"I arrived in Dongshan Prefecture, but I didn't quite arrive."

Liu Yifeng looked up at the crew member, if he wasn't sure that he was not a traverser, he would definitely think that the crew member was playing tricks.

"What do you mean?"

"Dongshan Prefecture is a large continent, not smaller than the Central Plains, and the land in front of it is actually just an island."

The crew was still playing around, but when they turned around, they found that Liu Yifeng was gone.

The Aleutian Islands, their own have indeed reached North America.

Liu Yifeng, who was too lazy to pay attention to the crew, is now extremely sure that the Liugui Prefecture that he docked before should be the Kamchatka Peninsula.

From this point of view, when Daming discovered America, he traveled from Hokkaido to Kamchatka via the Kuril Islands, then through the Aleutian Islands, and finally to Alaska.

No wonder the crew said that a large fleet would go to Dongshan State, and there was only one window in the summer.

This route has temperatures close to 0 degrees in spring and autumn in later generations, and directly below zero in winter, and it is still the famous Xiaoice River period in history, which can only be colder.

Although the sea conditions are not too complicated, the temperature in winter is too low, and with the productivity of this era, the crew simply cannot stand it, and it is impossible to maintain a stable course in winter.

However, this route also has an advantage, that is, there are many supply points along the way.

Between Hokkaido and Kamchatka are the numerous islands of the Kuril Islands, with plenty of fresh water and food.

Although the Kamchatka Peninsula has been regarded as a wild land, it is only said that the temperature is low, but in fact, the products on the island are quite abundant, and it is not far from the Kuril Islands and North Fuso, and the natural temperature is low, so it is too late to transport food.

Finally, there are the Aleutian Islands, which have plenty of fresh water and food, although the climate is not as pleasant as the Kuril Islands.

The ocean-going navigation technology of the Ming Dynasty took a completely different direction from Europa, which can be seen from the first ocean-going voyage recorded in the history of both sides. Daming attaches great importance to the anchorage, so it is basically sailing close to the continental shelf, and Europa was forced to choose to cross the ocean directly.

In fact, in the early stage, the development direction of the two sides was the same, that is, to sail close to the continental shelf, so that there would be no major problems with supplies. Later, in order to break through the pagan Ottoman monopoly on the Silk Road, Europa began the feat of crossing the ocean.

Christopher Columbus crossed the Atlantic to discover the New World, and from then on, Europa opened up the tree of talent for transoceanic sailing.

Magellan was even more powerful than Columbus, crossing the Atlantic from Europa to South America, then from the west coast of South America across the South Pacific to the Philippines, then across the southern Indian Ocean to the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa, and finally across the Atlantic back to Europa.

Although he died in the Philippines, the feat opened up numerous transoceanic routes.

And the predecessors of these two people: Zheng He, who shocked the world in the Western Ocean, only crossed the Indian Ocean a few times. Not yet like Magellan's fleet from Sumatra to South Africa, across the entire Indian Ocean. Rather, from Malacca to Sri Lanka, or from the west coast of the South Asian subcontinent to the Strait of Hormuz, to the Red Sea, to the east coast of Africa, it basically only spans half of the Indian Ocean.

This also led to a disagreement in the history of the development of ships between the two sides, with Daming going farther and farther on the road of hard sails, and Europa taking the talent of soft sails to the extreme.

Because of their different development directions, Daming found that Dongshan Prefecture could only take the route from Kamchatka Peninsula to Alaska.

"Teacher, I don't have a problem." Sun Xin glanced at Wu Sangui, who was beaten up for not answering Song Yingxing's question, and asked: "Since we are already very sure that Dongshan Prefecture is in the east of the Central Plains, why don't we start directly from Yingtianfu and go all the way east to Dongshan Prefecture?" ”

Sun Xin's question has been bothering him for a long time, and when Song Yingxing tested their Dongshan Prefecture geography yesterday, he thought of this question again and decided to raise it today.

"Because no way was found." Song Yingxing said: "After discovering Dongshan Prefecture, the Maritime Safety Bureau organized a total of five voyages from Yingtianfu or Fusang in the direction of the rising sun. Each time it was a fleet of 1 Zhenghe-class, 1 Nanyang-class, and 10 Ryukyu-class boats. ”

"But only the first and last time, the fleet returned safely, and the middle three fleets were missing."

Sun Xin and the three looked at each other, and it was self-evident what it meant to disappear on the sea.

"The only thing that can be confirmed at the moment is the direction in which the 3rd and 2nd fleets are missing."

"Lord Song, how are you sure? Did you find the missing person? ”

"It's not." Song Yingxing got up and walked to the big wooden box where he put the book, and it took him a long time to find the book he was looking for.

Chronicle of the Maritime Administration. Book 12

Yang Changbai, Sun Xin and Wu Sangui all read this book when they joined the Maritime Safety Administration, but they didn't finish reading it, after all, there are 21 volumes in total, each volume is nearly 20,000 words.

Song Yingxing actually couldn't remember the specific situation of the 5 explorations, and after reading it for a while, he pushed the book in front of his 3 students and subordinates.

After reading it, the three of them were extremely embarrassed.

On the first exploration, the fleet found nothing, and had to return to Edo when the fresh water was running out. The ship was still largely intact, with more than half of the crew killed or wounded.

During the second expedition, the Maritime Safety Bureau received some information from the Cabinet to find fishermen leading the way from Fuso, and discovered a series of islands southeast of Fuso. The Fuso people called them the Ogasawara Islands, and the Maritime Safety Bureau chose the island called Chichijima by the Fuso fishermen to build a base, and every time they explored it from Chichijima.

With Chichijima as a base, the Second Exploration Fleet was inspired to discover more islands with fresh water resources as a bridge all the way to Higashiyama State, but they never returned.

The following year, the third expedition fleet departed from Chichijima, and the same was gone.

In the second half of the same year, the fourth expedition abandoned the Chichijima route and headed east from Kitafuso, where he disappeared.

Last year, the fifth expedition, from Shichijima, was hit by a storm on the way, and 10 Ryukyu-class boats were almost completely destroyed. The fleet found a nameless island to take refuge, and managed to keep most of the people alive.

The nameless island is actually made up of two small islands, each of which can be seen with the naked eye.

The Fifth Expedition Fleet found human bones and some human belongings on this nameless island, as well as many tombs. Through the identification of the clothing on the bones and the sorting of living items, they believe that these people are the people of the missing Second and Third Exploration Fleets.

Counting the bones in the tomb, it can be seen that there are not many survivors, only more than 20 people, because there are no written records left, it is impossible to guess whether they are in distress and lone crew members, or the entire fleet is in distress, they are the only survivors.

The bones of the victims were brought back to the Ming mainland by the Fifth Exploration Fleet, and the location of the island was recorded.

"When will the sixth expedition begin?"

The experience of the crew members of the Maritime Safety Bureau, who put life and death aside, made Wu Sangui's blood boil, and he couldn't wait to join the sixth exploration immediately.

Song Yingxing said with a wry smile: "There is no sixth time, the first five explorations have proved that the southern route does not exist at all, unless a bigger ship can be built in the future, it can only go from Liugui Prefecture to Dongshan Prefecture." And ......"

Wu Sangui and the three of them waited for a long time and didn't wait for the words behind "And", they saw that Song Yingxing was reluctant to say more, so they didn't ask.

Song Yingxing was indeed reluctant to tell the three young people what was behind "and", because it might hit them.

Moreover, the cabinet has been working hard to ban Dongshan Prefecture, how can it agree to start the sixth exploration.