prosperous age

Chapter 1007 Map 1098

"Sir, there is news from the seaside that the barbarian ships are coming."

Two days had passed since the King of Sulu and his army were settled. On this day, Deng Zilong was thinking about the next countermeasures in the military tent. The curtain was lifted and a personal soldier came in to report.

Upon hearing that it was Miguel who came, Deng Zilong immediately stood up and walked out, giving orders as he walked, asking them to send someone to find Captain Lin and others to go to the King of Sulu.

Deng Zilong would certainly not expose their strength at this time. He would play the Sulu Kingdom's trump card at the last minute. Now was not the time to let the barbarians know of their arrival.

The Sulu army's camp was more than ten miles away from the Ming army's main camp. There was a forest blocking the way, so it would be impossible to find it if you didn't get close.

The Sulu king's tent was also arranged there. In Deng Zilong's words, it was to make it convenient for Baker to command his troops.

Baker was naturally happy to be able to live among his own army, as it meant he would be safer.

Now Deng Zilong arranged Captain Lin to go to Baker in order to stabilize him and prevent him from hearing the news and running to the front military camp.

Deng Zilong had already guessed the purpose of Baker's visit at the banquet that night.

After drinking, after hearing Deng Zilong bragging about his ability to govern the country, Baker finally couldn't help but complain to Deng Zilong, mainly about the threat he had to face from the Spaniards on Luzon Island.

Because the Sulu Kingdom was facing huge external threats, when he knew that the Ming Dynasty needed his help, he chose to help with all his strength without hesitation, thereby restoring contact with the Ming Dynasty and obtaining official support from the Ming Dynasty.

Now that he knew the other party's purpose, Deng Zilong could naturally rest assured.

Whether the Ming Dynasty should endorse the Sulu Kingdom is not something that a single military general like him can decide; it must be decided by the big men in the capital.

However, this did not affect his purpose of completing this trip.

Therefore, Deng Zilong assured King Baker that after completing the task of hunting down Lin Feng's pirate group, he would take him back to Ming Dynasty and request an audience with the Emperor of Ming Dynasty. There would be no problem.

Baker was not worried that he would not be able to return to Sulu after arriving in Ming Dynasty. Sulu had previously sent envoys to Ming Dynasty three times, and Ming Dynasty sent warships to escort the envoys back home safely.

Of course, the most important thing is that the Ming Dynasty seemed to have no covetousness towards them and had no intention of occupying their Sulu Kingdom.

Otherwise, the Ming Dynasty should have sent troops here earlier, instead of waiting for more than a hundred years before accidentally arriving in Sulu to hunt down pirates.

There was no intention of aggression, so the Sulu Kingdom naturally flattered the Celestial Empire wholeheartedly.

  Could it be better than this?

No.

Deng Zilong arrived at the beach and met Lieutenant Miguel in the tent. He asked someone to prepare a towel to wipe his sweat and also asked someone to make some tea and bring it to him.

"Dear Deng, our commander, Commander Savella, has agreed to your proposal. Your country will be responsible for the north, and we will only be responsible for the defense of the east and south.

At sea, we still formed a joint fleet to blockade, raid the bay, and destroy the pirate Lin’s fleet, so that they can no longer leave here by ship. "

After a short rest, Miguel took out a letter from Commander Savera, which could also be considered a warrant.

However, at this time, the Spaniards did not seem to want to create trouble and let the Ming people mistakenly think that they wanted to seize his command, so they confirmed their plan to Deng Zilong in the form of a letter from the commander.

Deng Zilong took it and took a look. There were a lot of things written on it in words he couldn't understand, but at the bottom, there were considerate Chinese characters that translated the meaning of the letter.

The general idea was no different from what Miguel told him.

Obviously, there must be people in the Spanish military camp who are familiar with the Han officialdom, so they gave them this advice.

Perhaps, what he was familiar with was not the officialdom of the Ming Dynasty, but that of the previous dynasty.

But in fact, there is one thing that never changes much throughout the changes of dynasties in China, and that is the officialdom.

Because the so-called officialdom is always composed of thousands and thousands of scholars. They learn about the past events of the previous dynasties through reading and know how to gain the greatest benefits for themselves.

In other words, the emperor can be replaced, but the officials remain the same, the scholars.

There is also a nearby map drawn by the Spaniards, which details the positions that the Ming army is responsible for defending.

When Deng Zilong saw this map, he was a little confused at first.

After all, the Spaniards know that maps are somewhat different from the maps used in the Ming Dynasty, so it is normal for them to be uncomfortable with them.

After Miguel's explanation, Deng Zilong quickly became familiar with identifying Western maps.

Comparing the map drawn by the Ming army itself, Deng Zilong actually felt that the Spanish map seemed to be better.

After all, the maps drawn by the Ming Dynasty itself often take aesthetics into consideration rather than reality. Once you arrive at a place, you will find that it is very different from the markings on the map.

However, when looking at the Yi people's map, Deng Zilong first noticed the points marked on the map and the straight lines drawn from these points.

Deng Zilong also asked about the purpose of these dots and lines, but the answers he got were what lines they were and what rules they were drawn according to.

Perhaps it was because Miguel didn't quite understand, or he thought there was no need to explain in detail. After all, there are huge differences between Eastern and Western cultures, and it would be too troublesome to explain.

Of course, if Wei Guangde were here, he would roughly guess that some of these lines might be the longitude and latitude of this era.

The points and straight lines marked on the map are used to determine the location. In fact, these are things that must be marked on Western nautical charts during this period.

Because most of the Spaniards who came to the Philippines were naval officers and soldiers, they were more familiar with nautical charts, and they drew the common graphics on such charts on the maps.

Although maps actually follow mathematical rules and use pictures and symbols to represent what they want to express, there are differences in the drawing methods between the East and the West. The ancient Chinese method of drawing maps is unique, which is the same as the Western method of drawing maps.

The West actually suspected that the earth was round very early on.

Of course, this theory is only discussed privately by some scholars and they dare not say it publicly.

However, because of the support of this theory, when the West drew maps, it was very early to create the so-called projection method to help draw maps. Among them, Hipparchus created the projection method and proposed to divide the circumference of the earth into 360 degrees. In the West, geographers in ancient Greece began to use the skills of making nautical charts, and later developed a variety of mapping methods such as the point of interest method and triangulation method.

It can be said that Western maps began to make extensive use of mathematical knowledge very early on, so map drawing appears to be more rigorous.

Of course, if we go back a century or even half a century, although Western maps also used this knowledge, because it was still the Age of Discovery, the maps drawn by Western geographers at that time were more imaginative.

It is now the end of the Age of Discovery, so Westerners have gradually gained a clear understanding of the world, and the way of expressing many things has become more scientific.

The earliest methods used in ancient Chinese maps were the "record survey method" and the "similar geography method", that is, maps were formed by recording and drawing geographical information.

Later, with the continuous advancement of technology, the "scale method" was adopted, which is to reflect the length, width, height and other information of the ground entity by drawing a scale.

During the Western Jin Dynasty, there was a man named Pei Xiu, who served as Sikong. He summarized the experience of making ancient Chinese maps and strengthened the theory of ancient Chinese map drawing.

The method proposed by Pei Xiu is called "Six Principles of Cartography", which was summarized from the careful compilation of maps such as "Yu Gong Regional Map" and "Topographic Map".

"Yu Gong Regional Map" is actually a collection of maps, which contains many text explanations, a total of 18 articles, and a preface.

"Yu Gong" is a text in "Shang Shu" with more than one thousand words, which mainly describes China's geography, local products and taxation.

It is said to be written by Dayu, but of course this is a false claim, as writing was definitely not so developed during Dayu's time. Therefore, general research believes that this was a work from the Warring States Period. Some scholars, such as Wang Guowei, believe that it was written in the early Western Zhou Dynasty.

What we usually say "Yu the Great divides the country into nine states" actually comes from this text, which uses mountains and rivers as symbols to divide the country into nine states. It also gives a brief description of the natural and human geographical phenomena such as the nine states' territories, mountains, rivers, vegetation, soil, products, tributes, ethnic minorities, and transportation.

This should be the beginning, because China's later "Book of Han Geography", "Notes on the Classic of Waterways" and many historical and geographical works were influenced by "Tribute of Yu".

Pei Xiu drew the "Yu Gong Regional Map" based on this text and proposed six principles of cartography, namely the "Six Principles of Cartography", which are roughly as follows:

One is the ratio, which is actually the scale. The original text is "so as to distinguish the size of the wheel."

The second is accurate viewing, which is actually the direction, which is called "correcting the body of each other."

The third is Daoli. Dao means road and Li means distance. The principle is the distance of the road, so it determines the number of miles.

The fourth is high and low, which refers to the undulating terrain.

Five is Fang Xie, which refers to the tilt angle.

The sixth is circuitous and straight, which refers to the straightness and curvature of rivers and roads.

These are actually six mapping rules. By following the six rules, you can examine the straightness, curves, distances and nearness of a map, and avoid deviations that result from gaining one corner and losing the other.

Among them, the resolution, that is, the scale, direction and distance are very important.

This is a relatively important or unique method in the history of world maps, which is different from the "projection method" used by Westerners. Until the end of the Ming Dynasty, ancient Chinese maps always followed the "Six Principles of Cartography".

However, at the end of the Ming Dynasty, with the arrival of Western missionaries, after they came to the Ming Dynasty, they began to draw maps according to the projection method they were familiar with. As a result, Western cartography was also introduced into the country and was gradually learned by Chinese scholars.

Since then, Chinese maps have gradually been drawn using Western projection methods, gradually abandoning the "Six Principles of Cartography" method proposed by Pei Xiu.

Maps of this period, especially nautical charts, were actually things that needed to be kept strictly confidential, both in the East and the West.

In China, apart from the imperial palace, only the Ming Dynasty's Ministry of War had similar detailed maps, and other government offices had no access to them.

Even Wei Guangde, the second-in-command of the cabinet, could be seen, but there were strict restrictions, such as not being able to leave the cabinet.

In the West, the confidentiality level of maps is also not low, especially nautical charts, because the information contained in them is too important.

In 1503, the Spanish royal family established the "Ministry of Trade of the Indies" in Seville, following the example of its strongest competitor, and granted it extensive powers in overseas trade and colonial affairs.

Unlike the East India Company established by the Dutch and British in the later period in the form of joint-stock system and government franchise, the "Ministry of Trade" was the direct "agent" of the Spanish monarchy. The collection of all relevant taxes, the approval of all overseas expeditions and trade voyages, the confidentiality management of all trade routes and newly discovered overseas information, the training and certification of all captains and navigators, the production and management of all nautical charts and maps, and even the daily administration of all commercial laws were all within the responsibilities of this department.

In theory, without the approval of this department, all Spanish overseas explorations and foreign trade voyages would be impossible.

The "Royal Map General Atlas" was produced and managed by the "Ministry of Trade". The first edition of the general map was completed between 1507 and 1508, and has been continuously improved, updated and perfected since then.

This is a secret map that also carries the authority of the Spanish royal family.

It is said to have royal authority because all Spanish explorers and ships setting out were required to use maps or charts copied from the general map.

And this general map, whether Spanish or Portuguese, is indeed the most accurate map of that era.

At the same time, all long-distance explorers, captains, and sailors must report the latest geographical information they have discovered to the Empire's Ministry of Trade after returning. Any errors discovered in the use of maps or nautical charts must also be reported as soon as possible so that the Ministry of Trade can make the most timely and accurate updates and revisions to the general map.

Explorers, captains or sailors who violate the laws governing the general map will face penalties ranging from heavy fines to cancellation of trade and navigation qualifications.

The secrecy of the Royal Map is reflected in the fact that it is a strategic resource with an extremely high "confidentiality level".

In Spain, all cartographers, explorers, captains and sailors related to the general map are required to fulfill strict confidentiality obligations, and any act of "leaking secrets" to the enemy or competitors will face severe legal responsibility.

Even all outdated maps or nautical charts must be strictly destroyed.

The imperial administrative departments, represented by the Ministry of Trade, monitored all the latest geographical information collected from overseas trade, colonial settlement, and even Catholic religious activities, providing the most solid basis for the empire to formulate colonial policies at all times.

Colonial policy refers to the policy of controlling and utilizing the natural resources and indigenous populations of overseas colonies to the maximum extent possible to serve the interests of the imperial royal family.

The foundation of colonial policy is inseparable from accurate geographic information, which is used to determine the exact geographical coordinates, borders, mountains, resources, and safe routes to reach the colonies from mainland Europe.

Due to the strict secret and authoritarian management of the general map, modern cartographers have hardly found any original "general map" that has survived to this day, and even the original nautical charts actually used on the oceans at that time have hardly been found.

The map drawn by the Spaniards in Deng Zilong's hand is actually full of the latest Western cartographic techniques, but no one knows it.