Chapter 544 (1/2)

Chapter 544: 544

Ling Zhang and Yuwen Tong stopped talking as Ling Zhaowu walked up to them .

“Father-in-law,” said Yuwen Tong .

As they were not in the palace, Ling Zhaowu simply made a bow with hands folded in front and then said, “Sire, shortly before I boarded this vessel, a member of the Chamber of Commerce delivered a chart to me as a matter of urgency . Would you like to see it?”

Yuwen Tong nodded . “All right . ”

With that he suspended the inspection tour and followed Ling Zhaowu into a cabin with Ling Zhang .

Cabins of this vessel were quite roomy . There were two floors above the deck . On the upper floor were the cabins of Yuwen Tong, Ling Zhang, Ling Zhaowu, Ling Maomao, Ji Xiaocong, Ji Yanlai, Ji Yin and Yuwen Jin, each cabin accommodating two men .

The lower floor covered a larger area . Aside from the rooms for Mr . Mu and a couple of others, there was also a commodious study and a s.p.a.cious living room .

Ling Zhang, Yuwen Tong, Ling Zhaowu, Yuwen Jin and Ji Yanlai were now in the study, an unrolled chart from Jiahe Chamber of Commerce on the desk .

Ling Zhang studied it . It had not been long since their departure from the port outside Pingtao City, and the chart had detailed information about a very long section of the remainder of the s.h.i.+pping route . It was after the route wound its way out of the waters under jurisdiction of the Great Wen and entered the South Ocean that information about the route became less definite .

“These waters are the area where that island is rumored to have emerged,” said Ling Zhaowu, circling a particular spot in the South Ocean with his finger . That was a large area . Though they knew its approximate location, finding it would still take a lot of doing .

Ji Yanlai said, “This tallies with the information from my men . ”

Ling Zhang also said, “And the location provided by the envoys from the couple of mini-states on the South Ocean is not far away from this area . ”

Ling Zhaowu observed with an inclination of the head, “Then there should be no mistake about its approximate location . ”

They were going in the right direction . Though unaware of its specific location, they knew which area it was in, so their search wouldn’t be aimless .

“We may have those envoys act as our guides when we get there,” suggested Ling Zhang .

The envoys from the couple of mini-states on the South Ocean had been very excited when they had been told that Ling Zhang and Yuwen Tong were going to the South Ocean . They had offered to be Yuwen Tong and the others’ guides on their own account and were now right on one of the naval vessels .

“Seeing as we’re with a naval force, we’ll inevitably have to deal with the authorities of those mini-states when we get there . They know about these waters better than we do . We’ll be saving ourselves a lot of trouble if we let them be our guides, but we can’t trust them completely . It’s best if we keep a weather eye on them,” said Ling Zhaowu .

Yuwen Tong had thought of this as well . Neither he nor Ling Zhang would believe everything the envoys told them .

After a few moments, Yuwen Tong summoned the naval officers and some others familiar with the South Ocean to study the chart with them . There were some experienced steersmen among them, who, after a mere glance at the chart, came to know where that spot roughly was .

Ling Zhang was watching on the side . At first he couldn’t quite understand the marks and lines on the chart, but after hearing their discussion for a while, he gradually got the hang of it .

In a word, those waters were relatively desolate even in the various countries on the South Ocean, so they must always be extra careful .

…

It would be a very long time before they reached land . Ling Zhang and Yuwen Tong went to every area of the vessel to take a closer look at everything the vessel was equipped with and how the marines worked together .

Yuwen Tong had never been a naval officer, but there were some parallels between the navy and the army . After a short tour on the vessel, he had a better idea of the combat power of the marines .

“Let’s wait and see if they could defend against attacks from pirates,” said Yuwen Tong .

To get to the South Ocean, they would have to sail through some pirate-infested waters . Presently they had no idea whether or not those pirates would be so bold as to take action, but it struck Ling Zhang that Yuwen Tong was probably looking forward to seeing the marines display their real strength in a fight against pirates .

But Ling Zhang felt that even the dumbest pirate wouldn’t dare mess with such a large naval fleet of the Great Wen, that Yuwen Tong would very likely be disappointed .

…

“I can hold my breath for a very long time in this kind of sea water . I’ll show you what I can do underwater when the marines stop the vessels to have a breather . ”

On the deck, Ji Xiaocong was speaking proudly with his chest thrown out, looking expectantly at Ling Maomao .

Ling Maomao did not look very well, mainly because he was slightly seasick, despite the fact that he had received some specialized training . A couple of years ago, when he had been delivering a package back to the Millennium Pavilion for Ji Yin, he had vomited so badly that he had specially trained against seasickness afterward .