Back to the prosperous Tang Dynasty to be the emperor

Chapter 493 The Sound of the Sea (2)

"Uncle Tiger, look quickly, the lighthouse, the Lighthouse of Alexandria, we are here, we are here, Uncle Tiger, we are really here!"

On the watchtower of the Weiyuan, Wang Yuanzheng, the second son of Wang Haibin, holding a telescope in his hand, is watching the endless sea level with great interest. Suddenly, a tower tip rises slowly from the sea level, just falling on When Wang Yuanzheng came into sight, he immediately roared with excitement. The roar didn't matter, and all the sailors on the ship cheered for him. Immediately, the cheers roared across the huge fleet like a whirlwind, The sound waves rolled and rushed straight to the sky, and the many seabirds that shuttled between the fleets all flew to high places in panic.

"It's here, it's finally here!"

The entire fleet cheered, but the captain, Lin Hu, did not follow suit. He stood alone on the bow of the ship, staring at the ever-growing Lighthouse of Alexandria with wet eyes, and bursts of excitement rolled in his heart. It was not easy, the seven months of sea expedition, the hardships in it are hard to describe—even though Li Xian specially sent Le Sihui, the governor of Hangzhou, to dissuade him before the trip, Lin Hu still insisted on going with the ship Not only that, he also chose the most difficult and lengthy Dashi route instead of the relatively safer Wa country route.This journey has not only been baptized by violent storms, but also experienced several bloody battles in Puluozhong (today's Singapore), in Lasamurai (today's Sumatra), and in Shendu (today's India), in order to establish The camp has often had conflicts with the local natives, and has also fought several battles with poisonous pirates in the Indian Ocean. Although none of the six accompanying warships were sunk, they were all scarred and scarred. Thousands of elite soldiers, deducting more than [-] people who stayed behind in various camps, now there are only a little over a thousand left, and more than [-] soldiers have been buried on the long journey, and now, they are finally about to reach the purpose of this trip It's over, why is Lin Hu not very excited, but as the commander, he is proud of the majesty of the commander, even though Lin Hu's eyes are full of tears, he doesn't want to show any disrespect, just stands quietly on the bow , the burly figure is as steady as a mountain!

"Uncle Hu, the voyage will land in half a day. Hehe, my nephew has heard my father talk about the prosperity of Alexandria. This time I can see it with my own eyes!"

Wang Yuanzheng is only twenty years old, and he went to sea with his father three years ago to seek a living, but he has never been to Dashi, and he has only sailed the Dongying route twice, but in the past, he has heard a lot from veterans in the fleet. The prosperity of Alexandria has long been longing for in his heart. Seeing that the destination is approaching, he was extremely excited. He slid down the mast with cheers, and almost jumped to Lin Hu's side, talking excitedly.

"Pay attention to vigilance, pass the order, all the frigates will immediately raise the warning flag, and divide the left and right columns to escort the fleet forward!"

For the lively and active Wang Yuanzheng, Lin Hu has always liked Wang Yuanzheng very much. Because he likes him, he has strict requirements on him. Glancing at him, he ordered in a calm voice.

"Yes!"

After being stared at by Lin Hu, Wang Yuanzheng realized that he seemed to be a little too excited. He didn't dare to neglect him, so he hurriedly answered, turned around, stuck out his tongue secretly, and jumped up swiftly with his hands and feet. After getting on the mast, he untied the two small flags, one red and one white, hanging on the watchtower, and quickly issued a series of semaphores. The originally slightly messy fleet immediately began to adjust, but saw six warships sailing slowly. The fleet, divided into left and right, guarded a dense formation of thirty merchant ships in the middle, and sailed towards Alexandria at full speed... Alexandria was founded in [-] BC, according to its founder Alexander the Great named it as the seat of the viceroy of the Egyptian province of the Macedonian Empire at that time.After the death of Alexander the Great, Ptolemy, the governor of Egypt, established the Ptolemy dynasty here and was crowned Ptolemy I. Alexandria became the capital of the Kingdom of Egypt and soon became the largest city in ancient Greek culture. Among them, its size and wealth are second only to Rome; in [-] AD, King Kosloes II of Persia occupied Alexandria.Although the Byzantine Emperor Heraclius reoccupied Alexandria a few years later, in [-] AD the Arab general Amr ibn al-As captured Alexandria after besieging Alexandria for [-] months. Controlled by the Umayyad Dynasty, it was the center of ancient European and Eastern trade and the hub of cultural exchanges. The only naval fleet of the Umayyad Dynasty was stationed here.

As a hub of commerce and trade, it is naturally a prosperous place where thousands of merchants gather. There are more than a hundred ships entering and leaving the port every day, as few as dozens. There are ships from various countries in Europe, Asia and Africa, but all of them are small and medium-sized cargo ships. In terms of ship type, it is far less than half of the cargo ship of the "Wang Ji Company". Because of this, when the huge fleet of more than [-] giant ships of the "Wang Ji Company" appeared in the eyes of the lookout post on the lighthouse, it caused panic. It is also conceivable that before the Datang fleet approached Faroe Island, the port was already in chaos. Amidst the sound of drums and horns, more than a hundred small and medium-sized warships of the Dashi Fleet rushed out of the anchorage in disorder. , led by the flagship "Rose", hastily lined up to meet the enemy, and slowly pushed towards the Datang Fleet, but he was very cautious in his actions, obviously deterred by the mighty momentum of the Datang Fleet up.

"Stop the ship, let down half the sails, and the crossbowmen of each battleship are ready!"

Lin Hu is a cautious person. Although he is here to do business with the cannibals, he has to guard against the greed of the cannibal fleet. Seeing the cannibal fleet slowly approaching, Lin Hu dare not He ignored it, raised his hand, and issued an order to prepare for battle, but instead of sailing forward, he stopped the entire fleet and lowered half of the sails to show that there was no hostility from his side.

Perhaps seeing the lowering of the sails of the Datang Fleet, the Food Fleet did not push forward any more, but stopped at a position half a mile away from the Datang Fleet. Rowing out from the food fleet, besides the six sailors on board, there were two middle-aged men standing on the ship, one of them was white and fat, wearing robes, he seemed to be an official of the port , and the other is wearing a chain armor, holding his hand on the handle of the scimitar, obviously a military general.

"Crackling..."

The speed of the small boat was very fast, and within a few moments, it had rowed directly in front of the flagship "Weiyuan" where Lin Hu was, but the fat official raised his head vigorously and pointed at Lin Hu who was standing at the bow. It was a bird's cry, the speed of the speech was extremely fast, and there was an unconcealable tension in the voice.

"What is that guy talking about?"

Lin Hu didn't understand Arabic, so he couldn't understand what the fat official said, so he frowned slightly, glanced at the interpreter standing beside him, and asked in a flat tone.

"My lord, that person calls himself Mua Via Aben, and is an official of the Harbor Department, responsible for the entry and exit of ships into and out of the port. He is asking where we came from and why we came here."

The interpreter Wang Haiyao is Wang Haibin's cousin, who is very gifted in languages. He traveled overseas earlier than Wang Haibin. He has been to Dashi several times. He is quite fluent in Arabic. He can understand the words of the fat official. Seeing the question, Lin Hu didn't dare to neglect it, and hurriedly bowed and explained.

"Oh? So that's the case, I'll answer him now, saying that we are from Datang, and we are here for friendly business!"

Lin Hu had guessed the purpose of the fat white official before, but after hearing Wang Haiyao's confirmation, he did not doubt that he was there, so he nodded and ordered in a calm tone.

"Yes, my lord." Now that Lin Hu had given the order, Wang Haiyao didn't dare to delay, so he repeated Lin Hu's words loudly in Arabic.

"Datang! Datang! Chirping..."

As soon as Wang Haiyao's words fell, the fat and white official immediately became excited, dancing and yelling at the bow of the ship for a long time.

"My lord, that fellow said that Alexandria welcomes the arrival of Datang's guests, just to ensure safety, please accept the inspection of our fleet, and pay various taxes and fees according to the local tax laws, and at the same time require our fleet to obey its dispatch and go through the formalities of entering the port in turn. Then you can enter the port area." Wang Haiyao did not wait for Lin Hu to speak this time, he had already translated the words of the fat official.

"Let's answer that he can, but he can only send officials to inspect the goods on board. Soldiers are not allowed to trespass, so let's start with the cargo ships. As for all the frigates staying put, they are ready to respond at any time!"

The Datang Fleet is here to do business, so it will not start a war lightly, but it is necessary to be defensive. After pondering for a while, Lin Hu decided to be on the safe side and did not order the escort warships to disarm. alert.

"Ji Li Gua, Ji Li Gua..."

After Wang Haiyao conveyed Lin Hu's intentions to the fat official, the two quickly discussed in Arabic. The birds chirped and the birds chirped. It seemed that the dispute was quite fierce, and they argued for a long time. Under the circumstances, the white and fat official seemed to be persuaded by Wang Haiyao, and he didn't insist any more. He waved his hand and signaled the boat to turn around and head back towards the Arabian fleet.

"My lord, that guy asked my fleet to undergo a thorough inspection by his naval fleet, but was sternly rejected by his subordinates. He then said that he would report the matter to the commander of the fleet, Tari ibn Abi, and the governor of Egypt, Yazid . Ibn Abu, the two of you made a decision to let my fleet anchor here and not go any further." The boat just turned around, and Wang Haiyao reported the results of the negotiation one by one without waiting for Lin Hu to ask questions. come out.

"Very well, thank you, Yuanzheng, please bring your father to the boat!"

After listening to Wang Haiyao's explanation, Lin Hu did not comment on it, but comforted him, then turned back, looked up at Wang Yuanzheng on the mast, and ordered in a raised voice.

"okay!"

Wang Yuanzheng responded excitedly, waved his hands repeatedly, and played a series of flags. After a while, he saw a commotion among the merchant ships behind the escort fleet, and a merchant ship with the flag of "Shunyuan" Slowly sailed out of the array and approached the "Weiyuan" where Lin Hu was. At the same time, the Arabian fleet seemed to be alarmed by the dispatch of the Tang army. With the sound of drums, the entire fleet approached again. The atmosphere on the sea suddenly became tense.

(End of this chapter)