July 28, 2nd year of the Great Song Dynasty, North Pacific Ocean.

The champion of Wenda, who was supposed to "cross the zero Ding Yang", is now floating in the Pacific Ocean! And unfortunately encountered a storm!

On the blue-black sea, the wind is fierce, and four 200-ton (deadweight) wooden boats, like four leaves, swayed through the huge waves. The wooden hull creaked constantly, as if it was about to tear the waves to pieces!

And Wen Tianxiang, who was praised as a "great geographical discoverer" by later generations, did not even have Yaxing to write poetry at this time - there is no "Crossing the Zero Ding Yang" in this time and space, if Wen Tianxiang is still in the mood to write poetry, maybe there will be a "Crossing the Pacific Ocean" coming out. Very helpless, Wen Da Zhuangyuan was already seasick and dizzy at this time, and when he heard the ominous sound from the hull, he was even more afraid. Just tied to the bed in the cabin (for fear that he would fall out of bed when the hull of the ship shook), the seasick and dizzy didn't even have the strength to vomit, just humming and cursing King Chen Daming.

"Chen Dexing, you bastard!"

"Chen Dexing, you're going to kill Wen!"

"The surname is Chen, I, Wen Tianxiang, will not let you go if I am a ghost......"

Hearing Wen Tianxiang's continuous scolding, the two monks in the cabin looked at each other and smiled bitterly. They actually want to scold people too, but they are monks, and they have to keep the precept of not lying.

Speaking of which, this Chen Dexing is really a bit of a trick. What kind of ball was made, just say that the ground is round, and there is something dozens of times larger than the Great Song Dynasty Mingzhou Continent, and then he got four broken boats to take the brothers to the sea.

When I arrived in Japan, I spent a few days of comfort, discussing Buddhism with a group of wine and meat monks, and walking around the temples around Kamakura. Sometimes, I would meet a few Japanese figures who were quite obsessed with Buddhism and invited them to stay in Japan to spread Buddhism - the Japanese were far more obsessed with Buddhism than in China, and there were many monasteries in the country. If it weren't for the fact that the monks here were not disciplined, they would drink wine, eat meat, play with women, and fight all day long. The Nine Lights Monk almost regarded Japan as an ideal Buddhist country. However, the great monk Yongxin likes Japan very much, and is already planning to open the lower courtyard of the Shaolin Temple to Japan.

However, the two did not forget their great mission - to spread Buddhism to the legendary New World! At the same time, we must also try to revive Buddhism in Tianzhu!

It's just a beautiful and grand ideal, as if it has been shattered by the cruel reality! Four Mingzhou-class expedition ships sail day in and day out on the endless seas. It seemed that there was no end to it, and yesterday morning, the fleet encountered another sudden storm, and I don't know if I can survive it......

……

In the bow room of the Mingzhou, Zhou Xiaoqi also tied himself to a chair fixed on the floor with straps. There is also an oil lamp hanging in the cabin. The oil lamp kept shaking with the shaking of the ship's hull, and even the light emitted was a little dizzying. However, this did not affect Zhou Xiaoqi to seriously crouch on a table and check the nautical charts and star charts. From time to time, I also used a small abacus to pull a few times, and wrote and drew on a small book spread out.

There was not the slightest expression of doubt on his bearded face. Because he is the real "navigator" and "explorer". Long before he joined the Northern Expeditionary Navy, he was the best bow in China's coastal areas, knew some astronomical knowledge passed down privately by the people, and would use the primitive star-pulling plate to sail with a compass. Therefore, the fleet he led rarely got lost at sea, and always found a way home. Compared to those people in the Great Song Water Army, I don't know how much stronger!

And the Great Song coastal naval army. They really can only operate along the coast, because they are not Qin Tianjian and have no right to learn and use astronomical knowledge for navigation, and they will not use star navigation for positioning. Leaving the coastline, of course, can only be lost.

However, Zhou Xiaoqi, who thought he had mastered the art of navigation, found that the gap between him and Chen Dexing in navigation was unbelievably large after entering the Northern Expeditionary Navy Naval Academy. The sextant "invented" by the latter was used to cooperate with the water clock, Sinan, and the accurate star map that I don't know where I got it. Finding direction at sea is no longer a matter of relying on people in three points and luck in seven points.

After mastering a lot of the navigation techniques provided by Chen Dexing, the Beiming Navy has theoretically mastered the mystery of latitude and longitude -- longitude determines things. The latitude is divided into north and south. If you can measure the exact latitude and longitude coordinates, then you can know the direction of the ship on the sea. However, due to the lack of accurate marine clocks. The Beiming Navy can only measure the latitude more accurately, and the error in the longitude measurement is still a bit large. But it's better than latitude alone.

As long as a navigator who has graduated from the naval academy is assigned to the ship, the ship does not need to sail along the coastline, and even if it goes thousands of miles into the sea, it can return safely -- the navy's Nanyang Fleet has already carried out several long-distance exercises, and Zhou Xiaoqi, as a navigator officer, has participated in all of them without exception. It was precisely because of his good talent in several ocean-going exercises that he was selected as the commander of the fleet for this Mingzhou exploration.

The so-called "Wen Tianxiang's discovery of the New World" is actually because Wen Tianxiang later wrote several "Wen Zhuangyuan's Travels", describing what he saw and heard in the New World, Africa, Europe, Tianzhu and Nanfan Islands. These travelogues were extremely influential, and in the following hundred and decades, they guided generations of Chinese to the sea in pursuit of wealth and the spread of truth. Its role and influence are comparable to that of "Marco. Polo's Travels is a lot.

After I don't know how long, the ship's bumpy Cheng Dù seemed to lower a little, and there was a heavy footstep outside the cabin door, and the eighteen or nineteen-year-old army expedition leader staggered in from the outside, his face a little pale. Obviously, I was dizzy, but the red jacket was still neatly dressed. Seeing Zhou Xiaoqi calculating at the desk, he sat down on the floor of the cabin quietly.

Zhou Xiaoqi suddenly said: "It's coming, it's almost here!" ”

Meng Qi slowly raised his head, looked at Zhou Xiaoqi, who was still immersed in calculations, and said slowly: "Where are you?" Where is it going? ”

"Of course it's the Mingzhou Continent!"

"Really?" Meng Qi showed an excited expression, "Is it really coming?" ”

"That's right! According to the chart given by the king, the Mingzhou continent should be at 80 to 90 degrees west longitude, and we should go east along the sea between 35 degrees north latitude and 42 degrees north latitude. According to the repeated calculations of a certain family, before the wind rose the day before yesterday, we had passed 80 degrees west longitude. And this time the storm is in the direction of a northwesterly wind, which should blow us further southeast...... We've collected the sails, but we're still drifting southeast. If nothing else, tomorrow we should be seeing the coastline! ”

……

"The boat doesn't seem to be shaking!"

"Amitabha, Bodhisattva bless, it's really not shaking!"

"Wen Zhuangyuan, are you better?"

"It's okay, it's okay......" Wen Tianxiang lay on the bed weakly, his eyes straightened, looking at the ceiling, but he couldn't see anything clearly in the dim and dim. At this time, the sky was just beginning to lighten, and the cabin was still dark.

"It's been more than 50 days, right?" The voice of the Yongxin monk came, "Lord Zhou said that we have a smooth journey, and the speed of the voyage is not slow, and we will arrive soon...... That's what he said two days ago. ”

"What if that Mingzhou Continent doesn't have any at all?" Wen Tianxiang said dejectedly.

The Nine Lights Monk smiled and comforted, "There will be...... So Chen Dexing is not a stupid person, how can he open his mouth? He's probably already had someone to spy on him! ”

"Yes, yes, yes, someone must have secretly probed it!" The Yongxin monk echoed the alliance. "Jiu Deng, how are you going to propagate the Dharma in Mingzhou?"

"It depends on the situation, if Mingzhou is really a desolate place, the Dharma should be used to promote the law!"

"Tricks?" Wen Tianxiang was a little disdainful, "Isn't that the same as Chen Dexing's Heavenly Taoism?" ”

Monk Yongxin said: "How do you say you should propagate the Dharma?" You are a great Confucian, have you ever thought about educating the people of the wilderness? ”

"This ......"

Wen Tianxiang was stunned, he didn't seem to have thought about this matter before...... Unlike monks, who always wanted to spread the Dharma, Chinese Confucian scholars were not very interested in spreading the truth abroad.

If you don't count Annam and Goryeo, which were once part of Chinese territory, the only place where Confucianism has succeeded is actually Japan! However, Confucianism in Japan still cannot be compared to their Buddhism.

During the Kamakura period, Buddhism was the dominant sect in Japan, while Confucianism was only known to a few ministers and high-ranking samurai. Moreover, the successful spread of Confucianism in Japan, at least in the Kamakura period, was not brought about by a certain great Confucian who crossed the sea to preach, but was learned by the Japanese themselves by sending Tang envoys to learn.

Wen Tianxiang thought for a long time before he said: "We Confucians pay attention to education without class!" Even the people of the wilderness can also be edified! ”

"Wen Zhuangyuan, do you want to open a private school in Mingzhou to teach the four books and five classics of the natives there?" The great monk of Yongxin asked curiously.

"Uh...... Let's start with Mengxue," Wen Tianxiang said, "A journey of thousands of miles has a beginning, and it is barbarian, and it is not impossible to educate." It can be advanced step by step from shallow to deep. Enlighten first, then read the Bible. There will always be a day when the natives of Mingzhou can change customs, everyone knows the shame, and every household knows etiquette. If possible, the imperial examination should also be carried out in Mingzhou. ”

"Branch...... Raise? The two monks were stunned. If Chen Dexing heard this, it is estimated that he would have a feeling of opening up a hole -- let the Indians and Mayans in the Americas learn the way of Confucius and Mencius and go to the imperial examination to become a jinshi, this brain hole is really a bit big.

Wen Tianxiang nodded, put on an extremely yearning expression, and said, "That's right!" To spread the way of saints, it is necessary to cooperate with education through the imperial examination, and it is necessary to let those who study have a way to be promoted, so that everyone can read Confucius and Mencius, and every family respects etiquette. In this way, the religion of Confucius and Mencius can flourish in the wild land of Mingzhou! ”

The two monks looked at each other, pondering whether Wen Tianxiang's idea was possible, when a burst of cheers suddenly came.

"Land! Land! Discover the land! (To be continued......)