The cold of North Asia in Melica seems to have no end.

Ma Gui felt that his heart must have been frozen, otherwise how could he believe what Chen Mu said, and bring the medicine for smallpox and the doctor here.

Smallpox?

I'm freezing to death when I spend so much!

At the end of the second year of Wanli, Ma Gui, the chief officer of the expedition to America, was discouraged.

His men were pulled back to Wangxia Prefecture by dog sleds along the Aleutian Islands, Ni Shangzhong was no longer there, they had prepared an expeditionary force and baggage team for more than a year, and only a few hundred flag troops were left waiting to sail, and when the flag army returned to North Asia to celebrate the coming New Year, the news of the withdrawal of the army into Japan to participate in the war gave the bitter flag army a head-on blow.

"Doctor Ronglu, ......"

If they are not careful, the brothers will be from Yipin, and if this official position is not obtained 'after death', they will be very happy.

Their brother's loyalty to the empire is worthy of this official position, but Magui does not think that their achievements are worthy of this official position.

Loyalty is priceless, but merit is valuable.

It was their loyalty to climb the ice and snow to endure hunger and cold, but this was not a meritorious achievement, and in fact they did not find an inch of land to use, far less than the purpose for which they went out to sea.

Who won't waver?

If it weren't for the illusory possibility and the honor it might bring them, what could have allowed the general, who was supposed to enjoy the glory and wealth under the Great Wall of the Empire, to live in the ice and snow and huddle in a strange igloo and drink venison soup?

For several months, after a long journey across the ice to reach North Asia in Melica, the human race was faced with hunger and cold, which made every soldier of the Ming army become a philosopher, and the hunger and cold made their bodies reluctant to make the slightest movement, but their minds were divergent like never before.

When the future and the way home are also sealed under the nine-foot ice cap, and the eyes are completely white, they have no choice to think about the meaning of life and the meaning of existence.

Including but not limited to who am I? Where am I? How did I get here? What am I doing here? Why am I here? Where should I go?

Philosophy originates from doubts, and this remnant of the Ming Dynasty has too many questions.

Even Ma Gui began to suspect that in the indigenous igloo, the chief soldier of the Ming Dynasty danced incoherently: "Forward, it is endless ice and snow, it has been seven months, I asked when the ice in the north of Guda will melt, and he told me that the ice on the mountain north of him has not melted since he was born, and he is already fucking fifty-four!" Fifty-four years, the ice in the north has not melted! ”

Guda's name is Ma Gui, the oldest of the thousands of 'Jurchens' living here, the people here have no habit of living in groups, and naturally there are no tribes, and they live together as families, the largest family has thirty-three people, and the least is only two people, living in the vast archipelago, enduring the cold and not fighting with the world.

Ma Gui guessed that the reason why they didn't live in groups was because they didn't have much food, no farming, and they couldn't survive in groups, just like his subordinates were here, and they had to divide into small banners and hunt on large ice fields to find enough food.

Guda was the most well-informed hunter of the hundreds of families, and had traveled as far as six hundred miles north when he got lost.

It is impossible for the ice on the high mountains in the north to melt, and any of the Ming Banner Army knows this, they are closer and more knowledgeable than the natives, the higher the mountain, the colder, and the snow on the top of the mountain will not melt, and Ma Gui naturally knows it.

He didn't lose his temper because of this, it was just an excuse to make him collapse, and it was even possible that Magui himself was like using this collapse to shout and release the pressure in his heart.

After scolding, Ma Gui waved his fist to vent the strength of his body for no reason, and finally sat down on the deerskin blanket as if he had exhausted all his strength, and said helplessly to his brother: "Do you know what is the most sarcastic? These people who were born in the ice and snow respect us very much, not because of the Ming Dynasty, not because of official positions, not because of weapons, but because we came from the north. ”

"Of all of them, twenty or thirty years, no one except Gudat could come back alive from the north in the snowstorm, we took a path that no locals would take, and we survived."

Ma Gui said this, his face was frostbitten by the cold wind without the slightest pride, no one knew better than himself, in addition to some luck, they were more prepared for more than a year before, in addition to this, crossing the ice river was a stupid funeral journey.

"Now, what now?"

Ma Jin spread out his hands, wrapped in a thick deerskin, he can no longer find the slightest appearance of a Ming general on his body, just like the local Jurchens, his palms curled up in the thick deerskin jacket, and said: "The imperial court thinks that our death is a small matter, and a letter of return can make it clear, but the soldiers and horses of Wangxia Prefecture have withdrawn to Japan, and the next order of the imperial court may be to let us go back." ”

"That's it? There are two roads to the north, and the north of America is the boundless ice field, one is prepared with enough winter clothing, food and grass when the ice is frozen, and it can be reached by sleigh dead man and dog; A cross-sea island, a boat to ride 6,000 miles, is there any danger? ”

"I don't think it's good to go back, even if the Three Treasures Eunuch goes to sea, there is nothing to be found, but I don't want us to be the seventh." Ma Jin is so capricious, Ma Gui is used to it, and it is easy for people to break their minds in cold weather, especially when people don't think that the brain is controlling everything, Ma Jin continued: "The management of the imperial court doesn't understand anything, and when we are missing, they will withdraw the fleet to Japan." ”

"Brother didn't seem to say that yesterday."

Yesterday, Ma Jin was still persuading Ma Gui to go back, and finally Ma Gui accepted the preparation to go back, and when he heard Ma Jin's meaning, he couldn't help but sneer: "The court officials don't understand, you understand, brother, you know you tell me, of course we can continue to the south, what is the purpose?" ”

"I don't understand, I'm not saying I won't go back, but I have to find something and go back."

Ma Jin didn't even know what to find, he stretched out a hand, jumped out one finger at a time, and said, "Find tens of thousands of people?" Found a mountain of gold and silver? Or find tens of thousands of hectares of land that can be planted? Don't worry about finding anything, you can't go back in vain. ”

"Chen Shuai went to the South Seas, and he found people in Luzon, found gold mines, and traded a lot of things; Let's not talk about finding things that make you rich, but we have to find something, otherwise it's our problem. ”

Seriously, Mingren's expedition is too weird.

What bothered Ma Gui the most was not that he didn't find anything, but what Chen Mu wanted them to find.

What is lacking in Daming?

When it comes to the individual, everything is missing; But at the national level, this empire lacks nothing; Even the impression that Chen Mu has always brought in his previous life feels that Daming lacks iron and lacks good iron, but in fact, there is no shortage at all.

He felt that it was lacking, because in the era before he came, just one Baosteel produced 60 or 70 million tons of crude steel a year, and of course there was a shortage of such a large output and demand, but now the raw materials in that year were enough for the Ming Empire to smelt for 300 years.

It's a pity that the biggest problem with the cognitive gap between Chen Mu and others is here, he wants to let this strong and aging empire complete the step of the times, and if he wants to take the lead in taking this step in this volume, he decided to swallow the world, and also decided that he lacks everything in his eyes.

But when it comes to the people who carry out the mission, they can't help but wonder - obviously, there is nothing missing.

"It's past the Shangyuan Festival." Ma Gui gritted his teeth and made up his mind, and said: "Logging and shipbuilding, the coast here is about to thaw, and when the time comes, we will go east, and the south will be at the end." ”

.。 m.