After more than three months of waiting, by the beginning of April of the 11th year of Chongzheng, more than 400 warships were finally renovated, and the super treasure ship battleships were also produced.

Although he was in a hurry, he couldn't make the trip immediately, because the team accompanying him this time was too large, first of all, in terms of warships, there were a total of four hundred and three warships of various types, specifically:

A large treasure ship warship, which is newly manufactured, is a large treasure ship with a length of 44 zhang and a width of 18 zhang and a width of 62 zhang, with a combined power of sails and propellers, and a three-story gunboat, with 50 ship-borne howitzers of the 417 type, 40 ship-borne howitzers of the 518 type, and 30 ship-borne howitzers of the 618 type, which can accommodate nearly 10,000 people at the same time

There are also two medium-sized treasure ships, namely "Sun and Moon" and "Success"

There are also 200 super battleships and 200 Fuchuan battleships, all of which have been converted into combined power of sails and steam paddle wheels.

On the side of the accompanying army, there were:

All the officers and men of the Beiyang Naval Division have a total of 100,000, and are responsible for controlling 100 super battleships and 100 Fuchuan battleships;

All the officers and men of the Nanyang Naval Division have a total of 100,000, and are responsible for controlling 100 super battleships and 100 Fuchuan battleships;

All the officers and men of the First Legion of the Praetorian Guard, totaling 100,000, were responsible for accompanying and protecting;

There are a total of 20,000 Jinyi guards, who are responsible for the accompanying honor guard.

In terms of the accompanying service personnel, there are:

accompanied by two thousand eunuchs, who were responsible for all kinds of miscellaneous affairs;

accompanied by 2,000 palace maids, responsible for taking care of the emperor's daily life;

There are more than 1,000 other imperial doctors and chefs, who are responsible for food and medical care;

In terms of accompanying family members, cronies and officials, there are:

Qin Mingyue, the queen of the Ming Empire, she has always been Zhu Cijiong's most personal bodyguard, every time she travels, she is an indispensable member, even if she is the queen;

There is also the imperial concubine Princess Anna, this time it was in the name of accompanying her home to save her relatives that she could make the trip, so naturally her share was indispensable, and the other concubines did not have this blessing;

There is also Zheng Zhilong, the king of Zhennan, who is mainly responsible for the translation work, because he is very good at Portuguese, Spanish, and Dutch, and of course he also has to go to inspect the luxury market in Europe;

There is also Zheng Chenggong, the son of the king of Zhennan, who will be the commander of the Ming Dynasty in the future, and Zhu Cijiong naturally wants to take him to see the world;

There is also the Guozi Priest Wine Zodiac Zhou, which is mainly responsible for the construction of the Ming Chinese Academy along the way and in Europe to spread Han culture;

There is also Chen Yutai, the deputy general envoy of the Department of General Affairs, who is mainly responsible for recording the words and deeds of the emperor during this trip to Europe.

There is also Xu Erdou, the grandson of Xu Guangqi, who is mainly responsible for developing the business of the Ming Royal Xinglong firm in Europe;

There is also Sun Chengzong's grandson, Sun Zhishu, who is mainly responsible for developing the business of Daming Royal Machinery Group in the colonies of various allied countries and continental Europe;

There is also sincerity Boschwila, there are many things to be responsible for this goods, such as translation, liaison, guide, tour guide, etc., he is indispensable;

There are also envoys from European countries, and they have almost learned Chinese, and this time they happened to go back together on the way.

There are also gifts prepared this time, Zhu Cijiong as an emperor will naturally not be stingy, just the newly made Chongzheng Tongbao he brought a few boats, a total of 500,000 gold coins, 5 million silver coins, 10 million copper coins, a total value of 11 million taels of silver, as well as silk, high-grade porcelain, high-grade tea, high-grade traditional Chinese medicine, 24-style flintlock pistols, revolvers, revolver rifles, all kinds of field howitzers, etc., a total value of no less than 30 million taels!

There are also goods prepared by the Ming Royal Xinglong Firm, such as cloth, porcelain, tea, rice, cooking oil, cane sugar, spices, medicinal materials, antiques, treasures, calligraphy and paintings, etc., etc., which fill all the cabins!

With so many entourages, it would take four or five days just to assemble them, and so many supplies would take about ten days just to load them onto the ship, so it wasn't until mid-April that everything was ready.

April 18th, the auspicious day of the zodiac, it is advisable to sacrifice, open the light, pray for blessings, Zhaijiao, travel, Nacai, tailoring, marriage, on this day, Dongdaying Xingang Wharf is very lively, countless Ming soldiers are guarded layer by layer, countless Ming people are looking forward to the periphery, the wharf is a forest of colorful flags, flowers are a sea, the court civil and military officials are coming, the regent Zhu Youzhen is coming, and even the queen mother of the two palaces are coming!

Zhu Cijiong comforted the reluctant Queen Mother of the Two Palaces, and encouraged Zhu Youzhen, who was acting as the regent, and then waved goodbye to the civil and military officials who came to see him off, stepped on the Daming Super Treasure Ship battleship, and began the journey to Europe.

This ship travel is much more convenient than sailboats, not to mention anything else, just say that this out of the port, if it is a sailboat, but also to see the direction of the wind, and to see the current, the sailor to do half a day to turn around and leave the port, if the wind direction is not right, it is not smooth, and even have to arrange people to line up on the shore to pull the fiber, in order to turn around!

With steam-powered propulsion, it's not the same, just turn around and leave port by burning the boiler, opening the valve, and letting the paddle wheel or propeller thruster run up.

First the white smoke came out of the chimney of the Daming, and it turned around silently and left the port first, and then the bright wheel behind the Sun Moon and the Chenggong rolled up the snow-white waves Shi Shiran followed, and finally the 400 warships set off a monstrous mist to follow in turn, and the whole process was like flowing water, without a trace of stagnation, and the people of Dongdaying, who were accustomed to seeing the fleet leaving the port, were all stunned and amazed.

Zhu Cijiong didn't have time to pay attention to the common people at this time, he didn't know how many things he had arranged for this trip, first of all, he wanted to experiment with the speed of the ship, how fast he could drive with the sails raised, how fast he could drive with the wind and the water, and what the speed would be if he didn't go with the wind or the water, these were the basic parameters for commanding naval battles in the future, and they all needed to be tested and recorded in detail.

The test took less than three days, the results are quite gratifying, Dongdaying to Dongfan is about two thousand miles, starting from Dongdaying, less than three days to arrive at Dongfan, proving that the average speed of the fleet has exceeded eighty miles per hour, which is still in the case of no tailwind, in the case of a tailwind, the average speed of the fleet can reach at least one hundred miles per hour, which is at least three times the speed of the sailboat, because the sailing ship can reach up to forty miles per hour in the case of a smooth wind, Generally, it is about 20 miles per hour, and the average speed is less than 30 miles per hour!

Such a speed, the time saved is amazing, take the Ming to Europe as an example, at this time to go from the Ming Dynasty to the European continent, basically sail along the coastline to the Arabian Sea, and then go around the Cape of Good Hope, and then go north along the coastline to the European continent, the whole journey down nearly 40,000 miles, according to the average speed of the sailing ship 30 miles per hour, it takes more than three months, if the average speed of the ship is 80 to 100 miles per hour, it only takes about a month!