Chapter 1571 Good Days Are Coming

The rescue lasted all night until no survivors were found, and it was completely over at dawn.

In the cabin, the crew huddled together and shivered, unable to tell who was the rescuer and who was being rescued. The chef mixed ginger into jars of strong liquor and distributed it to the crew to warm themselves up.

In the medical room, the ship's doctors were still busy, they had been giving priority to the suffocated, hypothermic and seriously injured, and now they had time to bandage and straighten the bones of the crew members with broken bones and bleeding heads.

At this time, the roaring westerly wind belt finally showed her gentle side. Not only did the wind stop, but the rain also stopped. The warm sunshine illuminated the sea surface brilliantly.

If it weren't for the tattered canvas, ship materials, wooden barrels... these evidences floating on the water, it would be impossible to connect this calm sea with the crazy tyrant last night.

Lin Feng leaned tiredly on the railing, drinking wine while listening to Ma Yishan report the casualties.

"The statistics of each ship have been collected. Eleven people including the captain were missing from the Tianbao last night. Three more were missing from Gaoyou Lake. Two were missing from the flagship. One each from the Fuzhou and Taizhou. The Wenzhou has all its crew members except for the injured." Ma Yishan sighed and said, "The preliminary investigation results show that the Tianbao may have hit a large piece of floating ice last night."

"We lost eighteen brothers in one night. The Spaniards didn't kill that many of us." Lin Feng's eyes were red and he took a big gulp of wine.

At sea, missing is considered death...

Although there may be a Robinson Crusoe miracle, it is impossible to waste too much time searching and put the entire crew in danger again.

Always choose the lesser of two evils, that's the Captain.

"Sometimes I think about it, we are so damn insignificant..." Lin Feng waved her hand and asked Ma Yishan to go back to work. She sighed to Zhang Xiaojing beside her and said, "The reason you can be so arrogant is because God doesn't want to punish you. If God really wants to punish you, you won't be able to do anything about it."

As she spoke, she said something along the lines of a literary work: "Heaven and earth are unkind, and treat all things as pigs and dogs... Is that right?"

"It's a straw dog..." Zhang Xiaojing patted her shoulder gently and said, "That being said, having a good captain can greatly increase our chances of surviving the might of heaven and earth. Thank you, Captain."

"Are you talking about me?" Lin Feng pointed at her own upturned nose.

"Of course, please continue to lead us home." Zhang Xiaojing said with a smile.

"Of course, no captain would abandon his crew midway." Lin Feng took a gulp of wine, threw the bottle into the water, and said, "First we need to figure out where we are..."

As she spoke, she raised her head and saw a white world of ice and snow in front of her, which dazzled her eyes.

Zhang Xiaojing handed her a pair of sunglasses and smiled, "I think we are in Antarctica."

"Fuck, is this so outrageous?" Lin Feng was stunned. "He was blown away a thousand kilometers in less than two days?"

"Of course not." Zhang Xiaojing took out a fairly accurate hand-drawn map by Zhao Hao and said, "We are now on the west side of the Antarctic Peninsula, which is also the northernmost point of the entire Antarctica."

"No wonder the wind and waves have calmed down a lot." Lin Feng suddenly realized, "It turns out that the mountain has raised the wind. Can you tell where we are now?"

"We have passed Cape Menan and entered the Pacific Ocean." Zhang Xiaojing pointed to the obvious dividing line on the sea in the distance.

The water in the west is turbid and green, while the water in the east is obviously clearer and bluer. A strip of white foam in the middle divides the sea surface like a dividing line, making it clear.

This is the dividing line between the two oceans mentioned in "A Brief Knowledge of Nature", and it happens to be on the same longitude as the southernmost cape of Tierra del Fuego.

Because the cape is also the southernmost tip of the entire South American continent, Lin Feng used a pun and named it Cape Menan.

As for the vast strait between the Antarctic Peninsula and Cape Menan, it is deservedly named after its creator - Linfeng Strait!

Zhang Xiaojing told Lin Feng that the reason for this dividing line is that the density of the seawater in the two oceans is different. The Atlantic Ocean has a high evaporation rate and a high salinity, so the color is dark. The Pacific Ocean has abundant rainfall and the salt content of the seawater is light in color. Therefore, when you look far away, you will see this natural dividing line.

"Moreover, the water level difference between the two sides can reach half a meter. This is the evidence of the earth's rotation!" Xiao Zhuzi showed an expression of great admiration. Another great conclusion of her husband was confirmed.

"Why?" Lin Feng smacked her lips. Chatting with a busty female scientist made her feel overwhelmed, tired, and inferior.

"Because the earth is always rotating from west to east, and the Pacific Ocean is to the west of the Atlantic Ocean. So the water level of the Pacific Ocean is always higher than that of the Atlantic Ocean..." Zhang Xiaojing said excitedly: "As a captain, you should learn a little about geofluid mechanics."

"Haha, let's talk about it later, let's talk about it later." Lin Feng hurriedly laughed it off, changed the subject, pointed at the land that was getting closer and closer, and said: "Hey, those fat birds are so strange, their wings are so small, can they fly?"

"That's a penguin. It can't fly." Zhang Xiaojing picked up the telescope and observed it carefully. "How cute."

"It can't fly, that's great!" Lin Feng was overjoyed and whistled to the crew members on the deck, "Dock, let's go hunting penguins!"

"Penguins are so cute, how can you eat them?" Zhang Xiaojing protested, but then she thought of how these guys ate whatever they saw along the way from Asia to Africa and then to America, so she said helplessly, "Okay, forget it."

~~

Being blown to the Antarctic continent is not scary because it is midsummer in Antarctica and the climate is relatively pleasant.

So Lin Feng planned to sail westward for a while under the protection of the Antarctic continent, and then cross the westerly belt again to reach the west coast of South America!

But the crew members are still in shock, so let them relax before setting off.

So the fleet carefully bypassed the ice floes and dropped anchor in a sheltered harbor.

The crew excitedly followed Lin Feng and went ashore to hunt penguins. Zhang Xiaojing also led the scientific expedition team ashore and erected a white marble stele engraved with the sun and moon on the hillside facing the bay. According to international practice, it declared the Ming Dynasty's ownership of this continent.

This strange behavior attracted a group of penguins. They tilted their heads and curiously looked at the strange behavior of these "two-legged fellows" struggling with the stone, but turned a deaf ear to the tragedy of another group of penguins being hunted not far away.

They killed the gentoo penguin. What does that have to do with me, the chinstrap penguin?

In the next few days, the crew members hunted and had fun on the warmest peninsula in Antarctica, drinking and barbecuing, watching seals and penguins. They had a blast and were completely free. Even Xuelang got drunk with them, forgetting all his regrets and reflections about the past, as well as his resolutions for the future.

Once the storm was over, everything returned to normal, and the fear of death disappeared in an instant, leaving only the thought of enjoying life while it lasts.

Seeing that the rest was almost over, Lin Feng ordered everyone to board the ship and set sail to continue the voyage.

Bah, penguin is really unpalatable, bad review...

According to her plan, the fleet sailed westward along the Antarctic continent for two days, then turned north.

The howling westerly wind would naturally blow them northwest, as long as they didn't go too far west and into the Linfeng Strait...

Fortunately, the weather was good and they did not encounter any storms or snowstorms along the way. Three days later, the west coast of South America, with its many deserted islands and reefs, appeared before them.

After sailing to safe waters, Lin Feng held a funeral for the twenty-one crew members who were missing or died after being rescued. Everyone lined up on the deck in formal attire, the guard of honor fired twenty-one guns, and Lin Feng personally sent the body bags covered with the red flag of the sun and the moon into the South Pacific.

After the funeral, she did not order them to be taken back, but instead convened a general meeting on the spot.

She was wearing a neat woolen police uniform, polished leather boots, and a helmet with three silver stars on it. She stood with her hands behind her back and looked around at her crew. After a long while, she announced loudly:

"We have sailed out of the westerlies, and the most difficult voyage is over!"

The cheers of the crew members immediately resounded through the sky. They threw their hats and helmets high into the air, proud of themselves for having defeated nature!

This huge sense of accomplishment filled everyone's body and mind, making them feel powerful and confident that they could overcome all challenges again!

So when Lin Feng proposed, there are now two options.

One is to sail northwest, letting the trade winds and the gentle South Pacific carry them back to Asia. If you are lucky, it only takes 100 days to reach Luzon. But there is basically nothing to see along the way...

The other route is to go north along the west coast of South America. This way it might take half a year to get home, but you can rob a lot and vent your anger!

"Of course it's the latter one!" The sailors cheered excitedly. These guys who had forgotten the pain after their wounds healed felt that they could do it again.

"This route may take half a year, and there will definitely be more sacrifices." Lin Feng asked seriously, "Are you willing to do that?"

"Yes!" the sailors cried.

"Didn't I force you to do that?"

"no!"

"Okay, then we'll head north!" Lin Feng finally smiled, yanked the whip in his hand, pointed to the north and said:

"Set off!"

~~

Although Lin Feng intended to rob along the way, he was cautious and did not act immediately. Instead, he sailed north along the long coastline for more than a month without going ashore.

Because the wind was against us heading south, it would take at least a month and a half for the news to reach Hambray Harbor after we started...

It would take more than a month for the admiral to lead his fleet north. The time difference of nearly three months was enough for him to commit the crime calmly and then escape.

In fact, it was not wrong for her not to do anything, because Chile had not yet discovered saltpeter and copper mines, and was still very poor. It only had the skin and fur of the alpaca, and if it fired a few more shots, it would lose money in this robbery. It was better to save her strength for Peru.

On April 20th of the fourth year of the Wanli reign, Lin Feng led a privateering fleet into Peru, Spain's core area in South America. He finally stopped restraining his hungry and thirsty men and let them rob!

p.s. Good night.

(End of this chapter)