Great Song Super Scholar

Chapter 727
On the vast sea, a fleet of 30 ships with ten thousand stones is sailing through the waves. The fleet has been sailing on the sea for nearly [-] days, replenishing coke and fresh water in Luzon City and Rhinoceros City respectively. Now We are about to arrive at the third supply point, Nua Mei Island.

In addition to carrying Fan Ning's family and luggage, this fleet also carried 6000 Kunzhou horses, and [-] households from various places in the Song Dynasty who went to settle in the North Island, totaling about [-] people.

In addition, [-] tons of cotton and [-] barrels of syrup were purchased in Luzon.

The time when Fan Ning went to sea happened to be the period when the storm subsided, and the sea was relatively calm, but this calm was only compared to the violent wind and huge waves.

Fan Ning stood on the second deck with his hands behind his back, staring ahead. His boat was a giant ship of [-] stone, equipped with two steam engines and two propellers. After nearly a month of sailing, he clearly felt the Pros and cons of propellers.

The biggest advantage of the propeller is of course energy saving. Compared with the paddle wheel, it can save almost half of the coke, which greatly reduces the cost of long-distance voyages. This is very important for merchant ships, and the speed does not increase much. This is not the problem of the propeller, but the insufficient power of the steam engine.

But for the passengers, the biggest advantage is that there is no rumbling noise. The rotation of the paddle wheel is like thunder, which is unbearable for passengers. Without this noise, the journey becomes easier.

At this time, Zhu Pei walked up to Fan Ning and stood side by side with him. Fan Ning glanced at her and asked, "How is Brother Ouyang's family?"

The eldest brother Ouyang mentioned by Fan Ning is Ouyang Xiu's eldest son Ouyang Hua. He has resigned from his official position and followed Fan Ning to Bei Dao with his family.

This position was originally reserved for Su Liang, but Su Liang is now the fifth-rank prefect of Pingjiang. His family firmly opposed him resigning and following Fan Ning to go overseas, so Fan Ning had no choice but to leave it alone. They are senior officials of the fourth rank and have a bright future. It is still good for Fan Ning that they stay in Song Dynasty.

Zhu Pei said: "Brother Ouyang is a little seasick, but his wife and children are fine. The children are reading and writing together!"

Speaking of seasickness, Fan Ning suddenly thought of Cao Xiu, and quickly asked, "Is Axiu feeling better?"

Cao Xiu suffered severe seasickness and was tortured by the ups and downs of the waves. Fan Ning originally wanted her to recuperate in Luzon Mansion for a period of time, but Cao Xiu refused and had to let her go south with the boat.

Zhu Pei nodded, "Since yesterday, she has gotten used to it a little bit. After drinking some rice soup, she no longer vomits, but her face is still pale."

"After arriving in Beidao, it will take at least half a month of recuperation to recover."

Zhu Pei smiled again: "The children are very happy, talking and laughing all the way, nothing happened, my brother is also very quiet, but what surprised me the most is that my mother can still sit in front of the window and thread a needle. I was very nervous at first. worry about her."

Fan Ning laughed dumbly and said: "My father is a fisherman in Taihu Lake. How could she be seasick? Like my grandmother, she can still go out to sea by boat when she is almost 80 years old. Although her back is bent, but when she was young, she was a fisherman. I am used to the wind and waves on Taihu Lake, and my child can adapt quickly, so don't worry, among all the people, I am most worried about Sister Qian and Axiu."

"Sister Qian is fine, but she was a little seasick at first, and she will be fine after two days of rest in Luzon. Axiu is born with a weak constitution and is prone to seasickness. I'm afraid she won't be able to travel long distances in the future."

Fan Ning said lightly: "Then she will live in Beidao from now on!"

"Husband, are we really not going back to Song Dynasty?" Zhu Pei asked in a low voice.

Fan Ning gently embraced his wife's thin shoulders, and said with a smile, "How should I put it? If you are not afraid of the bumpy journey, you can go to Song Dynasty every year for vacation. We have houses in Quanzhou, Wu County and the capital, and we also have money shops. In addition, I also want to wait for Chu'er to go to Chunren Tangzu when he is 16 years old, study with him and take the imperial examination, I must leave a root in the Song Dynasty."

Of course Zhu Pei knew that the eldest son, Fan Jing, was going to inherit his father's business, so she didn't ask, but what about the other two sons?
"Qi'er and Zhou'er, what do you think?"

"Qi'er follows Uncle Mingren in business, and will often return to Song Dynasty. He will take care of the money shop in the capital. Zhou'er, I plan to let him practice martial arts, and he will be in charge of the navy in the future. He is the grandson of the Cao family and will be with Nandao. Get closer."

"Maybe my husband will have a son." Zhu Pei smiled shyly.

Fan Ning was startled, and looked at his wife in surprise, "You mean, you are pregnant."

"Hush! Keep your voice down, others will hear you."

Fan Ning was overjoyed, and quickly hugged his wife tighter and asked, "When did it happen?"

"I just felt it, but the reaction was very small, and I have a bland taste, so I'm afraid it will be greasy, and I'm afraid I will be a little lady again."

"Hehe! How are you, little lady, I like it best."

Zhu Pei rolled his eyes at him, "The two in the family have already been spoiled to the sky, and if there is another one, the family will be turned upside down."

"It doesn't matter if the daughter can be pampered a little, but the son must be strictly controlled, let's go! It's windy outside, let's go back to the cabin."

Zhu Pei nodded, took her husband's arm, and went back to the cabin together.

At noon the next day, the fleet arrived at Nuamei Island and moored at Suzaku City at the southernmost tip. Suzaku City was a supply army city built by Bei Dao in Nuamei. There were 200 troops stationed there. The army city was not big, with a circumference of ten miles. There are military camps and dozens of large warehouses in the city, and there are seven or eight camp prostitutes from Japan and the Three Buddha Kingdoms.

There is also a post house, which can accommodate more than a hundred people at the same time, can eat and bathe, and can sleep comfortably for a night. In short, it is a transit supply station with relatively complete facilities.

The land owned by Beidao is about [-] miles around, covered with coconut trees, and there are two streams and rivers flowing down from the mountains, which become the fresh water resources of the military city.

Hundreds of steps away from the city is the wharf, which is a bay, where the wind and the sea are calm, and the big ship anchors in the bay.

The commander of the military city was Zhu Ying, Fan Ning's former bodyguard. He heard that the lord was coming, so he rushed to the pier to meet him.

Fan Ning was very happy to see Zhu Ying, and asked about the other subordinates.

"We are very popular. Brother Hu is currently the commander of the capital. He commands the [-] soldiers on the island. The second is the commander of Songcheng, and the third is the commander of Yuecheng. I came here last year. This is the commander, and there are three hundred brothers in the city."

Fan Ning knows the situation of the North Island army. The Song army has withdrawn to the southern mainland. They have formed a North Island militia of 500 people. The weapons are divided into two major arms, the navy and the cavalry, and they are well-trained, paid very well, and their combat effectiveness is very strong.

This army is under the command of Fan Ning, but Fan Ning is not in the North Island, so Fan Mingren is in charge. The army has two main tasks, one is to defend the North Island, and the other is to escort the ship.

"It's not bad to get along with the Nuami people!"

"It's not bad. Their islands are rich in coconuts and sandalwood. They exchange them with us for food and pig iron. The coconut oil in the North Island is all refined from their coconuts."

"Are they still fighting the surrounding tribes?"

Zhu Ying nodded, "After we got our leather armor, swords, bows and arrows, our fighting power was so strong that we almost swept across the surrounding islands, and wiped out half of the tribes in just two years."

"What's in that shed?"

asked Fanning, pointing to a huge shed on the pier.

"My lord, it contains cupronickel ore."

Cupronickel ore is nickel ore. The reserves of nickel ore on Nuame Island are the largest in the world in later generations. Cupronickel is still a precious metal. Europeans especially value it, and its value is comparable to silver. European trade.

"Why not smelt it on the spot and transport the rough ingots back to the North Island?" Fan Ning asked puzzled.

"It's the meaning of the trading house. Maybe it's because they are afraid that the local natives will learn to smelt it, and it will be difficult to deal with it in the future!"

Fan Ning shook his head. This kind of thinking is wrong. If the natives are kept in a primitive state forever, they will always be a threat. It is the right way to gradually integrate them into the Han people and evolve into a farming nation. He will discuss this matter in the future. Akihito have a good talk.

Fan Ning asked his family to go to the city to rest, and let other people go ashore to rest. He said to Zhu Ying, "Take me to see their tribe."

Zhu Ying led fifty soldiers and together with Fan Ning, rode to the Nuami tribe hundreds of miles away.

(End of this chapter)