I am the king of the dead

Chapter 986 The Ocean Fleet Arrives at the Coral Palace Sea
Tang Xing sailed on the calm equatorial windless belt, and always felt that he was sailing outside the world, without the troubles of disease, food, and drinking water, which made life on board a bit dull, and even those Japanese would only respectfully kneel down On the ground, reverently praised the generosity of the Emperor of Ming Dynasty, Commander Fandu and the Navy of Daming.

During this process, Tang Xing thought about several questions, and after communicating with Fan Dexing, he got some answers.

More than [-] three-masted ships were the number of seagoing ships owned by Daming maritime merchants before the establishment of the Mizhou Shipping Department in Daming.

When His Majesty led the army to the south to suppress the rebellion, countless ships went to the Mizhou Shipping Department to register. There were more than 130 three-masted ships. At that time, there were definitely no more than four hundred three-masted ships in the entire Ming Dynasty.

Restricted by ships, during the orthodox 14 years, the maritime merchants of the Ming Dynasty could only export goods worth less than 74 taels of silver each year, which means that during the orthodox years, they could only import a maximum of 74 taels of silver into the Ming Dynasty each year.

In the 14 years of orthodoxy, the amount of silver collected in Nanya alone exceeded 110 million taels of silver every year. This means that the Ming court needed to launch an offensive against the silver in the pigsty, which was extremely difficult.

The number of more than [-] ships is not the peak number of Ming Dynasty, and it is not even a fraction of that in the Yongle period.

That is to say, since the 19th year of Yongle, the active period of the official trade of Daming ships and official ships has ended, and the three-masted ships of the Daming maritime merchants have not filled the gap in the official trade of Daming official ships. Yu was reduced to three hundred ships.

So, what exactly caused the decline of China's maritime trade?
What is the reason why the maritime merchants of Ming Dynasty are still unable to fill the gap in maritime trade without the monopoly of official ships and official trade?

The answer is that there are no armed merchant ships, and more precisely, there is a lack of maritime armed forces.

In the second year of Jingtai, Tang Xing and Li Binyan went to Mizhou to form the Mizhou Shipping Department. When Li Binyan armed merchant ships, he only restricted them from entering the port without drawing their bows and filling medicines.

Undoubtedly, the lack of effective protection, or even means of self-protection, was the root cause of the rapid shrinkage of Daming Maritime Trade after the Yongle Year.

The Daming Navy's recovery speed is not slow, but it still cannot provide sufficient protection for Haishangting.

Can the single-handed and unarmed maritime merchants of Ming Dynasty really fight for a way out in the face of the powerful Dashi, Portuguese, and Spanish merchants who are doing business with swords?
And Tang Xing, who was about to complete the circumnavigation, was deeply aware of a problem, that is, the Daming Navy was beyond its reach.

The world is really too big. Even if the Ming Navy can protect the interests of Nanyang maritime merchants, what about the Western Ocean, Atlantic Ocean, Eastern Ocean, and Great Eastern Ocean, so arming merchant ships has become an imperfect answer.

In addition to armed merchant ships, Daming maritime merchants did not have a complete alliance of interests when they went to sea. In His Majesty's words, Daming's powerful and powerful just want to lie down and collect rent, and they must beat their opponents if they don't make money. This approach is really profitable. get moneyObviously, it is very profitable, but the upfront price is too high.

Liu Yongcheng once discussed the price of grain with merchants in Cochin. If the merchants of Ming Dynasty had an alliance of interests, would the imperial court still need to come forward to discuss this matter?

Daming maritime merchants are often unable to protect their overseas interests at all, even if they make compromises, they can only suffer more humiliation. Therefore, Daming maritime merchants need a backbone and an alliance of interests to protect the interests of Daming maritime merchants. Benefit.

And this interest alliance needs to be presided over by the Ming court.

The Ming Dynasty has the world's largest productivity and the world's largest commodity advantage, and this advantage cannot be transformed into a victory, or even into a profit.

Therefore, in terms of maritime trade, Daming must persist in revitalizing the navy, arming the merchant ships of the Ming Dynasty, forming an alliance of interests, and transforming the advantages of commodities into interests, and then into victories.

What are the consequences of the decline of Daming Maritime Trade?
It's Japanese pirates running rampant.

Japanese pirates are like a wife without a wife in a cake, just like Li Sicheng, the fourth son of An Nanguo, is a basket that can put everything in it.

Armed with merchant ships and an alliance of interests, wouldn't merchants want to unite and run amok across the sea, becoming Japanese pirates and harassing the waters of Daming?
It seems so, but the logic of the real world is that during the Yongle period, looking around, there were not many pirates even in the Western Ocean. Only by accepting the canonization of the Ming Emperor can one sit securely.

Armed merchant ships attacking the battleships of the Daming Navy?

In the eyes of the warships of the Daming Navy, there is no essential difference between armed merchant ships and the small boats driven by the unclothed Sons of Nature in the Inca Kingdom.

Merchants pursue profit, not death.

Tang Xing can understand the phenomenon, but if he is asked to discuss the matter at the level of order, he can also say one, two, three, incomplete order is more terrifying than no order, and the maritime trade before the Ming Dynasty is a typical case. , but only a little bit.

The consequence of the decline of the maritime trade in the Ming Dynasty was the rampant Japanese pirates, because the weakening of the maritime trade would cause a large number of businessmen and hired laborers engaged in overseas trade to lose their jobs, and this kind of widespread unemployment is unsustainable and can only become bandits , became part of the Japanese pirates, burned, killed and looted everywhere, further exacerbating the decline of maritime trade.

It's a cycle.

The incomplete order and system design caused the weakening of Daming's maritime armed forces, and the weakening of maritime power further led to the weakening of Daming's maritime trade, and the weakening caused more maritime merchants and landless tenants to become unsustainable and become bandits, further The situation of rampant Japanese pirates was expanded, the maritime environment further deteriorated, resulting in the further decline of maritime trade and the further collapse of the Ming Dynasty's coastal defense system.

After Tang Xing thought clearly about the decline of the sea trade and the bad consequences after the decline of the sea trade, Tang Xing went a step further, that is the relationship of production.

This is another important question that Tang Xing has been thinking about during the past three months. Will Daming's commodity advantage in the world's production system always exist due to the lack of marine armed forces?

the answer is negative.

If the whole world is compared to a biological chain, Da Ming will fall from the top of the food chain step by step.

The transformation of the commodity economy of the Ming Dynasty will also gradually move from high-value-added silk, tea, cotton cloth, pens, inks, paper and inkstones, iron pots, etc. to low-end ones.

From high-tech, high-value-added products to land- and labor-intensive products, even if high-value-added products are produced, they cannot be marketed all over the world. Because of the absence of armed forces, the air routes are controlled by others In the hands, the bulk of the profits of the commodity will be forcibly stripped.

Once Daming fell from the top of the food chain to the bottom, and the advantages of commodities no longer existed, what kind of humiliation and suffering would the Ming Dynasty have to endure on the day when it could only rely on land and labor-intensive products for primitive accumulation?
Humiliation and suffering are not the most frightening thing. The most frightening thing is not knowing when to climb out of the valley. The most frightening thing is not knowing whether you can climb to the bottom.

After the ninth year of Xuande, Daming ceased maritime operations. Until the second year of Jingtai, the Mizhou Shipping Department was established to open the sea again. Daming’s maritime operations only stopped for 17 years, and the Japanese pirates in Daming began to flood again. Daming Sea The speed of trade decline far exceeded Tang Xing's imagination.

Fortunately, from the second year of Jingtai, the wise and natural emperor of Ming Dynasty opened the sea again in spite of all opposition. Today, 13 years have passed. With the continuous recovery of the Daming navy and the continuous replacement of the armed forces, the Ming Dynasty Maritime affairs has entered a new chapter and a new era: an era of great voyages, great discoveries, great exploration, and great accumulation.

Tang Xing knew that when he returned to Daming, a new era of Daming would come.

"Is it windy?" A bored sentinel saw the anemometer start to rotate, immediately set up the binoculars, looked towards the sky, and his face changed dramatically.

"It's windy, level three, level thirteen!" The sentinel shouted loudly, jumped off the sentry tower on the top of the mast, stepped on the mast and slid down, the zipline behind the sentinel dragged him down smoothly on board.

Tang Xing immediately stood up, stuffed his notebook into the barrel, and looked towards the sky.

It was a rare storm with dark clouds.

"Commander!" Fan Dexing rushed to Tang Xing's side with a bloodless face, and said in horror: "An unprecedented storm!"

The Great Eastern Ocean is also called the Pacific Ocean, because it is too calm and the sea is not at all like being on the sea. However, behind this calmness, there are storms and waves, which frighten even the well-informed Fan Dexing.

"Don't panic, listen to my command!" Tang Xing tightened his girdle, walked out of the cabin, looked at the storm in the distance, his eyes were full of excitement, but he looked at the dark clouds in the sky, took a step back, his expression Big change, shouted loudly: "The whole ship obeys the order, full rudder to left! Full rudder to left! Full rudder to left!"

"This is the Sea Dragon King going crazy!"

In the sky, one can see the edge of a huge cyclone, but only at this edge, Tang Xing can see water mixed with dark clouds rolling and churning in the sky, a layer of mist constantly rising on the sea surface, unpredictable under the sea wind , the wind speed was rising rapidly, and it took less than a quarter of an hour to go from level three to level four, and to the north of this cyclone, there was a sharp front that seemed to split the sky.

"Ba da." Bean-sized raindrops fell on the deck, and there was even a sea fish, which fell from the sky violently. It was seafood that was swept into the sky by a water suction tornado.

"Quick, quick!" Tang Xing yelled, looking at the cyclone beyond that day in extreme horror.

In order to get rid of this huge cyclone, the Daming Ocean Navy has turned at the fastest speed. Even at the edge, the waves are still more than two feet high. , almost sinking.

Three days later, the Daming Navy completely got rid of the devastating cyclone, and the thirteen ships were well preserved.

"Li Binyan bless you!"

Tang Xing bowed solemnly to Li Binyan's grand master's chair, and three sticks of incense were still lit in the censer very solemnly.

Tang Xing is the flagship and the leader of the fleet. During a toss, the officer at the helm was thrown out. Coincidentally, the Taishi's chair got stuck on the rudder, so the course did not deflect. Otherwise, such a storm would Now, once the flagship collides with other ships, the consequences will be disastrous.

Tang Xing smoked the incense with lingering fear, this time it was really Li Binyan's Taishi Chair who helped him.

The natural navigator felt a bit of fear. The last time he had such an emotion was when he rushed into the fog with a sloop and couldn't find his way at all.

"Where are we now?" Tang Xing finished his incense, and these three days were as long as three months. He looked at the vast sea in front of him with some doubts, and found the typical characteristics of the vanishing zone. Countless islands and reefs.

Many reefs will only be revealed at low tide, some form sandbars, some surround islands or attach to the shore of the mainland, through the clear sea water, you can see the white sandy beaches on the bottom of the sea, changing shapes with the current, Giant clams, starfish, prawns, scallops, sea turtles, dolphins, whales, and marine creatures that have never been seen before are constantly swimming among the colorful corals.

Countless seabirds are flying in the sky.

"This requires Commander Tang to name it." It was also the first time Fan Dexing had seen such a spectacle.

"Coral Palace Sea (the coral sea of ​​the Great Barrier Reef)." Tang Xing pondered for a while, looked at the corals under the water, and determined the name of this place. The scenery here is extremely beautiful, and what Tang Xing most urgently wants to know is Behind this extinct zone, is there a new continent?

This place is obviously close to the continental shelf. This discovery made Tang Xing quite excited. The Congealing Blood Pill is very good, but it is not tasty. It is too sour. If you find fresh fruit, you don’t have to eat pills all day long. If you continue to eat, Tang Xing suspected that his teeth were going to be sour.

"East longitude 45°N latitude 8°, 230 miles away from the capital of the Ming Dynasty, and 1 miles away from Songjiang Mansion. This place is on the edge of the equator, with trade winds, and the southward sea current is stable." Fan Dexing Calculating his own position was the daily work of the boat master. He wrote down every day's records on paper and stuffed them into a sealed mahogany box.

Even if the ship sank someday, as long as the ship is salvaged, his logbook will be preserved.

Fan der Xing marked the location of the Coral Palace Sea on the globe, and said with a smile: "We are almost home. According to the previous sailing speed, we only need to walk four months to reach Luzon, and two more months to reach Luzon." You can go to Songjiang Mansion now."

Tang Xing looked at Fan Dexing and asked rather puzzled: "I'm very curious, how did you calculate the distance, can you just pinch your fingers like this?"

Fan Dexing said happily: "Does Commander Tang want to learn? This is very simple. It is just a simple problem of spherical geometry. You only need to know the latitude and longitude to calculate the distance accurately. You only need to expand the spherical geometry..."

"Stop, stop! You just need to know how to do it." Tang Xing waved his hand immediately, he tried to learn this thing, he really didn't know how to do it.

Tang Xing's star-crossing ocean skills are excellent. He still has the ability to judge direction and measure longitude and latitude. He also observes ocean currents, but it is still too difficult for him to calculate trade winds and distances.

Fan Dehang said regretfully: "It's just a simple spherical expansion, there are Pythagorean strings, and at most some square root, it's all very simple..."

Not to mention the Japanese, the sergeants of the Daming Navy sometimes look at these sailors like Fan Dexing as if they were Taoist priests, they can pinch and count, they are really amazing.

"Fan Dexing, I order you to take three boats to explore the mainland, and come back when you find it. We should hurry up and return." Tang Xing gave Fan Dexing an order. Not a difficult thing.

As long as you find it, you will return immediately. It has been four years since you left this trip, and if you don’t go back again, Daming thought Tang Xing, a natural navigator, was feeding the fish!

Not to mention that Tang Xing is homesick, who in the Daming Navy doesn't want to go home?Only the Japanese do not want to have a home, they are all ashigaru and have no home, and those samurai who have families have been sunk by Tang Xing.

　Ask for a monthly ticket, woo! ! !
　　
　
(End of this chapter)