Daming Crazy Emperor

Chapter 264 200 years

The Daming Fleet finally set out to sea.

More than two hundred large and small warships were scattered on the sea surface with a radius of dozens of miles like a big disc, slowly heading south.

This time it was the real voyage, because the fleet no longer sailed with reference to the coastline, they used a compass.

The entire fleet no longer circled around the coastline. They were sailing straight south on the sea more than a hundred miles away from the coastline.

On the top of the three-storey gun tower of the Longya battleship, Taichang sat in the pilothouse surrounded by glass windows, watching Yuan Keli, Shen Yourong, Zhang Yuanfang and other naval generals comparing each other with compass, marking and calculating the course on the chart, I can't help feeling a lot in my heart.

More than two hundred years have passed since Zheng He's first voyage to the West, and the fleet of the Daming Navy has finally set out again!
If the Daming Navy has always had an invincible fleet like the Yongle Dynasty, how could mere Japanese pirates come to the coast of Daming.

If the Ming Navy has been running across the world like the Yongle Dynasty, how can the mere European barbarians dominate Nanyang!
It's a pity that since the Yongle Dynasty, Daming has abolished his martial arts, and he abolished the world's invincible navy!
For more than two hundred years, the Daming Navy has never even been to the South Seas, let alone the West Sea, which is thousands of miles away.

At this moment, the officers and men of the Daming Navy were a little unfamiliar with navigation, even Yuan Keli and Shen Yourong, who had the most experience, were nervously staring at the compass and chart, for fear of making a slight mistake.

Even, they sent more than ten wheel boats to cycle between the coastline and the navy fleet, constantly reporting the current approximate location of the navy fleet.

They are really a little nervous, because as long as they deviate a little when sailing at sea, they may deviate from the channel by hundreds of miles in one day, and thousands of miles in ten days. If they sail off the channel for a month or two, the whole The fleet may have sailed into the endless ocean, and there is no land to be found anywhere!
Fortunately, Daming's navigation technology was still very advanced. At least the compass and charts were fine. Moreover, it's not that Ming has no ships to go to sea in the past two hundred years. .

Yuan Keli and Shen Yourong just lack the experience of sailing in the open sea at the moment.

They stared at the compass and compared the chart nervously for a long time, and after rechecking the approximate position reported by the wheels back and forth for an unknown number of times, they finally relaxed, and their confidence finally returned to their faces.

Yuan Keli let out a long breath, then bowed his hands and said, "Your Majesty, there shouldn't be any problems. We haven't deviated from the course all this time. These compasses are still very reliable."

Taichang nodded slightly, and then encouraged: "You don't need to be so nervous, this is still the sea area of ​​Daming, there are still many islands around for reference, even if you deviate from the waterway, it's okay.

When Zheng He led his fleet to the Western Ocean, he dared to sail tens of thousands of miles in unfamiliar waters, reaching Persia and even Levia, the hometown of the Kunlun slaves. We have nothing to be afraid of sailing in the waters of Daming.

Anyway, it's only four or five days' voyage away from Zhejiang and Fujian, and it's sunny and sunny, and there are no storms at sea at all. You just have to boldly try the voyage, don't be afraid. "

Yuan Keli heard the words, nodded again and again and said: "Your Majesty, we have almost tried to use the compass to navigate the waterway at the moment, why don't you let General Shen and the others practice the ship formation? We want to send hundreds or even thousands of pirate ships to the sea. The top of the ship is on the periphery, and the change of the ship formation is the key."

Drill the boat array?

OK!

To be honest, Taichang really didn't see any changes in the ship formation, because they used to sail near the coastline, and there was no room for the ship formation at all.

He immediately picked up the binoculars and said with great interest: "General Shen, let's start."

Shen Yourong heard the words, and quickly said loudly: "The standard bearer is in place."

The five flag bearers outside the cab hurried to the position of giving orders.

There is no remote communication device at the moment, and the command of the fleet at sea depends on the semaphore of the flag bearer to issue orders.

Five standard bearers were soon in place, four of them stood at the four corners, and the other stood in the middle of the top deck.

Shen Yourong beckoned to Zhang Yuanfang, signaling Zhang Yuanfang to follow him to the left and right sides of the helmsman, then took out the binoculars to scan around, and then ordered loudly: "The fleet slows down, tightens up, and prepares to change formation."

The flag bearer standing in the middle, that is, next to the driver's cab, immediately raised the command flag and waved it a few times. The flag bearers around saw that he had finished typing the flag language, turned around immediately, faced the four directions, and waved the command flag in their hands.

Soon, the Spike warships around the flagship began to gather towards the center.

Immediately afterwards, the outer wheels also appeared within a few miles around the flagship.

There is no way, at this moment, the only way to know how to change the formation is to see the command flag. Therefore, if you want to change the formation, you must first gather all the warships within sight.

Shen Yourong raised the binoculars to scan around again, and then ordered decisively: "The wheel, right in front, a long snake array to stop the enemy."

After waving the command flag, the outer wheels immediately gathered in front of the fleet. After about a quarter of an hour, nearly two hundred wheels lined up in front of the entire fleet.

To be honest, the reaction speed of these wheels is not very fast, and the arrangement is not very neat. However, it is good to be able to change formations according to the instructions. Faster and better.

The entire fleet just kept changing its formation and sailed slowly south.

During this day, they sailed for about seven or eight hours, and they traveled a total of about five hundred miles.

However, Taichang didn't rush to urge Yuan Keli and Shen Yourong to advance at full speed.

Because it is very likely that they will encounter a pirate fleet when they rush to the Zhejiang waters. At this time, it is natural to practice more, otherwise, they will mess up when encountering a pirate fleet, which will be dangerous.

You must know that these pirates have been running around in the open sea all year round. In terms of combat experience in the open sea, they must be better than the Daming Navy who has been closed to the coastline for nearly 200 years.

That night, Taichang even ordered the entire fleet to drop anchor more than a hundred miles away from the coastline, and took the risk of trying to spend the night on the sea.

As a result, when I woke up the next morning, I saw that the wheels on the outside and the warships on the inside were floating in a mess, everywhere, and they didn't form a formation at all.

Fortunately, these warships were all strung together with cables, even if they floated in a mess, they did not float too far away from the flagship.

Otherwise, if these warships without compass drifted too far away from the flagship, they would be lost at sea.

And the result of the sea trek is very likely to starve to death or even die of thirst!
Seeing the situation, Taichang immediately discussed with Yuan Keli, Shen Yourong and others.

It is unavoidable to spend the night at sea in this open sea voyage, because there are no islands for thousands of miles in some waterways, let alone land.

So, how to prevent individual ships from drifting away from the fleet and getting lost at sea?

It seems difficult to avoid the chariot and the Spike, because the hull of the chariot and the Spike is not big enough, the rope connected to the anchor is not long enough, and the anchor cannot reach the bottom of the sea, and it cannot stop at all!
Therefore, if you leave the waters of Daming and really sail in the open sea, it is best not to bring such a small boat with less than a thousand materials, even if you do not bring too much, and when you spend the night on the sea at night, you have to use all these small boats with cables. Tie it firmly around the big boat, otherwise, once it floats away, it is very likely that it will not come back.

In short, this is the first time that the Daming Fleet has sailed in the open sea for nearly 200 years. There are many things to experience and a lot of experience to sum up.

All the navy generals have to keep trying and summing up, so that they can slowly pick up the things that Daming has lost for more than two hundred years.

(End of this chapter)