"Teacher Chimer, on this voyage north, we set out from Trout Town in early June. When we departed, the fleet had two Wind God Shuttle Ships and nine Water God Sand Ships, five hundred people in all..."
"Water God Sand Ships?..."
"Blessed by the Main God! This is also a craft of the Western Sea Tribe, a kind of broad, flat-bottomed boat that can be large or small, can carry a great deal, and likewise uses the Western Sea's nimble long fore-and-aft sails..."
"Shanda, your fleet of eleven ships had only five hundred people?..."
"That's right! Teacher, the new ships used on this voyage all relied on wind, driven by large fore-and-aft sails. Although oars were prepared aboard as well, they were only for contingencies when there was no wind, and normally weren't used... So each ship only needed a dozen or so people to handle it freely!..."
"These new fore-and-aft sailing ships can sail day and night along the edge of the shallow sea. Their steady daily speed is twice that of the old Galleys, even three times when there's enough wind! They can cover three hundred li in a day!..."
When he spoke of the speed of the "new fore-and-aft sailing ships," High Priest Losanda was greatly stirred. Before seeing the Western Sea sailboats with his own eyes, he had never imagined that "ships" could reach such astonishing speeds! And the appearance of the "new fore-and-aft sailing ships" had almost let the kingdom leap across two eras in the use of sails!
Without a doubt, the introduction of Western Sea shipbuilding techniques was one of the greatest achievements made in the northern maritime exploration! And ranking alongside it, though its potential had not yet fully shown, were the Western Sea's Iron Smelting and iron-forging techniques. As for horses