The Book of Troubled Times

The sea breeze was blowing gently. Zhao Changhe lay leisurely on the deck and looked at the blue sky and white clouds. He took out the wine gourd and took a sip.

It's obviously a rough and tumble battle, and the storm ahead is unpredictable, but on the contrary, you can find a rare sense of leisure during this kind of journey. Perhaps this is the biggest difference from the past.

It's a pity that Chichi and Chichi can't go together after all.

She went directly to the Langya sea port, which was open to the sea. Zhao Changhe could not leave and had to go south to Ningbo.

Everyone's intention to go to sea is different. Although the destination may be the same, Zhao Changhe wants to observe the secrets and movements of the Sea Clan from the side. If he is with Chi Chi, he will be exposed to the eyes of the Sea Clan, which may not make it easy to do things. It will also reveal the fact that the Four Symbols Sect and him, Zhao Changhe, are wearing the same pants, which is not cost-effective.

It's still better to use one light and one dark, and it's much more maneuverable. It's just a pity that I can't live a life at sea without shame.

Zhao Changhe didn't know that Xia Chichi had been copying books during her trip to sea, and she hadn't finished copying yet... Maybe the Lord agreed with Xia Longyuan that "quietness is not enough" and deliberately tempered it to let her calm down a little more...

And the Tang family's ship also had an honest reason to go to sea.

Tang Wanzhuang objected to the proposal to abolish the canal and reform the sea, because the timing was inappropriate. Most people in the Tang family supported it. Even Tang Buqi rarely acted like his aunt's follower in this matter. Because it's good for the family. No matter what it is, it is not a good opportunity and it is not good for the overall situation. Who the hell is just like my aunt thinking about being loyal to the emperor and serving the country and the world? We are a noble family.

Then Tang Buqi was beaten by his aunt and returned to Suzhou.

Maritime transportation has not been opened for the time being due to the Cao Clan rebellion. The Tang family has been trying to do foreign sea trade for a long time, but the scale is small and the nature of the experiment is strong. Among them, the Tang family also had a small amount of contacts with the small country called Penglai on Haitian Island.

This time Tang Buqi returned to Suzhou and immediately began to plan a new round of expedition to Penglai. I thought my aunt would be angry, but the letter from my aunt said: "Changhe is going to go to sea, please make arrangements."

Tang Buqi's belly of grass and mud was whizzing by, and he simply didn't know what to say.

We want to open the sea, but you object. Your Zhao Changhe wants to go to sea, and you suddenly no longer object. We will be very useful at this time, right? You can be asked to present your treasure in front of your lover. "It was already arranged," right?

So much so that when Zhao Changhe came to ask for the boat, Tang Buqi had a bad look on his face and was too lazy to talk to Zhao Changhe from beginning to end.

Zhao Changhe was lying on the deck recalling Tang Buqi's arrogant expression, and he still wants to laugh.

"Mr. Zhao, the sun is going down. It's windy at night, so it's better to go inside." The captain of the Tang family came out of the cabin and shouted.

The captain's name is Tang En, which is a name that can often be used as the protagonist in Chinese fantasy stories. It seems to be quite suitable in the context of a great voyage. He is a son of the Tang family. He has been engaged in maritime life for more than 20 years and has extremely rich experience. He has also been to the so-called Haitian Island. This time, he just went there for a legitimate reason for sea trade, which was similar to Li Si'an's previous purpose, so as to cover up Zhao Changhe's existence.

Zhao Changhe smiled and said: "Since the boat is not afraid of wind and waves, I am not afraid either. I really didn't expect that the Tang family's boat is so strong."

This is a real large-scale ship. Zhao Changhe is not expert in this and does not know the tonnage, but it is really big and very stable, which makes people feel at ease just looking at it. There is also a smaller fleet following behind. I don’t know how much profit one shipping can bring. No wonder Tang Buqi doesn’t listen to his aunt...

Tang En said: "It's just a coincidence that the Gusu was not completed last year. It just went on trial in the first half of the year, and it was officially put into use."

Zhao Changhe asked: "How to determine the direction? Si Nan?"

"This is complicated... As for tools, we mainly use a celestial ruler and a compass needle to measure the altitude angles of stars, etc. We also need to observe astronomy, wind direction, tides... No one with less than ten years of experience on a ship would dare not Those who go to sea blindly can only sail along the coast of the land.”

Zhao Changhe nodded and sighed: "Every line is like a mountain."

In fact, what I lament is not the separation of martial arts and navigation, but the fact that I was a liberal arts student back then. It seems that I can't pretend to be cool in this era of great navigation. The indigenous navigation experience and scientific knowledge can lift me up.

The Tang family is not top-notch in this aspect, and the Wang family may be stronger.

It can be said that my thinking is already very unmodern. I was taught materialist dialectics by a blind man... Including the matter of going to sea, my mind is full of medicinal materials and martial arts secrets, while Tang En and the others are running for various spices and gums. Gold and silver products, as well as brand new crop seeds, the brain circuit is completely different.

In an era when all people worship martial arts, civilization is still developing unstoppably, but there is too little attention paid to this aspect in daily life, and it has been assimilated by martial arts thinking.

Zhao Changhe felt a bit shameless, but he was lucky that he still looked at the Spring and Autumn period before...

He tried to make up for his martial arts thinking: "Are there any pirates?"

"In the early years, we didn't see many, and we saw them occasionally. In recent years, we have seen more and more, but they don't appear in this offshore area. They mostly appear around the islands in the far sea." Tang En pointed to the back: "We are thousands of people. The fleet has countless strong bows and powerful crossbows, so don’t be afraid.”

Zhao Changhe was keenly aware that there was something wrong here: "Why have there been more and more fish in recent years? Has the frequency of your sea trade become higher? Or are there more fishermen going out to sea?"

"We don't have it, others don't know it." Tang En said: "Sea trade is highly profitable, but not everyone can do it. A ship that can go out to the open sea is a natural chasm. If it capsizes once, not to mention losing all your money, your life will be lost. If someone joins If the frequency of sea trade has increased, it can only be the Wang family. Maybe they have accumulated wealth in the past few years and are as rich as the country, so they rebelled..."

It is true that the Wang family's rebellion should also have economic factors, but there is indeed less thinking in this regard.

Zhao Changhe pondered: "In other words, the pirates are mainly causing trouble for the Wang family? Is there an organization that deliberately targets them?"

"We really don't know about this." Tang En said: "Miss has analyzed it. If there is an organization, it can only be that person..."

A name came to Zhao Changhe's mind.

Number seven on the Heavenly Ranking is Dragon King Hai Pinglan.

Regardless of his name or nickname, he is definitely a person who makes a living on the sea, but in fact he became famous in China and has nothing to do with the sea.

This man was once ranked third in the Heavenly Ranking, and was also the king of the southern separatist forces. He was called the Dragon King because of the water battle in the Yangtze River, not the Dragon King of the sea. Later, he was defeated by Xia Longyuan, who was seventh on the Heavenly Ranking at the time. Not only did his position change and he dropped to seventh, but he also destroyed the country and fled alone without a trace...

After Xia Longyuan moved into third place, he successively challenged Timur, who was second at the time, and Great Shaman Bo, who was first, and defeated them into second and third place, reaching the top. As for the subsequent practice of becoming more and more abnormal, and starting to work with the grassland Hu gods, that happened later.

In the process of unifying the world, Xia Longyuan is the absolute protagonist of the story.

Hai Pinglan became the backdrop for Xia Longyuan's illustrious military exploits in reaching the summit, and has disappeared since then. There has been no news about him for thirty years, as if there is no trace of this person. If it weren't for the fact that he was still not removed from the Book of Troubled Times, I'm afraid the world would have thought he was dead...

It would make sense if this person escaped to the sea and disappeared. With his strength, it is quite normal for him to become the leader of a huge pirate organization, but the problem is that he should be cooperating with the Wang family to fight against Xia. How could he actually hinder the Wang family?

This guess may not be true.

In fact, in the overseas information report of the Zhenmo Division, there was another suspicion, saying that the Penglai Kingdom might have been founded by Hai Pinglan.

One guess is the king, the other guess is the pirate, the difference is a bit big.

Xia Chichi went to sea last time to find out about this person, but found nothing. The king of Penglai Kingdom said that his surname was Yuan, which seemed to have nothing to do with Hai Pinglan. Of course, it wouldn't be surprising if Hai Pinglan deliberately kept his name anonymous and didn't want Xia Longyuan to know.

Zhao Changhe was quite curious. These overseas beings, whether they are pirates, various small countries in the sea, or the sea fish people, etc., are not listed in the book of troubled times... There is a land list in Miao territory, and not even a hidden dragon has been seen overseas.

It doesn’t feel like my practice is really low. It’s probably because the Book of Troubled Times wasn’t included in it for some reason.

I wonder how the martial arts of overseas strong men are?

While I was thinking, the sun set below the sea level. Half of the setting sun still peeks out at the junction of the sea and the sky, reflecting a brilliant light on the sea in the distance.

Several sails showed their sharp corners from the distance, and a fleet of ships came through the waves.

Tang En's expression changed drastically: "Why are there pirates here?"

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PS: I didn’t keep the top ten this month and will fight again next month. There will be an update at 0 o'clock.