PNB Chapter 419: Voyage Plan.
Chapter 419: Voyage Plan.
Due to the limitations of the sextant, Ye Kun set the route to march along the coastline.
During the Northern Expedition, if you get lost, just keep left. The left side is definitely the mainland, you will never go wrong!
When heading south, just keep to the right.
As long as you can distinguish between north and south, you will not get lost in the Yellow Sea and Bohai Sea.
Combined with the existing maps and globes, as well as portable compasses and telescopes, it is believed that the navy would not get lost and drift to America!
There are hundreds of guides in the navy, all of whom used to do business by sea.
Among them, some sailed thousands of miles, went to Liaodong in the north and to Jiaozhi and Tianzhu in the south, and they knew the way.
After everyone finished discussing, they were about to leave when Song Poliu suddenly asked:
"Principal Ye, when will the round-the-world voyage plan you mentioned start?"
As early as three years ago, when Song Poliu went to sea with the Jiangdong navy for the first time, Ye Kun said that he would let Song Poliu take the brothers to learn navigation and astronomy and geography knowledge to lay the foundation for future round-the-world voyages.
Today's naval equipment and talents have made great progress.
Therefore, Song Poliu was eager to try.
Ye Kun was a little surprised, so he asked, "Do you think the time is ripe for a round-the-world voyage?"
"Principal Ye, I think the time is right."
Song Poliu was very excited, with a look of longing in her eyes:
"Didn't you say that there are two connected continents beyond the Atlantic Ocean? The southern continent has corn, peanuts, rubber trees, and sweet potatoes... We can send people over now, and they will come back in a year or two and bring back everything you want. By then, China will be unified, and this will come in handy."
Ye Kun was stunned, then smiled and said, "You do have a forward-looking vision. If everything goes well, you should be able to come back in about two years if you leave now. But have you ever thought about the fact that there is a 50% chance that you will never come back."
There are only two roads from China to America.
One is to go out of the East China Sea and cross the Pacific Ocean.
One route is to go south, cross the Qiongzhou Strait, bypass the Indochina Peninsula, cross the Strait of Malacca, pass through the Tianzhu Peninsula, and follow the coastline to the African continent.
Then go around the African continent, start from the west coast of Africa and cross the Atlantic Ocean.
The first route is to cross the Pacific Ocean. However, current equipment and technology cannot make this possible, and supplies cannot be provided. Going there would mean suicide.
The second route was the one Ye Kun had envisioned. Walking along the coastline, it was easy to get supplies, and they could also go ashore to rest along the way.
But this route is too winding and too long.
If the route is straightened, this distance will be enough to go around the earth.
Crossing the Atlantic Ocean is not a problem given current technology.
As for the equipment that Song Po left for the navy, such as sextants, telescopes, precision compasses, portable clocks, simple canned food, etc., these were not available during the times of Magellan and Columbus's great voyages.
The small sailing ships of Magellan and Columbus were also inferior to the naval warships designed by Ye Kun.
It’s the typhoon risk that is really uncontrollable.
This is why Ye Kun hesitated.
Song Poliu was not afraid and said, "Principal Ye, I have led the navy in the past few years, and many of my brothers are interested in sailing around the world. They are not afraid of death. Why don't we build a small fleet first and test it out."
Ye Kun frowned: "How big a fleet do you plan to build?"
"A fleet of three hundred people is enough."
"Nonsense." Ye Kun glared and laughed, "A team of 300 people went to Africa and the Americas, but it's still not enough to fill the cannibals' teeth."
By the time a team of 300 people reached the west coast of Africa, perhaps only half of them were left.
By the time they reached America, there were perhaps only a hundred left.
If you are not careful, you really won’t be able to defeat the local natives.
Song Poliu smiled awkwardly: "How many talents do you think are needed, Principal Ye?"
"A team of at least 2,000 people is needed to implement this plan."
Ye Kun analyzed one by one: "The 2,000-man team includes combat personnel, navigation technicians, craftsmen, doctors, and experts in agriculture and other fields. This will ensure that you have a smooth journey and can return home."
One advantage of this shipping route is that it has no military rivals.
The Indian Peninsula is relatively prosperous and has a large population, but its current military is not good enough. A few thunder bombs will scare them away.
After passing the Indian Peninsula, Africa and America are all uncivilized areas, and civilization has just emerged.
There was no metallurgical industry in the Americas until around 1500, and weapons were made of bone, Neolithic, and obsidian.
The Inca Empire in South America had a population of tens of millions, but it was destroyed around 1530 by a Spanish gang of about a hundred people.
So Ye Kun was not worried about the enemy, but only about the weather.
Song Poliu smiled and said, "Principal Ye, we have a population of 10 million. It is not difficult to form a long-distance fleet of 2,000 people."
Ye Kun thought for a while and said, "How about this, you organize some professionals, make a serious plan, and then show me the plan, and then we will make a decision.
My requirement is, either don’t do it, or if you do it, you must succeed! ”
"Don't worry, Principal Ye, I will arrange a discussion immediately!"
Song Poliu was very happy and left with a fist salute.
Huangfu Lin shook his head and said, "We should now focus on the decisive battle with Xiahou Chang, but Song Poliu wants to sail far away. Isn't this nonsense?"
"His considerations do make sense. Time waits for no one. If there are things that can be done, it is better to do them as soon as possible."
Ye Kun looked at the map and said, "After we conquer the Central Plains, the population will increase rapidly and the demand for food will be huge. If the long-distance fleet can bring me corn and sweet potatoes, our land will be able to feed hundreds of millions of people. Rubber trees are even more urgently needed."
Huang Fulin asked: "What can rubber trees be used for?"
"Extract rubber and make wheels." Ye Kun pointed to the floor tiles under his feet:
"Today's wheels are made of wood with iron hoops, which are very harmful to the road surface. Our best roads are paved with stones, but they are full of ruts and often cause overturning. With rubber trees, we can make elastic wheels to protect vehicles and roads, so that the ride is not bumpy and the speed is faster.
We can even build a number of cement roads that are as smooth as mirrors, on which horse-drawn carriages can gallop, covering a distance of a thousand miles a day.
There is still a long way to go from finding rubber trees to making wheels.
But Ye Kun believes that as long as he takes it step by step, he will achieve it.
Jiang Laowu said, "I believe what Big Brother said, because until now, what Big Brother said was right. Incense oil, porcelain, glass, telescopes, gunpowder guns and cannons were all invented by Big Brother."
Ye Kun smiled and said, "There are also cotton, peppers, tomatoes, brown sugar, gasoline, kerosene, diesel, and alcohol."
Everyone laughed together.
In fact, Ye Kun has created many more things.
Such as iron pots, cement, lime, soap, brass...
These inventions, creations and introductions improved the living standards, science and technology, and culture of the Great Ding Kingdom by hundreds or even thousands of years.
Jiang Laowu smiled and said, "Brother, I am very curious, after we conquer the Central Plains, what will our Chinese land look like in another twenty years?"