Aztec Civilization: Destiny to Conquer America!-Chapter 1566 - 1106: Upper Country Sea Ship Technology—Wind Flag and Compass

"Everyone, pull together, adjust the sails properly, and catch the wind! ... The Priest in the heavens said if we sail a bit faster, we'll be rewarded with gold at the next port!... Praise the Divine Buddha, that's real gold and silver! You've been working yourself to the bone for over a decade, but none of it compares to what the great masters will reward us with, this piece of pure gold weighing one jin!..."

"Huh! The wind has changed again, blowing from the Kun position to the Gen position? ... It's truly strange! All along this eastward journey, the sea wind keeps changing, first blowing from the Sun position (southeast) to the Qian position (northwest), then from the Wu position (south) to the Zi position (north), and now from the Kun position (southwest) to the Gen position (northeast)..."

The White Sea is vast in the South, glaciers abound in the North. On this sea away from the coast, only one sea ship with sails crossed the silent and desolate waters of Alaska for millions of years.

On the bow deck, sail maker Park Sun-pan was holding a round plate with both hands. He opened his eyes wide, glancing at the round plate in his hands then at the "Wind Flag" at the bow, a simple strap that weighs only five liang, able to indicate wind direction when rotated, hence called "Five Liang Rope".

"Chief Divine! These shifting winds are truly strange!... It's like... it's like... it's like Wind God dropped a wind top, continuously spinning in the southern sea, blowing along with the hand's rotation!..."

Park Sun-pan touched his bun, eyes wide open, looking toward the southern sea, gazing into the horizon. With years of sailing experience, he vaguely detected from the ever-changing wind directions that there seemed to be something in the southern sea. As if an ancient dragon king was commanding the winds and rains in the southern sea, affecting the changes of the sea wind!...

"Heaven! What on earth is in the southern sea? This mysterious and endless Eastern Sea, besides sea fairy islands like Penglai, could there be other fairy islands inhabited by ancient Divines?..."

Park Sun-pan gazed deeply, staring in daze for a long time. Many Divine spirits came to his mind, from ancient Korean Witch Gods to Confucian Heavenly Divine and Buddha Divine from the Upper Country.

However, his gaze presently could only see the sea several miles away, not crossing thousands of miles of the ocean to observe the "Shelter Bay", "Honolulu", see the islands where Polynesian tribes lived for generations.

And the high pressure over the Hawaiian islands became the source of all North Pacific winds, the center of the thousand-mile clockwise swirling wind, a true "God" commanding the East Pacific sea wind!...

"Suddenly hear of celestial mountains by the sea, those mountains in a vast foggy void..."

On the other side, Watanabe the translator heard the sail maker's words, his expression slightly moved. Standing by the high ship rail, gazing at the vast unknown sea, he couldn't help but recite the favorite poem of the Wa People by Bai Juyi.

In the minds of East Asians of this era, the endless Eastern Sea was not only mysterious and unknown but also carried too many illusions, too much imagination, circulating countless myths and fairy traces. Although they were respectively from Korea and Wa Country, both grew up in East Asia's Chinese cultural circle, listening to these similar legendary stories. But they never imagined that one day, they'd delve into the endless Eastern Sea, encounter the merfolk with gold, and be swept away to the distant Jiao People country...

"Buddha! The bright moon in the sea has tears from pearls, beyond the southern sea are merfolk... Pearl, merfolk?... Gold, Jiao People?..."

"Chief Divine! Both are overseas for thousands of miles, both are rare treasures... Could it be, these merfolk sailing the Eastern Sea and the legendary merfolk from Eastern Sea stories have some connection? And for this link, they sailed thousands of miles, determined to seek it out..."

Watanabe Masumi clutched the golden amulet around his neck, staring at the hummingbird pattern engraved on the amulet, indulging in wild fantasies again. Such a lengthy voyage most easily exhausted one's spirit, allowing imaginative thoughts to spring forth like an unstoppable fountain.

Yet, all along his journey, he saw barren and desolate coasts, towering icebergs and lengthy glaciers along it. The largest settlement he saw was a small village of three to four hundred people, not even qualifying as a port but merely a tribal encampment by the sea.

He carefully inquired the Priest Miki and learned that these port camps were actually built by the Jiao People's ship fleet in their westward journey for over two years. Only with full support of twenty longships could one longship cross thousands of miles onto the Kyushu continent foretold by "Yellow Spring Great Divine Witch"...

"Divine Buddha! Longships of the Jiao People can use expensive cotton to make entire sails, just like the legendary merfolk skilled in weaving!... They possess so much gold, cotton, spices, and unique chilies... but don't know what a truly wealthy and prosperous Jiao People town looks like?"

"Chief Divine bless! Watanabe translator, you and Park the sail maker stand together, staring south, what are you thinking about?..."

"Ah? Priest Lord! ... Salute to you! ... Praise Go Daikon Great Divine Spirit!"

Watanabe Masumi's gaze drifted, immersed in thoughts, until a familiar voice pulled him back abruptly. He quickly lowered his head, tugging Park the sail maker along, bowing respectfully to Priest Mickey the Scholar, praising the name of Chief Divine. Then, somewhat awkwardly, he pointed at the round plate in Park's hands, cautiously responding.

"Priest Lord! We're… we're uh… observing the wind direction!... You see this wind... It changed again, blowing northeast!"

"Yes, yes! ... My lord! The wind direction has changed, but it's a good thing, a very good thing! ... The ship sails east, the wind blows northeast, with a slight sail adjustment, the wind force can be greater... The ship can sail faster, half as fast as before, almost like going with the wind!!..."

Sail maker Park Sun-pan nodded repeatedly, pointing to the wind flag at the bow then to the round plate in hand. His face beamed with joy, gesturing northeast as if he saw the gold mountain promised by Mickey.

"Huh! This strap like a flag is used to indicate wind direction? Tsk tsk! This is truly... an exquisite Magic Artifact!..."

Scholar Mickey curiously watched the rotating wind flag, "Tsk tsk" admiringly. Then, he opened his eyes wide, puzzled, gazing at the round plate in Park's hand. At first glance, the plate had two concentric circles, with strange pattern symbols inscribed, appearing akin to a tribal inherited Magic Artifact.

In the outer circle of the plate, lines draw twenty-four long divisions. Within those divisions were densely inscribed twenty-four square-shaped characters. Some were recognizable by Mickey, others he'd never seen. The inner circle housed a sharp pin that rotated with human action, always pointing to a fixed direction. Upon close inspection, that direction corresponded to a division marked with a neatly written "Wu" character.

"Huh? Twenty-four characters? Zi Gui Chou Gen, Yin Jia Mao Yi, Chen Sun Si Bing, Wu Ding Wei Kun, Shen Geng You Xin, Xu Qian Hai Ren... Park Sail Maker, what is this?..."

"Ah? My lord? You're asking what this is? This is... uh... the twelve Earthly Branches, eight Heavenly Stems, and the four corners of Eight Trigrams!"

Hearing the Priest lord's inquiry, Park Sun-pan pondered a while before explaining the origin of the twenty-four square characters. Observing Mickey's reaction and listening to Watanabe's translation, realization dawned upon him.

"My lord! You're asking what this is?... This... this is naturally... the Twenty-Four Direction Water Compass! It's a compass!"

"Chief Divine! You've sailed so far at sea, yet you haven't seen a compass?"

"What! You've voyaged thousands of miles without even a compass?!... Heaven! Bodhisattva! How do the tribes of Jiao People navigate at sea?!"