From Chief to Ball

Wei Yuan knows the distance of a knot, and regards the earth as a pure sphere, the length of the meridian calculated according to the shadow of the sun is doubled, which is the length of the so-called equator, which is [-] miles.

It sounds intimidating, but it's not so intimidating after you use the knot.Divide this circle into one nautical mile, one degree is sixty minutes, and one circle is 360 degrees.

Take out the nautical diary wrapped in oilcloth, record the water temperature and sea depth at this moment on it, and shout to the intern who is measuring the speed of the ship: "What is the speed of the ship?"

"Three quarters."

Wei Yuan wrote it down in his notebook and calculated it by division. At this speed, it would take only [-] days to circle the earth.

Of course, the wind direction is not good at this time. If the wind direction is better, the speed of the ship can be faster.If it can reach six or seven knots, it is the most perfect. If it is faster, the sail will be lowered or the sail rope will be cut off when necessary.

"Counting it all together, the world is not very big. If I have the chance, I really want to go around the world and have a look."

Young people occasionally imagine the future, which also has a lot to do with the people who lead them.During the year at the school, they were instilled with many things other than sailing—they were instilled in their own poverty because there was not enough land. If there was enough land, each person would have hundreds of acres of fertile soil like a big river valley and plain. Is there such a word as poverty?

In fact, this is not the case, but it has a great temptation for these poor people.

The speed of three knots is already very fast in this kind of situation where the wind direction is not right. Wei Yuan believes that this must be caused by the warm sea water below the boat, or what Mr. Chen called ocean currents.

It has been the sixth day of sailing, and there is no ship on the sea, only the vast dark blue sea and water birds flying by.

After observing the Polaris last night and adding the speed of the ship today, it is roughly estimated that it is already at the so-called 33 degrees north latitude. The distance from Mincheng is unknown, but I know that it is about 270 degrees north of Mincheng if only the north-south distance is counted. In the sea, as for the distance between things and straight lines, only ghosts can know the number.

There is not much wind and waves here, and the weather these days is also very good.

It was about five or six o'clock in the afternoon on May [-]th, and it was not time for a shift change. In addition, the weather was fine, so there was no need for all sailors to be dispatched, and the sailors on night duty were resting in hammocks.

As the sky gradually darkened, an old and experienced crew member stood on the deck, looking at the waves in the distance, thoughtful.

This is not the lowest level sailor, but an old seaman hired by Chen Jian. Wei Yuan and others still need to learn from these people.

They have learned a lot of theory, but the gap between theory and practice is huge, and only by making up for each other can they make more progress.

"What are you looking at?"

The old seaman glanced at the group of young interns, wanting to tease them, and said, "I saw something, you have telescopes and octants, but you didn't see it."

Wei Yuan glanced at the surrounding sea, not knowing what the old crew member was talking about, and asked with a smile, "Is there any rock?"

The old crewman chuckled and said, "If you don't believe me, let's make a bet on your drink tonight. You will have to lower the sails to slow down or stop the ship or turn around."

Wei Yuan looked at the waves curiously, then looked up at the sky, shook his head and said, "It doesn't look like it will take a long time, the book says..."

The old crewman laughed and said, "It says in the book? Little boy, you have a lot to learn. Do you want to gamble?"

Wei Yuan gritted his teeth and said, "Gamble, and bet on a portion of the landed money after landing. If I lose, I will give it to you, but you have to tell me why."

The two clapped their hands together, and the old crew climbed up to the mast with a smile, and snatched the binoculars from the observing intern above.

……

In the largest cabin, Chen Jian was spitting and talking about the theory of latitude and longitude to the chief mate, ship doctor, and navigator who were resting on board.

Everyone listened with gusto, and someone asked: "Mr. Chen, according to what you said, we are already at about 33 degrees north latitude. If the latitude and longitude are correct, we will sail eastward with all our strength if we go two latitudes further north. Will we be able to reach the mouth of Xincao River, the trading port of Qi?"

Chen Jian picked up a few books and said with a smile: "It's unmistakable. The territory of Huaxia is like a big mouth that stretches out. Mincheng is at the south end and at the east. Needless to say, the route of the North Route is indeed close, but What does it have to do with our city of Min? In the past, the South Route sailed from Mincheng to the islands where pirates were infested, and then turned to the north. How big a circle would it take? Mincheng is actually not suitable for trading in Qi, but one day the trade will gradually flourish. Besides, is it possible that Mr. Benchu, who made the calendar, found something wrong in the book?"

These people don't know what is in the book, and some things that seem to be recorded unintentionally can often play a huge role, especially after these things are confirmed by Chen Jian, which makes these people feel the so-called " Knowledge" has a strange cult.

In the past six days, people walked the route that people traveled two days ago, but then turned to a route that no one had traveled before, which seemed to be going in circles.

Although there was a fifteen-day agreement between gentlemen, everyone was still unconvinced, but Chen Jian took out a lot of things from some books he had sorted out before, and verified these words with facts.

"Look, many sailors or captains in the past will record that in that section of the sea, the sea water is warm and flows northward like a river. If only one person said this, I would not believe it. But dozens of people have this records, in general, it can be confirmed that there is such a thing.”

"There is also a book that says that from the extreme north to the south, the water is cold. And at a distance to the south of the capital, the sea is foggy all the year round, and there are a lot of fish and shrimps. It must be the place where yin and yang blend and warm and cold meet. These eternal changes in the sea Flowing water can be called ocean currents. When sailing, using ocean currents may sometimes seem to go around in circles, but in fact it can save a lot of time.”

"Although it is safe to travel along the island, it is definitely not the fastest route. In the past, we only relied on the wind, but in the future we will rely on the wind, and the ocean current can also be borrowed."

Everyone nodded and said yes, now they are relying on the so-called ocean current to go north, and they really feel the effect of it, and they also believe Chen Jian's statement that he will reach Qi State for trade in [-] days.

If it can really arrive on time, I am afraid that people will believe more in things like "knowledge", so that [-]% of them will even believe blindly.

This is not Chen Jian's nonsense, but it is summed up from those inductive navigation records or sailor legends, and then reverse reasoning with things like ocean currents and trade winds.

This is the case in theory, but in practice the sea is changeable, and it can only be said to be roughly the same.

Since the earth's rotation and subtropical high pressure basically affect the global existence, the northeast trade wind belt can be used as a return route from Qi, as long as the storm-prone period is staggered and enough hydrological wind direction data is found.

The northern equatorial warm current turns north due to the barrier of the coast and the shallow water area of ​​the misty sea and the huge current of the big river entering the sea. It is not known which route it took. The general direction of the flow can be judged by the estimation of sea fog-prone areas and fishing ground areas.

The sea area where it is now is incorrectly called the Pacific Ocean. The Qi State is on the east side of the Pseudo-China, and continuing eastward through the boundless and vast ocean is Japan and Ming Dynasty, because the old world is upside down.

Europa is further west on the west coast blocked by the mountains of this continent. At this time, the outside world should call it the Great Eastern Ocean, but if the ethnic group here seizes the right to speak, it can still be called the Atlantic Ocean.

If you don’t consider the difference between east and west and the changes in the distribution of topography and species, and only take the normal world that Chen Jian is most familiar with, Mincheng can be regarded as California instead of Florida; the capital city can be regarded as San Francisco instead of New York Washington; Qi can be regarded as a larger area, closer to the coast and northerly than Bermuda.

This is just a comparison in which things are upside down and the normal world is used as a reference instead of the real location. Many rivers and mountains are no longer barren, and the mountains that run through this continent are also deeper inland.

The ghost knows how the world line outside the fog can be corrected to maintain the current state. A slightly changed ocean current may make the rainfall in East Asia higher and warmer; The chances of Europeans discovering the New World will be much lower; it can only be regarded as the self-correcting ability of the old continent's world line if it affects the whole body.

In this case, under the condition of insufficient preparation, if one deviates from the course at this time, it is likely to sail into the boundless and widest ocean with no small islands to stop for supplies and extremely windy waves, which is a dead end.

Even if you sail around the world, you must first go to the west coast here, continue westward along the northern equatorial warm current and the northeast trade wind, first go to Europa, then go around to Daming, and then use the trade wind to go directly to the east coast here for a circle .

This kind of correction has some advantages. The direct access from East Asia to this new continent is smooth and smooth. It can be regarded as slightly balancing the unfairness of the distance and wind direction of this new continent between Asia and Europe.

When Chen Jian was about to continue talking to these people about the large-scale ocean currents, trade winds and tides that could be used, a sailor suddenly ran over.

"Mr. Chen! There are back waves and semi-circular waves. The captain suggested to lower the sails tonight or turn around to avoid them."

Chapter 135

Everyone hurriedly ran to the deck, and several old sailors pointed to the strange waves in the distance and said: "Mr. Chen, this is the wave that has encountered a large reef or an island. Look carefully at those waves. They are not ordinary waves. Straight, some places are intersected, and if you look carefully, it is not a flat push forward, but a big arc. That is the wave swirled after being blocked by the island. There must be shallow water or reefs near the island, or it will change Heading, or wait for one night first, and then look at it after dawn."

Chen Jian followed the old crewman's gestures and looked over, squinting his eyes to carefully distinguish the so-called round waves and intersecting waves. A few sentences were recorded verbatim.

The sailors were already busy, using the mirror on the mast to light up the ships ahead as a signal to warn them to be careful.

The ship in front also sent back a signal to indicate that it already knew it and was waiting with lowered sails.

Seeing that the sky is already very dark, the binoculars have lost their function. Even in the daytime, sometimes they may not be as useful as the eyes of the old crew to observe the waves.

Different islands have different blocking effects on waves, often forming reflected waves on the front, and forming some strange cross waves or small eddies in the upwind direction of currents or winds, and returning waves when encountering reefs often make ships Shaking up and down is like hitting a boulder at the bottom. This is something Chen Jian doesn't know, unless the old crew who have been soaking in the sea for a long time can be keenly aware of it.

It should not be the land of Qi State, it is too early to guess according to the distance.

The sailors ran out one after another, lowered the triangular sail on the bow, lowered the sail on the mainmast by half, adjusted the direction of the sail, and let the ship move towards the northwest at a very slow speed, avoiding the possibility brought by the island. reef area.