In the winter of the third year of the United States, the Indian Ocean, about 600 miles off the west coast of the Kangaroo Continent, which has not yet been discovered.

Two "Shenjia" galleys are being driven by oars, heading south against the wind.

Although there was always a boundless sea all around, not even a single reef that had surfaced, and the ships were still sailing against the wind, the officers and men of the navy on the two "Shenjia" galleys were all very excited.

Because they know they're going through something great enough to go down in history.

Because the earth circle theory has basically been confirmed!

The miracle happened when two "Shenjia" exploration ships, "Shunfeng" and "Ruyi", sailed south for two days on the windless and scorching hot ocean.

A cool southeast wind suddenly hangs on the calm sea! After two days of sailing against the wind, the temperature also dropped significantly.

The further south you go, the cooler the temperature gets!

This shows that the official Zhao Huan's speculation is correct, and the earth is round. Therefore, sailing all the way south can also reach the extremely cold land in the north of the Great Zhou Republic. It is likely that they have now passed the extreme heat of the south, and should be sailing towards the extreme cold of the north - and they say "should" because the pointing of the ship's compass has not changed.

In addition, the North Star still does not appear in the night sky, but the Southern Cross is still bright.

However, it is not clear why the compass always points to the south, and why the North Star and the Southern Cross appear in the night sky north and south of the southeast exit of the Sriwijaya Strait, respectively.

Therefore, it cannot be used as a basis to say that the "Shunfeng" and "Ruyi" are still sailing south, not north.

Even if the course didn't change, their discovery was remarkable.

They discovered that there are cool places in the south too! A cooler climate means that there is a possibility of habitable land. And on habitable land, there may also be civilizations that can trade with it.

It would be even better if you could find a land that was livable and fertile......

Chen Jiang stood on the stern of the ship behind the "tailwind", holding a telescope and trying to search the sea, as if trying to find the shadow of the land.

After looking for a long time, I still saw the sea water like a glittering blue blanket, rolling in layers of swells, slowly undulating.

It's spectacular, but it's also a little disappointing.

The climate of this sea is already relatively cool, about the same as that off the coast of Fujian. How can you find islands or continents, and maybe you can find rich indigenous city-states to trade......

Chen Jiang just sighed softly.

His younger brother, Chen Hai, the oarsman of the "Shunfeng", hurriedly walked up to the stern.

Seeing the disappointed expression on his brother's face, he asked, "Big brother, haven't you noticed it?" ”

"No," Chen Jiang shook his head, "but it's only been 10 days, and 6 of them are headwinds, and the average speed is not even 6 knots." ”

The section of the "Zhou and Song Dynasty" is 3 Huali. The speed of 6 knots is an hour to sail 18 miles, 12 hours a day is 216 miles, and 10 days is 2160 miles.

Of course, this number is not exact, that is, it is an approximation. So their current location, which is about 1,080 kilometers due south of Bali. Bali is about 13,400 kilometers away from the Australian mainland.

Now Chen Jiang is not surprised that they can't find Australia, but it's not too far away.

The great geographical discovery that will open a new chapter in human history is 600 miles away.

"Are we going to continue south?" Chen Hai asked.

"Of course!" Chen Jiang said, "The order of the Admiral of the Nanyang Navy is to let us travel south for 20 days and then return. It's only been 10 days today, how can I go back? And the farther south you go, the cooler it gets...... It didn't heat us up, did it? According to the plan, if you don't encounter an island or a mainland, you will continue to walk south for 20 days, and then turn back to the northeast to see if you can find the south of South Lantau.

Second brother, let your people suffer a little more...... Tell them that after this mission is completed, everyone will have merit, their sins will be forgiven, and the navy can send a ship to send them back to their hometown. ”

The oarsmen on the two exploration ships, "Shunfeng" and "Ruyi", were filled by criminals.

Now the prisons in the state capitals, cities and counties of the Eastern Song Dynasty are empty, capital crimes are rarely executed, and all kinds of bad people and wronged good people are two places, either exiled overseas or used as naval oarsmen.

The former is a first-class land of thousands of miles and tens of thousands of miles, all of which are wild and dysentery, and the sinners who are put there to open up the wasteland are easy to get sick and die! In a few years, almost half to two-thirds of them will die!

The latter is easy to survive, but it is too bitter. Shut up all day in a cramped dirty paddler deck to sell coolies. It usually takes three to five years to regain freedom.

However, the navy is not responsible for sending them home, and they will all be released in various commercial markets in Nanyang to fend for themselves.

Most of the oarsmen who are now being held on the two exploration ships "Shunfeng" and "Ruyi" have been arrested for resisting Qingtian in various parts of the Yangtze River. Not all of them are landlords and old money, but there are also some poor and middle peasants who have been instigated, which is really strange and pitiful.

Therefore, if you release it early, you can also put it back in Jiangnan, which has become an exciting reward.

……

Wang Zhongfu, who is 17 years old this year and is about to turn 18 years old, quickly climbed onto the lookout basket of the "Shunfeng".

He is now a student of the Eastern Song Dynasty Navy Juvenile Martial Arts Hall, the so-called Juvenile Martial Arts Hall, which is actually similar to the Knight Primary School in the Zhou Kingdom. The purpose is to provide excellent students for the military academy, and also to provide grassroots officers and non-commissioned officers for the army.

Wang Zhongfu moved to Jiangning two years ago with his father-in-law Chen Yu, Chen Yu and his brother Chen Shi are both loyal ministers of the two masters (Chen Yu is not a second master as an official in the Zhou State, because the Zhou State is a republic, there is no master), of course, he cannot be an unfilial son Zhao Kai. Therefore, he looked for a teaching position as a doctor of Confucianism in Jiangning University Hall (another thousand-year-old famous school) where Wu Haode served as the secretary.

And Wang Zhongfu was recommended by Chen Shi's friend Wu Haowen to study the Navy Youth Lecture Hall because of his good martial arts. This kid is really smart, although he doesn't have a little foundation in arithmetic, metaphysics, and naturals, but he quickly made up for it and ranked among the best in the school.

During this time, he was assigned to the naval Nanyang Fleet as an apprentice. When the apprenticeship is completed, you can go to apply for the Navy Lecture Hall.

And his performance during the apprenticeship of the Nanyang Fleet will also become an important basis for whether or not to admit the martial arts hall.

Since the Eastern Song Dynasty did not have a imperial examination system, if you wanted to enter the office, you had to obtain a primary school or university diploma first, and then take the civil service examination or join the army.

Therefore, obtaining the graduation diploma of the Navy Youth Lecture Martial Arts Hall and the Navy Lecture Martial Arts Hall, and then becoming a Navy officer, it has become the only and most ideal way for the young Wang Zhongfu to rise.

After climbing onto the observation basket and taking over the telescope from a colleague, Wang Zhongfu began to be on duty for three hours.

The image in the telescope is no longer an upside-down image of the sea and the sky, but an image of a big head upside down. This is the result of many years of research in the Department of Optics of the Yuntai Academy of Nature......

In addition, the material used to make the telescope lens is not natural crystal, but has become a highly transparent Tianjin glazed piece - the yield rate of this glazed lens is very low, only a few percent of the products are qualified. However, compared to natural crystal, it is still much cheaper. So it was possible to mass-produce telescopes to equip the troops.

Wang Zhongfu followed the continuation of the left front and right back, observing the undulating ocean surface over and over again. There is nothing on the surface of the ocean...... There are only undulating waves, and a few white seabirds circling.

Wrong! There are seabirds!

There are no seabirds in the vast ocean, and they only soar near islands or continental coasts.

Now that there are seabirds in the sky, will the islands be far away?

Wang Zhongfu rubbed his eyes in disbelief, and then put one eyeball on the eyepiece of the telescope and looked at it carefully.

That's right! It's a flock of seabirds!

Wang Zhongfu put away the telescope, then turned around and sounded the alarm.

"Dangdangdang......"

When the piercing bell rang, Chen Jiang was eating breakfast in the bow of the back of the ship, and the porridge was meat buns. Just as he was snoring and eating, the alarm bell rang.

Not a rush battle signal, but an alarm bell with an interval, a signal that the lookout post had made a discovery.

Chen Jiang hurriedly put down a half-eaten bun, then wiped his mouth, stood up and strode out.

When he got up to the back bow, Chen Jiang saw that several officers on the ship had arrived, one by one, all looking at the sky.

"Found what? Is it land? ”

"It's a seabird! A big flock! Someone answered immediately.

"Is it migration?"

"No, it's just hovering in the air, as if fishing."

"Offshore ......" Chen Jiang's breathing suddenly became short, and he hurriedly took out the telescope and looked at the air in front of him, and sure enough, there were more than a dozen white birds flying in the air.

"We're offshore!" Chen Jiang ordered loudly, "Send a lookout and search carefully!" Order the oarsmen to speed up, and all the oarsmen go to work! ”

Oarsmen are rotated while the ship is cruising, and all of them are only on duty in combat situations. As for paddling at full speed, it can only last a quarter of an hour, which is the situation when the attack is launched in battle.

The speed of the "Shunfeng" suddenly accelerated, and Chen Jiang held the telescope and tried to observe forward.

Seabirds, more seabirds!

Chen Jiang is almost certain that there must be an island nearby, maybe it's not small!

When Chen Jiang made his judgment, Wang Zhongfu, who was standing on a high place, had already seen the horizon in the distance from the eyepiece.

The horizon is boundless! If it was the horizon of an island, it must be a very vast island, even ...... There could be an unknown continent!

A new continent!

"Discover the land! Land! Discover the land .......," Wang Zhongfu shouted.