"October 20. Clear. On this day, we finally arrived at the carboniferous mine at the corner between the river and the coast that His Highness had told us, but because of the cover of the mountains, no one was sure whether it was here. Everyone is also wondering how the Magellan found out that there are carboniferous mines here.

After a day's worth of measurements and testing the depth of the water, we finally found a suitable landing site.

The natives here are a little different from our Ming people, they are not like the aborigines in the north, they are no different from our Ming people, and they speak differently.

There are dozens of natives from the northern belt, and their languages are also different, so they can't act as generals, so we still continue to use the most primitive methods to contact them little by little.

They live by fishing and farming, and the alpacas provide them with food and clothing. They can make pottery, but they can only fire the coarsest pottery, and they can dry salt, but only coarse salt with a bitter taste. They did not know how to weave, only a kind of linen cloth made by hand from bark and hemp bark, which was unbearably rough.

In the face of the fine cloth of the Ming Dynasty, even if it is that kind of fine linen, they regard it as a treasure and are very willing to trade with us.

The eunuchs of the Inner Prison had learned to be profiteers, and all the goods they brought in had risen almost a hundredfold, but the natives still loved it.

Their lives were hard, but there was no shortage of gold, and even the children wore collars made of gold around their necks.

They are willing to exchange the same weight of gold for a fine cloth, and the ceramic bowl we usually use for eating is a treasure in their eyes.

It is a pity that he does not know the function of tea, so he has no preference for tea, and as for the most expensive silk, because it does not protect against the cold, they do not like it very much.

When we brought out the sturdy iron tools, it made these natives crazy, they didn't have iron tools, and even the cooking was to use fire to burn stones to roast meat, and then use clay pots to cook soup.

But we don't sell ironware, as long as they do the work for us.

Without much hesitation, they were willing to work for us, and when they cut the rocks with their pickaxes, revealing the peat below, they all knelt down and kowtowed to us.

I don't know why, until our ship was filled with peat, and the people were able to communicate with them simply, that they thought we were gods. ”

"October 28. Gale. In just eight days, we sailed more than 2,000 kilometers. On our left, there is a large snow-capped mountain with no stretch of sight.

This is the first time I have seen a snow-capped mountain, and most of the people in the entire fleet have never seen a snow-capped mountain, except for a few who have been to the Western Regions.

We stayed here for two days for the sake of this strange view, and then as soon as we came ashore, we saw the amazing glacier.

I had never seen such a beautiful view, and I never imagined that the glacier was not white, but a light blue like a sapphire, and it was extremely charming in the light of the sun.

It's a pity that we don't find any traces of human existence here, and no one seems to have ever been here except for us. ”

"The sixth day of the first month of November. Rain. On this day, a thin mist rose on the surface of the sea, which came from among the countless mountains and valleys of the continent on the left. The herald boat, which is responsible for surveying the coastline, has been traveling along the coast.

They told me that this was not a whole continent, but a group of islands.

In order to make a note of the terrain here, our speed was reduced a lot, but time was limited, so we only wrote down the general terrain of the seaside and did not go deeper. ”

"November 25, fine. After seeing more than 200 islands and endless snow-capped mountains, everyone has become numb to this magnificent scenery. The fleet was already close to the fifty-seventh parallel of the south latitude, and we had shifted about two degrees of longitude to the east, which also meant that we had finally reached the top of the southern continent of Dongzhou. ”

"November 27. Clear. Although the weather is good these days, the strong winds are particularly uncomfortable. It's still summer, and if you pass through here in winter, it will be very difficult.

This is already 57 degrees south latitude, according to the globe marked by His Royal Highness, this is the southernmost point of the entire earth, and the distant Ming Dynasty is just across the whole earth.

At this time, I miss Zhenfang on the other side of the world, 80,000 miles away, but the distance can't stop me from missing Zhenfang.

Other soldiers, after the monotonous and difficult years at sea, liked to find local indigenous girls to solve their needs, but I preferred to dilute my impulses with my longing for Zhenfang.

The reason why people are different from animals is because they have deeper morality, ethics and self-control, and I want to see what level of my extremes are.

Recently, the atmosphere on the ship has become more and more oppressive, and every day, the sun sets at sunset, but it comes out again in less than two hours. There is almost no darkness here, it is all day, and everyone is mentally exhausted.

As the front of the fleet, I finally heard the traces of inhabitation coming from the herald ship.

The continent here is no longer a mountain range, it has become gentle. However, such terrain also makes it more difficult for ships to dock. A second-class warship ran aground because it was traveling too close to the shore.

Although there were watertight compartments, the ship did not sink, but it had to unload half of the peat to keep it balanced.

These days, the natives who traveled with the fleet became more and more popular, and they volunteered to land and begin to communicate with the natives of the island. ”

"November 29. Clear. The contact with the natives here was very smooth, and the natives here were very friendly, and they lit a bonfire on the ground to welcome us.

However, they are poorer than the natives of the north.

Although the terrain here is vast, it is not suitable for farming, only pasture grass everywhere.

The people here live by fishing, herding sheep, hunting, they have no gold, they wear furs, they don't have anything we want.

But there are a lot of strong indigenous girls here, and the people here can't feed too many children, and they are willing to sell them to us.

Many people exchanged cloth and long knives for fairly beautiful girls, and these were only kept by the internal supervisor, and when the time came, they were deducted from the money. According to the internal valuation of the internal prison, half a month's worth can buy a young girl.

This made many people so happy that some didn't even think about bringing them back at all, just wanted to try them. ”

"The third day of December. Yin. Just as we were about to leave, the commander of the fleet, Commander Liao, contracted an unknown wind chill.

His illness caused everyone to panic a little, and the fleet began to blockade, not daring to visit at will, nor to go to sea. ”

"The tenth day of the twelfth month. Light rain. Two things happened on this day that made me sad and happy. Sadly, Commander Liao did not resist this sudden illness, and even the commander and Zhi Fangtong also died with him, and the entire fleet died thirty-one people. But everyone else is unharmed.

The good news is that this temporary fleet is a personnel drawn from various armies, and most of them are from Yulin Weixue. Because only we can skillfully control a steam sailboat.

The group of dragons had no leader, and we, the thousand presidents of Yulin Weixue, organized a meeting. Thanks to my father's little reputation, everyone else looked up to me and chose me as commander of this fleet.

Although this is only a temporary position, being the commander of a fleet of thirty ships and nearly 5,000 men is still something I never dared to hope for. ”

"December 12. Clear. We cremated the dead soldiers and gathered their ashes. The wrecked ship has been repaired, and I have given the order to set off early tomorrow morning, and all the native maidens purchased by the soldiers are still here for the time being.

On the way back, if they are still willing to go back to Daming with us, bring them with them. ”

"December 18. Yin. Bypassing the tip of the southern continent, the fleet turned into a headwind. However, it didn't affect us much, just that the boat was a little slower, and then the peat consumption was a little bigger.

The sea area we are walking on now is the western side of the Atlantic Ocean that we once walked on, facing the West Island across the sea. It is also the dividing line between East and West.

The land on the mainland is flat and endless grasslands, but when experienced farmers come ashore, they find that the land here can only be used for grazing, not growing grain. ”

"December 23. Heavy rain. We were hit by a major storm and were forced to return to a bay we had discovered the day before to escape the storm.

But no one could have imagined that just by the river in this wasteland, there was an open-pit peat mine.

This day is already a small year, and the soldiers are inevitably homesick. We decided to take a break here for a while and wait for the Chinese New Year before continuing north. ”

"December 29. Clear. There are so many wild animals in this wasteland, bears, foxes, and many strange monsters that cannot be named.

Over the course of a few days, we hunted a large number of animals, and although some of them were delicious, we couldn't eat them at all, so we had to burn salt on the spot, marinate the meat with salt, and then air dry.

I also counted the wine stored on the ship, except for the high-grade wine that was kept for disinfection, and I allocated 5,000 catties of the remaining wine, ready to let all the soldiers have a good year. ”

At this time, Yang Dao was still a young man who had just gotten married, and his heart was full of longing for the future. Little did he realise it, however, that he was about to face a brutal journey.

The main reason why the Atlantic Ocean became a moat between Europe and the Americas during the Great Voyage was the unpredictable weather.

Although it is much smaller than the Pacific Ocean, the wave height, the changing currents, and the unpredictable weather all far exceed the Pacific Ocean.

Even more terrifying than the weather is the dreaded poison in South America.

Let us look at the base camp of the expedition again, after the failure of the first expedition, Hou Xian is no longer ambitious, but has made preparations in a down-to-earth manner.

He no longer uses the distance on the map as a standard, because many distances that seem close are actually impossible to pass at all.

Born in Tibet, he has also made many missions to the Western Regions, and is very familiar with the march on the plateau and desert.

This time, he directly sent multiple fleets to find the estuary, and found a total of five estuaries of the river, and after the exploration of the spies, he finally chose to march along a river four hundred miles south of the base camp.

The river was later known as the Inginho River and is also on the north side of the site of the famous Nazca Lines.

The reason why I chose this place is not only because the terrain here is slightly flat, but also because the indigenous tribes here are full of friendliness to the Ming people.

It can't even be said to be friendly, but rather to worship.

The local natives are not like the natives in the north, who look almost the same as the Ming people, but have dark complexions and high cheekbones.

But they were full of worship for the Ming people, and even treated a group of Ming soldiers who appeared as gods.

After difficult communication, they were very willing to take the Ming people to the plateau in the east together, and were even willing to fight for the Ming soldiers.

This tribe calling itself the Ventila is not a small tribe, they number more than 30,000 and occupy an entire river basin that stretches for more than 400 miles.

When Hou Ming heard the news, he gave them all the food he had stolen from several disobedient tribes.

Then, Hou Xian made the decision again, disposed of a batch of cloth for them cheaply, and promised that all the soldiers sent would get the swords and arrows presented by the Ming Dynasty.

In the entire Dongzhou Continent, except for bronze weapons, most of them are still weapons with wooden sticks, and even if there are some bows and arrows, they are all poor long wooden bows with little power.

The power of these bows and arrows is not even comparable to their homemade blow arrows.

Hou Xian's promise immediately aroused their enthusiasm, and a tribe of 30,000 people actually selected nearly 10,000 soldiers at once, wanting to accompany the Ming soldiers to fight together.

At this time, Hou Xian was a little unable to get off the stage, because although they carried a lot of iron tools, sickles, hoes, and swords on this trip, there were not many of them.

Now that I have searched my family, I can't get 10,000 iron tools.

But even so, they are still willing to fight for the Ming Dynasty, and they don't want the Ming people to give them food.

Then, Hou Xian learned through the general matter that it turned out that when they saw the ships of the Ming people and their weapons, they had regarded the Ming soldiers as gods.

Don't say that they will give them iron weapons, even if they don't give them, they are also willing to fight for the Ming Dynasty.

This made Hou Xian a little unaccustomed, he originally wanted to conquer this land, why didn't the other party resist at all, but rejoiced!

However, this also made him very optimistic about the next action, although he had not been to Nanzhou, but he also knew that many tribes in Nanzhou were worshipped as gods.

And this Ventila tribe is also like this.

With them leading the way, this time the march was much easier.

All the carts were pulled by these Ventila people, they were hard-working, and their requirements were low, and although they would not rely on them to fight, it was still very good to serve as an auxiliary.

Although there are no roads in many places on the southern continent, it is not difficult to walk. Because it's all wasteland, the river is small and shallow. And there are no trees on the ground except for some grass.

Along the way, the army always walked along the water source, marching sixty miles a day, and then resting. Because it almost never rains here, even the time to pitch a tent is saved.

Three days later, the army entered the plateau. The Pudio tribe inhabited here is a feud of the Ventila people, who occupy the richest land on the plateau and are outnumbered.

But these people faced Daming's muskets, only a round of gunshots rang out, and everyone fell to the ground, never daring to move again.

The war ended before it began, and the Phuyos, who dominated the radius of thousands of miles, fought with the Ventila for hundreds of years, and neither side was convinced, but in the face of muskets, they only killed less than a hundred people, and they completely conceded defeat.

They were not afraid of Daming's firepower, but because of the shock brought to them by the gunshots.

Having accepted the surrender of the Puggios, they provided the army with plenty of corn and potatoes, took over the coolies of the Ventila people, followed the Ming soldiers, and continued eastward.

The farther east he went, the more surprised Hou Xian became. In the coastal wilderness area, he had already found that the people here were very similar to the Ming people, but because of the hot weather here, the aborigines appeared darker.

But after entering the plateau, the temperature drops, and the temperature here is not as hot as that on the coast, and the people are much fairer.

Seeing them is like seeing the people in the countryside of Daming. Especially children, they are almost no different from Daming's children.

Hou Xian had another interest, and every time he marched, he liked to call out to the elders of several tribes and start communicating with them, asking about their history.

They have lost the history of their tribes, and there is no written record. But in the pronunciation of some sentences and living customs, they are the same as the Ming people.

Could it be that they are really the descendants of Yin Shang?

Thinking of Zhu Zhanji's explanation when he set off, Hou Xian now no longer has the idea of killing all sides.

Since they regard these people as ancestral gods, then they should also act as their ancestral gods for a good time!

The order was conveyed, and the soldiers of the Ming Dynasty were dumbfounded.

They couldn't figure it out, they originally thought they were going to fight, but now the chief soldier actually asked them to take off their military uniforms and change into regular clothes, and how to look good.

However, since it was a military order, when these soldiers set up camp at night, they took out their brightest clothes from the baggage on the cart and changed them.

And for the next trip, with these two tribes leading the way and acting as thugs, there was indeed no chance for the Ming soldiers to do it.

Everywhere they went, the Ming soldiers only needed to send a small team of people to roam around on tall horses, and then kill a few prey with muskets, and then everyone took the initiative to send gold and food.

The cart carrying the baggage has never been empty since it left the Pugio tribe.

And these tribes don't have the idea of asking for anything in return from the Ming people, and the Ming soldiers really have the enjoyment of being gods.

The journey of 800 miles took them half a month to complete, and when they arrived at the Cusco tribe, the number of soldiers behind them had exceeded 40,000.

The entire tribe of Dongzhou is still a slave system. The victor can have everything, including the women of other tribes. And the loser loses everything, not to mention human rights, and even his life can be deprived at any time.

Most tribes are led by multiple tribal elders and a single chief. But in Cusco, there is already a rudimentary form of a ruling class, and even different official positions.

Slaves can be seen working in the fields everywhere, but the officials here do not produce and exploit slaves at will.

When the Ming soldiers entered the range of Cusco City, the other party only came out to stop them once, and when they heard the gunshots, they never resisted again.

When Hou Xian appeared in front of them on a tall horse, they saw Hou Xian, who was extraordinary and had a white face, and they were prostrate on the ground one by one, calling for the white god, the ancestral god.

There are no horses here, and Hou Xian who rides a horse is a god in their eyes.

The present king of Cusco is called Veracocha, which is the same name as their creator god. Under the leadership of Viracocha, the Cusco tribe has been rapidly expanding outward, and now its sphere of influence is thousands of miles away.

They also look very similar to the Ming people, they all have black hair, and the contours of their faces are not far apart.

In the past half a month, Hou Xian has seriously considered the issue that His Royal Highness had given him to arrange an ancestor for these natives.

Although His Highness only mentioned it in the north at the time, it seems that it can be done here in the south now.

It is easier to use culture to win over these natives than the Tibetans. Tibetans already have their own culture and believe in Buddhism, so they have always been at odds with the Great Ming and the heart.

But the natives here don't even have their own writing, and they still use knotted ropes to remember things, and if they want to accept the culture of the Ming Dynasty, it will be much simpler and easier.

As a eunuch, Hou Xian has never been the kind of military general who can only fight and kill, and he is better at using his brain.

On the map in front of him, the tribal spheres of influence that had been marked out had been arranged in Chinese characters.

If these Cusco people accept his advice, and everyone begins to learn to speak Chinese, it will be fine, and if they do not obey, they will beat him into obedience.

To rule a territory, we must not only rely on fighting and killing, but also conquer them culturally and let them take the initiative to get closer.

Virakocha faced an army of more than 40,000 people, and they themselves had so many troops, they were not afraid.

Although he had heard that the other side had weapons that could make loud noises, he didn't pay attention to them.

Eighty nobles carried huge shoulders, and on them sat their king, Virakocha. The nobles wore hats made of feathers on their heads, and wore gold and silver on their bodies.

However, when they saw nearly a hundred Ming soldiers on horseback, the leader of whom was wearing beautiful red clothes, they felt that they were too imposing.

With a raise of his right arm, seventy-two horsemen galloped on horseback, and then they aimed at a group of alpacas in the open space in front of them and opened fire.

After a burst of gunshots, the alpacas that had been targeted died.

And the tens of thousands of soldiers gathered on the other side saw this scene and directly threw away the weapons in their hands.

The shoulders of the eighty nobles were thrown to the ground, and they also fell prostrately.

Seeing this scene, Hou Xian smiled. "It's the Chinese New Year soon. This Yongle 20 years seems to be a good year! ”