After listening to Emperor Xuande's words, Yang Shiqi, Zhang Fu and others remembered that Emperor Xuande had asked Li Yuntian for his opinion on the Jiaozhi war before, so they all looked at him.

Although Li Yuntian's official position and qualifications are not as good as theirs, he can be said to have had a life-and-death relationship with Emperor Xuande, and he is both civil and military, and he is loyal to Emperor Xuande, so his status in Emperor Xuande's mind is more than theirs, otherwise he would not have just called Li Yuntian to participate in this kind of military affairs.

"Your Majesty, the minister has recently made a map of the Western Ocean, please take a look at it." Li Yuntian did not answer Emperor Xuande, but took out a folded white paper from his arms and handed it to Jin Ying, who then spread it out in front of Emperor Xuande.

The map shows the features of the South China Sea, the Strait of Malacca, the Bay of Bengal, the Indian Ocean and the Arabian Sea, as well as some of the surrounding countries.

Fuzhou, Guangzhou, Qiongzhou and Cochin of the Ming Dynasty are all on the map, especially the Indochina Peninsula, where Cochin is located, formerly known as the Indochina Peninsula, also known as the Sino-Indian Peninsula.

It indicates the state of Cham below Cochin, the adjacent kingdoms of Angkor and Nanzhang, and Siam across them.

Not only that, some countries along the nautical chart are also noted on the map, such as Tianzhu in Asia, Dashi, etc., and even some countries in Africa.

"Uncle Zhen Wu, this navigation chart of yours is even more detailed than that drawn by the Three Treasure Eunuchs." Emperor Xuande looked at the map, nodded and said, Zheng He had arrived in Africa when he went to the Western Ocean, so he drew a nautical chart along the way.

"Your Majesty, the ministers are based on the nautical charts of the Three Treasure Eunuchs, and they are slightly modified on it." Li Yuntian smiled slightly, the map he made was much more detailed and accurate than the nautical chart drawn by Zheng He after he went to the Western Ocean, because he had seen Zheng He's nautical chart in the Western Ocean, so he could save a lot of trouble by using this as an excuse.

"What do you mean by showing me this picture?" Emperor Xuande raised his head when he heard this, and looked at Li Yuntian with some puzzlement, Li Yuntian's actions at this time did not seem to answer his question just now.

"Your Majesty, the terrain of this strait is dangerous, like a long and oblique canyon, which guards the sea route between my Ming Dynasty and the Western countries."

Li Yuntian stretched out his hand and pointed to the Strait of Malacca, and said with a solemn expression, "Nowadays, maritime commerce is becoming more and more prosperous, and trade and contacts between countries tend to be frequent, which is bound to make the maritime industry change with each passing day. ”

"Your Majesty, the minister heard from the eunuch of Sanbao in Nanjing, many Xiyi people are keen on maritime trade, for this minister has made many inquiries, and found that the land of Xiyi countries is barren, and the people's livelihood is miserable, far less prosperous and rich than my Ming Dynasty, so the only way to obtain benefits from the outside world is to obtain maritime trade is the most important way."

Subsequently, Li Yuntian turned around and looked at Emperor Xuande worriedly, "Recently, the ministers learned from those Xiyi merchants who came from afar that in order to obtain overseas benefits, the kings of the Xiyi countries encouraged their people to engage in maritime trade, and returned to China to collect taxes from those merchants, which made Xiyi's navigation industry more and more prosperous, and one day their sailors would arrive at my Daming port." ”

"Sailor?" Hearing this, Yang Shiqi, Zhang Fu and others couldn't help but be surprised, and felt that Li Yuntian was a little alarmist.

If you talk about the strength of today's sailors, who can beat the Daming sailors? Zheng He led the fleet of the Ming Dynasty to the Western Ocean seven times, and the countries along the way were all fearful, how could they dare to have a Xiyi sailor to come to the Ming Dynasty to make trouble?

"Uncle Zhen Wu, when the first emperor was there, you told me about this, but I didn't pay attention to it at the time, and now it seems that I was negligent." However, to the surprise of the ministers, Emperor Xuande nodded thoughtfully when he heard this, and said to Li Yuntian.

When Emperor Xuande was still the crown prince, Li Yuntian once presented Emperor Hongxi with a "map of the territory of the world" made by him, Emperor Hongxi liked it very much, and gave this map to Emperor Xuande as the crown prince, and Li Yuntian personally sent it to Emperor Xuande.

Because the things on the "Map of the Territory of the World" were too advanced for Emperor Xuande and seemed jerky and difficult to understand, Li Yuntian explained to him, especially the importance of the South China Sea and the Strait of Malacca to the future development of the Ming Dynasty.

Although Emperor Xuande was interested in what Li Yuntian said, he did not pay enough attention to it, after all, Li Yuntian was talking about a situation that could only occur in one or two hundred years, and his top priority was to govern the Ming Dynasty well.

"Go, bring that map of the world's borders." Emperor Xuande glanced up at Yang Shiqi, Zhang Fu and the others, and saw that everyone's faces showed suspicion of what Li Yuntian had said before, and then said to Jin Ying, who was standing beside him.

Zhang Fu, Qianyi and the others couldn't help but glance at each other when they heard the words "Map of the Territory of the World", their eyes were full of inquiring, it was the first time they had heard this name.

Yang Shiqi and Zhou Zheng looked calm, and Li Yuntian showed them to the two when he finished making "The Map of the Territory of the World", so the two knew about this map.

However, Li Yuntian only told the two of them that the "Map of the Territory of the World" was based on the countries and seas that Zheng He passed through on his voyage to the West, and added some information provided by Xiyi merchants, and did not involve other things.

Therefore, Yang Shiqi and Zhou Zheng just thought that Li Yuntian only wanted to please Emperor Hong Xi by drawing this picture, and they did not know his actual intentions.

Looking at Jin Ying, who left in a hurry, the corners of Li Yuntian's mouth couldn't help but show a smile, his hard work two years ago was not in vain, it seems that Emperor Xuande has realized the importance of Jiaozhi to Daming after the reminder he just made.

Jin Ying quickly brought the "Map of the Territory of the World" and carefully spread it on a table under the curious gaze of everyone, which was a royal product that Emperor Xuande attached great importance to, and he did not dare to slack off in the slightest.

"All the Qing family went over to take a look, this map was drawn by Zhen Wubo, and it shows the seven continents and four oceans in the world." Emperor Xuande stretched out his hand and pointed to the picture on the table and said to the ministers present.

Yang Shiqi and Zhang Fu and others gathered around the table, looking at the content on the map while whispering something, except for Yang Shiqi and Zhou Zheng, they all showed shocked looks, no one could have imagined that the territory outside the Ming Dynasty would be like this.

"Uncle Zhenwu, why is Great Qin divided into two parts?" Zhang Fu looked at the names of the various countries on the map, and asked Li Yuntian suspiciously.

Among the many countries indicated on the map, the two great powers of Dashi and Tianzhu are the most famous and widely known.

In addition, it is the famous Daqin, but to Zhang Fu's surprise, he looked around and didn't see the country "Daqin" on the map.

"Yu Taishi, Great Qin was divided into two countries a thousand years ago, and the lower officials were divided according to the region, one was called the Eastern Qin Empire, the other was the Western Qin Empire, the Eastern Qin Empire has lasted until now, and the Western Qin Horse Empire was divided into many separate countries hundreds of years ago, and the lower officials called those countries the Western Qin Kingdoms."

"Oh?" Zhang Fu's face showed a look of surprise, he didn't know about the destruction of Great Qin, and then looked down, and sure enough, the map was marked with "Eastern Qin Empire" and "Western Qin Kingdoms".

"Ladies and gentlemen, although the Western Qin States and the Eastern Qin Empire are not as prosperous and rich as my Ming Dynasty, but they can create excellent weapons, as far as the lower officials know, the Western Qin States and the Eastern Qin Empire have not been civilized for a long time, so there is no doctrine of Confucius and Mencius, but respect the natural sciences, they now pay special attention to firearms, and are developing new types of artillery."

Taking advantage of this opportunity, Li Yuntian bowed to Zhang Fu and the others, and quietly told them about the national conditions of those countries in Europe, "What particularly worries the lower officials is that because the Western Qin States and the Eastern Qin Empire are barren in land and backward in production, they often invade other countries, and their kings encourage overseas oceans and vigorously explore waterways, which will surely become a strong enemy of our Ming Dynasty in the long run." ”

"Natural sciences?" Like Emperor Xuande back then, Yang Shiqi, Zhang Fu and others all showed puzzled expressions after hearing these four words, and they didn't know what they were talking about.

"Ladies and gentlemen, the so-called natural sciences refer to the study of the many phenomena that occur around us." Li Yuntian knew that the ministers present had heard of this term for the first time, so he explained, "As far as the lower officials know, they will study why gunpowder explodes, and why boiling water vapor will lift the lid of the pot." ”

"They also study elixirs?" Yang Shiqi, Zhang Fu and the others were shocked when they heard this, they couldn't imagine that the people of the Western Qin Kingdoms and the Eastern Qin Empire would study such a boring thing, Qian Yi remembered something and asked curiously.

The study of gunpowder began in ancient Chinese alchemy, where the ancients refined elixir for immortality, and finally led to the invention of gunpowder.

Its appearance went against the original intention of the alchemists, not only did not prolong people's lifespan, but instead brought great death.

"Young Master, the gunpowder technology of the Western Qin States and the Eastern Qin Empire came from the previous dynasties of our country, and the merchants of the Eastern Han Dynasty opened the road trade of silk and other things in the Western Yi countries, and spread the civilization of the East to the Xiyi countries, and gunpowder was one of the important civilizations that were later introduced into the Xiyi."

Qianyi was named a young master, so Li Yuntian called him "young master", because there is no concept of "Silk Road" now, so Li Yuntian used popular methods to explain, not without concern said, "Once they know the principle of gunpowder explosion, then they will improve it and create more powerful gunpowder." ”

"As for the water vapor top pot lid, although it seems worthless, after digging deeper, the lower officials feel that it is even more terrifying, once they convert the power of water vapor to other places, such as using it to drive the sea ship, then it will greatly shorten the sailing time." Then, Li Yuntian showed a solemn look on his face and looked at Qianyi solemnly.

"Zhen Wubo, can water vapor drive sea ships?" Hearing this, everyone at the scene couldn't help but be taken aback, feeling that it was too unbelievable, Xia Yuanji couldn't help but ask suspiciously, this was completely beyond his understanding.

"Yu Shaobao, at first, Xia Guan also thought that this matter was ridiculous, but later Xia Guan thought about it carefully, since the water vapor can push the lid of the pot, it shows that it has a lot of strength, if you can use a method to use this force, it may not be able to be used to drive sea ships."

Li Yuntian replied to Xia Yuanji in an orderly manner, using as simple language as possible to make him understand what he was saying.

Xia Yuanji, Qianyi and other civil officials couldn't help but look at each other when they heard this, no one would have thought that Li Yuntian would have such an amazing whimsy, they were in contact with the way of Confucius and Mencius on weekdays, where did they think of such a seemingly boring thing?

As for Zhang Fu and other nobles, not to mention, this kind of scholarly thing has always been the business of literati, and it is impossible to pay attention to water vapor or anything.!^!

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