Many Song Dynasty merchant ships were later unearthed near the coast of Quanzhou and Guangzhou, but few were over 50 meters in length.
Almost all of them are more than 30 meters long, 10 meters wide, with a displacement of about 600 tons and a load capacity of about 800 tons, and are similar in size to the Taizhou.
The reason is that businessmen are profit-driven and will not put all their eggs in one basket. It is impossible for them to choose such a large ship, which would put themselves in danger of being wiped out by a storm.
Therefore, the ships docked at the dock are all less than 30 meters in length, generally between 30 and 20 meters.
In this situation, the Guangzhou, which is almost one size larger or even twice as large as these ships, stands out among the crowd of ships and is dazzling.
"Is this the Guangzhou?"
Tan Wenxue and others also focused their attention on the huge warship with surprised expressions.
"Yes, this is the Guangzhou!"
Su Yan praised: "When I saw it in person, I also thought it was spectacular."
"It is truly a great weapon of a great nation."
"I've heard there are many pirates on the route, but with this divine ship protecting us, what is there to fear?"
"Yes, I think we will be safe on this mission."
Other officials from the Ministry of Rites and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs praised it.
In addition to the Guangzhou, there are more than 80 ships of various sizes docked nearby.
If the escort ships of the Guangzhou navy are included, the total number is more than one hundred.
They were moored at a separate dock, with soldiers standing guard around the area, which made the onlookers and merchants from the distant area talk about it.
"Oh my god, this is the first time I've seen such a big ship."
"What's the big deal? I heard the Shandong Weihai Navy's Dengzhou is over 20 zhang long and 5 zhang wide, more than double the length of the Guangzhou."
"Is this true?"
"Of course it's true. Haven't you read the newspaper?"
"I heard the Canton is stationed in Canton. Why haven't we seen it before?"
"Because the Jinghai Army's base is not outside the square city, but in the Xiangjiang Silver Field in Dongguan County, to guard against pirates."
"I see. No wonder we haven't seen any pirates in recent years."
Only then did the people understand why they had never seen the Jinghai Army or pirates before.
Later generations believed that pirates were rampant only during the Ming Dynasty.
In fact, the scale of pirates was already very large during the Song and Yuan dynasties.
Since the Northern Song Dynasty, the imperial court has stationed troops in Hong Kong, Macau and other places to guard against pirate attacks.
But pirates were still very rampant. For example, during the Southern Song Dynasty, Wang Dayou, the governor of Quanzhou, defeated more than a thousand invading pirates in the Penghu Islands and captured more than 400 prisoners. This shows how powerful the pirates were at that time.
Therefore, there are local navies in Guangxi, Guangzhou, Fujian and other places. The Jinghai Navy and the Anhai Navy are the main navies of Guangzhou and Quanzhou respectively. They not only guard the local areas, but also often go out to sea to hunt pirates.
Under their siege, the pirates who had been rampant in the coastal areas of Guangxi, Guangzhou, Fujian and other places disappeared for a while. In recent years, fishermen on the coast have rarely heard of pirates.
At this moment, the morning sun was high in the sky, with the Guangzhou as the main ship. Under the scorching sun, the dragon flag of the Song Dynasty was piercing through the sky, blocking out the sun, and fluttering in the strong wind.
The diplomatic corps slowly arrived near the port where the fleet was located.
When I got closer, I realized that the Guangzhou was even bigger than I had imagined. When people stood next to it, the difference was like the difference between an elephant and an ant.
However, the diplomatic corps was not on board the Guangzhou.
Because the Guangzhou needs to face crises that may occur at any time, once there is an enemy attack, it will need to fight everywhere to play a defensive and counterattack role, and cannot be protected like the main ship.
So the delegation's ship was a sail-powered paddlewheel ship, 36 meters long and 11 meters wide, not much different from an ordinary sea vessel.
In the past, the Song Dynasty sent a fleet to America, which contained many giant Fujian ships over a hundred meters long. However, the American fleet only sailed near the edge of the sea and along the coastline, which was slightly safer.
In addition, the journey was too long and there was no country to supply them along the way, so they had to send large ships with more supplies to sail far away.
This time, the Song Dynasty was sent on a diplomatic mission to various Western countries, and the country had supplies along the way, so there was no need to worry about supply issues. Moreover, many parts of the journey had to cross the ocean, and they would not go near the sea, so safety was naturally the priority.
“This ship is also very spectacular.”
"Although this ship is made of wood, it is the best craftsmanship of our Song Dynasty. If ironclad ships had not been built, this ship would have been the best."
"There are so many big ships behind us."
"Those are horse ships, used to transport cargo. The smaller ones are grain ships, used to carry food and fodder. There are also coal ships, used to supply coal to the ironclads. And there are warships, used to assist the ironclads in combat."
"I see."
"In addition, some warships have assault boats mounted on their sides. They are incredibly fast and can quickly launch a counterattack if attacked by the enemy."
"It's really eye-opening. I've never seen such a scene in my hometown of Zhangpu."
Everyone boarded the main ship, and many officials in the delegation were amazed, although the people selected by the court were basically officials from the southern coastal areas who were familiar with water and not seasick.
However, even these officials who grew up by the sea had rarely seen such a majestic fleet, which amazed them.
At this moment, as the officials boarded the ship, many soldiers, sailors, and entourage also began to board the ship one after another.
The goods had been prepared long ago. After the diplomatic corps arrived yesterday, the workers at the dock were hired by the Guangzhou government to move the goods overnight. In addition to food, fresh water and other resources, there were also coal, artillery shells and bullets.
Everything is ready now.
It wasn't long before all the crew members were on board.
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