I am Da Song

Chapter 637

The voyage around the world that the Taiyuan Academy is going to promote naturally came up with a very complete plan.

And it is a school of astronomy and geography.

The professor of astronomy explained to Zhao Huan: "We plan to go eastward according to the guidance of the sun, moon and stars. First, we will cross the vast East China Sea to Fusang to see if there is a sunrise in the east where the sun rises. Then we will go east along the ocean. , all the way to the Dongshan Continent, and then cross the Dongshan Continent and continue eastward, to see if we can return to the Great Song Dynasty all the way east.”

Zhao Huan nodded, astronomy and navigation has always been an important subject.

In this regard, Taixue has always paid great attention to investment and research. In the newly edited "Wu Bei Zhi" by Taixue, the "Crossing the Ocean and Drawing Stars" recorded data on several fingers (angle units) of the north-south, east-west stars on the water antenna. Used to estimate ship position.

This is the treasure left by the sailing experience of thousands of ships in the Song Dynasty.

Basically, in the current world, except for the Taiyuan Academy of the Song Dynasty, this kind of global information can be produced.Other countries simply don't know anything about the sea star map.

The title of Great Song Sea Coachman is definitely not in vain.

Later generations often say that the superpower has turned off the satellite navigation system, and the small country can't even find the big country.

The current situation is similar. For many small countries, if Da Song doesn't come to do business with him, he may not even be able to find his own location and which direction he should sail to pay tribute.

If both ships encounter wind and rain at sea, they deviate from their course.

Then the ships of the Song Dynasty can roughly calculate where they are in the ocean now and which direction they should sail to return to the bustling main road of the commercial road through the "Crossing the Ocean and Leading the Stars".

Ships from other countries can only turn around like a headless chicken.The captain can only bet in one direction and fight for luck.

If you are lucky, you can return to the route. If you are unlucky, you will lead everyone to the depths of the vast ocean, and you are destined to be buried at the bottom of the sea.

His choice of direction is also very interesting. Since the east is the place where the sun rises, I kept running towards the sun, but in the end I returned to Song Dynasty, and the effect was full.

So Zhao Huan asked, "How many people do you plan to send?"

The professors of the astronomy department replied immediately: "We plan to send ten warships and thirty supply ships, with a total of 600 people, including 2000 from the army, 600 from scholars, craftsmen, and medical officers, and [-] more Sailors with seafaring experience."

"Carry a hundred thousand shi of all kinds of materials and directly cross the vastest ocean in the East China Sea."

One hundred thousand shi materials are a drop in the bucket for Da Song.

Even with so many scholars with him, Zhao Huan was a little worried, and asked, "If so many people make a mistake, will they suffer heavy losses?"

The professor of the Department of Astronomy said: "So we start with the difficult ones and then the easy ones, and overcome the difficulties of crossing the ocean with the greatest manpower and material resources. With so many scholars, we can not only depict star maps along the way, draw territory maps, but also timely remedy problems when they arise. At worst, you can find a piece of land, take root and develop, and then ask the imperial court for help."

Another professor said: "Officials, the larger the fleet, the better. The ships at sea are said to be several miles or even tens of miles long. There are more than 40 ships, and the stretch may be hundreds of miles. Not at all. Arranged in a line, so there will be no accidents and serious damage.”

His proposal attracted Zhao Huan's attention, and it was indeed time for Da Song to produce a map of all countries in the world.

The professor of the School of Geography couldn't sit still when he heard the words, and immediately said: "When it comes to drawing maps, what is your astronomy department messing with? Is there a major in our geography department?"

"Officials, our geography department has already drawn a very detailed map. This voyage is to go all the way west from our geography department to verify the accuracy of the map."

"We plan to divide into two teams. In the early stage, ten warships and twenty supply ships will set off from Quanzhou first, then go to Nanyang, pass through Indy, and reach the Besli Canal. The two fleets will be separated."

"One uses a compass to navigate the Western Great Food Sea, and then goes west. The other uses the magnetic declination to navigate the Kunlun Continent in the south to see if it leads to the same destination."

It’s hard to say whether the different routes lead to the same goal. According to the proposal of the professor of geography, it is very likely that one fleet landed in North America and the other landed in South America.

The professor of the astronomy department immediately sarcastically said: "You guys are just picking on people's teeth. You still need such a huge fleet to take this route? The folks can find any barbaric boatman here, and he can take the fleet around."

The professor of the Department of Geography immediately retorted: "You are the only ones who have ideas! You have already made up your mind and came back to ask for help! You are really facing failure."

Zhao Huan stopped the dispute between the two sides with a smile, and said, "Scientific experiments require a combination of boldness and prudence. Maybe your two fleets can join forces at the Dongshan Governor's Mansion."

"I hope that you can put the great cause first, communicate properly, and return to Tokyo smoothly together."

That's right, the biggest feature of Song Dynasty is its high spirit.

Zhao Huan invested in all of these two projects.

Isn't it just money?
Anything that can be solved with money is nothing to Da Song.

Zhao Huan said: "Then the three divisions will provide financial support for the projects of the School of Astronomy. The Royal Consortium will support the projects of the School of Geography."

"In this way, you don't have the pressure of performance appraisal, and you can communicate with each other."

"I hope you can draw a map of the whole world and bring it back to the Central Plains."

Everyone bowed down immediately.

At this time Tang Wan approached Zhao Huan and whispered, "Officials, Commander Wei Sheng of the Imperial City Division is asking to see you."

"what's up?"

"It's about Nanyang exploration."

"Then let him come in." Zhao Huan suddenly thought of a possibility, and said to the professors present: "Everyone, wait a moment. Regarding Nanyang, the Imperial City Division has something to report."

Soon Wei Sheng strode into the palace, and he said directly to Zhao Huan: "Great news, official. God bless my Song Dynasty with boundless territory."

Zhao Huan had already guessed the content of the good news he said, so he said with a light smile: "The Tai Academy is just about to draw a map of the world, please tell me the content of the good news in detail."

Wei Sheng immediately said: "Everyone, I found another vast continent in the south of Nanyang. My imperial city, Sizaoyuan, has already visited this continent. Carrying more than ten days of food and grass, we can't reach the edge even if we gallop on horseback."

After riding the horse for more than ten days, the professors of the academy couldn't understand this concept very well.

The Central Plains Dynasty marched north to Rouran, Qingqi only brought [-] days of food and grass, and they had already run from the Central Plains to the grassland outside the Great Wall.

If there is such a continent, the territory of Song Dynasty may double again!This is definitely the biggest news of the year.

(End of this chapter)