Dutch warships appeared in front of them, and Cheng Bi immediately ordered the fleet to turn around, and when it was about to enter the strait, adjust its course to avoid the Dutch.The order flag was hung on the main ship, and on each merchant ship, the ship boss suddenly shouted urgently, "Control the sails, swing the rudder, and target the southeast!"
”The sailors on the deck hurriedly pulled the sail ropes, and on the helm tower, the sturdy sailors turned the rudder wheel, and the rudder board at the stern swung the rudder, and under the impact of the sea, the hull of the ship tilted to one side and creaked to the southeast.In the distance, on ten Dutch warships, the commander of the Dutch fleet, Kaau, took out a clairvoyant mirror and was observing the fleet of the merchant shipping company in the distance."
Your Excellency Commander, the merchant ships of the Merchants Company want to avoid us!"
The Dutch officer next to him reminded.Kaauu put down the clairvoyant mirror and sneered: "The Chinese want to transport the goods to India by themselves, which seriously damages the company's interests in the Far East, and the top management feels that they must teach them a lesson that they will not allow the Chinese fleet to pass through Malacca."
Perhaps only the destruction of the entire caravan can make the Chinese understand the dangers of maritime trade, understand that they are not suitable for navigation, and obediently hand over the goods to the company to sell in the future. ”Malacca is an important channel of communication between the East and the West, and the Dutch held Malacca, so they blocked Donghai Town in the South Sea, so that Donghai Town's power could not enter the Indian Ocean, and the goods of Donghai Town could only be sold to India through the Dutch.Of course, the fleet of Donghai Town can go around, but in this way, the cost will increase, and it will not be able to compete with the Dutch.Kawu handed the clairvoyant mirror to his subordinates, put on his high hat, and ordered: "The fleet pursues!"
”On the sea, twenty armed merchant ships of the China Merchants Company sailed along the southern coastline of Sumatra, and ten Dutch warships in the rear were in hot pursuit.The armed merchant ships of the China Merchants Shipping Company are equipped with artillery, but each ship is not equipped much, only about six or seven guns, and is mainly used to load goods and conduct normal trade.Armed merchant ships traveling in tandem only need to ensure that ordinary pirates and Xiyi ships cannot threaten the fleet.After all, the purpose of the merchant company is to trade, not to plunder.The armed merchant ships of the Dutch, one with more than 20 guns, and the battleship with 50 or 60 guns, one or two appeared, but the fleet was not afraid, and the appearance of ten ships was a special situation, and the fleet could not compete with the firepower, so they could only avoid the battle and flee.At this time, on the deck of the merchant ship, the sailors kept moving boxes of cargo out of the hold and throwing them into the sea to reduce the weight of the ship and get rid of the Dutch behind them.The Dutch were able to dominate the sea because of the speed of their ships and the large loading capacity of their ships, which allowed them to stand out in the fierce competition of Western Europe.The armed merchant ships of the Merchants Shipping Company were also imitations of the Dutch, and they were less equipped with artillery, so they were not slower than the Dutch ships, but the ships were full of goods and treasures exchanged from East Africa and India, and the speed was much slower.Seeing that he could not get rid of the Dutch fleet, Cheng Bi could only give the order to abandon the cargo and increase the speed.On the sea, the two fleets chased one after the other, sailing for four or five days, and whenever the Dutch warships were about to catch up with Cheng Bi, the merchant ships abandoned their goods once, gradually widened the distance, and got rid of the Dutch.On this night, eighteen merchant ships continued to ride the wind and waves on the sea.Because the fleet had not traveled the route on the south coast of Sumatra, and was unfamiliar with the water and ground in the sea, two merchant ships, one of which ran aground and sank, and the other ran aground in the shallows and was captured by the Dutch, so only eighteen sea ships remained, and they continued to sail.At night, Cheng Bi stood on the ship's tower and was worried, the fleet did not go through this route, but heard from the Portuguese merchants that they had walked this route in order to avoid Malacca, and they did not know whether the fleet could pass smoothly and return to Daming.On the mainmast of the flagship, a flag of the sun and moon hunted in the night wind, looking at the sailors, looking nervously at the surrounding sea.Pilot Ji Mengchen is holding a chart and compass, observing the sky and pointing out the direction for the fleet.At this time, Ji Mengchen's expression suddenly changed, and he walked to Cheng Bi's side in a little panic, and said in horror: "Sir, Beichen Star is gone!"
”Ji Mengchen is a native of Jiangyin, and his reputation may not be obvious, but if you talk about his uncle, everyone knows it.Ji Mengchen is the nephew of the Ming Dynasty geographer Xu Xiake, Xu Xiake died of illness in his hometown on the eve of Jiashen, and the 2.6 million words of information he wrote were compiled by Ji Mengchen and compiled into "Xu Xiake's Travels".After Zhao Ming learned about this, he paid for the Commercial Press to publish it, and when he set up the China Merchants Shipping Company, he transferred Ji Mengchen, Xu Junquan and others into the company, hoping that they could contribute to the overseas exploration of the shipping company.Cheng Bi was stunned when he heard this, and hurriedly looked up at the location of the Northern Polaris, which was supposed to appear there, but disappeared.Ji Mengchen panicked: "In recent days, the fleet has sailed to the southeast, and Yu found that the altitude of Beichen is getting lower and lower, and the night before yesterday, Beichen was almost parallel to the sea, and I don't want to disappear today."
All the techniques of Yu pilotage, except for the compass, is the astrological technique, according to the North Star, the sun, the sun to determine the direction of navigation, now that the North Star has disappeared, it is difficult for the fleet to grasp the direction, and the North Star has disappeared, this is an unprecedented vision!
”Polaris is a bright star close to the sky of the North Sky, almost facing the earth's axis, all positions are almost unchanged, known as Beichen, Zigong, Ziweiyuan, the ancients believed that the God of Haotian resides here.Traditionally in China, people believe that the North Star has an extraordinary significance, as it is said in the Analects, "For the sake of government and virtue, such as the North Star, dwells in its place, and the stars arch over it." ”"Observation" contains: The North Star is in the Ziwei Palace, a North Star, the most respected star in the sky.Its new star is also the pivot of the sky.Fortune is endless, and the pole star does not move.Therefore, it is said: "Dwell in its place and the stars arch over it." ”The Beidou was considered by the ancients to be the system of the order of heaven and earth, the center of the incarnation of all things in heaven and earth, and also the emperor star, which remains unchanged in ancient times, once the Beidou is displaced, or the north star is dim, it is often regarded as a bad celestial image, either indicating a disaster, or indicating the fall of the emperor and the replacement of the dynasty.Therefore, when Ji Mengchen and Cheng Bi found out that Beidou had disappeared, they were both extremely shocked.After a burst of shock, Cheng Bi barely calmed down, at this time, he didn't have time to think about the premonition of Beichen's disappearance, a more realistic question that he needed to consider immediately, "Beichen is gone, can you use other stars to guide it?"
”Ji Mengchen hurriedly took out the star-holding board, looked at the sky, and then said in horror: "Sir, Taiyin's position has also changed.We're going to get lost. ”()