Between the north and south continents of Dongzhou, it is already considered tropical, and August is very hot.

Liao Zhi did not sit in the cabin, but sat on the roof of the rear command cabin.

Since Zhu Zhanji set up a special frolic area for his female dependents behind his flagship, although the first-class battleship cannot be compared with his flagship, there is no such condition.

But the tide spreads the fastest. Zhu Zhanji likes to put up wooden chairs, wooden tables, and parasols to spend the summer in places where the command cabin does not affect the battle, and these generals have also learned it.

These generals also did the same, and when the wind and sun were good, they did not want to discuss matters in the cabin, but moved to the deck.

Liao Zhi only wore a single coat at this time, with his chest open, not like a commander at all, but like a rich man resting in the cold.

When Yang Dao arrived, the other four thousand generals were already seated, and he gave a military salute to Liao Zhi, but Liao Zhi waved his hand.

"This is not a battlefield, so there is no need to pay attention to these false courtesies. I have called you here today, firstly, to arrange the rest of the trip, and on the other hand, to replenish the coal. ”

Seeing that Liao Zhi was not in a hurry, Yang Dao's heart was relieved, and he couldn't help but ask, "The commander has instructions from His Highness here?" ”

Liao Zhi laughed, pointed at the few of them with a finger and said with a smile: "What did Yulin Weixue teach you?" It's so boring why everyone guesses it as soon as they hear me. ”

Yang Dao said with a smile: "The commander is too relaxed, if the charcoal is difficult to replenish, I am afraid that there will be no leisure to rest and cool off." ”

Liao Zhi smiled again, stood up and came to the long table, pointed to the map on the table and said, "Your Highness has more information there, you should let us know, almost all of them told me." The journey was smooth sailing, and there were not many times when the steam engine was used, but the coal prepared on board was almost exhausted.

Before I came, His Highness pointed me to a few places with coal, and it is said that they were all discovered by the original Yi people, but they were cheaper for us.

However, these few carboniferous mines have been thousands of miles away recently, and when we arrive in the Inca, we still need to stay for a few days and cut down some timber for storage.

Look, in the middle of the southern continent, there is a river, and just south of the river's estuary, there is a carboniferous mine.

Due to the deviation in the scale of the original globe model, after testing with latitude and longitude, it should be about 37 degrees south latitude.

We are now at 16 degrees north latitude, and according to the calculation of 220 li in one dimension, we are still a full 10,560 li from that carboniferous mine. ”

In his previous life, Zhu Zhanji controlled almost half of the mineral resources of Colombia, Peru and Bolivia, and knew the distribution of minerals all over the world very well.

There is no shortage of coal in the whole of America, and there are even many large coal mines that can be ranked among the top ten in the world. Whether it's Canada, the United States, Mexico, or South America in North America, almost every country has large coal mines.

But almost none of these mines, except those in northern Colombia, are near the sea.

The coal mines in northern Colombia, which are also on the Caribbean side, do not have the Panama Canal, and if you want to dig them, you can only wait until they go around the South American continent.

He thought about the globe for a long time before he remembered a past incident.

In 2013, he was invited to Chile for a commemorative ceremony. The ceremony was held after Chile closed its last coal mine.

As a result of this ceremony, he learned that Chile had been mining coal in 1852 in Lotta, in south-central China, which had become the industrial center of Chile, with more than 200 coal ships arriving in Hong Kong every year.

Chile is known as the country of copper mines, and metal minerals are very rich, but coal resources are very scarce. In their entire country, there are only two coal mines in Lotta and the 7th district north of Lotta.

But when the upper layer of coal is hollowed out, the cost of mining increases dramatically. In '96, Chile's National Coal Company produced $140 per tonne, while imported coal prices were $57 per tonne in the same period.

Due to the heavy losses, Chile's coal mines closed one after another in the following decade. In 2011 they sold the remainder and in April 2013 they went into liquidation and closed all their mines.

In later generations, Lota was a small county and a small city, and even Zhu Zhanji, who knew South America very well, only knew about this place because he participated in that commemorative ceremony.

He was also invited to visit the Coal Mining Museum after the coal mine was closed, and he clearly remembered that the coal mine was located by the sea, only a few hundred meters away from Port Lotta.

So, in addition to marking the Serejón coal mine in northern Colombia, he also marked the Lotta coal mine.

Anyway, the current steam engine design is a large boiler, and it has not yet been designed as a special furnace for coal, even if there is no coal, the crew only needs to prepare some dry firewood, and they can continue to drive.

It's just that the firewood is not burned, and it consumes a little more manpower.

After listening to Liao Zhi's introduction, Yang Dao and their worries were gone.

A few of them tested the approximate distance, and found that they bypassed the South American continent and arrived in the northeast of the South Continent, which was not far from what they had walked here from Daming.

In this way, as long as they can replenish the coal in front, they can save a little and make more use of the sails, and they can get there.

After arranging business, a group of generals began to idle nonsense.

In Dongzhou, they have also seen a lot of indigenous women, although the skin color is similar, but they are not as beautiful as Ming women.

However, the women here are much stronger, and many women are the plump gourd bodies that the Ming people like.

And the local women, like the Dongying women, like the bodybuilding of the Ming men. Even if they don't like it, they will be pushed into the arms of the Ming people by the men of the tribe, and they want to use the Ming men to change their genes and give birth to children like the Ming people.

Except for newly married Yan'er like Yang Dao, who also misses his wife, most of the generals enjoy the local women with peace of mind.

As for those soldiers, many of them took the opportunity to go ashore during this period of time, and with a glass bead, they could change a woman to give them a hug.

Yang Dao didn't want to feel sorry for his wife, he was upset when he listened, and couldn't help but divert the topic and said: "We have been separated for more than a month, and I don't know what happened to Commander Di now." ”

Liao Zhi said with a smile: "I have unparalleled weapons and well-equipped, as long as it is not a rainy night, the opponent fills it with the number of people, otherwise I will not suffer." ”

Another Yulin Wei learned from Qian Zong Du Yue said with some concern: "Don't be afraid of anything else, I'm afraid of contracting the epidemic!" ”

Yang Dao smiled: "Didn't you read the medical book that came out in March?" The epidemic is not the epidemic, but should be called a virus. Who would have thought that the miasma, the death caused by trauma, was caused by germs! ”

Thousands of miles away, in the middle of the Northern Continent, two armies were facing each other on a flat grassland.

After landing on the American continent, Di Pingxia and they had found that this place was completely different from the barrenness of the southern continent, but presented a lively scene.

Although there is no state yet, different tribes of all sizes have been trading and fighting with each other.

With only a string of glass beads, the tribal leader of the place where they landed arranged for four tribesmen who were familiar with the surrounding terrain to act as guides for them to take them out of the mountains.

Over the course of a month, a few young linguists with a talent for languages learned not only to speak with the four guides, but also to the people of the various tribes along the way.

Although most of the time they can only express themselves by gestures, they have also learned a lot of simple language of various ethnic groups.

For example, hello, trade, coin, no, etc.

The timing of their arrival did not seem to be very good, because as soon as they came out of the North and South Mountains, they encountered the local Raven Clan advancing westward and engaged in a great war with the Blackfoot Clan.

The Blackfoot people live in the semi-hilly areas of the mountains, and they make a living from tobacco cultivation and hunting, but they are not many in number.

The Raven Tribe, a branch of the Hitacha tribe in the western Great Plains, lived on bison and horses as an important source of food, and the bison provided them with meat, clothing, robes, tent covers, tendon ropes, containers and shields.

In addition to these, they also grow grain and sugar beets, which are also one of their main foods. In the Raven society, food processing, building houses, and sewing clothes were all women's jobs, and only war was the task of men.

Because of their size, they occupied almost all of the western hills, from Yellowstone to most of Montana, and wanted to monopolize the entire tobacco trade.

Yes, the Ravens are also traders in the area, and they regard the cultivation of tobacco as a major event and requires rituals. According to their traditions, tobacco is divinely bestowed to defeat the enemy.

Among the Raven people, they even set up a tobacco club. Unlike other societies, the Tobacco Society is equivalent to a denomination, with membership fees and a set of elaborate initiation ceremonies; Men and their wives can participate.

So, even if you see the Crow people smoking tobacco and then becoming crazy one by one, it doesn't need to be surprising.

Because they have to smoke once a day, it's just as essential for them as it is to eat.

The Ravens are powerful, and their main branch, the Hidacha, occupies a large part of the plains, and has been fighting with the Dakota for the land of the Dakota people all the way east.

As soon as he saw the tall horse ridden by the crow tribesmen, Di Pingxia was immediately overjoyed.

In the area west of the mountains, although there were many bison, there were not many horses, and even if they wanted to, the three thousand men could not buy horses.

Now seeing thousands of Raven Clansmen all riding tall horses, Di Pingxia's tired spirit immediately lifted up. "Spread the flag and send envoys to negotiate."

Tongshi Wang Quan looked at the battlefield in the distance that seemed to be on the verge of breaking out, and was a little scared. "My lord, the other party is going to fight!"

"Cowardly, what are these rabble afraid of, if you don't obey, you will beat me, pay attention, you can only beat people, not horses. Lao Tzu has been walking for a month, and he has long since walked and does not want to move. ”

Di Pingxia's personal guards immediately took out three wrapped flags from the car, this one was the Daming Dragon Flag, one was the Daming Army Flag, and the other was the flag of their Shenji Battalion.

These three flags, the dragon flag and the military flag are all nine-meter-long bamboo poles, and the battalion flag is seven meters.

As soon as the Ming army appeared, they had already discovered that when the number of people increased, they were also guessing which side it was.

But when the flag was raised, the people got closer and closer, and when they saw the clothes on the Ming soldiers, they completely understood that this was not a tribe they were familiar with.

The four guides had actually completed their task by this time, but Di Pingxia had only asked each of them to give them a pound of salt, and they were more than happy to act as temporary interpreters.

I can't fully understand the language between the body and them, but even if I guess, I can guess seventy or eighty percent.

They don't understand the language of the Crow Clan, but they understand the language of the Blackfoot Clan, and there are many people in the Raven Clan who understand the language of the Blackfoot Clan, so they can communicate with each other.

The crow clan was originally a local merchant, and when they saw the clothes worn by the Ming people, the iron knife hanging from their waists, and the round iron pipe in their hands, their eyes were about to pop out.

The whole of America, now they can't make steel, they can only make gold, silver, bronze, because these metals have a much lower melting point than steel.

However, that doesn't mean they don't know about iron. Because in nature, there are still a lot of iron melted by meteorites, and even some iron ores of extremely high purity, which can barely be made of iron.

Under the protection of two hundred guards, Wang Quan approached the teams on both sides step by step, and he did not pay attention to the blackfoot clan with few horses, but walked directly to the crow clan where almost everyone rode horses.

But before he could get closer, the Raven warriors rushed towards them as if they were crazy.

Wang Quan turned around and ran away in fright, but the two hundred soldiers did not retreat, they were divided into two rows, the front row squatted, the back row stood straight, aimed at the people on the horse, ready to shoot at any time.

The two hundred households could not be sure of each other's intentions for a while, but when they were training the military formation, they had clearly learned that no matter what time they were, they could not let the other party break up their own military formation.

Therefore, as long as the opponent does not slow down when entering 100 meters, he can only meet each other.

Their arms were raised in the air and they shouted, "Prepare ......"

And Di Pingxia, who was in the rear, immediately drank loudly. "Go to 400 more and ...... to help"

Booming gunshots rang out, and a puff of smoke rose ahead.

This sudden loud noise shocked everyone, and those blackfoot people who watched the excitement immediately rolled and turned around and ran.

And the Raven warriors who rushed up were also frightened at this time, they were not frightened by the power of the musket, but by the huge sound.

The soldiers in front fell off their horses, and the soldiers in the rear could not restrain their horses, and they trampled many of their comrades to death.

More Raven warriors bypassed the battlefield and ran to the sides, not daring to turn back and flee in a hurry.

Di Pingxia, who was in the rear, looked at the cavalry of thousands of people, dropped one or two hundred corpses, and dozens of horses that had not had time to escape, and ran away like this.

Only then did he stomp his foot regretfully: "His grandmother's, run away without even hitting him?" What about my horse? ”

He didn't want to think about how much of an impact they had on the Raven Clan.

Among the Indian civilizations, in addition to the disappearing Mayan civilization, strictly speaking, there are only Aztec civilizations and Inca civilizations.

Because it is only in these two countries that a class society is formed, and there is a rudimentary form of a state.

The Indians are just a general term, and there are many branches among them. Nor was the indigenous Indians a unified community in the Americas.

They were divided into more than six hundred different tribes; More than 200 different languages are spoken. They vary in stature, appearance, skin color, language, and beliefs, and the degree of development of civilization is uneven.

Because there is no written language, their civilization can only be called a primitive civilization or an ancient civilization.

Although they have the cultivation and cultivation technology of a variety of crops represented by corn, making it one of the cradles of agricultural civilization in the world.

Although their architectural art represented by the Pyramid of the Sun God has become a wonderful flower in the history of world architectural art.

Although their national costumes represented by the eagle feather crown are brightly colored and exquisitely made, they add a bright color to the world's national culture.

However, this primitive totemic civilization was in its infancy, so in the original history, in the face of the Europeans who already had a modern civilization, they were conquered even if they were outnumbered.

Being in the ignorant stage of civilization gives them a natural fear and worship of things they don't understand.

Seeing the clothes on the Ming soldiers and the iron tools in their hands, they were carried away.

But when they saw the weapon that could emit white smoke and make a loud noise, they would only think that it was a god descending from the heavens.

So, they are going to run away......

The escape of the Raven Clan overjoyed the Blackfoot Clan, although they were brave and good at fighting, they were smaller than the Raven Clan, and their number was much smaller.

What's more, the Ravens occupied the plains and hills, and their endless herds of bison and wild horses provided food and cavalry, while the Blackfoot had few horses, making them no match for the Ravens on the battlefield.

They regarded the Ming soldiers who saved them as saviors, and they raised their hands and bowed to the Ming soldiers.

When Di Pingxia saw this scene in front of him, he immediately sent an order to Wang Quan. "Set up camp and don't leave today. Let Wang Quan contact the other party, ask them to send some people as guides, and then exchange some food with them. ”

Di Pingxia did not carry much food, and if they did not have anything to eat, they could directly exchange it with the Indians, and if they did not change it, they could grab it directly.

Although they have not yet reached the richest place on the continent, these natives who carry coal can live without worry, and it is impossible for them to live without them.

Wang Quan's negotiation with the other party was very successful, and when the camp of the Ming soldiers had not yet been built, Wang Quan had already brought the leader of the other party to the outside of the camp.

"My lord, all it takes is ten strings of glass beads and a horizontal knife, and they will fill our empty cart with maize, beans, and pumpkins, and air-dried beef. In addition, in gratitude for saving them, they will send ten old men, twenty strong men, and twenty and a half sons to act as our guides. ”

"Ask them if they have any gold, and if there is, we'll stay a few more days, and we can exchange some cloth and ironware with them."

The army of the crow clan fled ten miles away, and when they saw that the Ming people did not chase after them, they stopped. There was a certain contradiction between several tribal elders whether to continue to flee or to go back to worship the "gods".

After some arguing, a small half of the men rode away, but most of them were still stationed in place, and soldiers were sent to return to inquire about the situation.

Because the Ming people didn't chase after them, they turned their heads and thought about it, and they didn't want to miss the opportunity to contact the "gods".

Di Pingxia met with the elders of the Blackfoot Clan in the big tent, and he laughed when he heard that the Raven Clan had returned and wanted to see him. "Let them in."

He knows very well that he is just a pathfinder, as long as the other party does not provoke him, he has no loss, and there is no need to make waves.

Regardless of whether His Highness decides to appease or exterminate in the future, that is a matter for the future, and now it is just a matter of preserving strength.

A year has passed, and now only a month has passed. It is said that in winter, the road is closed by heavy snow, and if you want to go directly to the east coast, you can't slack off. You can't delay the measurement and hinder the trip because of some small things.

The two rival tribes, the Ravens and the Blackfoot, sat together, and Dippingxia led them out of the tent, and not far from them were two wounded horses.

With a wave of his hand, ten muskets rang out, and each horse was shot five times in the head, and fell in response.

The killing of the horse in the air was even more terrifying than on the battlefield just now.

Seeing the fear on their faces, Di Pinxia smiled with satisfaction. "We are messengers sent by heaven, in this land, all tribes should live in harmony, in the future, the Ming will become your arbiter, if anyone is disobedient, his fate will be like those two horses."

In Di Pingxia's opinion, there was nothing wrong with what he said. He came on behalf of the Son of Heaven and was going to conquer the land, so he was an angel.

And when the chef brought the food cooked in a large pot, the rich aroma made them suspicious.

These spiced meals, as well as the rice and the noodles, were never seen or eaten by these Indians, and they quickly conquered their stomachs.

When their fears had been lifted, Dippingsian asked them about the horses.

In his opinion, getting horses as soon as possible will be the most important thing for them along the way.

And the people of the crow tribe did not hide it, because in that endless grassland, there were herds of wild horses everywhere.

Staying where they were for two days, the exploration team exchanged some items with the Blackfoot people, and anything the Ming people wanted for them.

However, the Ming didn't want tobacco, they didn't want fur, they only wanted gold, and there wasn't much they could exchange.

At this time, they didn't have any idea of robbing.

After departure, we walked for another three days. Under the leadership of the Raven Clan, Di Pingxia finally saw the scene he wanted to see.

There are rivers everywhere, and there is the boundless prairie, and on that prairie, the dust and smoke raised by the galloping horses are so charming in Di Pingxia's eyes.

"This is really a land that has been blessed by God, and in the future, I will turn all this place into the territory of the Ming Dynasty."