Li Xiaohei stayed in Yangang for a few days, and finally gathered enough two Long March-class ships, one for Yangwei and one for Longbow.

This time, he did not carry most of the goods, but brought some of the goods produced by Dongqin.

In addition, there is an agricultural technician, a barefoot doctor, and a pilot surveyor.

The greatest risk of this voyage came from the unknown, and after crossing the Tsushima Strait, it was a place that had never been set foot before.

However, when they learned that Xiao Hei had won this task, the first batch of students came to congratulate him.

Opening up a new route means a new path to wealth, which is clear to all students.

After careful study, the current Eastern Qin has not explored new routes at all, and some of the routes are all explored under the guidance of Ming merchants.

It is also the old path of the merchants of the Ming Kingdom, which is no different from the one taken hundreds of years ago.

Therefore, this route exploration is the first route development action in the history of Huaxia.

Being able to get the first batch of Jun Shang and explore a new route for the first time is a testament to Jun Shang's appreciation for this person, which makes other students envious.

At the beginning of April of the second year of Huaxia, Li Xiaohei, the governor of the pioneer fleet, led two sea ships and a crew of 188 people to set off from Yangang.

Amid the sound of the salute cannons, the ship's seamen rushed to the deck, waving their arms.

When the harbor is out of sight, the mainsail is raised in the commands.

With the sails fully puffed up, the two ships headed north, one after the other.

A day later, when they saw the Diaoyu Islands, the two ships headed slightly northwest and reached a current bound for the Ryukyus.

At present, there are hundreds of guano digging laborers on the fishing island, and there are many small boats.

Li Xiaohei sent greetings to the army brothers left behind on the island through the flag, and after the other party replied and cordially asked if there was anything abnormal, the two sides politely sent a letter to say goodbye.

This route is also an optimized route, no longer taking the old road of Fujian maritime merchants, but through four to five turns, to achieve the purpose of using the most ocean currents.

Since the first half of the year was a tailwind, another day later, they arrived at Kume Island in the Ryukyus.

At this moment, Kume Island has a large number of giant trees, the port has been renovated, and in addition to military facilities, consulates and schools have been built on the island.

The population has also risen from more than 1,000 at the beginning to more than 5,000.

It has also become a collection and distribution station for materials, and a large amount of grain exchanged for Korea and the Ming Kingdom has been hoarded here, and the grain market of the Ryukyus has been shattered.

A large number of merchants also began to trade here, and the volume of transactions at the Port of Naha plummeted.

Li Xiaohei ran over here many times, but when he saw a newly opened brothel, he was still surprised.

He understands that Kume Island has become completely prosperous! Where there is no bustling city, where there is no traffic, it is impossible for a brothel to open!

After staying for a day, Li Xiaohei went north again when he was well supplied.

This time, instead of taking a detour to the Shimazu clan's territory, he went directly to the Ouchi clan's Fukuoka.

Fukuoka is not far from the Tsushima Strait, and it will be an important supply point if the northern route opens.

The Ouchi clan received them warmly, and when they learned that they were not here to trade, but to the north to find new routes, they thought that the Eastern Qin wanted to continue north and deal with other daimyo in Japan.

When he learned that he was heading for North Korea, Ouchi Yoshiko happily offered gifts and prayed that they would find a new route.

Two days later, the fleet passed through the Tsushima Strait without incident, using Tsushima as a reference on the way, and the surveyors calculated the dimensions with a rectangular instrument.

The goniometer is a simple cross, and only when it is stable, or on land, can the dimensions be accurately measured.

At this time, the supplies were still very sufficient, and Li Xiaohei simply sailed to the Korean Peninsula, and sailed along the offshore sea with the huge Korean Peninsula mountain range as a reference.

"Captain Li, why is this road getting more and more wrong!" Two days after sailing, surveyor Guo Tu found Li Xiaohei and said.

"Why is something wrong?"

Guo Tu took the map given by Yan Zheng and said: "According to the map, North Korea is a so-called peninsula shape, a protrusion, but after observing in the past few days, I found that the location of North Korea should be slightly off, probably at the same latitude as the Ming Kingdom Shandong."

"Is there such a thing?" Li Xiaohei hurriedly picked up the map and pondered while looking at it, this matter is indeed a bit strange.

After a while, he asked reluctantly, "Do you remember what your lord said?"

"What?"

"The earth is round!"

Guo Tu thought about it, and reluctantly reacted, took the map and looked at it and said, "That's right!" That's right! The earth is really round, we see a plan, if this is a spherical surface, this phenomenon is reasonable! ”

The two looked at each other, and a deep surprise was written on their faces.

It's one thing to hear about it before, but it's another thing to be confirmed by yourself.

"If we only go a little way, we won't necessarily be able to prove that the earth is round, right?" Li Xiaohei asked after a long time.

"Maybe! But I believe it's round. ”

……

Two days later, there was a burst of cheers from the watchmen on the mast.

Finally a stretch of coast appeared in front of them, and all the crew members raised their arms and shouted.

Li Xiaohei took out the binoculars and looked at it, and his eyes immediately showed brilliance, just that tall tree, it was worth their trip.

When he got closer, he noticed that there was a river flowing into the sea.

"Looks like you've found the right place!" Li Xiaohei immediately greeted his subordinates and prepared to land on the shore to raise the flag and announce the occupation of this place.

Guo Tu stopped him: "No, this place is not the place marked by the king!"

"But this is the mouth of the river!"

Guo Tu shook his head, gestured with a ruler and said, "Our destination should still be a little easter!"

After thinking about it, Li Xiaohei asked more than a dozen soldiers to go ashore to declare sovereignty with boundary monuments and national flags.

Anyway, the king said that this is a wild land, and since it is also a port, it is not wrong to declare the occupation first.

According to later generations, this is the Tumen River basin, and the port is called Mokowei.

After the markings were made, the fleet set sail again.

This time, after less than half a day of sailing along the offshore water, the watchman on the watchtower let out a burst of exclamation!

The harbor in front of you is so beautiful! The bay sinks deep into the interior, creating a half-moon-shaped peninsula that envelops the harbor.

There was also a string of small islands, like a necklace, guarding the inner harbor.

Li Xiaohei's eyes also widened, this is a deep-water port with the best hydrological conditions he has ever seen.

"Quick! Measure the depth of the water! ”

Several small boats were lowered, and as a dozen seafarers skillfully lowered the ropes, groups of data were immediately obtained.

Two large ships, led by the small boats, sailed into the inner bay.

And the scenery of the inner bay makes them smack their tongues, so beautiful!

The scenery is majestic, sparkling, a large river gently enters the sea, and many seabirds are flying low in the harbor.

Li Xiaohei couldn't hide his excitement, Guo Tu forgot to measure the latitude, they all believed that this port was what they were looking for.

Even if it wasn't, it would be better than what they were looking for!

Suddenly, a seafarer reported that a small quay pier had been discovered.

Li Xiaohei took a look through the binoculars and found that there was indeed a simple house and some small boats on the inner harbor, which were docked aside.

"Landing first, put on the cuirass, don't fire first, if you can stabilize it, stabilize it first!"

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