It would take at least three months to travel from San Francisco to the East, at the speed of a sailing ship in this era, and the voyage to the Pacific Ocean was not short.

However, Zhao Hongyu's battleship, after all, is equipped with propellers and engines, so it will definitely not take such a long time.

Therefore, it only takes a month to get from San Francisco to the East.

"A month, I personally estimate." , Zhao Hongyu saw Sara asking himself, so he roughly estimated and returned to the Dao. "It's also my first time traveling to the East from this side of the Pacific, so there's no way to give you a detailed statistic."

Sara nodded silently.

"Is the East, as described in the travelogue, really a land of gold?"

Sara asked again.

The land of gold?

!

That's complete.

Zhao Hongyu complained in his heart, but he thought about it seriously, and then replied to Sarah: "This is unrealistic, the East is very rich relative to Europe, but it is not full of gold and spices as described in the travelogue, and the ones described in the travelogue are somewhat exaggerated, you must not believe it." ”

Of course, Sara believed what Zhao Hongyu said, because Zhao Hongyu was her little man.

"Oh, I see."

Sara was a little disappointed.

However, in the end, she has never seen what Dongfang is like, so there are still some expectations in her heart.

Zhao Hongyu saw that Sara was a little disappointed, so he said to her: "Of course, you don't want to be so disappointed. In fact, the East is cleaner than Europe, and there are many cities with a population of more than a million, and we have to arrive at a country before arriving in the East, which is indeed more gold and silver, and it is not wrong to call it a country of gold or silver. ”

Actually, Zhao Hongyu said about this country. It's Japan.

Japan, because of its large gold and silver deposits, has no shortage of gold and silver.

It is precisely because of the existence of Japan that the lack of gold and silver on the mainland has been greatly alleviated.

Especially in the late Ming Dynasty, the gold and silver obtained by the Ming Dynasty from Japan accounted for almost 70% of domestic production, which shows how much gold and silver in Japan has reached.

In this era, in addition to Japan, through the Dutch, Spanish and Portuguese merchant ships, the gold and silver of the whole world were concentrated in the Ming Dynasty.

Until the beginning of the Qing Dynasty. It can be said that the gold and silver of the whole world are flowing to the east.

It's a very scary thing.

It stands to reason that the East has so much gold and silver, and the national strength should be very strong.

But in fact, this is not the case.

Because the political system of the East is completely different from that of Europe.

The scholars and doctors who had the right to speak in the Ming Dynasty, in order to monopolize the right to trade, they deceived the superiors and subordinates so that the gold and silver fell into their own pockets, and there was no benefit for the ancient empire because the gold and silver converged to the east.

Instead. The royal family is still very short of money, and even military salaries have been released.

And there is another thing that the Oriental people are not very good about, that is, after they earn gold and silver, they do not hesitate to spend it. His greatest hobby is to store gold and silver, or bury it in the ground.

In this way, the gold and silver that flowed into the Ming Dynasty can be said to be not circulated at all.

Gold and silver cannot be circulated. Then it loses its proper role.

And wealth is in the hands of a few people, which makes the Ming Dynasty even more short of money.

A small number of people hold ninety percent of the wealth, which makes it impossible for ordinary people to enjoy the dividends of business. It can even become even poorer as a result.

In fact, the collapse of the Ming Dynasty was basically caused by those scholars.

It's just that the history was written by these readers, so of course they won't record this matter, so the Zhu family carried a big black pot after the fall of the Ming Dynasty.

However, this is not the case.

The truth is that it is because of the greed of those officials of the Ming Dynasty and the scholars that the huge empire collapsed.

If it weren't for them, then it would be impossible for the 'Great Qing Dynasty' to rise at all, or even invade the Central Plains.

Moreover, the officials and businessmen of this era, in order to make money, even hooked up with 'my Daqing', there is nothing they dare not sell.

After the 'Qing Dynasty' entered the Central Plains, the imperial merchants who were rewarded were the officials and businessmen of the original Ming Dynasty.

It is precisely because they betrayed the interests of the Ming Dynasty that 'I Daqing' will have the capital to peek into the world.

The iron tools that the imperial court banned from selling, these officials and businessmen will also open the door to the officials in the court, as well as the generals on the border.

It can be seen that these officials of the Ming Dynasty are really not as upright as described in the history books.

Retracting his thoughts of running astray, Zhao Hongyu set his eyes on Sarah's body.

"I'm talking to you so much now, and you won't understand. What kind of situation is in the East, you have to see it with your own eyes to deeply understand and understand. ”

Zhao Hongyu thought of the domestic situation in the Ming Dynasty in this era, and his heart was a little low.

"I got a little bit of news from the princes, it seems that the Ming Dynasty has been very turbulent in the past few years, and there have been floods and droughts every year for five years, so most of the people have become bankrupt."

After Zhao Hongyu pondered for a while, he decided to tell Sara in advance, and after Sara saw the real Ming Dynasty, she would be disappointed and collapse.

Of course, it also depends on where Zhao Hongyu is taking her.

If you go to places like Nanning, Yangzhou and Beijing, then Sara will definitely not be disappointed.

Because these places are all drunken and money-hungry cities, where many rich people live.

In such a city, Sara may definitely experience what it means to be drunk and what it means to spend a lot of money.

Therefore, these places will definitely not disappoint Sarah.

Unless Zhao Hongyu deliberately took Sara to those cities full of disaster victims and people fleeing the famine and bankrupt.

Emma wasn't too interested in it, and in her opinion the East was probably similar to Europe, and the city was disgusting.

Therefore, her main purpose is to look at the new environment and transition, and increase her knowledge.

The purpose of the little girl. And Sara is completely different.

"It's getting late, let's have dinner too."

Emma looked bored when she saw that Zhao Hongyu and Sara were chatting endlessly, so she interjected and interrupted the conversation between them.

Zhao Hongyu looked at the sky and found that the sun at this time had already set at sea level.

In the sky, there are already a few stars.

Gollum!

At this time, Zhao Hongyu's stomach burst into bursts of 'thunder'.

"Oh yes, it's getting late. Let's finish eating. After dinner, I'm going to tell you a story about a fat man called "Star Farmer". ”

Before arriving in San Francisco, Zhao Hongyu had been telling stories to the two of them, and the content of the stories was basically the content of YY novels from later generations.

Zhao Hongyu has been on shore these days in San Francisco, so he hasn't told stories to Emma and Sara for a few days.

Now that she heard that Zhao Hongyu was going to tell them a new story, Emma immediately cheered happily.

For the style of these stories told by Zhao Hongyu, Sara is still a little unaccustomed.

But. That doesn't stop her from finding the stories funny.

Besides, long sea voyages are boring, and Emma and Sara have a good thing to pass the time thanks to Zhao Hongyu telling them stories.

Otherwise. She didn't know how to spend the boring days at sea-

Dividing Line –

Osaka Inland Sea, Japan

Fisherman Iguchi makes three and catches fish about three nautical miles from the shore.

"Oh my God, open your eyes. If you can't catch fish today, you'll be hungry. ”

Wellhead Zaozo is very unlucky today, they have been out to sea since the morning. No fish have been caught.

If he doesn't have a harvest today, then he will definitely go hungry.

Sozo Iguchi wears a tattered Japanese sleeveless men's shirt, but he doesn't wear pants on his lower body, but only covers the key points with a crotch step, which is typical of Japanese fishermen's attire.

The skin at the mouth of the well is very dark, which shows that he has been fishing at sea all year round and has been exposed to the sun.

The fishing boat at the wellhead is not big, but it is actually just a small sampan.

But this ship is already the most important property of the wellhead Zazosan.

In fact, as a fisherman, Iguchi feels that his life is not bad.

At least, it's stronger than those turtle farmers.

Although I worked hard, I was able to eat fish and some seafood.

But the farmers who planted the land did not succeed, and most of the grain they grew had to be handed over to the old men, and the remaining little grain could not fill their stomachs at all.

As for eating meat?

That's even more unwanted.

Therefore, Iguchi has always considered himself very lucky to be a fisherman.

If the Tokugawa shogunate is established and the Tokugawa shogunate is established, the era of chaotic results is over.

I'm so grateful to live in this era, not in the Warring States of a few decades ago.

Iguchi sighed as he put away his nets.

The nets were empty, much to his disappointment.

I don't know what's going on today, he hasn't seen a single fish since morning.

Have you run out of good luck?

At the end of the well, there was a bitter taste.

At this time, Iguchi Zazo suddenly noticed that a small black spot appeared at the sea level in the distance.

He raised his right hand and put it on his forehead, and looked at it carefully.

"It can't be a pirate, right?"

Iguchi was a little apprehensive.

Yes, despite the fact that Japan has now been finally ruled by the Tokugawa family, but with their rise to power, many disappointed or defeated samurai and daimyo have fled to the Ming Dynasty or become pirates.

These people became the new force of the pirate organization between the Ming Dynasty and Japan.

The long coastline of the Ming Dynasty was often attacked by pirates, and Japan could not avoid it.

It used to be better, after all, the pirates still have some rules.

However, in these years, the two pirate leaders, Zheng Zhilong and Li Xiang, are competing for supremacy on the sea, so the war inevitably burns to the Japanese side.

Zheng Zhilong's fleet will invade Japan from time to time.

Because here in Japan, it is Li Xiang's territory.

And Li Xiang was not to be outdone, and from time to time he made a look at Taiwan, Macao and other places, which made Zheng Zhilong feel a lot of pain.

Therefore, the people of the Ming Dynasty who live along the coast and the Japanese fishermen are accustomed to this.

In short, they saw that as long as they encountered pirates, they should run quickly.

It's a sea boat! It's just that judging from the silhouette of this kind of ship, it doesn't seem to be the style that pirates piloted?

As a fisherman who begs for a living at sea, Iguchi Zaisan has seen a lot of sea boats.

The naval warships of the Ming Dynasty, the ironclad warships of the Japanese pirates, and even the warships of the Dutch and the Spaniards and the Portuguese have all been seen by Iguchi Shuzo.

But this time the ships he looked at looked bigger than any of the warships he had ever seen before, and they were fast enough.

In the uncertain situation, it is better for the wellhead to return to the shore as soon as possible, which is the best choice to save his life.

No matter what the other party's strength is, in short, he can't fish here.

However, I don't know if the road is a joke, the originally clear sky suddenly became cloudy, and it crackled and rained heavily.

The weather changes faster than a child.

With the torrential rain came gusts of howling winds.

In this way, the wellhead makes three cups.

His boat was just a small sampan, and in such a situation his ship became very dangerous.

Especially under the torrential rain, visibility becomes very low.

With a gloomy sky and dark clouds, Iguchi climbed down in his small boat, and the small fishing boat swayed back and forth with the waves.

Now Iguchi Shuzo didn't have much energy to pay attention to the battleship that was heading towards this side in the distance.

All his thoughts were on how to save his life while lying on the boat.

You have to know that this is at sea, and there is absolutely no reason for him to survive in case the boat capsizes.

Therefore, at this time, he didn't notice that behind him, the strange warships that appeared were quickly heading towards this side.

If Iguchi saw it, he would be surprised.

Because the speed of these warships on the sea is completely beyond the scope of his knowledge.

What's more, this sea area is full of dark clouds, and the wind direction is completely wrong.

Ordinary warships, in such a wind direction, there is no way to sail this way.

Because, because it's a fucking headwind.

It's a pity that I haven't seen all this.

Call!

A gust of wind howled again, bringing up a high wave.

Together at the mouth of the well where they prayed for the blessing of the gods and Buddhas, they were all covered by huge waves, and even the fishing boats with him were seen one by one.

Help me!

When the wellhead was exposed, he found that the small fishing boat had long since lost sight of where the waves had hit.

At this time, a huge warship sailed past the place where Iguchi Zazo was floating, and Iguchi Zaizan couldn't care much at this time, so he hurriedly opened his throat and shouted.

"Someone seems to be shouting for help?"

A genetic man who was checking the cable on the deck vaguely heard Sozo Iguchi's cry for help, and turned around to ask his companion if he had heard. (To be continued......)