On the first day of March, the Jiangnan Shipping fleet set sail from Sansha, Chongming, and headed for Tianjin.

This trip has been specifically reported to Caojiang Yamen and the Southern Military Department, with the purpose of escorting Her Royal Highness the Princess who is trapped in Yangzhou back to Beijing.

The Nanjing Minister of War was naturally shocked when he heard the news. If something had happened to the princess at sea, he would be in big trouble.

But there was absolutely no way to stop it, because Her Highness was ordered to return north - His Majesty ordered her to return to Beijing in March. Now that the canal was blocked, it would be too late to travel by land. Only by taking the risk of taking the sea route could she arrive on time.

In desperation, he had to report to the court quickly while ordering the coastal garrisons to escort the fleet along the way and report the whereabouts of the princess' fleet at any time.

However, the coastal garrisons sent out warships to search, but no one could find where the princess's fleet was.

Because the Jiangnan shipping did not go along the coast at all, after setting sail from Sansha, it sailed eastward and headed straight for the Black Water Ocean.

The Ming Dynasty called the Yellow Sea in later times the Yellow Water Ocean, the Green Water Ocean, and the Black Water Ocean. The sea surface from the Yangtze River estuary to the Huaihe River estuary contains more sand and the water is yellow, so it is called the "Yellow Water Ocean"; the water north of the Yellow Water Ocean is shallower and the water is green, so it is called the "Green Water Ocean"; the water east of the Yellow Water Ocean is deeper and the water is blue, so it is called the "Black Water Ocean".

~~

At this time, this medium-sized fleet consisting of fifty sand patrol ships was sailing on the vast blue Qingshui Ocean.

The weather was fine, with a gentle breeze, warm sunshine shining on the sparkling sea, and white seagulls chasing the fleet.

Li Mingyue and the others were all seeing it for the first time. They were all extremely shocked by the magnificent and breathtaking sea scene. The girls stopped on the deck, unwilling to look away for a long time.

Especially Zhang Xiaojing, she stared at the boundless sea, and felt that everything she had looked up to before suddenly became so insignificant. Her own little thoughts and troubles were completely insignificant.

She felt that she suddenly understood why Master Zhao was so obsessed with the blue sea.

This is basically another world, a place without any constraints and extremely free!

It was love at first sight, and Xiao Zhuzi fell in love with the sea.

And most importantly, I can finally openly express my love for it and declare my feelings for it without having to hide it or hesitate to express it.

Although there was nothing sad to say, Zhang Xiaojing couldn't help crying. She opened her arms, closed her eyes, and felt the slightly salty sea breeze on her face, as if she was embracing the all-embracing sea.

It was not until Chen Huaixiu came and called them in that Zhang Xiaojing came back to her senses from this unprecedented feeling of happiness.

"The sun is extremely strong at sea. Even though it may seem comfortable to sunbathe in it, your skin will peel off if you stay in the sun for a while longer." Gang leader Chen wore a straw hat, sunglasses, and a silk scarf around his neck. His clothes wrapped him tightly without revealing a single bit of skin.

The little girls were so scared that they quickly went into the cabin. No matter how beautiful the sea was, it was not as important as their own appearance.

Only Zhang Xiaojing was still standing there reluctantly, begging Chen Huaixiu in a low voice: "Sister Huaixiu, please teach me how to sail."

"Well, I don't know how to do it either." Chen Huaixiu couldn't help feeling ashamed. He might be the only leader of the Sand Boat Gang who couldn't operate a boat.

Well, definitely.

"But this gang leader can drive..." Chen Huaixiu muttered in his heart, and hurriedly laughed: "Why is Xiaojing interested in this kind of thing?"

"I'm just curious, I want to know how the boat is sailed? The sea is so big, won't you get lost?" Zhang Xiaojing's eyes flickered. Her beauty was so lethal that it transcended gender. Even the leader Chen, who was also a great beauty, couldn't bear to disappoint the little girl.

"That's easy. I'll take you to the wheelhouse to have a look." Chen Huaixiu smiled slightly.

"Is it really possible?" Zhang Xiaojing was so surprised that all the flowers lost their color.

"It's not possible when the weather is bad or when we need to enter or leave the port. It's possible in this weather." Chen Huaixiu said as he led Zhang Xiaojing to the stern and went up the gangway to the wheelhouse on the second floor.

This patrol ship named 'Pingjiang' is said to be 400 tons, but it is actually 600 tons in size. It has always been the seat of the leader of the Sand Ship Gang and the flagship of the entire Sand Ship Gang. Naturally, its wheelhouse is more spacious and brighter than that of an ordinary ship.

Before setting sail, the ship was also renovated in the shipyard. The most obvious thing was that all the windows in the rudder room were replaced with sandwich glass windows... The craftsmen used tic-tac-toe wooden strips to clamp the window glass tightly from both sides, so that it would not break easily and injure people.

The biggest problem before was that people in the wheelhouse could not see the sea conditions and the condition of the sails. The captain had to go in and out of the wheelhouse repeatedly, which was troublesome and easy to cause delays.

Now that they have changed to glass windows, they can see the outside at a glance, so they don't have to run back and forth anymore. This makes it very convenient for old sailors like Uncle Mi and Elder Niu Ma. But they also feel distressed. How much does so much glass cost?

At their level, they didn't know that these were all made by the research center in Xishan Island. They thought they were all purchased from the Portuguese in Haojingao.

Glass was also a luxury item in Europe, and because it was too fragile, large pieces of glass were rarely shipped to the Ming Dynasty. Most of them were small mirrors placed on the table, and each one cost hundreds of taels of silver. I'm afraid that a piece of glass as big as this window would cost at least two or three thousand taels of silver, right?

Therefore, from the day the glass windows were installed, they had a lot of worries, fearing that some young boy would not pay attention, or that a strong wind or big waves would damage the precious glass. That would be heartbreaking.

It was not until today that Mr. Zhao told them that this was produced by himself and did not cost any money. The old gentlemen gave up the idea of ​​arranging special personnel to protect the windows.

~~

In addition, the ship's water compass was changed to a land compass and was firmly fixed in front of the rudder.

The so-called dry compass is a compass that does not use the "water float method" to place the compass needle. Instead, a small hole is opened at the center of gravity of the magnetic needle as a support point, supported by an axis below, and covered with a round glass cover on top. The rest of the parts are exactly the same as the water compass.

The dry compass reacts faster and is more accurate than the water compass, which can be considered a small improvement.

In addition, Zhao Hao did not make any more changes, although he asked Zhang Jian to tinker with a few gadgets. But all improvements must be tested in practice, rather than changing for the sake of change, to interfere with the normal operations of the ship bosses.

When Chen Huaixiu led Zhang Xiaojing into the wheelhouse, he was surprised to find Zhao Hao and Zheng Ruozeng were also there.

"Young Master and Mr. Kaiyang are busy?" She hurriedly wanted to leave.

"No, we were just chatting." Zhao Hao turned around and saw Xiao Zhuzi behind Chen Huaixiu. He couldn't help but smile and asked, "Xiao Jing, is there something wrong?"

"No, it's okay." Zhang Xiaojing felt shy.

"Xiao Jing is curious about how the boat is driven and why it doesn't get lost, so I brought her up to have a look." Chen Huaixiu covered his mouth and smiled, "Since you are free, I'll trouble you to explain it to me. I still have things to do."

"Ahem, I'll go back first." Zheng Ruozeng stood up with the help of his eldest son.

Elder Niu also wanted to leave, but he had to steer the ship, so he had to stay. He thought to himself, I hope the young master doesn't hate me...

ps. This is the third update, there is one more to go, please give me your monthly votes!