In the vast and boundless Western Ocean, flocks of gulls and birds are constantly fighting in the waves, showing their ambitions to the sky. On the calm sea, a huge fleet of ships spewed billowing smoke from the east, obscuring the sun.

"Chang Gung, is there an accurate direction for the corrected route on the helm's side, and how long will it take for our next one to arrive?" Qu Chengxing stood on the deck of the Dejing and looked at the endless blue ocean in the distance and asked. Chang Gung is his vice admiral, and he is also a graduate of the Ocean College and Qu Chengxing, who had been a captain in the Beiyang Fleet before, and was responsible for the daily navigation of the fleet at this time. ”

"How much of our sustenance and coal reserves do we have left?" Qu Chengxing thought for a while and asked. Because of the navigation knowledge brought by Li Xuanqing from later generations, a vitamin deficiency disease similar to leukemia has been completely solved after bringing all kinds of soybeans and black beans in advance, and the fleet has traveled through the tropics along the way, not only has abundant seafood supplies, but also can purchase enough vegetables and fruits after docking along the way, so all the seamen and soldiers of the Western Fleet can basically ensure good health. It's just that such a huge fleet brought a great shock to the indigenous people along the way after docking a few times, and the scene of spitting clouds and fire even made everyone collapse to the ground in fright, so if it was not necessary along the way, Qu Chengxing did not plan to stop at the shore casually, but every once in a while he would approach the coastline to see which places were suitable for establishing piggyback points, and which places needed to be included in the overseas strongholds of the empire, so as to facilitate the docking and replenishment of the fleet in the later period. As for the charcoal carried by the fleet, it has become a concern for everyone, after all, in this era, there is almost no charcoal in other places except for the Tang Dynasty itself, or the indigenous people in these places are still in the era of sailing, where can they know the existence of coal?

"According to what the emperor said before the expedition, the charcoal we carried can reach the Persian governor's palace, and I have ordered all ships to hang their sails to increase power when the wind is downwind, and we have saved a lot more time than expected, so the general system does not have to worry." Chang Gung said with a smile after taking the record book and comparing it in detail. His words made Qu Chengxing feel a lot more relieved, put down the fishing rod that was originally going to fish, and walked over and said: "When we return, I think most of our cargo ships can free up space, fill up at one time, and there is no need to explore land strongholds from time to time, so there should be some surplus." ”

"Turn the rudder and sail to the southwest." Qu Chengxing and Chang Gung's Izukyo took the lead in leading this huge fleet to the south along the body poison for three days, and began to order the ten Izumo-class warships to disperse in front of them, and began to search for the legendary big island located at the southernmost point of the body poison, that is, the legendary Lion Country. According to historical records, the Eastern Jin Dynasty monk Fa Xian arrived in the lion country in 410, and in the Tang Dynasty, even Master Yilang and others also arrived in the lion country, but Qu Chengxing didn't know whether the lion country recorded in the history books was the lion country he was looking for. However, this kind of entanglement is not important now, according to the navigation charts that I have synthesized these days, the Lion Kingdom should be not far ahead.

"You see, there's land ahead." Chang Geng stood in front of the huge glass wall of the command cabin with a clairvoyant mirror and suddenly shouted.

"Isn't there land? Every time you have land these days, you are like this, can you still be a little more steady? Qu Chengxing was just about to tease Chang Geng when he heard the other party continue: "It's not that this is an island, and it's not connected to the land on the side of the poison. Chang Geng's words made Qu Chengxing interested, and immediately issued an order, ordering the battleships that went out to reconnoiter to immediately dock, and other fleets began to slow down, preparing to repair here for a day.

"Chang Geng, let's go up and have a look with the interpreter that Xuan Yingwei found." The big island in front of it doesn't look ordinarily big, and the coastline along the coast is tortuous and deep, which seems to be more suitable for building ports and docks, because the fleet is already close to preparing to suspend sailing, so Qu Chengxing took the personal guards and Chang Gung to go ashore on the island to investigate. After their group stayed on this island for three days, and after various warships sailed around the island for most of the circle, Qu Chengxing gradually figured out the basic situation of this big island. After Qu Chengxing landed on the island, he also met the residents of the island along the way, but these locals still seem to be immersed in the era of slash-and-burn farming, but they are not so repulsive to outsiders, and the interpreter found by Xuan Yingwei finally contacted the other party in a language in the south after trying more than a dozen languages. This large island is often associated with the body poison in the north, and there are people who have come to build huge Buddha statues on the island, and not long ago sent people to escort the Buddha bone relics to worship. There is also a small court on the island, and the whole country believes in Buddhism, and the customs are not much different from those on the body poison side.

However, Qu Chengxing didn't care much about this, but was surprised that the residents of the island casually took out gold and gems to exchange some daily necessities with Qu Chengxing, and after a little inquiry, Qu Chengxing understood that this big island is rich in gold and precious stones, and gold and precious stones may be very precious in other places, but they are not valuable items here. In particular, if you want to dig gems yourself, although the large mines are controlled by the small court and nobles, you may find a lot of gems if you dig in ordinary places.

"This place must be taken down, treasure land, it must belong to Datang." Qu Chengxing boarded the Dejing and was about to set off again, when he looked at the big island in the distance and gritted his teeth, if this news was known to the people of the Central Plains, he was afraid that it would set off a wave of going to sea again, so Qu Chengxing still issued a gag order after thinking about it, and this news must not be leaked out before he reported it. However, what he may not have expected was that the news was not leaked out, but the situation on the side of the poison had always been known to the Central Plains Dynasty, so after the basic facilities on the Xihai County side were completed, the merchant ships from the Nanyang side and the freighters and merchant ships from the Xihai County were launched one after another, but the merchants of the Tang Empire made a lot of money on the land of the poison, and even used this rich land as a source of raw materials and a commodity dumping market for the industrial development of the empire.

However, Qu Chengxing set off from the Lion Country and continued to sail north to the Persian Governor's Mansion and got closer and closer, especially under the blowing of the southwest monsoon, the speed of the smooth sailing increased the speed of the entire fleet by nearly thirty percent, and after reaching the Ganges River valley from the north along the poisonous coast, he went west along the coastline again, and finally saw the land at the end of the fifth year of the Apocalypse, and the personnel of the Xuanying Guard's army also began to come with the latest news soon after they went ashore, and they did arrive in the southern area of Safar, Although it is still some distance from the Persian Governorate, it is not far away. After getting the accurate positioning information, Chang Gung once again commanded the navigation staff to correct the course, record the accurate route, and then head towards the Persian governor's palace. By the time the fleet arrived, Sima Daoxin was even already in the newly renovated Persian Governor's Mansion with a large group of men to greet the fleet. Although the port established by Sima Daoxin here could not be compared with Shantou, the port of departure of the fleet, all the members of the fleet who were able to see the people of the same clan of the empire again after sailing tens of thousands of miles were in tears, and they all got off the ship and landed ashore to hold a carnival with Sima Daoxin and others. In order to entertain this group of imperial compatriots who came from the sea, Sima Daoxin took out the local specialties of Safar, such as Hump Meat and Roasted Whole Sheep, and Roasted Whole Sheep sprinkled with cumin, pepper and other spices brought from the south, so that everyone in the fleet could feast on it, and at the same time, he began to lament the hard work of the journey. Although equipped with ironclad ships that are unique in this era, after experiencing storms one after another, this group of sailors at sea also understands that in the face of nature, even these steel monsters that seem to be as oppressive as a hill cannot be compared. But at the same time, there is a lot of pride, although the power of nature is extraordinary, but their group of people drove their own warships across thousands of miles from east to west to a foreign land, their footsteps represent the footsteps of the Tang Dynasty, and their fleet is the figure of the Tang Empire conquering the ocean. Therefore, almost all the crew members stood up at this time, looking at the warship that accompanied them for tens of thousands of miles, and was in awe.

"General General, welcome to your expedition to this newborn land of the Empire." Sima Daoxin raised a glass of wine and said to Qu Chengxing, he really couldn't imagine the scene of the fleet that set off from the distant hinterland of the Tang Dynasty to fight on the sea under the command of this young general, so he smiled with a look of respect: "I have lived in the northwest all my life, but I never expected that I would be able to welcome my Tang fleet here to the west, and I can boast to future generations in the future." ”

"Lord Sima laughed, Chengxing just followed the emperor's wish to open up the ocean, which is nothing." Qu Chengxing didn't care, but said with emotion: "My lord may not know, if it weren't for the emperor who thought of a countermeasure for everything, we would never have been able to reach this extreme skyline sea so easily, a foreign country." Seeing Sima Daoxin's curious look, Qu Chengxing did not hide it, and simply said the latitude and longitude chart taken out by Li Xuanqing and a series of new technologies used by the fleet, "The emperor is the most amazing person I have ever seen in my life, almost single-handedly taking care of all the matters that need attention in the Western Ocean, and he also thought of countermeasures in advance, so I waited for the emperor's Hongfu to be absolutely not the slightest compliment, this is the truth." ”

"The emperor is a genius of the heavens, although I am also a blessing, I have seen it once at the Qiuzi Memorial Conference, but I think I can create such a big empire in just ten years, and there are few people in the entire history books." After the two sighed and drank heartily again, Qu Chengxing repaired again for three days and then sent three warships with twelve merchant ships to set off towards Baghdad, the royal capital of the black-clothed Great Food, under the leadership of the guide sent by Sima Daoxin, where Wang Shoutian had reached all the agreements with the former commander of the Great Food, Ayebi, but when the dozen or so ironclad warships arrived at the port, everyone was still frightened, and no one had ever seen this kind of scene that seemed to be a prehistoric giant beast traveling through time and space, And when the black clouds that covered half the sky covered half of the sky, all the great cannibals present were so frightened that they collapsed to the ground, and those who were familiar with the teachings of the Heavenly Sect even shouted an apocalyptic wail.

This scene was already expected by Wang Shoutian, and another purpose of the navy to come here to pick him up and return to China was to use this kind of ironclad ship to forcibly suppress the disobedience of the Great Food Empire and win time for the construction of the northwest side. You must know that even in Datang, people who have never seen an ironclad ship will not look much better when they see this kind of scene for the first time, let alone this group of barbarians? When Wang Shoutian helped Ayebi up, the other party even broke out in a cold sweat in the summer, looking at Wang Shoutian's expression without a trace of arrogance, his eyes were full of fear. There is no objection to what Wang Shoutian said about the follow-up transaction, and everything continues according to what the other party said.

Under such circumstances, a large number of traditional commodities such as silk, porcelain, glass, breech guns, and other industrial goods loaded in the twelve freighters were almost all sold at prices that made the people in the interior jealous, and a large amount of gold and silver were loaded onto the freighters one by one, along with other products presented by the Great Food Empire. It wasn't until Wang Shoutian waved his hand and boarded the warship and whistled that the flotilla began to set sail in turn, and Ayebi came to his senses, looking at the stunned people around him and looking at the mountains of goods and goods piled up on the dock, everyone's eyes were full of bitterness and fear. The dragon from the east had filled the entire Celestial Sect world with fear, and in fact this day was later known as the Dark Day.

At the beginning of the sixth year of the Apocalypse, when Wang Shoutian and Qu Chengxing began to set off for China, the two joined forces to erect a huge stone tablet on the newly built wharf of the Persian Governor's Palace, with four characters in regular script: Polar Sky Sea. This stele was later invited back to the Imperial Museum after the empire developed to the extreme, used to record that period of eventful years, the Tang fleet for the first time crossed tens of thousands of miles to arrive at this strange place that had never been before, after this voyage, everyone began to pay serious attention to the ocean, and after tens of thousands of miles in the northwest and west, it can also be connected by sea, which undoubtedly brought a new thinking to everyone in the northwest who had just stopped the war.

"Set sail, let's go home." Wang Shoutian and Qu Chengxing waved at Sima Daoxin and the others who came to see them off on the shore, this was the first time that the fleet had arrived at the Persian Governor's Palace, but it was definitely not the last. Sima Daoxin looked at the distant fleet and stared at it for a long time.