Smuggling Daming

Since Ming Dynasty occupied the Strait of Malacca many years ago, the entire South Seas has become the back garden of the Ming Navy. After several years of hard work, colonies were finally established on several large islands in South China Sea. Being moved here made Ming's rule over Nanyang more and more stable, and the development of various big islands became more and more in-depth. Coupled with the rich products of Nanyang, Nanyang gradually became one of the wealthiest areas in Ming.

With the stability of Nanyang and the development of local industry and commerce in the Ming Dynasty, the caravans of the Ming Dynasty began to enter the Indian Ocean. Coupled with the heroic battles of the Ming Navy, they finally defeated the Portuguese and allowed the Ming Dynasty to control several important routes in the Indian Ocean. After these years of development, the northern and central parts of the Indian Ocean have been ruled by the Ming Dynasty, and only the southern region closer to Africa is ruled by the Portuguese who retreated there.

However, compared with Ming's rule in the Indian Ocean, it still has no progress in the larger Pacific Ocean. In fact, it is not accurate to say this, because both the coast of Daming and the South China Sea belong to the Pacific Ocean in a broad sense, but other than that , Most of the rest of the Pacific Ocean is still blank. Although Zhou Zhong has long occupied the Edo Bay of the Wa Kingdom as the advance base for the Ming Dynasty to develop the Pacific Ocean, but these years have passed, Edo Bay still has not sent a team. A ship enters the Pacific Ocean.

In fact, it's not that Zhou Zhong doesn't want to develop the Pacific Ocean, it's just that the Pacific Ocean is too big. As one of the largest oceans in the world, the Pacific Ocean occupies almost half of the world's ocean area, and in such a vast sea, the number of inhabitable islands is also large. Not many, most of them are concentrated near Australia in the southern hemisphere, but there are no large islands on the ocean in the northern hemisphere, which also makes it very difficult for Ming to go to America through the Pacific Ocean.

As for Australia, which is located in the southern hemisphere, Zhou Zhong has no plans to develop it for the time being, because the journey is far away, although it is very convenient to enter Australia through Nanyang.But now it's only Nanyang, and Ming has not yet digested it, let alone the distant Australia, but there are still some bold businessmen in pursuit of profit.The route to Australia was discovered from Nanyang, and some Australian products were brought from there, such as exotic animals such as kangaroos, and precious metals such as gold.

Of course, Zhou Zhong has not always planned to enter the Pacific Ocean these years. He is just making some preliminary preparations, such as Edo Bay in the Japanese Kingdom, which is used as a forward base for exploring the Pacific Ocean. Depart from Edo Bay, looking for an ocean current flowing through the outer sea of ​​Edo, this ocean current is called the North Pacific Warm Current.Following this ocean current, you can reach the Americas very conveniently and quickly.

After several years of observations, Daming is now able to determine the position and direction of the North Pacific warm current, and even officials in Edo Bay have written several times to the imperial court, hoping to arrange ships to enter this warm current as soon as possible.According to the news Daming got from the Portuguese, gold and silver are everywhere in the Americas, which also attracted the attention of countless people. It can be said that these people are all waiting for the opening of this route.

It's a pity that Zhou has been busy reforming the internal shortcomings of Ming Dynasty and guiding the development of the navy in the South China Sea and the Indian Ocean these years, so he has no time to take care of the Pacific Ocean.And he doesn't think that Spain will welcome them into the Americas. Although Spain's influence in the Americas has just started, they have already occupied the most civilized Central America. If Ming's fleet arrives there, it is likely to conflict with the Spaniards , and even war.

It is precisely because of the above reasons.That's why Ming's plan to open up the Pacific Ocean has been delayed again and again. However, after Zhengde pacified the Tatars in the north, the entire Ming Dynasty basically has no external enemies. .In the past, Ming’s rule over Tibet was very weak, but with the increase of national power, Ming’s rule over Tibet has also been strengthened. As for Yili Bali in northern Tibet, it is not worth mentioning. Zhengde’s next goal is it. Zhou Zhong finally set his sights on the Pacific Ocean.

In September of the 20th year of Zhengde, a Daming fleet that had been preparing for a long time set off from Edo Bay. The scale of this fleet was not very large, only five ships, but these five ships were all specially-made ocean-going ships. The performance is first-class, and the ship is also equipped with a large number of weapons. Such an armed force, let alone a pirate, can escape even if it encounters the regular Spanish navy.

This fleet is mainly used to explore routes, otherwise the size of the fleet will increase several times, because many people in Daming have listened to the news promoted by the Portuguese, thinking that America is really full of gold and silver, so the domestic Many people are full of longing for exploring the Americas.

Although Zhou Zhong knew that Portugal had no good intentions in spreading the news, they wanted to divert Da Ming's attention to the Americas, let Da Ming clash with the Spaniards, thereby reducing the pressure on himself, and even allow them to retake the Indian Ocean. However, Zhou Zhong did not explain the truth to the people in the country, because he needed this kind of belief to inspire the people of Ming Dynasty to explore the Americas. Only in this way can the sea route with the Americas be opened up faster, and even colonize the Americas directly. , to rob the resources of the New World. I believe that after the Pathfinder fleet returns, Ming will set off a wave of exploration of the New World.

When the fleet exploring the Americas set sail from Edo Bay, Zhou Zhong, who was far away in Beijing, sat in his study and read the report sent by the Shanghai Naval Academy. De's performance in the military academy, the other party has been in the military academy for nearly three years, and every three months, the military academy will record his performance and send it to Zhou Zhong.

The Ottoman Empire is the only powerful empire that can rival the Ming Dynasty. Although the two countries are jointly building the Suez Canal, the relationship between countries has always been very fragile. Moreover, as the Ming Dynasty regained the grasslands, and Zhengde plans to march to the Western Regions In order to weaken this huge empire, Murad's dark game becomes more and more important. Therefore, Zhou Zhong needs to know Murad's performance in Ming Dynasty, and follow the opponent's performance. Make your own plan.

Zhou Zhong looked at the report in his hand and kept shaking his head while reading it. He had to say that although the heir system of the Ottoman Empire was cruel and even inhumane, the heirs selected by this system were very good. , Murad can become Suleiman's substitute. In addition to his good luck, his talent is also very outstanding. His performance in the military academy can be described as a genius. Every assessment is a special class. Among the cadets who enrolled in the military academy in [-], it is almost impossible to find a student who is more outstanding than him.

However, although Murad showed amazing academic abilities, he was not without shortcomings. For example, he received a harsh education since he was a child, which made him unable to communicate with people at all, and he had no friends at all in the military academy. Not surprising, after all, he was educated by the king. As a king, he doesn't need friends, or even any feelings. For example, Ottoman's current Sultan Selim, he is a man who can kill even his son. monster.

Thinking of Selim, and looking at the report on Murad in his hand, Zhou Zhong couldn't help but think of his eldest son Zhu Zaiyuan. According to the imperial decree issued by Zhengde, Zaiyuan has been established as the prince. Although he is only 12 years old, but In order to become a qualified heir to the Ming Dynasty, he has already begun to receive strict royal education. Even the cabinet has discussed Zai Yuan’s education for several days. After all, this is related to the inheritance of the Ming Dynasty’s throne, and it is also related to the future of Ming Dynasty. The direction of the empire cannot help them to be careless.

Zhou Zhong didn't pay much attention to the royal education his son received at the beginning, but when he saw that his son had a heavy schoolwork to complete every day, he not only had to learn etiquette, but also learned a lot of Confucian classics. The prince has been influenced by the theory of saints since he was a child, so he can't become a king who only knows how to play like Zhengde in the future.

After Zhou Zhong saw this situation, he immediately used his status as supervisor to suspend his son's studies, because he felt that there was a big problem with Daming's royal education. Question, but my son will be an emperor in the future, not a scholar. He only needs to have a general understanding of Confucianism. There is no need to memorize so many things by rote every day. This is not what a king should learn. .

So under such circumstances, Zhou Zhong personally formulated the education for his son. First of all, the royal etiquette must be learned, but other than that, Zhu Zaiyuan does not need to recite those Confucian classics, but spends a lot of time every day following them. Zhou Zhong learned to deal with government affairs, and even whenever he had time, Zhou Zhong would often take his son to the folks for a walk, to experience the sufferings of the folks, understand the thoughts of the people, and know what they want most. Knowing this, he can be a good emperor in the future.

In addition to learning to govern the country, Zhou Zhong also took some subjects as his son’s supplementary learning subjects, such as mathematics, biology, physics, etc. Most of these things were brought over by Zhou Zhong from later generations. Now he needs to use these to cultivate his son’s interest in learning. After all, in addition to being an emperor, Zaiyuan is also a person, but also a child. He needs to have things he is interested in. Only in this way can he form a complete personality, and he will not become a character with flaws like Zhengde. the emperor.