Chapter 259: Arriving at Taijiang

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The strange ship, constantly emitting a "chug-chug" sound, completely ignored the laws of nature and charged straight ahead against the wind. When this large vessel, a full two thousand liao, rapidly closed in, the people on the fishing boat fell silent too: the newcomer's momentum was too fierce, carrying a palpable killing intent.

Snapping out of his shock, Yu Chengde hurriedly shouted the order to lower the sails: this action was the equivalent of a husky showing its belly—surrender.

Seeing the two fishing boats lower their sails, the atmosphere on the scene eased slightly. In a moment, the large ship nimbly docked on the water's surface a dozen or so meters from the fishing boats.

"What's your business?" Before the ship had even steadied, an officer wearing canvas shoes, cropped pants, and a blue canvas training cap stood at the gunwale and began shouting questions through the megaphone in his hand.

At that moment, cold sweat dripped down Yu Chengde's forehead: along the gunwale of the large ship, a row of kun-haired crewmen in front-buttoned short jackets were aiming long muskets at his own people; a single misstep and they'd likely be blasted to pieces.

Fortunately, Monkey, a fellow who had traveled far and wide for years, spoke up in time. Cupping his hands around his mouth, he shouted: "Vice Lord, we are the ones heading to Dayuan to join the kun-hairs!"

"Join the kun-hairs? Then why are you heading north?"

"We got lost earlier!"

"What cargo is in the hold?"

"No cargo, just family dependents."

"Have all the dependents come out!"

When the people on the large ship saw the white-haired old man and the women and children emerging from the cabin, they finally believed Monkey's words: pirates would never bring a boatload of the old and weak out to work.

"Follow the tail of the formation. We'll take you to Dayuan."

At that moment, the door of light swung open.

The two fishing boats easily fell in behind the formation: apart from the lead motor sailboat, all the other vessels in the formation were overloaded ordinary sailing ships, crammed full of people and cargo. In terms of pure speed, the fishing boats were actually a bit faster.

From this moment on, the fishermen who had experienced both sorrow and joy were officially brought under the benevolent light of the Crossing Faction. Even though these people hadn't even gotten their temporary worker IDs yet, they still felt the power of illumination: as night approached, two white pillars of light appeared on the 17th-century sea surface.

Considering the two fishing boats were making their first night voyage, the flagship cast an extra light pillar tonight. And Yu Chengde and his people, amidst their astonishment, quickly adjusted their sails and steered their own boats between the pillars of light.

The bright light pillars dispelled all mortal dangers. Even when a squall hit the sea in the latter half of the night, the fishing boats still used the light pillars to keep themselves firmly within the safe zone. The fishermen, experiencing high-tech night sailing for the first time, were utterly exhilarated; they shouted loudly on the pitch-black sea, making a racket like howling ghosts and wailing wolves all night long.

Early the next morning, the fishing boats trailing at the rear of the fleet began to scrounge for meals: the fishermen fished out several sealed iron barrels thrown down from the ship ahead, containing fresh water and steaming hot coarse rice.

The long voyage thus became relaxed. And the two fishing boats that had traveled a thousand miles to join the kun-hairs, after experiencing another night voyage guided by the light pillars, finally saw the Dayuan Channel on the morning of the third day.

... After enduring hardships to reach the promised land, the fishermen, like all country bumpkins, were now on deck watching the Western scene. Yu Chengde held Third Sister's hand with his left and supported Ba Grandpa with his right; beside him, Monkey, spittle flying everywhere, was pointing out the landscape for everyone. Everything seemed so perfect.

The Dayuan Channel nowadays was already bustling without cease. Merchant ships arriving from all directions and vessels departing from Taijiang came in an endless stream. The increase in traffic volume made it necessary to set up traffic command boats at both ends of the channel, with electric megaphones mounted on their masts and their hulls painted a conspicuous, eye-catching red.

The channel, already widened to 40 meters, was now divided into two, with buoys installed in the middle, forming a road-like pattern where vessels did not interfere with each other.

The hero responsible for all this: Comrade Seabed Scoop, still stood by the waterway like an eternally unchanging sculpture, slowly digging sand as if it meant to dig until the end of the world.

The scenery on both sides of the channel had also increased considerably. Artificially pruned, orderly sand-fixing plants formed a large ring-island green belt. In the distance, the Imperial City, shimmering with a blue glow, was an extremely imposing structure in the eyes of the Ming people.

The Imperial City had now become a true symbol of rule: whenever night fell, Jianyuan Hall, which also served as a lighthouse, would always shine brilliantly, projecting its internal light through the blue glass curtain wall onto the nearby sea surface.

And the busy figures of the various lords governing under this light always gave the ancients watching from afar a feeling of seeing a celestial painting. This unique visual effect quickly became famous and actually became a scenic sight of Dayuan.

Lighthouses were a necessity. The ship throughput on both banks of Taijiang was no longer what it used to be. Vessels arriving from Hangzhou, Fuzhou, Xiamen, Nagasaki, and the South Seas came in an endless stream, day and night without stopping. A lighthouse with an observation range of over 20 kilometers could well ensure the safety of ship navigation.

It should be known that as early as the ancient Roman period, there was already a lighthouse on the Spanish peninsula—the Hercules Lighthouse. This lighthouse was still functioning even in the 21st century, after the year 1900, a true miracle.

The Transmigrators not only "used the city as a lighthouse" on Dayuan Island, but also built lighthouses in Penghu, Jinmen, Xiamen, and other places.

The lighthouse built in Jinmen was of vital importance: ships could now depart from Jinmen at four or five in the morning, using the lighthouse's guidance to travel east and cross the strait. This way, when the sky was fully bright, the ships would have already traveled twenty to thirty kilometers into the strait.

This bit of distance saved might not seem like much, but when the lighthouse on Penghu West Island lit up before nightfall, the combined distance saved on both ends was over a kilometer.

It should be known that the straight-line voyage from Jinmen to Penghu West Island is only 130 kilometers in total. This meant that as long as a ship maintained an average speed of 4 knots, it could completely use the daylight hours of one day to travel from Jinmen to the vicinity of Penghu.

After this, it was even easier: the distance between Penghu and Tainan was entirely within the visual range of the two lighthouses, so ships could boldly make the night voyage from Penghu straight to Tainan.

Therefore, Yu Chengde and his people had suffered from a lack of information.

If they had known earlier that lighthouses had already been built in Jinmen and Xiamen, then everyone could have completely escaped southward from Putian, and after reaching Jinmen, casually joined a few merchant ships heading to Dayuan to depart.

If they were still uneasy about the daytime voyage, they could also go to Xiamen to wait for a "liner." Now, roughly every three days, a liner equipped with radar and a searchlight would depart from Zhongzuo Wharf in Xiamen. Whenever this big brother set out, a vast and mighty procession of merchant ships and even private cargo ships with only a few people would follow behind, a truly spectacular sight.

Fortunately, all roads lead to the same destination. Yu Chengde and his people were lucky enough to encounter the Hangzhou fleet in the middle of the strait, and today they had arrived at Taijiang, safe despite the dangers.

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