Ji Yan entered Zheng He's room as ordered, and after entering the door, he first quickly swept around the house.

are all their own acquaintances.

Zheng He and Wang Jinghong were discussing something, and Wang Xi was serving on the side.

I saw that in the center of this room, there was a huge round table, which was the same as the last time Ji Yan came.

The last time Ji Yan was summoned in, it was Zheng He who announced that he would anchor in Fujian for a period of time.

The biggest difference from this time is that there is now a giant map on the table.

This map looks a little familiar in terms of drawing style, similar to the "Ming Mixed One Map" that Ji Yan saw in Tianxi Temple, but this map only has the part south of the Yangtze River, and focuses on the South Seas, that is, the Southeast Asian part.

In addition, it is marked with information such as water lines, wind direction, sea routes, etc.

Ji Yan entered the house, first saluted Zheng He and Wang Jinghong, and then his attention was attracted by the map.

Zheng He is not a person who is obsessed with small sections, after he saw Ji Yan enter the house, he looked at the map in a daze, so he took the initiative to step forward and approached Ji Yan.

After waiting for a while, Zheng He took the initiative to speak: "Ji Tongyi, what do you think of this picture?" ”

Ji Yan frowned and watched as he tried to remember the map of Southeast Asia he had seen in modern society.

He himself doesn't study geography, but Southeast Asia, after all, is very close to China, so he still has a little impression of the general appearance.

He was trying to compare the memories in his mind with the map in front of him.

I feel that the difference is quite big, and when I compared, I found that the map was too detailed, and there seemed to be some problems with a few places.

But he couldn't answer truthfully.

Ji Yan could only arch his hand, and said in the most appropriate language he could think of: "This picture is beautifully drawn and detailed, but I don't know how accurate it is?" ”

Zheng He turned his head and smiled at Wang Jinghong, and said, "Jinghong, take a look, I'll just say that Ji Tong can see some eyebrows." ”

Wang Jinghong was writing something on a desk at this time, and he raised his head and smiled when he heard the sound, but he didn't say anything.

After speaking, Zheng He turned his head to Ji Yan again, and by the way, he pressed his finger to a point on the map, and said: "This map was made by someone in a hurry after I received the holy order. To be sure, there should be a lot of mistakes, but I don't have a better picture to use these days. ”

Ji Yan took the initiative to say to Zheng He: "The lower officials think that the map is the key to the success or failure of this overseas trip, if there is something that the lower officials can serve in the matter of the map, the lower officials will do their best and live up to the trust." ”

Ji Yan pondered, the vast sea, on this vast ocean, leading a fleet forward, the most important thing is to know in your heart, in order to have a clear judgment.

In the absence of modern technology, it is essential to have a chart that is as accurate as possible.

And he thought that Zheng He had not only gone on an ocean trip once.

If you can make meritorious contributions to the nautical chart this time, every time the follow-up fleet goes to sea and looks at the nautical chart, won't you be able to think of your own merits?

Therefore, Ji Yan recommended himself and took the initiative to ask for help in this matter.

Zheng He smiled with satisfaction and said, "You are willing to take the initiative to ask Ying, this is very good, and what you said is good, which is why I am looking for you." ”

After receiving positive feedback, Ji Yan thought about performing again.

He thought for a while, and then said: "Xia Guan thinks that the matter of finding the map is very important, and it is better to repeat it than to make mistakes and omissions, so it is necessary to cast a net to catch fish, and release many people to search separately." ”

Ji Yan is not generous, but he feels that this matter should really be done in this way, and he also takes the opportunity to show his ability to lead the overall situation.

After listening to Ji Yan's words, Zheng He couldn't see what his expression was, as if he didn't react, and he didn't say anything about this proposal.

After a while, Zheng He pointed his finger at the Jiaozhi area on the map and said, "Ji Tongyi, you should have read the Di Bao, right?" ”

Ji Yan looked at Zheng He's posture and what he asked, and naturally understood that Zheng He was saying that the Ming Dynasty was transferring troops in Yunnan, sharpening his swords, and preparing to attack Jiaozhi by force.

As early as the first year of Jianwen, a relative of Jiaozhi usurped the throne and changed the name of the country to Dayu.

If you usurp power, you will usurp power, learn from the Lee dynasty of Korea, usurp power, and immediately bow to China on the dock and pat yourself on the back, China generally does not bother to take care of the internal affairs of other countries.

It is a pity that this usurper, probably lost his mind, and could not help but not pay homage to China, and constantly harassed the border of the Ming Dynasty to the north, and invaded a large area of land in the Champa country that was friendly with China to the south.

Moreover, the usurper of the Cochin Kingdom declared to the Ming Dynasty that the previous king's family was dead, so they were not usurping power, but Chan conceded the throne.

This kind of nonsense also wants to deceive the emperor of the Ming Dynasty, which is really a manifestation of eating too many bananas and insufficient brain development.

In the second year of Yongle, Chen Tianping, the grandson of the king of Jiaozhi, ran all the way from Laos to the capital of the Ming Dynasty and defected to the Ming Dynasty.

Chen Tianping saw Zhu Di, but he didn't know what to say.

Anyway, Zhu Di was furious and ordered Jiaozhi to welcome the grandson of the original king back to the dynasty.

At the same time, Zhu Di ordered someone to guard the king's grandson, Chen Tianping.

It's said to be a guard, but the number of guards is indeed a bit large.

At this time, the Ming Dynasty was already in the area of Guizhou, Yunnan, gathering more than 30 military guards and 1670,000 people.

Some of this information was seen by Ji Yan in the Di newspaper, and some was heard when colleagues were talking to each other.

Ji Yan came back to his senses and said to Zheng He: "Xia Guan has read the Di newspaper. ”

Zheng He nodded and said: "Our fleet has been anchored in Fujian for many days, and we are also waiting for the progress of Jiaozhi, so there is still a top priority in this map matter. ”

Zheng He also pointed to the neighboring country in the south of Jiaozhi, the Champa State, and said: "Our destination is the Champa State, which has always been friendly to our Ming Dynasty, and you will land here then." Collect as many maps as possible, whether it is a sea chart or Cochin, and the land map of the city, especially the map of Cochin, is especially important. ”

Zheng He paced back and forth a few more steps, and said, "Our fleet will stay in the sea area of Zhancheng for a period of time, and form a north-south trend with my Yungui army. ”

After saying this, he made a plan and didn't say anything more.

Ji Yan didn't say a word, received the order, saluted, and then exited Zheng He's room.

Because of the treasure ship that Zheng He was on, there were a lot of empty rooms, except for the boatmen and the like, the rest of the entourage basically had their own single rooms.

Ji Yan returned to his room and put away the pen, ink, paper and inkstone.

Following his memory, he began to try to draw a map of Southeast Asia.

But he's not a professional after all.

After tossing for a long time, I can only draw a part of it.

The South China Sea is the central part of the entire South China Sea, with Hainan and Guangdong in the north and Guangxi in the northwest.

Due west, there is Cochin, and there is the city of Champa next to Cochin, and there should be Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and the like.

(Some countries he knew the names in the Ming Dynasty, and some he didn't know and could only use modern names.) ）

Due south, are Malaysia and Indonesia.

Between the west and the south, there is the Strait of Malacca, and this strait is also on Zheng He's chart, after all, to go to the Indian Ocean, you must cross the Strait of Malacca.

Directly east of the South China Sea, Ji Yan thought about it, it seemed to be the Philippines.

However, the country does not seem to have any presence during the Ming Dynasty.

Ji Yan has never heard anyone mention that place, whether it is on Zheng He's charts or in his exchanges with others, and it seems that for the people of the Ming Dynasty, there is a blank space?