1983Fishing and Farming between Mountains and Seas

Chapter 320: New vessel's first deep-sea fishing
Liang's father thought for a while, selected a few people, and talked to Liang Ziqiang, planning to talk to them in a few days.

After chatting for a while, it was time to go to the shrimp pond to feed the shrimps. Halfway through carrying the bucket, I saw a figure like a big bear coming from the opposite side.

"Brother Qiang, you haven't been out to sea much recently. When will the new ship be put into operation?" Deng Zhaocai walked up to him and greeted him.

"Let's wait until July is over. There are still many things to get familiar with on the new ship, and we'll be able to go out to sea in August! Are you okay with going out to sea with Li Liang recently?" Liang Ziqiang asked.

"We only catch a few small fish from time to time, but the income is not that much." Deng Zhaocai looked a little disappointed. "Now it's not just Liangzi and I, but three of us."

"Three? Who else? Are they all on Li Liang's boat?" Liang Ziqiang has been running to the city recently and didn't pay much attention to these things.

Deng Zhaocai nodded:
"Doesn't his wife Yuan Xiaomei have a younger brother, Yuan Lijun? He is old enough to go to sea now. Yuan Xiaomei's parents told Liangzi to let Yuan Lijun come to Liangzi's boat to help and go to sea together. After all, he is his brother-in-law, so how can Liangzi refuse? So he let Lijun go to sea with him!"

So that's how it is. It's really hard for Li Liang to shirk responsibility for this matter.

"Does Li Liang feel pressured to pay two wages?" Liang Ziqiang asked.

"Liangzi didn't say anything. You know, Lijun definitely has no experience in fishing and isn't very capable at his job. But that kid doesn't think so himself! He's not good at doing things, but he's the best at talking. Usually on the boat, not only does he not listen to me, he also always says weird things to me, which are very irritating. There's nothing to say about Liangzi, but Lijun and I really can't get along!" Deng Zhaocai looked helpless and complained bitterly.

"What should we do then?" Liang Ziqiang also felt troubled.

He knew a little about Yuan Lijun. He wasn't a bad person, but he was a bit rude and not easy to get along with.

"I told Liangzi the day before yesterday that his boat doesn't actually need three people, and having more people would be a waste of his wages. From today on, I will not accompany him to the sea, so as not to make it difficult for him on the boat. Every time he speaks for me, Lijun gets unhappy, and how uncomfortable does it make him?" Deng Zhaocai said.

"You don't help him anymore?"

"No help. Brother Qiang, the new boat you bought is quite big. Do you need a few more people to help? I came here today specifically to ask you. If you need help, how about including me?" Deng Zhaocai spoke frankly and asked while looking at him.

"It's definitely a great thing that you can come! Also, regarding the matter between you and Li Liang, I will chat with Liangzi later. You came here from his place to help, so you should speak frankly and clearly, and don't hide any unhappiness!" Liang Ziqiang said immediately.

This is what he really wanted to say. Just a moment ago, he was discussing with his father about finding a few reliable and capable helpers. If Deng Zhaocai could come, it would be the best.

After dealing with him for so long, he is still clear that although Deng Zhaocai is rough, he is really honest and sincere to his friends. He is not the kind of person who would easily have bad intentions towards his brothers.

With Zhu Tianpeng and Deng Zhaocai on board, Liang Ziqiang can basically feel at ease. Even if the other crew members are not so familiar with each other, they are unlikely to cause any trouble.

But on the other hand, he felt it was still necessary to communicate with Li Liang and make things clear so as not to make things unclear. Then Deng Zhaocai switched to work on his boat.

After talking to Deng Zhaocai, Liang Ziqiang went to the east of the village. At present, the shrimp fry are still small, and they only need to feed them with Artemia worms from the abandoned salt pans every day. If they are over a period of time, they will have to consider using peanut bran and feeding them together with Artemia worms.

When I came back from feeding the shrimps in the shrimp pond, it was getting dark and I met another person on the road. This time it was Li Liang.

Unexpectedly, after a few casual words, Li Liang also talked about Deng Zhaocai.

It was roughly the same as what Deng Zhaocai said. Li Liang felt that Yuan Lijun was a kid with too many tricks up his sleeve, and Deng Zhaocai didn't want to embarrass him, so he quit.

It can be heard that Li Liang felt very sorry for Deng Zhaocai about this matter, so he came to Liang Ziqiang privately to see if Liang Ziqiang's ship needed any people, and whether Deng Zhaocai could be asked to help as a crew member.

Since Li Liang took the initiative to come to him to discuss this matter, the conversation opened up and Liang Ziqiang agreed.

A few days later, Liang's father found two more helpers and basically settled the contract.

In a blink of an eye, July has almost passed, Liang Ziqiang's training has ended, and little Jingcheng has been born for one month.

On July 7, Liang Ziqiang held a simple full-month banquet.

It was called a full-moon banquet, but in fact, it was just a few relatives coming over to have a meal together.

According to custom, the father-in-law and mother-in-law brewed rice wine in advance and brought it over on the full moon day. Liang's mother and Chen Xiangbei made a lot of red-shell eggs in advance and gave them to the relatives to take home and eat.

The date for Liang Ziqiang's new ship to be launched was also decided. Lin Quansheng suggested that it would be best to launch the ship on the fifth day of the seventh lunar month, which was August 8st in the Gregorian calendar.

Soon, August 8st arrived.

As usual, Liang Ziqiang and his family came to the Mazu Temple in the village early in the morning, prepared offerings, and worshipped Mazu together.

It has been more than a month since Chen Xiangbei gave birth and she is able to walk around again.

Even little Cheng Cheng, who had just turned one month old, was held in the arms and joined in worshipping Mazu.

After the worship, Liang Ziqiang placed the new ship model that Liu the carpenter had made in advance in the temple as usual, to be looked after by Mazu at any time.

After worshipping Mazu, we came to the beach.

The huge new steel ship has been tied with a red cloth in advance. The morning sun is fresh enough to illuminate the sea surface, and at the same time, it uses its light to measure every inch of the gray-blue skin of the big steel ship.

Morning light, big ship, coastline, small fishing village. Because of the appearance of this ship, the entire coast of Pomwang Village seems to have changed, forming a new composition.

"It's so big! It's so much bigger than the previous boat. I've never seen such a big boat!" Chen Xiangbei brought him chickens, fish and other offerings. Seeing his own boat up close, he couldn't help but sigh to him.

"If it's fully loaded, it can hold more than 40 tons of fish!" Liang Ziqiang said as he took the chicken and fish from his wife's hand.

His wife was really bold and said with a smile: "Okay, okay, then you can open the shop with a full load and catch 40 tons of fish!"

Liang Ziqiang sweated a little.

Is this considered a wish for the first day of opening? My wife probably has no idea about the catch. How scary is 40 tons of fish? Let's talk about it. Who can do that?
Liang Ziqiang took the chicken and fish from his wife's hand and put them on the bow of the boat, and began to prepare to launch the boat.

Since the water at the small pier is shallow and the water at the large pier is deep, the new ship did not berth at the small pier as before, but directly docked at the large pier.

Moreover, such a large ship could not be pushed to the beach by manpower, so an important step was missing in the opening ceremony.

There is no need to work together to push the new boat into the water.

Of course, this kind of steel ship does not have the "dragon eye" structure like a wooden boat, so the ship owner can also save the trouble of using a brush to "add finishing touches".

However, as usual, we asked Teacher Lu to write many auspicious words and post them on important locations on the ship.

When the auspicious time arrived, Liang Ziqiang unveiled the red cloth tied around the boat amid the blast of firecrackers, performed the worship at the bow, and then started the boat.

Zhu Tianpeng, Deng Zhaocai and three other crew members have also taken their positions on the ship.

The sea is like a piece of natural blue silk, which is being cut away bit by bit by the steel scissors of the "Zi Qiang"...

Among the crowd, the most curious person was probably Liang Jingcheng.

Little Cheng Cheng was held in his grandmother's arms. When he saw so many people around him, he couldn't help but get excited. He babbled and no one knew what he wanted to express.

After a while, his attention was focused on the huge iron ship covered with red cloth. His dark eyes moved around, as if he could not understand what the huge thing in front of him was.

As he looked at it, I don't know what he was so excited about, but the "oh" sounds from his mouth became louder and his little hands were clenched into fists.

His grandmother was so happy that she seemed to be clenching her fist and cheering for his father.

Later, considering that firecrackers were about to be set off, his grandmother hurriedly picked him up and left the shore early.

While walking back, little Chengcheng still felt unsatisfied and kept turning his head to look in the direction of the big ship.

When I was halfway there, a brown dog trotted over.

Today is the first day of the new ship's opening, so it is not suitable to take the dog out to sea. Therefore, Liang Ziqiang deliberately left Duobao at home, coaxed it with food, and then set off for the beach.

At this moment, Duobao ran out of the house by himself, wagging his tail at Liang's mother and Xiao Chengcheng on the way.

This dog had sharp eyes. After shaking for a while, he looked up at the distant seashore and suddenly found Liang Ziqiang preparing to board the boat.

In an instant, as if he was suddenly equipped with a motor, he left Liang's mother behind and ran madly towards the beach.

"This stupid dog..." Liang's mother had only cursed halfway when she realized that Duobao had already run away and only a tiny silhouette was left.

As the firecrackers blasted, Duobao passed through and leaped through the gray smoke and fireworks and rushed towards the big ship.

Unfortunately, by the time it arrived, the ship had already started sailing.

If Chen Xiangbei hadn't called out to it, it would probably have jumped into the sea and chased after it.

After being called, it stood on the shore with a wronged look on its face, grumbling to the ship, barking and complaining:

You've changed! You don't even take the dog out to play! I'll never let you go when you come back!
Amid the mixed sounds of firecrackers and dogs, the big steel ship sailed farther and farther away, and the sea and sky seemed to open up before our eyes.

Along the way, although we didn't encounter any large schools of fish, we would occasionally see some scattered fish.

"Brother Qiang, do you want to lower the net? I see some fish on the surface of the water, and there may be more in the middle and bottom layers!"

Deng Zhaocai ran to the cockpit and asked Liang Ziqiang who was driving the boat.

"Don't be anxious. Since we have driven the boat out, we must try it in the deep sea!" Liang Ziqiang turned his head and said.

Deng Zhaocai ran back to the deck, went to the bow, and looked out with Zhu Tianpeng.

The big steel ship continued to move forward calmly and steadily on the sea. On the way, Guanqi Island was seen in the distance, but the big ship did not stop at all. Soon Guanqi Island was left behind the ship, shrinking into a small dot until it disappeared completely.

The boat had reached the outermost range they could normally reach. As they moved forward, Liang Ziqiang felt his heart instinctively tighten for some reason.

He understood that this was a habit that had already formed in his mind. Although he had been to the deep sea on a state-owned ship before, this was the first time he had personally driven a ship to the deep sea.

Normally, when I was driving the lotus-patterned wooden boat, once I approached this edge range, I would stop subconsciously, like pulling a horse off a cliff, and then turn around and return.

Over time, an invisible and insurmountable boundary has been engraved in my heart.

Now I have to steer the steering wheel, break through the invisible boundary in one fell swoop and continue moving forward. It is inevitable that my mind will be tense.

But it was just a matter of a second. He took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. The big ship had already broken through the farthest range of the previous lotus pattern ship and entered the border area between shallow sea and deep sea.

This transition zone is not just a small area, but almost a vast sea area.

In addition to the sea and sky becoming more and more boundless and vast, there is another obvious change along the way, that is, the color of the sea water.

Although the waters in the seas where he had been active and fishing in the past were generally blue, compared to the sea surface before his eyes now, the blue was not as pure and thorough.

If you look closely at the shallow sea water, you can actually see some green in the blue, and in some places it is even yellow.

However, in the scene before our eyes, the blueness of the sea is getting deeper and deeper, and more and more pure and flawless.

After walking for a while, the sea surface was as blue as ink.

Occasionally, you can see fish floating on the surface with your naked eyes. What is very different from the usual pictures is that a long back emerges from the waves. Although you can't see the true appearance of the whole fish, you can imagine that the size of the fish is definitely not comparable to what you can usually see in the shallow sea.

It can be said that we have now completely entered the real deep sea area.

"Get ready, we'll start casting the nets in a few minutes! Apeng led everyone to check the net-casting equipment and nets. The nets and ropes must be clearly visible, and you must not step on the ropes or nets!"

Liang Ziqiang opened the glass window on the side of the cabin and communicated loudly with others.

In fact, he had already told the crew members the relevant precautions many times, but he still reminded them specifically at this moment.

Because these matters are so important. If a crew member is not careful and stands on the net or inside the rope, he or she may not be able to avoid the net in time when casting it, and the trawl net may be dragged into the sea together with the trawl net.

"Okay, got it!" Zhu Tianpeng made a received gesture, and he had already moved from the bow to the stern. The person at the bow was replaced by Lin Liming, who was in charge of lookout.

After checking that everyone was in the correct position, Zhu Tianpeng quickly ran back to the front and middle part of the ship, to the trawl operating table.

Fortunately, strictly speaking, none of the people on the ship were new. Deng Zhaocai, Lu Song, Lin Liming, and Liang Chun had all worked on state-owned ships before. Not to mention Zhu Tianpeng, who had just recently received a full month of training with Liang Ziqiang, all of which were practical training on the ship.

Liang Ziqiang has gradually slowed down the boat speed to a level just suitable for casting the net.

A brand new net bag, like a huge dark green bag, has been coiled at the stern of the boat.

Liang Ziqiang shouted: "Let's lower the net!"

On the trawl operating table, Zhu Tianpeng operated the machinery.

For a large ship of this size, fishing nets cannot be thrown into the water behind the ship by manpower alone; they require machinery.

As Zhu Tianpeng operated, the steel cable on the stern winch slid slowly. The stern winch was connected to the trawl net by winding the cable around the pulley on the stern gantry. As it slid, the trawl was mechanically dragged into the stern slideway and then slid into the sea.

The entire trawl net was very long and originally coiled up. Now, as the end entered the water, the entire huge and long net began to loosen little by little and slid off the boat board.

First the net bag was put into the water, followed by the net body, and then the net wings.

Gradually the entire trawl was lowered into the water, swaying in the waves at the stern of the boat and gradually lengthening.

After the net bag, net body and net wings are launched into the water, it is the turn of the rope part.

The cables are all extremely thick steel wire ropes, which connect the trawl to the hull and are also used to pull this huge "green pocket".

First is the rope close to the wing part of the net, called the empty rope.

After Kong Gang falls into the water, going forward is Shou Gang.

After the hand gang fell into the water, the next step was a very important one - placing the net board.

The mesh plates, also called "water dividing plates", are two large iron plates, as tall as half an adult's body.

The fishing net is dragged in the water behind the boat, and there is no guarantee that it will open on its own. The important function of the "water divider" is to push the wings of the net to open to both sides.

When a fishing boat drags a fishing net, the water flow will push the net plate to expand outward at a certain angle, and the fishing net will naturally be driven to fully open the net mouth.

The nets were now tied to both sides of the boat. The two people responsible for putting up the nets were Lu Song and Deng Zhaocai.

The two men had been waiting next to the net, and seeing that the time was right, they immediately loosened the straps, carried the heavy net to a flat area inside the boat, and fastened the net to the towing line with iron buckles.

Soon, the two nets, one on the left and one on the right, fell into the water in sync, splashing water.

If one goes ahead and the other behind, and they are not synchronized, it will be difficult to achieve the ideal expansion effect, and it may even cause the fishing net to become entangled.

After the net board was launched, the towing rope continued to slide into the sea. The towing rope is particularly long and is the part closest to the hull of all the ropes. It is also made of thick steel wire rope.

The entire towing line does not have to be put into the water; it depends on the specific circumstances of each time the net is released.

Seeing that the fireworks were almost finished, Liang Ziqiang shouted "Stop".

Zhu Tianpeng also braked immediately and the trawl winch stopped turning immediately.

There are still many steel cables that have not been put into the water, still wrapped around the winch in circles. They are temporarily fixed and do not need to be lowered into the water.

At this point, the entire process of launching the trawling net was successfully completed.

Liang Ziqiang also withdrew his gaze from the stern and looked back at the front of the ship.

He began to restore the boat's speed, gradually increasing from the extremely slow speed when he just cast the net to a pace of 3 to 5 nautical miles per hour, heading towards the sea.

When a big fish appears, he will deliberately adjust the course and head in the corresponding direction, so that the huge trawl behind the boat will quietly pass where the big fish appears...

(The structural diagram of the trawling steel boat has been posted in the "Chapter Comments" section below. Note: Liang Ziqiang's actual structure is slightly simpler than the one shown below, and does not have a fish detection signal system.)
(End of this chapter)