The next morning, the sun was shining, the waves were calm and the wind was calm, and the rain and wind seemed to be just a nightmare from last night.
Checking the loss, it was found that only the small boat was seriously damaged, and even if it was overhauled, it was difficult to undertake the ocean-going mission, and several other ships had damage of different bearings, and there were leaks that needed to be overhauled.
In addition, dozens of crew members were washed into the sea by huge waves, and more than a dozen crew members were injured and fell and needed to be treated with medicine.
Xu Hu sent people ashore to explore, and found that the place where they anchored was a barren beach, but seven or eight miles away, there was a small village of locals, and most of the people here were black-skinned people, Xia Xun knew that they had entered Africa.
Fei Yinglun took a few people to the village, but finally brought an Arab, it turned out that this place had been settled by Arabs a long time ago, and this Arab was very enthusiastic, and after accepting Xia Xun's gift, he was even more enthusiastic about them.
According to him, this place is called Bu Ra Wa, Xia Xun has heard of this place, and they have already inquired about the situation here at the last stop, but the first stop after crossing the Red Sea should have been Mu Gu Dushu, and the second stop was Bu Rawa, but because of this sudden storm, they went directly to the second stop.
This place, which belonged to Somalia in the Hereafter, now belongs to a different country.
The flotilla stopped here to mend the ships, recuperate the wounded crew, resupply drinking water, and buy food from the locals.
There are few plants and trees here, and the local people specialize in fishing, and most of the fish that can be supplemented are them.
During this time, some of the soldiers began to get bored and wanted to stop the voyage and turn back.
In their opinion, they have already obtained money that they will not spend for a lifetime, so why risk the destruction of the ship and the death of people Xia Xun still insisted on moving forward, someone always had to take the first step, he had already come to this step, why give up Next, there will be more merchant ships in the Ming Dynasty coming west one after another, and the ships representing the official will be greatly reduced, at that time the fleet will no longer have such a huge strength, and it will be more difficult to explore the route.
At that time, it is likely that the merchant ships of the Ming Dynasty would follow the old route, disembark from Hurumus, and go from the Middle East to the Mediterranean.
The cost of trade would increase exponentially until the Europeans discovered the new route, which was likely to confine their trade to the Persian Gulf to the disinclined Chinese.
However, more and more crew members were disgusted with continuing to sail to farther places, and under the pressure of his subordinates, Xu Hu found Xia Xun and expressed his opinion to him.
At this time, the stonemason was carving a huge indicator icon on the cliff, this icon was not only used to make a signpost for Zheng He's fleet, but the future Ming merchant group could easily follow the road that Xia Xun had walked and embarked on a golden route according to this huge stone marker and the slow nautical chart of Zheng He's fleet.
Xu Hu said to Xia Xun worriedly: "Guogong, the road ahead is getting more and more dangerous, our ships are damaged, and after repair, I am afraid we will not be able to continue sailing."
Moreover, we crossed the Mugu Du Shu and went directly here, and Zheng Gonggong's fleet could not see the road signs we left behind when they arrived at the Mu Gu Du Shu, so it was also a big question whether they would continue to move forward.
At the same time, there is also a difficulty, we sail on the sea, mainly to determine the direction with the goal of the North Star, but the more we go in this direction, the more the North Star sinks to the ground, and now it is almost out of sight, if we can't find a new star as a pilot star, we will not know where to go next, if we get lost in the vast sea" Xia Xun said: "Next, we will sail completely offshore, close to the land and move forward, in this way, whether it is a problem with ships, or a problem with supply, or a problem with navigation, it will not be a problem." ” Xu Hu whispered: "Guogong, we have been sailing alone from the big fleet for too long, and we have been sailing on the sea all day, especially the recent journeys of these people, the diet is hard, there is no wine, there are no women, many crew members are irritable, there are fights, and some people dare to openly disobey the orders of their superiors, I am afraid that there will be chaos." ” Xia Xun pointed to the turbulent sea water and reprimanded: "Our way, just like Tang Seng taking the Western Scriptures, there are wind and snow, naturally there are demons and monsters, there are brocade clothes and jade food, and naturally there are hardships of lack of water and food.
Can it only be that there are big fish and meat all the way, and the treasure woman can't even suffer a little?"
The author of Journey to the West is Wu Chengen, but the story of Journey to the West was not made up by him, he is just the collation and compiler of many stories of Sun Wukong, and many stories about Monkey King have already been circulated in the world through storytelling, opera, scripts, etc., so Xu Hu can fully understand Xia Xun's metaphor.
Xia Xun turned around, stared at Xu Hu, and said solemnly: "What we lack is the spirit of adventure and hardship.
You were originally a pirate in the East China Sea, and it stands to reason that you should be able to endure hardships better than ordinary officers and soldiers, but how did you become like this now, I think your discipline is indeed too poor."
Xu Hu explained with a red face: "Guogong, the brothers have never been to such a far place, they" Xia Xun waved his hand and said: "I don't need to explain Xu Hu, you remember for me, although we are pirates, we are still officers and soldiers in our bones, and if we are soldiers, we have to listen to orders, even if it is a knife mountain in front, I tell you to climb, you have to climb in front of you is a sea of fire, I tell you to jump, you have to jump too" Xu Hu said dejectedly: "Yes, obey the order" Xia Xun snorted coldly: "The wounded soldiers stay, and when the boat is repaired, ask them to drive back to Mugu Dushu and wait there for Gonggong Zheng's fleet to come."
The rest of the people will continue to hurry, and those who violate the military order will be beheadedIf they really think of themselves as pirates, then according to the rules of pirates, hang them" Xu Hu was stunned, and hurriedly lowered his head and said: "It's a humble obedience" At the beach, after listening to Xu Hu convey Xia Xun's order, Fei Yinglun held his injured arm as if he had won the lottery, and shouted happily in the Shandong dialect he had just learned: "I am injured, I want to go back to the wooden bones."
"your balls" Xu Hu kicked him, and said angrily: "Whoever doesn't go, you have to follow, and if you don't obey, Lao Tzu will hang you."
The sea route is really getting harder and harder.
After Xia Xun's fleet continued on the road, it entered an even more dangerous sea.
This sea area is turbulent and turbulent, the typical windless three-foot wave environment, sometimes there will be a huge wave that stands like a cliff in front, and slowly pushes in the back like a hillside, this slowness is only relative to the huge ocean, when the five or six feet high, like a city wall-like huge wave smashed down, it is like the earth cracking and the sky collapses.
Sometimes the polar winds cause swirling waves, and the situation is even worse when the swirling waves are combined with the oncoming waves, and one of the ships in the fleet disappears under such huge waves.
When the huge waves came to the sky and gradually disappeared into a cloud of foam, the great ship on which Ren Juying was riding disappeared, and on that large ship, there were more than 200 soldiers, one-fifth of the treasure they plundered, and the greatest material guarantee of the entire fleet: food and water.
Although food and water were allocated to each ship, but Ren Juying's ship was loaded with the most food and water, after the ship disappeared, the whole fleet fell into a dilemma, they have continued to sail forward for more than half a month, and the land is gradually becoming barren, at this time, whether it is to turn around or continue to move forward, it is a desperate sea, and there is not much food.
Xia Xun didn't know that in that big storm, they had already bypassed the Cape of Good Hope, and the place where they anchored at this time was uninhabited, completely desert, red and yellow, with no head and tail, and naturally there was no way to ask.
Probably no one has ever been here, so there is an abundance of fish on the seaside, and food is not worried, and if there is not enough drinking water, it can also be obtained by using the seawater separation method, but this way there is too little drinking water, and they have to store rainwater when it rains.
The problem is that they have no food other than fish, no fruits and vegetables to eat, and many people are already showing symptoms of scurvy.
They are now in a dilemma, staying here and waiting for Zheng He's fleet, but because they were blown over by the wind and waves, they can't predict whether Zheng He will come.
But if you go forward, you don't know when it's going to be a head.
The death of more than 200 people on Ren Juying's big ship was a particularly serious blow to morale, and some people not only openly rebelled against the orders of their superiors because of their irritability and desperation, but even openly snatched water or food allocated to others.
In the vastness of heaven and earth, people's sense of reverence will be weakened, and if they continue to allow such behavior, I am afraid that it will soon turn into a mutiny.
And in the current situation, in the event of a mutiny, the result is the death of everyone.
Therefore, Xia Xun had to take drastic measures and hang those who openly disobeyed military orders on the mast to restrain the morale of the army.
The road of exploration is always full of risks and must be sacrificed, but Xia Xun now doesn't know if his decision is correct.
Perhaps, it would have been better to stop advancing at the beginning of Burawa and wait for Zheng He's fleet to have those huge ships, which would be more secure at sea, and the risk would be much smaller than that of his own ships.
However, in that case, it would be tantamount to declaring that his mission to find Emperor Jianwen had failed, would Zheng He feel that it was worth continuing this long journey After all, in their opinion, they had sailed to the far edge of the sky, and everyone along the way told them that this was the end of the sky, and there was no road ahead.
Xia Xun sighed softly and looked at Tang Sai'er sleeping on his lap.
Tang Sai'er suffered from a slight scurvy, fatigue and drowsiness, and general fatigue, the original surname was so lively and active, at this time, he had no energy all day, and his little face was pale and distressing.
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Xia Xun was anxious, the current situation of the fleet was caused by his decision, and his psychological pressure could be imagined.
Su Ying walked over lightly and handed a grilled fish to Xia Xun, Xia Xun said softly: "Ying'er, do you think I'm wrong?"
At this time, Xia Xun was haggard, his clothes were ragged, his hair was unkempt, and his beard had not been trimmed for a long time.
Su Ying held his hand distressedly, and said in a low voice: "Whether it was the wrong way or not, now turning back is death, staying is waiting for death, we can only go forward I don't believe it, I don't believe that there is no end to this sea, this place is full of deserts" Xia Xun's eyes lit up, and Su Ying said softly: "Cheer up, didn't you say that the place where you are going to take us will also have to walk a long way, this is exactly our training of soldiers, if you don't endure hardships, how can you train good soldiers?"
"Yes, if the mentally weak cannot even bear these tribulations, how will they take root and live in a distant foreign land in the future?"
Xia Xun put Tang Sai'er into Su Ying's arms, stood up, and said in an unquestionable tone: "Keep going, Lao Tzu will go all the way to the dark this time."
To be continued: