Shanghai, Jijiagang.

Two newly modified "Shen Ship-A" gallery exploration ships are docking on the calm Wusong River water.

These two ships are modified from the "Shen Ship" type, and the lower gun deck was changed to the paddler deck, so that 12 long paddles were installed on the side of the left and right ships.

By the way, there were water ships in the Eastern Song Dynasty and Northern Zhou Dynasty in this era. That is, water ships were installed on both sides of the ship's side to drive the ships. However, this design is mostly used for ships sailing inland and offshore. As long as the ships running from ocean are purely sail-driven or sailboats, there are basically no water ships.

This is because the interior of the steamer has a relatively complex mechanical structure, and they are all made of wooden, which is very easy to damage and takes up more space.

During ocean-going sailing, once wooden water-wheel machinery is damaged, it cannot be repaired. Moreover, ocean-going sailing mainly relies on sails. The oars are only used in windless or headwind. Therefore, water-wheel systems with too large area are unpopular and unpopular. The space on the boat is very precious. If long oars are used, as long as the long oars are retracted, the oarsman deck can be used as cargo holds.

In addition, the naval armies of the Eastern Song and Northern Zhou dynasties now use artillery as their main weapons. In artillery battles, the water wheel mechanical system is easily damaged. As long as a shell is transmitted into the water wheel deck and many scattered wooden blocks are produced, it is easy to get stuck in the transmission device.

In contrast, long paddles are much more reliable.

Therefore, the Eastern Song Dynasty naval army did not equip watercraft, but instead used "starship"-type galleys as its main force.

The two ships docked on the Jijiagang Wharf in Shanghai are further improvements to the "Shen Ship" type from the "Starship" type.

Generally speaking, it is soft sails, high freeboards, high sterns, round bottom (sharp bottom), plus long paddles, and artillery. The paddleman's deck is not in use in principle before entering the Nanyang windless belt, and serves as a warehouse to store food and low-altitude wine.

It is now the plum rain season. In the drizzle, the coolies on the pier and the sailors of the Eastern Song Dynasty naval army are transporting buckets of supplies and low-alcohol wine on two exploration ships with two trolleys.

Ji Kui, the governor of Xiuzhou, and Xie Yong, the admiral of the Nanyang Navy of the Eastern Song Dynasty, were walking in the rain. Both of them were wearing paper umbrellas, but their clothes were still wet, but they didn't care.

Seeing the buckets of supplies being transported onto the ship, neither of them brows unbuttoned.

"Public Security," Ji Kui called Xie Yong's font size, "Do you also believe that the earth is round?"

"Taishan is not believed, it is calculated." Xie Yong, who is in his thirties this year, is the son of the Xie family in Mingzhou. He married Ji Kui's daughter, so he called Ji Kui "Taishan".

He said: "The bachelors of Beiyuntai have also done calculations and measurements, and have also come to the conclusion that the earth is round."

"Then why are you full of melancholy?" Ji Kui was puzzled.

As the admiral of the Nanyang Navy, Xie Yong will be responsible for exploring and stating the Southern Ocean.

"Taishan, you don't know anything." Xie Yong said, "Although the earth is definitely round, the circumference of the earth is controversial. Some algorithms have drawn 30,000 miles, while others say it is 100,000 miles or even longer.

Moreover, there is no wind in the South Ocean, how far can you take on a boat oar? According to the official's will, the ships exploring the Southern Ocean only need to sail south from Bali... at an average speed of 12 knots toward the south direction for 25 days, and then return."

The current Eastern Song and New Zhou navy also have the concept of "journey", but one festival is not 1.85 kilometers, but 3 miles. The so-called "several festivals" speed refers to the speed of one hour. That is, a one hour sailing 36 miles, a one day sailing 432 miles, and a one day sailing 10,800 miles can be sailed in 25 days.

According to Zhao Kai's calculations, starting from Bali, which was attached to the Eastern Song Dynasty (this island was ruled by Brahman aristocrats who escaped from Java) and sailing 108,000 miles southward, he must have reached the coast of the bitter and cold land north of the Great Zhou Republic.

Even if you can't get there, the temperature in the sea where the ship arrives will be significantly reduced... Therefore, it can be concluded that the ship is close to the bitter and cold place in the extreme north!

In addition, because the temperature in the sea area will drop significantly after thousands of miles south of Bali, it will become suitable for the survival of the Central Plains. If islands or continents can be found on the sea, it will be suitable for the Han people...

But what Xie Yong was very worried about was that once the circumference of the earth exceeds 30,000 miles, reaching 100,000 miles or even more. Then the voyage of thousands of miles south may become hotter and hotter in the south and cold in the north. Therefore, the temperature thousands of miles south of Bali may be tortured to death!

Ji Kui didn't know what his son-in-law was worried about. He just smiled and comforted: "The emperor has his own destiny. As ministers, we always have to do it. Even if we fail, the government will not blame him.

Public Security Bureau, who are you going to let this happen?"

"Chen Jiang." Xie Yong replied, "Although he had never studied in the Naval Army Academy, it was the best bow in the Nanyang area. He had been to the bow of a sailing merchant ship for more than ten years. He had been to various spice islands in the Nanyang. A year ago, he also reported that there was an unknown large island thousands of miles south of Sandalwood Island."

"Thousands of miles south of Sandalwood Island?" Ji Kui was stunned. "Why didn't you start from Sandalwood City this time voyage?"

Sandalwood Island is Timor Island and one of the spice islands in South China. Because it produces sandalwood, it is called Sandalwood Island by maritime merchants.

Because this island is far away from Java and Xingzhou and has a hot climate, it is not favored by the Eastern Song and Great Zhou families, so it is left to be ruled by the indigenous princes. It only found a bay in the southwest corner of the island and established a commercial market ruled by the Chamber of Commerce, named Sandow City.

Xie Yong shook his head and smiled bitterly: "Who cares about Chen Jiang's discovery of the big island south of Sandalwood Island. I only knew about it when I checked the personnel documents of the Nanyang Navy at the Ministry of War...

Anyway, the king is not allowed to accept the order. The ship was given to Chen Jiang, and we would not care where he wanted to set off. If it was too hot, it would be allowed to come back early. There were only two ships that were fine, so what would be the failure to explore?”

In fact, Xie Yong was not optimistic about this exploration from the beginning, but he was quite optimistic about the two Shenjia ships... As long as these two ships can return to the Nanyang Navy safely in the end, he doesn't care about the others.

That's why he chose Chen Jiang, an old ship bow who had no background, among the Nanyang Navy.

Anyway, if you miss the job, you will be dismissed and go back to Xingzhou to retire.

"That's right," Ji Kui nodded, "Let him go..."

...

Chen Jiang, who was chosen by Xie Yong, was not in Shanghai at this time, and he didn't know that he had won the first prize.

He was originally a farmer from Luoyang County, Henan Prefecture, Central Plains. Because his family owed the debt of the landlord Wu Paipi, he was sold to Java Island.

When I went to Java Island, I was a whole family, neatly arranged, but in a few years he and his younger brother Chen Hai were left.

After the two brothers buried their grandmother and another brother, they were not in the mood to make a living on Java Island, so they went to Xingzhou Island to make a living. The two brothers had no skills, just a stupid force, so they became paddlers.

Thanks to the good times, he lost his luck. Chen Jiang, the oarist, saved the life of the chief manager of the Chen family in Xinghua during a private operation at sea, so he recognized his godfather and became a member of the Chen family in Xinghua. He then entered the Yuanfan Hall of the Chen family in Xinghua to study sailing, and later became the bow of the Chen family in Xinghua. He controlled a large-scale food galley to run to the South China Sea without wind belts, and ran for more than ten years. Therefore, he was very good at using the breeze without wind belts and the oars to cooperate with sailing.

Sandalwood Island, which is rich in sandalwood, is a place he often visits. He even set up a home in Sandalwood City and raised a female slave in Baifan who was bought from Xingzhou City as a concubine.

As for his experience of discovering large islands in the Sandalwood Sea (the sea south of Sandalwood Island), it is actually not a legend. Many boat bows running on Spice Island have similar experiences.

The closest distance between Sandalwood Island and that large island is less than 1,000 miles. If a ship sails south of Sandalwood Island, it will be easy to blow along the coast of that large island when encountering a sudden storm (there are also storms in the windless summer).

Many sea bows even docked the ships along the coast of the big island for repair and supply. They also gave the island a name, Nanlantou.

However, most of them did not report the existence of Nanlantou because they did not enter the system of the Eastern Song Navy.

Chen Jiang was sent out by the Chen family in Xinghua to join the Nanyang Navy of the Eastern Song Dynasty and became a captain with the title of Chengjie Lang. So there was a report to discover the channels for Nanlantao.

And this Nan Lantau is of course Australia!

In the original history, the wreckage of ancient Chinese sailboats were often found along the coast of northern Australia, and sometimes items produced in ancient China were found. Obviously, marine merchants operating in the Nanyang Islands had visited the northern coast of Australia. However, there were no traces of large-scale development.

"Jingshuai, what did you say? Walk 10,000 miles south from Bali?"

Chen Jiang received the order to explore the Southern Ocean from Xie Yong, who came from the south in the autumn of the second year of the Hezhong period of the Eastern Song Dynasty (the autumn of the 13th year of the Republic).

He was also shocked by this order. He was like Xie Yong, thinking that the hotter it was to the south.

Xingzhou is already so hot. If you go to Antarctica, you won’t be able to heat up?

"If it's too hot, go back." Xie Yong said with a stern face, "But before returning, you can also explore the island south of the Sandalwood Sea. What's the name?"

"Called by Nanlantao." Chen Jiang said, "Many people have seen it, and some have been there."

"Yes," Xie Yong said, "see if there is any possibility of development."

"Development?" Chen Jiang just shook his head, "People are so hot, how can they develop?"
Chapter completed!