Da Ming started to ascend the throne

Chapter 775 Happy Voyage
After finishing off the pirate ship, the six warships of Ming Dynasty immediately gathered to report casualties and damage to the warship.

As a result, due to the great advantage of the Ming naval guns, the pirate ships were sunk outside the range of their own guns. The Ming army did not suffer any damage, but some shells were consumed.

Zheng Jian was overjoyed when he received the report, and immediately ordered the fleet to continue to advance towards Southampton.

Although the 40-day voyage was bitter, the soldiers of the Ming army were not lonely.

In order to make the long-distance voyage easier for the soldiers, after discussing with Bai Hu, Zheng Jian decided to allow them to use the Japanese beauties on board in an appropriate amount.

Because of the high salaries, these Japanese beauties were almost all recruited, and Daming did not force them.

After boarding the ship, they saw the tall and mighty officers and men, and they had long been moved. After a long voyage, they were also very painful.

When the Ming soldiers entered the cabin, they all cooperated very well, and almost no one resisted.

This time Zheng Jian and Bai Hu also made an exception and found two little beauties from Japan to accompany them, so the journey was much easier and happier.

Of course, they have strict requirements on the soldiers, at most once every three days, they can't mix with Japanese beauties for a long time, and they can't miss the usual training at all.

As for the contraceptive measures of these Japanese beauties, they don't need to worry. Zhu Youjian gave them a lot of medicine and condoms before leaving.

The ridiculous thing is that these soldiers only let Japanese beauties take medicine, and when they found out that those condoms can be used to boast, they all pretended to be their treasures, so they were not willing to use them.

Because the preparations for this voyage were well prepared, I also brought a lot of medicines, food, fruits and vegetables, canned meat, canned fruits and vegetables, etc.

The replenishment on the way to the shore is almost always to replenish meat and fresh vegetables and fruits.

It is easy to do things with money, and there is no need to worry about safety issues. The small coastal countries are not the opponents of this fleet at all. The strong ships and guns of the Ming Dynasty can scare them to death.

When it was a few hundred nautical miles away from Southampton, the entire fleet and all its personnel were still there, and there were no dead people. This was definitely a miracle in the Ming Dynasty.

We must know that many long-distance voyage fleets in Europe at that time almost lost more than half of the crew when they reached such a long distance.

Among European navigators, the four most famous are:

Dias who discovered the Cape of Good Hope in 1488.

Vasco da Gama arrived in India in 1489.

Columbus who discovered the New World in 1492.

Magellan circumnavigated the world in 1522.

There is no doubt that they have made significant contributions to the development of Europe and even mankind.

But behind these glamorous achievements, we must also pay attention to the death of sailors.

For example, when Magellan set off, he took away 270 people, but when he returned, there were only 18 people left, and he even died on the way.

George Anson took out 1854 people, but only returned 188.

Such a death rate was indeed high at the time, but even the average death rate was as high as 40%.

That is to say, in the age of sailing, as long as Europeans boarded a ship, they basically had a narrow escape.

More than half a century before European navigators explored the sea.

Zheng He, the great navigator from China, led the fleet of the Ming Empire across the Indian Ocean and arrived at the east coast of Africa.

Compared with the high death rate of the European fleet, Zheng He's fleet was surprisingly safe.

The same is sailing, why is there such a big gap between the East and the West?
The largest flagship of Zheng He's fleet was 44 feet four feet long and [-] feet wide. It was the largest sea-going ship in the world at that time.

Converted into today's length units, Zheng He's flagship is about 152 meters long and 62 meters wide!What is the concept of data?
You must know that my country's first aircraft carrier, Liaoning, has a length and width of 304.5 meters and 75 meters respectively.

In other words, Zheng He's treasure ship was almost half an aircraft carrier!Sailing on the sea, the larger the ship, the stronger the ability to withstand wind and waves.

Columbus's ship was only 24.5 meters long and 6 meters wide.

Putting the two ships together end to end is not as wide as Zheng He's treasure ship.

For Zheng He, Columbus's small boat with a tonnage of only one percent of his own was nothing more than a lifeboat.

Magellan completed the voyage around the world. It is said that his ship is not small, right?But the displacement of the flagship "Trinidad" is only 110 tons. What kind of concept is this?

Zheng He's "Dafu" treasure ship had a displacement of "five thousand materials", which is 2500 tons in conversion.

There is a saying in our country:

"People are iron and rice is steel. If you don't eat a meal, you will be hungry."

What to eat at sea is very important, because you can't produce it yourself, so you can only rely on the reserves on the ship to maintain your needs.

But when it comes to eating, Chinese people are definitely the most talented in the world.

Because there is no nation or country in the world that can eat more tricks and varieties than China.

A "Tokyo Menghualu" recorded in detail various delicacies in the Song Dynasty. In the Ming Dynasty, Chinese recipes became more abundant.

Therefore, the food that Zheng He brought on board was quite rich.

Such as pork, mutton, chicken and other meat products, eggplant, gourd, wax gourd, cucumber and other vegetables.

In addition, there are tropical fruits such as durian and mango in tropical areas, and scurvy rarely occurs.

In contrast, European sailors ate bread eaten by rubber worms.

It wasn't the fluffy, fluffy bread you're used to seeing today, but the kind that was hard enough to burp your teeth.

Until the 18th century, the Royal Navy of the British Empire and soldiers mutinied because of poor food.

In addition to eating well, the identities of the crews on both sides are also completely different.Those on Zheng He's fleet were all officers and soldiers of the Ming Empire, and belonged to the government's establishment.

With such an identity, they will consciously be loyal to the emperor and obey Zheng He.

The sailors on the European fleet include street hooligans, fallen nobles, poor people in debt, criminals who escaped from prison, and so on.

After all, for them, going to sea is a speculative act, and they can earn blood if they can reach the new world alive, and they will not lose money if they die.

Therefore, in terms of the quality of the crew, the European sailors lag far behind the officers and soldiers of the Ming Dynasty.

In terms of division of labor, Zheng He's fleet had a clear division of labor.

The so-called "sea navigation depends on the helmsman", Zheng He used experienced Chinese to steer the helm when he was in the South China Sea and its surrounding waters.

After entering the Indian Ocean, Zheng He used Arabs who were more familiar with the sea conditions to take the helm.

The European fleet is basically one person at the helm.

In terms of the purpose of going to sea, the two sides are not at the same level.

The purpose of Zheng He's voyages was to find Emperor Jianwen, or to promote the country's prestige, while Europe was to go to sea for speculation.

Because of this, the size of the fleets on both sides is not of the same order at all.

Columbus had only 3 ships and 87 people on his first voyage; Magellan had 5 ships and 270 people.

As a result, Columbus's stronghold in the Americas was demolished by the Indians, and Magellan himself was even hacked to death by the natives; Da Gama went out with 4 ships, and accidentally sent "triple kills" when encountering a storm.

When Zheng He sailed to the West, he brought 62 treasure ships and 27800 soldiers in one breath. This is a number that the small countries along the route can't imagine.

In fact, Zheng He's fleet also encountered troubles, such as pirates and indigenous conflicts.

Java once killed 140 soldiers of Zheng He by mistake. Before Zheng He could express his opinion, the king of Java immediately knelt down and pleaded guilty, willing to submit to Ming Dynasty forever.

Since then, I have traveled thousands of miles to pay tribute to Daming every year. If not, Zheng He's order at that time might have destroyed the country.

Another example is the pirates, either they were wiped out by Zheng He, or they were captured and returned to Nanjing to be executed like "Pirate King" Chen Zuyi.

(End of this chapter)