“...... However, the situation was still very dangerous at that time, and the last general did not dare to stay, so he could only follow the direction of the compass, all the way to the east, to the east...... Two days later, we finally saw the land ......"

Listening to Tong Hailong's trembling voice, there was silence in the hall, and some people involuntarily turned their eyes to Zhu Yunwen.

In all fairness, although there are not many people who agree with Zhu Yunwen's opening of the sea ban and trade in Nanyang, there are not many people who oppose it, because the customs revenue brought by the sea ban has brought real benefits, and most of the income is used on the officials' money, and the money received by the officials is no longer grain and Daming treasure banknotes, but the silver bills of the Bank of Communications, which makes the officials' lives a lot more solid, so there are not many objections.

In fact, this is also due to the residual power of Emperor Hongwu, under his high pressure, the officials of the Jianwen Dynasty are relatively honest, so the income of Yulu is very important to them, and at this point, it cannot be said that Zhu Yunwen is still relatively lucky.

But sending a fleet to sail eastward, looking for the legendary, no, it should be said that the emperor imagined the "Americas", there are quite a lot of opponents, but most of these people are civil officials, in the Jianwen Dynasty, civil officials are not qualified to ask about military affairs, in this regard, Zhu Yunwen is more insistent than his grandfather Zhu Yuanzhang; In the face of the emperor's request, the generals did not dare to object, at most they could only push back on the candidates for the expedition, and finally chose some characters that grandpa did not hurt and grandma did not love to send to death, and Tong Hailong was one of the best.

"General Tong, when you arrive in the Americas, how many people and how many ships do you have left?"

Hearing Zhang Rong's question, the secretary of the Navy Governor's Mansion, Tong Hailong hurriedly bowed down and said, "Back to Lord Zhang, when we arrived in the Americas, our army had nine ships left, one hundred and five sailors, and a total of seven hundred and fifteen soldiers. ”

"General Ben remembers that when he set out on the expedition, there were nineteen Fu ships and seventeen Haicang ships, with a total of 2,117 soldiers, which means that the Fu ships lost 10 ships, all the 17 Haicang ships were lost, and the soldiers lost 1,402 soldiers?"

"Yes, it is!"

......

Dead silence, the hall fell into a dead silence.

The civil and military generals present have all seen the world, and the death of 1,800 people is nothing in their eyes. But without any fighting, the loss of two-thirds of the soldiers and three-quarters of the ships just because of the tsunami, wind and waves, such a large loss is really unacceptable.

“...... Since the loss was so big, why didn't you stop the boat to rescue Qi Qianye and them at that time? After being silent for a while, Zhang Rong suddenly said.

"My lord, it's not that we can't save it, but we can't," Tong Hailong glanced at his subordinates with anger in his eyes, signaled them to silence, then shook his head, and said with a wry smile: "My lord, the storm had not stopped at that time, and the sky was cloudy, like a pot lid pressed on the top of the head, and the person who pressed it could not breathe; And the sea is still turbulent, one by one waves hit, the fortune ship is like a leaf, bumpy non-stop, unable to stand, the soldiers on the ship for the rest of their lives, are frightened, have been a little disobedient to the order, so the last general does not dare to continue to stay, can only send out a signal flare, attract the attention of all the ships, and then take the lead to the east, other ships naturally followed. ”

"After walking for about half a day, we stopped the ship to check, and at that time, the last general found that the fortune ship of the Qianye brothers was gone, but looking back, it was still cloudy, and the last general could only order to give up the rescue and sail east to survive."

After listening to Tong Hailong's explanation, the ministers in the hall couldn't help but whisper.

"Really? Can there be such a tsunami disaster? ”

"It's terrible, it's not easy for a sailor to survive this kind of scene!"

"I shouldn't have gone to find any 'Americas' at all, it's like a life and death."

"It's so pitiful, more than 1,400 people, all of them have no place to bury!"

"Yes, yes, what a sin!"

“......”

"Tong Hailong is really a waste, why is the loss so big?"

"It's not easy for him, don't you hear? It's good to survive that scene! ”

"Also, I feel creepy when I hear it!"

"Yes, Lao Tzu often goes to sea, I thought I had enough knowledge, but I never thought that such a thing would happen in the depths of the sea! It's horrible! ”

"Ocean voyage is not so easy!"

“......”

Listening to the whispers below, Zhu Yunwen's face turned pale, he didn't expect to encounter this situation, he didn't expect the expeditionary fleet to lose so much, and he didn't expect that these losses would happen before they reached the Americas.

In fact, Zhu Yunwen made a very serious mistake, in his memory, the easternmost tip of Asia and the westernmost point of the Americas are very close, only separated by less than 100 kilometers of the Bering Strait, so it is natural to think that along the islands of Sakhalin and Sakhalin to the east can reach Alaska, this road is the closest on the map, and it seems to be the easiest.

However, Zhu Yunwen underestimated the climatic conditions of the Bering Sea, that is, it is very, very cold, with an average annual temperature of only 2 to 4 degrees Celsius in the south, and an average temperature of minus 10 to 8 degrees Celsius in the north.

In fact, the Bering Sea is one of the most difficult sea areas in the world to navigate, even in July, the northernmost Bering Strait still has ice floe, Tong Hailong led the fleet to sail between July and October, although it is already the best season, but it is still quite dangerous.

There is another reason, that is, although the Fu ship is the most advanced ship of the Ming Dynasty, it is still a ship suitable for offshore navigation, and is not suitable for ocean navigation.

Zhu Yunwen didn't know these two points, and similarly, no one in the entire Ming Dynasty knew about them......

......

"General Tong, the old man wants to know, how many people have returned to Daming on this expedition? How many ships? ”

Tong Hailong followed the prestige and found that it was Yuxin, the head of the household department, who stood at the head of the civil officials, his beard was white, but his eyes were still sharp, and he was staring at him.

Tong Hailong thought for a while, and arched his hand: "Lord Yu, when the last general returned to the Ming Dynasty, he happened to meet the Nanyang naval division of the Ming Dynasty near Luzon, and at that time, the last general had seven warships, a total of 324 sailors and soldiers, and some prisoners and slaves, about 100 people. ”

"Captive, slave?"

"Yes, after the Admiral arrived in the Americas, he had some conflicts with the natives in order to obtain some seeds of crops designated by His Majesty, during which he captured some prisoners, and also captured some slaves who planted these crops."

"Oh, what kind of crop seeds are they?"

"There's corn, potatoes, sweet potatoes, peppers, rubber, and so on."

"Corn, potatoes? What is this? ”

Looking at Yu Xin's stunned eyes, Tong Hailong was a little cramped, he couldn't help but turn his head to look at the emperor, and said: "We have planted some of these crops, and they taste okay, but the last general doesn't know if he has found the right one, and this needs to be judged by His Majesty!" ”

"Your Majesty," Yu Xin looked at Tong Hailong for a while, and looked at Tong Hailong all over his body, and then he turned around and said: "The minister understands, General Tong went on the expedition for three years, and nearly two thousand soldiers died, so he got these seeds?" Could it be that there is such a great wonder about these seeds? ”

"Can it make people immortal?"

Looking at Yu Xin, who was staring directly at him, as well as Hou Tai, Qi Tai and others behind him, Zhu Yunwen suddenly understood Yu Xin's worries, he thought that he sent a fleet expedition to find the elixir of life, just like Qin Shi Huang and Emperor Wu of Han, he once said that he admired Emperor Qin and Han Wu, maybe this made them think about it.

Thinking of this, Zhu Yunwen couldn't help but smile and said in a deep voice: "Yu Laoqing's family, although these seeds can't make people immortal, in my opinion, they are even more magical than the elixir. ”

"Corn can be used as a staple food, while potatoes and sweet potatoes are not only extremely high-yielding, but can also be used not only as a staple food, but also as a dish. But what I value most is that they are more drought-resistant than rice and wheat, and they have higher yields than the latter, such as potatoes, which are at least five times more productive than rice. ”

"Finally, potatoes can also be grown in the Mobei grassland, and their role does not need to be elaborated."

"Oh," Yu Xin listened, but there was no excitement, he felt that what the emperor said was simply a fantasy, he was born in Jinshi, plus he has been managing the household department for many years, and he has read some strange agricultural books, but he has never heard of corn, sweet potatoes, potatoes and other things, thinking of this, he can't help but feel a trace of sadness in his heart, Your Majesty, it is too careless for human life......

After pondering for a long time, Yu Xin slowly knelt down: "Your Majesty, the Americas, are thousands of miles away from my Ming Dynasty, even if its land is fertile and full of gold and silver, it is not worth the expedition of the Ming Dynasty." ”

"This time, General Tong traveled far and wide, and made great contributions, but the losses were extremely heavy, but fortunately he brought back some 'magical' seeds, which can be described as God's blessing of the Ming Dynasty, but at this time, it can not be repeated, the old minister implores Your Majesty, don't send people to the Americas again, so it is the luck of the Ming Dynasty and the luck of the people!"

After speaking, Yu Xin fell to the ground and couldn't kneel for a long time.

And most of the civil officials behind him knelt on the ground: "I implore Your Majesty not to send people to visit the Americas again, so it is the luck of the Ming Dynasty and the luck of all the people!" ”

Listening to the sarcasm in Yu Xin's words and the low laughter in the group of officials, Zhu Yunwen was angry, but he tried to hold it back. He looked at the civil officials who were kneeling on the ground, and there were only a few people such as Yang Rong and Yang Shiqi who were still standing, and he couldn't help but regret that the pomp and circumstance of this matter was too big, and it was a little impossible to end; In addition, he didn't expect Yu Xin's reaction to be so big, this old guy has become more and more stubborn recently, and he has a tendency to be poor and perverse; On the side of the generals, Zhu Yunwen also found that some people's faces were cloudy and uncertain, and they seemed to have a tendency to kneel, and he couldn't help but feel a little anxious.

Suddenly, Zhu Yunwen's eyes swept and he found Tong Hailong kneeling in the middle, and couldn't help but say, "General Tong, what do you think, what do you think of Lord Yu's suggestion?" ”