Type 039 submarine

  Outside the Ximen Gate, by the Qinhuai River, a spring breeze blows across their faces, and fragrant grass fills the sky. A group of military officers from the capital, led by the Duke, come to bid farewell to Liu Ziguang. Before leaving, Liu Ziguang has a few more drinks with them, and they all become bosom friends. Peng Jingrong is also busy, lavishing gifts on everyone. A small group of wives and daughters of high-ranking officials from the capital also come to see them off. The men gather in one group, the women in another. The men set out a full table of wine and dishes, taking turns to toast Liu Ziguang, while the women hold hands with the Peng sisters, their eyes brimming with tears as they say "Sister (brother), you must come to Beijing often to visit me."

  See you off for a thousand miles, there is always a farewell. After the whistle of the bright wheel ship sounded three times, the farewell finally ended in a reluctant atmosphere. Liu Ziguang and two ladies boarded the ship with big and small packages of gifts from friends in Beijing.

  Recently, the emperor was enraged and many officials in the capital were dismissed and investigated. The common people were also unfortunate, as they had to undergo strict checks when entering or leaving the city gates. Every day, there were countless people, horses, and goods passing through the city gates, making it impossible to inspect them all. The people's grievances were simmering, and complaints filled the air. Liu Ziguang and his companions left the city under the escort of the Duke of National Protection and a group of military officers, so the soldiers guarding the gate and the Brocade Guards responsible for searching did not dare to inspect them. That's how the ancient painting was smuggled out.

  A bright boat sails along the Qinhuai River into the Yangtze River, going downstream. Along the way, it passes by thousands of sails, and its homeward-bound heart is like an arrow.

  The waterway from Nanjing to Yangzhou is very busy, with cargo ships, passenger ships and fishing boats on the Yangtze River as numerous as fish in the river. Liu Ziguang always felt that there were eyes staring at him from the many ships behind, but after careful observation, he didn't find any suspicious objects. Was it just his nerves?

  At noon, the boat stopped at a small dock by the river. Everyone was having lunch in the cabin when they suddenly heard a loud noise coming from outside. When they went out to take a look, they found that a fishing boat next to them had broken in half. The white splintered surface showed that the boat had hit something hard. This section of the waterway didn't have any hidden reefs, and these boat people were very familiar with the navigation channel. How could they have crashed their boat?

  The fishermen who fell into the water were terrified, as if they had seen a ghost, and swam desperately towards the shore, shouting "The monster has appeared! Run away quickly!" The surrounding boats that were cooking dinner hastily lifted anchor and set sail, fleeing in disarray. In no time at all, all the boats had escaped cleanly, leaving only the iron factory's paddlewheel boat docked at the wharf. Distant ships passing by on the navigation channel were unaware of what had happened here and continued to sail as usual.

  The captain was also baffled, and after stopping in Nanjing for a few days, strange things started happening in the water. It was truly a fresh surprise. The people on the dock scattered in all directions, and with great difficulty, they found an old man who couldn't run away due to his inconvenient legs to ask about it. The old man said that recently, the river has been quite turbulent, and a black dragon has appeared at the bottom of the water, often causing huge waves. Last time, several fishing boats from Beijing's Ma Liu Ye were sunk or damaged. Moreover, this black dragon is only seen in glimpses, and no one has ever clearly seen its face.

  Liu Ziguang took out the thousand-mile mirror to observe the troubled water surface, and below it seemed like a black shadow was motionless. Could it be a prehistoric creature like the "Loch Ness Monster"? He suddenly became interested and asked the captain to prepare a set of diving gear, lower the small boat, and take a closer look at the monster's appearance himself.

  Soon everything was ready, Liu Ziguang put on a tight shark skin diving suit, brought a sharp dagger, and dived into the water alone. After a closer look, he first ruled out the black dragon and sea monster, which must be man-made boats rather than biological organisms.

  A black submarine sank to the bottom of the river, shaped like a cartoon dragon with a dragon head and fangs painted on its front. Its body was covered in scales, making it look quite fat, with a cylindrical shape. The iron skin of the boat had been torn open, revealing a large hole, and there was a half-person-high command tower on its back, equipped with air intakes and periscopes. The hull was made of riveted metal plates, coated with a layer of waterproof paint. At the rear, near the dragon's buttocks, was a copper propeller, exquisitely crafted, far surpassing Zhu Yuezhi's work in terms of precision and scientific design. The propeller was tightly entangled in fishing nets, suggesting that it had suddenly encountered a fishing boat earlier, got tangled in the nets, lost control, and crashed into the fishing boat, damaging its ballast tanks and losing power, now sitting at the bottom of the river.

  When did the Ming navy equip such advanced equipment? It's impossible, the young emperor doesn't even know about propellers, how can there be submarines? It seems like there is only one answer, that it belongs to the Song Dynasty!

  No matter whose boat it was, when they encountered a disaster at sea, they had to be rescued. Liu Ziguang drew out his blade and cut off the fishing net, turned around just about to leave, but suddenly found that someone wearing a black rubber diving suit was holding a strange-looking gun aimed at him. The person's face was covered with a glass mask, and there was a tube in their mouth connected to an air bag on their back, with bubbles emerging from their nostrils from time to time. The gun in his hand didn't know what kind of power it used, but it felt like a harpoon that could be fired.

  Underwater can't speak, Liu Ziguang pointed to the short knife in his hand, then pointed to the cut-off fishing net. The diver understood and put away the harpoon gun, floating up. Liu Ziguang was also suffocating for a long time and followed out of the water surface.

  Two men appeared on the surface of the river, and as soon as they did, one of them lifted his face mask, revealing a pale but handsome face. He clasped his fists in greeting: "Are you General Liu? I am Zhao Jing, Lieutenant Commander of the Song Dynasty Navy."

  They climbed up the small boat, then boarded the bright wheel ship via the suspension ladder. The two of them took off their dripping wetsuits on the deck. The man's black rubber diving suit was apparently lighter and more flexible than Liu Ziguang's fish skin water armor. The duck palm-shaped foot fins on his feet were also very strange. The sailors were all very curious, gathering around to watch the commotion.

  Liu Ziguang hastily drove the sailors away and invited Zhao Jing into the cabin. Underneath his diving suit, Zhao Jing wore a dark blue naval uniform with golden dragon epaulets, but still didn't shed traditional Chinese attire, with waves and riverbanks embroidered on the hem of his clothes.

  "Is that Captain Zhao? What's with the dragon king act in broad daylight on the river, didn't you sink already? Speak up, what's the purpose of following me?" Liu Ziguang finally understood why he felt like there were eyes staring at him from behind - it was the periscope of the submarine.

  "This isn't just a courtesy visit to General Liu, is it? Who knew that fishing boat would suddenly come over, and we couldn't dodge in time. I'm ashamed, the maneuverability of the Mixianglong still needs improvement." Zhao Jing felt a bit embarrassed, one fishing boat had caused his submarine to malfunction, it was really embarrassing if word got out. "There are also ambassadors from Ping Guo country on board, as well as other crew members, please General Liu, lend us a hand and rescue us!"

  "How did you escape? How did they get out?" Liu Ziguang asked in surprise. It turned out that the delegation was here to discuss buying paintings with me, and even a submarine was used, it seems that a lot of thought was put into this.

  "This... when it sank, was to check the damage situation. The water tank was broken with a hole and couldn't drain the ballast water, so it floated up by itself. The propeller was entangled in fishing nets, causing the motor to burn out. The whole boat is now like a dead fish. Lord Jie will definitely be furious, let him float up from the bottom of the river, he will definitely remember the hatred towards me. My days in the Navy are going to be tough... Moreover, abandoning ship is punishable by immediate execution in the Great Song Navy..." Captain Zhao said with a mournful face.

  "Alright, how can I help you?" We can't have this group of people stuck underwater and expect the transaction to proceed normally. So this is a necessary task.

  So... Zhao Jing was after all a technical officer and immediately came up with a plan.

  According to Zhao Jing's plan, Liu Ziguo ordered the captain to place the Ming wheel ship horizontally in the waterway, blocking two grain ships. These were flat-bottomed boats with a length of 7 zhang and 2 chi, a width of 1 zhang and 1 chi and 5 cun, capable of carrying 3,000 dan of grain, now fully loaded with cargo heading north, with the full load of the ship's side sticking to the water surface.

  The cable is made of split bamboo, which is cooked in a pot and then twisted into shape. It can withstand a force of 10,000 kilograms. Several divers emerged from the submarine, tied the cable to a special hook on the hull, and the other end was securely tied to the mast of the sailing boat. The rope was pulled very tight.

  The principle of this scheme is to use the buoyancy of ships to pull up submarines. The conventional method of salvaging sunken ships is to first find a few ships loaded with ballast (preferably stones), fix the sunken ship, throw away the ballast, and use buoyancy to lift the sunken ship.

  Time is pressing, where to find what ballast, waiting a little longer will probably suffocate someone. The only way to save time is to throw away the grain in the cabin as ballast directly. Liu Ziguang gave a glance, and the guards drew their steel knives, threatening the sailors to dump bag after bag of grain into the river. The ship slowly rose, and the tight ropes slowly pulled the submerged submarine up, but the distance it floated up was limited and could not pull the submarine completely out of the water. The heavy objects inside the submarine were also thrown out through the watertight door to reduce its weight. But it still hung in the river, unable to come up.

  At the critical moment, Addison made a plan to find a long rope, one end on the steam-driven wheel of the paddle steamer and the other end connected to the tow rope of the submarine, with several pulleys in between. There were many such parts in his household, which came in handy now.

  The steamship was moving forward at full speed, with thick black smoke billowing out of the chimney. The sailors were frantically shoveling coal into the furnace, and the ship was laboriously making its way forward. The ropes, which had been passed through several pulleys, slowly began to move, and gradually pulled the submarine out of the river. The huge dragon head burst out of the water, startling the sailors, who only realized after a moment that it was a strange dragon boat.

  The first to emerge from the command tower was none other than the deputy historian of the Song Dynasty's envoy, who looked like a woman with a delicate appearance. He was dressed in plain white attire and had a refined and elegant demeanor. He gazed at Liu Ziguang from afar and paid his respects: "General, I hope you are well. Wen Xuan has come to pay his respects."

  Liu Ziguang's eyes widened to the size of an egg, what is this person, male or female? Wearing men's and women's clothes are all the same, not to mention their appearance is so delicate, even their name has a bit of feminine tone.

  The submarine drained the water from its ballast tanks, and with a broken motor, it could only be towed behind the surface ship. To disguise it, a layer of fishing nets was placed on top, along with some aquatic plants. The two boat owners, who had been complaining nonstop, were overjoyed when they received enough silver notes from Liu Ziguang to buy more grain and happily left.

  The captain's cabin of the Ming Wheeler temporarily served as a negotiating venue, with a dead guard and a soldier from the Song Dynasty Navy standing at the door. Inside the room, Liu Ziguo and Peng Jingrong were on one side, while Wen Huan and Zhao Jing sat on the other side of the table, starting negotiations.

  "I am Wen Xuan, hereditary Duke of Loyalty and Guardian of the State of Great Song, Upper House Counsellor, Commander of the Imperial Guard, Vice-Envoy to the Ming Empire, and Deputy Director of the Ministry of Rites. I have been entrusted with a special mission to retrieve an heirloom of the late Emperor."

  "I am Zhao Jing, the naval lieutenant and commander of the Dragon Boat, son of the Taiping Emperor of the Great Song Dynasty." This title is not as long-winded as Wen Yuans, and it seems that being a prince is not as good as being a loyal public official.

  Liu Ziguang was bewildered, not understanding the meaning of this long string of titles. Peng Jingrong explained in a low voice: "The handsome young man with a big background is a hereditary duke of the Song Dynasty, and also a member of the Upper House of Parliament. In the Emperor's personal army, he has an official position, and is also the second-in-command of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He can be said to be both civil and military. The not-so-handsome young man is the Crown Prince of the group king, you should be able to understand that, these two are in a superior-subordinate relationship, don't get them mixed up."

  Liu Ziguang nodded and struck a pose, saying: "I am... Liu Ziguang, in my own hand." His title of Iron Factory Deputy General Manager and Accounting Department Director was not available at the moment, and his name as Protector of the Country and Great General had not been cashed out yet, so he could only omit the lengthy introduction and directly say his name. After all, his detailed information was publicly available anyway. He added a redundant phrase "in my own hand" afterwards, similar to the cliché phrase used by kidnappers: "The hostage is in my hands."

  Wen Xuan smiled, and two dimples appeared on his pale face. "I'm familiar with this one. I've already appraised those two scrolls. They're the personal calligraphy of our great Emperor Ren De Xian Ci Xiang Xiao Huang Di. Name your price, and as the full representative of the imperial court, I can give you an immediate answer."

  "Well, in that case," Liu Ziguang pulled out a small piece of paper, which he had prepared long ago. He gave Wen Huan a sinister glance before opening his mouth wide like a lion's.