Water Margin people

"I'm afraid that when the fog clears, there will be storms. There's no clear harbor here. If we run ashore and encounter storms, we'll probably run aground!"

Zhang Shun said that their ironclad ships were too large and had to be docked at regular ports. They dared not approach ordinary coasts. Each ship cost as much as 500,000 silver coins and they could not afford the loss.

Ruan Xiaoqi looked at Li Jun. Among the three of them, Li Jun had the most experience in long-distance sailing, and he wanted to hear Li Jun's opinion.

"I don't know about that either. Every sea area has its own characteristics. This place is too far away from the sea areas I know, so I can't judge by experience at all!"

Li Jun spoke up. He also wanted to offer some constructive suggestions, but the problem was that he didn't know much about this sea area.

"Then we can't dock. Send out orders. The vanguard fleet will fan out to explore the way. The fleet will slow down and the ships will line up and move forward. The distance between them cannot exceed 100 meters. The radio station will be open and any situation will be reported immediately!"

Ruan Xiaoqi gave the order that if the fleet could not dock, they could only move forward slowly. No matter how large the fog was, there was always a way to get through it, and as long as there was wind on the sea, the fog would dissipate.

The fleet quickly adjusted its formation, with smaller ships fanning out in front of the fleet, ships close to the coast keeping their distance from the coast, and other ships detecting whether there were any reefs beneath the sea.

After a day and a night of sailing, the army finally got out of the thick fog area.

"Finally the sun is shining!"

Looking at the clear sky, Ruan Xiaoqi and Zhang Shun were in a good mood, only Li Jun looked at the west without saying a word.

"What happened? Did you find anything?"

Ruan Xiaoqi looked at Li Jun and asked.

"Seventh Brother, the sun sets over there, that should be the horizon!"

Li Jun pointed to the sea in the west and said, "It was already afternoon and the sun was setting, and it would soon go down."

"Is this the legendary West Sea?"

Zhang Shun asked, the sun rises in the east and sets in the west. In the past, there was an endless desert Gobi to the west, but now, there is also the sea to the west.

"Once things are settled here, you can lead the fleet westward."

Ruan Xiaoqi spoke up and said that he was actually a little envious of Li Jun because he also wanted to join this great voyage, but the war was urgent and as the naval marshal he could not leave.

"Actually, I still have a question!"

Li Jun spoke.

"Any questions you have?"

Ruan Xiaoqi and Zhang Shun looked at Li Jun and asked, they also wanted to know something about the sea.

"Our voyage this time is very similar to my voyage in the Far East Continent. We both sailed in a straight line and then turned south, but the distance is wrong. Even if we take into account the difference between our Qi State and here, the distance of this voyage is much shorter."

"You two know that I went all the way south from the Far East Continent until I saw the strait between the southern part of the continent and the glacial continent in the extreme south."

"But we didn't see anything this time. We are still far away from the glacier continent in the extreme south, which can be felt from the temperature."

"In the southern part of the Far East Continent, it's already so cold that we have to wear thick clothes, but here we feel like it's summer, which shows how far we are from each other."

Li Jun spoke.

"So the two continents are not symmetrical!"

Ruan Xiaoqi reacted immediately.

"Yes, so on the nautical chart, this continent should be moved to the south!"

Li Jun pointed to the nautical chart that had just been drawn. The continent in the west was drawn too far to the south.

"Write it down and revise it when you get back!"

Ruan Xiaoqi nodded and asked the soldier who was drawing the map to take note of it.

The fleet's subsequent voyage was very smooth, with sunny days all the way. After thirty days of sailing, the temperature changed from hot to cool.

"Report, a strait has been discovered ahead!"

A soldier ran over and shouted, holding a telegram in his hand.

Ruan Xiaoqi, Zhang Shun and Li Jun immediately shifted their gazes over, and Ruan Xiaoqi took the telegram.

"A strait leading into the Mediterranean Sea was discovered a hundred miles ahead, and they also caught a few tongues, confirming it!"

Ruan Xiaoqi said excitedly. "Haha, we are finally here."

Zhang Shun breathed a sigh of relief. They had been away from the Red Sea for more than two months. The long voyage made them feel uneasy. This time they were not on an exploratory voyage, they were going to support the front line. If they missed the battle, they would be ashamed to see anyone. They did not want to repeat Li Guang's mistakes.

"All troops advance, they have discovered the port, let's take it first!"

Ruan Xiaoqi gave the order.

Port of Tangier.

The once bustling port has become extremely deserted. It mainly relied on trade with the northern continent for its livelihood. Now that the Black Death is spreading in the northern continent, the entire shipping has come to a standstill. Without merchant ships coming to the port, it has become deserted.

In the port, the sailors were basking in the sun on the boat out of boredom. It was noon now and they had just woken up, so they were waiting for the sun to go down before going to the tavern for a drink. If they met a cheap woman, it would be nice to spend a night there.

"If this continues I won't even have money for a drink!"

A sun-bathing sailor complained.

"You should have gone to Dana's place several times earlier. You even wanted to sell your saber!"

Several sailors nearby started to joke.

"Haha, you guys don't say that, that little girl Dana is really awesome!"

The sailor who spoke first laughed.

"Only you would like to weigh more than 200 kilograms!"

The other sailors also laughed.

The sailors began to joke with each other, and when they had nothing to do, they would just gossip.

"Do you have any wine? Bring me some!"

A sailor suggested that they couldn't stand just chatting without wine.

"The people on the boat have finished drinking!"

The other sailors said that they had not been out to sea for several months and there was no wine on the ship.

"Look for it, maybe we can find the captain's hidden treasure!"

Some sailors suggested that they were craving for wine and didn't care about the captain anymore, as the captain had gone to the city lord's mansion and wouldn't be back for a while.

A group of sailors began to search through all the boxes and cabinets on the ship.

"what is that?"

A sailor suddenly looked up outside the port and saw black spots appearing on the coastline.

"Fleet? Where are these ships from?"

“Why is there still smoke?”

"I've never seen it before!"

……

All the sailors were staring blankly outside the port. There had been no ships entering the port for a month, so how come so many strange ships suddenly came?

"Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu"

The alarm horn sounded on the lighthouse outside the port. It was both an alarm and a warning. The port of Tangier had already been closed and no ships were allowed to enter.

But the Qi fleet ignored the horn on the lighthouse and headed straight for the port of Tangier.

"So many ships! So many!"

The guards on the lighthouse looked at the approaching ironclad ships in horror. At first, when they were far away, they thought there were only a few ships, but as the fleet got closer, they realized there were actually hundreds of them, all huge ships that they had never seen before.

"woo woo woo woo!"

The horn sounded quickly, and the soldiers began to frantically warn the port, trying to tell the port that the enemy was coming. (End of this chapter)