I am Emperor Wanli

Chapter 549 Our tradition is to use the majority to bully the minority
As soon as these words were spoken, people gathered around and started a heated discussion.

"Old Liu, what you said makes sense. I think they are the descendants of the Xia and Shang dynasties. Otherwise, why do they look so similar?"

Some people agree.

"What a bullshit! They are the remnants of the Xia and Shang dynasties. Why don't they say they are the remnants of Chi You who were defeated by Emperor Yan and Emperor Huang?"

Some people are dismissive.

"Old Liu, tell them your truth and open their eyes!"

"It is recorded in history books that when King Wu defeated King Zhou, King Zhou's uncle Jizi sailed out to sea from Laoshan Mountain, fled east to Korea, and established the Jishi Marquisate. When King Tang of Shang defeated King Jie, why couldn't the remnants of the Xia Dynasty sail east to Genzhou?"

Someone immediately jumped out to object, "What nonsense! We took the prince's large sailing ship, sailed thousands of miles across the sea, and went through many hardships to reach Genzhou.

Thousands of years ago, the Xia Dynasty survivors probably only had rafts and canoes. How did they cross the Pacific Ocean?"

Someone immediately argued, "Perhaps there is a road we don't know about, connecting a series of islands, and the remnants of the Xia and Shang dynasties took rafts and small boats, migrating eastward from island to island, and it took them dozens or hundreds of years to reach Genzhou."

Someone immediately retorted: "These Genzhou natives look very similar to us, but their speech and customs are completely different from ours."

Someone on the affirmative side said, "This is perfectly normal. We are a hundred miles apart and our accents are different; we are five hundred miles apart and our customs are different. People from Songjiang and Quanzhou talk like chickens talking to ducks; people from Shaanxi and Guangdong live and have customs that seem like they are from two different countries."

We have no idea what the customs of the Xia and Shang dynasties were like. Besides, they migrated to Genzhou thousands of years ago, thousands of miles away from Shenzhou, and have no contact with it. It makes sense that their speaking customs are completely different now."

The affirmative side insisted that they looked the same, but their accents and customs were different only because they lived in different environments and had developed independently, so they were naturally different.

The opposing side insisted that Genzhou and Shenzhou were separated by thousands of miles of vast ocean, and it was incredible to cross them by boat.

Later, Xiyi also firmly stood on the opposing side, believing that this was absolutely impossible.

If you are the remnants of the Xia and Shang dynasties, then what place do we have in the New World?

Don’t you know that all human beings were created by God?
It was not until more than ten years later that a survey team set out from the mouth of the Heilongjiang River and advanced by land and water, and Brown Bear Island was officially surveyed as Brown Bear Peninsula.

They then crossed the Zhangli Strait and entered Huangzhou, then went south along Huangzhou all the way to Xiazhou, proving that it was entirely possible to travel by land from the Central Plains all the way to Xiazhou.

The Zhangli Strait in the middle is frozen for at least half a year, so it is completely passable.

At this point, the theory that the indigenous people of Genzhou and Xunzhou were the descendants of the Xia and Shang dynasties became a popular school of thought. This was further verified as a large number of cultural relics were discovered in Genzhou and Xunzhou.

Although the authenticity of these cultural relics was difficult to distinguish hundreds of years later, they were sufficient to form the mainstream academic conclusion that the indigenous people of Genxunzhou were undoubtedly the descendants of the Xia and Shang dynasties.

Then the New World was discovered by the ancestors of the Ming people, a part of the Chinese nation, two or three thousand years ago, and then they settled here.

From then on, when the Ming Dynasty competed with Spain, Portugal, and later the British, French, Dutch and other Western countries for the New World, the opening line must be: "Since ancient times."

Now, this topic is only discussed by the officers and sailors of Qinglong Navy to relieve boredom after dinner or tea.

These people don't realize the true significance of it.

But missionary Urdaneta recognized it.

The remnants who escaped here thousands of years ago.

If this assertion is truly verified, it will be a disaster for the Spaniards.

After being captured, Urdaneta stayed in Ming for a while and studied the history of these mysterious Oriental people. He found that they respected their ancestors very much and never forgot the humiliation their ancestors had suffered, the dignity and land they had lost.

The founding emperor of the Former Han Dynasty suffered humiliation at the Battle of Baideng, and then several of his descendants were eager to take revenge. Finally, the great-grandson of the founding emperor mobilized the entire country to defeat the Huns and drove them out of the northern grasslands.

They sang something like "The shame of Jingkang has not yet been avenged. When will the hatred of the ministers be eliminated?", gnashing their teeth, and then something like "I am so ambitious that I would eat the meat of the barbarians when I am hungry, and I would drink the blood of the Xiongnu when I am thirsty."

This is like eating the flesh and drinking the blood of your enemy. It is too cruel.

There are also people who always mention the old territory of Han and Tang Dynasties, meaning that the land was once the territory of the previous dynasties of Han and Tang Dynasties, and the Ming Dynasty was too embarrassed to see anyone because it did not take it back.

To Urdaneta, this seemed incredible.

Spain and Portugal were ruled by the Moors for hundreds of years, and later drove away these Muslims. However, the Spaniards did not think of eating the Moors' flesh or drinking their blood.

The feud between Britain and France has lasted for hundreds of years. Sometimes the British were the king of the French, and sometimes the French were the king of the British. They fought a war for nearly a hundred years. Sometimes I occupied your place, and sometimes you occupied my place.

But the people of the two countries did not say that they would strangle each other when they met. The nobles of both sides still intermarried, and sometimes when they were short of a king, they would ask the other side to give one to them.

This nation, whose civilization is higher than that of Europe, these gentle and kind people always repeat one sentence in their mouths, "Can revenge be taken after nine generations? Even after a hundred generations."

National hatred and family feuds must be avenged, not to mention nine generations, even if it spreads for a hundred generations!

It's so scary.

If the Ming people really wanted to verify that the indigenous peoples of the New World were the descendants of the Xia and Shang dynasties, then the Spanish and Portuguese would never be able to occupy an inch of land in the New World. They would rush over like crazy, shouting, "All mine!"

Then drive everyone away.

But the Ming countries had strong ships and powerful guns, a large population, and abundant resources. They had more warships than all the warships in Europe combined.

This is the scariest thing!

Urdaneta was feeling uneasy, but Li Chao was busy and having fun.

Taiping City was initially built and a forward base was established, so Li Chao sent out a frigate and two cruisers to continue southward along the coastline.

Logically, Acapulco is about five to six days' journey south of Xiazhou.

Li Chao sent a small team to explore the route and get a feel for the situation.

He also sent two cruisers north along the coastline to survey as much of the situation north of Xiazhou as possible.

After several days of communication through gestures and gesticulations, the three natives, wearing cotton clothes, slowly spoke out some information.

The indigenous tribes nearby call themselves Chumash. They should be tribes scattered in family units, living on fishing and hunting. They have no horses, their tools are simple, and they cannot plow the land.

After the people from Xuanzanchu of Qinglong Navy gained the trust of the three natives with delicious food and gorgeous clothes, they suggested sending a trading team to trade with the Chumash.

"Trade? What do they have?
Li Chao asked curiously.

Liu Xuanzan said confidently: "General, the Chumash have dried fish, dried meat and fur, which can supplement our food. The most important thing is that we should show them goodwill and gain their trust.

We currently have very few people, but they are natives, so they should have quite a few. We will need a large population to expand the castle and repair the port. Later, when our trust deepens, we can teach them how to farm, and then through trade, we can get a stable supply of food.”

I really don’t know how these people in the Xuanzan Bureau were trained.

It sounds wild, but if you think about it carefully, it is indeed feasible.

"Liu Xuanzan, but we don't have much supplies with us this time when we go east. We need cotton cloth, sugar and tea ourselves, so we don't have much surplus food to exchange."

"General, we can exchange it with salt."

"salt?"

"Yes, I have done some research. The salt these natives eat is scraped from rocks. It is bitter, astringent, and poisonous. We have officers and sailors in our navy who used to be cooks at the Huaidong Salt Field. They not only know how to boil salt, but also how to dry it."

Li Chao's eyes lit up

Salt is a good thing. Everyone must eat it, no matter whether you are a native or an outsider.

Since the natives don't know how to make salt, our Qinglong Navy will take on this big business.

He thought about this further and his train of thought opened up instantly.

"Liu Xuanzan, immediately collect a list of officers and sailors in the navy who know how to make pottery, smelt copper and iron, make bows and arrows, and other crafts."

Liu Xuanzan replied: "General, Xuanzan's office has already counted it. Here is the detailed list."

Li Chao took it and looked. There were hundreds of people crowded together. Each person's name was followed by a note of what skill he or she was good at, and some were good at two or three.

"We have a lot of talented people in our navy."

Li Chao couldn't help but admire.

Liu Xuanzan said: "General, we have to start from scratch in Xiazhou, and the more talents of all kinds, the better."

When it comes to farming, who in the world can beat us?
"That's right! Liu Xuanzan, this town appoints you as the chief clerk of Taiping City, and you will be in charge of this matter. Pull out these officers and sailors with special skills, set up various factories, dry salt, make pottery, forge weapons, armor and bows, and develop trade with the nearby indigenous people, comfort them and win them over, and use them for my own benefit."

"Follow the order!"

At the command, the mass production movement in Taiping City was launched in full swing.

Find a suitable place and start drying salt.

Prospect for ore and wood, collect tendons and horns, prepare for iron smelting and making bows and arrows.

Collect firewood, build caves, look for clay, and start firing pottery.

At the same time, three natives dressed in colorful clothes, carrying gifts such as salt, sugar and cotton cloth, returned to the Chumash tribe and spread the news that a group of Ming people had arrived and were willing to live in peace with them and exchange what they had.

At the beginning, two or three brave natives came with dried fish and dried meat to trade. They found that this group of Ming people looked similar to themselves and felt a sense of familiarity at first sight.

And they are very kind, unlike those white people who always look down on you as a barbaric, ignorant pagan.

The exchange was also fair. They exchanged the dried fish and meat, which they thought were worthless, for a bag of salt, which was far beyond their expectation. They also gave a small bag of sugar.

This sugar is very similar to salt, but it actually tastes sweet, just like honey.

too delicious!

The Qinglong water division originally wanted to win over the natives, so they were very loose in the transaction, which was a half-sale, half-giveaway nature, which naturally made the natives overjoyed.

The news spread quickly, and in just a dozen days, the news not only spread throughout the Chumash tribe, but also reached nearby indigenous tribes such as the Pomo, Tolowa, and Miwok.

So hundreds and thousands of natives set out from different nearby places, carrying dried fish and dried meat, and walked on the road to Taiping City.

In the signing room of the Taiping City government office, Li Chao was taking notes.

"After six repeated measurements, we determined that the longitude and latitude of Songmen Bay Taiping City are 122.6 degrees east longitude* and 38.5 degrees north latitude.

According to the algorithm published by the Imperial Astronomical Observatory, one hour is equivalent to fifteen degrees of longitude, and Songmen Bay is eight hours ahead of the capital.

After six measurements of noon and the North Star, the surveyor confirmed the time in Taiping City. It was 3:23 p.m., so it was still 7:23 a.m. in the capital.

After half a year of sailing, I deeply realized that the world has become the Earth. Your Majesty is wise. In this great change of the millennium, our sights have shifted from the Celestial Empire to the world."

"Report!" the adjutant reported at the door.

"what's up?"

"The exploration team that went south has just returned, and Captain Wu is about to report the details to you."

"Call him in quickly."

Wu Guanhai, captain of the Xianju frigate and leader of the southward exploration team, hurried in.

Li Chao asked first: "Captain Wu, have you found Acapulco?"

Wu Guanhai immediately replied: "General, I led the team to Acapulco, but encountered a patrolling Spanish ship in the open sea.

We decided to go all out and attack the Spanish ship, then break into the Acapulco Harbor and find 11 Spanish ships of various sizes inside.

"Only eleven ships?"

He brought twelve Class B battleships, eleven frigates, seven cruisers, and two communication ships. They encountered a storm on the way, and one of the communication ships was lost, and it was most likely sunk.

Excluding one frigate and one cruiser of the northbound exploration team, there are now twelve Class B battleships, ten frigates, six cruisers and one communications ship in Songmen Bay.

Isn't it too much of an insult to attack the Spanish with only eleven sailing ships?

Bullies are bullies!
The winning philosophy of our Ming Navy was proposed by Tong'anbo Yu Dayou: "A large ship defeats a small ship, a large gun defeats a small gun; many ships defeat few ships, many guns defeat few guns."

It is our tradition to use the majority to bully the minority.

　*The Ming Dynasty longitude and latitude take the center line of the Forbidden City as the meridian. The actual Forbidden City is 116.4 degrees east longitude, and the San Francisco Bay is 122.25 degrees west longitude, with a longitude span of 121.35 degrees. Taking into account the measurement errors at the time, the Ming Dynasty longitude and latitude of Songmen Bay is degrees east longitude.

　　Latitude is normal.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)