The eldest princess Zhao Furong is already engaged, the wedding date is in October, and her fiancé is called Chen Zhiping, the son of a household langzhong.

Chen Zhiping's hobbies are very miscellaneous, double majors in arts and sciences, and he knows a little about everything, but he is not very proficient in everything. He loves to collect antique calligraphy and paintings, and sometimes goes to study mathematics and physics, and recently he has been fascinated by stargazing at night.

This guy is studying at Jinling University at his own expense and is about to drop out of college.

Why is it unemployed?

Because I couldn't pass the university graduation exam!

Chen Zhiping didn't think about taking a career in office, anyway, his father was an official, his grandfather was in business, and the family had money to meet his various hobbies.

The reason why Zhao Han and Fei Rulan agreed to the marriage was because they felt that this young man had a good character. Although it seems a little out of tune, and the personality has not been settled, but I never go to entertainment places, and I am immersed in various hobbies all day long. If the princess marries this kind of person, she must have a very interesting life.

"This is a letter from Li Quan." Zhao Han said to his daughter.

"Huh?" Zhao Furong blushed a little.

Zhao Han said again: "He has set sail for the ocean, you can take it and see it yourself." ”

Li Quan prepared for a year, but after all, he couldn't help it, and set off in Shandong in the fifth month of the lunar calendar. If you walk at this time, you can avoid the summer storm and arrive at the Japanese port relatively safely.

In fact, the Spanish galleon route is the shortest route. Follow the Kuroshio current to the southern part of Japan, then enter the North Pacific Current, which leads to the west coast of North America.

However, Li Quan set off from Shandong, and he will not detour too much. This route was mainly for the convenience of the northern provinces, taking the goods of Shandong to northern Japan and trading in the port of Sakata, Japan. Sakata is currently the largest port in northeastern Japan, and the safflower trade is beginning to take off, so Li Quan established a trading company here, and the surplus silver earned is kept in the trading company to supply fresh water and food, and then continue eastward.

Zhao Furong took the letter back, and was a little annoyed after reading it.

Li Quan said in the letter that he had received the silver sent by the princess, and thanks to the princess's support, he would give the princess some shares.

Zhao Furong didn't want any shares, she just wanted to help, so she took out a few hundred taels of silver that she had saved over the years and sent it. She knows that she has no future with Li Quan, but she just likes this young man, and she can be regarded as the eternal white moonlight in the princess's heart.

Annoyed, Zhao Furong wanted to burn the letter, but he was a little reluctant, so he sandwiched it in a book that he didn't read much.

Li Quan not only wrote a letter to the princess, but also to the emperor.

Since his five ships have been separated from the naval system, I don't know what their name is. Therefore, he registered a company and converted all the ships and the silver taels funded by Zhao Han into shares of the company.

The Imperial Family holds 60% of the shares, the Navy Governorate holds 10% of the shares, and the rest of the shareholders hold 30% of the shares.

All the crew members were given shares, including the soldiers he recruited, to boost everyone's motivation. In the future, the company will be responsible for its own profits and losses, and if it loses money, it will find additional investment from the royal family.

However, it is said that Li Quan led the fleet to Japan, and it was obvious that there were more merchant ships in the waters of North Japan.

Ever since he opened up the relationship and dragged the shogun's uncle into the water for smuggling, the other coastal feudal lords have also become bold. Anyway, the shogun is still young, and the power falls into the hands of the old man, so he hurriedly took the opportunity to smuggle a few more. Otherwise, in a few years, when the shogun grows up, he will have to gather power and strictly ban the sea.

Five large ships docked at the port of Sakata, which is even more prosperous than last year. As an important commodity, safflower is not only sold to Kyoto and Osaka, but is also being purchased by Chinese merchants.

Unloading most of the cotton cloth from Shandong, Li Quan only bought fresh water and food to ensure that he would not have to worry about food and drink during the ocean voyage. As for the cotton cloth, it was all handed over to the trading company to deal with, and it was just sold slowly there.

Continue sailing to Hakodate, the city of Hakodate, Hokkaido.

There is a Japanese government office here, and the Matsumae Domain was established to collect military taxes. Although it is not a commercial port, it can also be replenished with some food, anyway, it can be packed with as much food as possible.

Sailing northeast with the Kuroshio, which diverges from the Spanish galleon route.

Make a bend to the northeast and go south before it coincides with the galleon's course. This Kuroshio bend is the world's largest fishing ground, Hokkaido Fishing Ground!

Currently, Hokkaido's fishing grounds are undeveloped, and only the Matsumae clan and the Ainu use small fishing boats to fish in the offshore waters.

"That's a lot of fish!"

Li Quan was also shocked, and where the fleet passed, it was visible to the naked eye that there were schools of fish swimming.

You can develop it here!

When you come back from your own sailing, you will bring some merchants in and bring you large fishing boats, and you will be sure that each fishing boat will return with a full load.

You have to set up a base in nearby (Hokkaido) and recruit natives to make salted fish, otherwise it will stink when you return home.

After another half a month, the ordinary fresh water I carried was eaten.

Those buckets with sealed devices were opened one by one.

Many of the difficulties of the Age of Discovery were not difficulties here for Li Quan. First, the progress of storage technology has made the shelf life of fresh water longer; The second is that Li Quan is willing to spend money, and there are no money-making goods on the ship, but it is stuffed with all kinds of food.

Tea, pickles, bean sprouts, are all sources of vitamins.

In the Spanish galleon trade, the crew's greatest fear was scurvy. Although decades ago, a doctor said that lemon juice could cure diseases, but it was written in a sailing book, which was humorous and humorous, and no one believed it because the content was too unobtrusive.

Eighty years later, the Dutch writer and the Austrian doctor discovered that vegetables and fruits could prevent scurvy almost simultaneously.

Before Li Quan set sail, Zhao Han provided advice for the crew to eat more vegetables and fruits, and eat tea and bean sprouts if there were no vegetables and fruits.

The expired fresh water is all used to sprout bean sprouts.

Halfway through, they encountered only two small storms, and after more than five months of sailing, they were able to see land almost unscathed.

The only human losses were one person who died of illness and dozens of people who were bedridden.

If the ship is destroyed in a big storm and people die, it is really unlucky. Historically, the Spaniards have made 500 voyages to the Pacific Ocean in 250 years, and only about 40 ships have been sunk, including those sunk in war.

"In the fourteenth year of the beginning of the Republic of China, on the 19th day of November (the new calendar of Datong)."

"From the shore of Hakodate, Japan, I saw the mainland in 167 days from the ocean. There are no islands along the way, only a few small reefs. His Majesty's method is feasible, and no crew member has suffered from scurvy. However, after several months of turbulence, although the drinking water has been sealed, there is still a small and half deterioration, and due to climate change, 82 people have fallen ill, and one person died of illness before landing......"

"Landing site, 120 degrees east longitude, 38 degrees north latitude."

The prime meridian is set in Nanjing!

Latitude calculations, with slight errors.

It's not San Francisco, but it's not far from San Francisco, about a few dozen miles north of Roseburg.

Historically, Fort Roses was the first colonial stronghold in California after the Russian occupation of Alaska. Three blankets, three breeches, two axes, three hoes, and some small beads were used to obtain a large piece of land from the natives. In order to stop Russia's southward expansion, the Spanish established a settlement in San Francisco.

Since Roseburg could not solve Alaska's food crisis and had limited access to fur, the Russians sold the colony of Roseburg to the Americans after 29 years of entrenchment here. The price was $30,000, and the Americans didn't pay it.

Li Quan sent an exploration team of dozens of people, divided into three groups and rowed small boats to the shore.

Six men were stationed at the three landing sites, blowing trumpets every 15 minutes to prevent the exploration team from finding their way back.

It's a pity that after searching for an hour, I didn't find a slightly larger river.

The expedition team returned to the ship for the night and continued south the next day. They passed through Roseburg without stopping, and it wasn't long before they observed a river flowing into the sea with a clairvoyant scope.

That river was the Russian River in the United States, and its estuary was the town of Jenner in the United States, 90 kilometers from San Francisco.

The expedition team did not immediately land on the shore, but cruising around in small boats near the mouth of the sea, and throwing iron blocks with ropes into the water to probe the specific depth of the sea.

"Command," Liu Ying quickly came over to report, "this place can barely be used as a port, but we can't dock big ships, and our ships may run aground." ”

"Get fresh water first."

"Yes!"

Li Quan didn't know where to encounter the river, so he sent a small boat to fetch more fresh water first.

The emperor allowed him to recruit 1,000 soldiers, but Li Quan only recruited 350 people, all of whom were veterans or peasants. Fifty of these soldiers remained in the port of Sakata, Japan, to protect the property of the merchant house there.

The 300 men were heavily armed, each armed with a flintlock pistol, a waist knife and a spear, and also carried chain mail and cotton armor.

Li Quan proclaimed himself the commander of Datong's sea exploration, and let his subordinates call him "commander".

In addition to the 300 soldiers, there were more than 300 crew members who went to sea, all of whom were discharged early from the navy. In addition, more than a dozen adventurers were recruited, all of whom were young people who dreamed of traveling the world.

In order to appease his subordinates, everyone was given a settling-in allowance, and each of them had shares in the company, which could be inherited by their families even if they died.

There's no way, if you don't do this, it's hard to gather people's hearts, who wants to go ocean with you?

Well, there are too.

Li Quan asked the emperor for 30 felons, and bought Nanyang slave girls as wives for these felons. He planned to learn from the European colonizers, choose an excellent place, and throw these people down to establish a colonial base.

One dinghy after another was lowered, and hundreds of people rowed into the river.

Fearing that the salt content at the mouth of the sea would be too heavy, he paddled a few miles upstream, and then filled a wooden barrel with fresh water and brought it back.

"Someone!"

A soldier shouted.

But I saw a dozen canoes rowing upstream, and these people were wearing animal skins, and one of them had colored feathers stuck on his head.

The Kashaya, a branch of the Pomo Indians.

Short in stature, reddish in complexion, with straight black hair, he is good at weaving reeds, and his currency is a rosary (made of magnesite and shells).

The guy with two feathers on his head picked up a spear from the canoe and pointed at the Chinese and whispered.

"Captain, I'm going to deal with the natives!"

Ouyang Chun volunteered, he is only 17 years old this year and has a high school diploma. The family is not short of money, but he took the initiative to sign up for a voyage, and even asked his parents to withdraw from his marriage, which is obviously an idle and lifeless person.

"Go ahead, be careful." The captain instructed.

Ouyang Chun asked his partner to row the dinghy over, and the Kashaya people were quite vigilant and drove the canoe to surround the dinghy.

Ouyang Chun took off his hat, pointed to his head, and then pointed to the person who was sticking a feather on the other side.

The man probably understood, rowed a canoe closer, took Ouyang Chun's hat, and then put it on his head very happily.

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