1635 Han style rises again

Chapter 718 The Great Voyage ([-])

September 1655, 7, Hanzhou, Nandu (now Melbourne, Australia).

"On May 5th, Emperor Guangde of the Ming Dynasty worshiped Sun Kewang as a Grand Master of Dongge, and was granted the title of Taishi to take charge of the government affairs of the court. Tsk tsk... If you add nine tins to him, and teach him whether to worship, That’s Cao Cao of the Ming Dynasty.” Kuang Youjie, deputy commander of the Eastern Squadron of the Qi State Exploration Fleet and Lieutenant (Captain) of the Yuwu School, was holding a copy of the latest "Ta Kung Pao", reading and commenting.

"If it's just Cao Cao of the Ming Dynasty, then that's fine. I'm afraid that he will directly become Zhu Wen (destroy Tang with Liang) and replace Ming with Qin (Sun Kewang canonize King Qin), then the situation in the entire continent will be completely messed up! This shows that the representative sent by our country of Qi has still played a little role in temporarily stopping his inflated ambitions." Squadron Commander Xuan Jie Captain (Major) Lu Zusheng held a cup of tea, slowly pecking and drinking, "Any more news?"

"Oh, and this.... Luzon Yizhou Town officially established the country on June 6st, Liguo, Wei. At the same time, I asked Qi Guo to establish a joint fleet in Luzon to jointly maintain a peaceful and stable commercial order in the region And smooth immigration routes, and deepen military exchanges and exchanges between the two sides, to create a unified combat command platform. Hehe, this Yizhou town..., no, it should be called Weiguo, but they know how to hug our Qiguo closely Thighs, ready to speed up the colonization of Luzon."

"Our Qi National Navy only needs to build Ping An Island (now Catanduanes Island in the eastern Philippines), Yimen Island (now Basilan Island in the southwest of Mindanao Island in the Philippines), and Luzhong Island (now the Philippine Island of Wubu) As a solid supply transfer point, relying on the support of Weiyuan Island (now New Guinea Island), it is enough to firmly control the situation in the entire Luzon region. In the future, if Palawan Island is included in the bag, it will almost be impossible A siege has formed around the entire Luzon. In the future, whether it is the Wei country or the Luzon territory of the Zheng family, they will all be under our threat."

"There are many and scattered islands in Luzon, but they are rich in products. If there is a chance, we can occupy more of them. That would be the best." Kuang Youjie nodded and said: "Oh, speaking of products, here is another piece of news ...It is said that an inland exploration team conquered an indigenous kingdom in a certain river valley in the northeast of Hanzhou, and discovered a huge copper mine there. The cabinet ordered the Immigration Department and the Ministry of Industry to prepare to move [-] The rest of the people moved in, hoping to colonize it. Hey, tell me, even if a deep inland copper mine is developed, how will the mine be transported out? It wouldn’t be possible to use a lot of pack horses and camels, would it?”

"Don't we have a copper mine with huge reserves in Jindao (today's Lihir Island, Papua New Guinea)? And it is a copper-gold associated mine, which is closer to the seaside. In terms of development, it is comparable to the so-called inland copper mine. It's much easier." Lu Zusheng was puzzled when he heard the news, "Unless this copper mine is also an associated gold mine with larger reserves. Otherwise, with the temperament of those masters from the Ministry of Industry, they definitely wouldn't spend so much money Get it under control."

"The news published in the newspaper presumably deliberately concealed the existence of gold and silver associated mines, so as to avoid arousing undue thoughts among the middle school people." Kuang Youjie agreed with Lu Zusheng's guess very much.As an "exploration team" at sea, they have discovered countless islands in the vast sea area east of Hanzhou for several years, many of which have gold, silver and copper mines.However, all of this information was sealed in the file cabinets of the military and the immigration department of the cabinet, and the information would not be released until it was slowly colonized and developed.

And as a place rich in gold and silver associated mines in the inland, it is natural to block the people.Otherwise, some daring people might get entangled together, abandon their work, and go directly to the mine on foot, seeking a dream of getting rich, hoping to get rich overnight.

Although the several gold mines controlled by the State of Qi are all stationed with gendarmerie and armed police for strict supervision, the mines are large in size and the distribution of ore veins is scattered, so it is inevitable that they cannot take care of those peripheral mines one by one, making some greedy The younger generations have the opportunity to steal gold mines.

"Has the replenishment of several ships in the fleet been completed?"

"The three ships have been replenished. Among the materials carried, at least 340 months of food, as well as various medical equipment and medicines to ensure the health of all officers, soldiers and entourage during the exploration period. Some of the severely worn artillery on board are all They have all been replaced, and the ammunition is extremely sufficient, which can fully support several high-intensity sea battles." Kuang Youjie put away the newspaper and replied seriously: "The fleet has [-] officers and soldiers, all with high morale, and they are all looking forward to this A great voyage."

"You can pack less meat on board, and try to pack as much wine, canned fruits and vegetables, and sour kimchi." Lu Zusheng said: "We can get a full supply when we arrive at Jingwei Island (now the South Island of New Zealand). We also need to prepare more fishing net lines and various fishhooks, and get more gadgets for exchanging with the natives. In addition, we need to prepare a little more heavy coats and quilts. We will stick them on many times this time. Navigating around 50-60 degrees south latitude may encounter long-term cold weather."

"Well, I'll go to the pier to check the supplies on the ship in person, and I'll give you a detailed report in the evening." Kuang Youjie said, "By the way, we have forcibly recruited three doctors and a large amount of medicinal materials here. The local officials are very dissatisfied. Later, you must bring some gifts to visit the yamen of Nandu Prefecture. Otherwise, we may encounter difficulties from them when we are here in the future."

"This exploration mission is over tens of thousands of miles away, and it may take more than a year. More than 40 naval officers and soldiers, plus more than [-] people from geological surveys, chart surveying and mapping, animal and plant experts, and mineral experts, the total The number is nearly [-]. With so many people, it is not safe to rely on only two military doctors. We have recruited three doctors and a large amount of medicinal materials here, and it is not without money." Lu Zusheng said impatiently: "People from Nandu Prefecture If they are unhappy about this, would they dare to delay our navy's exploration mission? If they really dare to make things difficult for us, in the future, the headquarters of the squadron will be moved to Linzi (now Sydney, Australia)!"

When Kuang Youjie heard this, he smiled, knowing that the chief didn't like negotiating with local officials, and presumably he didn't want to take the initiative to show his favor to the Nandu local government office.

In June last year, two ships of the Western Squadron of the Qi State Exploration Fleet set off from Fort Quangning (now Cilegon City in the northwest of Java, Indonesia) along the route of the former Dutch East India Company Major Tasman, directly crossed the Indian Ocean, and arrived at After arriving at Mauritius, the stronghold of the Dutch, they continued to sail west, bypassing a huge island (Madagascar), and prepared to go to Zanzibar, the Portuguese stronghold on the east coast of Africa, for some rest and supplies.

Unexpectedly, Zanzibar Island was captured by Oman Sultan Saif in 1652, and all the Portuguese colonists including Governor Augustus were executed, completely driving the Portuguese forces out of the island, ending the The Portuguese ruled the two islands of Sang and Ben for 150 years.The Qi State Exploration Fleet then went south to Quelimane, another stronghold of the Portuguese on the east coast of Africa (now Quelimane Port, Mozambique).

The Qi State Exploration Fleet was warmly received by the Portuguese in Kelimane. After staying here for half a month, they followed the Tasman's exploration route and returned to the southwestern area of ​​Hanzhou through the westerly belt at 60 degrees south latitude. Guizhou Prefecture (now Perth, Australia).This exploration operation took four months and traveled more than [-] kilometers. It was the first time for Qi to find out a direct route to the African continent and establish contact with the local Portuguese.

As a result, Xu Shaohong, the commander of the squadron led by Yuwu Xiaowei (Captain), was highly praised and affirmed by the king and the military department, and was promoted to the first rank, and was promoted to the deputy commander of the Western Squadron of the Exploration Fleet, becoming the most popular among the officers and soldiers of the fleet. star of tomorrow.

The Eastern Squadron of the Exploration Fleet, which is the key concern of the military department, feels a lot of pressure for this.After some serious discussion and evaluation, the commander of the squadron, Lu Zusheng, immediately reported to the military headquarters the route exploration operation directly to the American continent.

The entire exploration route is planned to start from the southern capital of Hanzhou, sail south first, and arrive at Bliss Island (now Tasmania, Australia), and then drive to Jingwei Island (now New Zealand’s South Island) with the help of strong westerly winds. Stop for a while for one last resupply.Then, the fleet entered the westerly belt again and reached the American continent.

As we all know, in the southern hemisphere, because there is almost no land to block the wind, the wind speed at this location will reach an astonishing level, and the wind and waves in the high-latitude seas of the southern hemisphere are even more extreme, making the sea conditions more complicated, and the risk is naturally extremely high .

Some Hispanic officers in the fleet suggested that Lu Zusheng give up sailing from 40 degrees to 60 degrees south latitude and go to the American continent, and instead follow the original Spanish sailing trade route in the Pacific, first sailing northward from Luzon to the northern hemisphere The westerly belt, then across the North Pacific Ocean, arrived at the west coast of the North American continent, and finally went all the way south along the coastline, passing through the Governorate of New Spain (now Mexico and Central America), the Governorate of New Granada (now Colombia, Ecuador and other regions) ) and the Viceroyalty of Peru (present-day Peru, Chile and other regions), complete the task of exploring the American continent.

In comparison, the northern route is much more mature and safer than the southern route.But after Lu Zusheng thought about it, he rejected the suggestion of those Hispanic officers.Although the northern route is relatively mature and reliable, it is too far away and takes too long to reflect the value of the exploration fleet in finding and discovering new routes.

In addition, after seven or eight years of continuous exploration, the Eastern Squadron has traveled to and from the westerly belt of the southern hemisphere several times, and has a certain understanding of the sea area and wind and wave conditions in this area. It should be able to easily control this route, but the distance is a little farther. That's all.

More importantly, the Exploration Fleet possesses the latest nautical weapon—an improved precision nautical clock, by which it can perform more accurate positioning and position identification in unknown seas.

For a navigator, the key to successfully sailing on the sea is to confirm his location, that is, the latitude and longitude, so as to constantly correct the course.It is easy to get lost and get into a desperate situation on the vast sea.Experienced captains can determine the latitude by observing the sun during the day and the North Star at night; after the invention of the compass, latitude is not a difficult problem, but it is still impossible to measure longitude.Because there is no precise longitude, most sea routes dare not go too far from the shore, for fear of losing reference objects.And those direct flights far from the coast can often only rely on their own good luck.

To have accurate longitude, you must first have accurate time.The earth rotates once every 24 hours, that is, 360 degrees, and 1 hour corresponds to 15 degrees of longitude, that is to say, the longitude can be calculated through the time difference.In the case of imprecise time measurement, it is impossible to calculate accurate longitude.Even though the advent of pendulum technology has greatly improved the accuracy of clocks, sea voyages still lack precise timekeeping because pendulums cannot be used on rocking ships.

Columbus's timekeeping tool was just an hourglass, which had to be flipped every half hour.Unbelievably, it was because of a serious error in the calculation of longitude by Columbus that he was lucky enough to discover the New World.

A few years ago, inspired by the king, the watchmakers of Qi State adopted clockwork technology and gradually produced more accurate nautical clocks.Two years ago, a newly manufactured nautical clock was moved to an exploration ship for testing. During the three-month voyage, the error of this nautical clock was only ten seconds. After a year of continuous testing at sea, The total error did not exceed 3 minutes.

This technology not only provides a precise manufacturing method for the manufacture of nautical clocks, but also greatly improves the development level of Qi's watch industry, reduces industry competition, and further reduces the production cost of clocks.

The exploration fleet with precise time is like a fish in water in the boundless South Pacific Ocean, and has discovered many ancient islands one after another.Last year, the Western Squadron of the Expeditionary Fleet crossed the Indian Ocean and arrived at the African continent. Two navigation clocks were carried on board, so that the two exploration ships never deviated from the established route during the voyage, which fully proved the reliability and reliability of the navigation clocks. stability.

In addition, the "longitude revolution (as the king said)" triggered by the clock will completely end the chaotic state of the earth.I still remember that in 1884, as the world's most powerful empire on which the sun never sets, the United Kingdom marked the meridian where the Royal Greenwich Observatory in London is located as the global zero-degree meridian, which became the starting line for the world's calculation of longitude - the prime meridian.Take this as zero degrees, divide the east and west hemispheres into east and west meridians, from 0 degrees to 180 degrees.

The Greenwich Meridian is the Universal Standard Time, and since then, the human world has been incorporated into a time system created by the United Kingdom without exception.In the following history, people even regarded "Greenwich" as a synonym for "time".Great Britain's "Empire on which the sun never sets" not only monopolized world trade, but also "monopolized" time.

However, through a method of "opening and hanging", Qi State advanced the time of the precise nautical clock by 80 years (the first nautical clock was made by the British watchmaker John Harrison in 1736), and quickly invested in it. in actual use.If Hanzhou's strength gradually grows and becomes stronger, perhaps, a new time system will be created.

On July 7, the three ships of the Exploration Fleet left Nandu Port one by one, heading for the depths of the endless ocean.

(End of this chapter)