The world is big!

But how big is the world?

To a certain extent, Europeans know the answer. At least they had measured the world with their ships, and although their measurements were inaccurate in the eyes of later generations, they did know the size of the world by the standards of the times.

As for the Ming Dynasty, it was only through the maps and writings of the Europeans that they had a certain understanding of the world. It's just an outsider who understands the world.

We're going to learn about the world!

I don't know when, this voice echoed up and down Daming. It's floating in the hearts of many people.

Although benefiting from the "eastward expansion of Western learning" at the end of the Ming Dynasty and the tradition of Western learning in China since the first year of Xingqian, especially in every social school, you can see the "Kunyu Wanguo Quantu", coupled with Magellan's circumnavigation of the world, so that the people of the Ming Dynasty no longer doubt that the earth is a sphere, and the location and size of the Ming Dynasty on the earth.

But on the other hand, with the deepening of understanding, the scholars of the Ming Dynasty could not accept the names given by the Europeans to various continents, such as the European name "Asia", and they preferred to call it "Shenzhou" rather than use the name of the Europeans.

Of course, in their opinion, this Divine Continent should only be limited to the Ming Dynasty, not the whole of Asia, after all, in their opinion, except for the Divine Continent, other places are just barbarian lands. This kind of thinking is not even limited to scholars, and even publishers refer to "Asia" as "Shenzhou", which is certainly a part of Asia, and as for other places, it cannot be called Shenzhou. And this kind of European naming naturally doesn't matter to the Da Ming people who are full of the superiority of Chinese civilization, when they don't understand its importance, but after understanding, even "Asia", which means the place where the sun rises, and Europe is the place where the sun sets, they can't be relieved.

Although they resist Asia and call themselves the "Divine Continent" of the Ming Dynasty, their inner pride makes them not stubbornly name the land "discovered" by others, just as the Ming still calls Africa Africa and the Americas "America". The pride in their bones makes the scholars of the Ming Dynasty reluctant to take other people's discoveries as their own, and show off to others through fabrication and distortion. They accepted the European name of the world.

But deep down, the pride of the Da Ming Shi people certainly makes them not take the discoveries of others as their own, and they will not be as shameless as the sticks of later generations, through distortion and fabrication. Do everything possible to take other people's things as your own. But the pride of their hearts made them equally envious of Amerigo Vespsy, who had made a detailed survey of the northeastern coast of South America and compiled an up-to-date map. The concept of a new continent was announced to the world through the book "Tales of Sea Travel", which suddenly overwhelmed the system of the earth's structure formulated by Pudolemi, the absolute authority of Western geography in the Middle Ages. Several French scholars revised and supplemented Pudoremi's famous work "Cosmology" and named the New World after Amerigo in recognition of his outstanding contributions to mankind's understanding of the world. After the publication of the new book "Cosmology", according to the materials in the book, the New World - America - was also added to the map.

Da Ming also needs his own America. The Ming Dynasty needs to make its own discoveries in this era of geographical discoveries. Just as it has been in the past millennia, China was ahead of its European contemporaries in every way, and it is now.

Now the Europeans are surpassed, but only temporarily. We still have a chance, after all, the world is so big, there is always a vast world for us to discover.

From academies to non-governmental organizations to the industrial and commercial circles, almost everyone is discussing the great discovery of maps and how to leave the imprint of the Chinese people in the world in this era of great geographical discoveries. To prove to the world the greatness of the Chinese civilization, the Chinese civilization is definitely more brilliant than the European civilization.

For this gratifying change, whether it is the imperial court or Zhu Mingzhong himself, of course, he raised his hands in favor. For this reason, there is even a special "Royal Geographical Award" to reward those brave explorers, and there are even plans to establish the Royal Geographical Society to support the expeditions of explorers. Of course, all this is being implemented step by step, and the final implementation always needs some opportunities, and it is not necessarily a good thing to help the seedlings grow.

Despite the enthusiasm of the scholars in schools and newspapers, few people did not seem to take the initiative to take the first step, at most a few scholars went deep into the rainforests of Nanyang to learn about the local aborigines.

The Ming Dynasty does not seem to be a country where explorers will appear. Especially when sailing to the sea and sailing into the unknown distance, no one knows what will happen. Almost everyone believes that if they fail, they may lose their lives.

But people always cherish their lives and are not willing to take risks easily.

Not really!

At least, for Fang Zhongxu, he has the blood of an explorer in his veins, and he is the young son of Fang Yizhi, the governor of the Northeast. When he was young, he followed his father outside the square, and followed his father to wander around the country, and because of this, he had an adventurous spirit in his bones that ordinary scholars did not have.

Although he once longed for a comfortable life, it was always boring and boring. He didn't want to live this kind of comfortable life in his bones, and he longed for adventure.

Although in the academy of Anqing, he was proficient in the scriptures, history, etiquette, music, law, calendar, algorithm, sound, rhyme, medicine, and practical learning, and he could be said to be a well-known scholar in Jiangnan Province, but in the fourth year of Xingqian, after learning that King Ning Jing had to give up his expedition to the other side of the Pacific Ocean because he went to sea, he took the initiative to stand up and fund this voyage, of course, he did not only sponsor, he also sailed with the ship.

For him, this is exactly the kind of adventure he craves.

"Why did we choose Keelung?"

On the dock in Keelung, Fang Zhonglu said to Xu Yunxian beside him that he knew that the captain he hired was from the Xu family, and of course he also knew that he only had a few months of sailing experience. But apart from him, he has no better choice, because only Xu Yunxian and Yang Cheng can change to other captains, and they must pay at least 500 taels of salary. For this voyage, he not only advanced his salary for four years, but also borrowed 5,000 taels from his father, and in the end, if it were not for the academy and the local bank in Anqing to fund 5,000 taels, I am afraid that it may not be possible to make the trip.

"Because there is a fleet here, there are experienced professional sailors, and those sailors are not well paid, and even the Wannian Mansion has agreed that if the exiles agree to board the ship, they will be pardoned when they return to the ship."

As soon as Xu Yunxian's words fell, Yang Cheng on the side added.

"Also, the boats here are cheaper. Juniper may not be suitable for building warships, but it can also meet the requirements for building merchant ships, Keelung has the best shipyard in our Ming Dynasty, the level of shipbuilding is first-class, and ships can be built all year round, and the price of ships is cheaper than Qingniwa (Dalian),"

Because of the lack of funds, Keelung will be chosen, and the Wannian government also attaches great importance to this matter - after the Xingqian year, with the stability of the situation, Wannian is no longer the future of generosity, and the exile of exiles in the Northeast and the South Seas, Wannian is gradually marginalized, and because of this, after learning that this voyage adventure new route, especially with the knowledge that Keelung is likely to become the main departure transit port in the future, the Wannian government is naturally extremely enthusiastic about this voyage, not only to provide all convenience, Moreover, it provided a subsidy of 1,000 taels, and even took the initiative to recruit timber merchants, craftsmen, merchants who sold marine hybrids, and grain merchants from Wannian Mansion to provide all the materials needed to Fang Zhonglu at the most reasonable price.

Even the two schooners "Anping" and "Fu'an" in this voyage belonged to Wannian Mansion, and they were both new ships less than five years old, and now because of the decrease in exiles, Wannian Mansion no longer needs to maintain a fleet, so they have been sold to the fleet at a discount.

These two ships are also the favorite ships of Fang Zhongzhi among the many candidate ships, because they are without exception solid structure, very seaworthy and wave-resistant, they both use oak ribs, although the hardness of their cypress planks is only two-thirds of that of oak, so they are not suitable for building warships, but their decay resistance is very suitable for building merchant ships. Coupled with the fact that the schooner required a smaller crew, these two ships were undoubtedly the best choice for this voyage.

“…… Why should you go? ”

When the group came to the dock, Fang Zhong saw a group of sailors and lifu crowded there at the dock, and a somewhat familiar voice came from among them.

"Because we have to go, now, only Westerners sail there, not a Ming ship has yet arrived there, there is the richest land in the world, we should sail there to catch up with the fashion, to spread the civilization of China, to become the master of that land......"

Guan Tianfang, who was standing on the wooden box, was originally a scholar in Yingzhou Mansion, and when he learned about the voyage from the newspaper and knew that seafarers were being recruited, he not only took the initiative to go to Anqing to find Fang Zhonglu and participate in the voyage, but also took the initiative to widely publicize the significance of the voyage and assist Fang Zhonglu and others in recruiting new seafarers in Ningbo Port and other places. He repeatedly encouraged people to sail there, where they would surely get more land and wealth. At his instigation, many people joined the voyage, and even half of the sailors participated in it at his instigation.

"This Guan Zhicheng ......"

Looking at Guan Tian, who was dressed as a sailor, and was there to encourage people with wealth and honor, Fang Zhonglu sighed and said.

"If the people on this voyage are like him, I dare say that this voyage will be a success!"

Sailing is the business of the brave, and it is also the business of volunteers, and only those who are willing to plunge into the sea will be successful, although according to the official decree of the Wannian Prefecture, those who have signed a recruitment contract with the fleet, even if they are exiles, can be exempted from exile by participating in the fleet, and among the sailors, there are indeed several former exiles. The government also agreed that they would be exempted from exile when they returned home.

However, for Fang Zhonglu, what he needed was some motivated and proactive sailors, who were not forced to participate, but who were inspired by the hope of glory and wealth, and who devoted themselves to the cause with passion. Because of this, Fang Zhonglu has always admired Guan Tianfang's "incitement", and he even considered letting him be the helmsman, of course, this also needs to be learned, on the ship, the position of the helmsman is second only to the captain, responsible for commanding the entire crew, and is also responsible for piloting and calculating the position of the ship, and recording the daily position and distance of the ship on the chart. Although Guan Tianfang had just begun to learn navigation, Fang Zhonglu believed that through the test of this voyage, he would definitely be able to perform this position in the future.

Guan Tianfang, who was agitating the sailors to join the expedition, saw Fang Zhong's shoes, and when he saw Fang Zhong's shoes, a smile appeared on his already tanned face, and then he turned to the sailors and continued to agitate.

"You ask me, what guarantee can I give you, money, and of course, the least of the remuneration you deserve?"

Guan Tianfang paused deliberately, and then said.

"More importantly, the honor! You may be sailors, but what voyage will get your name printed on the front pages of the newspapers? Brothers, believe me! This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity! ”

Fame and fortune are full of temptations for every man. And now all they need is to tell everyone, through their own words, what they can get for this adventure, what they can get, and they can get credit that no one else can get.

This kind of honor is something that no one can ignore, especially for those who are otherwise insignificant, who are equally eager for the day when they will become famous.

After all, everyone longs to be able to glorify their ancestors one day. For them. In the past, maybe they didn't have that opportunity, but now. The opportunity is right in front of them. All they need is to seize this opportunity.

Of course, for the organizers of this trip. This is exactly what they need, they need these sailors.

Guan Tianfang continued to use his words to persuade these people, and the lobbyists embarked on this voyage with him. After all, what is most lacking now is looking at where Guan Tian is to persuade the sailors, Fang Zhongxu's face showed a smile, and at this moment an idea even appeared in his heart, if everyone is the same as him, maybe this voyage will not have any problems, and it will definitely succeed!

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