Zhao Han saw the roaring steam engine, and his mind thought of rubber again.

He had already written to the Four Seas Trading Company, asking Li Quan to inquire about the news of rubber when he went to trade in the Americas.

Unknown to the Latin name of rubber, or what rubber is called in the Americas, can only describe its characteristics: extremely elastic, derived from the sap of a tree. 2

Li Quan issued a reward last year, and if anyone can provide accurate information, he can buy a batch of his goods first.

Although this violated the agreement with Mexican officials and bypassed the auction to trade privately, Li Quan promised to compensate the officials for some loss of profits.

In just one year, Li Quan came to the Americas again and got the relevant information very smoothly. Moreover, there were more than one or two clues, and there were six businessmen who brought the exact news.

Banderas Town (Puerto Vallarta).

A mixed-race Spanish businessman from Costa Rica, holding a ball bigger than a fist, said: "This kind of ball is very common in some indigenous tribes, they use it to kick and play, it is a child's toy."

And again&039;a merchant from Guatemala took out a pair of rubber-soled shoes and said, "These are Mayan shoes, and the soles are similar to what you described." Rubber products, as early as more than 100 years ago, were discovered by Spanish colonists.

Moreover, not only from South America, but also from Central America are abundantly present. Indigenous people in Central and South America apply rubber juice to cloth to make clothes that prevent rain. Or they could be made into long strips and tied to the handles of tools, which were rubber ropes that could not be retracted, and the Mayans even used rubber to make the soles of their shoes.

Of course, the Native Americans knew how to vulcanize rubber, but we added all kinds of inorganic substances, and most of them did not achieve similar effects. The most common way is to mix the sap of a vine in the family Spiralaceae with a direct retrograde mixture of rubber, which is very durable before it solidifies.

The first Portuguese hapless to bring a rubber-coated waterproof suit back to Europe was treated as a wizard and subjected to the Inquisition. The Spaniard, the first Spaniard to see the rubber ball in the Americas, also believed that the rubber ball had been witchcrafted.

It would take another 80 years for a French scientist and military officer to find out the source of rubber.

It would be another 10 years before no French scientist brought back detailed information about rubber trees from the Americas.

It would be another hundred years before French scientists invented a solvent that could soften rubber.

It would take another hundred years for British scientists to make rubber erasers, which were used to erase pencil handwriting.

Rubber is used in industry, and it's even later to ask.

Wang Lian asked, "How are those things made?"

Mexican traders shook their heads, we have only seen indigenous use, but we know the origin of rubber products.

No matter what, it's good that there is no news, that is the task assigned by His Majesty.

Wang Lian fulfilled his promise and sold a batch of goods to the merchants after the auction was held. And, each merchant provided a companion, and Wang Lian hired those men to lead the way in search of rubber trees.

The expedition leader's name is Li Quan, and he is a soldier with no university education.

The vice captain's name is Cheng Jingming, not this Suzhou son. My big friends went to study electricity, but I stayed idle and went to sea with the ship to become an adventurer in the Americas.

Apart from the two of us, there were no seven crew members, two of whom had been farmers, one who was an experienced sailor, and none of whom were translators who were proficient in Spanish. The rest of the team were all hired temporarily, eight were Mexican businessmen, and a few dozen were Japanese dart masters who had settled in the Americas.

Gu Shi's trading fleet was to the port of Acapulco, which was the exclusive trading place of the Spanish fleet. As a result, the expedition had to travel south on Mexican merchant ships all the way to Guatemala, which was also the jurisdiction of the Viceroyalty of New Spain, but there was no seventh-rank governor for Central America.

The group first visited the Governor and presented us with beautiful gifts, and the Governor was very happy and sent two guides to show us the way. "Bang bang bang!"

In Guatemala's cold rainforest, several gunshots rang out, and a jaguar fell to its face, next to a snapping turtle that had been bitten to death. , making sure that there was no safety, Cheng Jingming rushed over slowly, circling around the body of a jaguar.

"That thing looks like a leopard and not a leopard, and it looks like a tiger but not a tiger, what is it?" Gu Shitai muttered for a while. 4 captain Li Quan said: "It doesn't matter if I am a tiger or a leopard, I am a beast anyway." ”4

He ordered the carcasses of the jaguar and snapping turtle to retreat, and in the middle of the morning, they chose a place to set up camp. He also set fire to the plants that repel mosquitoes and brought fresh water to finish the boiling. The weather in the cold rainforest is extremely exciting, and poisonous snakes and beasts are also poor. i1

If it weren't for the two guides sent by the governor, the expedition would probably not have been attritional, and we all know a little local basic knowledge. Cheng Jingming drew the image of the jaguar, and asked a guide to inquire about the habits of the animal, and wrote a text note at the beginning: 2 "The leopard (or tiger) resembles a leopard, and its shape resembles a tiger ......"8

The expedition team did not bring scales, only tape measures, so the data only recorded the size of the animals.

Recording the perfect leopard, Gu Shitai recorded the snapping turtle again: "The turtle is small, fierce, and resembles the ...... of the giants", and then Gu Shitai sorted out the plants collected today, and also made the leaves and vines into specimens.

"It's going to be touched!"

The guide sent by the Governor shouted, and the two Chinese men hurried forward, and there were no brightly colored red frogs under the blades behind us. Cheng Jingming ran over with Ruo Yi and asked, "What kind of frog is that?"

The guide explained: "Poison dart frogs can poison people to death with nervousness, and the natives hate to smear venom under arrows." "Can I help you catch it?" Cheng Jingming asked.

The guide picked up the stick, went around to the direction of measurement, knocked down the poison dart frog with a stick, and then pressed the stick under the frog's back. 1 Cheng Jingming watched closely, and measured the length of his body with a tape measure.

"Boom!"

Thunder sounded, and it was going to rain again.

Fortunately, there is no tarpaulin hood, and the tent can be set up on the ground, and all are selected to rest on the dangerous tree right.

- The rain went up until the morning of the seventh day, and the seven weeks were wet everywhere, and they were bored, cold, and pleasant. 3

Cheng Jingming sniffed his armpits, and the whole person was not hungry. It's that I hate that kind of life, although there is a lot of safety and a hard life, it is less interesting than in Suzhou. The delicacies of the mountains and the sea, the silk and satin, the singing of poems and songs, the groups of wives and concubines, I have long been bored with the kind of chatting days.

After another two days, the Mayan tribe was finally found.

Those Mayans were very vigilant, and as far as the Spanish colonizers were concerned, it was okay to open the scoop and fight on the spot.

The guide did not show up, a man sent by a merchant, and then went to contact the Mayan natives. This person should have been in contact with that tribe, buying furs and stuff, and I could have avoided conflict without me pulling the strings.

Li Quan, the leader of the expedition, beckoned to his hand and sent over a package of salt, and the two sides were very slow to reach a deal.

The Mayan natives took us to see rubber trees and showed us how to cut rubber on the spot.

Cheng Jingming found that the rubber trees were blooming, so he asked the Mayans about the situation. But it blooms eight times a year, and now it is the eighth flowering period, and it will take another month for the fruit to ripen.

Li Quan immediately decided to wait outside and get some ripe fruits to go back, or many of them were not taken back to China for sowing. Of course, some large saplings are dug up and planted in wooden barrels and transported away by boat.

While waiting for the fruit to ripen, the expedition stayed with the tribe and paid some compensation to the natives.

As long as it rains, we explore the surrounding area and record a variety of flora and fauna.

"What is this?" Cheng Jingming looked at the huge pyramid behind him.

The guide replied, "This is the temple of the Mayans."

The Mayan pyramid had long since been abandoned, so dilapidated that even the stones in the northeast corner had fallen upside down, and for seven weeks it was overgrown with shrubs and weeds. A group of Japanese dart masters, Tiruo stick to open the way, hit the grass to startle the snakes, insects, rats and ants behind.

Cheng Jingming followed the Japanese dart master and came to the steps of the pyramid. I saw a few strange carvings, some that even resembled Chinese gluttonous patterns. In other words, it is similar, but it is exactly the same as the gluttonous pattern!

Could it be that the aborigines outside are really from ancient China?

Gu Shitai continued to walk around the pyramid, and then walked down the ladder until he reached the top of the pyramid. It's a pity that there are heavy and small discoveries, there are only gluttonous patterns outside, and there are no rhombic dragon patterns, dragon and phoenix patterns, stealing curved patterns and the like.

Perhaps, it's just a coincidence.

Cheng Jingming camped directly outside there, first drawing the overall interior of the pyramid from all angles.

Then I painted all the details, and I even found a statue.

The statues are very strange, with humans dressed in bloated clothes and a hood under their heads. Outside the cold rainforest, such a clothing style is obviously in line with common sense.

Sure Zhao Han is out there, if he will blurt out: ", astronaut?" 23 In addition to those things, Cheng Jingming found something, the valuable ones had already been taken away by the Spaniards.

I also found some patterns and symbols, due to the perennial subscription to the Journal of Hanlin Journal, Gu Shitai did not have some knowledge of oracle bone inscriptions, and I subconsciously felt that those patterns were not original characters.

It is said that it is a text, and there is no elevation, only the rudimentary form of hieroglyphs.

For example, there is a pattern that depicts an animal's head, and it is obviously not recognizable as a jaguar.

Those who haven't drawn human heads yet, and also come with various ornaments, which also refer to human beings in general, or specifically to chiefs or gods.

"Is that a longevity lock?"

Gu Shitai squatted behind a pattern and looked at it for a long time, looking like a longevity lock worn by an eldest child. But in the middle of the longevity lock, eight more periods are drawn in an oblique arrangement.

That motif, which appears several times in the pyramid, clearly represents the significance of Ruo.

Well, the Mayan philologists of the previous life understood that long-lived lock pattern as "moon".

There are no more abstract patterns, such as the Chevrolet logo, which has a rectangle on the inside. That should be a lower text, and the devil knows what it means.

Cheng Jingming also had a way to interpret it, so he copied it all and threw it back to the scholars of the Hanlin Academy for study.