Late Yuan Dynasty: I am the true emperor

Chapter 516 The Adventure of the Yuanwang Ship (Part Six)

On the shore of San Francisco, the crew of the Yuanwang ship were fretting over a pile of gold.

Looking at the broken gold in front of him, Wang Dayuan said, "This won't do. This gold is too fragmented. If we move it to the ship, a wave will knock off at least two pounds. If someone hides it or it falls into the cracks in the deck, it won't be easy to see."

Wang Zong gasped as he looked at the pile of gold, scratching the back of his head and exclaiming, "I only knew that gold was heavy before, but I never imagined that it could be this heavy. This small pile alone weighs more than 700 jin and more than 10,000 taels? I think a large wine jar could hold all of this gold."

Upon hearing this, Zhang Chao immediately retorted, "Are you stupid? This is over 700 jin of gold, and you're going to put it in that earthenware wine jar? Won't the bottom of the jar leak? Do you think that wine jar is made of iron?"

"What should we do then? We don't have any other suitable items on our ship," Wang Zong said, scratching his head.

In the end, Chen Youliang came up with a suggestion: "Isn't there a blacksmith and a blacksmith's forge on the ship? Ask him if he can melt down these pieces of gold and cast a gold melon weighing several hundred pounds. That way, it won't be scattered everywhere, and one or two people won't be able to move a gold melon weighing several hundred pounds, let alone hide it. No one can take it away."

"That's a good idea. Go and call Old Wei over to ask him if he can cast it."

"Okay, I'll go get someone right away."

The Yuanwang ship had a large iron furnace, which was also multifunctional. It was used for cooking and could also be used as a blacksmith's furnace to repair general machinery on the ship. It also had a matching crucible, so melting iron was no problem, and melting gold was even easier.

In the original history of the British Navy, blast furnaces were standard equipment on large warships. This was because the British Navy had a fire tactic: first, a hollow iron shell was cast, and during wartime, molten iron was poured into the shell, which was then fired at the enemy ship to burn it.

Although the preparation time for this tactic is very cumbersome and it is not necessarily practical, and if one accidentally spills molten iron on his own ship during a tense battle, it would be a greater loss than gain, this set of tools is generally still kept on the ship.

When the blacksmith, Old Wei, was summoned, he stared wide-eyed at the pile of gold and kept swallowing. Chen Youliang immediately patted him on the shoulder and asked, "Don't just stand there like an idiot. Can you cast it or not? Speak up."

Old Wei then came to his senses and said, "There are tools on the ship, so melting this gold is no problem, but we don't have molds. If we make a clay mold on the spot, we can cast it, but the result won't look good, and it will take a day or two."

Wang Dayuan immediately made the decision, "Then let's cast it. You don't care if it looks good or not. As long as the gold is cast into one piece, that's fine. We have time. I'll stay here for a day or two. If you need anything else, just tell me and I'll arrange it for you."

Old Wei immediately said, "Then I need two people to help me dig some clay from the riverbank, and we'll make a clay mold first."

“Okay, First Vice President Wang will arrange it for him.”

"Yes."

After Lao Wei and his men went to dig mud and make molds, Wang Dayuan spoke to the others.

"His Majesty said that not only is there a lot of gold in Jinchuan, but there is also a lot of gold and silver in the Maya and Aztec countries in central Lizhou. However, the local people only use gold and silver as ornaments. The currency used to buy and sell things is called something like cocoa beans and something like autumn cows."

"At that time, we should try our best to use the cargo on the ship to exchange for the gold and silver in the hands of the natives. Even if the Yuanwang returns to China, you can continue to trade with the natives and store the gold and silver in the port. When the ship comes again, you can continue to trade."

These words were clearly directed at Nahachu and Yang Hui, and the two quickly nodded in agreement, though what they were really thinking remained a mystery.

In fact, as long as this trade route can be established and a fixed trade route is formed, it will be almost inevitable that people in the American colonies will hoard gold and silver, and that people sent by the Ming Dynasty will smuggle goods.

However, Lu Jin said it didn't matter. Whether they smuggled or hid gold and silver, as long as they spent the gold and silver they earned in the country, it would flow back into the country. Lu Jin could then develop industry and attract this idle hot money to invest in building factories. The smuggled gold and silver could still be used by the Ming Dynasty.

Upon hearing this, Naha asked in return, "Cocoa beans should be a type of bean, so what is this Qiu Niu? Could it be a type of cow?"

“No.” Wang Dayuan immediately shook his head. “His Majesty said it seems to be a kind of dried potato, which the natives use as dry food, just like our flatbread, both are for filling their stomachs.”

"I see."

After hearing this, Chen Youliang said, "I hope we can really find those corn and potatoes, otherwise our supplies on the ship will definitely not last until we get back, and we will probably starve to death out there."

"We'll definitely find it. We've been traveling tens of thousands of miles, and so far, everything His Majesty said has come true, not a single word has been wrong. I suppose the corn and potatoes must still exist."

"Well, I hope so."

Two days later, blacksmith Lao Wei really melted the pile of gold into one piece and cast it into a gold ingot the size of a chopping block, weighing more than 700 kilograms. Even with such a thing, they still had to use the ship's crane to lift it up, otherwise it would be impossible to move it by manpower. Now they don't have to worry about anyone stealing it.

He left several flags with the local natives of San Francisco, promising them that he would return to buy gold, before the Yuanwang set sail south again.

Leaving the location of the Golden Gate Bridge, which is always depicted in Hollywood disaster movies and is repeatedly destroyed, the group traveled south along the coastline for three days before finally arriving at their next stop, Yuzhuji (Los Angeles), the territory of an indigenous tribe that called themselves the "Chuma".

Upon arriving at Yuzhuji, everyone felt a wave of heat and quickly took off their winter clothes. It was already mid-June, and the summer in Los Angeles was accompanied by the foehn effect, making it even hotter.

It wasn't until they encountered the Chuma people here that they finally saw the kind of 'Indians' that Lu Jin had described in American stereotypes: 'Indians' wearing aprons around their waists, feather decorations in their hair, and who liked to paint totems or tattoos on their bodies.

To everyone's disappointment, even though Los Angeles was so close to Central America, the indigenous people they encountered were still 'savages' who lived by fishing and hunting, showing no signs of 'civilization' whatsoever. They neither cultivated crops nor built city-states. After making some trade with these Chuma people as usual, the Yuanwang ship did not stop and embarked on its journey south again. Halfway there, Chen Youliang complained.

"What a waste of this vast land! Letting these savages occupy it is a terrible disservice. Are they really immigrants from Chi You's Jiuli tribe? If they really came from Shenzhou, why don't they know how to cultivate the land?"

"And His Majesty is absolutely right. There are no large livestock here at all, not even cattle, horses, donkeys, or mules, nor any cartwheels or similar items. Why didn't they bring these things with them when they fled from Shenzhou?"

Yang Hui has gradually become more cheerful these days. Upon hearing this, she immediately said, "If we follow the speculation of the Gongshu clan's ancestors and assume that they are indeed descendants of Chiyou and Jiuli, then it makes perfect sense."

"According to ancient legends, the Yellow Emperor and the Yan Emperor fought against Chi You at Zhuolu and killed Chi You. However, there are almost no records of the whereabouts of their tribe. Some say that some of them went south and became the Sanmiao people of today, while others stayed in the original place and were called Dongyi. Later, they were annexed by the Zhou Dynasty and transformed into Xia. This is also the origin of the common people. Perhaps you and I are part of the Jiuli."

"But there is no mention of them crossing the Bering Land Bridge to the north and migrating to the New World. However, although there is no mention of them crossing the Bering Land Bridge to the north, we cannot deny the possibility of that."

"As for the livestock, farming, vehicles, and wheels that General Chen mentioned, they were created by the Yellow Emperor Xuanyuan, and agriculture was taught to the world by the Yan Emperor Shennong. Cattle and horses seem to be from the west. Isn't it said that all good horses originated from the Western Regions? In that case, Chi You's Jiuli are neither in the west nor associated with the Yellow Emperor and Yan Emperor. How could they possibly farm and make wheels, let alone have cattle and horses? It is perfectly reasonable to suspect that they are descendants of the Jiuli tribe."

Chen Youliang nodded upon hearing this, but Nahachu asked in confusion, "But the northern desert is already so cold, and Lizhou is tens of thousands of miles away from Shenzhou. How did they migrate here?"

Yang Hui was stumped by the question and didn't know how to answer it for a moment.

Upon seeing this, Wang Dayuan immediately explained, "First, the climate and temperature of each dynasty are not static. The climate in the pre-Qin era was much warmer and hotter than it is today. The Spring and Autumn Annals and Zuo Zhuan record that many states used rhinoceros hide to make armor. The ancient name of Henan was Yu, which means elephant."

"This shows that there were still wild rhinoceroses and elephants on both sides of the Yellow River at that time. Can you still see elephants and rhinoceroses in Henan now? Elephants can only be seen in Yunnan and Annam, and rhinoceroses can only be found in Southeast Asia."

"Therefore, we can suspect that the climate in the era of Yanhuang and Chiyou was much warmer and hotter than it is now. So the northern desert may have been warmer than it is now, perhaps similar to the climate of Yanyun today, and the far north may have been more like the northern desert today."

"Secondly, even if the climate was just as cold then as it is now, didn't we see Inuit people living in the far north when we came here? Aren't they living just fine?"

"Third, as for how to migrate tens of thousands of miles, it's even simpler. Of course, it feels far when we come here once, but what if we have been migrating for thousands of years? If we migrate dozens of miles every year, after a thousand years, we would have long since spread all over Lizhou."

"General Chen, don't forget that it is now the year 4051 of the Xuanyuan calendar. Even if it took these Jiuli descendants a thousand years to migrate here, it is still three thousand years ago."

"I see." Chen Youliang suddenly realized.

Yang Hui was also hearing this for the first time. He stroked his beard and nodded, saying, "That's right, that makes sense. I never imagined that the climate would change so much throughout history. How come I didn't think of this before? Doesn't this mean that it's been getting colder throughout history?"

Wang Dayuan nodded. "I've only learned a little from His Majesty. As for the fact that it's getting colder in every dynasty, that's certainly possible. As the climate gets colder, rainfall will inevitably decrease, and droughts will follow. His Majesty sent us to find those high-yield varieties in Lizhou, which must be due to this concern."

"If it really keeps getting colder and drier, how will people live?" Naha asked with some surprise and doubt.

“When soldiers come, we will block them; when water comes, we will dam it. There is always a way out when the time comes. There will be a way to deal with it when the time comes. Why worry about these things now? Isn’t that just needless worry?” Wang Dayuan said immediately. “Besides, the reason we came here this time is to find high-yield and high-quality seeds. With these high-yield grains, we will definitely be more confident in the face of natural disasters.”

The group was bored on the ship, so they chatted about climate and geography every day. They even learned about the theory of continental drift from Wang Dayuan and understood the relationship between plate tectonics and earthquakes, which broadened their horizons.

Wang Dayuan humbly said that he learned it all from His Majesty, which immediately elevated Lu Jin's standing in everyone's eyes.

A few days after leaving Los Angeles, the Yuanwang ship arrived at Ruyi Bay, which later became the famous San Diego naval port. Because the port is small but has a large interior, and the bay area inside the port is long and narrow with some curvature, resembling a Chinese jade ruyi, it was named Ruyi Bay by Lu Jin.

However, the group did not linger in San Diego. After replenishing their supplies of fresh water and firewood, they immediately continued south.

During the journey, Wang Dayuan remarked to the group, "Thanks to His Majesty's planning of this route, we were able to resupply with fresh water and firewood every few days; otherwise, we would never have been able to arrive here so easily."

Everyone nodded in agreement.

Continuing south along the coast from San Diego, the next stop is a bend in the middle of Baja California, later known as Guerrero Negro, but Lu Jinqi named it 'Wu Gou Bay' because its shape resembles a Wu hook.

However, there was no fresh water here, only a relatively large natural harbor, so the group did not stay here. After passing Wugou Bay, they continued south and after another five days of travel, they finally arrived at Cabo San Lucas, the southernmost point of the California peninsula.

Upon discovering that they had reached the end of 'Northern Lizardia', the people on board cheered, indicating that they had entered Mexican territory and were getting closer to their destination, the Aztecs and Mayans.

After rounding the southernmost tip of the California peninsula, the Yuanwang continued southeast until it saw land again and arrived at a large natural harbor, which Lu Jin labeled 'Yulan Bay', but was actually near Rosario in later times.

They continued south, traveling along the coast, and near Colima in what would later become known as Colima, they finally encountered more human activity by the sea, including vast fields cultivated by local natives—the very corn they had been searching for.

Before the Yuanwang ship even reached Xiangxun Port (Acapulco), Wang Dayuan couldn't resist forcing it to dock and pointed at the corn to the local natives, asking, "Maya? Aztec?"

After receiving a nod of approval from the local natives, everyone was overwhelmed with excitement; they had finally arrived at their destination!
(End of this chapter)