My Daming New Empire

Page 409

It's like a boat without power, floating with the waves and left to its fate.

In contrast, the sea in the Nanyang region has an average water depth of only 50 meters, and there are almost no major ocean currents. Under such an environment, sailing to the northwest cannot be said to be courting death, at least it will get twice the result with half the effort.

Zheng He, who has long-term experience, is firmly opposed to starting now. Even if he starts, he must wait at least until the end of January or early February, when the northwest monsoon stops.

Zhu Zhanji is not a willful person. After asking everyone's opinions in detail, he also feels that he has neglected the backward navigation methods of this era, and has an urge to take out the steam engine now.

But today's steam engine is not yet mature, even if it is installed on a ship, it can only be a small boat at most, and cannot carry a large ship.

To really conquer the ocean, there is a long way to go.

The fleet set off on the sixteenth day of the first lunar month, and it took three days to arrive at Star City.

Today's Star City has been gradually built up, and it is conceivable that it will become the trade center of Nanyang in the future.

And Malaka, don't even think about becoming a powerful country in the future.

Anyway, no matter how strong they are, it will only last for more than 100 years, and in the end they are cheaper than the Portuguese.

Here, the fleet waited until the eighth day of February, the day before Zhu Zhanji's birthday, when the northwest wind finally stopped.

On the day of Zhu Zhanji's birthday, he didn't even celebrate his own birthday, so the whole army set off with an order.

This voyage is even more difficult than going to Nanzhou, because going to Nanzhou is still a bit windy.But now, with this weak wind, the fleet can't move much faster than climbing.

But in any case, the fleet is still moving slowly. If you really want to get wind, you have to wait for three months, and Zhu Zhanji can't wait.

Departing from Star City on the ninth day of February, it took three days to reach Malaga. In later generations, this journey was only three hours.

On February [-], the fleet arrived in Kedah, which was originally the former capital of Bangka and the largest rice base in Malaysia.But now the Bangka Kingdom has long since disappeared and is currently ruled by Siam.

After arriving here, the Strait of Malacca became wider, and the fleet did not need to face the wind. The fleet adjusted its direction and sailed north.

When the fleet arrived at the waters of Phuket Island in later generations, the long-awaited wind finally arrived.

Zhu Zhanji finally let go of his tense heart. Although this short voyage took half a month, the future journey will be much smoother.

The fleet did not go to the Bagu Dynasty, where the regime is now in turmoil, and Wang Jinghong has led the fleet to trade with them and mediate their conflicts.

Now, Wang Jinghong and the others are waiting for the main fleet in Kochi.Zhu Zhanji will never go to Bagu or Banggeci and other countries.

He had already met their monarchs and princes when the competition was held in Star City, and he didn't want to spend too much time and energy in front of these small countries.

Now he had only one target, and that was Horumus.This is also the area near Bandar Abbas at the exit of the Persian Gulf in later generations, and it is an important hub of trade and transportation in West Asia.

Thank you Da Sui Zhang Degong, I spit on you, bamboo sticks, the rewards from people who see the lights, thank you for your support

Chapter 38 Kochi

In later generations, India can be regarded as a country and a geographical name, but today, there is no place like India at all.

Just like Latin America in later generations, everyone knows that it refers to northern South America and Central America, but on the map, you can't tell which place is Latin America.

Now India is divided into more than 300 small countries, a small town, a county, is a country.

The people here don't have the idea of ​​unity at all, and all the rulers don't agree with it, they just rack their brains to stabilize their rule.

The largest country here today is the Delhi Sultanate in the north. As for the famous Mughal Empire in later generations, it will not be established until 100 years later.

However, even the largest Delhi Sultanate only occupied a piece of northern India in later generations.In the Indian subcontinent, they are a powerful country, but they are just a puppet supported by the Timurid country.

The Indian subcontinent was originally the stronghold of Hinduism.Later, the small country of Kapilavatthu (later Nepal) wanted to be independent, and their princes established Buddhism according to the scriptures of the Hindu sect.

However, Buddhism has never developed in the Indian subcontinent. Since its birth, it has been strongly suppressed by the local mainstream Hindu sect.

So Buddhists fled everywhere, but instead spread in Tibetan areas and the Indochina Peninsula.

There is no unified political power, and the nobles here use the division of people of the Hindu sect to enjoy their inherent privileges.

The upper and lower cannot be united, the class cannot be surpassed, and people have no upward struggle channels, so there are very few disputes on this continent.

If you win, you are still a slave, if you lose, you are still a nobleman.You were born a noble, and you will always be a noble. You were born a slave, and you will always be a slave. Who wants to fight?

The east of this continent is surrounded by tropical rain forests and mountains, and the north is surrounded by insurmountable mountains. There are only two mountain passes in the northwest corner that can lead to the outside world.

These two mountain passes have also become the source of previous wars on this continent.

Big cannibals, Persians, Turks, Mongols, every time a foreign nation enters, they will beat the people here and complain, but there is nothing they can do.

In this day and age, the Delhi Sultanate, a country that believes in Green religion and is ruled by the Persians, occupies the most fertile farmland in the north. If it weren't for their small number of people, they would have already occupied the entire continent.

Hundreds of small countries in the south have also organized resistance many times, but the slave soldiers are not willing to help them fight at all, so they have been defeated repeatedly.Their holy land, the most fertile land, was occupied by foreign races, and they could only recognize it.

Although the people here are easy to manage, there is a very big problem, that is, they are very productive.

In the whole world, the people here are the only ones who, like the Han people, take more children and more blessings as their basic concept.

This continent is uniquely endowed with the highest mountains in the world in the north, blocking the cold air. Although the sky is dry and rainless, the ground water resources are abundant, so the entire continent is fertile farmland.

Calculated purely in terms of arable land area, the area of ​​arable land here is far more than that of Daming, so it can support even more people than Daming.

Although Zhu Zhanji thought about taking this land as his own, he didn't have much interest when he thought of the crowded population here.

Turning so many people into Daming people, the ethnic composition of Daming will be very complicated in the future.

What's more, he plans to abolish the ethnic division at an appropriate time in the future. Whether it is the Mongols, the Huanghua big cannibals, or other Yi tribes in the southwest mountainous area, or the Indians in the future, they are collectively referred to as the Hua nationality.

Except for the larger population of Indians now, people of other ethnic groups will be able to assimilate in the future.

The Indians have no resistance to influenza, smallpox, and plague, and their population advantage can be easily resolved.

But the people on this continent are different. If the ethnic classification of this continent is cancelled, it will affect the stability of the entire Ming Dynasty.

Not canceling it is also a contradiction, bringing hidden dangers to the entire structure of Ming Dynasty.

Therefore, in Zhu Zhanji's heart, he planned to treat this place as a colony, and it was better not to include it in the territory under the direct management of Ming Dynasty.

The big deal is to occupy Myanmar, Nepal, and Assam in the future, so that the overall development of the Indian subcontinent can be curbed.

The fleet sailed directly to the southwest from the waters of Burma in later generations.Although it took a big bend, the distance was nearly doubled.But because he avoided the headwind, he can still sail with the wind, and the speed is actually faster.

The fleet is moving close to the coastline of the mainland, and these are all familiar routes, so the navigators are very familiar with each one, and they are not afraid of hitting the rocks at all.

The small countries such as Banggeci, Sariwani, Gail, etc., whose names have long since disappeared in later generations, started from Bangladesh and were small countries along the coast.

For example, Sri Lanka in later generations is now called Mount Ceylon. Zheng He sailed to the West for the third time, and even captured their king directly to Daming.

The Maldives in later generations is now called the country of slippery mountains, but this country is so small that Zhu Zhanji doesn't want to waste energy at all.