Sa Ying was in Vietnam in later generations, but she was not the ancestor of the Vietnamese, but a group of people with a rudimentary tribal civilization. They have been able to weave Mai and live along the coast to make a living from fishing. Because of the habit of tattooing on the face, a unique Shaying culture has been formed.

The Nanyang Fleet opened up the South China Sea, successively arranging garrisons and pioneering teams on the discovered islands such as Luzon, and only after everything was on the right track did it look for new routes in the direction of the mainland coast.

It was precisely because of the activities of the Nanyang Fleet on the coast of the mainland that the existence of the Sha Ying people was soon discovered. When the ships of the Nanyang Fleet first encountered the Sha Ying people on the sea, the Sha Ying people were fishing at sea on a very simple raft.

The Shaying people are a tribal form of culture, with a relatively low degree of civilization, except for making rafts, their fishing tools are actually relatively simple, most of them use bamboo guns to attack fish, even if there are fishing nets, they are also the kind of nets with large gaps.

The sailors of the South Sea Fleet saw a large group of people on rafts, with a black spot on their foreheads and chins on their faces. In fact, if only one or two Sha Ying people have dark spots on their foreheads and chin, they can be considered a birthmark, but all the Sha Ying people found have black spots on their foreheads and chins, then they will not be birthmarks, they are a kind of painting or something.

Of course, the Sha Ying people also discovered the ships of the Nanyang Fleet, they had never seen such a huge ship, and they were dumbfounded, and every Sha Ying person slapped their mouths with their palms and let out "Oh hoo hoo!" Shouts.

What appeared in front of Sha Ying was a 600-ton reconnaissance ship of the Nanyang Fleet, in fact, the tonnage of 600 tons was already a relatively small warship in the Imperial Navy, and it was a reconnaissance ship used for waterway exploration.

The 600-ton reconnaissance ship has a full crew of 50 people, and the length of the battleship is 26 meters and the width is 11 meters. There are two supporting canvas masts. Because it is a reconnaissance ship, the bow of the ship is only loaded with a giant crossbow, and there is no giant ordnance other than that, but the sailors are basically armed with crossbows or longbows.

When Sha Yingren was shouting, the reconnaissance ship was actually on alert, except for some people who couldn't get on deck. The rest of the men were concentrated on the side deck facing the Shaying people with crossbows or longbows.

"Savages of the Peninsula?"

"What's on their faces?"

"Attack?"

The soldiers were silent, and several officers in Cambridge could not judge for a moment what the situation was, and it was not like it to say that the wild men who were screaming wildly were hostile.

The Imperial Navy encountered a lot of savages, many of them attacked the first time when they encountered the Imperial Pioneer Team, and there were also many savages who regarded the Imperial soldiers as some kind of worshiped gods, and strange postures were not uncommon.

The pioneer team has encountered too many wild people, and has enough experience to sum up a set of countermeasures. For the wild people who dare to attack, it is natural to see as many kills as they want, but those who are friendly can be contacted first.

There is a very peculiar thing, most of the savages encountered by the Imperial Pioneer Team are actually very savage, and they have repeatedly encountered new savage tribes, and the Imperial soldiers are attacked at the first moment. Of course, the wild men who attacked the Imperial soldiers ended up in a good end, after all, a group of Stone Age wild men attacked well-equipped soldiers, and there was a large number of robes behind these armies, even if it was the first time to suffer a loss. You can also settle accounts later.

"Captain, a wild man is coming with a raft."

"Alert. But don't attack. ”

"No!"

Sha Yingren's figure is petite, except for a piece of cloth wrapped around his waist to cover the raw ~ colonization ~ instrument ~ official, the rest are exposed. They are a kind of cloaked posture, their petite body may have been exposed to the wind and sun for a long time, their skin is very dark, and they have a little muscle under the height of about 1.4 to 1.5 meters, but they are not that strong and strong. It's a skinny strong.

The raft stopped about ten meters in front of the reconnaissance ship, and a man who looked older didn't know what to shout, and then knelt on the raft.

"What do you mean?"

"Hell knows what's going on."

"Get on your knees."

"It's not uncommon for many savages to see our giant ships and think they're tools of the gods."

It was not the first time that the captain Lu Ming had encountered a wild man, but the wild man he had encountered before was basically encountered on land when he went ashore during reconnaissance. Those wildlings are also very aggressive.

"Do you need to deal with them?"

"No, just turn around and continue the mission."

The captain gave the order, and a bell rang from Cambridge, and a series of orders were shouted out at the sound of the bell, and then the canvases of both masts were lowered, and the reconnaissance ship made a small turn, and was about to hit the stalled raft by a meter or two, and then went away in the waves.

"O gods!" The middle-aged Sha Yingren, who was kneeling on the ground and looking up at the reconnaissance ship, looked at several imperial soldiers in gorgeous military uniforms, and muttered: "Riding on a giant ship, a heavenly soldier wearing gorgeous clothes?" ”

There are many types of primitive worship, but one thing that is relatively common is that the products of fantasy are basically huge and gorgeous. The first time these Shaying people saw the huge warship, it was also the first time they saw a person dressed in gorgeous clothes, even if it was a little different from the imaginary gods, the "real thing" they saw would instantly subvert their understanding, and the previous fantasy objects would gradually become clear, and then coincide with the images of the imperial warships and soldiers they saw.

The ship departed slowly, and the Shaying people stopped fishing, shouting for the people in the sea to climb onto the raft, and then returned to the village in a lively discussion, and told the tribesmen about the encounter with the giant ship and the heavenly soldiers on the sea.

A tribe of the Shaying people spread about the giant ships and the heavenly soldiers, and the news slowly spread to other tribes, and then more and more tribes learned about the existence of giant ships on the sea, and the facts may change a little in the continuous spread, but without exception, the Shaying people regarded the reconnaissance ship of the Nanyang Fleet as a big ship that only the gods had.

The reconnaissance ship commanded by Lu Ming needs to explore to the west all the time, and it is not the first time they have carried out such a mission, this time it was near Ganquan Island in the west ~ sand ~ group ~ island in the later generations encountered rainy weather in the ocean, and the fresh water on the ship was almost exhausted, so they would meet Sha Ying people who went out to sea to fish on the return trip.

The South China Sea Navy's exploration of the South China Sea has been going on for almost a year and a half. The islands that should have been found have been almost found, but only a small number of the islands found have a source of fresh water, and due to the limitations of the island's terrain or other reasons, not every island has soldiers stationed.

At present, the Nanyang Fleet has more than a dozen supply points in the South China Sea and three relatively large bases. Not to mention the supply point, the base is a ship port on the southeast side of modern Hainan Island (Wanning). The second is Dongsha Island of Dong~Sha~Group~ Island, and the third is on the northwest side of Luzon Island (San Fernando).

The reconnaissance ship under Lu Ming's feet carried out a mission for more than two months, not only did it need to replenish fresh water and food, but the battleship actually needed to do necessary maintenance after sailing on the ocean for a long time, so it would not go to the supply point, and they were going to return to the port of Hainan Island.

The sea off the coast of Vietnam was very close to Hainan Island, and after about five hours of sailing, the reconnaissance ship returned to port.

"When I left, there were only a few thatched houses, but now it looks like a lot of cement houses have been built?"

"Not really. Even the dockyard has a scale. ”

The current main station of the Nanyang Fleet is actually in Panyu in Nanhai County, that is, near the modern city of Foshan, and if you put it more carefully, it is actually a little inward at the mouth of the Pearl River.

There are so many islands around the mouth of the Pearl River that you need to pass through modern-day Macau, which is now desolate. Some distance further east of Macau is actually Hong Kong, and Hong Kong is not inhabited at all.

"I've heard that there is an intention to move the boat port outward, either on the island we just passed through (Macau). Or another island a little further east (Hong Kong). ”

"yes, I saw a seafarer surveying the water just now. Presumably in search of a natural harbor. ”

It's not modern now, there is no mechanized industry, and the construction of a port is actually more dependent on the natural environment, that is, the depth of the water.

Where a suitable port is a place, the continental plate should not be gradually inclined downward, but should be a kind of concave water depth on the shore. That is, the water depth on the shore must be sufficient, and there should be no reefs, otherwise the bottom of the boat should hit something as soon as the boat gets a little closer.

When the reconnaissance ship sailed into the mouth of the Pearl River, a bell rang on the lighthouse on the shore, and some people were busy with something on land. They stopped what they were doing and cheered loudly at the reconnaissance ship.

Because it was about to sail into the harbor, most of the sailors who did not need to do anything on the reconnaissance ship were on deck, and they waved their hands frequently at the people cheering on the shore, and their mouths were also cheering.

"This time we can rest for about half a month, does the captain have any arrangements?"

"Me? Report to the commander on the reconnaissance, and then take a boat back to Nanling. What about you? ”

"My daughter-in-law gave birth to a baby for me, and I haven't seen it until now, so I probably will stay at home honestly until the next time."

At present, the number of soldiers in the Nanyang Fleet is nearly 30,000, because the fleet headquarters is in Panyu in Nanhai County, and most of the families of officers and men have received Panyu, and the rest of the family members have been arranged to their respective places according to the distribution of warships.

In the past, Panyu was actually just a small fishing village, but with more than 20,000 officers and soldiers and their families moving in, it immediately turned from a small fishing village into a town in a very short period of time.

Of course, the harbor is a military base, and the families of officers and men will not live in only a military base, and the resettlement area is further inland, but it is not far inland, that is, it is about five miles away from the military base, but it is not visible from the reconnaissance ship.

The reconnaissance ship continued inward for some distance, and a small boat, which had already been notified, approached and led the way forward. This small ship is naturally the pilot ship of the harbor, and its small size is only for a reconnaissance ship of 600 tons, but in fact its tonnage is also 200 tons.

At this time, in the port, looking at the rows of warships of different sizes docked in the past, Lu Ming even saw the flagship of the Nanyang Fleet, and several capital ships were also parked side by side.

"Looks like we came back early, huh?"

"Well, only seventh, twelfth, seventeenth...... Six ships, the rest are not in the port. ”

The empire currently has two fleets, namely the Beiyang Fleet, whose main base is in Qingdao (presumably in Tianjin), and the Nanyang Fleet, whose main base is in Panyu.

The main areas of activity of the Beiyang Fleet were in the Bohai Sea, the East China Sea, and later the Sea of Japan, and in addition to the main base in Gwangyang-gun, the other largest base was in the Wajima. The entire fleet has a 2,800-ton flagship, eight 2,000-ton capital ships, eight 1,200-ton conventional ships, 12 600-ton reconnaissance ships, and most of them are cargo ships for transportation.

The Beiyang Fleet is a strong advocate for the development of the Japanese Islands, but quite a lot of gold and silver mines have been found on the Japanese Islands, and since they are mining precious metals, they naturally need to be transported back to China, so the number of large and small cargo ships has been increasing, and the current scale is nearly 120 ships.

The Nanyang Fleet has slightly more warships than the Beiyang Fleet, with less than 30 large and small cargo ships, except for a 2,800-ton flagship, 12,200-ton capital ships, 16 1,200-ton conventional ships, and as many as 32 600-ton reconnaissance ships.

As the main base of the Nanyang Fleet, it is actually normal for Panyu to dock a little more warships, and Lu Ming feels that fortunately the flagship is also in the port, and Chen Xuan, the commander of the Nanyang Fleet, will also be in the base.

The reconnaissance ship was led to dock, and the rest of the crew cheered and disembarked except for the necessary duty personnel. Wait a minute, this reconnaissance ship will be driven to the adjacent dock for maintenance, the cycle will be about a month, and the seamen belonging to the reconnaissance ship do not need to stay on board during the maintenance period.

After Lu Ming got off the ship, of course, he was looking for Chen Xuan, and he also found Chen Xuan in the commander's office smoothly.

"Oh? Encountering a wild man with tattoos on his forehead and chin? Chen Xuan didn't look surprised, he pointed to the seat in front of him and asked Lu Ming to sit down.

Lu Ming briefly introduced the situation at that time, and after a little mention, he turned the topic to other matters during the investigation, and also took out the logbook for Chen Xuan to watch.

"Other scout ships have also spotted tribes on the shore over there." Chen Xuan tapped his fingers on the table while looking at the logbook, and said, "This time your sailing position is relatively far, but it is still a little far away from the target. ”

Lu Ming listened quietly, most of the captains of their reconnaissance ships had been reminded that as long as they sailed to the west, they would encounter more land, and all they needed to do was to discover the existence of the strait along the coast.

As a matter of fact, many reconnaissance ships of the Nanyang Fleet have found places similar to the strait, but they sailed into several places that were not straits, and after entering them, they found impassable clamps, and some reconnaissance ships even ran aground on the rocks.

"There's no hurry, we have plenty of time." Chen Xuan closed the logbook, but there was a contemplative look on his face: "There are some things that are more troublesome!" (To be continued.) )