Hongwu Survival Guide

Chapter 95 Set sail
Liu Laoqi predicted that the south wind would blow up within two days, so he was conservative. In the second half of the night on March [-]th, the south wind would blow up.

There is only a deviation, to be precise, it is a southeasterly wind.

If the grain transport fleet near Shandong can have this wind direction, it will be a perfect match.When we set off now, the southeast wind direction is not so suitable, and the southwest is better.However, everything is difficult to ask for perfection, Zhu Yuan is just an unlucky traveler, not a son of a certain plane who can even come to help out in a war.Therefore, if there is wind and you can start your journey, you already have to thank God for His blessing.

So the preparations for everything became more and more compact.

In other words, what is the most important thing before going to sea?
Answer: Sacrifice!

The next day was March [-]th, and it was windy all day, but we couldn't set off right away.

In addition to the various details that are still being perfected, the key one is the sacrifice.Not to mention now, even hundreds of years later, whether it is business or fishing, offering sacrifices to gods and praying for safety is essential.

It's already a culture.

Besides, in this era, coastal residents worshiped many gods, such as the dragon kings, the goddess of the sea, the Guanyin Bodhisattva, and some famous officials who once kept one side safe, such as Qian Liu, the king of Wuyue in the late Tang Dynasty. Many actions to protect the environment and the people were also worshiped as gods by temples built in various parts of the southeast after death.

The Naval Governor's Mansion and the Yinghai Division held a special meeting for this, and felt that no one should be neglected, and finally decided to send officials to the nearby temples to sacrifice separately, and then conduct a large-scale joint sacrifice before departure.

Joint sacrifice is also a commonly used sacrifice method in various large-scale festivals in the past dynasties.

After all, heaven and earth, wind and rain, thunder and lightning, mountains and rivers and five mountains, sages of past dynasties... If you come one by one, let alone a day, you can't finish the sacrifice in a month.

Back in this era, Zhu Yuan, who would always joke about many things, did not dare to be disrespectful this time. On March [-]th, Zhu Yuan deliberately changed into the third-rank official hat and gown that he seldom wears. Go to Guanyin Temple and Guangdewang Temple in Dinghai City to offer incense.

So came March [-]th.

Zhu Yuan had already gotten up at the first hour of the day, without caring about anything else, he wrapped up a piece of clothing at will and rushed outside the house.

Fortunately.

The wind continued to blow.

After breakfast, Zhu Yuan and Huagao met, and brought the two major government offices and a group of local officials to the port outside the East Gate. Looking around, all kinds of ships, large and small, densely packed in Dinghai recently, spread all over the Yongjiang River. Haikou.Among them, more than 20 grain ships loaded with 200 shi of grain have all been moored to the periphery of the port in the past two days, and the bows of the ships are also facing outwards, ready to go.

time is tight.

According to the accurate tide timetable recently calculated by Yinghai Division, the departure time is 10:45 pm, and later, [-]:[-] am.

This is not random picking.

Sishi Qishi is the peak of today's high tide, which is the so-called "flat tide".Going out to sea at low tide, on the one hand, is the time when the sea level is the deepest, which can avoid unexpected situations such as being stranded on the rocks when the ship is traveling, and on the other hand, it can also allow the ship to leave the shore faster when the water turns to ebb.

An altar has been set up at the foot of Zhaobao Mountain.

The heads of various ministries such as the Naval Governor's Mansion and the Yinghai Division arrived, and the joint sacrifice before going to sea officially began. Except for a few who needed to be on duty and could not leave the ship, most of the other officers, soldiers and civilians who were going to sea this time were lined up in front of the altar .

Liu Lian, also in official attire, presided over the ceremony.

First of all, Huagao asked God.

Afterwards, Hua Gao, Wu Zhen, Zhu Yuan and other chief officials led the people to present sacrifices to the gods one by one.

Liu Lian recited the sacrificial oration.

Amidst the solemn rites and music, officials of all sizes offered incense one by one. As for ordinary soldiers and civilians, there was not enough time, so they could only ignore it.Then, tens of thousands of people knelt down and worshiped under the altar, together with the surrounding area, praying for the gods to bless the safety of the sea trip.

In the end, Huagao sent God off.

At the end of the sacrifice, the officers, soldiers and civilians who were in charge of the food transportation took the small boats to board the ship one by one.

Zhu Yuan didn't waste any time. Taking advantage of the last opportunity, he continued to recruit the responsible persons and make various inquiries and explanations, trying to ensure that nothing was missed.

By the time Tian Xingwei, the last commander, Xia Hai and his party boarded the fast paddle boat to the flagship, it would be six o'clock.

Zhu Yuan, Hua Gao, and a group of generals stood together on the long embankment with the best view by the pier outside the east gate, and waited for another moment. I don't know if it was an illusion. The tide that had been surging before seemed to stop instantly. , the sound of the horn sounded on time, and there were faint human voices coming one after another.

"Go-boat--"

"Go-boat--"

"Go-boat--"

Between the gaps between the masts, one can vaguely see that the front row of large ships started first, followed by the second batch, and the third batch...

Looking at the distant scene, Zhu Yuan flashed a series of accurate numbers in his mind.

Going to sea this time.

Total number: 13306 people.

Among them, there are about 3000 officers and soldiers of Tianxingwei, and about 7000 boatmen, guides, officials, medical officials, etc.

The extra 3000 people were temporarily arranged by Zhu Yuan for the past two days.

Because of the letter from Huang Chen, the commander of the Huai'an Guard the day before yesterday, Zhu Yuan decided that the Naval Governor's Office would personally take over the eight lighthouse ports between Mingzhou and Jiaozhou, including Haizhou, Rizhao, Yancheng, Baoshan, and Hai'an.

The manpower of the two major yamen is limited. Even if Zhu Yuan disregarded the objections of the people around him and forcibly allocated 2000 people from Lao Zhu's 1500 relatives, he could still only squeeze out 3000 people, including Zuo Qi who had been with him for a long time. He was also sent out by Zhu Yuan.

There are eight lighthouse ports, and the sea island with the largest number of troops is planned to be stationed, which is later Lianyungang.

Because Haizhou is the first deep-water seaport that is very suitable for docking after the grain transport fleet passes the long shoal area between the Changhuai estuary, 500 people are specially dispatched, and the local area will also add some manpower. The Haizhou Thousand Households Office under the Navy Governor's Mansion will be established, which happens to be led by Zuo Qi.

Outside of Haizhou, the other seven lighthouse ports can only have two to three hundred people.

Forced to make this arrangement in advance, Zhu Yuan has no complaints against Huang Chen. 3000 people, eight teams, happened to go through all the planned eight midway emergency sea routes. For this reason, each team was assigned a battalion sea official.

There was only one person, which seemed not many, and it was also squeezed out by Zhu Yuan.

When I first came to Mingzhou, Lao Zhu selected, and Liu Lian selected from the Taishi Academy and the Ministry of Rites. There are less than 60 officials in two parts.Next, each batch of grain transport fleets must be equipped with 10 people, and then 8 people will be allocated to the eight lighthouse ports. In a blink of an eye, there will be 38 people missing.

In Zhu Yuan's latest letter, he has once again asked Lao Zhu for help, and at the same time plans to recruit some from his own side, otherwise, when all those who should be sent out are sent out, the Yinghai Division will be paralyzed.

After all, what Zhu Yuan has to do is not only to transport food.

With the first batch of grain ships going out to sea, the other two batches only need to follow the steps, and the next step is another big plan of the Yinghai Division.

Seeing the big from the small, this is also a portrayal of Mingzhou's seemingly large number of people but not enough manpower.

If possible, Zhu Yuan would even like to send out some of the girls in his back house. These girls have been instilled with a lot of new knowledge by his own petty officials, and their knowledge is no better than the bureaucrats Zhu Yuan cultivated during this period of time. They are bad.

It's a pity that if you really do this, it's too heaven-defying.

Immoral!

Outrageous!

Zhu Yuan can only sigh with emotion, a good half of the sky, just because of the rules and regulations of this era, it has collapsed!

Sea-going ships followed, totaling 318.

In order to ensure the safe arrival of the first batch of grain ships, these are the ships in the best condition carefully selected by Zhu Yuan, and some new ships have just been built recently.

Among them, there are a total of 271 key large and small grain ships, carrying 20 stones of grain.

It is not counted as the daily rations of officers and soldiers.

Zhu Yuan has studied in detail the many processes of Yuan Ting's shipping, including various shady means of corrupting ink.In order to reduce the phenomenon of fraud, the separation of rations and rations is one of the preventive measures.

Zhu Yuan still provided two liters of rice per person per day, and with the most lenient consideration, he gave 1 people the full amount of food and wages for one and a half months, 9000 shi.Of course, under ideal external conditions, the fleet can reach Shandong in ten days or less, so it only needs to consume 2000 shi of grain.

The excess is still to be paid.

As for the additional 3000 people temporarily dispatched, each will bring one month's rations, and the follow-up will be supported by the local government.

Zhu Yuan has already given it to others, and he also tacitly assumes the responsibility for coastal defense.

In addition to a total of 271 grain ships, Tianxingwei has 1000 full-time escort ships with 8 people. The flagship is a 2000-grain ship that Xia Hai takes. There are also two 1000-grain ships and 500 5-grain ships. Not many, but with the other 2000 officers and soldiers directly stationed on the grain ship, in this era, unless they encounter another national-level naval fleet, no one dares to make a decision easily.

The fact is that even Yuan Ting in the north has lost much naval power after losing Shandong.

Finally, 39 sea-going ships of various types with a maximum cost of 1000 and a minimum cost of 500 will be taken to eight lighthouse harbors by 3000 additional people.

Thinking about these things in my mind, I stood on the long embankment for a long time without knowing it.

Seeing the last batch of sea-going ships leaving slowly, Zhu Yuan looked at the crouching tiger-like tiger crouching next to Zhaobao Mountain, and thought of a poem describing the Yuan court’s sea transportation of grain in many materials collected during these days. Can't help but read it softly.

"When the dragon emerges, it is the sea, and the tiger squats down the mountain to wait for the tide to level."

"Turn the sail and turn the rudder with all your strength, but the boat in front is passing the reef."

"The big star is shining brightly in the sky, and the name of the general Cao is written on the yellow flag."

"I hope that there will be three or four days of favorable winds, and the Spring Festival will be transported to Yanjing as soon as possible."

At the end of the reading, Zhu Yuan smiled and muttered to himself: "You don't need to go to Yanjing, just go to Shandong."

With a hand on the shoulder, it was Hua Gao's voice: "Come back, the wind is getting stronger."

Zhu Yuan nodded.

When I wanted to turn around, I realized that my legs were a little stiff.

Standing for too long.

Hua Gao was keenly aware of it, grabbed it, and quickly told the sack girl beside Zhu Yuan and Zhao Xu who was not far away, and regretted his carelessness, just now he was distracted while watching the fleet leave, and let the little ancestor stand here for so long.

When Zhu Yuan was supported to sit in a sedan chair on the bank and headed for the city, Hua Gao didn't want to go back for a while, and waved his hands to signal Wu Zhen, Liu Lian and the other officials to go to work, and he continued to stand on the long embankment, watching To the fleet going further and further away.

Looking back on the past month or so, Hua Gao is the one who feels the most.

Hua Gao did not forget that his lord originally planned to let him preside over shipping matters.

I can't help but imagine, what would I do if I didn't come to Mingzhou by myself without the boy who just left?
First of all, of course, is to raise ships.

However, without that young boy, there would be no current Navy Commander's Mansion, no Ying Hai Division, and no Wu Zhen and Zhang Cundao. , It is inevitable to quarrel with a group of arrogant soldiers from the south.

After all, they would definitely not send the boat easily, and they might even disturb the lord.

The ready-made seized ships are definitely not enough, and ships must be built.

Hua Gao was born as a fisherman, but he didn't know much about shipbuilding. Apart from other things, it was just the first matter of raising a large amount of ready-made wood for drying in the shade. The shipbuilding and ship repairing area rapidly spread along the river.

Therefore, as for the ship used to go to sea, he felt that it would be impossible for him to get it together without struggling for two or three months.

As for manpower.

Fang Guozhen's old department, it was so easy to regroup there.There were also fishermen along the coast, who had just arrived at the time, but he heard Xue Shu say with his own ears that the fishermen who had heard the news had already begun to flee in large numbers.

What did that little boy do?

Hua Gao can see that just providing enough food has dispelled the resistance of a large number of soldiers and civilians to shipping.At the same time, the relative preferential treatment of tax exemption for those participating in the sea transport has also attracted many fishermen who had concerns to volunteer to serve.In this regard, he may be able to sit down, but if there is no reference at all, he feels that he will not do so. He is more likely to follow the previous rules and forcefully recruit strong men, and then delay it for several months.

Although it is more expensive to provide sufficient meals, if it is delayed for a few months, it is not difficult to imagine that the extravagance will only increase.

And pirates.

This is not a big problem, but in just over a month, at least in the sea off Mingzhou, there are no pirates that can interfere with shipping.

As for the others, send people all the way north to conduct surveying and mapping, teach battalion officials and naval officers and soldiers all kinds of maritime knowledge, build a navigation lighthouse system, collect money, ships and manpower from maritime merchants, and the towering gantry crane, the sophisticated Hai Yutu, and even the occasional penicillium treatment without doing business, can bring back a person who has stepped half a foot into the palace of the king of hell. All these things are completely beyond his cognition.

Hua Gao could imagine that perhaps those onlookers who always dislike Xiao Hanlin in private would say that his lord pampered the young boy like his own son, which made him so handy and smooth, but, think about it, If Hua Gao can propose such a series of brilliant measures, will the talented and generous lord not support him?

Will certainly support.

However, he couldn't mention these at all, because he didn't have this talent, and he didn't have the unheard-of knowledge of Xiao Hanlin. He also affirmed that there were not many civil and military people in the Manchu Dynasty... no, there was no one who could do it. .

All in all, Huagao felt that if he was allowed to take full responsibility for the grain transportation, and he could send the first batch of grain ships after the summer harvest and arrive in Shandong safely, he could go to the master with his head up and his chest up.

However, it only took a little over a month for a certain young boy to send out the first batch of grain ships from coming to Mingzhou.

Huagao could even imagine that even if something went wrong with this batch of grain ships, it would not damage Zhu Yuan's credit at all.

Because, that little boy has built a complete set of complete measures for uninterrupted sea transportation of grain in just one month, ranging from ship supply, manpower arrangement to pathfinding and navigation, accidental rescue, anyone, as long as they are not too Stupid, after looking at his previous arrangements, he can outline a complete picture of shipping from Mingzhou to Jiaozhou in his mind.

Then I feel that this thing is too simple, I can do it.

Of course you can!

The road is paved, just lift your feet and walk.

Thinking about it, Hua Gao once again remembered the bold words of the young man.

Send 500 years of Guozuo.

Such a great talent, if the master can reuse it consistently and create the Ming Dynasty for 500 years, what's the difficulty?
　PS: Well, I admit that my three views may be a bit distorted, so I write big poison without knowing it, and I still enjoy it.I guarantee that the next book will be changed.So, top of the list, if my acquaintances are not joking with me, can we change our name, you can be called 'High Rich Lord', I don't mind.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)