that they don't have much medicine. Once the crew members get sick, they have to resign themselves to their fate.

After more than three hours of aimless sailing, the sun finally ushered in. The sun jumped out of the sea from the sea level, and the sun shone brightly for a while, and the clouds in the sky disappeared without a trace.

The sun appeared in front of the "Challenger", and everyone on board stood up, quietly admiring the long-lost sun in front of them.Several seabirds were flying up and down happily around the rainbow, and the sunlight painted the seabirds' snow-white wings with a layer of golden brilliance.

Looking at the sun, Wang Ding finally breathed a sigh of relief.At this moment, the sailors and crew on the "Challenger" burst into cheerful cheers.Facing the unpredictable sea, generations of fishermen have accumulated a lot of experience, and various phenomena in nature have finally become their words, telling them the changes of the weather.For example, the weather now indicates that the weather will become sunny, and they are safe for the time being.

But Wang Ding was not happy, because judging from the nautical chart Ran Ming gave him, they should have met Ran Ming half a month ago The difference is more than 01:30.Because according to the nautical chart, even if they missed Dakozuti Island and Chirikov Island, they should not miss the Alexander Islands.

The sailing ships at this time were actually unable to cross the Pacific Ocean from the middle like the ships of later generations. Not to mention self-control, the problem of supply was an unsolvable problem.So the routes at this time are all sailing along the coastline of the mainland, so the sea chart that Ran Ming gave Wang Ding actually follows the Bering Strait, enters Alaska, and then crosses the Gulf of Alaska to enter America.Undoubtedly because of this storm, Wang Ding's fleet deviated from the original route, and even Wang Ding himself had no idea whether he could reach America smoothly in the end.

Don't look at Wang Ding as the richest man in the world, but he is not willing to be a businessman. He looked at Liu Yuan and Zhang Xun, and he wanted to become an official from a businessman, so as to become an official family.If he can complete Ran Ming's expedition and obtain what Ran Ming needs from America, not only will he be pardoned for treason, but Ran Ming also promises him that he will be pardoned and named Yong Yibo.Although there are more than [-] marquises in Wei, the earl is not as indiscriminate as the marquis, so the general Guannei marquis is not necessarily more noble than this earl.It was Wang Ding's and Naizu's wish to become a nobleman, but a huge fleet lost nearly half of it due to a hurricane, and it also deviated from the course, which also wiped out his dream.

"Can you judge where we are now!" Just as Wang Ding was thinking about it, Meng En came to Wang Ding and asked.Meng En's expression was a little tired, but the eyes under the sword eyebrows were still full of energy, as if his fighting spirit had not been wiped out by this disaster.

At this time, Wang Ding did not answer Meng En's question, but held a compass, a compass, and other messy things and said, "Look at this?"

As for the other mechanical equipment on the ship, Meng En not only didn't know their functions, and even couldn't name many of them, but he was very familiar with the compass and compass.Meng En looked at the compass and compass in Wang Ding's hand and said, "What's going on? Could it be that our compass and compass are broken because of this hurricane?"

(End of this chapter)