The immortal medicine offered by Hu Shang is really harmful. If it weren't for the elixir of immortality, the King of Qi would not have promised to join the alliance; The king of Qi did not promise to meet the alliance, so he did not retreat; Without retreat, there would be no marriage disputes like the one now, let alone a war.

Zhu Ao has five people who support the Qi - Qi Kai has no good impression of the Qi people, the Qi State used to block the expansion of the Yue Kingdom, and instigated the first king to invade Chu without borders, otherwise the Yue Kingdom would not be like this. On the same day, the Zhengchao began to discuss the matter of cutting Qi, and the Great Sima Mansion also asked for an immediate strategy to cut Qi, which was a punitive war, not a battle to seize the city and destroy the country.

The voyage from Yingdu south to Panyu was long, and Xiong Jing, who was in Panyu City, did not know that the two countries of Qi and Chu were going to war. After more than ten days of waiting, the entire fleet finally arrived at Panyu Bay, the monsoon was coming, and he had a lot to explain.

"From Panyu to the south by the monsoon, the course takes 290, about a month to the Red Ocean Strait, not to the strait will also go to the islands on the west side of the strait......" map is placed on the case, Xiong Jing is explaining the route.

There are not too many problems going out of Panyu Bay to the southwest, and the worst can be caught by the bottom of the South Seas kettle in Java. The problem is that he doesn't know which is lower in the Strait of Malacca or Sri Lanka, and that if the monsoon is a northerly wind, then passing through the Strait of Malacca is going northwest, which is almost equal to a headwind.

Xiong Jing paused, looked at the thoughts of the Gluttonous and Mountain Ghost, and asked, "Do you know what the difficulty of this trip is?" ”

"My lord, I don't know." The strait leading to the Red Ocean was thousands of miles away, and the two had no idea what the sea was like there.

"Here." Xiong Jing pointed to the strait, "Sailing to the northwest, if the monsoon comes from the northwest, I am afraid it will not be able to pass; Second, "Xiong Jing also points to the estuary of the Ganges River in the northern part of the Bay of Bengal." "If the wind comes from due north, it may be difficult for the headwind to reach it. Third, it is unknown which is higher or lower between the latitude and the outlet of the strait, if the strait is high, it can be reached due west; If the strait is low, the course due west will reach Nanzhou. In addition, there are many reefs in the South China Sea, and there are also many reefs in the strait. ”

"Dare to ask the king, how to choose the channel?" Latitude, reefs can be overcome, and sailing against the wind is too much of a headache. Looking at the map, the Red Ocean Strait running northwest and the estuary of the Ganges River in the northern part of the Bay of Bengal are indeed problems.

"I don't know, I don't know, you can only explore." Xiong Jing reluctantly drew the Indian Ocean current, which was something they had to know. "In the south of the Red Ocean, the ocean current is retrograde, and it is like this all year round. In the north, due to the monsoon, the winter ocean current also retrograde, forming a circulation; In summer, on the contrary, the ocean currents are upgrade, forming a circulation. It is not difficult to reach the southernmost island in winter, because the ocean current is retrograde, from east to west.

In addition, as with the East China Sea, there are hurricanes in the Red Ocean every summer and autumn, and the return voyage should not be in May, June, July, and August, but in March and April. ”

The Indian Ocean route, that's what Xiong Jing remembers. It is possible for a sail ship to reach Sri Lanka for a year, but to reach the mouth of the Ganges River in the northern Bay of Bengal, it is impossible to reach it within a year due to headwinds.

This made him worry about another thing: if he can't return once a year, what will happen to the grain in the future?

At this time, India had a population of more than 20 million, mostly living in the Indus River and Ganges River basins. He envisioned cargo ships carrying grain directly from the inner port of the Ganges to China, and if the cargo ships could not reach the mouth of the Ganges in winter, things would be difficult. One can only hope for larger ports to the north of Sri Lanka and to the east of the Indian subcontinent.

Alternatively, arrive in Sri Lanka before the end of the winter monsoon, wait until next spring when the monsoon turns, follow the monsoon to the mouth of the Ganges, and then manage to leave the mouth of the Ganges and enter the Strait of Malacca before the winter monsoon arrives.

In fact, there were many ports on the east and west coasts of the Indian subcontinent, and merchant ships did not need to travel to the northern Bay of Bengal to enter the Ganges River to trade with the Indians. Three hundred years later, the Roman historian Pliny complained: 'No less than 100,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000, Of these, '55 million sestris have flowed into India.' ’

1 Seth retreat = 1/4 Roman Dinari = 1 delamarck. Five five million sestris were thirteen million drachmas, or two thousand two hundred and ninety-one tarrants, equivalent to fifty-nine and a half tons of silver.

That's a lot of money. Although this was three hundred years after trade, the world's population was extremely slow to multiply until the eighteenth century. The more accepted figures are 1 to 20,000 in 1 million BC, 3 million in the late Paleolithic period in 100,000 BC, 4 million in 10,000 BC, 50 million in 1,000 BC, and 100 million in 500 BC.

In the second hundred years of B.C., a little later in the era of Xiongjing, the population reached 150 million, while the population of Pliny's time was only 20 million, or more than 170 million. There is a difference of 300 years, but the demographic change is not significant. Moreover, the world's main population is concentrated in East and South Asia, and Europe has only increased its population by about 5 million in these 300 years, from 26 million in 200 BC to 31 million in the first century AD.

From this, it is also possible to determine the tonnage of merchant ships required for world trade at this time. In the eighties of the sixteenth century, the world's population was about 530 million, and the total merchant tonnage of the Mediterranean and the Atlantic Ocean was about one million tons (excluding the merchant tonnage of Arabia, India, and East Asian countries). According to this ratio, 150 million people at the same level of production need at least 280,000 tons of merchant ships, even if we take into account the backwardness of production technology, but because of the improvement of navigation technology and shipbuilding technology, the cost of transportation has decreased, and the tonnage of merchant ships in the world should not be less than 150,000 tons.

India's trade with Persia, Arabia, and the Eastern Mediterranean has always been frequent as long as there were no wars. Xiong Jing also did not know much about the Indian Ocean in ancient times, and thought that there were no ports on the east coast of the Indian subcontinent. After thinking about it, he suggested that the fleet sail straight to Sri Lanka, and that the farther north it might be, the closer it was to the mouth of the Ganges.

And if you miss Sri Lanka, head to the Gulf of Aden to see if the old canal is navigable. He was lucky enough to remember the Red Sea monsoon: it could reach Suez in autumn and winter, the Gulf of Aden in summer, and it was basically impossible to sail in spring. The Persian Gulf was also one of the targets of the expedition, and according to half of the Greeks, it has been a prosperous place of commerce and trade since ancient times. Unfortunately, Xiong Jing did not know the monsoon situation in the Persian Gulf, and could only be explored by the fleet itself.

"Horses are the most important thing, and if you have an eight-foot stallion, you must buy it back." After the route was discussed, the captain had no hook, and Xiong Jing once again explained to the horses.

"Yui. If there is a stallion, bring it back. Wugou replied very seriously, the eight-foot horse is a dragon, even if Xiong Jing doesn't remind him, he will get it back when he sees the eight-foot stallion.

"The affairs of the businessmen can be handled by a special person." Xiong Jing turned to trade, "I don't want to make a lot of profits, but I want to open up sales." Especially agricultural tools, armor, land, porcelain, and paper are essential. Beware of pirates," Xiong Jing asked, "Do you know what a pirate ship is?" ”

"The ship of the pirates, the boat is big, there are many armorers, fighting each other to take other people's money and goods," the judgment of the no hook is roughly accurate. The purpose of piracy is to grab ships and goods, and it takes a lot of people to achieve this.

"This is a professional pirate." Xiong Jing used a rare word, "Ordinary maritime merchants, both merchants and thieves, must not be slack." ”

"Yui." Wu Gou Chang thought that a thief was a thief, and he had never heard of a business or a thief, but the words were said by the king, and he immediately chose to believe it.

"If something happens, be sure to pass the book back to Ying." Xiong Jing said again. "Next year, the Vermilion Bird Sea Boat will be launched, and at this time it will be able to reach the Red Sea, Persia, and India."

Speaking of pirates, Xiong Jing didn't know how unlucky to talk about accidents. In fact, both the Mountain Ghost and the Gluttony were equipped with sufficient armaments, and the number of sailors was doubled, two-thirds of whom were the boat masters, and in addition to using spears, they also practiced the tortoiseshell shield formation of the Romans.

"Yui." Wugou Chang's heart was hot, and the heat on his back rushed to his brain, and he had goosebumps on his body.

"Don't be too cautious." Xiong Jing smiled self-deprecatingly. "In today's world, no pirate can take a good ship. Nothing worries me more than the Big-Winged Warboat. ”

"Big-winged warship?" Wugou Chang was very surprised, he thought that only Chu had a big-winged war boat.

"There are many seas in the Great Wing Warship." Xiong Jing nodded, not thinking that there was anything wrong with admitting that the Big-Winged Warship was from the Mediterranean. "The speed of the sail is not as fast as the big wing, if it is intercepted by the big wing, it is good to board the boat and fight, if it hits the ......, do not act cautiously. There are translators in Hong Kong who are the best, and they can be hired with money. ”

"Yui." No hook replied again, this time the expression really sank.

"If there is a watermelon, be sure to bring some back, there are seeds after the melon is rotten, and there are seeds if there is no melon." Xiong Jing deliberately said a delicious thing, he hadn't eaten watermelon for many years. "It's the same with cotton, you can bring the seeds with you, and you can bring back the spinning and weaving utensils. The rest of the things that are not available in the world and the Chu State can be brought back. ”

In addition to horses, the importance of cotton cannot be underestimated. If there is cotton, cotton clothes can be made, instead of wadding made of silk, and then cotton can be used to spin cloth. Gema can be weaved, but there is a process of Gema, that is, degumming, the so-called 'East Gate Pool, can be hemp' is said to be the degumming process, and you have to pound it hard at night. Instead of this, it is better to grow cotton. Cotton ginning is less troublesome than degumming and pounding clothes. The Chu people do not breed, they can be taught to the Qi race.

"And flax." Xiong Jing mentioned another important thing. "The sails are used, and the linen cloth is also. However, the hemp of the world is different from the hemp of Xizhou. The hemp of the West Continent or the hemp of the world is strong, and it may be stronger to weave sails in this way. ”

"Yui." The hookless chief nodded heavily. The sail is the only power for the sailing of the sea boat, because the sewing technology is not in place, and the sail is broken. If the hemp of Xizhou can really be stronger, then it is necessary to bring back flaxseeds.