My son A Fei has the appearance of a sword master

Chapter 136: Going to sea and arriving at Ceylon Island

When they came out two years ago, Zhu Jianshen and Wan Zhen'er had a lot of fun, but this time they were not in such a good mood. Less than two months after they came out, they hurried back to Beijing.

Because not long after they entered the world this year, natural disasters began to occur in various parts of the Ming Dynasty.

Natural disasters such as floods, locust plagues, earthquakes, and typhoons have occurred in Shanxi, Shandong, Guangdong and Guangxi, Yunnan, Henan, Shuntian, Hejian, Zhending, and Baoding.

Not only was there no grain harvest, but towns and countless fertile fields were also severely damaged.

Although today's Ming Dynasty is barely sufficient because of its food reserves and its transportation efficiency is extremely high, it will not cause famine.

However, because the scope of the disaster was so large and the number of people affected was so great, various places were also plunged into a food shortage crisis.

It was only because Zhu Jianshen and Li Tianxin spent their own money to purchase grain from powerful people and wealthy businessmen at a price higher than the market price that they managed to survive the famine without causing a major disaster.

But a large-scale famine would consume more national power than a war. If it happened several more times, the Ming Dynasty's great situation would probably collapse.

Li Tianxin remembered that there were indeed many famines during the Chenghua period, and they continued without interruption, reaching their peak in the Chongzhen Dynasty.

Because the Ming Dynasty is catching up with the Little Ice Age, which lasts for 500 years, but during this period, the movement of the crustal plates is also particularly intense, and earthquakes are prone to occur.

Now it was just the prelude to the emergence of the Little Ice Age, but it was already so terrifying. At the peak of the Little Ice Age during the Chongzhen Dynasty, Li Tianxin could no longer imagine the tragic situation among the people.

There are only a few words recorded in the history books, such as "all the grass and trees are gone", "eating by exchanging children", "starvation and death everywhere", etc., but the information reflected in these few words is a horrific disaster for countless people.

During the Little Ice Age, severe droughts and floods occurred one after another in spring and summer, and it was extremely cold in autumn and winter.

Severe droughts are often accompanied by locust plagues, and severe floods are often followed by major epidemics.

With the development of science and technology, various natural disasters can be combated to a certain extent, but the shortage of food has always been a big problem.

In view of this, Li Tianxin felt that going to sea to find "high-yielding grain" could no longer be delayed.

Today, the problem of insufficient population has become the biggest factor limiting the development of Ming Dynasty.

There are countless territories that farming civilization can occupy. If the population cannot keep up, no matter how large the territory is, you will not be able to rule it.

Food is the direct factor restricting population growth. Without sufficient food, rapid population growth will be a disaster.

It's a pity that Li Tianxin is not good at biological genetic technology. He can't make hybrid rice. Introducing high-yielding crops is the best way to cure the symptoms.

In the future, he will pass on the basic knowledge of biology and rely on the talents of the entire Ming Dynasty to promote the development of biogenetic technology. Maybe in a few decades, someone will be able to create hybrid rice.

In these decades, we can only rely on high-yielding crops. As long as we survive this half century, Li Tianxin believes that letting Ming dominate the earth is by no means a dream.

……

Because Zhu Jianshen and Li Tianxin were both presiding over disaster relief, the plan to electrify the Forbidden City was delayed for several months.

In mid-September of the [-]th year of Chenghua in the Ming Dynasty, when the disaster relief work came to an end and the people affected by the disaster were able to settle down, Li Tianxin led a group of factory workers to transport relevant materials to the capital.

At Beijing West Railway Station, lifting equipment lifted a giant battery with a size of two cubic meters, as well as supporting transformers and distribution boxes, from the train one by one and placed them on a rack truck.

This kind of trolley is specially used to transport large objects. It is equipped with six tires, has a steering wheel and brakes in the front, and is still powered by oxen and horses.

It's not that Li Tianxin can't build a steam truck, it's just that it's not necessary. Making such a transitional product would be a waste of manpower and material resources.

Once the internal combustion engine is built, wouldn’t it be nice to directly build diesel and gasoline cars?

After the unloading was completed, dozens of large trucks headed toward the Forbidden City under the escort of armed guards.

The factory stall was responsible for transporting the goods, and Li Tianxin took the lead and rushed to the palace to meet Zhu Jianshen.

On the left side of the Changchun Palace in the northwest of the Forbidden City, in front of a factory-like building, Zhu Jianshen said to Li Tianxin: "This is the power generation room I specially ordered to build. Do you think it is suitable for use?"

Li Tianxin nodded and said: "Very good, you are very thoughtful."

In front of this power house is a square-style courtyard. There were no buildings here originally. In the later Qing Dynasty, the Manchu emperor would build a Buddhist temple, but now it is suitable for use.

Zhu Jianshen nodded happily and said to Wynn: "Daban, send someone to wait at Xuanwu Gate. When the factory team arrives, they will be brought here."

"Yes."

Hua En went to arrange people, and only Zhu Jianshen and Li Tianxin were left in the square.

Li Tianxin said to Zhu Jianshen: "Brother Long, the development of our Ming Dynasty is booming now, but in the past few years, I have studied astronomical phenomena and found that we are now in the precursor period of the Little Ice Age."

"In the next few decades or hundreds of years, the world's climate will be abnormal and the situation will change, making it easy for various natural disasters to occur. We need to make early plans."

After hearing this, Zhu Jianshen's face changed slightly, and he asked in an uncertain tone: "What is the Little Ice Age?"

Li Tianxin explained: "The movements of the heaven, earth, universe, and the stars in the sky have their own laws. Within this law, there is a special period in the world called the Ice Age."

"Two hundred million years, that is, two hundred million years, there will be a major ice age, a glacial age once every 10 years, and a little ice age every 500 years."

"When the Great Ice Age comes, the earth will be frozen by more than 70 feet of black ice, and all life will be extinct. It will take millions of years for the black ice to gradually melt and the earth to be reborn."

"Ordinary ice ages will not directly exterminate all living things, but because more than [-]% of the earth is frozen, and the climate is extremely cold, it will also lead to food shortages, so that most living things cannot survive, and only a few lucky ones can survive. .”

"The last one is the Little Ice Age. The Little Ice Age is not that serious, but it can also lead to meteorological disorders. Severe droughts, floods, and severe colds occur one after another. Food shortages will become increasingly serious. We must prepare early."

Zhu Jianshen's brows furrowed. If these words had come from others, he would have thought they were demonic and misleading. But these words were said by Li Tianxin, and he would never dare to take them lightly.

"But there is only so much land in the Ming Dynasty. With the machinery and fertilizers you created, the grain production in the Ming Dynasty has reached its limit and cannot be increased for a while. What should we do?"

Li Tianxin said: "Now the plan to promote the electric age is proceeding in an orderly manner. Even without me, the factory bosses can still take charge of it."

"At least in 30 years, there won't be any technical bottlenecks, so I plan to go out to sea to search for high-yielding food crops for the Ming Dynasty."

“Now that land and yields have been determined, we can only seek to introduce high-yielding crops to increase yields per mu.”

Zhu Jianshen asked with concern: "Is there a specific goal?"

Li Tianxin said: "It is probably there, but you have to go and find out whether you can find it. Fortunately, the Ming Dynasty's ships are very advanced now, so it is a lot more convenient."

Zhu Jianshen nodded slowly and asked, "When do you plan to set off?"

Li Tianxin said: "Before July next year, please allocate some ships to me."

Zhu Jianshen said without hesitation: "No problem, you can drive the new treasure ship when the time comes."

Li Tianxin said happily: "Okay."

The new treasure ship is the flagship ship of the Ming Navy. It is 44 feet long, about 138 meters, and 56 feet wide, about [-] meters. It all uses a steam power system.

With a full load of coal and clean water, it could easily cross the Atlantic with plenty to spare.

However, if you want to reach the American continent from Daming, you still have to replenish fuel and food supplies along the way.

Fortunately, the road from Daming to the Cape of Good Hope is densely populated by Western countries, so there is no need to worry about running out of places to supply supplies.Nearly an hour later, the team transporting electrical equipment arrived and started getting busy.

It took more than two months to finally complete the installation of the circuits in the Forbidden City. Zhu Jianshen established a "power generation bureau" in addition to the eight palace bureaus.

So far, the 24 yamen of the palace have become the 25 yamen.

After completing the power supply to the Forbidden City, Li Tianxin left several factory workers as daily maintenance and overhaul personnel, and then returned to Fenyang and began to make preparations for the sea.

For more than half a year after that, Li Tianxin plunged into the factory. Under his leadership, various epoch-making products appeared one by one.

……

"Tianxin, these five battleships and two brothers from Qianhusuo are in your hands. You must bring them back safely."

In June of the 11th year of Chenghua, at the Haikou Naval Port of the Southern Military Region Navy, the Marquis of Gusu of the Ming Dynasty and the Chief Military Officer of the Southern Military Region, Wang Lianhua, squeezed Li Tianxin's shoulders and said solemnly.

Li Tianxin said seriously: "Everything about this voyage is unknown. I dare not give you any guarantee. I can only say that I will try my best to bring them back one by one."

Wang Lianhua smiled and nodded: "With you, the Sword God, this sentence is enough."

He was originally the commander-in-chief of the Southeast Military Region, but under the policy of mutual transfer of troops, he was transferred to the southern military region a year ago and to the southwest military region two years later.

The original Gusu Bo was promoted to Gusu Marquis because of his achievements in conquering Southeast Asia, and he truly entered the ranks of the top dignitaries of the Ming Dynasty.

Happy King has basically been in a state of retirement in recent years. He moved Happy City to Penghu Island to stay away from the disputes in the world.

Apart from the time for practicing every day, he spends his days playing with dogs and horses and playing tricks on his grandchildren.

The same goes for Wang Yunmeng. Lian Yun Villa also moved to Penghu Island and became neighbors with Happy King.

Liu Yuru gave birth to two sons and one daughter to Wang Lianhua. Because of the grandchildren, Wang Yunmeng has basically given up his hatred for the Happy King. They no longer hate each other. Instead, because of the grandchildren, Wang Yunmeng is somewhat like Huanxi's enemy. development trend.

All in all, since then, there has been no such person as the Happy King in the Ming Dynasty.

After saying goodbye to Wang Lianhua, Li Tianxin and his party boarded the battleship in a small boat.

On this voyage, there were Li Tianxin and his three wives and four concubines, Shen Lang and his wife, Panda'er and his wife, sixty factory workers, a dozen language experts who knew various Western languages, and two Southern Military Region Thousand Household Offices. .

The children were entrusted to Jing Wuming and Xiao Niba. Xiao Niba married Xiaosi, and Lu Dan married the daughter of a martial artist through a blind date. Now they both have children and live a happy life.

The treasure ship type battleship can carry the soldiers of a thousand households, but in order to save load and use it to carry more coal, water and food supplies, Li Tianxin only let two thousand households accompany them, each carrying more than 400 people.

As he was preparing for an ocean voyage, Li Tianxin was afraid of a lack of fresh water on the way. In the two months before departure, he specially brought his factory with him to install a distillation device on the ship to distill seawater and produce fresh water.

These 2000 Ming Dynasty sergeants are equipped with automatic rifles and sniper rifles, and the officers also carry semi-automatic pistols.

Each treasure ship type battleship is equipped with 48 naval guns, 24 Maxim heavy machine guns, and fifty mortars.

The naval guns are all cannons, not howitzers.

Because naval battles usually involve direct fire, attacking the side of the enemy's hull, howitzers with curved trajectories are not suitable. Mortars can be used as supplementary firepower, which is more than enough.

The ship-borne cannon has a range of 13000 meters, a shell caliber of 106 mm, and an impact fuse.

In this era, the range of Western copper alloy cannons was only between 300 and 500 meters. For accuracy, they would usually fire within 200 meters, firing spherical solid shells.

To put it bluntly, it is an oversized firecracker that uses solid shells to blast through the sides of enemy ships and sink them.

As for firearms, the West has just developed the matchlock gun.

If he encounters pirates in the West or conflicts with the fleets of Western countries, Li Tianxin will let those Westerners know what a dimensionality reduction strike is.

"beep……"

At the sound of the whistle, five treasure ship-style warships set sail and headed south.

They will first sail to the Ca Mau area in Annan for a replenishment there, and then sail to the Strait of Malacca for a replenishment in Singapore.

Nowadays, most of Southeast Asia has fallen under the control of the Ming Dynasty. The five southern kingdoms have all been destroyed. The Kingdom of Malacca, which occupied Malaysia and Singapore, has also been destroyed.

Nowadays, the troops of the Southwest Military Region of the Ming Dynasty have been stationed in Sumatra Island. It can be said that all the way to the Strait of Malacca belongs to the territory of the Ming Dynasty.

They only left the country after leaving the Strait of Malacca and entering the Indian Ocean.

The route planned by Li Tianxin is as follows...

Haikou → Annan Ca Mau → Singapore → Malacca Strait → Great Strait → Sri Lanka (Ceylon) → Maldives → Somalia → Madagascar → Guinea → South America.

The potatoes, corn, tomatoes, peanuts, sunflowers, peppers, pumpkins and other goodies that Li Tianxin wants are basically all in South America.

From the Ming Dynasty to South America, it takes about [-] miles to sail, or [-] kilometers.

The speed of the new steam treasure ship can reach just over ten knots, or twenty kilometers per hour.

Calculating the sailing time alone, it takes about 52 days. Including the time for rest and replenishment on the way, a trip to America takes almost three to four months.

The road from Haikou to the Great Strait was basically calm and there were no accidents along the way. After all, several supply points were guarded by the Ming army.

It wasn't until we crossed the Indian Ocean and reached Sri Lanka that we finally experienced some different situations.

Today there are two countries on the island of Ceylon, north and south.

The country in the north is called the "Sinhala Kingdom" and was established by the Aryans who immigrated here from North India.

The country in the south is called the "Tamil Kingdom" and was established by Tamils ​​who immigrated here from South India.

The two countries have been fighting endlessly for thousands of years from the fifth century AD to the present, but neither has been able to destroy the other.

This is mainly caused by the topographic environment of Ceylon.

The north is a plain with a maximum altitude of only 150 meters. The Aryans are good at riding and shooting.

In the south is a plateau with a maximum altitude of more than 2500 meters and dense forests.

The Aryans were not adapted to the plateau environment and were not good at jungle warfare. The Tamils ​​could not defeat the Aryan cavalry on the plains.

This situation is similar to that of Tubo and Tang Dynasty in the history of China. The people of Tang Dynasty were like a group of lambs waiting to be slaughtered when they went to the plateau.

Xue Rengui, the war god of the Tang Dynasty, led an army of [-] to attack Tibet. However, due to altitude sickness, he was defeated by the Tubo people in Dafeichuan and was completely annihilated.

However, when the Tubo people came down from the plateau, they also did not dare to confront the Tang army. They would only loot at the border and never dare to go deep into the hinterland.

The situation in Ceylon is exactly the same, so the two countries have been fighting each other for thousands of years, and no one can defeat the other.

(End of this chapter)