After determining that only Timur was the only one who intercepted the Ming fleet, the plundering of the trading points by the Ming was very civilized, because the Ming Dynasty carefully screened all the industries, and most of the industries belonging to the Kurumus and Black Sheep dynasties were not touched.

But even so, the Saifudin of Kurumus was also afraid that Shaharu would settle accounts with him, so he took the initiative to take out nearly 50,000 taels of gold and arranged his youngest son and a group of descendants close to the ministers into the fleet of the Ming Dynasty.

These wealth and manpower can be regarded as a retreat left by them for their future.

Although Zhu Zhanji has no intention of protecting them, he will not let go of the opportunity to meddle here.

As long as these people are in the hands of Da Ming, they will have the opportunity to meddle here at any time in the future.

As for gold, Zhu Zhanji never paid attention to it. Fifty thousand taels of gold is a lot of wealth for an individual, but for a country, it is just a drop in the bucket.

In terms of the price of gold in future generations, 50,000 taels of gold is only one and a half tons, and at most it is more than 300 million yuan. 300 million yuan is a lot for a person, but it is not worth mentioning for a country.

The gold circulating in the entire Ming Dynasty casually has millions of taels of gold. What's more, for a country, gold is just a measure of social wealth, not how useful it is.

Although the treasury of Daming is not abundant, there is only one Beimingshan copper mine, which can produce more than 100,000 taels of gold every year, and when the gold mines in Nanyang and Nanzhou begin to develop, the annual gold output can reach more than one million taels in the future.

Therefore, they will not covet this bit of gold.

Of course, Saifuddin also saw this, so he was not afraid that Zhu Zhanji had any bad intentions, the number of goods they traded each time was more than that.

Zhu Zhanji arranged them into the fleet, of course, not to go to Europe with him, but to arrange for them to go to Daming in the name of envoys.

The fleets that went to the West were to be completely separated here, and except for the fleets destined for Europe and the goods that traded with Europe, all other cargo ships had to return.

In the South Seas and India, there was not a lot of goods traded, including here, and many cargo ships were already fully loaded and there was no need to trade with Europe.

After careful inventory, most of the cargo ships had to return to the Ming Dynasty, and the fleet to Europe was dominated by warships, and there were less than a hundred cargo ships loaded with spices, porcelain, tea, silk, and ironware.

In order to escort these cargo ships back, the navy will send two guards and 11,000 people to escort these cargo ships and some businessmen back, and these people are all led by Jin Kuo, Zhu Zhanji's chief butler.

Jin Kuo is the chief eunuch, and in the ranks of the previous eunuchs, he is at the same level as Zheng He, and his status is high enough.

The main thing is that he was loyal, and this time he robbed more than 100,000 taels of gold in Kurumus, and there were goods more valuable than these gold.

Coupled with the deal in India, the returning fleet was loaded with more than a million taels of gold, so it had to be transported by a trustworthy person.

And Zhu Zhanji will not return to China for the time being, and he also needs a henchman to go back to help him keep an eye on the country, Jin Kuo is the most suitable candidate.

In addition to Jin Kuo, Sun Lin will also return this time. He was in charge of the Intelligence Division, and his focus was on the supervision of the Ming Dynasty and the surrounding countries.

Europe is too far away, and it is not yet time to develop its tentacles, so he can play a greater role if he stays in Daming.

When Zhu Zhanji arranged all these trivial affairs, Zheng and the others also came back from Tianfang.

When they returned, they also brought back some Spanish-speaking merchants from the Mamluk dynasty, and Zhu Zhanji also included them all in the fleet.

Almost all of the great cannibals who came to trade in the Western Regions returned with the caravan.

At the end of April, the fleet again set out from Khurumus, this time heading south, rounding the entire African continent and heading for Europe.

Today's fleet only has 30,000 navy, 22,000 young troops, 11,000 forest guards, and thousands of other personnel, and the total number has changed from nearly 100,000 to more than 70,000.

However, in addition to the reduction of 17,000 navies, the young army with the strongest combat effectiveness and Yu Lin Wei are still with the team, and the combat effectiveness has not decreased.

Although the fleet was less than 20,000 men and nearly 300 ships, most of the remaining ships were warships, and the remaining 70,000 troops were all elite generals.

From this point on, the fleet will no longer divide its forces, but will only be divided into the front battalion, the middle battalion, and the rear battalion, stretching for hundreds of miles, all the way west.

The armament of the ships of the front battalion was divided into two main categories, one was fast and the other was shallow draft.

Because in addition to surveying the waters and exploring the routes, the former camp also undertakes the exploration tasks of trading, continents, and islands along the way.

As for the middle and rear battalions, they are dominated by cargo ships and frigates, and the speed will be slower.

The journey from the Persian Gulf to the South Corner of Africa will be the most difficult part of the entire journey to the West, even more difficult than the trip to the South Continent.

This is because the current in the Indian Ocean is clockwise, and from April onwards, the wind direction is also southwesterly.

That is, the entire fleet must go not only against the wind, but also against the current. Only after crossing the equator line will it turn into a headwind and water, and the voyage will be easier.

In the future, Zhu Zhanji would never choose this route, but there is no way now. Because today's ships do not have the ability to resist strong winds and waves, they can only walk along the coastline.

Even if you arrive in South Africa and then turn north, it doesn't mean that the rest of the journey will be easy, because you will face the Atlantic Ocean, which has the most complex water conditions.

Although the Pacific Ocean is the largest, it is still very safe to avoid typhoon season due to the regularity of ocean currents, which is why the Pacific Ocean is named.

If the Pacific Ocean is a lady, compared to the Pacific Ocean, the Atlantic Ocean is a grumpy foot picker. Tantrums at every turn, especially in the South Atlantic, can be said to be a forbidden area in this era.

And between April and October, it is also the typhoon season in Africa and the Atlantic, so no matter how careful you are, you can't think about it.

Zhu Zhanji didn't want his elite soldiers to die in a typhoon instead of dying on the battlefield.

With these concerns, plus the fact that the front battalion still needed to go ashore along the way, leaving one or two thousand battalions behind to investigate the area, the speed of the fleet was very slow.

And this time the fleet walked almost close to the coastline, and as soon as there were signs of strong winds, they immediately went ashore to take refuge.

Starting from Socotra Island, everywhere they went, the former battalion was responsible for liaison and trade with the local Qiaotan, and when the Chinese army arrived, they exchanged goods according to the deal negotiated by Yu Xian.

Subsequently, the fleet arrived in what was later Somalia, where it was completely desertified, but now there are still large tracts of farms and pastures.

The tribes here fished, hunted, and cultivated all kinds of crops, and looked even richer than they were six hundred years later.

In Somalia alone, there are three large tribes here, known as Mugudushu, Zhubu, and Malin. They are short of everything, and the goods that Daming took out can make them envious.

It's a pity that they don't have many commodities that the Ming likes, except for a few gold and silver, the Ming don't care about food at all.

No matter where they went, the mighty fleet of the Ming Dynasty was intimidating, and no tribe dared to challenge the authority of the Ming Dynasty.

Zheng He communicated with them with the help of the general secretary, and any reward made them willingly recognize the Ming Dynasty as the suzerain.

Seeing this scene, Zhu Zhanji couldn't help but be a little funny, this so-called subject country turned out to be bought with bribes!

However, seeing that they got a few pieces of cloth, a few pieces of silk, a set of porcelain, and a bag of the cheapest tea, they willingly signed and signed the national letter, Zhu Zhanji felt that this way was actually very good.

There is no need to fight and kill, so that they can willingly recognize the Ming Dynasty as the master, as long as they occupy the position, it will naturally be easy to meddle in their country in the future.

When the fleet arrived in what would become Mombasa, Kenya, it encountered its first strong winds, but the fleet was prepared and took refuge in the inland bay of Mombasa.

Mombasa is a natural harbour with two landmasses sandwiched between an island and two waterways and two inland bays.

Although there are no mountains to block the wind, there are no big waves, just strong winds, and the damage to the fleet is not great.

After the gale, only two ships' masts were blown off, and it took only one day for skilled craftsmen to replace them with new ones.

It was originally the domain of the indigenous people of Africa, but the Arabs who traded controlled the area three hundred years ago.

The Arabs drove the local cannibals inland and built a new city on the island at the mouth of the bay, which became what became Mombasa.

Because it was controlled by the Arabs, they originally made a living by trading, so the fleet was repaired here and the goods of the two ships were exchanged.

Although this place is very suitable for building a supply point, Zhu Zhanji does not have this intention.

First of all, this place is already under the control of the Arabs, and secondly, they are doing well at the moment, and as soon as the fleet arrives, it will be able to provide perfect services.

If you don't need to invest to get supplies, why bother working yourself?

Zhu Zhanji's real goal was to settle in Dar es Salaam, less than 400 miles south of Mombasa, where Zheng He had twice arrived in history, and where many ethnic Chinese had taken root.

Dar es Salaam is also a natural harbour and has a large river that leads inland. What's more, it is rich in gold, and in the original history, the local natives used simple tools to dig hundreds of tons of gold.

Although Zhu Zhanji didn't know where these gold mines were, as long as he was in this area, he was not afraid that he would not find them.

At a time when Mombasa was already occupied by the Arabs, it was in the development interest to choose Dar es Salaam, which is now unvalued and where only a few tribes survive.

So when the fleet arrived here, the Ming fleet underwent its first repairs and built a supply point here.

This place is different from Nanzhou, which has only a total of hundreds of thousands of natives, and it needs to be developed from scratch by the Ming Dynasty, and no one else is allowed to get involved there.

However, the northern part of the country has long been occupied by the Arabs, and the indigenous tribes of central Africa are numerous, and since it takes more energy to monopolize it, it is better to share it with others to facilitate the establishment of an exploiting class.

Today, Dar es Salaam is still a barren country, with only a few large tribes in the interior extending their tentacles here, but not many people pay attention to it.

It wasn't until the Ming Dynasty repaired the water filter that the tribesmen had initial contact with them.

This tribe is a large tribe called Moroccan Ro, with a total number of more than five million people. The capital of their tribe was called Morocco, and it was about three or four hundred miles from Dar es Salaam.

This tribe was very powerful and occupied almost all of the plains south of Mount Kilimanjaro.

Because of their large power and large numbers, they certainly occupy a lot of resources. Daming's goods are high-end goods that they have never thought of.

Without much effort, their tribal leaders agreed to the Ming to build a supply point at the mouth of the sea and make a deal with the Ming.

However, when they took refuge in Daming and recognized Daming as the suzerain, they had some hesitation. The tribal elders who came here could not call the shots, so they could only postpone this matter until next year, and when the Ming fleet returned, they would continue to talk about this matter.

Although it seems like a child's play, if you think about it, you can understand it.

The brutal Age of Discovery had not yet begun, and the European countries were fighting on their own. The whole world is in a regional international relationship, and many people are curious about the outside world.

These African tribes lacked an understanding of the whole world except for the surrounding tribes, and when the Ming fleet arrived here in the invincible armada, they had no other ideas than shock and curiosity.

In the face of the powerful Ming Dynasty, they were full of fear. Before Da Ming took the lead in raising the butcher knife, they were willing to choose to get along amicably.

The fleet continued to depart, setting up a second supply point in Africa in Maputo, the capital of Mozambique.

The reason for choosing this place is, of course, because of the gold in South Africa. It is the closest area to Johannesburg and the last settlement of the continent's various ethnic groups in southern Africa.

Before the European invasion of Africa, there were very few indigenous people south of the Zambezi River in central Africa.

Although North Africa is the birthplace of world civilization, in the south, it is extremely primitive life.

Like the Aborigines of Australia, they lacked textile skills and could not farm, so they had to hunt and gather for a living.

Because they don't wear clothes, they can't resist the cold, so there are very few indigenous people living in South Africa.

Later South Africa had so many people, most of them migrated after the European invasion of Africa.

So much so that in South Africa, the blacks seized power later, and the whites and Boers were actually very aggrieved. Because the country was not originally black, but they were too promising, and in the end the number of blacks outnumbered the whites and Boers.

Zhu Zhanji doesn't know much about this history, but when he invested in Angola, he read the local history. In the history books of Angola itself, it is stated that most of the South Africans migrated from them, and the two main ethnic groups are the same as Angola.

So Zhu Zhanji thought it was funny, in order to develop South Africa, the Europeans introduced a large number of black mining, and in the end, there were too many blacks, and they were driven away.

Of course, it's not this that's funny, it's the so-called freedom fighter that's funny. But because he was in prison for decades, he became a big hero and a saint.

It is such a person who has set back the economy of a developed country by 30 years and turned it into a poor country, and there are still people who sing praises to him.

Of course, such jokes are only acceptable to black people, who don't want to live a good life anyway. As long as they are not allowed to work, it is enough for them to sing and dance every day.

Zhu Zhanji has no colonial thoughts about Africa, mainly because he feels that the people here are hopeless.

They are so lazy, too lazy to understand. When he invested in Africa, he couldn't pay off all his wages at all, because as soon as he paid it, the people were gone.

They don't run out of money, it's not that they don't have anything to eat, they don't want to work at all.

But he is also very greedy for African minerals. North of the equator, Africa's coastal areas are full of oil. South of the equator, all of them are precious minerals, and in terms of land area, only Peru and Chile in South America can compare with them in terms of land area.

Therefore, it is still necessary to set up several colonies in Africa, even if they do not occupy here, they must also pinch the gold mines of South Africa in the hands of the Ming Dynasty.

By the time Zhu Zhanji's Chinese army arrived in Maputo, the former army had already built a water filter here, and it took two days to replenish the water.

A group of navy officers were replaced as the front army, and they began the latter journey, while the Chinese army waited until the personnel who explored the island of Madagascar returned.

Although Madagascar is close to Africa, the people here are completely different from Africa. The indigenous people here are almost the same as the Nanyang race.

In this era, they had just developed a sense of tribe, and according to Zheng He's exploration, there were seven large tribes on the island, but the total population was only a few hundred thousand.

This was highlighted, and the army continued to set off.

In Zhu Zhanji's plan, he wanted to relocate all the residents of the island to the mainland, and leave the island to the Chinese in the future.

There is the barrier of the sea, and I am not afraid that the blacks will confuse the Chinese race, and through here, they can control most of Africa.

But this is a plan for the future, and until the settlements in South Africa are arranged, these are too far ahead.

The third supply point in Africa was set up in Cape Town, but before the Chinese army could reach Cape Town, it was hit by another storm.

This time, the fleet's luck was not so good, because at the time of the storm's arrival, there were no suitable ports on the coast where the fleet was located.

At first, the fleet tried to resist, but in the face of nature, the huge wooden ships were vulnerable.

After destroying more than 10 ships, including Zhu Zhanji's flagship, they could only rush to the beach and run aground with the wind, and then resign themselves to fate.

Flat-bottomed sand boats are very advantageous at this time, they can directly rush to the beach, with the support of the sand bottom, although the wind blows the boat to the east and west, but there is no danger.

However, because the supporting area is too small, more than thirty of them have been blown down even after they run aground.

Fortunately, the vessel had been sailing along the coastline, and even if the vessel capsized, the casualties were not serious.

Ma Xin and the others followed Zhu Zhanji to sea for more than a year, and it was the first time they encountered such a strong wind, and when they saw those warships being blown over, they all had red eyes and were worried.

However, Zhu Zhanji's flagship has been specially designed and fastened, and the resistance of such a large ship in the face of the sea breeze also exceeds that of those warships that are only two thousand stones, four or five thousand stones.

"What are you crying about? High winds were expected. Now we should be glad that this coast is sandy and not rocky, otherwise the losses will be even greater! ”

"Your Highness, I don't worry about myself, I'm not afraid of anything by your side. Just pity those soldiers...... just now, a boat on the right wing turned on its side, and I saw with my own eyes that a soldier was smashed underneath the boat. ”

Zhu Zhanji's heart was also uncomfortable, and he had no intention of comforting them. You can't light a fire today, and you can't have a hot meal at night. I'll have someone bring you some dry food in a moment. ”

Just as he was about to go out, Liu Chenghui was drenched and came in from outside. "Your Highness, it's getting dark, where are you going?"

Zhu Zhanji didn't answer her words and asked, "Is the Taoist chief okay?" ”

"Your Highness, don't forget that we live in Huizhou, although the wind is strong, but in Huizhou there are always a few times a year, don't worry."

Zhu Zhanji nodded and said, "You change your clothes, don't go out when it's dark." I'll go out and have a look. ”

Liu Chenghui's mouth opened, wanting to call him, but he closed his mouth again. He was already very familiar with Zhu Zhanji's character, and knew that this person would not listen to persuasion, so he could only call an internal servant and send Zhu Zhanji a set of robes.

It is late autumn in South Africa at this time in May, and the temperature during the day is more than ten degrees, but at night it is only five or six degrees.

With such temperatures, after the soldiers fall into the water, their bodies will not feel well, as long as they have cramps, there is a high possibility of drowning.

However, Zheng He and their perennial boats have a set of self-rescue methods, such as this kind of stranding the sea boat on the beach, they will pull a cable from the boat to the shore.

The soldiers on the shore fixed the rope on the shore, or simply dragged it directly, so that after someone fell into the water, there was something to climb, as long as they did not panic, they could always follow the rope to the shore.

Zhu Zhanji was worried about those young troops, because the navy basically knows how to use water, but among the young army, most of them can't water.

Zhu Zhanji's flagship was the farthest from the shore, but his ship was also the safest. As soon as the gale came, several large treasure ships were guarded around the flagship.

Then everyone worked together to tie all the ships around them to the flagship with thick cables.

The wind blew, and the cable was not broken, but the wooden fences in many places were torn off by the great force. And the collision between the boats, the friction, and the squeaky sound that makes people sore their teeth.

This safety comes at the cost of damaging the hull, but in the eyes of all, it is worth it.

On the deck, the wind was blowing, and it was almost impossible to hear people talking face to face.

By this time, however, fires had been lit on the shore. Looking from the ship, these fires stretched for dozens of miles until they were out of sight.

These fires can bring warmth to the fighters and hope to the soldiers who fall into the water.

Although there were no stars, Zhu Zhanji knew that the current location of the fleet was about the area near Port Alfred in South Africa.

This is a few hundred kilometers along the way, all sandy beaches, and even if there are some losses in the fleet, it will not be too big.

If the typhoon had arrived a day or two late, when the fleet was about to reach Cape Town, where most of the beaches were rocky, the flotilla would have suffered a lot of damage.

The wind blew for a day and a night, and the next day the wind was lighter, but the rain never stopped.

By the time the storm had passed, it was already noon. At this time, no one cared about the rain, and all the heralds that were originally fastened to the big ship were sent out to search and rescue the wounded along the coastline.

Since leaving the Ming Dynasty, the 80,000 soldiers accompanying him have carried out dozens of missions, large and small, and have also experienced several large and small battles.

Aside from the Dongying people who stayed in Nanzhou, there were no more than 200 dead and wounded soldiers along the way.

But on this night alone, more than a thousand people were injured and more than a hundred died.

Some of them were smashed and killed on deck, and some were blown into the sea by strong winds. But most of them were drowned in the cabin because the hull of the ship overturned.

Looking at the corpses that were carried out, Zhu Zhanji's face was extremely gloomy.

The gale continued, and most of the people were busy fastening the cabin and salvaging the soaked cargo.

It doesn't matter if it's porcelain, but silk, tea, spices, it's all goods that can't get wet.

In the face of this gale, most of these cargo ships were intact, because the cargo ships were full of cargo, so they were heavier and could resist strong winds.

But there were only soldiers on the battleship, and they were much lighter than the heavy cargo, and most of the warships that capsized were warships.

Those members of the clan who spent all the way drinking and regarded this trip as a way of amusement still had lingering palpitations after experiencing this storm.

There were a few young people who kept wiping tears, and his own brother Zhu Zhanyong was among them.

The morale was already low, and when a few of them cried, the morale of the soldiers was even lowered.

Zhu Zhanji walked over and saw Zhu Zhanyong looking haggard and standing barefoot on the beach, feeling a little distressed, but more annoyed.

"A man sheds blood without tears, why cry?"

"Big brother, I miss my mother......"

"As a descendant of the Zhu family, enjoying glory and wealth, you should put state affairs first. Seeing that you are thin and weak, it seems that you have neglected the exercise again, and if you can't share the boat with me, you can't neglect the exercise. Li Liang, arrange for the boat to send them all back, don't let them get in the way here. ”

If something happens, it has to be solved, and in such a critical time, it is useless for people who cannot contribute to stay here, but it will affect morale.

This is because it is Zhu Zhanyong, after all, he is his own brother, and he is only twelve or thirteen years old, if he had changed to someone else, Zhu Zhanji would have lost his temper a long time ago.

After sending the clansmen, Zhu Zhanji sent the remaining 400 doctors of the fleet to rescue the wounded.

The seriously wounded were treated by more than a dozen imperial doctors assigned by their clan, and the lightly wounded were treated by ordinary doctors.

Most of the wounded were traumatic, either serious to death, or limb injuries that would not cost their lives, and such injuries were relatively easy for doctors to treat.

Although he is over 70 years old, he is still getting stronger and stronger, and he is the busiest when he is cleared out of a beach dedicated to the wounded.

The personnel are easy to treat, but the losses of the fleet this time are relatively large.

Although all the ships have fallen sail, almost every ship has broken masts, and many of them have damaged their hulls.

Like Zhu Zhanji's flagship, the mast was broken three times, and the city wall collapsed in several places. And because the upper part was connected to the other ships, the upper ring of wooden railings was almost completely destroyed, and the deck was cracked in several places.

Hundreds of ships need to be repaired simply, and there are more than a dozen ships that have no need to be repaired at all, and these have to be dealt with one by one.

Zhu Zhanji first arranged for two ships with relatively light damage to go to the front army to report the news, and then discussed with Zheng He and them, it was unrealistic to bring back so many corpses, and it was easy to cause a plague, so they simply carried out cremation and brought the ashes back.

All the bodies were identified, cremated by comrades from the same ship, and then preserved in altars.

The most troublesome thing is to repair the ship, in order to repair the ship, the army can only stay in place, and also have to send water ships to transport fresh water.

Fortunately, when the army set out, it was expected that there would be damage to the ships, and several ships specialized in transporting timber, masts, and sails for repairing the ships.

Even if the ship is now damaged on a large scale, some materials can be pieced together to meet the needs.

However, if there were another storm like this, many ships would have to lie on their stomachs.

It was not until the end of May that all the ships were repaired. The exploration team sent by the former army has already surveyed some areas in southern South Africa. So this time, the fleet will not stop at Cape Town, but will head straight north, towards Europe.

Because it was winter and there weren't many indigenous people in South Africa, the expedition team came into contact with some of them. They are not pure blacks, they are equivalent to the middle of yellow people and black people, but they are closer to yellow people.

Seeing the Ming people, who also belong to the yellow race, they were very affectionate, although they did not understand the language, but they also exchanged a lot of gold with them at a fairly deceptive price, with some cloth and ironware.

When the fleet set out again, Zhu Zhanji's mood had already calmed down. After the army merged, his main focus was on learning Italian and Spanish with a group of generalists, as well as understanding the current political environment in Europe.

Through these businessmen, Zhu Zhanji really understood that although there is no threat of the Black Death in Europe today, it is still indescribably chaotic.

Britain and France were still engaged in the Hundred Years' War, and the Holy Roman Empire did not currently have an emperor because of the struggle between the pope and the imperial power. The Byzantine Empire was crumbling under the attack of the Ottomans, and thanks to the defeat of the Ottomans by the Timurid state, they were given a respite.

The Holy Roman Empire of this era encompassed the vast territory of what would become Central Europe, the Netherlands, eastern France, northern Italy, and the Balkans.

But there were more than a dozen large princes, more than 200 minor princes, thousands of independent imperial knightly domains, and numerous autonomous cities.

The result was a loose confederation of which the emperor was the nominal leader but who wielded the equivalent of a large prince.

Today, the center of Europe is still southern Europe, the Italian peninsula is the economic center, and remote Greece is more important than Britain and France.

Of course, there is no such thing as Italy now, which has historically been a loose fiefdom and has not been a country since the earliest Roman Empire.

It was not until the nineteenth century that a nation was formed because of the rise of nationalism.

(I don't write much about some historical materials, and many episodes are not written in these chapters for transition, just to speed up the progress.) The plot in Europe needs to be well paced and strive to be more exciting. Next chapter into Europe)