"Main God, protect us! One, two, three, four! Main God, protect us! One, two, three, four!... Hoo! Ha!... After all that work, we finally dragged it up..."
Snow whirled through the air. On the frozen Little Deer Moss River, a thick layer of snow had piled up, merging with the snow-covered banks beside it until they could hardly be told apart. Only now, on the solid ice of the river, a ship-shaped pit six or seven zhang long and more than one zhang wide had been revealed. And the five-masted Zheyang Ship that had originally sat on the frozen river had already been hauled onto the snowy bank by dozens of people pulling together.
"Main God! This five-masted big ship looks about the same size as an ordinary Longship of the Kingdom. It's just that it has three decks, the hull is very high, and there are no oar positions on either side... Could it rely entirely on wind power to move?... Hiss! The structure inside this ship looks unbelievably complicated!..."
Exploration Captain Zuwaro boarded the Zheyang Ship, his face full of curiosity as he examined this seagoing Zheyang vessel he had never seen before. Beside him was Kim Seon-su, the shipwright bent at the waist, carefully attending him, a golden talisman hanging from his neck.
Unfortunately, the two men's languages did not connect. Zuwaro looked around like a man viewing flowers from horseback, while Kim Seon-su gestured with his hands and explained a few words. At the very least, he could not let these lords think he was useless, could he...
"Main God, guide me! Five masts, some long and some short—what is the principle behind that?..."
This Zheyang seagoing ship, which represented Song Dynasty nautical technology, had as its most conspicuous mark five upright masts. The three in