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Chapter 782 The Heart of the Indian Ocean
"That's right. You only think about eating and drinking all day long. You can finish such a big fish in one meal... Humph!" After the emperor finished lecturing, Wang Chengen had to add a few words.

He heard that swordfish meat was delicious, so he sneaked into the sailor's cabin during dinner time, intending to get a taste of it as the emperor's attendant. In the end, he only brought back a fish bone as thick as a finger, and was laughed at by the navigator. Naturally, he wanted to take the opportunity to take revenge.

“That’s better than wetting your pants! You tied your pants with a rope and put them in the sea to wash while eating. I didn’t see it, but the people above saw it!” The eunuch even dared to make fun of the emperor. Naturally, the navigator would not go easy on the eunuch and exposed Wang Chengen’s scandal on the spot.

"You, you, you are talking nonsense! Come on, catch him, pull down his pants and see if he has peed!" After all, he was the top leader of the inner palace. Wang Chengen really couldn't stand such humiliation. He waved his hand back and rushed towards the navigator with a Gecko member.

What's the point? Just catch him and beat him up. After more than two months of life at sea, he finally understood that there is no place for good people on the ship! Whoever is gentle, polite and well-mannered is the unlucky one. Strong and thick-skinned, plus with many bad friends, is the hard truth.

The navigator was not one to be defeated, so seeing that he was alone, he ran around the rudder and headed for the foredeck, calling for help from the boatswain. Wang Chengen and his gecko chased after the thief, vowing to bring him to justice on the spot.

They were about the same age, and except for being a little reserved when they first got on board, they soon got along well with each other. When they were not on duty, they often got together to play mahjong and Monopoly, and playing around was the norm.

If we were to ask who had the greatest impact on this voyage, it was not the officers or the sailors, but the two eunuchs. In addition to their darker skin than when they were in the palace, their personalities had also become much more cheerful, and they did not mind even the most taboo topics, and dared to climb up the crossbeam and jump into the sea in shorts, becoming the recognized atmosphere group on the ship.

"Commander, there is a crack on the rear mast of ship No. 6. We have requested to leave the fleet for repairs, which will probably delay the ship for half a day." Unfortunately, happy times are always short. Huang Nanping hurried over to report the results of the contact with the other five ships in the formation. The situation was not very optimistic.

"No need to disengage. The next 500 kilometers may take many days to travel, and two masts are enough. Tell all ships to do a good job of fresh water control and don't take it lightly."

But Hong Tao was not too worried. There were carpenters and materials on board, and injuries like cracked masts could be repaired in four or five days. The latitude they were in was the equatorial low pressure zone, which was also the windless zone. There was basically no difference in speed between three masts and two masts, so they could just wait and see.

As for why we can encounter storms in the doldrums, this is a matter of understanding the meaning of the doldrums. The doldrums do not mean that there is no wind, but that the wind is weak all year round and the wind direction is not fixed.

If God is not in a good mood, it is not impossible for two storms to come in a row. No one can predict the nature of things, we can only summarize the general rules, there is no absolute.

In short, the long-distance fleet regrouped at the assembly point with the three armed cargo ships that were scattered by the storm, and continued to move southward. It took them eight days to cross the doldrums, and after sailing for more than a day with the growing northwest wind, a piece of land suddenly appeared in the telescope.

"Commander, the lookout said the island is not big and no signs of human beings were found."

The navigator was eventually defeated by Wang Chengen and was beaten up in the cabin. Although he had served on the warship for many years and had a strong physique, he was no match for the martial arts of the gecko and was knocked down in one blow.

According to naval regulations, fighting is punishable, so he insisted that he fell, and there was a silver pen in his jacket pocket, which showed that they had reconciled privately. "…It should be here, mark it, Chagos Archipelago. Huang Nanping, send a small boat to the island to see if there is any fresh water, and measure the depth of the lagoon."

By the time Hong Tao climbed up the mast to observe, the fleet had passed more than one island. The largest island had a huge lagoon. Although the waves were rough outside, the lagoon was calm.

Then Hong Tao started to talk nonsense again, blurting out names and asking for detailed surveying, as if he had some kind of plan.

"Commander, there are no mountains on the island, and probably no water source." Huang Nanping was already accustomed to the emperor's many strange behaviors. He knew that it was useless to persuade him, so he sent two small boats to the island before satisfying his curiosity.

"But this lagoon is great, a perfect safe haven. Write it down first. As long as there is enough rainfall, I will not have to worry about drinking water when I find the secret recipe to purify rainwater." Sure enough, the emperor was not very careful and actually planned to build a naval base here.

"Commander, this place is too far from the land. It's unlikely to be a route, right?"

Huang Nanping had no choice but to raise objections. The emperor had said that the Western Ocean was also under the jurisdiction of the South China Sea Fleet. If a port was really to be built here, who should be sent to garrison it? Whoever was sent would be scolded, which was almost like exile.

The problem is that there is no apparent effect in building a naval base in the middle of such a distant ocean. It can neither deter neighboring countries nor block the road to collect tolls. It is purely a loss with no income.

"Look, we are probably going here, the southernmost tip of the African continent. You should have studied world geography. This is the east coast of Africa, this is the Arabian Peninsula, this is the Indian subcontinent, and these are the South Sea Islands. Come and see for yourself, is this island useful?"

Seeing that three quarters of the journey had passed, Hong Tao simply drew a picture of the entire Indian Ocean on the nautical chart. Regardless of whether the scale was correct or the longitude and latitude were accurate, the outline was roughly formed. Then he put a dot in the center of the Indian Ocean and wrote the Chagos Archipelago.

"...Forgive my stupidity, but with the port of Nicobar Island, or departing from the port of Batavia, naval ships can sail directly to the Cape of Good Hope without the need for supplies in between." Huang Nanping looked at it carefully and thought hard, but unfortunately he still didn't realize the use of this broken island.

"What if it was occupied by the Spanish, Portuguese, or Dutch?" Hong Tao does not think that Huang Nanping has a poor strategic vision. This is the limitation of the times. It is usually difficult for people to think beyond the productivity and technological environment, unless they are geniuses or time travelers.

"…Why do they want to occupy this place? We can send ships to deliver spices, raw silk, cotton cloth, sugar, cocoa powder, and glassware to the Cape of Good Hope, just like we do to Luzon Island. Although the price will be a little higher, they will save thousands of miles and avoid the risks along the way. Isn't it a good deal?"

Huang Nanping now understood what the emperor meant, but he still didn't understand why the European countries would go so far away and rush here to occupy a broken island that might not even have fresh water. Was it just to harm others and not benefit themselves?
(End of this chapter)