In the seventeenth century, although the Western world was rising, the center of the world was still in Asia, not the West.

At this time, three of the world's five most populous countries were in Asia, namely the Ming Empire, the Mughal Empire, and Japan, and the remaining two, one Ottoman Empire, most of which were in Asia, and only the Kingdom of France really belonged to the West, and Spain fell to the sixth level in the second half of the seventeenth century.

At this time, because of the war in the East, the population of the Ming Empire decreased, and the Mughal occupied the position of the most populous country and was a huge market, but the Mughal was far away from the Ming Dynasty, and Malacca was controlled by the Dutch, so the Ming Empire could not find a market in the Mughal for the time being.

Japan's population, which by the 17th century was close to 20 million, had long been in the fourth and fifth places, about the same as the Kingdom of France, and a street away from England.

Although Japan is a poor place with scarce resources, the population of 20 million is enough to become a huge market, even if each of them only uses the cotton cloth of the Ming Dynasty to make one piece of clothing in their lifetime, it is still 20 million pieces, which can bring a large number of Ming Dynasty workshops alive.

The Ming court attached great importance to this trade negotiation with the Tokugawa shogunate.

The crew of the Li Fan Yuan went directly to the ship from the Nanjing wharf, and the sailor, a thousand-household official, waved his big hand and shouted: "Lift the anchor and start the boat!" ”

Many officers and men on the deck put away the ladder that reached to the dock, and several sailors walked to the winch at the bow of the ship, one of them pushing a cart rod, and as they pushed, the chain slowly rose, and the chain rubbed against the ship's wood to make a sound.

Sailor is a good job that has risen in recent years, because the salary is good, it is many times stronger than being a tenant farming, so many young people who have lost their land are willing to engage in this trade, but the sailor is well paid, and the requirements are also high, and the shipwrights and chambers of commerce will generally choose people who are strong and healthy, if the conditions are too poor, they may not be able to be able to be.

Going to sea is a dangerous thing, not only will you encounter strong winds and waves, but you will also meet pirates, and if you don't have a strong body, most of them will die at sea.

Therefore, this sailor is not a man, and the most wanted person by all maritime merchants and shipowners is still a pawn who has retired from the army.

Several sturdy sailors, with steady steps, pushed the winch, and in a few moments, a huge three-clawed iron anchor leaked out of the water.

The anchor was together, the Fu boat lost control, began to slide down the river, several soldiers took bamboo poles to the shore, Fu Fu left the dock, down the river east, into the sea.

After the Ming army recovered Jiangbei, the importance of river defense was reduced, the size of the Huguang Water Division was reduced, and the elite East China Sea Division was dispatched to defend the mouth of the Yangtze River, eliminate pirates, crack down on smuggling, and protect the smooth flow of trade.

The mission had two lucky ships, led by Xu Junsheng, and the ships and people were seconded from the East China Sea division in Chongming.

In order to be suitable for sea navigation, the ships are all pointed bottoms, have a deep draft, have no oars, and sail by the wind.

At this time, the boat was propped away from the dock, and slowly slid to the center of the river with the current, Xu Junsheng stood on the ship's floor, and immediately waved his hand, "Raise the sail!" ”

The soldiers on the deck started to raise the mainsail together, and everyone shouted in unison, pulling hard, and the wide sail covered the sunlight like a dark cloud, and the light on the deck dimmed, and suddenly became cool.

In fact, the Ming Dynasty imitated the Xiyi warship, there was already a relatively light cloth sail, but because the sailing method of Xiyi was somewhat different from the Ming Dynasty, it has not been promoted, and it is not very suitable for the fortune ship, the sail of the Ming Dynasty is mainly bamboo sails, and the canvas relies on the support of bamboo ribs, and there are many bamboo ribs, which are naturally heavy.

However, although this kind of sail with bamboo ribs is heavy, it also has its own advantages, that is, it is not easy to be damaged, and it is not easy for the cannonball to tear the canvas at once, and the hole caused will be smaller.

In a short time, the sails were all raised, the soldiers fixed the sail ropes to the stakes on the deck, and the fleet followed the river, and by the wind, the speed was immediately raised, and the knights on the shore could not chase after them.

There is a reason for the gradual decline of the land Silk Road and the rise of the maritime Silk Road, with the development of navigation technology, sea transportation is much stronger than road transportation.

Ships on the Yangtze River are shuttling back and forth, large and small ships keep passing by the fleet, some are loaded with goods, flowing down the river to the sea, and some are pulling up the river under the pull of the slender man.

The trumpets on both sides of the Yangtze River came and went, and the big sea ships that searched for 2,000 materials, pulled by four or five hundred slender men, moved forward slowly and sailed in the direction of Nanjing.

Within a day, the fleet left the mouth of the Yangtze River and entered the East China Sea, where the sea and the sky met in the distance.

On the blue sea, seabirds flew in the sky, and white sails sailed into the distance in the distance.

The characteristics of the Fu ship are that the two ends are high, the middle is low, and there are three floors at the stern, such as the castle tower on the sea. Qian Bingrup stood on the ship's floor, and the river breeze blew, blowing his robe agitated.

It was not the first time he had gone to sea, and he had visited various countries in the South Seas before, which had accumulated experience for him to go to sea, but the people accompanying him were secretly surprised, and many people saw the sea for the first time, and their hearts were excited.

Qian Bingrup saw their excited appearance, but smiled, and got into the ship, the distance is still long, it is better to save energy for now, otherwise it will be difficult to survive the long voyage.

He was so excited when he went to sea for the first time, but when he experienced more than a month in a row, the scene around him was all the same, and he was confined to the limited space of a sea ship, and the rest was only boring and lonely.

When the mission left the mouth of the Yangtze River, they were spotted by the patrol ships of the East China Sea Division in the distance, and after seeing the flag, the sailors escorted them for more than ten nautical miles, and then fired a few cannons on the sea surface to see them off, and then turned back and continued the patrol.

The sailors had a heavy responsibility, in addition to investigating the smuggling ships of the Ming Dynasty, they also had to prevent foreign ships from entering the Yangtze River and approaching the coastal cities.

According to the regulations of the Ming Dynasty, foreign ships could not enter the inland rivers of the Ming Dynasty at will, nor could they enter the coastal areas at will, and could only anchor and trade at the treaty ports of Guangzhou, Quanzhou, and Ningbo, and foreign merchants could not enter and leave the Ming Dynasty at will.

After leaving the mouth of the Yangtze River, the fleet sailed northeast, and the journey was smooth sailing, and a few days later it reached Ryukyu.

Ryukyu is located between Japan and the Ming Dynasty, and the Ming Dynasty has a close relationship, and when the surnames such as Huang and Lin are all Taizu, they moved into the Ryukyus, and the whole country is almost the same language and species as the Ming Dynasty.

Because of its geographical location, Ryukyu became a transit point for Sino-Japanese trade, and ships traveling to and from the trade had to dock for supplies, so Ryukyu was very wealthy.

On this day, Qian Bingjian was reading a book in the shipbuilding, he was a member of the imperial court, and although the space on the ship was small, he could occupy a room alone.

He was reading some records about Japan, as well as documents on the Ming Dynasty's dealings with Japan, so that he could better negotiate with the shogun when he arrived in Japan.

He even felt that the current situation in Japan was very similar to that of the Ming Dynasty, and the emperor of the Ming Dynasty had become a symbol, and the power of the court was held by the King of Chu, and there were also semi-divided forces such as Jin Shenghuan and Zheng Chenggong in the local area.

"Lord Qian, I'll be in the Ryukyus soon!" Qian Bingjian was looking at a copy of "Japanese Shoki", Xu Junsheng suddenly came outside the room, knocked on the door and said.

When Qian Bingjian heard about Ryukyu, he closed the book, then walked out of the room and walked up to the shipbuilding with Xu Junsheng, a large island in the distance, which could be seen as far as the eye could see, but it was one thing to see, and it was another thing to arrive, and the fleet sailed for more than half an hour before coming to Lishou Harbor.

From the ship's floor, there were many seagoing ships moored in the harbor, and in addition to the ships from the East, there was also a merchant ship with the Dutch flag moored here.

Eyes moved to the dock, and King Shangzhi, who got the news, had already led a large group of people and waited at the dock.

(End of chapter)