I

  Chapter 898 894【Voyage to America】

  Princess Zhao Furong is already engaged, and the wedding is in October. Her fiancé is Chen Zhiping, the son of a household doctor.

  Chen Zhiping's hobbies are very miscellaneous. He has both arts and sciences. He knows a little about everything, but he is not very proficient in everything. He loves to collect antique calligraphy and paintings, and sometimes studies mathematics and physics. Recently, he has become obsessed with stargazing at night. He can talk well with the princess.

   This man is studying at Jinling University at his own expense, and he is about to graduate from university.

  Why drop out?

  Because I couldn't pass the university graduation exam!

  Chen Zhiping didn't even think about going into an official career. Anyway, his father was an official, his grandfather was in business, and the family had money to satisfy his various hobbies.

  The reason why Zhao Han and Fei Rulan agreed to the marriage was because they felt that this young man had a good character. Although he seems a little out of tune and his personality has not settled down, he never goes to entertainment venues and is immersed in various hobbies all day long. If the princess marries such a person, she must have a very interesting life.

   "This is a letter from Li Quan." Zhao Han said to his daughter.

   "Huh?" Zhao Furong blushed a little.

  Zhao Han said again: "He has already sailed to the ocean, you can take it and see for yourself."

   Li Quan prepared for a year, but finally couldn't bear it anymore, and set off in Shandong in May of the lunar calendar. Going at this time can avoid summer storms and arrive at Japanese ports in a relatively safe manner.

  In fact, the Spanish galleon route is the shortest route. Sailing along the Kuroshio Current in southern Japan, and then sailing into the North Pacific Warm Current, you can go directly to the west coast of North America.

  However, since Li Quan started from Shandong, he would not be too devious. This route is mainly for the convenience of the northern provinces, taking goods from Shandong to northern Japan, and trading at the port of Sakata in Japan. Sakata is currently the largest port in Northeast Japan, and the safflower trade is just beginning to rise. Li Quan built a trading company here, and the excess money he earned stayed in the trading company. After supplying fresh water and food, he continued eastward.

  Zhao Furong went back with the letter and was a little annoyed after reading it.

  Li Quan said in the letter that he had received the silver sent by the princess, thanked the princess for her support, and he would give her some shares.

  Zhao Furong didn't want any shares, she just wanted to help, so she took out the hundreds of taels of silver she had saved over the years and gave it away. She knew that she had no future with Li Quan, but she just liked this young man, he could be regarded as the eternal white moonlight in the princess' heart.

   Annoyed, Zhao Furong wanted to burn the letter, but he was a little bit reluctant, so he stuck it in a book he didn't read very much.

  Li Quan not only wrote a letter to the princess, but also wrote a letter to the emperor.

  Because of his five ships, he has been separated from the naval system, and he doesn't know what his name is. Therefore, he registered a company and converted all the ships and the silver financed by Zhao Han into company shares.

  The royal family holds 60% of the shares, the Navy Governor's Mansion holds 10% of the shares, and the remaining shareholders jointly hold 30% of the shares.

   All crew members got shares, including his enlisted soldiers, to boost everyone's motivation. In the future, the company will be responsible for its own profits and losses, and if the losses are exhausted, it will ask the royal family for additional investment.

   But Li Quan led the fleet to Japan and found that there were more merchant ships in the North Japan Sea.

  Since he opened up the relationship and dragged the shogun's uncle into the water for smuggling, other coastal feudal lords have also become bold. Anyway, the shogun is still young, and the power is in the hands of the old man, so he quickly took the opportunity to smuggle and make more money. Otherwise, in a few years, when the shogun grows up, he will gather power and severely ban the sea.

  Five large ships docked at Sakata Port, which is more prosperous than last year. As an important commodity, safflower can not only be sold to Kyoto and Osaka, but even Chinese businessmen are buying it.

   Most of the cotton cloth from Shandong was unloaded, and Li Quan only bought fresh water and food to ensure that he would not worry about food and drink during the ocean voyage. As for the cotton cloth, it is all handled by the trading company, and it is enough to store it there and sell it slowly.

   Continue sailing to Hakodate, namely Hakodate City, Hokkaido.

  There is a Japanese government office here, which was set up by the Matsumae clan to collect tax. Although it is not a commercial port, it can also supply some food and drink, anyway, pack as much food as possible.

   Sailing northeast along the Kuroshio Current, which diverged from the Spanish galleon route.

   It is necessary to make a bend to the northeast and head south, and then coincide with the route of the galleon. This Kuroshio bend is where the largest fishing ground in the world - the Hokkaido fishing ground is located!

  Currently, Hokkaido fishing grounds are undeveloped, only the Matsumae domain and the Ainu people use small fishing boats to fish in the offshore.

   "A lot of fish!"

  Li Quan was also shocked. Wherever the fleet passed, schools of fish could be seen swimming with the naked eye.

  You can develop here!

   When you come back from your voyage, bring some merchants to join you, and bring large fishing boats over, making sure that every fishing boat returns with a full load.

   It is necessary to establish a stronghold nearby (Hokkaido) and recruit indigenous people to make salted fish, otherwise it will stink when it is shipped back to China.

   After another half a month, the ordinary fresh water I carried was exhausted.

  Those buckets with seals were opened one by one.

  Many difficulties in the age of great navigation are not difficult for Li Quan. One is the improvement of storage technology, which makes the shelf life of fresh water longer; the other is that Li Quan is willing to spend money, and there are no profitable commodities on board, but it is full of all kinds of food.

   Tea leaves, pickles, and bean sprouts are all sources of vitamins.

  Scurvy was what the crew feared most in the Spanish galleon trade. Although doctors said that lemon juice could cure diseases decades ago, it was written in a voyage book, which recorded anecdotes with humor and humor, but no one believed it because the content was too bland.

   It will take another eighty years for Dutch writers and Austrian doctors to discover that fruits and vegetables can prevent scurvy almost at the same time.

  Before Li Quan set sail, Zhao Han gave advice to the crew to eat more vegetables and fruits, and to eat tea and bean sprouts if there were no vegetables and fruits.

   Those fresh water that has expired and deteriorated are all used to germinate bean sprouts.

   On the way, they encountered only two small storms. After more than five months of sailing, almost all of them saw land without damage.

  The only loss of personnel was that one person died of illness and dozens of people were bedridden.

  If the ship is destroyed in a big storm, it is really unlucky. Historically, the Spaniards made 500 Pacific voyages in 250 years, and only more than 40 ships were sunk, including those sunk due to wars.

   "In the fourteenth year of the beginning of the Republic of China, November 19th (Datong new calendar)."

"From Hakodate, Japan, it took 167 days to see the mainland. There are no islands along the way, only some small reefs. Your Majesty's method is feasible, and no crew member has scurvy. However, it has been turbulent for several months, and the drinking water has been sealed. There is still a small part of the deterioration, coupled with climate change, 82 people have been sick, and 1 person died of illness before landing..."

   "Landing location, 120 degrees east longitude, 38 degrees north latitude."

  The prime meridian is set in Nanjing!

  Latitude calculation, slight error.

  This is not San Francisco, but it is not far from San Francisco, about tens of miles north of Roseburg.

  Historically, Roseburg was the first colonial stronghold in California after Russia occupied Alaska. Using three blankets, three pairs of breeches, two axes, three hoes and some small beads, he bought a large piece of land from the natives. In order to prevent Russia from expanding southward, Spain established a settlement in San Francisco.

  Because Roseburg was unable to solve the food crisis in Alaska and had limited access to fur, the Russians had entrenched here for 29 years and sold the Roseburg colony to the Americans. The price was $30,000, and the Americans refused to pay.

  Li Quan sent an exploration team of dozens of people, divided into three groups and rowed the boats to the shore.

  6 people guarded the three landing points, blowing the horn every 15 minutes to prevent the exploration team from finding their way back.

  Unfortunately, after searching for an hour, no larger river was found.

  The exploration team returned to the ship for the night and continued southward the next day. They didn't stop after passing Roseburg. It didn't take long before they observed a river flowing into the sea with binoculars.

  That river is the Russian River in the United States in later generations. Its mouth is the town of Jenner in the United States, and it is 90 kilometers away from San Francisco.

  The exploration team did not land immediately, but rowed a small boat to cruise around near the mouth of the sea, tied iron blocks with ropes and threw them into the water to detect the specific depth of this sea area.

   "Commander," Liu Ying quickly came to report, "This place can barely be used as a port, but it cannot dock large ships. Our ships may run aground."

   "Get fresh water first."

"yes!"

  Li Quan didn't know where he could meet the river, so he sent a boat to fetch more fresh water first.

  The emperor allowed him to recruit 1,000 soldiers, but Li Quan only recruited 350, all of whom were veterans or farmers. Among them, 50 soldiers remained in Sakata Port, Japan, to protect the property of the business hall there.

  These 300 people were fully armed, with a flintlock, waist knives and spears, and chain armor and cotton armor.

  Li Quan proclaimed himself the commander of Datong Sea Exploration, and asked his subordinates to call him "commander".

   In addition to 300 soldiers, there are more than 300 crew members who went to sea and sailed, all of whom were retired from the Navy early. In addition, more than a dozen adventurers were recruited, all young people who dreamed of traveling the world.

  In order to appease the subordinates, everyone gave a settling allowance, and everyone has shares in the company, which can be inherited by family members even if they die.

  No way, if you don't do this, it will be difficult to gather people's hearts. Who the **** wants to go overseas with you?

   Well, yes.

  Li Quan asked the emperor for 30 felons, and bought Nanyang female slaves as wives for these felons. He intends to learn from the European colonists, choose an excellent place, and throw these people down to establish a colonial stronghold.

   One small boat after another was lowered, and hundreds of people rowed the small boats into the river.

   Fearing that the sea estuary would be too salty, I paddled upstream for a few miles, then filled a wooden barrel with fresh water and brought it back.

   "Someone!"

   a soldier shouted.

   But I saw more than a dozen canoes paddling upstream. These people were wearing animal skins, and one of them had colorful feathers on his head.

  Kashaya tribe, a branch of the Pomo Indians.

  Short and strong, with reddish complexion, black and straight hair, good at weaving reeds, and the currency is rosary beads (made of magnesite and shells).

  The guy with two feathers on his head picked up a spear from the canoe, pointed at the Chinese and chattered for a while.

   "Captain, I'm going to deal with the natives!"

   Ouyang Chun volunteered. He is only 17 years old this year and has a high school diploma. There is no shortage of money in the family, but he volunteered to sign up for a long voyage, and even asked his parents to divorce him. Obviously, he is restless and desperate.

   "Go, be careful." The captain instructed.

  Ouyang Chun asked his partner to row the boat over, and the Kashaya people were quite vigilant, and surrounded the boat with their canoes.

  Ouyang Chun took off his hat, pointed to his own head, and then pointed to the person who put the feather on the other side.

  The man probably understood it, approached with a canoe, took Ouyang Chun's hat, and put it on his head very happily.

  (end of this chapter)