Daming Crazy Emperor

Chapter 721 Chaos and Entanglement

At the mouth of the Amazon River, a fleet of thousands of Spike warships and a large fishing boat was lined up in more than [-] neat rows, sailing from north to south to the opposite bank.

The scale of this fleet is already a bit frightening. Its length and width are more than five miles. If you look at it with the naked eye, it is densely packed and overwhelming, and you can't see the edge at all.

If you compare the number of ships alone, I am afraid that the Dutch navy, the current maritime overlord, can pull out such a large fleet.

Even compared to the number of artillery pieces, the Dutch Navy and the Spanish Navy are probably the only ones in the world who can suppress such a fleet.

However, a fleet of this size can only be regarded as a fleet in Daming, not even a fleet.

Because the entire fleet is only a large fishing boat of [-] materials, and the others are small warships of [-] materials, not even a single building gunboat.

What's more, the main battleship of the Daming Navy is not a building gunboat without much protection, but an Aegis ship covered in basalt armor.

This was not because Taichang was stingy, even the big gunboats were reluctant to send one to Wang Chong. The main big gunships were too heavy and the draft was too deep, so they would easily touch the bottom and run aground when driving in unproven river channels.

Not to mention the Aegis ship, the dense basalt armor on the outside is heavier than the entire gunboat, and the draft is much deeper than the gunboat. This kind of warship can also be near the mouth of the main road of the Amazon River. Run, you can't go to other rivers at all.

The reason why Wang Chong wanted such a large fishing boat as his flagship was mainly for the convenience of command.

Although he doesn't know much about naval warfare, he also knows that the most important thing for a flagship is vision.

If his flagship is also a Spike warship, then the height is the same as other Spike warships, and for the convenience of command, the flagship is generally in the middle of the fleet.

At that time, no matter whether he looks forward, backward or left or right, his sight will be blocked, and he will have no way to overlook the whole situation.

Moreover, Taichang also specially equipped him with a large telescope with a viewing distance of fifteen or six miles, which was not easy to place on the Spike.

This large fishing boat at least has a pilothouse located at the top of the cabin, with transparent glass windows on all sides, and the large telescope can be placed inside to scan the surroundings without fear of the rain blurring the lens.

Right now he was scanning the islands to the west with binoculars from the flagship's pilothouse.

In the middle of the river, there are islands with a width of more than a hundred miles, and there are more than one islands, which is too exaggerated.

He frowned, and then said loudly, "How many miles have you walked?"

The sailors driving the fishing boat quickly looked at the speedometer, and then replied loudly: "Report, general, we have already traveled 320 miles."

This is a new pedometer released by the Ministry of Industry. The principle is actually a bit similar to measuring a pedometer, which is to calculate the length according to the distance that the water wheel has turned.

Of course, this calculation has to accumulate the number of turns, and it must be able to carry, and its internal structure is relatively complicated.

However, it is very simple to use, as long as the sprocket on the outside of the pedometer is connected with the sprocket on any water wheel axle with a chain.

Wang Chong then asked again: "The heading."

The four new guards under him quickly checked the compass, and then one of the guards replied loudly: "Report, general, the current heading is 36 degrees south by east."

Wang Chong asked loudly again: "What time is it?"

The personal guard looked at the hourglass timer group next to him, and then replied loudly: "Report, General, it is roughly three quarters past noon."

Hearing this, Wang Chong scanned the ends of the left and right front islands, and then silently calculated in his heart.

The fleet departed before Maoshi, and the width of the river in the north was about 110 miles, and the two islands passed by were oblique. around.

He calculated silently for a while, then turned his head to look at the map on the table in the middle, and couldn't help but mutter to himself: "What are these Spaniards and Portuguese drawing!"

He really couldn't understand why the Spaniards and Portuguese would draw such a wide river as a line, which was still drawn like this on several other maps.

Alas, there is no way, this map can be roughly used as a reference.

He sighed secretly, then took out the blank drawings he had prepared, spread them out on the table, and then drew them in detail with charcoal according to the proportions on the map.

After about an hour and a half, they finally arrived at the south bank of the Amazon estuary, and according to their calculations, the width of the estuary is 480 miles!

Although there are still about two hours before dark, it seems that there is not enough time to fully explore the islands in the middle of the estuary.
Because once the fleet turns around and disperses into the waterway in the middle of the island, it may not be able to turn back in two hours. By then, it will be so dark that it will be impossible to see the direction clearly. It is estimated that many Spike warships will be pushed into the sea by the current. !

After thinking for a while, he still ordered in a loud voice: "Send the order, the fleet will turn around and head northwest along the southern river bank."

That's enough time to explore the southern river bank.

The very wide fleet turned around, went upstream, and slowly sailed northwest along the southern river bank.

There is still a dense jungle in the south, and there is no human habitation at all, and there seems to be no tributaries near the mouth of the sea.

While scanning the river bank with binoculars, Wang Chong ordered people to stare at the pedometer, compass, and hourglass, and ran to the map from time to time to draw a detailed picture. He was extremely busy.

After about an hour or so, the first tributary of the south bank finally appeared ahead.

However, this tributary is not very wide, and it is estimated that large fishing boats cannot enter it.

After thinking about it, he still didn't order the fleet to enter the tributary and dock.

It's still early at this moment, and we can continue to explore a certain distance forward.

Unexpectedly, after more than ten miles, there is another tributary. Moreover, this tributary is relatively wide. It must be no problem for large fishing boats to enter.

However, there is still about an hour before dark at this moment, and it seems that there is no need to rush into the tributary and dock.

After Wang Chong thought about it, he still ordered the fleet to continue sailing forward.

Next, his jaw almost dropped in shock, because there are too many tributaries on the south bank, basically there is one every ten or even a few miles.

What is going on here?
According to this tributary density, wouldn't there be thousands of tributaries in the entire Amazon River!
Wang Chong frowned and pondered for a while, and he roughly understood.

Maybe the river bank near the mouth of the sea in the north is relatively hard, and there is not as much rain here. Moreover, there is a small river about [-] miles north of the Amazon River that blocks the small river flowing from the north, so there are relatively few tributaries there.

It is estimated that the sand dunes here are formed by the impact of the river. The soil is very loose. If there is more rain, it must be densely covered with tributaries.

In fact, this is nothing.

Because this section can still distinguish the main stream and the tributaries, the front is more complicated.

About half an hour later, the river in front seemed to suddenly double in width again. What's going on?
Wang Chong raised his binoculars to scan, and was immediately dumbfounded.

Because there are three rivers with a width of tens of miles flowing into it, he can't tell which one is the main stream and which one is the tributary!
He's doing just fine.

When the Spaniards and Portuguese probed here, they were confused.

Because the exploration fleet of the Spaniards and the Portuguese had no more than a dozen ships at most, and their telescopes had a viewing distance of only one or two miles.

They are like entering a maze in this wide and complicated river, they can't tell which is the main stream and which is the tributary, and they can't even tell when they encounter an island with a width of more than a hundred miles. Is this an island in the middle of a river or a bank.

The four to five hundred miles of the river near the mouth of the Amazon River is as complicated as a maze, and both the Spaniards and the Portuguese fainted several times.

In fact, the Amazon River was not called the Amazon River before, but the Marina.

This marina means chaos and entanglement in Spanish and Portuguese.

Both the Spaniards and the Portuguese were stunned by the complicated river channels here, so they didn't bother to detect the river channels within four or five hundred miles near the mouth of the river, and just drew a line!
This is also the main reason why they never colonized the Amazon basin.

Because the river near the entrance is too messy, it's like a mess.

If they send a large fleet over, they may get lost in it if they are not careful, and they will not be able to get out after ten days, half a month or even a few months!

It's okay to say that this small exploration fleet has just a few people anyway, and it doesn't matter if you bring more food and spend ten days and a half months in it.

The large colonial fleet is different, there are at least tens of thousands of people, if they are really trapped inside for ten days and a half months, and eat up all the food, then it will be in big trouble.

Therefore, Spain and Portugal have not yet sent large colonial fleets to the Amazon and the basin to colonize.

They also built some strongholds at the mouth of the river and the nearby coast to declare that this is their territory.

(End of this chapter)