Datang: Acting as a celestial mystery at the beginning

"In this world, is there such a clear map?"

The location of the Tang Dynasty that Li Shimin saw, whether it is mountains, rivers, or plateaus, has everything that should be there, which is simply a miracle.

From the Tang Dynasty to the north, there are East and West Turks, and there are also places such as Tuhun Valley and Xueyantuo. The east is naturally the sea and the country of Japan, the south is Southeast Asia’s Indochina Peninsula and Tianzhu, and the west is Tubo, all of which are clearly drawn. Chu.

However, these places only occupy a piece of the map, and there is still a large area, which he never knew before.

For example, in the far west, there are the Great Food Kingdom, Byzantium, and the Frankish Kingdom, etc.

In the east, on the other side of a large ocean, there are two continents, the upper and lower continents. It is only stated as North and South America, without too many labels, and it is not known what country it is.

During this period, North and South America were still primitive tribes and did not form a country.

It turns out that there is only such a small piece of Datang in this vast map.

There are also those oceans, what kind of ocean currents are flowing, etc., Li Shimin can't understand them all, but this map is enough to make him subvert his perception of the world.

"Sir, where did your map come from?"

Li Shimin recovered from the shock, and asked excitedly.

"Occasionally, as for the specific explanation, it's not convenient for me to say, what does your Majesty think?"

Li Yi'an said: "This map is absolutely accurate. If Your Majesty does not believe it, you can send someone to verify it."

"Of course I believe sir!"

Since Li Yi'an refused to say anything, Li Shimin couldn't ask further questions, maybe it was drawn by Mr. Li himself.

That must be it.

He said again: "Sir, can you lend me a few days? I'll take it back and let someone imitate it and draw it. I guarantee that it won't be damaged at all."

Li Yi'an nodded slightly and said: "Of course, this is originally a gift I want to give to His Majesty, and it will belong to His Majesty from now on."

"Really?"

Li Shimin rubbed his hands excitedly, and immediately lowered his head to look at the map, he couldn't put it down.

With this thing, in the future when marching and fighting, you can be familiar with the terrain in advance, and you will be victorious in every battle.

"Sir, what are these currents?" Li Shimin finally got to the point.

"That's the direction of the flow of sea water. Apart from the various terrains on land, the most valuable thing about this map is the sea map."

Li Yi'an pointed to the surface of the sea, and then extended to America, and continued: "If you can cross this ocean and come to this place, you can find something called potatoes, which can be used as staple food, and the yield per mu is more than [-] jin. Higher than Champa.”

"In the world, there are such high-yielding crops?"

In Li Shimin's heart, Champa Rice is already awesome, and there is something even better than this.

Of course he wanted to get the potato, but he just looked at the distance to the ocean, shook his head and said, "This distance is too far."

Although this vast sea is like this on the map, in comparison, he will not fail to understand the distance of this span.

Although in the north of Datang, in the north of Turkic, there is still a strait that can be the closest to that America.

But from south to north, through the straits to the Americas, I don’t know how many uninhabited lands are crossed, all of which are virgin forests, it is too impossible to achieve.

The strait that Li Shimin saw was naturally the Bering Strait.

"As long as there are enough powerful ships, and a full understanding of the sea environment, plus this detailed map, it is not difficult to do so."

Li Yi'an's mention of potatoes was just an introduction. Of course, Li Shimin would not send a fleet across the Pacific Ocean. The main purpose was to attract the shipbuilding industry and learn his experience by the way.

By modern standards, crossing the Pacific Ocean is a pipe dream.

Li Yi'an continued: "How does Your Majesty feel about our current shipbuilding level?"

Li Shimin didn't know why he asked this question. He thought for a while and said, "Yang Guang's dragon boat was already at the highest level. I've seen dragon boats so big. They should be very capable of building boats."

Li Yi'an spread out the blueprints for shipbuilding, and continued: "In my opinion, Yang Guang's dragon boat is nothing more than this. I have a blueprint for shipbuilding here. Your Majesty, please take a look."

There are too many contents described in those drawings, there are dozens of pages.

In addition to the overall structure, there are various parts, which are very detailed.

Li Shimin couldn't understand everything, but he seemed to think of something, and asked quickly, "Sir, do you want to build a ship?"

"Yes, it seems to me that shipbuilding has two advantages."

Li Yi'an slowly explained: "First, there are more and more commodities in Chang'an, and the supply exceeds demand. With the weaving of our cotton cloth, the accumulation of purchased Turkic wool, including the fine wine sold by General Cheng, and other The products of the aristocratic family are too large in quantity to be consumed by the people of Gyeonggi Province, especially in the future when a large amount of wool will be transported in, right?"

Li Shimin nodded slightly and asked: "Sir, do you want to transport the excess goods in Chang'an by ship?"

"exactly!"

Li Yi'an said: "In our Chang'an, there is the Guangtong Canal connecting the Yellow River to Luoyang, the eastern capital, and then passing through the Tongji Canal, going south to Jiangdu, and even Yuhang and other places. In addition, the goods from Jiangnan can be transported to central Sichuan through the Yangtze River. If you go north, there is Yongji Canal and you reach Zhuojun."

"The Sui Dynasty left such a convenient north-south river transport channel, it is a pity to discard it like this. We can borrow the river transport to transport the goods from Chang'an to the north and south, and we can also send the things from the south to the north."

"Through the transportation of goods, it can also improve the shipbuilding industry, promote the development of shipping, and connect the north and the south. This is the first benefit!"

Listening to his words, Li Shimin pondered for a while: "What about the second benefit?"

"The second one is at sea!"

Li Yi'an pointed to the sea on the map, and continued: "Has Your Majesty ever been to sea?"

Li Shimin shook his head and said: "Never, I heard that the sea climate is unpredictable and very dangerous. If you go to sea rashly, you may not be able to return."

Li Yi'an said: "It is indeed very dangerous, but has your Majesty ever thought that the Wa people we saw before came to Datang from the Wa country by boat, wouldn't it be all right?"

Yup!

The people of the Japanese country can cross the sea safely and come to the Tang Dynasty. Why do the people of the Tang Dynasty dare not go to the sea?

They don't have enough knowledge of the sea, so that some of their ideas are narrow.

"The resources on the sea are extremely rich, such as seafood, which has a wide variety."

Li Yi'an continued: "Apart from these, the most important thing at sea is coastal defense."

"Hai Phong!"

Li Shimin said disdainfully: "Who dares to invade us at sea?"

"What if the Japanese country?"

"The country of Wa is a small place, even if he is allowed to come, it will not be able to make waves."

"That's not necessarily the case. They invaded from the sea. They didn't intend to invade the Tang Dynasty. They just need to destroy the coastal areas, rush up to kill and loot, and then escape by boat. Can our soldiers catch up?"

Listening to Li Yi'an's words, Li Shimin frowned slightly, which seemed to make sense.

"Your Majesty, you still remember that the Japanese man you met before said that they thought about entering Chang'an."

Li Yi'an really doesn't like the Wa country: "It sounds absurd, but they already have this ambition and are thinking about doing it, which is not a good sign either!"