Great Tang Southern Emperor

Not to mention what Li Zhen was doing after sending Liu Rengui away, we turned our attention to this fleet.

Standing on the splint, Liu Rengui looked at Yuezhou, which was getting farther and farther away, and turned his head to look at the boundless sea. He was also very excited-after so many years of training, it was finally my turn to play. I have not flown for three years. Soaring to the sky for three years without making a big hit... Datang, just wait, when I come back, I, Liu Rengui, will definitely be famous all over the world, be appointed an official and worship a noble, and will be famous forever.

The ship's first mate, Liu Lie, a bookboy who had been with him since he was a child, met him and said, "Young master! The wind is cold at sea, let's rest in the cabin!"

Liu Rengui shook his head lightly, pointed to the vast and boundless sea, and asked, "Ah Lie! You have grown up so big, but have you ever seen such a magnificent scenery?"

Liu Ju took a look and said excitedly, "Although I have been training at sea for so many years, I don't know why, but I always feel that the sea today is extraordinarily magnificent!"

Liu Rengui smiled and said, "It's natural. We were adapting to the sea before, but this time we are trying to conquer the sea. The feeling is naturally different."

"The young master is right."

……

Chapter 562 Target: Luzon Islands ([-]rd update)

Chapter 27 Target: Luzon Islands ([-]rd update)

In the seventh century AD, who would have thought that in the far east, on the South China Sea, there would be such a huge fleet cleaving the waves?

Today's Europe is still very ignorant, the Western Roman Empire exists in name only, and the Eastern Roman Empire is lingering under the blows of the Dashi Empire and the Sassanian Dynasty, which is also in turmoil.The empire on which the sun never sets in the later generations is still a deserted island. Although it has won independence, after a short period of independence, there will be continuous wars. It has never stopped—just like the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, the wars of various countries were chaotic.Of course, unlike the battles during the Spring and Autumn and Warring States Periods, the scale of the war in Europe was far smaller than that in the East, and it was even a little petty, and the structure was a little too small.

There are many countries in the west, and thousands of races are competing for power, but in the east, the Tang Dynasty is already the dominant family, standing at the pinnacle. Although there are small troubles, it is difficult to hurt the foundation of the Tang Dynasty.

Liu Rengui is currently recording some information at his desk in the cabin. Since the day he went out to sea, he has started to record the logbook. Every day, the hydrology and meteorology must be recorded one by one. These are very precious navigation data, not only for himself Future adventures are of great reference value, and more importantly, they can be included in the Datang Royal Library and used as learning materials for latecomers-this is also what attracts him the most. Ancient times are no better than later generations. This book is difficult. In addition to the difficulty of printing and dissemination, the more important thing is that since you dare to publish a book, you must be prepared to be picked on by your peers.

Therefore, in ancient times, people were generally not qualified to publish books, and only some well-educated Confucian scholars dared to write books, because they were rich in knowledge, and they could consider all aspects when writing a book, and they were not afraid of being picked on.Ordinary people can't do it, but if you dare to use a wrong word, a large group of people will come up to argue with you, which will annoy you.

But the logbook is different, this is a technical book, and this should be the first time for Liu Rengui. Before him, no one would write a logbook and pass it down.In other words, if Liu Rengui's logbook is really compiled into a book one day, those who are full and have nothing to do are not qualified to trouble him-because he is the founder of this industry, he is the professional People, some scholars have never even seen the sea, how can they have any qualifications to comment on his book?

Liu Rengui's ship is naturally the largest merchant ship in the fleet. Its name is Galloping. It belongs to the second ship of the vertical and horizontal class merchant ships. The captain, of course, wants to take the best ship.

"Tuk! Tuk! Tuk!"

There was a knock on the door.

Liu Rengui stopped writing and said, "Come in."

It was Luo Hansheng who walked in. He was an old seafarer with rich experience, and he was also the navigator of the entire fleet. He led hundreds of disciples, and he was highly respected.

Even Liu Rengui didn't dare to give Luo Han a little face, but asked politely: "Old Luo, why are you here? What's the matter?"

Luo Hansheng said: "Master Liu, I came here to tell you! If the journey goes well, we will be able to reach the Dongsha Islands on the chart this evening! When we arrive at the Dongsha Islands, we have already traveled a quarter of the way. gone."

Liu Rengui was overjoyed: "Really? This is really great, I didn't expect this trip to be so smooth!"

The Dongsha Islands are the northernmost group of islands in the South China Sea. There are three coral atolls: Dongsha Atoll (Dongsha Island and Dongsha Reef), Nanweitan Atoll (reef) and Beiweitan Atoll (reef). ).It is the group of islands closest to the mainland and with the fewest islands and reefs among the islands in the South China Sea.

The geographical location of the Dongsha Islands is very important. To the north is the mainland, 170 nautical miles away from the Xiangjiang River, and only 140 nautical miles away from Shantou.

To the west is Hainan Island, 360 nautical miles away.

To the northeast are Taiwan Island and the Penghu Islands, 140 nautical miles from Taiwan Island and only 130 nautical miles from the Penghu Islands.

To the northeast is the Luzon Islands, only 420 nautical miles away.

The geographical location of the Dadongsha Islands can be said to be very important. It can be regarded as an important transportation hub connecting the four directions. As long as the card owner is here, more than half of the South China Sea shipping throat can be guarded. Especially in ancient times, shipbuilding technology was not developed. If you want to reach a farther place, you have to find the island and jump over it step by step, there is no other way.

However, Liu Rengui's destination is the Luzon Islands, and the status of the Dongsha Islands is more important to him, because this is the only stop within a few hundred nautical miles—unless you don't start from Yuezhou, you should start from Quanzhou Otherwise, if you go to Luzon, you can only pass through here.

"God bless, Sea Dragon King bless, bless us to go to the Luzon Islands smoothly." Luo Hansheng prayed.

The Luzon Islands, also known as the Philippine Islands, are the ultimate goal of Liu Rengui this time.In fact, when choosing the first target to conquer, Li Zhen struggled for a long time.Because the Tang Dynasty had already conquered the entire Indochina Peninsula at this time, if you want to explore, you can start from the Malay Peninsula and conquer most of the surrounding sea areas and islands, such as Borneo, where there is a lot of oil.

But after thinking about it carefully, the Indochina Peninsula has just been conquered after all, and it is too far away from the center of Datang. If something goes wrong, when Datang receives the news and reacts, I am afraid that the rice has already been cooked. No, this is not what Li Zhen wants.Therefore, let the mineral deposits there be buried underground for a while, and we will talk about it later when Nanyang is completely in our hands.

But Luzon is different. The Luzon Islands are not only closer to Datang (it is only a bus strait away from Taiwan Island, even if you go from Yuezhou, it only takes 14 nautical miles, which is only [-] kilometers in kilometers. A little more), mineral resources are extremely rich, especially metal minerals, of which iron ore resources are as high as [-] billion tons in reserves, enough for Datang to mine for hundreds of years without worrying about depletion.

In addition to iron ore, the precious metal deposits in the Luzon Islands are even more insanely rich. The amount of copper ore resources reached 4020 million tons. Datang was a copper-poor country. During the Song Dynasty, the economic development was so fast that there were not enough copper coins. So, some places even began to mint iron coins to make up for it.Similarly, the price of copper in Datang is also ecstatically expensive, otherwise it would not be possible to buy a bucket of rice with a few copper coins.

Chapter 563

Chapter 28 Sudden Storm

This is also the place that Li Zhen covets Luzon the most. If the copper mines in Luzon are mined, although the price may rise in a short period of time, in the long run, it will be very beneficial to the national economy, at least not in the future. There will be a dilemma of copper shortage in the Song Dynasty.

In addition to copper mines, Luzon is also a major producer of gold and silver mines. Luzon Island, Masbate Island, Mindanao and other places are the main producing areas of gold mines.In later generations, the Philippines was known as the number one exporter of gold mines in Asia, which shows how rich its domestic gold mines are.

And this is also Li Zhen's powerful counterattack to some people in the court - didn't you say that what I conquered was useless land, and that I conquered this place just to satisfy my desire to kill?So now that I have found so many treasures for you, let's see what else you have to say.

"By the way, I heard that Mr. Luo has been to the Lion Kingdom?" Liu Rengui asked suddenly: "It is said that it is quite close to Tianzhu. Could Mr. Luo tell me about it in detail."

When Luo Hansheng mentioned this, he was no longer as restrained as he was at the beginning, and began to talk freely: "Actually, there is nothing to say. The Lion Country is actually an island country, facing Tianzhu across the sea. In fact, I only lead the fleet I have been there once, and the customs and customs there are similar to those of Tianzhu, so there is nothing to say. But the place there is quite big. Although it is said to be an island, in terms of area, it is larger than Qiongzhou Island and Yizhou Island combined. A little bigger. There are a lot of spices that are scarce on our side. We purchased several ships in a big way, thinking that we would make a lot of money, but who knew that there was a big storm on the way back, and the entire fleet had dozens of ships In the end, only the old boat ran back alive.

It is also because of this that the old man has a fear of the sea. He has retired from the world for more than ten years, and he has not recovered until recent years. He also heard the news that His Royal Highness is building a huge ship, so he volunteered to join the King of Yue. , planning to venture into this sea again...

So don't blame the old man for talking too much, Mr. Liu, although the voyage went smoothly before this time, you must not slack off because of it. You must know that the sea is the most unpredictable. , how many ships capsized because of this sudden change of weather, adults must be very careful and careful. "

"Don't worry, Mr. Luo. I've been traveling on the sea for more than ten years. I still know the truth." Liu Rengui nodded. It is true that as Luo Hansheng said, the sea is unpredictable and the most dangerous. He will fall into a place of eternal doom. As the leader of a fleet, he must be careful and careful.

One day later, under the guidance of Luo Hansheng, the fleet accurately found the Dongsha Islands, which they said were archipelagos. In fact, two of the three islands in the Dongsha Islands were hidden reefs, and did not emerge from the water. There was only a small Dongsha Island. On the surface of the water, the target on the ocean is extremely small. Luo Hansheng was able to lead the fleet to find this island accurately, which shows that his ability 1 is really outstanding.

Dongsha Island is a dish-shaped sand island running from northwest to southeast. It is about 28 kilometers long, 07 kilometers wide, and covers an area of ​​18 square kilometers. It is the second largest island in the South China Sea Islands, second only to Xisha Yongxing Island.It is about 6 meters above the sea on average, slightly higher in the northeast, up to 12 meters, and the second highest in the southwest, about 8 meters.The whole island is surrounded by high and low in the middle.The water in the central lowland forms a lake with a depth of 1-15 meters. The mouth of the lake opens to the west. The terrain is narrow, the environment is harsh, and there is no human habitation. It is a deserted island in the sea.

The groundwater on the entire Dongsha Island mainly comes from the fresh water stored in the sand layer when it rains. Due to the infiltration of seawater, the fresh water in the sand layer is saline and cannot be drunk. Therefore, the fleet cannot be effectively replenished here. Temporary resting place.

But even so, it is a rare experience for these crew members who have been drifting at sea for many days, especially although there is no water source on Dongsha Island, it is an island after all. A surprise.

After resting on Dongsha Island for two days, the fleet set sail again and continued towards the unknown.

And on the second day after they left Dongsha Island, the fleet finally met their first challenge since they went to sea.

Looking at the gloomy clouds in the distance, Luo Hansheng immediately directed the crew to run back and forth: "The strong wind is coming, hurry up, put up the sails, fix everything on the boat, and all irrelevant personnel enter immediately." In the cabin, hold on tightly to everything you can. All ships should be as close together as possible, and those that can be connected with chains must be connected..."

Li Zhen knew exactly how big the wind and waves were on the sea, because before setting sail, she asked the craftsmen to refit the cargo ship, that is, to install a few trebuchets.What the trebuchet throws is not stones, but clusters of chains. As long as it encounters wind and waves, it can throw chains at adjacent ships to connect the two ships to form a structure similar to a chain ship, which greatly increases the ship's resistance. The wind and wave ability can also prevent the fleet from getting separated in the waves, which can be said to kill two birds with one stone.The only disadvantage is that the ship carries so many iron chains, the corresponding cargo capacity is reduced a lot, and a trip will lose a lot of money, but compared to the profit, the safety of the fleet is undoubtedly more important of.

The fleet quickly hit the typhoon head-on. Almost instantly, the crew members hiding on the ship felt the body of the ship shake, and then it shook violently. Several people who were not grasping firmly were thrown away. After going out, he fell to the ground and got a bloody head. Seeing this scene, everyone subconsciously grabbed hold of the fixtures in their hands, and some even tied themselves to the pillars directly.

The situation in the cabin was not good, and it was even worse outside. Many people were swept up and fell by the strong wind when they were fixing supplies. Those who fell on the sea were fine, but those who fell on the deck were thrown alive Die, heavy loss.

"Hurry up, we don't need the supplies, let's go to the cabin first." Liu Rengui was in a hurry when he saw this, and stood at the door of the captain's cabin and shouted loudly, but suddenly a black object hit him with lightning speed, smashed the glass, and came a close touch on the cheek.

"Whoa."

"Slap!" There was a crisp sound, as if he had been slapped on the face. Liu Rengui was stunned at the time. When he came back to his senses and looked for the murderer who attacked him, he found that the so-called murderer turned out to be just a black The sea fish are still jumping around on the floor.This unlucky ghost was rolled out of the sea by the waves, and it just happened to hit Liu Rengui in the face. Fortunately, there was a glass in the middle, otherwise Liu Rengui would not just be slapped in the face, but the whole body It is possible for people to be killed by fish.

Chapter 564 Unexpected harvest, a blessing in disguise