Chapter 578 I'm disappointed (please vote and subscribe)

Three days ago, when Youfu led the fleet to the lake, everyone in the fleet was excited because they remembered the fame and fortune that Youfu had said a few days ago. But after they really arrived at the lake, after the excitement passed, everyone felt like a basin of cold water was poured on their heads because they encountered a big problem.

The pace of development of the Han tribe is very fast. From the first wooden boat to the launch of the sailboat, it has only been three years. In the past, the ships of the Han tribe sailed in the river. Whether it was a small river of dozens of meters wide or a large river of hundreds of meters wide, they all had one thing in common, that is, no matter how they drove, they could see the riverbanks on both sides.

But now, they plunged into the lake, surrounded by endless water, and everything they saw looked the same. If they just walked around like this, they would probably get lost in this lake and never find the waterway to go back. This is a very serious problem. Without landmarks, how can they sail on the water surface where they can't see the edge?

Getting lost in a freshwater lake on land is embarrassing, but this is what they are experiencing right now.

The difficulties are visible to the naked eye and are unavoidable, but fortunately they have not completely lost the ability to distinguish directions. At least they can still see the sun and the moon, and they still have the compass issued by the leader.

You Fu comforted everyone on the boat, and then called several captains to his head boat to analyze the situation for them.

"Assuming that the place we are in now is the big lake in the east of the grassland, then we are now at the easternmost entrance of the big lake. If we slowly turn along the lakeshore, we will definitely not get lost. Even if we go the wrong way, we can turn around and return the same way."

After listening, everyone did not speak, but all nodded, indicating that this was the safest plan.

"But this is too slow. We may not be able to return home before winter. Even if we return the same way, it will take longer to return than to come. Don't forget that we went downstream when we came here, and we will go upstream when we go back. Even if we can use the crosswind, it will definitely take longer than when we came here."

Everyone nodded again. It was indeed as You Fu said, but some people forgot this point before, thinking that they only needed to spend the same time as when they came to return to the tribe, but they didn't know that the return journey was all upstream, and the speed would definitely not be fast.

"What should we do now? Do we really have to go to the middle of the lake? There is no reference there." The captain of the second ship asked.

"We have no choice but to go to the middle." You Fu spread his hands helplessly and said.

"Well, in that case..."

"You don't have to worry. According to the speed of our boat, no matter how big this lake can be, it will take at most a few days. No matter which direction we go, we can reach the other side.

But we must remember one thing. We can't determine our position now, and we can't mark the route on the water, so we need to go straight and walk in a straight line in one direction. In this way, even after reaching the other side, as long as we can remember that point, and then turn around and walk in a straight line from that point on the other side, we can still find the entrance to the river.

So, let's go straight west next. Anyway, we have a compass in our hands, so we don't have to worry about losing the direction.

In addition, in order to avoid problems with the compass that lead to wrong directions, we must use the compasses together. At least three compasses are needed on the lead ship. In this way, even if one of them has a problem, we will not go in the wrong direction. The boats behind just need to follow the lead ship closely." You Fu once again put forward his opinion.

Everyone nodded again, thinking that this arrangement was very appropriate. Although it was still a bit risky, they could only think of ways to minimize the risk, especially the proposal of using the compass in a centralized manner. The things invented by the leader were good, but no one could be sure that this thing would not make mistakes at critical moments, so it was a very good idea to get a few more to increase the fault tolerance rate.

Everyone unanimously approved this plan. The fleet was allocated a total of six compasses, two per ship. Now several captains have also contributed one each, so there are four compasses on the head ship where Youfu is, with a higher fault tolerance rate. Everyone thought that even if there was a problem, it would be impossible for all four compasses to break down at the same time.

The fleet started again. In order to save time, they raised both sails and adjusted them to the fastest speed. Youfu also arranged four people on the head ship to observe the compass at the same time, and check the direction every once in a while, and then adjust the course in time to keep the fleet's route pointing to the south.

After the fleet sailed for three days, it finally saw the long-awaited lakeshore on the afternoon of the third day.

On the distant lakeshore, various water birds were playing and eating on the water. The land near the shore was lush with grass and water. Large groups of horses, cattle and sheep were wandering around. Among the livestock not far away, white tents were dotted on the yellow and green grassland.

Such a scene was very familiar to the crew members who had followed You Fu on the grassland business. This was indeed their destination.

"Let go of the boat and go over to see how deep the water is on the shore." Amid the excited shouts of the crew members, You Fu also issued his own orders.

On the other side of the shore, those who were herding livestock had already discovered the abnormal situation on the water surface, so they immediately ran to their tribe to report to the leader.

The horses galloped, and the tents a few miles away were in the blink of an eye, and then the knights' roars were heard.

"Chief, I saw the flag of the Han tribe. Chief, the people of the Han tribe are coming."

The knight shouted all the way to the chief's tent, attracting the attention of countless tribesmen along the way, but he ignored them and just ran towards the chief's tent.

But before he arrived, Su Ritu came out of the tent.

"The people of the Han tribe are coming? Where are they? Is it a caravan or a delegation coming back from the south?" Su Ritu asked while looking around, but he didn't see the familiar caravan and the unique flag of the Han tribe, and he couldn't help but feel annoyed.

"Chief, the people of the Han tribe are here, on the sunrise sea." The knight said hurriedly, and he hesitated halfway through. People can appear from the water? If he hadn't seen it with his own eyes, he wouldn't believe it if others said it.

"What?! On the sunrise sea? You are so bold, right? You dare to lie to me with such crazy words. How can people come out of the water? Why don't you say that the people of the Han tribe are all transformed from fish?" Su Ritu went up and kicked the herding rider to the ground.

The poor rider felt wronged, but couldn't fight back, so he could only mutter, "I'm not lying, they really came from the water in the east. If you don't believe me, go and see for yourself. They were still some distance away just now, but they should have reached the shore by now."

Su Ritu was also half-believing and half-doubting after hearing this. If it was another tribe, he would definitely not believe it, but in the Han tribe, no matter how strange the things were, as long as they were linked to the Han tribe, they would be possible. Su Ritu had no choice but to go and see for himself as this guy said.

Ignoring the low-level herdsman, Su Ritu turned over and rode his big yellow horse, and ran to the lake in a flash. As soon as he arrived, he saw a group of herdsmen who were not grazing, but gathered together and pointed at the lake in the distance.

The sailboat of the Han tribe stopped and was lowering the small boat. After waiting for a while, several small boats, either sailing or paddling, all sailed towards the shore. The sailboats also formed a horizontal team and followed far behind, getting closer and closer to the shore.

The herdsmen were all stunned. Not to mention those big sailboats, even small boats were the first time they saw them. In their entire lives, they had never seen anything that could allow people to travel on water.

Su Ritu was even more shocked. He saw three giant man-made objects coming from the lake in the distance. He didn't know what they were called, but when he saw the decorations on them, he was sure that they were made by the Han tribe.

The three large ships were red and black, dotted with bright yellow lines and patterns, which were the colors most admired by the Han tribe. From a distance, they looked as conspicuous as the red robes and black armor of the Han cavalry. Not only that, the unnamed thing also had two huge wings, one yellow and white with a big red "Han" character in the middle, and the other was even bigger and dyed pure red with a black "Han" character in the middle.

Su Ritu didn't know many Chinese characters, but this one was the most familiar to him. I'm afraid that even if all the tribes on the entire grassland were counted, no one would not recognize this character because it was so familiar.

The Han tribe was so crazy that everything they sold to them, except for the white salt for eating, was branded with the "made in the Han Dynasty" mark. It was hard not to see it, and then you would remember it.

Not long after, You Zhi had already approached the shore in a landing boat for exploration. The approach of the boat startled a flock of water birds, including ancient giant geese more than two meters tall, white cranes with long legs and thin necks, albatrosses hovering in the sky, and mallards drifting on the water. They all stayed away from the fleet.

Su Ritu had pushed aside the people in front of him and rode to the water's edge. Seeing that the people coming from the water were indeed Han people wearing Han robes and with their hair tied up on their heads, his mood immediately improved.

"You are finally here, friends from the Han tribe." Su Ritu immediately turned over and jumped off his horse, trotting to the water's edge to greet them.

"You are, Su, the leader of Su Ritu. Your tribe has migrated here."

You Zhi had followed You Fu out more than once, so he had seen Su Ritu before. When they met again this time, he recognized him immediately.

"You are, You Fu's nephew, You Zhi, right? Hahahaha, you are finally here. I saw the Han tribe's envoys and caravans before, but they were all replaced. I thought I would never see you uncle and nephew again. By the way, where is your uncle? Didn't he come?" Su Ritu was very happy to see that he was an old acquaintance and started to greet You Zhi.

"My uncle is here too. He is on the big boat behind us. However, the water on the shore is too shallow, so the big boat can't come. I will send a small boat to pick him up." You Zhi pointed to the three sailboats not far away and said.

"Really, that's great. Go and pick up your uncle. Don't leave today. I will kill a cow for you to eat. I know that you Han tribe can't bear to eat this." Su Ritu said generously, patting his chest.

"Okay, I'll make arrangements." You Zhi nodded with a smile, and then asked the others on the boat to go back and tell the big boat to anchor a hundred meters away, and then tell You Fu that this is Su Ri Tu's tribe, and You Fu will naturally know what to do.

In this way, after a while, all six landing craft in the fleet were put into the water. You Fu arranged some people to stay on the sailboat, and he took the others to row the landing craft to the shore.

Su Ri Tu also hurriedly brought people to greet them, and greeted You Fu, and invited them to visit his tribe. However, You Fu and his people came by boat this time, without a horse. If they wanted to go to Su Ri Tu's tribe, they could only walk forward. It was several miles away, and it was not convenient for everyone to walk.

"Chief Su Ri Tu, don't bother so much. Let my people stay on the shore. They still have to watch those boats. I will take a few people who can ride horses over there, and send them some food later." You Fu waved his hand and made arrangements.

"Well, okay, come here, prepare some horses." Su Ritu couldn't force them to go to his tribe, so he had to agree.

Not long after, the sailors who came ashore set up tents on the open space on the shore, and went around to fetch water and firewood to prepare for camping.

Youfu and Youzhi took more than 20 tribesmen who could ride horses and followed them back to the tribe on the horses prepared by the herdsmen.

Su Ritu quickly asked people to kill cattle and sheep to prepare to entertain the people of the Han tribe. At the same time, he did not forget to call the leaders of other tribes in the alliance. There were two or three hundred people in the Han tribe, and they needed a lot of meat. He couldn't let him go alone.

After welcoming Youfu into his big tent and having someone bring hot fresh milk, Su Ritu couldn't wait to complain to Youfu. While he was talking, he cursed Maodun's various crimes, destroying the peace on the grassland, bullying other tribes, killing their men, and looting their livestock and population.

As they were cursing, the other tribal leaders who were invited heard that the Han tribe had come, and they hurried over with their cattle and sheep. As soon as they entered the big tent, they heard Su Ritu telling You Fu about this, so they hurriedly joined the ranks of demanding punishment for Maodun.

"So, you are in great need of white salt now? That Maodun won't sell it to you?" After listening for a while, You Fu roughly understood what had happened on the grassland recently. It can be said that all these changes were caused by the Han tribe.

If the Han tribe had not attacked the caravan of the Xin tribe and prohibited them from continuing to sell salt on the grassland, the Xin tribe would not have come up with such an idea to sell all the salt to one tribe. As a result, the person they cooperated with happened to be an ambitious one. With a lot of white salt in his hand, he began to stir up trouble on the grassland.

"Yes, I wonder if you brought white salt this time. Can you sell us some? We don't have much salt left. We met your delegation before and asked them to buy salt, but they refused to sell it. They said they would come back to see if there was any left. Look at this." Su Ritu said helplessly, and the leaders around him all agreed.

"Haha, their mission is different from ours. They have their own things to do. But I didn't bring much white salt this time. I may disappoint you leaders." You Fu thought for a while and said.

(End of this chapter)