South of Gaizhou, Spanish Equinox.
This strange ground meant one thing. This place was rich in Spanish Mackerel, also known as mackerel. Every summer and autumn, Spanish Mackerel migrated in groups to lay eggs. It was the fishing season. Spanish Mackerel were ferocious and extremely fast. Their shiny silver bodies often darted out of the sea when they were looking for food. According to the textbook, Spanish Mackerel meat was dense, white, and had few bones. It was delicious.
Well … with such attributes, what was there to wait for? If it fell into the hands of the people of the foodie empire, it could be said that it could die without regrets. It was guaranteed that it could cook all kinds of delicious food.
Zhou Qingfeng occupied the three guard posts of the Liaodong Peninsula and plundered a lot of food. However, when a large number of people poured in, he still faced a huge pressure of food rations. Although he had obtained 20,000 to 30,000 tons of food, it was really not enough to face hundreds of thousands of mouths eating and drinking day and night. If he counted the food needed for the subsequent agricultural construction, he had to find other sources of food.
Fortunately, there were enough fishing resources in the sea.
When Zhou Qingfeng set up the base at Yingkou, he mobilized the people to catch fish, even shellfish. However, the amount of fishing was too little, and each person couldn't even catch one fish. After he took over Gaizhou, he immediately looked up information on the fishing industry in the Bohai Sea. There was no need to think about the distant ones. The Spanish Equinox near the coast became the only hope to feed the population of the Revolutionary Army.
Out to sea!
The 'Lushun' unfolded three hard sails, and Zhou Qingfeng held the 'Wind and Cloud Banner' in his hand to stir up the strong wind to speed up the ship. There were several transport ships on both sides of the 'Lushun'. They were all lined up with the 'Lushun' and moved forward together under the strong wind. At the same time, huge fishing nets were thrown behind the capstans at the stern of the ships.
Ancient fishing nets were woven with hemp fiber. They would expand when they absorbed water and rot easily. 'Three days to fish, two days to dry the net' originally meant that the fishing nets had to be maintained frequently. In addition, the fishing boats used by ordinary fishermen were very small, and there were often only one or two people fishing. The fishing nets were only a few square meters in size, and the fishing efficiency was extremely low.
Zhou Qingfeng had people weave large fishing nets that were hundreds of square meters. After weaving, he had to strengthen them with spells to improve their toughness and durability. The high and mighty cultivator never did this in the past. Who would improve the fishing nets for the fishermen? Wouldn't it be better to refine a cauldron of immortal pills instead?
Now, the large reinforced fishing net was lowered through the winch bracket at the stern of the ship, spreading out a huge trawl net under the sea. With the Wind and Cloud Banner in hand, not only could Zhou Qingfeng control the wind, rain, thunder, and lightning on the surface of the sea, but he could also probe a certain distance under the sea. It was like a sonar that could efficiently determine the target.
The sea became stormy. Zhou Qingfeng, who was controlling the Wind Cloud Banner, looked up at the sky and felt that a storm was coming. The power of nature could only be obeyed, not resisted. He tried to adjust the direction of the wind and shouted to Xu Bing, "Hurry up, there's going to be a storm."
As soon as he finished speaking, the sky turned gloomy. Large drops of rain pattered down, hitting people's faces and hurting them. Xu Bing turned a deaf ear to Zhou Qingfeng's shouts and continued to operate according to the fishing rules written in the book. Spanish fishes lived in the middle and upper layers of the sea. If the fishing net didn't sink deep enough, it was impossible to catch them.
When the raindrops splashed on the deck of the ship, Xu Bing was sure that the fishing net was set up successfully. She turned around and shouted, "Okay, speed up to the school of fishes and pull them into the net."
The sea breeze controlled by the Wind and Cloud Banner became faster and faster, whistling past.
When Guo Jiao gave this magical artifact to Zhou Qingfeng, she intended to help Zhou Qingfeng fight on the sea. The difference between the wind and the wind on the sea was huge. Who knew that Uncle Zhou's thinking had always been divergent — trawling needed a large ship, and a high-speed one at that. Naturally, he used the Wind and Cloud Banner to catch fish.
The fierce sea breeze blew the hard sail of the ship, and the people on the deck had to hold on to fixed objects to move forward slowly. The heavy transport ship was driven to a high speed of 12 knots by Zhou Qingfeng, and even the mast was bending and groaning.
But soon, the speed of the ship decreased.
Everyone could feel that the ship seemed to be dragged by something, and it took a lot of effort to move forward.
12 knots, 10 knots, 8 knots, 6 knots …
When the speed of the ship dropped to 4 knots, Zhou Qingfeng, who was standing at the bow, shouted, "Pull in the net, pull in the net, the ship can't hold on any longer."
The order to pull in the net quickly spread to the whole fleet, and the boatmen stood in front of the capstan while shouting. Seven or eight people worked together to turn the metal lever of the capstan. Everyone's arm muscles bulged, and they let the falling raindrops hit their faces. Their only thought was to pull the fishing net out of the sea.
The resistance on the capstan was getting stronger and stronger, and from time to time, people ran out of manpower and were immediately replaced by backup people. When the fishing net emerged from the sea and approached the surface, Xu Bing stood at the open stern of the modified ship and looked out. She saw the sea at the stern of the ship like a boiling cauldron, and countless fish were jumping in it.
The sea was really rich these days!
A random net was full of fish.
Xu Bing didn't care that she was wet. She wiped the rainwater off her hair and shouted, "Pull hard, this net has at least five tons of fish. Whether we can eat and drink enough depends on everyone's hard work! "
The fishing net became heavier as it was pulled out of the water, but more men on the ship came forward to help, and each handle of the capstan was filled with several pairs of hands. A huge net slowly appeared on the surface of the sea under the support of the capstan. It was an extremely complicated net, woven by hundreds of female workers with the information provided by Zhou Qingfeng.
The ferocious Spanish mackerel kept jumping in the net, but when the net left the water, it was suspended in the air by a frame made of pulleys and slowly moved to the top of the fishing cabin. The fishing cabin was opened, the net was lifted, and several tons of fish were dumped into it. This harvest alone was equivalent to the hard work of hundreds of ordinary fishermen in a day.
Enthusiastic cheers rose from the row of ships in the same fleet. There were five ships in total, and each ship had a harvest of about three to five tons. This was only the first harvest, and there would be more later.
"When I was in Hekulum, I also used the Lightning Spell to fry fish to feed the slaves." Zhou Qingfeng grabbed the 'Wind and Cloud Banner' and jumped back from the bow. Looking at the lively fish in the fishing cabin, he grinned and said, "Now everyone will be tired of eating fish. Spanish mackerel dumplings, Spanish mackerel balls, and Spanish mackerel pancakes. I guarantee that many years later, people will lose their appetite when they hear the word Spanish mackerel. "
"It doesn't matter if it has an appetite or not, as long as it can feed people now." Xu Bing also smiled happily. "I feel that whether it's the ship, fishing gear, capstan, or even the fishing method, there's still a lot of room for improvement. For example, the speed of the ship doesn't need to be so high, just four or five knots is enough. It's essential that there's a cultivator to control this' Wind and Cloud Banner '. After all, you can't always be the one fishing. "
"I can hold it for the time being. Before the end of the fishing season, I'll catch enough fish so that we can expand our army. After all, the army has to eat to be able to fight. "Zhou Qingfeng shouted to the boatmen beside him," Come, the second net. The bottom of the sea is full of fish, let's see if we can catch more. "
The emptied trawl net was rearranged, and everyone worked with more and more vigor. Most of the boatmen on the boat were fishermen of Liaodong Bay. In the past, they would be laughing if they could catch a dozen or so catties of fish with one net. But now, the catch was a hundred or a thousand times more, and it was even easier.
Zhou Qingfeng spent the whole day fishing three times at Spanish Mackerel Circle, and each time he caught more fish than the last. In this era, no one had ever fished on such a large scale. The fish in the sea were densely packed, practically endless. When the five trawlers reached the shore before nightfall, the catch they caught shocked everyone who saw it.
One empty wicker basket after another was handed onto the boat, and basket after basket of fish was brought down. Almost no one knew how many wicker baskets were handed over. In any case, the prepared wicker baskets were all filled, but there were still fish left in the boats' cabins.
A series of wooden sheds were built on the side of the Spanish Mackerel Circle's dock. Under each wooden shed was a long row of wooden tables. Hundreds of recruited labourers had already waited here for a day. When the fish in the wicker baskets were poured out, they would quickly cut open the intestines of each fish with knives in their hands and roughly process them.
Before the boats reached the shore, there was a torrential downpour, and the labourers felt that they would not be able to catch anything today. But now, fish after fish were poured out in front of them. This rich harvest made them incomparably happy, but also incomparably astonished — — How many damn fish are there? We won't be able to finish them even if we die of exhaustion!
There were many fishermen in Liaodong Bay, but no one had ever seen so many fish!
To the ignorant people, the scene in front of them was beyond their imagination. Perhaps only the Sea Dragon King had the ability to order the schools of fish to enter the net by themselves. The boatman who came down from the boat also said with certainty, "Our young marshal was standing at the bow with a 'Wind and Cloud Banner' in his hand. We only heard him shout a few times, and we fished up the fish. "
A miracle, a miracle, this really made people want to prostrate themselves in worship.
After the roughly processed Spanish Mackerel was recorded, they were moved onto the horse carriage. As the head of the administrative department, Xu Bing already had a plan for the use of these catches. About 40 tons of fish were caught today, and they would be quickly sent to the Imperial Guard, the hospital, the school, and the administrative department for distribution. Every department had its own canteen, and thousands of people would be able to have a delicious meal.
This was the only meat that the Revolutionary Army could guarantee on a large scale at the moment. Zhou Qingfeng also guessed that many people would feel that it was extremely delicious when they ate it for the first time, but they would feel uncomfortable after eating it for a few days. If they ate it continuously for a week, then their days would be miserable.
"Preserve the fish that can't be finished by smoking and marinating it, and we can sell it. We have a good relationship with the merchants in Shandong, so it should be a product that we can sell to the outside world. " Zhou Qingfeng also came down from the boat, and glanced at the busy workers, and said, "We need more boats to catch fish. 40 tons a day is not too much, but too little."
"We can transfer over 20 transport boats that we rented from Shandong for modification, and order boats from merchants in Shandong and the south at the same time. As long as we pay a high enough price, someone will sell the boat, "Xu Bing said. "There are hundreds of thousands of tons of fish in the sea, enough for us to catch. What we lack now is the ability to catch. "
The decision of the two was carried out, and it soon changed the lives of countless people.
After leading the fishing for a few days, Zhou Qingfeng couldn't stand the boring work anymore. He transferred a few guys in the Imperial Guard with cultivation to take charge of the Wind and Cloud Banner. After the battle of the wooden field station, Sang Wenlai and Li Yanxi also successfully awakened their true essence and mastered the way of military formation. They could all use the military formation to continue to control the Wind and Cloud Banner.
In the end, everyone found that the cultivation of the navy commander Zhu Chengxiu was not bad, and her water spiritual power was also the most suitable for operating a boat, so she was specially pulled to do this work, fishing every day. Zhu Chengxiu's soul and spirit were forcibly taken away by Zhou Qingfeng, so she could only hold a treasure like the Wind and Cloud Banner and work day and night on the sea.
Zhu Chengxiu scolded angrily, "We are all thieves, why do I have to catch fish alone? Didn't we agree that everyone is equal and can take turns? Why did it become my job alone? You lied to me and said that I would be the commander of the navy, but now I'm the fishing commander. You're just bullying me because I joined you late, aren't you? Is there a distinction between high and low in revolutionary work?
What a deep resentment!
For the 'Revolutionary Army' that had crossed from tens of thousands of people to hundreds of thousands of people, the daily supply of dozens of tons of fish seemed to be a lot, but in fact, it only added one more dish to the table for a small number of people. The situation of eating to the point of being sick of it didn't happen for the time being. Instead, it made the cohesion within the group stronger.
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