'Ladies and gentlemen, this journey to the east is a long road ahead and an uncertain future, and you will enter the seas that no one has ever entered, and land strange and vast lands, and see many strange nations and races, and know strange animals and plants that have never been seen before, and may be very fierce or useful. Pen%Fun%Pavilion www.biquge.info'

It is auspicious and fierce, relying on the courage and insight of all the monarchs, this trip is very important to the dynasty and all the people of the Tang Dynasty, and even related to the people of China and the national fortune of the millennium. I can only ask you here to do my best. ’

I wish you all a smooth voyage and smooth sailing, and when you return successfully, it will be a time for you to go down in history and achieve fame. I will not hesitate to reward you, whether it is a title, wealth, land, or beauty, I will definitely satisfy you. Even if he dies in a foreign land, all the glory and gains will overshadow his family. ’

Li Chen held a big banquet in the Lin De Palace, the banquet was very grand, and Li Chen was also cordial to toast and talk with each participant. Also present were the emperor's eldest son and several prime ministers, which made the participants very excited.

However, the participants of such a high-level banquet are not famous, and even, at the end of the banquet, there are many rude sailors, and the front is okay, all of them are some well-educated people, they are all people who are proficient in all aspects of learning, some are proficient in botany, some are proficient in zoology, and one is also a doctor of veterinary medicine.

One is well versed in the geography of rivers, meteorology and ocean currents, and the other is proficient in prospecting, such as the iron-eating beast that has appeared before. They were all searched by Li Chen after he ascended the throne.

Order the county orders in various places to explore the local elites. Don't look for those who are highly educated, specifically look for those who have various specialties, and if they have a skill, they will recruit teachers to come to Beijing. Regardless of whether he is a Taoist priest or a savage who lives in a remote corner, he has no restrictions on his background, so many people have been collected.

Many of them entered the Royal Research Institute and specialized in compiling the Tang Encyclopedia, and now many of them have been fished out by Li Chen and held a big banquet here, and there are still many rude characters at the end.

Extremely dark and rough faces, each of them had short hair, thick hands and feet, and loud voices, all of them were sailors who were accustomed to running ships, and there were quite a few of them. But now he was also invited by Li Chen to participate in this banquet.

Pity them, I am afraid that I have never seen any wealth and nobility in my life, in my life, the biggest official I have ever seen, probably the city envoy, the richest person, but their shipowner, many people may not even have seen these people.

Now he was invited by the royal family to drink in the magnificent hall, and was toasted by the emperor, the emperor's eldest son, and the prime ministers. Everyone was so dizzy that they couldn't speak, they didn't know how to eat, and their speech was confused, which was not rude.

Some people saw the emperor coming over to toast, and they were excited to stand up, but even in front of everyone, the small number of meals was lifted, and Li Chen almost didn't make Li Chen's face. He immediately panicked and knelt down to plead guilty.

Li Chen comforted him instead, asked him if he was hot, and asked the healthy woman to send a new dish. The man cried excitedly on the spot, and swore to promise that he would complete the task assigned by the emperor.

'This journey is arduous and may face unprecedented dangers, but as soon as I return, I guarantee that everyone will be knighted and rewarded. Gold and silver are all small things. ’

This is what excites them the most, Li Chen said a call, what is in history in front of him, it is said to those who have a skill, many of them do not have to worry about food and clothing, so they can afford their expenses. Gold and silver are not very tempting to them, and only the name and title reward in history are meaningful to them.

And those sailors, they don't know a few words, who cares what he is in history, although the title is also significant, but it is far from real money, and even the territory has to be rewarded, and it is small. Li Chen promised that as long as he successfully returned from this trip, even if he was buried in a foreign land, he would ensure that each person would be rewarded with hundreds of acres of land. That's what excites them the most.

'Master, is this really necessary?' At the end of the banquet, Li Yan couldn't help but ask. Before today's banquet, he was repeatedly told by Li Chen that at today's banquet, no matter who he is, he must treat them kindly, they are very important to the future of Datang, and he must not be angry no matter what, he must be kind and pleasant, and he must not show an angry expression. If you can't do it anyway, you just keep your face tight, and you have to ignore everything, just stare at your father.

He did a good job, he was not young, he was strictly admonished several times, and he practiced, plus he was usually educated, he was not rude today, even in the face of those vulgar sailors, he also put on royal etiquette, until Li Chen praised him, he asked.

Well, of course it's necessary. Li Chen spoke, several prime ministers also pricked up their ears to listen carefully, Li Chen took them to the Ayaqi Palace, and in the conference room, a "world map" was set up.

It's really a map of the world, although it's very rough, but it's a map of the world, some small islands don't have it, and the coastline is not necessarily accurate, but the general direction is good, several large islands, Madagascar, Greenland, Australia, New Zealand, are marked.

Even if it is not the first time to see this "world map", several prime ministers can't help but admire, this world is really big.

This continent is rich in products and fertile land, and even more rare is that it is separated by the ocean, and it is difficult to have foreign enemies, and there are many things on the continent that we have not seen, but which are very useful. In the north, there are only some natives, and only in the middle of the country, this gourd-like waist, there are some more developed civilizations, but they are much more backward than my Datang. ’

'Son, you have to remember that even if your father is gone one day, you must continue to develop this place, continue to immigrate, and at the same time strengthen the education here, and you must warn your children and grandchildren that as long as this continent is in the hands of my Datang, my Datang will not lose the country one day. ’

Li Yan was awe-struck, staring at the map carefully, 'Here, and here. Li Chen pointed to the map with his finger, pointing to the Americas and the South Seas.

'No matter what, it must be passed on to future generations, as long as these two places are safe, my Datang will be eternal, even if the future generations are mediocre, my Datang will have peace of mind. Of course, this is a bit exaggerated, but Li Chen has to do so in order to emphasize the importance of the Americas and Nanyang.

It's just that this is not entirely wrong, these two places, as long as they continue to be in the hands of the Han people, especially the Americas, and are not occupied by the whites, the Han culture will never be cut off, isolated by the two oceans, blessed with a unique environment, and there are no strong enemies at all, unlike the Asian continent, where many races and disputes continue. In the Americas, those Indian people are not a problem at all, they have been developing for tens of thousands of years, they are still in the primitive tribal stage, and the Tang Dynasty immigrated to the past, and after hundreds of years, they were either assimilated by the Han people or wiped out.

As for the emergence of a unified Great Indian Dynasty, it is simply impossible. The whites began to colonize the Americas, not in a year or two, but for one or two hundred years, before that, the Indians were more powerful than the whites, and if they had to catch up, they would have killed all the whites on the American road.

As a result, they were killed to the point that the race was on the verge of extinction, and they were still Indians, and they didn't see any Indian kings or anything like that.

'Saint, you don't know yet, this map is true. Li Deyu couldn't help but say. When Li Chen said that he wanted to raise funds and go on a long voyage, he and several prime ministers were opposed, and they couldn't bet on a map that didn't know the authenticity of the country's hopes.

Li Chen is about to start exploring the Americas. A few years ago, he began to recruit talents, and it turns out that there are still a lot of talents in Datang. Botanists, mineralogists, zoologists, you can find people. It's just that they were not well-known before, and they did not have writings that have been handed down to future generations, and they are not familiar to the world. Under Li Chen's careful search one by one, he slowly surfaced.

Then Li Chen began to prepare for a voyage to the Americas. The conditions are ripe, although he is not a navigation expert, but he can't help but have a lot of talents under his command, millions of dollars a year, and the money is not spent in vain.

At present, there are still a lot of places to spend money, but it is still possible to get the funds for the voyage. The biggest expense, the ships, he dispatched from those merchant ships, it was a big deal that it would be tighter in the next few years, but he didn't want to wait.

Datang's finances will gradually improve, and the treasury will not continue to be embarrassed, and the sooner the better it is to explore the Americas, after all, to develop the Americas, it is not a year or two years to do a good job. This is really a 10,000-year national plan.

Not to mention that in his memory, a terrible famine like the one in the late Ming Dynasty, either a major drought or a large-scale flood, did not seem to have happened from the Tang Dynasty to the Song Dynasty. If the development of the Americas is successful, even if it faces a famine like the end of the Ming Dynasty, Datang will not be able to bear it. As long as it is carried over, Datang will really be ten thousand years old.

However, even if he said that the royal family should bear it, several prime ministers still advised Li Chen to be cautious. Although the internal treasury is not connected to the national treasury, it has been a long time that the financial scarf, and the internal treasury has almost become a common practice, so it is no wonder that the prime minister is nervous.

There's absolutely nothing wrong with this picture. Li Chen said indifferently. This picture, of course, was drawn by Li Chen. Although he had shown this picture a long time ago, it was still a year ago for these prime ministers to see it, so it was no wonder they didn't believe it.

As for the source, he pushed it to the Celestials. He vigorously translated the books of the heavens, and also trained a large number of translators, and these prime ministers knew it. So I pushed the map to the heavens, saying that it was inadvertently obtained by the heavens.

For those translated books, Datang can also rely on repeated experiments to verify whether they are correct. However, this voyage is too laborious and costly, and the correctness of this map is not easy to test, not to mention, to put the national fortune on it, although it is said to be in the future, it is also child's play.

But it was useless to object, Li Chen was determined to do it. Although they can let the internal money pay to subsidize the shortfall. But in fact, the financial power is still in the hands of the royal family, and they really can't control how Li Chen spends it.

The next day, Li Chen went to bid farewell to the group of people who were going to sail to the Americas, of course they did not go to sea from Chang'an, but Li Chen could not leave Chang'an and go to Wenzhou to see him off, so he could only talk here to express his heart.

'Fat ball, over to you. Li Chen spoke with a young man who was so thin and fat that he still loves to eat now, but he has a good body and looks like a good body, he is the leader of this voyage.

'Don't worry, sage, it's just walking along the coast. He laughed heartlessly. Over the years, Fat Ball has hardly done anything serious, and has gone to the mountains and rivers.

However, when you travel to the mountains and rivers, people swim in famous mountains and rivers, or some beautiful places. He swam in the barren mountains and wilderness, and there were no traces, not so much playing in the mountains and rivers, but surviving outside the field of vision. When he heard Li Chen talk about the Americas, he had this ambition, and even Li Chen didn't know it.

Later, he told Li Chen his heart. Seeing that he has worked hard to exercise and learn all kinds of knowledge over the years, he actually has such a mind, of course Li Chen has strongly supported it, and now, it is the time for him to realize his ambition.

Li Chen patted him on the shoulder, deliberately didn't say his name, and called him the nickname he used to get, just because this trip was difficult and the road ahead was unpredictable, maybe this was the last time he saw the fat ball.

Although he arranged for them to follow the trade route of the Spaniards, they could go along the coastline, follow the Kuroshio, and stop along the way to find water, unlike the route through the Pacific Ocean, which was so long, it could be very water-scarce, and it was not necessarily an island. There will only be a storm.

When Magellan, crossing the Pacific Ocean, he was very upside-down, almost dying of thirst along the way, scattered on many islands in the Pacific Ocean, and they did not touch half of them. Until the Philippines.

Although comparatively, the northern route is much safer. But you can choke to death when you eat, let alone explore thousands of miles away. At that time, Magellan never thought that after thousands of miles and hardships, he finally arrived in the Philippines, and he would accidentally die under the poisonous arrows of the natives because of mediating local disputes.

Outside the Tonghua Gate, the American expedition went away, and Li Chen was melancholy. He's urgent, or the old saying,

He didn't know how long he would live. Among these generations of emperors, he is considered to be long-lived, and it is not surprising that he hung up at any time.

The development of the Americas is a long-term undertaking. He feared that after his death, his successor would not be able to continue the work well.

This has always been the case in China's history, and many good policies have never been sustained. What he remembers most is the frontier area, where Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty opened up the Hetao and migrated the people to enrich the area, but this policy was never continued.

Also, at the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, several guards were set up on the frontier to be responsible for defending the frontier. Later, it was also abandoned. If those guards had been there, maybe the situation wouldn't have been so bad later.

The reason is that these are all subsidized by the state finance, and in the end, often because of financial difficulties, these seemingly irrelevant things are gradually deleted.

Exploring the Americas is more expensive to work. But it must not be stopped. He didn't know how long he could last, and he had to find a way to develop it for a long time before he died. So, the sooner the better. (To be continued.) )