The surface of the North Pacific can only be described as vast. Even men from the sea country like Chen Shangchuan and Shi Lang, who almost call the sea their home, saw such a vast and boundless sea for the first time. The eight-hundred-ton Henan was so small that it could not even be considered a boat on this blue and empty sea. It was simply an insignificant existence.
Unlike the Northern, Eastern, and Southern Oceans, where you can see islands and large tracts of land from time to time, the North Pacific seems to have only water but no soil. After the ship left the offshore waters of Japan, it has been sailing along the ocean with the wind for a full forty-one days, but it has not continued. Not a single reef was seen. The Henan seemed to have entered a world of water. If they had not already obtained the Spanish charts and learned about the world they lived in in the naval academy, Chen Shangchuan and Shi Lang might have suspected that they were sailing into the world. The end of it!
After watching the sea view for more than a month, the two old navy soldiers, Chen Shangchuan and Shi Lang, felt a little sick. Therefore, apart from routine inspections, the two of them were too lazy to go to the deck to watch the sea. Instead, they stayed in the stern of the ship to study the charts and the map of the west coast of the New World obtained from Emperor Zhu. The northwest part of the map of the west coast of the New World belonged to Emperor Zhu. He drew it from memory. He was very familiar with the Vancouver area and knew it was a good place! Many of his friends, classmates, and bosses from his previous life had gone there, so he had long wanted to circle this place so that it would be convenient for everyone to go there in the future, right?
On the map processed by Emperor Zhu, the location of the American Mansion has been marked, which is the area of Vancouver and Seattle in later generations. The destination of the Henan's trip was there.
From the map, the House of America is located in a huge bay about 1,500 miles north of New Spain. The topography of this bay is very strange. Although it is huge, it is not wide, because there is a long long island in the bay. The big island almost fills the entire bay. If the actual terrain is really the same as what is drawn on the map, then The American Mansion is really a fundamental place given by God!
As long as a few forts are built on both sides of the waterway between the big island and the southern shore of the bay, the entrance to this huge bay should be able to be effectively blocked. The world within the entrance is the foundation of the Ming Dynasty in the New World!
And within this bay, not only the area is huge, but also the distance between north and south and east and west is very long. The coastline inside the bay is very long, at least more than a thousand miles. The transportation here is so convenient that it can be compared with Jiangnan. !
I don’t know what the climate is like there now? Is the land fertile? What is the area of the plain? Are there enough forests and minerals? If there are trees, are there good fur-bearing animals living in the forest? If there are so many good places, will there really be no owner?
It would be great if it was truly ownerless!
When Chen Shangchuan and Shi Lang were pondering over the inaccurate map, there was a burst of rapid footsteps, and then there was the sound of a loud report.
"Captain, first mate, land, we see land, it's such a big land!"
What a big piece of land!
Is that the New World? finally reached!
Chen Shangchuan and Shi Lang raised their heads and glanced at each other, and both saw a face that was too excited to contain.
"Let's go and take a look!" Chen Shangchuan said as he walked towards the cabin door.
Shi Lang quickly followed, and the two of them left the cabin together, then followed the stairs to the stern of the ship. At this time, there were already many sailors and passengers standing on the stern, deck, and forecastle of the ship. Everyone was trying their best to stretch their necks and look eastward.
Chen Shangchuan and Shi Lang also stretched their necks to look, and what caught their eyes were the hazy mountains and rivers in the distance!
Liu Liang, one of the thirty pioneers, also came out of the cabin at this time and went on the deck, holding his wife Liangzi. This short Japanese woman was not named Liangzi originally. Liangzi's name was Xu, the chief of Peanut Village. It was given by Kan.
This Xu Kan also served as a Green Flag Soldier, but he was better at watching the wind than Liu Liang. During the years of confrontation between the Ming and Qing Dynasties, he was keenly aware of the trend of the rise and fall of the Ming and Qing Dynasties, so he led his troops to surrender to the enemy. He pulled two horses and ran to the Ming Dynasty, became a glorious Ming Dynasty cavalry, and even got into Xiaoqi with his own merit. However, his background is always a stain, and he doesn't have any great abilities, so it will be difficult to move up.
Just when I was thinking about whether to retire with the official title of Xiaoqi, a message was suddenly issued saying that I was recruiting "overseas commanders". They were required to be proficient in writing, proficient in infantry and cavalry, and be able to use muskets, spears, bows and arrows, sabers, javelins, etc. All kinds of weapons, yes, they also need to be unmarried, and their official rank cannot be higher than the general banner.
There are many requirements, but there are no requirements for academic qualifications, and those who are selected can immediately be promoted to the third level, and can also receive a family allowance of 500 taels. Because overseas commanders need to be stationed overseas for a long time, they must bring with them The wife went out together, so a family allowance was given.
Xu Kan found that he actually met all the requirements, so he signed up, was successfully selected, participated in the corresponding training, and was "issued" a wife! They were not Japanese, but family members of traitors captured during the Northern Expedition. A teenage girl, clean-looking and well-educated, followed Xu Kan out of the cabin.
Chen Shangchuan, Shi Lang, Xu Kan, Mrs. Xu, Liu Liang, Liangzi and other immigrants from China and Japan all crowded onto the deck and looked eastward, watching the land of the American continent getting closer and closer. It’s getting clearer!
"Admiral! The lookout post has discovered land. I think we have reached the Philippine Islands!"
When the report of Colonel Barbosa, captain of the large armed Galen ship New Spain came, Admiral Garcia de Toledo-Mendoza, commander of the Eastern Fleet of the Kingdom of Spain, was looking at the Cavalle "Report on the Situation in the Far East" co-authored by Rowe and de Velasco.
This report was delivered to Garcia only two months ago, when the fleet he led had just arrived in the port of San Diego.
What this report says is that the situation in the Far East about six or seven months ago was quite serious!
The Spanish Empire's hegemony in the Pacific is being challenged by the Ming Empire!
The Ming Empire, an ancient oriental country, has undergone earth-shaking changes in the past ten years!
Although the invasion of the Tatars from the north and the large-scale internal civil unrest once pushed the Ming Dynasty to the brink of collapse, they also awakened this sleeping Eastern giant!
After losing a large area of land in the north, the Ming Empire began a truly thorough reform!
First of all, many fatal shortcomings were eliminated, the empire's finances were rebuilt, and the fiscal revenue was increased tenfold in a short period of time without adding any burden to ordinary people and businessmen. This is simply a financial miracle!
Then, the Ming Empire began to seriously study Western military technology. He hired outstanding officers from the Netherlands, Portugal and France and established a large European-style army and a small but difficult European-style navy.
At the same time, they also opened their doors to welcome merchants and craftsmen from all over the world, and established a fairly complete financial system and commercial legal system.
After a series of reforms, the originally dying empire has taken on a new look. It defeated the Tatars in the north, restored the empire's former glory, and once again became the so-called celestial power of the Far Eastern world. Ming's status in the Far Eastern world is equivalent to that of Rome. position in Europe.
Therefore, the revival of Ming Dynasty in the Far East is equivalent to the revival of Rome in Europe!
Considering that the population and economic scale of the Ming Dynasty is almost comparable to that of the entire Europe, the Spanish Empire must take this large, wealthy, powerful, and quite progressive ancient country seriously.
Any idea of trying to conquer the Ming Empire is extremely unrealistic
