In today's great voyage, after Zhu Zhanji has come up with a world map, the most important problem is the weather.

Today's wooden sailboats are severely affected by the monsoon winds and are more afraid of storms.

It is normal for a strong wind to come, break the mast, damage the sail, or even sink directly on the reef.

In Zhu Zhanji's heart, this trip to Dongzhou is far more important than Nanzhou (Australia) and Xizhou (Africa) and Europa.

Because Nanzhou is isolated overseas, it is closer to Zhongzhou, and can become an important resource for the Ming Dynasty.

Although Xizhou is also rich in resources, it is the birthplace of the virus, and although the miasma research team led by Zhonghezi has been able to effectively overcome the miasma in Indochina, the virus is still powerless against the miasma in central Africa.

The Americas, on the other hand, have more resources, from Alaska in the far north to Tierra del Fuego in the far south.

Gold, silver, steel, copper ore, coal, bauxite, oil, almost all of them have the largest reserves in the world.

In addition to mineral resources, it is also home to the world's largest area of arable land, which provides countless grains.

More importantly, if the Ming Dynasty obtained the Americas, it would directly cut off the opportunity for European colonization.

Without the resources of the Americas, the Europeans could only live in their own nest and live their miserable life.

The development of Europe is inseparable from the resources of the Americas, and it is impossible for them to develop only by relying on the resources of Europe.

This is the most important step for Daming to become a world hegemon.

Of course, these Zhu Zhanji will not tell Hou Xian and them. For Daming, the peppers, corn, potatoes, and sweet potatoes there are not the most urgent, the most urgent is rubber.

Before the spread of rubber in the Americas, the development of the world's industry would be severely restricted.

Not to mention the wheels, just the various machinery produced by Daming now, because there is no rubber seal, the damage rate of accessories has been high.

In addition to meeting Hou Xian and others, the main reason why he came to the Xinjiang Estuary Sailor today was not to cheer everyone up, but to cheer up the latest steam engine sailboat.

Daming has developed a steam engine three years ago, in addition to the mechanical processing test, the steam engine is more used as a pumping machine in coal mines.

Loading the steam engine on the car was only recently proposed by Zhu Zhanji, but loading the steam engine on the ship has always been an experiment.

Nowadays, Daming's river boats have been made into pedal paddle steamers through mechanical connecting rods. This paddle wheel, which is connected to the sides of the boat by a mechanical link, works much faster than the oars and struts after the ro-ro wheels are lowered into the water.

The effect of loading a steam engine on a ship and attaching it directly to this paddle wheel is also very good.

Through the adjustment of the gear ratio, the steam engine ship not only has various gears, but also can be opened in reverse.

Sea boats are different from river boats because most river boats have flat bottoms and only need a simple device to stabilize the action of the rollers.

However, the ship needs to be counterweighted below the surface of the water to stabilize the center of gravity at about the horizontal plane, so that there needs to be a deep bottom to shift the center of gravity of the hull downward.

At such times, it is much more troublesome to install a steam engine and use it to drive it.

But no matter how troublesome the installation is, it is not as good as the invention of the steam engine, let alone a simple sealing and transmission structure.

Now, in this batch of fleets that went to sea, there were twelve ships equipped with steam engines.

Seeing these steam engine ships in front of him, although the deconstruction of the steam engine ships is still very simple, the efficiency is not very high, and the style is very different from the steam ships in his memory.

But when the main architecture has been completed, the rest is a small problem in the details, and it is good to improve it slowly.

For example, the current steam engines are not very large, and they are not installed in the belly of the ship, but four small steam engines are installed in the rear of the deck, and each steam engine is responsible for the rotation of the rollers in one direction.

By adjusting the speed of the steam engine in different directions, it is possible to adjust the direction and speed of large seagoing vessels.

Under Zhu Zhanji's guidance, the main body of these steam engines was like a coal-burning boiler in later generations, and the main fuel was replaced with anthracite.

Zhu Zhanji got on a steamship and let the first-class warship sail about 10 kilometers upstream on the Yangtze River.

Although it was sailing against the current, the speed had exceeded 10 knots, and when he returned, the water was more than 15 knots.

This speed is very impressive, exceeding the top speed of most sailboats.

But at the same time, the cost is also super staggering, driving such a large ship, four boilers to burn almost two tons of coal per hour.

In addition to the efficiency value, the key is that the blades of the roller are easy to be damaged, and the transmission shaft is easy to jam and other small problems.

It is conceivable that for a long time the role of sails cannot be replaced.

As for the ironclad, it is still a dream.

It is not impossible to build an ironclad ship by using iron sheets, including wood, but the current refining technology is not yet up to it, and there are many impurities in the steel, which is easy to rust.

Seawater is inherently super corrosive, and the current paint, steel, in seawater, I'm afraid it won't corrode in two years.

Plankton in the sea also spit out acidic substances, which are more corrosive to the hull.

If these problems cannot be solved, the ironclad ship will always be in the experimental stage.

However, for the Ministry of Industry, which has already pointed out the direction of development by Zhu Zhanji, many people are full of confidence and believe that they can solve these problems.

Back in the water, the ship made a dangerous hard landing thanks to the efforts of hundreds of sailors. This also strengthened Zhu Zhanji's idea of getting rubber as soon as possible.

"Your Highness, all the generals have been gathered, it is better to meet them."

Zheng He's ascension to the Navy's Governorship and his control of power did not arouse the resentment of the Navy soldiers. Five times to the West, coupled with the exploits of the Eastern Expedition to the East, his prestige is higher than in his previous life.

Zhu Zhanji nodded, looked at Yang Dao, the commander of the battleship, and said, "Mr. Yang Qian, as a general learned from Yulinwei, you must have a broader vision and knowledge than other soldiers. This trip to Dongzhou, in addition to collecting agricultural products and rubber from all over the world, in exchange for gold and silver, more importantly, I want to pass on the knowledge you have learned in Yulin Weixue to more soldiers, so that my Ming navy can improve its combat power. ”

Yang Dao bowed and hugged his fists and said, "The minister will live up to His Highness's trust." ”

Zhu Zhanji patted him on the shoulder before leaving, and said approvingly: "Lone knows that you have succeeded in your studies in Yulin Weixue, and now you can endure loneliness, not afraid of hardships and dangers, and inspire me to be famous all over the world, which is very good!" ”

Many of the adults behind Zhu Zhanji looked at Yang Dao's eyes and became enthusiastic.

Yang Dao is Yang Shiqi's only son, and now although Yang Shiqi has lost his position, he can only accompany the prince to retire in the hot spring courtyard, but his reputation among Wenchen is still very high.

Yang Dao has this convenient condition, and he even married the daughter of the family, and now the grandson doesn't care about his father standing in the wrong line, and praises him very much.

In addition, he was classmates with a large group of noble children in Yulin Weixue, and he traveled extensively.

This Yang Dao has potential in the eyes of Wenchen, Xungui, or Taisun, and his future development is unlimited.

If you put him under the tent, you can also make a good relationship.

It's a pity, he is going to sea tomorrow, and he doesn't know when he will be able to come back, and it's too late to get a relationship.

In the face of soldiers and generals, Zhu Zhanji always has a greater sense of tolerance. Because in this era, the soldiers are treated much worse than the civil servants.

Before Zhu Zhanji reorganized the navy, the navy, like the army, had to train and farm the land, and also had to undertake a lot of labor work.

The reason why the Ming Dynasty later had the situation of desertion was because the soldiers were nominally treated higher than Wenchen, but in fact they were very far behind.

Taking the ordinary soldiers of the Ming Dynasty as an example, a month's salary is about two taels of silver.

However, these two taels of silver were only nominal, because most of the money was offset by the land.

Although the soldiers did not have to pay taxes for farming, they did not receive this part of the tax, and this part of the tax deduction was much less than the money they could receive.

Farming was worth more than half of the money, and every time the imperial court requisitioned labor, they had to obey unconditionally.

And their income, in addition to farming, is only the spring and autumn installation fees, expedition subsidies, etc., when there is no war, they may not even be able to afford oil and salt.

Many soldiers have been soldiers for several years, but they may not be able to save two taels of silver.

As Zhu Zhanji's pro-army, the First Fleet is naturally treated the best, but the cash silver that can be received every month will not exceed one or two pieces of silver.

Although the income of civilian officials is low, there is no restriction on military status, and they can receive attached fields, and the income from these tax-free fields alone will far exceed that of soldiers.

What's more, they have all kinds of other income, and their actual life is much more nourishing, and they don't have to endure hardships and take risks.

Take Yi Xin, the commander of the Second Fleet, as an example, before the Eastern Expedition, he was one of the most outstanding naval commanders of the Ming Dynasty in the Liaodong region.

However, Liaodong is bitterly cold, and the output is not much, even if he has 500 acres of duty-free land, the actual harvest is not much.

If he hadn't been able to drink some soldier blood, he wouldn't even be able to raise a few of his own soldiers.

Therefore, after getting a share of the gold harvest on Zuodu Island, he will focus most of his energy on the construction of Zhonglian Island and the construction of Zhonglian Bofu.

This is completely poor and rich, and there is no way to find the north and the south.

If he was a civil official, Zhu Zhanji would definitely mercilessly cut him down and transfer him, but because he knew that he had suffered in the past, Zhu Zhanji relented and gave him another chance.

Such a somewhat wrong general, because he wants to atone for his sins, will work harder than ordinary generals.

In the main hall of the Shuizhai Conference, Zhu Zhanji sat at the top, and at the bottom of him, there were nearly 100 generals of more than 1,000 levels.

"It is said that on the islands in the northeast of Dongzhou, there are also descendants of sailors who fled there during the Southern Song Dynasty. They have lived in the area for more than 100 years, and there is no language barrier with the surrounding natives, which is a very important force that needs to be co-opted. ”

This is not Zhu Zhanji's nonsense, because in the Queen Charlotte Islands on the western coast of Vancouver in later generations, the aborigines living on it were indeed the descendants of the Southern Song Dynasty sailors and Mengyuan sailors.

Since they were all male, they slaughtered many small tribes and took their women for themselves.

Since then, they have flourished in the area, but because there are not many sailors who can write, there are few documents left.

However, there is a lot of evidence that clearly confirms that these people are indeed descendants of the Southern Song Dynasty and the Mengyuan people.

In fact, throughout the Americas, there are many tribes that have evidence that they arrived in the Americas during the Shang Dynasty, and they have the same hieroglyphs, oracle bone inscriptions, as in China.

But because the culture of those tribes is almost cut off, most of them have no evidence.

However, the indigenous people living on the Queens Islands, the preserved Chinese books and military charms and other cultural relics are the most authentic evidence.

Without paying attention to the surprise of the generals, Zhu Zhanji continued: "Although the land of Dongzhou is slightly smaller than that of Zhongzhou, it is also vast. And unlike Middle-earth, they are long from north to south and narrow from east to west. Because of such terrain and different climates, they cannot be like Middle-earth, where the same species can be grown in different areas.

Moreover, they don't know how to make wheels, everything has to be pulled by shoulder, so their range of motion is pitiful.

However, they have the most fertile fertile land, and the combined fertile land of the two continents in the north and south of Dongzhou can be larger than the entire border of my Ming Dynasty now.

With such a large territory, it is impossible for us Ming people to develop it all, unless our population is more than ten times larger.

Therefore, we have to control the local indigenous people to serve our Ming people, help us farm, help us herd, and even help us raise children.

Controlling Dongzhou is different from controlling Nanyang, because the Nanyang region already has its own civilization, so we use control and containment methods. But in Dongzhou, those who follow me prosper and those who disobey me die. Those who are obedient will have wine and meat to eat, and those who are disobedient can be directly exterminated, leaving only women.

However, we can't kill people for the sake of killing people, leaving their lives and helping us do the work is the best for us. Do you understand? ”

The crowd shouted in unison: "Obey!" ”

Zhu Zhanji said again: "What you have to do now is to turn Dongzhou into the territory of the Ming Dynasty for me, and contribute to my Ming Dynasty becoming the lord of the Ming Dynasty forever in the future."

This time, you have come back from exploring Dongzhou, Your Majesty must have returned from the westward expedition, and when the time comes, I will make every effort to develop Dongzhou, Nanzhou, and Xizhou.

Dongzhou land is thousands of miles, gold mines are everywhere, all the people present today, as long as they make great contributions, they may become a noble party in the future, for me Ming Yongzhen Dongzhou.

At that time, you will be some of the most noble people in this country, and your children and grandchildren will also become the focus of my Ming Dynasty in the future because of your efforts. As long as I don't die, I will protect your family forever! ”

People in this era are still very simple, and Zhu Zhanji's words may be painting cakes in later generations, but now the effect of boosting morale is very obvious.

This time, there were more than 300 warships and cargo ships heading to Dongzhou, and more than 30,000 people.

In addition to the soldiers of the navy and army, the fleet also included various doctors, Confucian scholars, officials of the internal prison, and 300 experienced farmers drawn from all over the country by craftsmen and agricultural scientists.

These peasants were rarely specially arranged in the past, but this time, in order to transfer all kinds of peasants from the north and south and from different places, Zhu Zhanji preferred to let the fleet wait for another half a month.

But Zhu Zhanji feels that it is worth it.

Australia's land is barren and there are not many products, and the land in Africa is quite fertile, but agricultural development cannot be mentioned at all, and the products are not rare to the Ming Dynasty.

But the Americas are different, corn, potatoes, sweet potatoes, peppers, these agricultural products will play a huge role in the future.

If the population of the Ming Dynasty wants to increase, it depends on these crops.

On the second day, Zhu Zhanji was exempted from the noon court, and after the morning court was dispersed, he personally came to the Yuejianglou wharf and sent off the fleet that was ready to go.

Wang Jinghong looked envious and couldn't help but let out a long sigh.

Zheng He, who was standing beside him, said with a smile: "Sanbao, now His Highness still needs you to clean up the sea realm from the Ming Dynasty to the Western Ocean, so he will leave you." When His Majesty returns, at that time, the vanguard fleet will almost return, and it will not be difficult for you to lead the army again. ”

Wang Jinghong shook his head with a smile and said, "I'm afraid it's difficult, even if there is a second time, Your Highness is probably still giving priority to Hou Xian." ”

Zheng He restrained his smile, looked at the fleet, sighed and said, "You still have some hope after all, I'm afraid I can only retire in Yingtianfu." ”

Zheng He can now be said to be a supreme minister, and in the internal supervision system, he is already the chief eunuch. In the Navy, although he was the Governor of the Navy, not the Governor-General, he was in charge of naval affairs.

And because of the Eastern Expedition to Dongying, he was awarded the title of Duke of Dian and became the highest-ranking noble.

Now he no longer has the freedom he used to have, he can only solve problems for the royal family, and he can't take the limelight.

For the other ministers, these are already extremely satisfying.

But for Zheng He, who has always admired the spirit of adventure, it is like going to prison.

Zhu Zhanji sent the fleet away, and suddenly felt empty in his heart. Back at the palace, he had no intention of dealing with official business.

It's already May, and it's getting hot. Zhu Zhanji was dressed in single clothes, and asked people to put a desk and snacks on the small river in front of Wuying Palace, under the big tree, ready to take the children to play for an afternoon.

In terms of environment, of course, the imperial garden in the palace is the most beautiful, but the imperial garden is a harem, and Zhu Zhanji can't enter it casually.

The second is the beauty of the scenery of the East Palace, after the Chunhe Hall was burned by Zhu Yunwen, the East Palace did not build a new Taisun Palace, which has now become a garden, and a children's playground.

However, today Zhang and Sun Xian met with the women in the Wenhua Palace, if he took the children to play there, he would let those court wives see it.

It doesn't matter if he takes the children to play, but the word is going to be spread everywhere. He is a grandson of the prison country, and he doesn't worry about state affairs, but takes his children to play, which will be criticized by the officials.

In fact, not only the ministers couldn't accept it, but even Sun Xian and them felt that Zhu Zhanji was messing around when they had time.

Not only does he not abide by the custom of holding grandchildren but not children, but he also often plays with children.

A few days ago, rowing with children was still normal, and on that day he put Zhu Xue around his neck and let her ride a big horse, and the eunuchs who were shocked to see him knelt down one by one and did not dare to say anything.

Even the Zhang family, who is obedient to Zhu Zhanji on weekdays, lost his temper that day because Zhu Xue was riding on his neck, and starved Zhu Xue and didn't let her eat.

Not to mention that nowadays men are noble and women are lowly, just because of Zhu Zhanji's identity, many family pleasures cannot be enjoyed.

For the girls, Zhu Zhanji drew a few squares for them and taught them hopscotch and rope skipping.

The boys, Zhu Zhanji divided them into two teams and played cockfighting.

This cockfighting is not a popular fighting in the Ming Dynasty, but a game played by boys, a group of four or five-year-old children, all of whom are having fun.

It wasn't until the evening, when the children were about to eat, that Zhu Zhanji asked the palace maids to come over and bring back the little princesses they were responsible for.

Zhu Zhanji raises children, and he is different from others.

In the past, the children in the palace lived with their mothers since they were young, and they were separated into the palace when they grew up.

However, Zhu Zhanji's children were born more intensively and were about the same age, so Zhu Zhanji specially arranged two side halls in Yongfu Palace, one for girls and one for boys.

They live together every day, and each person can only bring one palace maid by his side. Every day, except for the morning and dusk, I go to my mother's side to say hello, and I have group activities at other times.

At first, the child was still young, a little unaccustomed, and cried incessantly.

But in less than three days, one by one, like the prisoners who let the wind go, they forgot their mothers by playing together every day.

The children left happily together, and Zhu Zhanji was also ready to go back, at this time, Zhu Xue took Zhu Shuang's hand and came to Zhu Zhanji's side. "Father, tomorrow is Shuang'er's sister's birthday, and Shuang'er has something to tell you."

Zhu Zhanji saw Zhu Xue's birth, because Zhu Shuang was born late, he had already gone to sea at that time.

Zhu Zhanji forgot Zhu Shuang's birthday, looking at her somewhat timid eyes, Zhu Zhanji squatted down and asked with a smile, "What does Shuang'er want to say to her father?" ”

Zhu Shuangshi is only three years old, and he is not sensible, but he is familiar with Zhu Zhanji these days, so he is not afraid of him.

Hearing Zhu Zhanji ask her, she pulled the belt in Zhu Zhanji's arms, twisted it and said, "Shuang'er wants my father to eat longevity noodles with me." ”

Zhu Zhanji's heart melted when he heard this, and he hugged her with a smile and said, "Okay, my father will eat noodles with you tomorrow, and compete to see who eats more." ”

Zhu Shuang laughed, an innocent smile on her face.

Seeing her smile, Zhu Zhanji's heart moved, and he sent them away and said, "Don't go to dinner first, take me to Concubine Lan's palace." ”

Li Liang hesitated for a moment, and reminded: "Your Highness, you will gather the little princes and princesses to live together, Lan Liangdi is afraid that she will visit Yongfu Palace at this time......

Zhu Zhanji waved his hand and said, "It's okay, I'll go to her palace and wait for her to come back." ”

Among Zhu Zhanji's concubines, Lan Yan is second only to Sun Xian, the concubine of the grandson, and only Hu Shanxiang is the same as her.

Therefore, the place where she lived was also a side hall second only to the main hall of the apse, with a separate small courtyard, and there were four more chamberlains and maids than the others.

When Zhu Zhanji entered the side hall, Lan Yan was really not there, only two little eunuchs and two little palace maids were guarding the courtyard.

Seeing Zhu Zhanji come in, they hurriedly knelt down in fright. Zhu Zhanji asked her where her study was in a friendly voice, and then explained: "You go and call Lan Liangdi back." ”

(Thanks to the leader of the 916929 brothers, I will add it as soon as possible.) ）