Chapter 652 The Situation of the Mission (Please vote and subscribe)

The sailboat stopped in the middle of the Qingshui River. You Fu had people drop anchor and sail in the middle, and then left two guards on the boat. The rest of the people went ashore together in the landing craft, including the young man from the Fishing Tribe and the Spoon from the Soup Tribe.

"How did you get here?"

Beast Fang came towards them, and the question he asked was very speechless, but he was also a little caught off guard when he saw the sudden appearance of the sailboat, and he was completely unprepared.

"The chief asked us to find the sea route to Takeshima. It took us a lot of time, but the journey was smooth. We finally lived up to the chief's trust and found this place."

After Youfu stepped onto the land of Takeshima, he and Shouya immediately bowed to each other. Shouya also returned the greeting and hurriedly grabbed Youfu's arm. "It must be very tiring to travel such a long distance. Come home and have a seat. I'll have someone prepare food for you."

"Okay."

Youfu agreed and walked towards the delegation's residence with Shouya. The rest of the entourage was also entertained. Shouya saw the two people following Youfu and after a few words he realized that the two were guides. He didn't know Spoon, but he knew the young man from the Fishing Tribe, so he asked someone to bring a few pieces of porcelain as a thank you gift and sent the young man from the Fishing Tribe away.

"We found several large tribes at the mouth of the Liuyang River. The largest tribe is the Tang tribe. They have several cities. This spoon is the guide I hired. He is familiar with the climate at the seaside, so I took him on board."

The two sat down in the only brick house in the mission station, and You Fu began to introduce himself.

"So that's how it is. But you are responsible for such an important mission. The leader will not only give you one boat and so few people, right? Where are the other boats and people? Are they all..." Shouya didn't finish his words, but anyone who is not a fool can understand what he meant.

You Fu smiled and said, "It's not what you thought. I left them near the Tang tribe.

This voyage is actually quite risky. We don't know the exact location and distance, so we can only plan for a long voyage. Therefore, only the minimum number of people and the maximum amount of food and fresh water were allocated on the ship. Fortunately, it went smoothly, except for the storm that delayed us for one day and two nights. It only took us ten days to get here, so we have some food and water left over."

"What? You also caught up with the heavy rain the day before yesterday? Did everything go well at sea?"

When the storm occurred two days ago, You Fu and his companions were already very close to Takeshima, so the wind and rain at that time even covered the northeastern part of Takeshima. Shouya also experienced the heavy rain personally. Although he was on the shore, he was accustomed to the inland climate and he couldn't help but feel nervous about such storms at sea. When he heard that You Fu and his companions were floating on the sea at that time, he immediately exclaimed.

"Haha." You Fu laughed bitterly, "This is the first time we encounter this kind of horrible weather, but Shao Shao said this is just the beginning. It's just July now, and this kind of weather will continue for a few months. This summer will not be peaceful."

Having said this, You Fu sighed and continued, "Oh, if I had known earlier, I would have asked the leader for a big ship. The ship we used is really not suitable for sailing. The space inside the cabin is too small, and the supplies and personnel are too few. The hull structure is not good either. The sea is too big, and this kind of inland ship is not suitable for sailing in the sea.

You may not believe it, but on the day we first went to sea, we encountered a sea beast. The monster's body was twice as big as this boat. It circled our boat twice, and a breath of water could make the sailboat shake twice. That thing was not a particularly ferocious animal, and it did not attack us, otherwise we would have been in real trouble.

When we were almost there, we encountered a big storm. Although our boat was 20 meters long, it was still tossed around by the big waves. There were more than a dozen of us on the boat, but we could do nothing. We could only watch the waves hit the deck one after another. A lot of water entered the boat, and we could only scoop water out continuously, hoping that the storm would subside soon.

By the way, all our charcoal was soaked by the seawater when it filled the cabin. Everyone hasn't had hot food for two days and has been eating dry food. Can you make us some hot soup? "

When they arrived at the embassy's residence, You Fu was not polite and immediately made a request for the beast's teeth. Of course, this was not a request. It was reasonable for the embassy, ​​as the host here, to provide meals.

"Don't worry, I've already arranged it. Let you try the local seafood soup and corn cakes. The conditions of the delegation are limited now, and there is nothing else good to treat the brothers, but there are enough corn cakes and fish soup, so you can eat without worry." Hearing You Fu's small request, Shou Ya still said very responsibly.

You Fu was stunned when he heard it, and asked in confusion, "Why, is the situation of the delegation very bad now?"

"That's not the case, it's just that we are short of supplies and manpower now." Shou Ya paused, and saw that there were no natives of Takeshima here, and Shao Shao was not a local, so he said with relief.

"We have made substantial progress in negotiations with the Xin tribe in the first half of the year, and the deal has been finalized. I also used the bridge-building plan to arouse the interest of the Xin tribe's chief commander, and asked them to agree to let the delegation stay on Zhudao Island and allocate a piece of land to us. Later, it took more than a month just to find a place to stay , and it was finally determined here after the leader replied to a letter.

After arriving here, we found that the local forces were actually not stable, and our Han tribe had a lot of room for maneuver. In order to win over the local indigenous forces and establish credibility and reputation for the Han tribe, I used a lot of supplies to take care of the nearby fishing tribe and food tribe. Later, when supplies became scarce, they began to use currency to maintain them. If you don't come again, I don't know what to do."

Shouya directly told his plan and the current situation. He really had no choice and hoped that Youfu could give some support.

"So that's how it is. It seems that you are not having a easy time either. However, I can only help you to a limited extent. In order to successfully complete the mission at sea, most of the supplies on board were left on the other three boats. This boat is full of food and fresh water. Salt is not a rare thing in Zhudao. There are too few supplies on board that can be used for exchange." You Fu said with great embarrassment. Although he wanted to help, he was powerless.

Hearing You Fu say this, Shouya frowned in worry. The two were speechless for a while, leaving only the irrelevant person, Shaoba, sitting stupidly by the side.

However, the members of the delegation outside the house and the crew led by You Fu got along very well. The delegation had been away from home for more than a year, and they pestered the crew to inquire about the recent situation at home and the changes in the tribe. The crew was a special group of people who were brave enough to take risks. They were very interested in the customs and resources of the Xin tribe and Zhudao. The two sides hit it off and had a great time chatting together.

Shouya was lost in thought as he looked at the people outside the house. Then, as if he suddenly thought of something, he slapped his thigh and said, "Yeah, how could I have forgotten this?"

You Fu was puzzled. "What did you think of?"

Shouya seemed a little excited and immediately expressed his thoughts.

"The delegation can't keep waiting for the tribe's assistance. Even if you open up sea transportation, it will take a long time to go back and forth. Compared with land transportation, the only advantage is that it is not limited by time, and the single transportation volume is relatively large, but it is not possible to scale up sea transportation immediately. I estimate that it will take until next year at the earliest."

Youfu nodded. It was true. This route was too long. It was already June 30th, and it would be July soon. It would probably take them around October to return to the Han tribe. Even if they set off immediately after returning to the tribe, it would be fast to arrive at Zhudao by the end of the year.

"So we have to find a way to be self-sufficient. Don't even think about white salt. There is no shortage of it here. Wooden products such as furniture are not needed here. The most popular things here should be our cloth and carts. These are the materials and production tools that Zhudao urgently needs. If we can make them ourselves, we don't have to worry about materials in a short time." Shouya continued.

"You want to weave cloth and build carts here by yourself?!" Youfu asked in surprise.

"It can't be helped, but even so, we still need the support of your pioneer group." Shouya spread his hands helplessly.

"What do you need us to do?" Youfu didn't refuse, and asked directly.

"Of course we need tools and craftsmen. If we want to weave cloth and build carts, the most scarce things are carpenters and woodworking tools. We need to build looms and carts by ourselves. You must have these in your fleet, right?" Shouya explained. Youfu

didn't answer directly, but was thinking about the possibility. The pioneer group was responsible for the mission of long-distance adventure, which would take several months and far away from the homeland of the Han tribe. In order to facilitate the repair of ships, there were many craftsmen in the fleet. If there were enough materials, they could even build ships by themselves. Of course, there were also many woodworking tools. There were several sets of such tools on the ship now, but he had no power to agree to this decision. After all, it involved overseas personnel. For such sensitive matters, it was better to let the leader make the decision.

So Youfu said, "Our fleet does have these, but whether this can be done, I think it's better to ask the chief first. Now that you and I are here, we should jointly write a letter to the chief to tell him that we are together now."

After hearing this, Shouya thought of the key point of the matter. He was so happy just now that he forgot about it. Now that he heard Youfu mention it, he immediately agreed.

After the two organized the members of the delegation and the crew to have a meal together, they began to write their own reports. One reported the recent situation of the delegation and his own ideas, and the other reported the findings during the voyage and the route map, as well as Youfu's proposal for Luo Chong to improve the sea ship, hoping that the tribe can develop a new ship type as soon as possible to meet the needs of navigation.

Finally, after writing, both parties stamped their own private seals on each other's reports to prove that the two are indeed together now and the fleet has really arrived at Zhudao. After all this, Shouya summoned the giant eagle Azuka to send the letter away.

The two stood in the courtyard and watched the eagle leave. Youfu asked, "How long does it take to get to the tribe from here?"

"Three days if it's fast, four days if it's slow." Shouya answered without hesitation.

"Well, if that's the case, we have to stay here for at least ten days." Youfu calculated.

Shouya looked at him and didn't say anything. He didn't know what Youfu had planned.

"We have nothing to do these days, so why don't we go and take a look at the port? It must need some planning." Youfu thought for a while and suggested to Shouya.

"Okay, I'm worried about this. I don't know much about ports and docks. It's great to have an expert like you to guide the work." Shouya agreed immediately.

Since Luo Chong came and the Han tribe began to rise, Shouya had many responsibilities, including hunting, mining, transportation, logging, and then serving as a military commander. Later, he was sent by Luo Chong to the county town under Hanyang County as a local official, and finally served as an envoy to the Xin tribe. With so many resumes, the only thing he had never been involved in was the management of ships and docks. He didn't even know much about shipbuilding. After all, his place was east and west of Liuyang County, just occupying the two ends. Now he was responsible for the construction of a port city, and the most important of them was the port, which undoubtedly added a lot of difficulties to him.

However, Youfu was different. Youfu had been wandering around the grasslands doing business before, and was later transferred by Luo Chong to be responsible for the development of routes. It has been nearly two years since he started to contact ships.

Youfu may not be the best shipbuilder in the Han tribe, but he is unmatched in his experience in using sailboats, not even Luo Chong. After all, he is the fleet commander with the longest sailing mileage, and the only fleet commander with experience in going to sea. Youfu has the most say in the construction of ports in the Han tribe.

The next day, when the two of them each took a few people on a small boat and glided all the way to the estuary, You Fu couldn't help but sigh, "The place you picked is really good. With this estuary here, it will be very convenient for us to take a boat to enter the inland of Zhudao."

Hearing the praise from You Fu, a senior boatman, Shou Ya was not proud, but said modestly, "This place was determined by the leader, not by me."

"No, no, no, you don't have to be modest. The place must have been found by you, and then the leader made the final decision. If it weren't for your preliminary work, the leader would not have known that there would be such a place." You Fu said with certainty.

This time Shou Ya didn't say anything to refute, because it was the fact. He didn't want to continue to dwell on this issue, because he was suspected of stealing the credit from the leader, so he took the initiative to change the subject.

"Do you see those black stone pillars over there? Actually, they are reefs. When the tide rises, what is exposed above the water is actually just a small island. But the view there is very wide. I plan to build a lighthouse there as the leader mentioned. Do you think it's okay?"

You Fu looked in the direction where the beast tooth pointed, and saw that all the reefs were in the bay. He immediately shook his head and rejected it, saying, "We can build a lighthouse there, but it's not the best location."

(End of this chapter)