I am the king of the dead

Armed with merchant ships and an alliance of interests, wouldn't merchants want to unite and run amok across the sea, becoming Japanese pirates and harassing the waters of Daming?

It seems so, but the logic of the real world is that during the Yongle period, looking around, there were not many pirates even in the Western Ocean. Only by accepting the canonization of the Ming Emperor can one sit securely.

Armed merchant ships attacking the battleships of the Daming Navy?

In the eyes of the warships of the Daming Navy, there is no essential difference between armed merchant ships and the small boats driven by the unclothed Sons of Nature in the Inca Kingdom.

Merchants pursue profit, not death.

Tang Xing can understand the phenomenon, but if he is asked to discuss the matter at the level of order, he can also say one, two, three, incomplete order is more terrifying than no order, and the maritime trade before the Ming Dynasty is a typical case. , but only a little bit.

The consequence of the decline of the maritime trade in the Ming Dynasty was the rampant Japanese pirates, because the weakening of the maritime trade would cause a large number of businessmen and hired laborers engaged in overseas trade to lose their jobs, and this kind of widespread unemployment is unsustainable and can only become bandits , became part of the Japanese pirates, burned, killed and looted everywhere, further exacerbating the decline of maritime trade.

It's a cycle.

The incomplete order and system design caused the weakening of Daming's maritime armed forces, and the weakening of maritime power further led to the weakening of Daming's maritime trade, and the weakening caused more maritime merchants and landless tenants to become unsustainable and become bandits, further The situation of rampant Japanese pirates was expanded, the maritime environment further deteriorated, resulting in the further decline of maritime trade and the further collapse of the Ming Dynasty's coastal defense system.

After Tang Xing thought clearly about the decline of the sea trade and the bad consequences after the decline of the sea trade, Tang Xing went a step further, that is the relationship of production.

This is another important question that Tang Xing has been thinking about during the past three months. Will Daming's commodity advantage in the world's production system always exist due to the lack of marine armed forces?

the answer is negative.

If the whole world is compared to a biological chain, Da Ming will fall from the top of the food chain step by step.

The transformation of the commodity economy of the Ming Dynasty will also gradually move from high-value-added silk, tea, cotton cloth, pens, inks, paper and inkstones, iron pots, etc. to low-end ones.

From high-tech, high-value-added products to land- and labor-intensive products, even if high-value-added products are produced, they cannot be marketed all over the world. Because of the absence of armed forces, the air routes are controlled by others In the hands, the bulk of the profits of the commodity will be forcibly stripped.

Once Daming fell from the top of the food chain to the bottom, and the advantages of commodities no longer existed, what kind of humiliation and suffering would the Ming Dynasty have to endure on the day when it could only rely on land and labor-intensive products for primitive accumulation?

Humiliation and suffering are not the most frightening thing. The most frightening thing is not knowing when to climb out of the valley. The most frightening thing is not knowing whether you can climb to the bottom.

After the ninth year of Xuande, Daming ceased maritime operations. Until the second year of Jingtai, the Mizhou Shipping Department was established to open the sea again. Daming’s maritime operations only stopped for 17 years, and the Japanese pirates in Daming began to flood again. Daming Sea The speed of trade decline far exceeded Tang Xing's imagination.

Fortunately, from the second year of Jingtai, the wise and natural emperor of Ming Dynasty opened the sea again in spite of all opposition. Today, 13 years have passed. With the continuous recovery of the Daming navy and the continuous replacement of the armed forces, the Ming Dynasty Maritime affairs has entered a new chapter and a new era: an era of great voyages, great discoveries, great exploration, and great accumulation.

Tang Xing knew that when he returned to Daming, a new era of Daming would come.

"Is it windy?" A bored sentinel saw the anemometer start to rotate, immediately set up the binoculars, looked towards the sky, and his face changed dramatically.

"It's windy, level three, level thirteen!" The sentinel shouted loudly, jumped off the sentry tower on the top of the mast, stepped on the mast and slid down, the zipline behind the sentinel dragged him down smoothly on board.

Tang Xing immediately stood up, stuffed his notebook into the barrel, and looked towards the sky.

It was a rare storm with dark clouds.

"Commander!" Fan Dexing rushed to Tang Xing's side with a bloodless face, and said in horror: "An unprecedented storm!"

The Great Eastern Ocean is also called the Pacific Ocean, because it is too calm and the sea is not at all like being on the sea. However, behind this calmness, there are storms and waves, which frighten even the well-informed Fan Dexing.

"Don't panic, listen to my command!" Tang Xing tightened his girdle, walked out of the cabin, looked at the storm in the distance, his eyes were full of excitement, but he looked at the dark clouds in the sky, took a step back, his expression Big change, shouted loudly: "The whole ship obeys the order, full rudder to left! Full rudder to left! Full rudder to left!"

"This is the Sea Dragon King going crazy!"

In the sky, one can see the edge of a huge cyclone, but only at this edge, Tang Xing can see water mixed with dark clouds rolling and churning in the sky, a layer of mist constantly rising on the sea surface, unpredictable under the sea wind , the wind speed was rising rapidly, and it took less than a quarter of an hour to go from level three to level four, and to the north of this cyclone, there was a sharp front that seemed to split the sky.

"Ba da." Bean-sized raindrops fell on the deck, and there was even a sea fish, which fell from the sky violently. It was seafood that was swept into the sky by a water suction tornado.

"Quick, quick!" Tang Xing yelled, looking at the cyclone beyond that day in extreme horror.

In order to get rid of this huge cyclone, the Daming Ocean Navy has turned at the fastest speed. Even at the edge, the waves are still more than two feet high. , almost sinking.

Three days later, the Daming Navy completely got rid of the devastating cyclone, and the thirteen ships were well preserved.

"Li Binyan bless you!"

Tang Xing bowed solemnly to Li Binyan's grand master's chair, and three sticks of incense were still lit in the censer, which was extremely solemn.

Tang Xing is the flagship and the leader of the fleet. During a toss, the officer at the helm was thrown out. Coincidentally, the Taishi's chair got stuck on the rudder, so the course did not deflect. Otherwise, such a storm would Now, once the flagship collides with other ships, the consequences will be disastrous.

Tang Xing smoked the incense with lingering fear, this time it was really Li Binyan's Taishi Chair who helped him.

The natural navigator felt a bit of fear. The last time he had such an emotion was when he rushed into the fog with a sloop and couldn't find his way at all.

"Where are we now?" Tang Xing finished his incense, and these three days were as long as three months. He looked at the vast sea in front of him with some doubts, and found the typical characteristics of the vanishing zone. Countless islands and reefs.

Many reefs will only be revealed at low tide, some form sandbars, some surround islands or attach to the shore of the mainland, through the clear sea water, you can see the white sandy beaches on the bottom of the sea, changing shapes with the current, Giant clams, starfish, prawns, scallops, sea turtles, dolphins, whales, and marine creatures that have never been seen before are constantly swimming among the colorful corals.

In the sky, countless seabirds are flying.

"This requires Commander Tang to name it." It was also the first time Fan Dexing had seen such a spectacle.

"Coral Palace Sea (the coral sea of ​​the Great Barrier Reef)." Tang Xing pondered for a while, looked at the corals under the water, and determined the name of this place. The scenery here is extremely beautiful, and what Tang Xing most urgently wants to know is Behind this extinct zone, is there a new continent?

This place is obviously close to the continental shelf. This discovery made Tang Xing very excited. The Congealing Blood Pill is very good, but it is not tasty, it is too sour. If you find fresh fruit, you don't have to eat pills all day long. Tang Xing suspected that his teeth were going to be sour.

"East longitude 45°N latitude 8°, 230 miles away from the capital of the Ming Dynasty, and 1 miles away from Songjiang Mansion. This place is on the edge of the equator, with trade winds, and the southward sea current is stable." Fan Dexing Calculating his own position was the daily work of the boat master. He wrote down every day's records on paper and stuffed them into a sealed mahogany box.

Even if the ship sank someday, as long as the ship is salvaged, his logbook will be preserved.

Fan der Xing marked the location of the Coral Palace Sea on the globe, and said with a smile: "We are almost home. According to the previous sailing speed, we only need to walk four months to reach Luzon, and two more months to reach Luzon." You can go to Songjiang Mansion now."

Tang Xing looked at Fan Dexing and asked rather puzzled: "I'm very curious, how did you calculate the distance, can you just pinch your fingers like this?"

Fan Dexing said happily: "Does Commander Tang want to learn? This is very simple. It is just a simple problem of spherical geometry. You only need to know the latitude and longitude to calculate the distance accurately. You only need to expand the spherical geometry..."

"Stop, stop! You just need to know how to do it." Tang Xing waved his hand immediately, he tried to learn this thing, he really didn't know how to do it.

Tang Xing's star-crossing ocean skills are excellent. He still has the ability to judge direction and measure longitude and latitude. He also observes ocean currents, but it is still too difficult for him to calculate trade winds and distances.

Fan Dexing said regretfully: "It's just a simple spherical expansion, there are Pythagorean strings, and at most some square root, it's all very simple..."

Not to mention the Japanese, the sergeants of the Daming Navy sometimes look at these sailors like Fan Dexing as if they were Taoist priests, they can pinch and count, they are really amazing.

"Fan Dexing, I order you to take three boats to explore the mainland, and come back when you find it. We should hurry up and return." Tang Xing gave Fan Dexing an order. Not a difficult thing.

As long as you find it, you will return immediately. It has been four years since you left this trip, and if you don’t go back again, Daming thought Tang Xing, a natural navigator, was feeding the fish!

Not to mention that Tang Xing is homesick, who in the Daming Navy doesn't want to go home?Only the Japanese do not want to have a home, they are all ashigaru and have no home, and those samurai who have families have been sunk by Tang Xing.

Chapter 986 A Born Navigator Completed a Round-the-World Voyage

The Japanese ashigaru have no home in the country, so they don't want home at all.

When Yuan Bin, Tang Xing, Ji Duo and others came to the Wa Kingdom, they already felt that they were cruel enough to be stripped. Blowing silver is an extremely hard job, and the silver mountain needs to go into the well, which is quite dangerous.

How can you not be tired when you go down to work in the well?

Yuan Bin, Tang Xing, Ji Duo, Chen Fuyin and others discussed that the Japanese miners would be given six buckets of rice, one catty of meat, and half a catty of white wine every month, and only two to three days of rest per month. The nobleman knelt down and kowtowed, wanting to break his head. When Yuan Bin went out from the mountains and silver mountains to attack, the Japanese rushed much faster than Yuan Bin. When other states came to attack, the Japanese's will to resist Even taller than Yuan Bin!

After Tang Xing and Jin Canju got to know each other, they realized that the six buckets of rice were not too little, but too much.

Mining in the kiln is a physical labor among physical labor, and Tang Xing thinks it is very stingy to give six buckets of rice.

But what is rice?Rice is fine grain!

The Japanese were enslaved to open mines, and they didn't give them a bite of food. It was all up to the Japanese miners to figure out their own way, which was slavery.

Even at that time, the Japanese miners were eating white rice, always muttering, when did Commander Yuan and Commander Tang take them to the shrine to kill the emperor and seize the throne of the emperor, otherwise the white rice would not feel at ease .

It was the same when they were on the boat. The Japanese warriors tried their best to peel them off. Tang Xing couldn't stand it until they were peeled off.

Fan Dexing took the fleet to explore the mainland behind the disappearing zone of the Coral Palace Sea, while Tang Xing found the island and began to replenish the water and food on board.

It was Tang Xing's feeling that they were going home soon, because they had already returned to the Nanyang region.

When Tang Xing was moored, the Emperor Daming saw Yexian and hung his head on Deshengmen, planning a southern tour. Because the army was conquering Kang, the emperor could only sit in the capital, and the prince Zhu Jiancheng was the emperor. Representatives, officially began to go south.

In the spring of the 15th year of Jingtai, the prince Zhu Jiancheng went to Jinan Mansion and met with local officials such as Shandong Buzheng. In the summer of the 15th year of Jingtai, the prince Zhu Jiancheng arrived in Songjiang Mansion, the economic center of Daming.

The prince Zhu Jiancheng met Liu Yongcheng who had just returned to Daming here. As the admiral and eunuch of the official ship of the Ming Dynasty, Liu Yongcheng gave the prince a brief report on the general situation of going south to the west, and then galloped towards the capital. The prince is the prince, and the emperor is the emperor.

On the third day of July in the 15th year of Jingtai, a pigeon landed in the pigeon coop at the Xingang post station in Songjiang Prefecture, Daming. The postman in charge of the pigeon road yawned, caught the pigeon, and took the letter from the pigeon’s back. After opening it, his complexion changed drastically, and he immediately shook the copper bell on the pigeon cage, and the copper bell began to spread along the copper wire throughout Xingang!

Unless it is an urgent matter, the copper bell will not ring. The last time the copper bell was ringing was in the seventh year of Jingtai, when the Emperor of Ming came to Songjiang Mansion, when the Daming Haining and Lujiang were launched into the sea, but this time, the postmen went crazy Shaking the brass bell.

The ocean-going navy of Daming Global World has arrived at Wanguo Hailiang, Ryukyu Naha Port, and it is only two days away from returning to the home port of Songjiang Prefecture.

event!

The whole Xingang took action, sentry arrows kept going up into the sky, and the Ming Dynasty's Songjiang Jingying and the navy began to board the ship, opening up a route for the Ming ocean navy to return to Ming Dynasty.

The inspection department will stop all merchant ships from entering the port and reserve a berth for the Daming Ocean Navy.

Daming Xingang is the most prosperous harbor in Daming. How much loss is it to stop at the port for one day?The loss of tax money was at least ten thousand silver, and the business affected spread all over the Ming Dynasty. Even if the impact was great, but the prince Zhu Jiancheng heard the news that the third prince's grandfather Tang Xing had returned, and asked people to set up the salute brought from the capital. On both sides of the trestle bridge in Xingang.

Zhu Jiancheng personally ordered that the whole Xingang be decorated with lanterns and festoons, dressed in red and green, and joyous everywhere. In just two days, the prince arranged a grand welcome ceremony in Xingang, Songjiang Prefecture.

Money is a man's guts!Why did the emperor of Ming Dynasty say one thing is one thing?Didn't you collect tax money from the sea, so you don't have to grind your teeth with the courtiers for the money?

On July [-]th, the sky was cloudless, the sea and the sky were the same color, and seagulls soared in the sky. When Tang Xing’s thirteen warships appeared in the sky with only one mast exposed, the horns of the Beijing camp began to sound. , the spread in Newport exploded!

The prince Zhu Jiancheng was alone, standing beside the trestle bridge, and beside the prince stood a big dragon flag, which represented His Majesty the Emperor.

Zhu Jiancheng held on to the big banner of the dragon flag, and the big banner of the dragon flag was rattling by the sea wind. Amidst bursts of military music, the prince raised his head halfway, watching the thirteen large ships slowly enter the port under the guidance of barges.

The playing music is "The Song of King Tan Entering the Battle".

When the thirteen large ships entered the port, Zhu Jiancheng raised the dragon flag and waved it vigorously.

"Boom boom boom!"

A burst of loud noises exploded in Xingang. This is a salute modified by the Ming Dynasty Black Dragon Cannon. There were 81 rounds in total, and a total of [-] rounds were fired. The whole Xingang trembled.

Tang Xing was shocked by this posture, isn't it just a circumnavigation?Isn't that simple, easy, and pinching with your hands?As for making such a big show?

I knew it was a salute, but I didn't know that I thought the Daming cannon was aimed at me and wanted to sink my gun!

Those Japanese were so frightened that they fell to the ground, not daring to make a sound.

Tang Xing carried a Big Dipper flag, got off the boat, walked onto the trestle bridge, and walked towards the prince step by step.

"Commander Chen Fandu and Commander Tang Xing of Daming Jinyiwei, pay homage to His Royal Highness, His Royal Highness Qiansui is face to face, minister Tang Xing has lived up to the king's orders, sailed around the world, and returned from overseas today!"

"Your Majesty is mighty!" Tang Xing raised the Big Dipper flag above his head and shouted loudly.

Zhu Jiancheng grabbed the seven-star flag, held it high, and shouted at everyone, "Your Majesty is mighty!"

"Your Majesty is mighty! Your Majesty is mighty! Your Majesty is mighty!"

At this moment, the [-] capital battalion and tens of thousands of sailors roared straight into the sky, and the Wan Guo Fanyi in the Wan Guo City heard such a sky-shattering roar.

Zhu Jiancheng returned the seven-star flag to Tang Xing, and he couldn't hide his excitement and said: "I also ask Tang Guozhang to carry the flag back to Beijing to return to his command. It is better for His Majesty to inspect all the harvest. Also, His Majesty asked Gu to give the Guozhang a message." .”

Tang Xing took the Seven Star Flag and looked at Zhu Jiancheng with a puzzled face.

"Your Majesty said, the father-in-law has worked hard, and the soldiers of the Ming Dynasty have worked hard!" Zhu Jiancheng repeated this sentence completely. He really didn't understand why your Majesty didn't issue a lengthy imperial decree praising the Daming Navy when he had so much to say. The merit of this is just such a short sentence.

Unexpectedly, it was such a simple sentence that made Tang Xing and the Ming soldiers behind Tang Xing red-eyed.

Facing the violent wind and rain above the ocean, they didn't cry, they didn't cry when they faced those fierce natives, and they didn't cry when they faced the equatorial windless belt that was so boring that it made people crazy. The eyes of many ruthless people in the ocean navy were red.

They worked hard, His Majesty knows.

The Japanese are a little confused, they don't know where to go, they are back, their mission is over, where should they go?Where can I go?

Tang Xing glanced at the big boat, and whispered twice to the guards beside him. The guards stood on the boat and shouted loudly: "What are you waiting for! Get off the boat quickly and follow Commander Tang back to Beijing to receive the reward!"

"Ah? Lead..." Cheers came, and the Japanese ashigaru began to disembark in an orderly manner and stood in their own phalanx.

We were grasshoppers in the same boat, and we lived and died together for five years. Tang Xing was a man, and he wouldn't throw away a dog easily, not to mention that it was an extremely useful eagle dog that worked for Daming?

Zhu Jiancheng led Tang Xing to a huge stone tablet, and said with a smile: "This is a huge tablet erected by His Majesty. On the front is the "Record of Voyage Around the World" written by my father, and three sides are engraved with the list of sailors who sailed around the world. , is the picture of Governor Li bidding farewell to Commander Tang and the Daming Navy."

"This is a sculpture of the group portraits of the Daming Navy. Although it can't express the bravery of the Navy, our Daming stonemasons have tried their best. This is Li Binyan. Governor Li ordered people to carve it. It took five years to complete it."

Tang Xing looked around, and said quite confidently: "We should build another temple, Li Taishi Temple, this time it's not Li Binyan's blessing, I'm afraid we won't be able to come back."

"Oh?" Zhu Jiancheng was taken aback, full of doubts.

"Li Binyan's grand master's chair is stuck on the steering wheel, otherwise, he would not be able to come back in the Coral Palace Sea." Tang Xing said with emotion, the storm that destroyed the world was stuck by the grand master's chair, Tang Xing sincerely thanked that chair.

"Husband..." A rather haggard woman called softly.

The temptress is now in the game, standing barefoot on the hardened road, calling Tang Xing softly, she is holding a boy who is less than two years old.

The reason why a temptress is a temptress is naturally extremely beautiful, but at this moment, apart from being haggard, Jin Shenju's face is only thin, with sunken eye sockets, sunken cheeks, and zygomatic arches exposed on the cheekbones. Like a dry bone that just crawled out of the ground, she recognized her husband, and the gloomy eyes finally regained some vitality.

She handed the child to the maid next to her, ignoring the fact that her feet were scratched by the gravel on the ground, she rushed towards Tang Xing and hugged her without crying, just twitching occasionally, her emotions accumulated to the extreme , I couldn’t cry, I just sobbed continuously and muffledly, that’s how I couldn’t cry.

Tang Xing hugged Jin Canju and said with a smile: "Don't cry, don't cry, haven't I come back? Look at you, there are so many people, come down quickly."

"I don't, I... no, I'm... a temptress, I just don't have... shame, I just want to hug you." The words of today's contestant are intermittent, but they can be said in a complete manner.

Jincanju is a relative of the emperor. After returning from Ceylon, he has been staying in Xingang, Songjiang Prefecture. At the beginning, Jincanju was a little delirious, but because of the child in his stomach, Jincanju would only be full Before long, she gave birth to the child in a daze, and then had no milk. Li Binyan found a wet nurse for Tang Xing's baby.