But if you want to do a good job, this time the westward expansion must be successful, in order to go west, Datang Western Company spent almost all the working capital, so as to build the two cruisers of Guangjin, as the company's foreign trade colonial guarantee, if this westward expansion is not successful, I am afraid that the company will not even be able to take out the money to maintain these two cruisers.

Because the current trade license of Datang Western Company has not been announced, and the demutualization plan has not been disclosed, the main purpose is to raise insufficient funds due to the current demutualization, Datang Western Company wants to rely on its own funds, first find a foothold for Western trade, even if it cannot go all the way to Europe, but at least first establish a number of stable trading sites in the South China Seas and the Indian Ocean, and then recruit funds after seeing the dawn of lucrative profits.

You have to know that the fundraising prepared by Datang Western Company is not a few tens of millions of taels of silver, but a huge number that may reach tens of millions of taels of silver, and it is very difficult to raise so much money without huge benefits and a policy of monopolizing trade.

In addition, it is also to avoid being intercepted by the Portuguese in the early stage!

In order to control the profits of trade from Asia to Europe alone, the Portuguese almost completely blocked the Indian Ocean, so that the Spaniards, the world's leaders in these years, were helpless, and they worked hard to gain a trade foothold in Southeast Asia, and every attempt was destroyed by the Portuguese.

Now, if the Tang Dynasty wants to bypass the Portuguese, directly drive the merchant ships through Malacca, enter the Indian Ocean, and then bypass the Cape of Good Hope all the way to the Atlantic Ocean to Europe, you know with your toes that the Portuguese will definitely go crazy.

And a very important point is that now the trade between the Tang Dynasty and Portugal can be said to be cooperative with each other, the connection is very close, the Portuguese need the goods of the Tang Dynasty, and the Tang Dynasty needs the Portuguese to sell the goods to Europe, in a short time, no one can do without whom.

If the Tang Dynasty turns against the Portuguese now, it will be difficult for the Tang Dynasty to find other European countries to cooperate in transporting and selling porcelain, raw silk, industrial products and other goods in a short period of time, because other European countries will not be able to come by at all.

Many restrictions have led to the fact that this time, Datang Western Company's westward exploration must be hidden!

After leaving Guangzhou, this fleet of eight ships, six of which were armed merchant ships, two cruisers, and a total displacement of more than 4,000 tons, first followed the traditional route, along the coastline all the way south, and after arriving at Lianzhou Mansion, it carried out the last large-scale replenishment, mainly to replenish food and fresh water, and it is worth noting that these supplementary materials included a large number of soybeans and mung beans, which were prepared to be used to produce bean sprouts after soaking.

And bean sprouts are used to prevent scurvy, although the current medical development of the Tang Dynasty is still very primitive, the students of the Royal Institute of Technology know the word vitamin C, but to be honest, they still haven't figured out what this is all about, just look at the simple textbooks written by Li Xuan to learn by themselves, they can't understand it at all!

But it doesn't matter if they don't understand, now they just need to know that they need to replenish and eat vegetables and fruits in time when they go to sea.

China has always had a tradition of eating bean sprouts, and under the leadership of Li Xuan, the Datang Navy listed bean sprouts as a necessary food, and beans must be carried every time they go to sea to produce bean sprouts.

And many merchant ships in China also have a tradition of eating bean sprouts!

This is completely different from the West, they don't know what scurvy is, let alone because of the lack of vitamin C, and they don't know that vegetables and fruits can supplement vitamin C.

Therefore, sailing in these years, for European sailors, is actually a gamble, if you go to sea for a long time, you will get scurvy!

After the last large-scale replenishment of supplies, the fleet began to move south, led by Guedes, but not by the traditional route of following the coastline of the Indochina Peninsula.

In ancient times, navigation was more difficult, in order to avoid getting lost, replenish various supplies in time, and also to avoid the super wind and waves of the deep sea, it was generally sailed along the coastline.

And this time, in order to avoid the vigilance of the Portuguese, after leaving Lianzhou, the fleet went directly into the depths of the South China Sea, away from the coastline, and then went south.

After being far away from the coastline, they also encountered great difficulties, because far away from the coastline, the route could no longer be confirmed by land, and they could only rely on astronomy and compass to confirm, which was actually very difficult for this era.

At this time, the old pirate Guedes gave full play to his expertise, and he continued to go south with the fleet in a vast sea, sometimes in order to take advantage of the wind direction and ocean currents, he also changed the course many times, and after changing the voyage many times, he was still able to return to the correct course, for this, the more than 20 naval officers in the fleet were speechless and deeply admired!

Well, it is important to mention here that these 20 or so naval officers in the fleet are naturally not active officers of the Datang Navy, although they were still active officers of the Datang Navy a few months ago, but now they are retired, and then they are hired by Datang Western Company and become employees of Datang Western Company, and their military ranks are of two kinds, one is their retired military rank, and the other is the military rank of armed employee of Datang Western Company, the two are different.

However, there is one thing that is unified, that is, it is clearly stipulated in the license that the armed employees, ordinary soldiers, and non-commissioned officer employees of the Datang Western Company can hire ordinary people and even local natives, but the officer employees must hire retired officers from the Datang Army, Navy, Guards, etc., and cannot employ ordinary people or foreigners.

In order to keep the two cruisers running smoothly, the Datang Western Company contacted the navy and hired more than 20 retired naval officers and more than 100 retired soldiers.

However, these officers, who retired from the Navy and are now employees of the Tang Western Company, now admire Guedes's seamanship skills, and in the vast sea, it is like the back garden of Guedes's family, allowing him to come and go freely!

Those officers were now by Guedes's side every day, recording his every manoeuvre, and these would be extremely valuable nautical records, and there would be no place outside to learn them.

Guedes didn't care about the stealing behavior of a group of naval officers, he had more skills, and he wasn't afraid that these hairy young men would be able to sail safely from a deep sea just by virtue of their sailing records? Just kidding, when they try it on their own, some of them cry!

Guedes sailed all the way through the deep sea of the South China Sea with his fleet, and then did not encounter any other ships along the way, because except for them due to special circumstances, the other ships basically sailed close to the coastline and basically did not run into the deep sea in a daze.

And on the way, they also encountered a few islands and reefs, although the islands are not big, and there are no supplies to supply, but every time at this time, the fleet will stop, Ying Zihua of the Tang Western Company will send the armed employees of the Tang Western Company to sit on a small boat to the island, and then erect an inscription: The island of the Tang Empire, a certain month and a certain day in the sixth year of Xuanping.

Then they will also erect a small inscription, the words are the same, it reads: Datang Western Company territory, it is strictly forbidden to trespass without permission, otherwise you will bear the consequences!

Yes, Datang Western Company regards every uninhabited island encountered along the way as the territory of the Tang Empire, as the territory of Datang Western Company, as for outsiders not to admit it, it doesn't matter, if you don't admit it, you will hit him until you admit it!

Theoretically, only Datang Western Company is powerful enough to occupy the whole of India, then the whole of India belongs to the company's territory!

Sailing all the way, the fleet did not go straight to Malacca, because there were Portuguese there, and it was easy for this fleet to go into trouble, so they first turned east to Luzon.

Luzon has always been a vassal state of the Chinese Empire, and now that the Tang Dynasty has unified China, it is naturally no exception, and the Luzon Islands are an inseparable part of the Tang Empire!

Well, now it's just a matter of letting those natives take care of it first, and when the Tang Empire is free, it will take back its own management, what, the local natives are unwilling, just kidding, how can the natives speak these days!

The natives said they didn't want to? The Tang Empire said: "What are you talking about? Say it louder, I didn't hear it...... What the? Be louder......"

Of course, the Tang Empire is still very busy now, the domestic war has not yet ended, and the Portuguese side has to be on guard, so the Luzon side will not be able to take care of it for a while, so this time I went to the Luzon Islands, but I didn't say that I planned to take back the direct jurisdiction of Luzon, but I was just going to go there to establish a small trading site.

What, the local natives say they don't want to, they want to oppose it? Then hit it until it is willing, and do not object!

On this fleet, Datang Western Company carried a total of more than 600 people, of which more than 100 were newly retired from the navy, and more than 500 people, all of whom were armed sailors.

In addition, there are hundreds of sailors in Guedes' fleet, well, that can also fight.

In these years, the sailors who went to the open sea were basically armed men, because the maritime merchants either robbed others or were robbed by others, and it was normal to fight a battle when they went out to sea.

If you can't use a sword or a gun, you can't be a sailor!