Brother Zhu Youxiao

Chapter 306 Xu Xiake's Trip to Levia

"Jingle Bell……"

"Ring Ling..."

In the sixth year of the apocalypse, on the [-]th day of the twelfth lunar month...

When the people of Ming Dynasty had already started preparing for the Zhengdan Festival tomorrow, a hundred-ton boat with strong Turkish characteristics went south in the middle and lower reaches of the Nile River in Africa tens of thousands of miles away.

One side of the ship represents the Ottoman Sultan, and the flags of Murad IV and Ming Dynasty are blown by the wind of the Nile, making a sound of hunting.

When many black tribes along the Nile River saw the Ottoman flag, they all lowered their heads and dared not look at it.

Africa, this is a magical continent, and its history has always been full of mysteries.

Even in the information age, anyone who has read a little can know about the Three Emperors and Five Emperors and the change of dynasties.

Many history lovers can tell about ancient Greece, ancient Rome, including the anecdotes of the European Middle Ages, and even the Mayans in the distant American continent. You can read about their "advanced civilization".

But when someone talks about Africa, most of them will look at each other in blank dismay. They don't know the history of Africa at all, and they don't know what Africans have been doing for nearly ten thousand years.

What was the living condition of the aborigines in Africa before the era of great geographical discovery?This is actually a very interesting thing.

Regarding African historical materials, it can be said that there is an extreme lack, almost none.

The sporadic records of the history of this continent are basically written by Arab merchants.

Since the ancient Roman era, Arab merchants have started long-distance trade. They wandered the trade routes between East and West, exploring every inch of land they could reach.

An earlier and complete travelogue about Africa was also recorded by an Arab general named Ubak in the Tang Dynasty.

In capturing the great cities of North Africa, Ubak wished to explore lands further south, so when he had taken the last city he knew, he asked the inhabitants:
"Further from where you are, is there anyone else?"

The local people told him that it would take another [-] days to go south from here to reach the territory of the Kawar people (now northern Nigeria).

So, Ukba came to the village of the Kavar people again and asked the local residents:

"Further from where you are, is there anyone else?"

Locals say they don't know what lies ahead...

So Uqba turned his horse and went back.He believes that he has explored to the end of the world.

It’s just that after his travel notes were brought back to Arabia, Arab merchants not only sailed to the east coast of Africa according to his travel notes, but also established a series of business centers. Many people also traveled through the Sahara and went deep into the African continent.

Arab merchants began to establish trade transfer stations all over Africa to do business with the locals.

Some Arab explorers also recorded the lives of black Africans.

Ottoman laid down the vast territory of Arabia, so they are very familiar with many situations in Africa, and this familiar information has become an important chapter in Xu Xiake's travel notes...

Wind chimes sounded in the Nile River, and Xu Xiake, who was about to turn [-], stood on the bow of Ottoman's boat, holding a banner in his hand.

The Jingjie is made of gold and copper leaves, and the flag is made of nine pieces of red silk. On it is a gold-coated copper dragon head shaped like a wooden plate. In the mouth of the dragon head of the Jingjie plate is a scroll of documents.

If you look carefully, you can see a row of dossier fonts with iron hooks and silver paintings.

"Decree of King Qi's procuratorial decree of the five armies of the Ming Dynasty"

Behind the simple dozen or so words is the military might of the Ming Dynasty's [-] troops, the Ming Navy warships with a total tonnage of more than [-] tons, and the muzzles of tens of thousands of artillery...

When Huang Fei and others were recovering Ceylon Island, Xu Xiake only followed one B-class warship, three C-class warships, nine D-class warships, and twelve supply ships, and continued to embark on the journey Journey to the West.

They arrived at the Safavid Empire (Persia), landed at Abbas Port, and after briefly confirming their identities, they successfully arrived at the capital of the Safavid Empire, Isfahan, on the second day of July.

Here, Xu Xiake was received by Abbas, who was hailed as the great emperor by the Persians, and Abbas' enthusiasm for the Ming Dynasty Mission was not pure hospitality, but for trade and allies.

Porcelain, brown sugar, cloth...

The various commodities of Ming Dynasty are commodities that are needed by all countries in the world except Daming.

Apart from Daming, there is no place where you can find cheap brown sugar and white sugar, as well as tea porcelain.

Regarding trade matters, Xu Xiake had already talked with Li Dan when he arrived in the Old Port, so his response to Abbas was:

"Da Ming will establish some vassal states and supervisory departments in Ceylon Island and southern Tianzhu. At that time, a steady stream of Ming businessmen will come to Persia to do business through sea trade."

This kind of answer is different from the occlusion of the Qing Dynasty and the mid-Ming Dynasty. It is very open, which makes Abbas very happy. Even if he decides to only collect a symbolic 10% tariff from the Ming Dynasty Merchant Shipping.

Such tax items are already very conscientious for tax rates that are often in the tens or tens.

However, this is not the whole purpose of Abbas.

What he wants is to form an alliance with Ming, let Ming contain the Mughal Empire, and prevent the Safavid Empire from falling into a war on both sides.

To this, Xu Xiake could only respond that he could not make the decision on this matter, and when he said this, Abbas's attitude towards Daming became much colder.

Afterwards, he hastily ended the conversation and did nothing other than dispatch a thousand-man guard to protect Xu Xiake's safety.

Xu Xiake also knew that if they did not form an alliance, Safawi would not be too enthusiastic about them, so he did not continue to travel to Persia, but returned to the port of Abbas, and sent a document to Lu Mi (Ottoman), indicating that his ship The team will go to Cairo.

After that, he took the ship across the Arabian Strait, passed through the Arabian Peninsula, and finally arrived in Cairo on the third day of November.

At this time, Ottoman was in chaos. In six years, five sultans were replaced like a flying horse.

Murad IV, who succeeded to the throne three years ago, was only fourteen years old. Because of his age, he was controlled by his family. The empress dowager at the time listened to the government behind the curtain and ruled through eunuchs.

The Ottomans were in a state of anarchy during this period, with political and financial chaos, rebels everywhere at home, and wars with the Safavid Empire abroad.

As the Ottoman sultan, Murad devoted himself to learning all kinds of knowledge during this period and keenly observed the progress of various events within the empire. The arrival of Xu Xiake made him aware of an opportunity.

He ordered the generals in the Cairo area to receive Xu Xiake properly, and expressed his regret that he was too far away to meet Xu Xiake in person.

He asked someone to send his list of gifts, and also promised that if Xu Xiake wanted to travel in the Ottoman Empire, he would send a guard of [-] people to protect his safety.

Xu Xiake also knew that what Murad wanted was actually the same thing that Abbas wanted.

After being neglected by Abbas, Xu Xiake took the lead in answering that the matter of forming an alliance could be temporarily considered. After returning to Daming, he could appeal to the emperor and King Qi to fully support the maritime trade between Daming and Ottoman.

Sure enough, after he answered in this way, Murad informed the generals in Egypt to send someone to protect Xu Xiake and meet Xu Xiake's needs to the best of his ability.

In this way, Xu Xiake stayed in Cairo for a month, and during this month, he read many books about Africa and travel notes of ancient Arabs.

Finally, on the tenth day of December, he resolutely embarked on a journey to the south.

At this moment, they have traveled thousands of kilometers south to the Aswan region, the southernmost part of the Nile River in the Ottoman Empire.

Xu Xiake looked at the two banks with great interest, and at this moment there was a sound of footsteps behind him, and an Ottoman with tall eyes and deep nose appeared, and when Xu Xiake saw him, he smiled and said in not-so-fluent Ottoman:

"Pasha, why don't you make great efforts to develop the banks of the Niluo River that seem to be suitable for farming?"

"Farming?" The Ottoman general known as Pasha said with a smile:

"The nobles in Istanbul have enough food to eat, so why would they care about Egypt, which is not threatened?"

"Now their eyes are on the Holy Roman Empire of the Germans in the west and the Safavid Empire of the Persians in the east."

"It's as if His Majesty the Emperor of Ming Dynasty doesn't care about the Japanese pirates in the east of Ming Dynasty."

"That's true..." Xu Xiake smiled.

Because the distance was too far, Pasha and Xu Xiake didn't know that Daming had already started to attack the shogunate.

However, some news can also be heard from Pasha's mouth, that is, their intelligence on the Far East is also good, at least they can figure out what countries are around Daming.

"Xu, I don't know why your emperor asked you to explore the inland of the Nile River. You must know that there is nothing good in this place except slave trade."

"Slave trade?" Xu Xiake showed a curious expression, and Pasha also thought that this might be an opportunity to introduce products, and immediately pointed to the black people on both sides of the Nile River and said:

"These people are good slaves. If you need them, I can catch thousands of slaves for you in one day."

"Won't they resist?" Xu Xiake frowned slightly, while Pasha said with a hearty smile:

"Their resistance is no match for machetes and muskets..."

As he spoke, Pasha began to introduce the slave trade in the Ottoman Empire.

In fact, long before the famous "triangular trade", the slave trade on the African continent was already very common.

Tribal leaders or kings in various places were "suppliers", Arabs were intermediaries, and black slaves were sold to various parts of the Middle East and Europe.

For a long time, countries have wanted to buy castrated slaves, and these castrated slaves are also well received in the market...

Xu Xiake does not object to or accept such things as slaves.

He is not the Holy Mother. To put it bluntly, he is also a gentry class and a son of officials. Although he hates politics and likes to talk to the common people, that is only limited to the "common people".

To him, the people on the continent of Levia are just Kunlun slaves.

He has no interest in learning their language or communicating with them on topics other than his own.

But when talking about topics of interest, Xu Xiake was puzzled and said:
"When I was in Cairo, I heard many businessmen say that there is gold in the lower reaches of the Niluo River and a large number of Kunlun slaves who use gold to do business. Is this true?"

"This...Xu, you must have been deceived by others. How can there be gold in this kind of place?" Pasha responded with a smile, but the dodge in his eyes convinced Xu Xiake.

Apparently, both the Ottomans and the Arabs kept a secret that Levia had a lot of gold.

"Coming!"

While Xu Xiake was meditating, the Ottoman sailor on the boat shouted, and Pasha and Xu Xiake also looked at the banks of the Nile.

On the horizon, a not-so-prosperous town slowly revealed its full view. Hundreds of ships were docked at its pier, and a large number of black people coming and going were chained around their necks and anklets and engaged in manual labor at the pier.

Like what Xu Xiake saw in Cairo, they were asked by the slave owners to take off their clothes and wrap their lower body with things to work.

Obviously, the slave owners were afraid that the slaves were hiding something, but Xu Xiake didn't say anything when he saw it, but said:

"I need to ask some local natives about arable land."

"This is not a problem, I will find enough people for you." Pasha said, and the ship successfully landed.

All the merchants and slaves on the pier who saw the flag representing Murad IV knelt down one after another, and they also set foot on this small, crude-looking town.

Xu Xiake didn't come here with much expectation. He came to the continent of Levia, and more importantly, he completed the investigation needed by Zhu Youjian and his desire to travel all over the place.

Following Pasha, he met the city lord of Aswan, and the city lord's mansion that the city lord built for himself was also in line with the arrogance and lust of nobles.

Although the transparent white stone palace is not big, it can be seen that a lot of manpower and material resources have been spent.

Walking into the courtyard, a man who was a bit fat and not tall, with some gems hanging on his body, came out with a smile on his face:

"Hafiz, Aswan, met the envoy of Ming Dynasty, General Pasha."

"Hafez, we are here this time to ask you about the customs of the south."

Facing Hafiz's politeness, Xu Xiake bowed back, while Pasha spoke very bluntly.

However, Hafiz didn't dare to get angry, so he quickly invited the two of them into the palace, and asked them to move the tables and chairs, and offered some local fruits and vegetables, and then began to say:
"Customs and customs? May I ask what the envoy would like to ask?"

"Agriculture, species, terrain and so on." Xu Xiake asked subconsciously, and Hafiz also looked at Pasha when he heard about it, and he opened his mouth when he saw Pasha nodded:

"The land in the south is pitifully barren, and the soil quality is also very poor." Hafiz replied subconsciously, and said after a while:
"I visited the land in the south when I was hunting. The land in the southeast is an extremely hard and large clod in the dry season, and a pile of thin mud in the rainy season."

"Although the southwest is a jungle, they have about this thick topsoil and humus." Hafiz made a size of about three inches by hand, which is enough to show how thick the topsoil layer is.

"Isn't it possible to cultivate after removing the topsoil?" Xu Xiake frowned slightly and continued to ask.

Regarding this, Hafiz smiled awkwardly and said, "It's not that you can't cultivate, but you can actually get a certain harvest."

"However, the local people's farming is basically lighting a fire during the dry season, and it doesn't matter where the fire burns."

"After burning the land, if there are tree roots that cannot be burned or cleaned up, the local people will cultivate it naturally. Few people work hard to level the land."

"When they grow things, they don't care what they plant. Most of the time, they just dig a hole, throw a few seeds in it, and wait for the harvest."

"Doesn't this mean that the land is very fertile?" Xu Xiake was a little puzzled. If the land is like this, it should mean that the land is very fertile.

"I think so too, so I also sent people to try farming locally, but no matter how we farm, often after harvesting one season's grain, the next season's grain production begins to decrease."

"I went back and forth four or five times to clean it up, and then I gave up on reclaiming the land in the south. It's better to concentrate on reclaiming the land on both sides of the Niluo River."

Hafiz's words made Xu Xiake silent for a moment, and then continued to discuss other issues.

The discussion between the two lasted from noon to dusk. The Pasha who was next to him was not interested in these things and felt drowsy after hearing them, but Xu Xiake became more and more disturbed the more he listened.

In general, the banks of the Nile in Levia are not bad, but the further south you go, the less developed the agriculture.

The reason for the underdevelopment of agriculture is also very simple. Xu Xiake has read some geography and agricultural knowledge given to Yanshan students by Zhu Youjian. Although he doesn't know much, it is enough to explain the local situation.

In the final analysis, it is the leaching of tropical soils.

To be precise, it should be that the traditional food planting industry in the tropics is underdeveloped.

Due to the high temperature and rainfall in the tropics, the leaching effect of rainwater is obvious.

Nutrients in the soil are washed deeper into the subsurface, while tropical heat increases the salinity of the land.

Therefore, the soil in the tropical and subtropical regions of the continent of Levia is generally red, and the soil is easy to compact, has poor air permeability, and even grass does not grow luxuriantly.

As for what Hafiz said, the harvest was good in the first season, and it became more and more poor in the following seasons, until there was no harvest in the end. The high probability is that the surface of the land is barren, and the nutrients have sunk deeper into the ground.

The rainforest is not as fertile as ordinary people think. On the contrary, the land is often very barren in areas with high temperature and rain all year round.

Xu Xiake has also seen this kind of situation in some ancient books. After all, during the Three Emperors and Five Emperors, Xia, Shang and Zhou Dynasties, the tropical rain forests in the Central Plains were farther north.

Regarding how to reclaim these places, Qin Shihuang moved his disciples to Baiyue and left Xu Xiake a valuable experience.

After all, it is to improve the local soil quality before planting, and Xu Xiake also knows the method of improvement.

Although he had never been to Yunnan during this period, he had seen many processes of reclamation of tropical rainforests in southern Luzon, inland Borneo, and Old Port when he went south.

To cultivate the tropical rainforest, the land must first be improved with slaked lime and other things to increase the soil alkalinity, or large-scale burning.

The rice, wheat, soybeans and other crops eaten by the people of the Ming Dynasty are not suitable for the acidic soil, nor are they suitable for the tropical rainforest climate with rainy days and little sunshine. Only corn and wheat are slightly better.

However, although the tropics can theoretically produce three crops a year, in fact, the output of three seasons of rice in Hainan Island, Leizhou Peninsula, Jiugang and other places is not as good as the output of one season in Huguang or Ningxia.

The yield of rice per unit area in many areas of Old Port is not as good as that of highland barley in the Duogan area, and there is no winter in tropical areas, and various pests live carefree all year round, gnawing on various crops, and weeds are also available all year round. Crazy growth.

Therefore, after learning about the environment in the northeastern and northern regions of Levia, Xu Xiake had an idea of ​​how to file a complaint with Zhu Youjian.

"There is still some malaria in the jungle to the south, especially in the rainforest area. If envoy Xu is going, it is best to prepare enough medicinal materials."

Hafez carefully reminded Xu Xiake, and the Pasha next to him didn't want Xu Xiake to continue going south, so he took the initiative to dissuade him:

"The situation in the interior is actually the same. Except that there are more places suitable for farming in the west of the mainland, there are not many places in Levia that can be cultivated."

Times and medical treatment have restricted Daming's development of Africa, but even though Xu Xiake heard so much dissuasion, he still responded with a smile:
"I came to Leviathan not only to complete the tasks of the imperial court, but also to see the scenery of Leviathan myself."

"The inland is dangerous, but I can walk around Levia along the coastline."

Xu Xiake's inner spirit of exploration made Pasha and Hafez speechless, and the three continued to chat about the customs of Daming and Levia, and finally ended the conversation.

At night, Hafiz prepared a bonfire banquet for Xu Xiake and the accompanying five hundred Ming soldiers, and at the same time presented some Arab beauties.

Obviously, Hafiz is very clear that the Han people regard whiteness as beauty, and they still have to rely on Arab beauties to reward them.

At the banquet, Pasha also said to Xu Xiake:

"My lord said, if Xu you continue to go south, we can send people to escort you south to Maga (Somalia)."

"In addition, we will also make up for your fleet and army supplies docked in the Red Sea."

"Thank you for the hospitality of the king of your country. Regarding the trade, I will send a ship back to the old port." Xu Xiake is not an ungrateful person either.

Since Osman has invested so much in the fleet, promoting trade has become his act of reciprocating.

What's more, there is nothing wrong with the trade between the two sides for Daming.

If Levia is really not suitable for the vassal, then perhaps His Royal Highness King Qi will turn his attention to North and South America (North and South America) to the east.

However, hearing is ultimately false, seeing is believing.

Xu Xiake is still going to see it by himself, even if not for the court, but for himself.

From Daming to the east of Levia, it took a year to sail, and he didn't know how many times he could come here in his life.

If possible, Xu Xiake would like to go all the places in one go.

Thinking of this, he raised his glass and took a sip of wine, and an Arab dancer with long legs and thin waist also took the opportunity to put his shoulders...

(End of this chapter)