"Here it is, it should be here......"

On October 19, the tenth year of the Apocalypse, when Zhu Youzhen was already preparing for the big wedding at the end of the month, a ship flying the "Da Xu" flag arrived in a strange sea area.

As a small boat was lowered and rowed to the shore, five Han people dressed in coarse linen clothes with their hair simply tied up sighed and couldn't help but look around.

The blue sea and the soft sand did not make the five of them let their guard down, because more than twenty paces away from the beach in front of them was a dense forest.

"Put on your armor first."

The leader of the army beckoned to the four brothers behind him, and they all nodded and distributed the armor in the boat.

The thick cloth armor was taken out, and the five of them helped each other to put it on, and soon they fastened their swords and bows and arrows.

The armor of the Northern Army is still applicable in this strange continent, and although it is noon, the temperature here is not much better than that of Northern Zhili.

"Follow me." After putting on the armor, the commander of Wu gave an order, and then led his men to search along the beach first, and then entered the forest vigilantly.

In the forest, there are some plants they have never seen before, as well as some wary animals.

When they searched inward for a distance of about three miles, they did not find any natives, but saw a very wide lake.

After glancing at the lake and making sure that there were no strange beasts in the water, the five of them began to boldly search along the north of the lake, during which some people spoke:

"I hope the natives here are different from the natives on the island in the north, and they are not so cruel."

"No matter how ferocious you are, you can't stop the sword!"

"Although this is true, after all, it is not good to harm the local natives, and we have to return after all."

The crowd in the pond whispered, with anxiety and vigilance, and in this whispering, they gradually groped for a place within ten miles of the beach.

"It should be fine, you can go back and notify the people on the ship to land."

After inspecting for a long time, he didn't see the natives, and Wu Chang also breathed a sigh of relief.

When the four people beside him heard this, they all exhaled a breath of turbidity, and then returned to the beach under the leadership of the Wu Commander, and took out a ring arrow and shot it into the air.

"Bang-"

It was not a loud sound of arrows and firecrackers, and in less than a quarter of an hour after this sound sounded, the six thousand large ships that stayed at sea began to lay down small boats of two or three feet one after another.

These small boats carried enough people towards the beach, and after a quarter of an hour they were met by the Ming troops on the beach, and they all went ashore.

For a time, there were no less than 100 people who went ashore, but one-third of them were shipwrights, and less than 60 were Ming soldiers, and the first thing these Ming soldiers did when they went ashore was to put on armor.

When everyone had put on their armor, the leading flag officer shouted:

"The boatmen went back and brought the stuff, and we set up camp nearby."

"Yes!"

When some of the shipwrights heard this, they immediately returned to the sea with the dozen or so small boats, and embarked on the return journey towards the 6,000 boats.

As for the chief flag officer, he met with the commander, and then, according to the terrain he described, finally chose a place to camp at a distance of one mile from the beach.

Soon after they had chosen to camp for camp, the boatmen returned to the beach with many tools and baggage for camping, and the Flag Officer led the men from the beach all the way to the predetermined camp.

After a busy afternoon, with hundreds of trees falling and weeds being cleared, a camp began to form.

An acre of wasteland was quickly cleared out by them, and the trees they had cut down were also stripped and piled up in the corners.

Tents were set up in the clearing, and the leaders of the army began to prepare dinner.

A bag of military rations was poured into several steamers, followed by vinegar cloth thrown into a cauldron to boil, and the remaining salt crystals were collected.

The hunting party returned to the camp with two goats and an elk, enough meat for two meals for the hundreds.

Some of the ship's vegetables were stir-fried, and the cleaned goats and elk were grilled and sprinkled with a salty crystal powder sharpened with a knife, as well as the cheap dried paprika, and the aroma was permeating for a while.

The five captains, the deputy chief flag officer, and the chief flag officer gathered around a fire, and everyone was looking at the map in their hands while roasting themselves.

"According to what is drawn on this map, we should be in this position."

The flag officer used a tree branch to indicate where they were on the map, and this direction represented Seattle more than 200 years later.

"This place doesn't look good, it's cold to death, it's not as good as Yingzhou, I don't know why Jinglu let us explore this place, and I don't know how to go back now."

A captain whined, and his thoughts represented the thoughts of the crowd.

The content of Yang Wenyue's report to Zhu Youzhen is very concise and clear, but in reality it is bumpy and complicated.

In August, Yang Wenyue sent a battalion of guards and 30 ships of 6,000 materials, loaded with enough fresh water and food, planted vegetables, and cooperated with 3,000 crew members and ships to work as an expedition team, and embarked on the expedition road of Daming to North Asia Melica.

The expedition departed from North Island Province on August 19 and was originally intended to follow a map drawn by Zhu Youzhen and head north along the Aleutian Islands all the way east to northern Murica in North Asia.

However, when the expedition team sailed out of North Island Province, they discovered the "North Pacific Warm Current" according to the bird flock and wind direction, and used the warm current to go all the way east.

It took them 32 days to travel from the northern part of the North Island Province and the southern part of the Aleutian Islands to Vancouver Island in what would become North America, where they came into contact with the natives by surprise.

There was no conflict between the two sides, and the expedition chose to camp on the boat and not far from the beach.

Despite the language barrier, the expedition team learned a lot from each other through body language and point-and-shoot drawings of branches and sand.

In the paintings of the local natives, there are many people with fangs living on the mainland to the east of the island, which is why the Ming army was nervous when they landed.

As the first person to arrive on the west coast of the Ming Dynasty, Yang Wenyue's eldest son, Yang Bingwen, the eldest son of Yang Wenyue, first ordered people to go north and south to find the monsoon that returned to the Ming Dynasty, and then divided the two sentinels and horses under his command into two parts.

One outpost was stationed on Vancouver Island, which Yang Bingwen named "Salasee", and the other was divided into five general flags, which crossed the sea to land in North Asia Melica.

For example, the current banner soldiers and horses are one of the five banners, and they will build five small-scale wooden forts respectively, waiting for Yang Bingwen's instructions.

"Although this place is similar to southern Liaoning during the day, it is not as cold as southern Liaoning at night."

In the midst of complaining, the chief flag officer sitting on the wooden pier couldn't help but sigh, and his words also won the approval of most people.

But before they could sigh for too long, the hot venison was served, and a group of big and rough people forgot their complaints and complaints just now, and began to feast on the venison.

Compared with the flags and horses who went to explore on the mainland, Yang Bingwen, who was the general of the expedition team at this moment, had a headache.

Faint candles burned on the southernmost coastal plain of Salasi, which was not very large, only a few square kilometres, and was full of woods.

The fleet arrived in this strange place on September 21 and then explored the island in just half a month.

Finally recorded what they saw and heard, and built a three-acre wooden fort, but Yang Bingwen found that the "strange current" that sent them to North Asia Merica could not send them back.

Helpless, he could only send the fleet into two teams, going north and south respectively, looking for the "strange current" that could send them back to Daming.

"I still haven't found it, and even carrier pigeons can't fly at such a distance......"

Yang Bingwen, who was only twenty years old, looked very young, he and Yang Wenyue were somewhat similar between his eyebrows and eyes, but at this moment he was anxiously walking back and forth in front of the faint candle flame.

In front of them, a man who was the leader of the expedition also frowned and said:

"The army has less than three months' ration of food, and even if we hunt every day, I'm afraid we won't be able to withstand such consumption."

"Although the pressure of separating more than 800 brothers has been reduced, it is not a way to go on like this."

"In case the flags are attacked, then we ......"

"I'll go rescue them, you don't have to worry." Yang Bingwen interrupted the other party and answered confidently.

Although he is not as good as his father, he is also stationed in a thousand choices.

The distance between this place and the flags was less than a hundred miles, and if the flags needed support, he could go there by boat in five hours.

What he is worried about now is not that the natives will attack them, but that he will not be able to return to Daming.

"My father sent me to North America for the sake of His Highness's affairs, if there is only one way to do this, and you can only send us here, not send us back, then we are guilty of deceit."

Yang Bingwen hurriedly walked back and forth: "The carrier pigeon we released last month, my father should have received it early, and it is very likely that it has been sent to His Royal Highness." ”

"If we can't go back at this time, it's not just us who are in trouble, it's my father'......"

Yang Bingwen couldn't bear to continue, but the master Bo understood what he meant.

To put it bluntly, they were the first people of the Ming Dynasty to go to North Asia Melica, and when they came, they could walk more than 400 miles a day by means of strange currents, so everyone was very happy, thinking that when they returned, the strange currents would change the direction of the wind and send them back.

Now it seems that the strange current is completely blowing towards North Asia, and if they do not find a strange current that can help them get back, they are afraid that they will be trapped and die in this wild land.

"Zhong Wen, do you think we can go north along the coast and return to Yingzhou?"

Yang Bingwen was sick and rushed to the doctor, and the master Bo also frowned and responded:

"Zhang guarded them to the north for seven days, and wanted to walk more than 2,000 miles, but according to their carrier pigeon reply, the north became more and more barren."

"Although according to His Highness's "sea chart", it is only 13,000 miles to return to Yingzhou from here, and the normal driving will take up to two months, but if you get lost halfway, as soon as the food is eaten, the whole army will have to die in the sea......"

Yang Bingwen and the others were confused, mainly because they didn't understand the sea.

In fact, if they can have an experienced person like Yan Siqi and Li Dan to lead the team, they won't worry about the return trip at all.

13,000 miles, with the astrological technique and the compass, even if they enter the windless sea, just by rocking the oars, more than 6,000 of them can return to Daming within three months with brute force, not to mention Yingzhou, which is closer.

It's a pity that most of the admirals fought in the Little Western Ocean, and Yan Siqi, Zheng Zhilong, and Liu Xiang went to the capital again, so Yang Wenyue could only arrange people from the Yingzhou Gongwei Battalion to carry out the mission of exploring North Asia Melica.

This is the first time that Yang Bingwen has led the troops alone from his father, and it is fine if he is on land, but this is at sea.

"If there is really no way, we can only attack the natives......"

The master Bo was a little helpless, but Yang Bingwen frowned and stopped:

"Before leaving, my father said that it is best not to have a conflict with the natives."

"But at this time, at that time, ......" Lord Bo wanted to say more, but Yang Bingwen immediately raised his hand to stop:

"Needless to say! Unless the mountains and rivers are exhausted, I will not disobey military orders. ”

Yang Bingwen moved out all the military orders, and the master Bo had no choice but to bow his head and sigh.

Fortunately, at this moment, there was a sound of hurried footsteps outside the wooden house, and the next second the wooden door was pushed open, and a guard with a frozen red face appeared.

"General Yang and Liu Zhubo, good news!"

He held two notes in his hand, and then shook it off and said: "Zhang Shoubei discovered a strange current yesterday, probably blowing from the north to the west, he walked more than a hundred miles, and only returned after realizing that it was feasible, and he is already on the way back." ”

"In addition, the He garrison who went south met the ship of the Franc Man, who had a town in the middle of North Asia and Mollica, where he could buy grain."

"Good!" Hearing the two pieces of good news, Master Liu clenched his fists and breathed a sigh of relief at the same time.

It's just that when he looked at Yang Bingwen, Yang Bingwen frowned and said, "The matter of buying grain is on hold, don't contact the Francophone first." ”

"This ...... Why? Liu Zhubo was puzzled, but Yang Bingwen said:

"The dynasty used trade to make the Franc machine retreat to the west of the small western ocean, if they learn that my Ming figure has also appeared in North Asia Melica, I am afraid they will target us first."

Yang Bingwen saw it clearly, he knew that the Spaniards did not dare to offend the imperial court, but right now they were in North America, in the territory of the Spaniards.

To put it mildly, they are short of food and equipment, and if a conflict breaks out between the two sides here, it must be the Ming army that suffers.

The ships of their expedition were only 6,000 armed merchant ships, which were not comparable to the warships of the navy.

With only 30 6,000 armed merchant ships, less than 2,000 rifles and 100 artillery pieces, Yang Bingwen was not stupid enough to break out a conflict with the Spaniards in this America.

He was unfamiliar with navigation and panicked, but fighting was his forte, and he could calmly analyze the situation, so he didn't want to contact the Spaniards so quickly.

"Let the people of the Siyi Pavilion learn the words of the Salassis, and then within two months, take the Salasi to the south to buy grain."

Yang Bingwen thought of using the Salassis on Salasi Island, and he was not worried about whether the people of the Siyi Pavilion could learn the other party's language.

Most of the people who can enter the Siyi Pavilion are people with language talents.

After a few months of getting along, although it is not as good as that of the Salacy, simple communication should be fine.

"Let the people below set up camp well, and by the way, boil salt by the sea, and catch some fish to make dried fish."

"When Zhang's ship comes back, we will set off after buying food."

Yang Bingwen arranged in an orderly manner, Liu Zhubo and another guard immediately got up when they saw this, and while they contributed to Zhu Youzhen's Qi cause, Yang Wenyue, who was in Yingzhou, was also worried about them.

The waves crashed on the reef of Dongshan County in Beidao Province, and Yang Wenyue stood on the shore and looked out at the sea to the east, followed by Cao Dingjiao, the chief soldier of Yingzhou, and thousands of acres of roughly cultivated fields.

"More than a month has passed, and Zhaoju has not released a carrier pigeon, and I am uneasy......

When Yang Wenyue said this, his tone was a little melancholy, and Cao Dingjiao couldn't help but comfort when he heard this:

"After a little reassurance, I asked the people of the city department that a fleet of such a scale will not encounter any accidents when going to sea."

"What's more, they have brought enough grain and coal for half a year, and they can cook the sea for water at sea, and there are vegetable fields on the ship, so there will probably be no problem."

"The reason why there are no carrier pigeons at the moment is probably because the distance is too far."

What Cao Dingjiao said, in fact, Yang Wenyue understood that he mainly cared too much, after all, Yang Bingwen was his eldest son.

"I heard that the war in the Little West is coming to an end, and I am going to ask His Highness to transfer a member of the Navy to the future to cross the sea and emigrate."

Yang Wenyue turned around and walked to Dongshan County, not far away, Cao Dingjiao followed, and the two walked one after the other.

Cao Dingjiao listened to his thoughts and didn't express any opinions, while Yang Wenyue asked, "How about the cultivated fields in Yingzhou?" What is the status of reclamation in North Island Province and Khuwu? ”

"According to the document sent by Jin Xuan yesterday, there are more than 820,000 mu of cultivated land in Beidao Prefecture, more than 1,000 mu of Kuwu rough cultivation, and more than 38 million mu of cultivated land in Yingzhou."

"If nothing else, before the spring of next year, it should be able to cultivate 40 million mu."

The labor force of more than 2 million defeated labor reformers in the shogunate is very considerable, and from last year's lunar month to the present, in just 11 months, more than 3 million mu of cultivated land has been extensively cultivated.

According to their speed, it is estimated that within four years, Yingzhou's cultivated land will rise to 50 million mu, reaching the height of the end of the 19th century.

However, it should be noted that there are not a few people who die of exhaustion in the process.

Yang Wenyue was not worried about exhausting these people to death, he was more concerned about the situation of immigrating to Qi and paying taxes in Yingzhou than their deaths.

Due to the rise of cement farms, fertilizer farms and mines, nearly half a million people have poured into Yingzhou, creating a lot of resources.

It is relatively easy to find guano island in Yingzhou, and every day you can see the 9,000 large ships of Huangdian, transporting guano to Yingzhou one by one, and then making fertilizer from the factory and transporting it to Daming, as well as cement and minerals.

It is also because of the cheap labor in Yingzhou that the amount of fertilizer and cement in Daming can surge.

The Imperial Shop used the workers to generate revenue, and then paid taxes to the Imperial Horse Supervisor and the local yamen.

Now that October has passed, Yingzhou's tax this year has reached more than 370,000 taels of silver, and the field endowment has reached 9 million stones.

If you add the grain of the people in Yingzhou who helped the government to reclaim the grain, the total amount of land is more than 13 million stones.

In general, Yingzhou has been squeezed to the limit, but even so, the life of the people of Yingzhou is still much better than during the shogunate period.

"How many people have migrated from the Han family?"

Yang Wenyue and Cao Dingjiao walked back to the Dongshan County Ya and inquired about the left and right participation in politics of the political secretary.

The left and right political participation of the political secretary are all graduates of Yanshan, and they are easy to find all kinds of data, so they can answer without turning the booklet:

"The contract is about 970,000, and it is too difficult for the people in Jiangnan to relocate......"

Answer first, then talk about difficulties, this is the political education that most Yanshan officials receive, and Yang Wenyue has no way to do it after hearing it.

"Jiangnan is rich and fruitful, even if it encounters a catastrophe, it is difficult to move, let alone this year is a healthy year."

Zuo Shenzheng explained, and said: "Unless there is a catastrophe that affects the entire south of the Yangtze River, I am afraid that the yamen can only attract tens of thousands of immigrants every year. ”

If the world is peaceful, then no one wants to leave their homeland.

Even now, the main force of immigrants in the Ming Dynasty is the people of the drought-stricken Shanxi and Shaanxi provinces.

"Let's do it for the time being, don't stop the standard, if the fields are not enough, open more factories, drive the farmers in Yingzhou to the factories, and leave the fields to the people who have migrate."

Yang Wenyue hastily arranged the relocation, and he also had some drumming in his heart about moving the people to Qi State.

Zhu Youzhen's meaning is obvious, that is, to move the people of Jiangnan to the Qi State.

It's just that from the current point of view, the people of Jiangnan are still so resistant to moving to Yingzhou, let alone the Qi State tens of thousands of miles away......

"After transporting six million stone rice and wheat to the imperial court this year, how much is left in the treasury?"

Yang Wenyue sat down and asked about the left and right participation in politics, and the two also replied one after another:

"There are more than 1 million stones left in the treasury, plus more than 13 million yuan harvested, a total of nearly 15 million stones."

"After transporting six million stones to the imperial court, counting the loss, there are still eight million stones in the treasury."

"In the current situation, the government treasury needs to purchase more than 3 million stone of sweet potatoes to feed the more than 2 million labor campers."

"Well......" After listening to the words of the two, Yang Wenyue bowed slightly, but before he could make any other moves, a senator from the political envoy department walked into the yamen hall with a note and said respectfully:

"After a while, the flying pigeons in the capital passed the book, and Yingzhou was ordered to send another two million stone rice and wheat to the capital to solve the grain shortage in Shanxi ......"

"Another two million stones?!" Hearing this, the left and right politicians and Cao Dingjiao couldn't help but be a little surprised, and then they all looked at Yang Wenyue.

Yang Wenyue frowned, as if he was embarrassed.

This is not to blame him, after all, the total output of Yingzhou's fields this year is more than 32 million stones, of which more than 2 million stones are sweet potatoes and potatoes.

That is to say, the annual output of rice and wheat in Yingzhou is only 30 million stones, and the original surplus of 6 million stones to Liaodong is a little unsustainable, and now the capital has made a surplus of 2 million stones.

As a result, the people of Yingzhou, who could still maintain two stone meters per capita, can now only have one and a half stones per capita.

Unless Yang Wenyue finds a large number of other complementary foods that can be replaced, the price of grain in Yingzhou will inevitably be inflated, and the laborers and people who have no food to eat will be in turmoil.

"After a little ......" Cao Dingjiao saw Yang Wenyue's embarrassment and wanted to open his mouth to let Yang Wenyue show Yingzhou's difficulties to the imperial court.

It's a pity that before he could say anything, Yang Wenyue frowned and said:

"First make a profit of two million to the imperial court, and then order the Gongwei camp to go to sea to fish."

"If this can't stabilize the place, then suppress it, don't be merciful!"

"Yes!" Hearing Yang Wenyue's order, the four people in the hall responded one after another.

Immediately afterwards, the three members of the Yamen of the Political Secretary retreated, leaving only Yang Wenyue and Cao Dingjiao.

Cao Dingjiao saw that Yang Wenyue didn't speak, so he said cautiously:

"It's okay this year, but if it's like this next year, I'm afraid many people will starve to death......"

Yang Wenyue did not answer his words directly, but picked up the teacup, looked at the tea in the cup and sighed:

"It's better to starve the people of Yingzhou than to starve to death my people."

"If you work hard in Yingzhou again, when there is more arable land, it will be fine."

(End of chapter)