Chapter 1566: Crossing the Calm Belt
August 15, the third year of the Wanli reign, September 18, 1575 AD.
After seventy-two days of arduous sailing, Lin Feng's fleet finally saw land again!
Seeing the dense primeval jungle and the broad, rushing river, and the tortured crew members who had suffered from the high temperature, heavy rain, fatigue, and loneliness along the way, and were almost driven crazy, they all rushed to the side of the boat, stamped their feet, and cheered like wolves.
Many crew members jumped into the water and swam towards the shore.
Wow, this one is too difficult...
It seems that traveling 4,000 kilometers in 72 days, an average of 110 miles per day, is not too outrageous, but in fact, 3,000 kilometers were traveled in the first month, and the next 1,000 kilometers took a full 42 days! An average of a little more than 23 kilometers per day...
Because they entered the dangerous equatorial doldrums, the "Natural Knowledge" compiled by Mr. Zhao introduced its cause - it was formed by the trade wind belts north and south of the equator. The unchanging air currents blow from both sides to the equator. After encountering the high temperature of the tropics, the air currents rise and form heavy rains. On the sea, there are only weak winds and they often change direction, which has a fatal impact on the sailing of sailboats.
Since crossing the 5th parallel north, there has been almost no decent wind on the ocean. It was only thanks to the Chinese sailing rigs that were not picky and relied on the fickle breeze and turbulent ocean currents to move here little by little.
Although the sailing speed is not as fast as walking, the crew's daily workload is extremely heavy. They have to constantly adjust the sails every day to adapt to the ever-changing wind. Sometimes they have to take turns rowing in the small boat and towing the large sailboat to resist the reverse ocean current to prevent it from going backwards.
In addition to wind, the fleet also needs to avoid rainstorms. Although rainstorms can bring valuable fresh water, as the book "Nature Knowledge" says, the closer you are to the rainstorm area, the weaker the wind on the sea.
Of course, sailing in the doldrums is not without its benefits. At least the wind is calm, the boat is not bumpy, and people do not get seasick or vomit. The blue sky and calm sea are as gentle as an old lady, making people almost forget her violent side. This allows the crew to focus on the journey without distractions, and only then can they move to the mouth of the Amazon River bit by bit.
If there are more storms, I will be dead.
In fact, the mouth of the Amazon River is located on the equator, in the center of the doldrums. But the ocean current course they learned before departure told the crew that the Amazon River is the most abundant river in the world, and the amount of water it pours into the Atlantic Ocean each year is equivalent to one-sixth of the total amount of water flowing into the ocean from rivers around the world. The strong coastal currents formed are enough to send them to the trade wind belt in the south.
So here we are, the most difficult part of the journey has come to an end.
Lin Feng announced that they would rest here for a month, drive the boat into fresh water, and kill the barnacles and shipworms on the bottom of the boat. At the same time, they sent an expedition team upstream to look for villages and towns that could provide supplies.
When they left Havana, the fleet had only completed half of its supply before fleeing. Relying on the thousands of flamingos hunted on Turkey Island, the bacon, black bread and low-quality rum on the Spanish ships, and the fish caught from the sea, they barely survived for more than four months.
Fortunately, there were 300 tons of sugar cane on the ship, and the crew members did not suffer from malnutrition by drinking sugar water freely. As a result, many people suffered from tooth decay and had to chew tobacco leaves to relieve the pain.
Although there are still two hundred tons of tobacco on the ship, these things cannot be eaten after all, and they must be replenished quickly.
~~
When the "Eternal Sinner Liu Daxia" dropped anchor at the mouth of the wide and deep Amazon River, Zhang Xiaojing enthusiastically led the scientific expedition team to set off.
The researchers were also very excited, but not because they could finally escape from the sea and go ashore, but because this was the Amazon!
According to the description of "Nature Knowledge", the Amazon rainforest has 20% of the forests on Earth and can be called the "lungs of the Earth"! It contains the richest and most diverse biological resources in the world, with millions of species of insects, plants, birds and other creatures!
Nearly one-fifth of the researchers' scientific research tasks are to be completed here. They need to find more than 500 kinds of plants with great medicinal and economic value, including cinchona, arrow poison plant, magenta trumpet tree, tree pepper, Brazilian ginseng, yellow sandalwood, rubber tree, etc., among the lush plants in the Amazon, and bring back as many of their seeds, seedlings or rhizomes as possible. The climate in Nanyang is very suitable for these South American guests to immigrate.
Lin Feng had to stay behind and could not go with the expedition team or the scientific research team. She could only board a hot air balloon from time to time and look out at the magnificent scenery of the Amazon Basin.
Well, she was just bored and wanted to see when the person who went out would come back.
Lin Feng had no interest in beautiful scenery or scientific research. She just wanted to go home, return to her master, and do something great!
Don't get the wrong idea, she just found out the reason why Spain suddenly turned against them through interrogating Colonel Tiago.
It turned out that the master had recaptured Luzon and killed all the red-haired devils there. The news was passed back to Mexico, which made the vice king there furious, so he ordered them to be arrested to vent his anger.
Colonel Tiago also revealed that Vice King Velasquez had already begun to organize an expeditionary force and had submitted a report to Madrid, asking Philip II to approve his ambitious revenge plan... It was said that not only did he want to recapture the Philippines, but he also wanted to take advantage of the situation to attack the Ming Dynasty, march to Beijing, and capture the young emperor.
It only takes two months to get from Mexico to Europe. If it were fast, the Spanish king's order should have been sent back to Mexico by now.
Lin Feng estimated that the Spanish expeditionary fleet would set off next year at the latest.
The war is approaching, how can I be without my master's side?
"It's already this late, and we're still doing some bullshit scientific research? I really want to grow wings and fly back!" She complained to Ma Yishan beside her.
"Commander, it's not easy to come here once. I don't know when I will come again. It's better not to leave any regrets." Ma Yishan is quite conscious.
"What if we miss the decisive battle with the Spanish and lose?" Lin Feng angrily took a sip of tequila.
“That’s impossible…” Ma Yishan said matter-of-factly: “The Coast Guard School trains so many talents every year, and if anyone is missing, the school will just keep transferring…”
"Get out!" Lin Feng kicked him on the butt, and the balloon trembled violently.
The driver looked at the drunk woman helplessly and held back the words "No fighting at high altitudes".
Ma Yishan held onto the cable to steady himself. Suddenly he exclaimed and pointed at the sea in the distance, “Look!”
"Oh?" Lin Feng immediately regained consciousness, pulled out a monocular telescope from his arms, and put it to his right eye to look.
After a few slight adjustments, she saw a few sails appearing on the sea in the distance.
Lin Feng twisted the copper tube, and the scene in the telescope became much closer, so that the big red cross on the white sail could be clearly seen.
"Yohoo, they're catching up." Lin Feng licked his lips excitedly.
"Commander, we only have half of our ammunition left," Ma Yishan reminded her.
"It's okay. We can just beat them up and replenish them." Lin Feng counted nonchalantly, "One, two, three..."
"Commander, there seem to be a lot of them..." Ma Yishan reminded again.
"Don't be afraid. I'm always better off with fewer people than more." Lin Feng continued to count with great interest: "Eight, nine, ten..."
"Commander, there seem to be too many of them..." Ma Yishan swallowed his saliva. He had already seen more than a dozen large sailing ships. Although they looked like a group of ants from here, the smallest one was actually at least 500 to 600 tons.
"Do you need to talk nonsense?" Lin Feng couldn't count any more, and rolled his eyes at him in frustration, saying, "What's the point of the red-haired devils? We just robbed a few of their broken boats, why did you mobilize so many troops to chase them thousands of miles away?"
"That was someone else's treasure ship. You should have thought about this day when you robbed it." Ma Yishan said reasonably.
"Oh my god, there are eighteen of them. I can't afford to offend them." Lin Feng shrunk the telescope fiercely, stuffed it back into his arms depressedly and said, "Hurry up and tell them to drive the boat upstream as hard as possible, don't let the red-haired devil find them!"
~~
Fortunately, the powerful Spanish fleet did not stop and continued to move south.
That was the Atlantic Fleet led by Admiral Leon. After leaving Colombia, his fleet stopped in Guyana for rest and replenishment, so there was no need to stop in the sparsely populated area like the mouth of the Amazon River for rest.
Admiral Leon had thought of the possibility that the damn Ming fleet might be hiding at the mouth of the Amazon River.
But even if he thought of it, it would be useless, because the Amazon River estuary is 300 kilometers wide, and the coastal current system outside the estuary is very complex, full of deltas, shoals and shoals caused by the impact of mud and sand. The sandbars are also covered with dense towering trees, and it is impossible to find the fleet hiding there.
Instead of wasting time in this vast and complex water network, it is better to hurry up and go ahead to inquire whether the Ming fleet has passed or not.
Lin Feng guessed his mind and stopped being anxious. She no longer urged the expedition team and scientific research team to return, and even took the crew ashore to hunt every day.
Because she found that every morning and evening, there would be groups of animals coming to the river. Among them was an animal that looked like a tapir, but with a long philtrum and was silly and cute. Its meat was very delicious and tasted almost like pork. It was especially suitable for being marinated and stewed with spices.
And they are very big, with an adult weighing about 100 pounds. The most important thing is that they are really stupid. No matter whether you use a bow and arrow or a trap, there is always a time when you can't hit them... It's simply a godsend of meat.
Lin Feng named it "water pig" and led his crew to hunt it along the river bank. After bringing it back and cleaning it, in addition to making canned water pig meat, they also coated it with thick spices and salt and hung it in the equatorial sunlight to dry as a reserve meat for sailing.
It’s a good thing she did this.
Because the expedition team went a thousand miles deep along the river, they did not find a proper town, but only found a few primitive tribes, so the materials they exchanged were naturally limited. They only brought back some dried fish, cassava, nuts, honey, medicinal herbs, etc. Except for cassava, the rest could only be used as side dishes to adjust the taste.
ps. The next chapter has not been finished yet, please wait a moment.
(End of this chapter)