Grandpa Mao, the sage of the Mao family, once said: 10,000 years is too long, seize the day!

Unprecedentedly, the attitude of the imperial court has taken a 180-degree turn, from the original suppression of business, sealing the sea, to the Longqing switch is just ignoring it, but now, it is the regent himself to establish the company, personally encourage the sea, for a time, Hangzhou actually has a kind of hundred boats competing for the current situation, in July and August, there are more than 70 large ships loaded with silk, porcelain and tea and other goods, sailing out to sea, straight to Southeast Asia that the eunuch of the Three Treasures once visited.

But that's just Southeast Asia.

More than 100 years ago, the Longqing switch, Taiwan's chicken coop, Tamsui, the South Asian countries' lower port, Siam, the old port, Cochin, and a Luzon, that is, Manila, controlled by the Spaniards, these places have become the fixed maritime trade points of the Ming merchants, trafficking silk, tea, and sugar from the south of the Yangtze River in the past, and buying back pepper, sumac, ambergris, and pearls, in which the profits have reached as much as two or three times, and there is no need for merchants to venture further afield.

After Columbus discovered the American continent, Western colonists frantically plundered precious metals such as gold and silver in the New World, but these treasure ships loaded with treasures did not return the same way, but ventured through the rough Pacific Ocean, followed the currents off the coast of Australia into Southeast Asia, and then returned to Europe along the coast of the Indian Ocean around Africa.

There is no other reason, no matter how much shiny gold and silver there is, it is just a bunch of good-looking metals, and money still has to be spent to make money, and the other part of world trade is all in the East!

Chinese silk, porcelain, Indian homespun cloth, juan cloth, and Southeast Asian spices are all the most pleasing luxuries of Western aristocracy. Especially spices!

The vast majority of the main ethnic groups in the West are composed of Germanic people who destroyed the Roman Empire, and they like to eat meat, but in that era, there was no acid removal technology, no freezing and preservation technology, and the slaughtered livestock was not fresh in a few days, just by salting, the smell and taste of meat can be imagined, from the Roman Empire era, after the pepper of India was transmitted to the West, it was simply the savior of the Western aristocratic table, in the West, the value of pepper was equivalent to gold coins, and it was better to pay the bill with a few grains of pepper when eating, than to pay the bill with money.

Even more ironic, the British East India Company, which later ruled half the world, was founded solely because the Spaniards, Britain's business rivals, doubled the price of pepper, and for the sake of the spicy taste of the table, the British were enough to muster up the courage to form a fleet and go to the most remote places in the world.

The natural advantages of trade have made Southeast Asia a crossroads between China and the West, which is both a good thing for the Ming Empire, but it is also a bad thing, it is too easy to obtain the rich benefits of trade, so that the Oriental merchants lack competitiveness and enterprising, there is no manager of the Atlantic, and the Oriental Fleet with the experience of stormy waves in the Pacific Ocean is difficult to occupy a place in the unprecedented opportunities and challenges of the Age of Discovery.

Fortunately, Mao Jue was the British East India Company that he acquired, not the new East India Company himself, and the merchants of the Ming Dynasty were not very interested in distant India, but these British were extremely interested, and they also had trade stacks and supply points there.

The scale of this fleet can be regarded as not small, the pilot ship is the British Red Deer, a galen sailing ship, but the scale is small enough, the total length is twenty-seven meters, and the Ming Cangshan ship is about the same length, a single deck and two masts, but I have to admire the British enterprising and adventurous spirit, such a small boat, the loading capacity is enough to be comparable to two Dongjiang thirty-meter three-level sailing ships, Mao Jue set up a lounge room for the sailors and sailors, they all used it as a cargo hold, and the sailors slept directly on the cargo box.

Followed by three Dongjiang third-class battleships, the establishment of the Dongjiang Naval Division is a bit messy, nominally a national fleet, but in fact it is equivalent to Mao Jue's private fleet, although after the Dingding Beijing Division, Mao Jue began to set out to distinguish between the two and establish a regular national navy, but that is not in a hurry, there must still be a sailor for Mao Jue to run private work.

And the commanders of these three sailboats can be regarded as Mao Jue's old acquaintances.

Former Ningyuan General Wu Sangui!

Further back, there are six local ships in the south of the Yangtze River, the maritime fleet under the command of Zheng Zhilong in Fujian, a total of ten ships are loaded with goods from the north and south, including the three major pieces of silk tea and porcelain in the south of the Yangtze River, as well as the special goods under Mao Jue, cigarettes, liquor, woven fabrics, and even the glass of goods that the West is proud of, are also packed in several boxes, these goods are equivalent to at least five or six years of trade volume of the East India Company, which simply makes the captain of the Red Deer, William. Smith's saliva almost didn't come out of his mind.

The target of the fleet was directly aimed at Bengal, India, and just before Mao Jue invested in the East India Company and wanted to buy the East India Company, the British had just established a new trading house here through bribery, and the location of the plank road was in a small village.

Calcutta!

The gold shines everywhere, and there are dozens of personal soldiers gathered under his hands, plus he is an orthodox officer and has outstanding command ability, Wu Sangui quickly mixed up from the second mate to the position of captain, but now, he regrets and is confused.

A while ago, the two Huai wars, and he was unlucky with two difficult brothers, the West Road Ma Harrier Wang Fuchen made military exploits in Li Zhuang, and he was already a regimental deputy, and Ma Bao, the general who broke into the army, relied on daring to fight and kill, and he was also a team, although he fought for official positions, the three of them were about the same, but people were rising in the army, no matter how you look at it, there are many opportunities, what about yourself? Reduced to working as a nanny for a group of businessmen!

Joining the sailor, Wu Sangui is because he saw Yuan Dabao here for the first time, the battle of Shanhaiguan, this opponent is very impressive, he can be placed here, it is estimated that it is a beautiful difference, the second point is that the goal in the future must be to pacify Jiangnan, the south ship and the north horse, and fight with the Nanming, it is estimated that there are many places to use the ship, and there are many opportunities for meritorious service.

People are not as good as heaven, God knows that Mao Jue will not fight if he doesn't fight!

"Alas, God is jealous of talents!"

In the eyes, the sea is full of uproar, it has been more than a month since Hangzhou, except after the city of Zhancheng to replenish it, in addition to sailing for six or seven consecutive days, not even a big storm has been encountered, looking at the sparkling sea in front of him, Wu Sangui couldn't help but yawn again, and then sighed helplessly.

Why don't you go back this time and find Wang Fuchen to take a walk? Even if he is subordinate to him, there are many opportunities for the army, so he will not waste his youth here, but it is not easy to do this water division of thousands of households, and it is a pity to give up.

Just when Wu Sangui was entangled, a laugh suddenly sounded behind him.

"Brother Wu is so interested! I can see the sea so fascinating!"

Wu Sangui turned around, but it was a hairy boy who was only sixteen or seventeen years old and walked out of the cabin with great interest, with a few drops of ink on his face, and in his hand, he was carrying a drawing board and painting paint.

This kid's surname is Xu, he took refuge in Mao Jue, and relied on the prefect of Xing'an through the imperial examination, the nephew of a literati named Xu Xiake, who was a salt merchant in Yangzhou back then, and had this relationship, and this kid mixed into the fleet as a company employee.

For this kid, Wu Sangui has a feeling of being connected to the same fate, if he goes to take Mao Jue's civil service exam, he may be mixed with the commander of this bureau now, but now he is being assigned to the frontier with him.

Wu Sangui, who has always been fierce, also shook his head with a rare smile.

"Wu Mouwufu, you are not as sentimental as you literati! Wu was just sighing, there is such a big world in the world, and he hasn't walked for so many days!"

Not to mention, a casual perfunctory sentence made this kid's eyes suddenly light up with excitement, and he couldn't stop nodding his head.

"But no, I followed my uncle around before, and I already felt that the world was very big, and it was with the regent that I knew how I was a frog at the bottom of the well!"

"Brother Wu, look, this is the map of India that I translated and drew from those Western Domain books! This is the Bangladesh we are going to, Kolkata Village, here is the holy mountain in the mouth of the Tibetan monks, from here to the sea, there is a Central Plains size! The population here is almost as large as that of the Central Plains, and I never thought that there would be a great empire as rich and powerful as my Ming Dynasty!"

Comparable to the Central Plains? Listening to Xu Liangui's emotion, Wu Sangui couldn't help but snort coldly in disdain, even if he is down, the Ming Empire is still the center of the world in his mind, and the rest are all backward barbarian feudal states, can they be compared to the Ming Dynasty? It's either Yarou's arrogance or fantasy!

In the end, he is young, and he has no hair on his mouth and short knowledge!

Ignoring Wu Sangui's contempt, he put the first map on the deck to dry, Xu Liangui opened the second one, and then showed off that kind of finger to Wu Sangui.

"This river is the Ganges River of the Indians, which is equivalent to the Yellow River of our Ming Dynasty, from here up, all of them are great plains, rich in rice, cotton and linen! The population is dense, and the task assigned by the company is to go up as much as possible and understand the local mountains and rivers, geography, and customs!"

"To be the first person in my Ming Dynasty to go deep into a foreign land, I Xu Liangui is really lucky in this life!"

Excited eyes are starry, Xu Liangui dried the second itinerary map again, the speaker had no intention of listening, although he was still very suspicious and disdainful of Daming, but a few words still jumped to Wu Sangui's heart.

It's all plains! Rice is abundant! Populous!

Mao Jue suddenly ceased war with Nanming, and immediately acquired the British East India Company, and the fact that the regent was actually in charge of a lowly merchant had already caused an uproar in the government and the opposition, and everyone wondered why the regent was doing this.

But now, Wu Sangui understands a little! What a Mao Jue, such a big ambition, the Ming Dynasty has not yet calmed down, and has begun to focus on foreign lands, he wants to be a great emperor like Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty to make a name for himself outside the territory!

So who is Wei Qing and who is Huo Quai, it is unknown!

Suddenly, he was not so resistant to this mission, and while the kid was posting information, Wu Sangui couldn't help but pick up the binoculars.

Looking around, the endless sea suddenly came to an end, and the emerald green land suddenly came into view!

India has arrived!

(End of chapter)