Villager of Daming

Chapter 718: The Wind and Waves in South Africa

"Come on, come on." The chief came over with a roll of maps, and the people next to him immediately joined the table.

The map is not large, three feet long and more than two feet wide. It shows the Eurasian and African continents, including part of the sea.

The pictures are of poor practicality. Zhu Wentian first drew one, and then gradually drew larger pictures for navigation.

Nautical charts are no joke. It is necessary to ensure the safety of the Ming Dynasty fleet going out to sea, including monsoons, ocean currents, underwater reefs...

Just like the map of the Ming Dynasty, it is divided into sheets, and each sheet is a location. It is large, so that ships can know their longitude and latitude at any time.

"Your Majesty, look here." The commander pointed to the location of the Suez Canal, where the Mediterranean Sea connects to the Red Sea.

“This place was naturally connected many, many years ago. Later, the ground rose and separated the two places. Then some people dug canals and others destroyed them.

Now it is blocked again. As long as it is dug out, the fleet can pass directly. Now they have to walk a land route of several hundred miles. "

Listening to the introduction by the chief, Zhu Yuanzhang looked carefully. He was actually more curious about the places next to the Ming Dynasty, such as Korea, Japan, Luzon...

"Then we need to send people to dig? How far?" Zhu Yuanzhang thought about how much manpower and material resources it would take to build a canal of hundreds of miles.

"No, Your Majesty, our fleet is good, let's go around here." The captain pointed to the location of the Cape of Good Hope, which is south of Africa.

"Detour?" Zhu Yuanzhang looked at the location of the canal again, and then at the distance that needed to be detoured: "Oh! Detour...ok! Detour well! Detouring makes things more precious, so they can only walk, right?"

"Yes, Your Majesty, we can tell the people over there that they can easily come over as long as they dig through the river and let them dig. Do you want to send someone to guard it after we dig?"

Let's tell them that after digging, they have to wait to collect tolls. If someone else dug, it's normal for you to ship over and pay.

Like the Rouge River, some tolls are charged, and the merchants who sail the boats have to agree, otherwise they will have to go a long way to get there. "

"Ours is transported by water from Zhejiang Prefecture and other surrounding prefectures. Who cares about collecting the money? Other businessmen... forget it! We don't need that little money.

But it's a sinister idea of ​​yours. No, it's a good idea!
Since money can be collected, some people want to occupy it and collect money from others, while others do not want to give money, and then they beat each other.

It's better for them to fight than to worry about us. Look, according to this position, the land can pass through and it will be connected. "

Zhu Yuanzhang discovered something interesting. The Suez Canal can be reached on land.

“There was a relationship in previous dynasties, and some of our crops were sent from there.

Your Majesty, look here. This is to the north of Helin. There is Haizi, a large freshwater lake with saltwater marine life in it.

There are ships from here that can reach the sea to the north. If we occupy it, Your Majesty will see if our transportation line to the outside world of Ming Dynasty will be larger. "

The head of the village also talked about Lake Baikal. He did not say that it was difficult to survive there in the winter. Anyway, Beiyuan would move northwest from there and eventually circle around to find a place to survive. Otherwise, people would die every winter.

The head of the village followed the advice of the Hanhan Cult and occupied it first so that it would belong to the Ming Dynasty and then consider how to use it later.

Potatoes can be grown there. It’s not cold in summer, but in winter it can sometimes get to minus [-] degrees Celsius.

"Yichang! Who drew this picture? We are the ones looking at it." Zhu Yuanzhang looked at it and asked suddenly.

"I'll just follow the painting! It takes a long time to paint!" Li Chang replied.

"Let's roll it up and take it away. We'll ask someone to take pictures of the painting and bring it back to you. Let's eat first."

Zhu Yuanzhang began to roll the pictures by himself. He was not afraid of getting them dirty. The long paintings were worthless. He thought that the original manuscripts would be kept in the sacrificial hall of Xiaqiu Village like the others.

Li Chang: "..." Zhu Yuanzhang washed his hands: "Yichang, is it difficult to navigate there? The location you gave?"

“Sometimes the waves are 30 meters high, there are many storms, and undercurrents are almost everywhere. It is easy to run aground on key shores, and ships will be pushed against the cliffs by wind and waves.

Another point is that the fog there is always thick and the visibility is very low. It's pitch black at night and you don't know where you are during the day. "

The captain nodded and told the situation about that place. Anyway, ordinary ships would have a narrow escape from death if they went there.

Zhu Yuanzhang swallowed: "How are we going to get there? Can a boat of ten thousand dan do it?"

The chief shook his head: "No, we can't just go through it. We can build a port around it. There is a lot of gold and diamonds there.

Let's build a few more harbors for shelter, and rush to the next harbor while the weather is fine.

Warehouses are set up at the port to load goods and supplies. The local population is small and there is little power. There are no muskets, and they still use spears and bows for hunting.

Give them some food and medicine, and they will think you are good. Their danger is much lower than that of the barbarians who trade with us.

Once we repair the port, the barbarians from other places will have to spend a lot of money if they want to rest in the port.

Otherwise, they can only solve the problem through force. We are not afraid of this. There will inevitably be disputes in contact with others, and we are afraid that others will take the lead. "

The village chief introduced the method, and the fool there said there was a lot of gold, and if the land was farmed, the land would be fertile.

Zhu Yuanzhang looked around and resisted the idea of ​​opening the map again: "Drink, Yichang, go back and write..."

"Question book?" Li Chang asked.

"No, the format of the question book is difficult to write. You can write whatever you want. Write about the situation there and we will take a look." Zhu Yuanzhang thought that the question book was difficult.

"I've finished writing." The chief reached into his arms, took out a booklet, and looked at Zhu Yuanzhang eagerly. Did he write in vain?
"You've been carrying it?" Zhu Yuanzhang's eyes widened.

"I got it when I picked up the map." The chief shook his head. Who would carry such a thick book?Not sinking?
"It's hard work for a long time. If all the civil and military officials in the dynasty are as good as Yi Chang, why should we worry so much?"

Zhu Yuanzhang took the booklet and praised it for its length, and he thought the same thing in his heart!Xiaqiu Village operates smoothly.

Empress Ma, who remained silent all the time, smiled: "Chongba always stays in Xiaqiu Village, and the other ministers are getting more and more dissatisfied with him. There are only these people in Xiaqiu Village, and it is useless to distribute them to various parts of the Tang Dynasty."

"Why give it away? We don't need it. We'll keep it for the elders. There should be female officials in the court. The female officials in Wu Zhao's time are not as powerful as our current female officials.

How can the female officials in our palace be compared with real female officials? Ling'er and others can be regarded as magistrates.

Who says women can't be managers?When we go to war, our girls are in charge of logistics. "

Zhu Yuanzhang suddenly talked about setting up official positions for women. Now there are official positions for women, but they are only responsible for the harem and are used to restrict the concubines.

The female officials he wants now are from the court, for example, one of the ministers of household affairs is a woman.

Other women are guaranteed to be targeted. If it were a woman from Xiaqiu Village, such as Ling'er, who would dare to target her?
In this way, after waiting for the eldest son to inherit the position, the men and women in Xiaqiu Village can all help. The fate of the women in Xiaqiu Village is doomed and they cannot marry outside.

Those who have married outside can only enjoy the things provided by the village, and cannot return to the village to learn special skills.

A married woman does not go back to her natal home, but sends people to her natal home to invite everyone there, and then returns with a large number of gifts.

Because they are studying and participating in village affairs, they are afraid that they will be robbed when they return to their parents' home.

(End of this chapter)