In the vertical arch hall, Zhao Yan set up a chart in front of them to bring the South Seas to the African continent, which not only marked the route developed by the Great Song Dynasty, but also the information of various islands and ports, Zhao Yan held a pen in his hand, and was drawing circles on the chart seemingly randomly, these circles are either an island or a port, and keep a distance from each other, although the distance is different, but it seems to always fluctuate in a range, and these circles are connected, just from the coast of the Great Song Dynasty to the southernmost tip of Africa.

After drawing these circles, Zhao Yan turned around and explained to Zhao Xu, Zhao Jia, and Agnes: "You should also know that our Great Song Dynasty's steam engine has long been used for practical purposes, and the two most famous steam products are trains and steam ships, steam ships were used later than trains, and at the beginning, they could only be used in inland rivers, but with our improvements, steam ships have also begun to be used in shipping, but steam ships need to use a lot of fuel, in fact, coal is mainly used as fuel, This also limited the range of the steamer, after all, if you ran out of fuel and didn't find a suitable port to replenish it, it would be bad. ”

When he said this, he saw Zhao Yan pause for a moment and then said: "It is precisely because of the restrictions on steam ships that although the current steam ships have been put into shipping, they generally only sail in the sea areas controlled by my Great Song Dynasty, that is, the coastal areas of the Great Song Dynasty and the South China Sea, because there is coal in the ports controlled by us, which can be replenished very conveniently, but if it goes out of the sea area controlled by my Great Song Dynasty, the steam ships will become impractical because it is difficult to get fuel replenishment, which also makes our steam ships have not been able to pass through the Strait of Malacca. Arrive at the sea area on the other side of Tianzhu. ”

Hearing Zhao Yan introduce the restrictions on steamships, Zhao Jia and the others also nodded, and steamships have developed rapidly in recent years. From the beginning of the suspicion by most maritime merchants, to the later everyone rushed to the shipyard to order steamships, after all, compared with traditional wind ships, steamships have too many advantages, such as not only the speed is several times higher, but also not affected by the season and wind direction. In addition, it can also reduce the number of crew members on board, although it increases the cost of fuel, but it still saves a lot compared to expensive manpower, so it is naturally sought after by all maritime merchants.

Of course, steamships are also more dependent on port supplies, after all, in the past, sail ships generally only needed to carry water and food, but steamships need to carry a lot of fuel, and the demand for fresh water is also greater, which also makes steamships have to replenish fuel and water every time they sail. However, except for Da Song's own ports, most overseas ports were not prepared for this, which also made the steamship never get out of the Strait of Malacca.

At this time, I saw Zhao Yan suddenly turn around, and then pointed to the long chain composed of small circles on the chart behind him: "I have also been paying attention to this problem for a long time, so as early as the year before last, I have been building this steam route, you see." This route starts from the coast of the Great Song Dynasty and passes through the South Seas, but there is nothing special about this section. But after passing the Strait of Malacca, it will enter the Tianzhu Sea and reach the Nicobar Islands, which was originally only a small kingdom of the natives, but just the year before last, some merchants of our Great Song Dynasty had taken control of this place and built a simple port. The harbor is stocked with coal that can be transported from the South Seas to replenish the steamers, and after passing here, you can reach the lion country at the southernmost tip of Tianzhu......"

Zhao Yan explained circle by circle, and each circle was a port. And he arranged it one by one in the past two years, some of them were directly occupied by force, and some of them were cooperated with local forces, although the means were different, but they all gave these ports the ability to supply steamships, and the last few links of this port chain were actually on the distant African continent, and the last of them was even close to the southernmost tip of Africa.

After introducing the last port, Zhao Yan continued to speak: "You see, through this steam route, our steam ships can reach the southernmost point of Africa, and at the speed of the steam ship, it will take more than a month at most, and even after getting familiar with the route, this time will be greatly shortened, so we can use the steam ship to transport the materials needed by the fleet, although this can only transport the materials to the southernmost tip of Africa, there is still nearly a third of the way to go, but this is enough, By then, as long as we send a few more transport ships, we should be able to deliver the necessary supplies to Europe in time! ”

After listening to Zhao Yan's introduction, Zhao Xu and Zhao Jia also looked at each other in shock, among which Zhao Xu was better, he knew that Zhao Yan was preparing a big plan before, and he also mentioned some to him, but he didn't say too much detail, until today he didn't know about this steam route.

"Father, the most important thing in this plan is the safety of this steam route, can this be guaranteed, in case of a problem at a certain port, will it immediately paralyze the entire route?" At this time, Zhao Jia suddenly said, he has been very interested in navigation since he was a child, and he is a member of the navy, so he immediately asked the key.

"You don't have to worry about the safety of this route, I have already considered it before, although these supply ports are one after another, but with the endurance of the current steamship, in fact, there is no need to stay in every port, in fact, they only need to replenish every three ports, so that even if there is a problem in one or several ports, it will not cause the entire route to be paralyzed, unless the three adjacent ports are all paralyzed, but this probability is not high, and even if there is a problem, We can also intervene by force, and with the strength of our Great Song Navy, there is no problem that cannot be solved! When Zhao Yan said the end, he also showed a confident look on his face.

"Yes, it's a big deal to send troops directly, I don't believe there is anything that our Great Song Navy can't solve!" Zhao Xu also slapped his thigh when he heard this, "In addition, now we can only reach the east side of Africa, but after the eldest brother arrives in Europe and controls it, we can build a port on the west side of Africa, so that the steamship can bypass Africa and reach Europe, and at that time, it will only take a month or two to go to Europe from us, and it will be more convenient for us to communicate with Europe." ”

Zhao Xu's last words also caused Zhao Jia to nod again and again, if he could let all the steam ships between Europe and the Great Song Dynasty pass, it would be much more convenient for him to come back in the future, but at this moment, Zhao Yan smiled and said: "Even if there is a steam ship, the road to Europe around Africa is still too far, I know a closer route, and I can open it up if I have the opportunity in the future!" (To be continued.) )