As the red sun rises, the water vapor that lingers on the shore gradually disperses, and the distant scenery gradually becomes clear. The vast expanse of the sea seems to have come to an end. At the end of the sea is the endless coastline. From one side of the sky to the other, I don't know how many thousands of miles. A continent, a continent's wealth, a chosen kingdom, just before the four expedition ships from China that shouldn't have appeared here. Quietly revealing its grandeur and vastness, even if it is separated by dozens of miles, you can still feel its amazing momentum.

Wen Tianxiang was supported by two monks to the bow of the boat, holding on to the baffle, looking at the dream-like vast continent, and sighed for a long time: "What a mountain and river, but such a heaven and earth, is there really no overlord tiger standing on the dragon?" ”

"The Lord of the Overlords? You'll have to look for it! As Zhou Xiaoqi spoke, he climbed up the watchtower with bare feet along a straight mast, which was actually a wooden basket nailed to the mast. It's not very high, it's just two or three feet.

Standing firmly in the wooden basket, Zhou Xiaogo took a deep breath, then held up the telescope, first searched the sea surface, and then looked at the coastline. If there is a relatively advanced civilization on this continent, then there will be merchant ships, fishing boats or warships on the sea.

Zhou Xiaoqi seems to be a thief who broke into a big mansion full of gold and silver but empty, for fear of being discovered by his master. Fortunately, the sea was empty, and there was not a single small sampan except for the four Mingzhou-class expedition ships.

And on the shore, there is a boundless forest! It is a primeval forest, uninhabited, and there is no sign of trees being cut down. It's as if there have never been humans here!

Zhou Xiaoqi took a deep breath. Close your eyes and start feeling the temperature. It's the end of July now. This is the end of the seventh month of the lunar calendar, and it has already entered autumn. But the sea breeze blew on Xiao Qi's body, but he didn't feel cold. There is not a bit of a piercing feeling. Although the temperature on the sea is warm in winter and cool in summer, compared with the temperature on the sea of Tongguò and Liaodong and Goryeo, Xiaoqi estimates that this area is still suitable for living.

Now it's time to find a bay that is suitable for setting up a stronghold! Zhou Xiaoqi measured the direction of the wind again, it was a northwest wind, which could blow the sailboat to the southeast.

"No human population was found! No human population found! Zhou Xiaoqi shouted.

No people were found!

"Hooray! Long live King Ming! ”

The people on deck cheered. No one...... Or if there are no very powerful people, then this continent belongs to Daming!

Zhou Xiaoqi roared again: "Turn the rudder, go south along the coast, raise half a sail, and search forward!" ”

"No!" The sailors agreed. Then the hula scatters, the sail of the sail, the rudder of the rudder.

Wen Tianxiang, Monk Yongxin, Monk Jiudeng and the captain of the land expedition had nothing to do, but still gathered at the bow of the ship to watch the scenery.

"Brother Meng, since you have found Mingzhou, why don't you go ashore immediately?" The great monk Yongxin will pull the relationship, and in the few days in Japan, he passed a set of Shaolin stick methods to Meng, so he made friends.

"What's the hurry, great monk. This is an unfamiliar Mingzhou, we are fierce at sea, there are ships and cannons, where can we go? went ashore. How many of us are there? What if something really happens? So you have to find a place that is easy to defend and difficult to attack to establish a stronghold, preferably a small peninsula. In addition, we are also exploring the coastline all the way south. ”

"Then when are we going to Tianzhu?" The Great Monk said. "The monk is planning to go to Tianzhu to preach the Dharma early!"

"It's too soon...... "The route can only be discovered little by little." This has to be done steadily. Establish a stronghold first, then slowly push south. If the Mingzhou Continent is really as big as King Ming said, it will be fast to find a sea route to Tianzhu in the south within two years. ”

"Two years!" Monk Yongxin frowned, and shouted in his heart, "When will the poor monk go to Tianzhu to promote Buddhism?" ”

"Brother Meng, when will the official return to the Great Song Dynasty?" Wen Tianxiang interjected and asked.

The Mingzhou Continent has been determined to save zài! With such a continent, Lai can't be relied upon. Chen Dexing can use it to pretend to be a ghost again!

But if you think about it, this is not necessarily an opportunity for Confucian scholars. Not to mention how many barbarians on a continent need the way of Confucius and Mencius to educate, just such a large territory can't be called the Heavenly Daoist Sect to occupy it, right? What's this called, Xia Junyimin! Should this scholar of the Great Song Dynasty come to this Mingzhou Continent to be Xia Jun? You can't let the Heavenly Daoist Sect come here to oppress the natives of Mingzhou, right?

Therefore, Wen Tianxiang now plans to rush back to the Great Song Dynasty immediately and appeal to Shilin to pay attention to Mingzhou! If you have the opportunity, you have to organize sea ships to come to Mingzhou to open up ......

"It will be a few months at least," Meng Qi said, "and we will have to find a foothold, and then we will have to explore the interior as we build a stronghold...... King Ming explained that there are indigenous people on the continent, and there are also indigenous countries. But it's very barbaric and backward, and it's not as good as Yao Shunyu's time. ”

'What words! Wen Tianxiang scolded in his heart, "Yao Shunyu is the rule of three generations, the three generations are connected to Yanhuang, and the three dynasties are opened. It is a model of prosperity in the past dynasties. Why is it barbaric and backward? ’

Meng Qi didn't pay attention to Wen Tianxiang's face, but while looking at the mainland from afar, he casually said the navigation knowledge he had wholesaled from Zhou Xiaoqi.

"Besides, we're coming along the water this time...... In fact, the water of the ocean also has a fixed flow direction, and the sailing ship follows the flow of the water, and it can travel hundreds of miles a day, and more than 10,000 miles in dozens of days. If it is against the current, you can't go thousands of miles in 100 days, and if you encounter a headwind and no wind again, you can only die at sea! So we have to find the water flow to the west on the way back. ”

'And this exquisite?' Wen Tianxiang pondered in his heart, "We must figure it out, otherwise it will be terrible if the Confucian students of the Great Song Dynasty starve to death in the middle of the road!" ’

"Is there a stream to the west?" Wen Tianxiang inquired.

"Naturally," said Monte, "somewhere to the south...... Everyone in the Navy knows it. Therefore, Wen Chengzhi, you can rest assured that our Ming navy will not get lost at sea. ”

The way back is, of course, along the warm current of the North Equator, which was used by the historical Spanish galleon trade. But finding the North Equatorial Current, as well as the North Pacific Current, is not a matter of experience alone. This involves a certain amount of astronomical research - although the Chinese invented the compass, in terms of navigation technology, by the time of the Song Dynasty, China had already begun to lag behind!

As for the reason for backwardness, it is also obvious - the people are forbidden to observe astronomy! This is something that only Qin Tianjian can study. And no matter how high the level of Qin Tianjian is, it has nothing to do with navigation. In fact, the level of the Qin Heavenly Prison in the Song Dynasty was also very poor! After all, without non-governmental astronomers, the official astronomical institutions are a pool of stagnant water.

Therefore, although the shipbuilding industry of the Southern Song Dynasty was much more developed than Chen Dexing's Northern Ming Dynasty, their naval army and navigation were more than a little and a half worse than the Northern Ming Navy - the naval army of the Southern Song Dynasty did not even have a direction to leave the coastline!

This is probably the main reason why the defeated Southern Song Dynasty in history could only stage such a tragic scene as crossing the cliffs and mountains into the sea, but could not escape far away from the sea!

Of course, at most, the current Beiming Navy has only mastered the basic conditions for entering the Age of Discovery, such as latitude navigation, the Pacific Ocean and the equatorial warm current zone, the Pacific monsoon period, and headwind navigation. Vitamin C supplementation is also known to prevent scurvy.

Relying on this little means, it is far from being able to turn navigation into a foolproof business. It can be said that the risk of capsizing and sinking is still very large. Whether our great navigator and explorer Wen Tianxiang can return to the Southern Song Dynasty as he wishes is really a matter of character - exploration, where is there no danger?

……

In the early morning of Beimingzhou, in Liaodong on the other side of the world, it was a crisp autumn afternoon. The golden fields, the yellow-green forests, and the city under construction are all bathed in the afternoon sun.

Chen Dexing was riding a horse from the Western Regions, running on the official road near Liaoyang Fucheng, and did not display the Sun and Moon King Banner, and only a team of hundreds of cavalry followed, and several other carriages followed, one of which was walking side by side with Chen Dexing. Sitting on it are Ren Yijiang, Deng Mingli and Deng Ming'an. It has been almost two months since he returned to Liaodong, and during these two months, he has been constantly inspecting various state capitals in Liaodong. Almost all the counties under the three prefectures, such as Mingdufu, Liaoyangfu, Shenyangfu, Gaizhou, Haizhou, and Zhuangzhou, have been run all over.

He went to such a dense place to inspect the construction of feudalism in Liaodong.

Feudalism, of course, is not as lofty as socialism, but it is in line with the actual situation of the development of social productive forces in eastern Liaodong in the 13th century. Moreover, a perfect feudal system, not only the only way to capitalism, is also necessary to establish a strong feudal army, defeat Mongolia, and recover the Central Plains!

Although Chen Dexing's army had quite sophisticated H medicine weapons, H medicine weapons were not unique to the Northern Ming army. At present, the four countries of Tang, Song, Yuan, and Ming all attach great importance to H medicine weapons! Moreover, the Tang, Song and Yuan dynasties have all mastered the correct formula of H medicine, but they don't know the secret of granule H medicine. However, Chen Dexing does not think that relying on this small lead, he can beat the Great Mongolia.

In addition, the secret of the Heavenly Thunder Arrow has long been known by the Mongols and the Great Song Dynasty, and similar weapons have appeared in the Battle of Zhuangshui. And the bronze cannon, which has also been imitated by the Mongols, is only because it was too hasty, and did not come up with a truly useful cannon.

But Mongolia, the Great Song Dynasty and the Tang Dynasty, the time to learn to cast bronze cannons will not be too long. After all, China's bronze casting technology is quite mature! To put it mildly, if someone travels back to the Warring States Period, as long as they know the secret of the granular H medicine, they can also use the bronze casting technology of the Warring States period to make a cannon!

Not to mention the Song Dynasty, when China's traditional handicraft industry was almost at its peak? As long as a cannon is captured by the enemy, whether it is the Southern Song Dynasty or the Western Yuan, a considerable number of cannons can be imitated in a few months! Even if they don't get a sample, they can make a similar weapon by fumbling around!

Therefore, what can really make the Northern Ming Army maintain strong combat effectiveness for a long time is actually the feudal aristocracy established by Chen Dexing after referring to various feudal military systems. For the past two months he has been inspecting the various noble assemblies and the Grange of the Lords. (To be continued......)