Chapter 546: Coachman

The commotion of going out to sea was huge. The last time Wuqing Harbor was so lively was when Master Xu Tianshi personally came to the harbor to inspect the Marine Division. Although the fleet going out to sea this time was not as large as that of the Marine Division, it was also shocking enough.

In the huge port, countless ships are slowly floating on the sea, and at a glance, hundreds or even thousands of masts are erected.

Countless figures can be seen moving around on the ship, including crew members who come on board to do the final inspection before sailing, and dock workers who carry cargo up and down.

At the port, the people could not help but come to watch this feat. There was a bustling crowd everywhere, and vendors took the opportunity to sell their wares everywhere. Only government officials led teams to patrol back and forth to maintain order.

Although Xuan Xia's army is still fighting in the south at this moment, this does not prevent the people from joining in the fun. Xuan Xia's foreign wars have rarely directly affected the lives of the people in the rear, not to mention that there are frequent good news from the front line now, and the people are even more happy to see the festive event.

For such a large-scale event, no matter where you go, you will see a busy scene.

Going out to sea is an extremely rare thing. Although most people do not have the opportunity to explore the outside world personally, they are curious about the outside world.

Ocean voyages are really too unimaginable. Without Xu Chen's leadership will and the court's strong promotion, it is unknown how long it would take to take the first step in this costly but unknown undertaking. But now this process has been advanced by a thousand or several hundred years.

It is precisely because of this that Xu Chen is so anxious. If you don't take the initiative in some things, it will be too slow for history to develop naturally.

Now he is like a coachman, pumping history forward madly, not daring to slow down at all. There are so many things to do that he cannot even wait until the war is over for something as important as going out to sea.

Of course, although Xu Chen couldn't escape from the front line, Cai Wenji personally came to the port to see the fleet off. When she appeared with Xu Xuan and Xu Xia, the entire port was in a frenzy.

This grand occasion shocked Liu Hong, a man who had seen the world. Xuan Xia's emphasis on going to sea was far beyond his imagination.

There were hundreds of ships and nearly 20,000 people going out to sea. The supplies were piled up into mountains and then moved onto the ships. Only the imperial court could promote an operation of this scale.

Only after all preparations were completed did Liu Hong, Zhou Liang and his party board the ship. As the sea breeze blew, the ships hoisted their sails and sailed in groups towards the depths of the sea.

But before the fleet ran too far, Liu Hong immediately felt something was wrong.

Although the ship was huge and felt relatively stable, his body still reacted to the ups and downs of the sea, and he soon felt dizzy and his stomach churned.

In order to avoid losing his composure, Liu Hong quickly ran to the side of the boat, leaned over the railing and vomited. Everyone around him was shocked when they saw this and went over to greet him.

Only Zhou Liang coughed and explained: "It is inevitable for those who are new to the ship to suffer from seasickness. You can only rely on your body to slowly adapt. This is how the students got through it. Although it is very torturous at the beginning, you will get used to it after vomiting for a while."

As soon as these words were spoken, everyone looked worried. They seemed to have already anticipated how painful the upcoming journey would be.

Although they had known about these things a long time ago, they did not expect the reaction to happen so quickly.

It took Liu Hong a while to recover, but his face looked visibly ugly.

At this time, he was just thankful in his heart that although he was not young now, his body was still strong, but this degree was nothing. After all, he did not really decide to go to sea on a whim, and he did so because he was confident enough in his physical condition.

Of course, he also understood that this was only the first difficulty of sailing at sea, and he would have to suffer a lot more in the future.

After dismissing the others, he looked at Zhou Liang and said, "You always say that you want to be the Zhang Qian of Xuanxia who drilled through the sea, but Zhang Qian went to the Western Regions and didn't come back for thirteen years. I can't stand thirteen years. You'd better bring me back quickly, otherwise my children will probably fight you to death."

Upon hearing this, Zhou Liang looked into the distance. It was a huge fleet that stretched as far as the eye could see.

This scene was not unfamiliar to him as he had already gone to sea once, and the scale of this voyage was far greater than the first near-shore voyage, not to mention that the navigation tools had also been greatly improved, which gave him sufficient confidence in this voyage.

"Teacher, don't worry, we will definitely come back!"

Zhou Liang turned around and looked back at the coast that was getting farther and farther away from him. He felt reluctant but also expectant: "The war in China will soon be over. The prosperous era is coming. How can I be absent!"

As he finished his words, the fleet sailed away completely into the distance, away from the Shenzhou continent.

The last time they went out to sea, the fleet could at least sail close to the coastline, just like a kite that was tightly held by a silk rope and would not get lost. But on this ocean voyage, the silk rope was completely cut off. The future was unknown and they could only explore slowly. No one knew what the future would hold.

Can we really find a new continent? Can we really find the rumored species? If so, how long will it take?

Going to sea is undoubtedly a major event in Xuanxia recently. The people of Xuanxia, ​​whether in Youzhou or other places, have learned about it, which is largely due to the court's extensive reporting.

Overseas expansion has always been one of Xu Chen’s national policies. Now that he has finally taken the first step, he naturally has to publicize it well.

Only when people know more and see the benefits of overseas, will they be willing to go abroad more in the future, and the living space of the Chinese nation can be expanded. Now is the beginning stage of this work.

Overseas development is aimed at overseas resources, which is actually preparing for the increasingly imminent industrial process countless steps in advance. In order to use these resources for one's own benefit, not only must we explore the New World now, but we must also immigrate on a large scale in the future to develop and utilize them.

As a result, Xuanxia's population demand will be unprecedentedly strong. Millions or even tens of millions of industrial workers will be urgently needed in the future, and countless overseas lands will need immigrants to open up. This has prompted Xuanxia to formulate policies to encourage widows and orphans to remarry and have children. An extremely strong baby boom is brewing.

When the war is completely over and the land of China begins to recuperate, prosperity will come with the cry of a new generation.

Xu Chen has made preparations to welcome the prosperous times, and more people have already smelled the coming of the prosperous times. Under the forceful push of policies, they are either involuntarily or actively rushing forward into the next era.

People like Zhou Liang are just part of the changes in this era.

Whether they like it or not, they will soon witness a turning point in history books.

(End of this chapter)