Brother Zhu Youxiao

Chapter 432
"Here, it should be here..."

On October [-]th, the tenth year of the apocalypse, when Zhu Youjian was preparing for his wedding at the end of the month, a ship with the banner of "Da Zong" arrived in an unfamiliar sea area.

As a small boat was lowered and rowed to the shore, five Han people in coarse linen clothes and with their hair simply tied up sighed and looked around unavoidably.

The blue sea and soft sand did not let the five of them relax their vigilance, because there was a dense forest more than [-] steps away from the beach in front of them.

"Put on the armor first."

The leading corporal greeted the four brothers behind him, and they all nodded and distributed the armor in the boat.

The thick cloth face armor was taken out, and the five people helped each other put it on, and soon fastened their waist knives and fastened their bows and arrows.

The armor of the Northern Army is still suitable in this strange continent. Although it is noon, the temperature here is not much better than that of Beizhili.

"Follow me." After putting on the armor, the corporal commander ordered, and then he led his men to search along the beach first, and then entered the forest vigilantly.

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

"Zhang Shoubei and the others went northward for seven days. They thought they had traveled more than [-] miles, but according to their letter from the pigeons, the north became more and more desolate."

It is relatively easy to find guano islands in Yingzhou. Every day, you can see nine thousand large ships from Huangdian, transporting guano to Yingzhou one by one, and then making fertilizer from factories and transporting them to Daming. The same is true for cement and minerals.

According to their speed, it is estimated that within four years, the arable land in Yingzhou will increase to 5000 million mu, reaching the height of the end of the nineteenth century.

During the complaints, the chief banner officer sitting on the wooden pier couldn't help sighing, and his words won the approval of most people.

After patrolling for a long time and seeing no natives, the corporal chief also breathed a sigh of relief.

This is not his fault. After all, the total output of Yingzhou fields this year is only more than 200 million shi, of which more than 200 million shi are sweet potatoes and potatoes.

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

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

After a busy afternoon, with the downfall of hundreds of trees and the removal of weeds, a camp gradually began to form.

To put it bluntly, they are short of food and equipment. If a conflict breaks out between the two sides here, the Ming army must suffer.

A bag of military rations was poured into several steamers, and then the vinegar cloth was also thrown into the cauldron to be boiled, and the remaining salt crystals were collected.

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

"As far as the current situation is concerned, the treasury needs to purchase more than 300 million shi of sweet potatoes to feed the more than [-] million reformed-through-labor workers."

They searched inward for a distance of about three miles, but found no natives, but saw a very wide lake.

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

"Jiangnan Fushuo, even if there is a catastrophe, it is difficult to move, let alone this year is a healthy year."

"In addition, He Shoubing, who was going south, encountered a boat from the Frangji people. The Flangji people have a town in the middle of North America, where they can buy food."

"It's been more than a month, and Zhaoju and the others haven't released a single pigeon, so I feel uneasy..."

To put it bluntly, they were the first group of people from Daming to go to North America. When they came, they could walk more than 400 miles a day with the help of the strange current, so everyone was very happy, thinking that when they returned, the strange current would change the direction of the wind Send them back.

Although he is not as good as his father, the place where he is stationed is also very selective.

Yang Wenyue frowned tightly, as if he was in a dilemma.

Unfortunately, before he could say anything, Yang Wenyue frowned and said:

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

"Jinglue..." Cao Dingjiao saw Yang Wenyue's embarrassment, and wanted to ask Yang Wenyue to explain Yingzhou's difficulties to the court.

Zuo Shenzheng bowed to explain, and said: "Unless there is a catastrophe affecting the entire Jiangnan, I am afraid that the Yamen can only attract tens of thousands of immigrants every year."

"Why...why?" Master Liu was puzzled, but Yang Bingwen said:

Yang Bingwen walked back and forth anxiously: "Father should have received the carrier pigeon we released last month, and it is very likely that it has been sent to His Highness."

Yang Bingwen could see clearly, he knew that the Spaniards did not dare to offend the imperial court, but right now they are in North America, on the territory of the Spaniards.

Some vegetables grown on the boat were stir-fried, and the cleaned goats and elk were grilled, sprinkled with salt crystal powder ground with a knife, and the cheap dried chili powder, and the aroma permeated for a while.

The hunting team went out to hunt and returned to the camp with two goats and an elk. The meat was enough for two meals for hundreds of people.

"Let the people in the Siyi Pavilion learn the words of the Saracis well, and within two months, take the Saracis to the south to buy grain."

He was not familiar with sailing, so he panicked, but fighting is his strong point, and he can calmly analyze the battle situation, so he didn't want to contact the Spaniards so soon.

"If there are no accidents, before the spring of next year, we should be able to roughly cultivate 4000 million mu."

Now that October has passed, Yingzhou's tax this year has reached more than 37 taels of silver, and the land tax has reached 900 million shi.

The expedition team set off from Beidaofu on August [-]th. It was originally planned to follow the map drawn by Zhu Youjian and go north along the Aleutian Islands all the way eastward to the northern part of North America.

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

This is the first time Yang Bingwen has left his father to lead the army alone. It would be fine if he was on land, but this is at sea.

Waves were crashing on the rocks of Dongshan County in Beidao Prefecture. Yang Wenyue stood on the shore and looked at the sea to the east. Behind him was Cao Dingjiao, the general of Yingzhou, and thousands of acres of rough-plowed fields.

One captain complained, and his thoughts represented the thoughts of everyone.

Yang Bingwen thought of using the Saracis on the Saracen Island, but he was not worried about whether the people in the Siyi Pavilion could learn their language.

"Bam—"

Not long after they chose the campsite, the boatmen returned to the beach with a lot of tools and camping baggage, and the chief flag officer also led people to cut down trees from the beach and headed for the scheduled campsite.

The faint candlelight is on the coastal plain in the southernmost part of Saracen Island. The area of ​​this plain is not large, only a few square kilometers, and it is full of forests.

As for the chief flag officer, he met the corporal leader, and then according to the terrain he described, he finally chose a station one mile away from the beach.

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

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

Yang Bingwen went to the doctor in a hurry, and Bo also frowned and responded:

"According to the documents sent by Jin Xuan yesterday, there are more than 82 mu of arable land in Beidao Prefecture, more than [-] mu of cultivated land in Kuwu, and a total of more than [-] million mu of arable land in Yingzhou."

Compared with the people of various banners who went to explore on the mainland, Yang Bingwen, who is a member of the expedition team at this moment, has a headache.

"Father sent me to North America for the sake of His Royal Highness's vassal. If there is only one strange flow, and it can only send us here, and cannot send us back, then we have committed the crime of deceiving the emperor."

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

For 6000 miles, even if they enter a windless sea with stargazing and a compass, more than [-] of them can return to Daming within three months by brute force, not to mention the closer distance Yingzhou.

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

It took them 32 days to follow the warm current from the northern part of the North Island and the southern part of the Aleutian Islands to Vancouver Island in North America, where they came into contact with the local natives unexpectedly.

Immediately afterwards, the three people from the chief secretary's yamen withdrew, leaving only Yang Wenyue and Cao Dingjiao.

In August, Yang Wenyue dispatched a battalion of arch guards and thirty ships with six thousand materials, loaded with enough fresh water and food, planted vegetables, cooperated with three thousand crew members and boatmen as an expedition team, and set foot on Daming to the north. Adventures in America.

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

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

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

Yang Wenyue hastily arranged the relocation, and he was a little worried about relocating the people to Qi.

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

Yang Wenyue and Cao Dingjiao walked back to the Dongshan County Government Office, and asked the chief secretary's left and right to participate in politics.

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

Zhu Youjian's meaning is obvious, that is, to relocate the people in the south of the Yangtze River to Qi State.

If the local people in Yingzhou helped the government to reclaim the people's grain, the total amount of land tax reached more than [-] million shi.

At one time, no fewer than a hundred people went ashore, but one-third of them were boatmen, and less than 60 of them were Ming soldiers, and the first thing these Ming soldiers did when they went ashore was to wear armor.

The people in Butang whispered, with anxiety and vigilance, and gradually groped the place within ten miles from the beach amidst such whispers.

"What's more, they have brought enough food and coal for half a year. They can boil the sea into water at sea, and there are vegetable fields on board, so there is probably no problem."

However, when the expedition team sailed out of Beidaofu, they discovered the "North Pacific Warm Current" based on the flock of birds and the wind direction, and traveled eastward with the help of the warm current.

"When Zhang Shoubei's boat returns, we'll set off after we've bought some food."

"Let's do it for the time being, don't stop the standard. If there is not enough land, we will open more factories, drive the farmers in Yingzhou to the factories, and leave the fields for the people who migrated."

One outpost is stationed on Vancouver Island, which Yang Bingwen named "Saraxi Island", and the other outpost is divided into five general flags, which land in North America across the sea.

The chief flag officer pointed out their location on the map with branches, and this location represented Seattle more than 200 years later.

Answer first, and then talk about difficulties. This is the political education most Yanshan officials have received, and Yang Wenyue has no choice after hearing it.

"Another 200 million shi?!" Hearing this, Zuo Canzheng and Cao Dingjiao couldn't help being a little surprised, and then they all looked at Yang Wenyue.

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

"After transporting 600 million shimimai to the imperial court this year, how much is left in the treasury?"

It's a pity that most of the navy's generals were fighting in Xiaoxiyang, and Yan Siqi, Zheng Zhilong, and Liu Xiang went to the capital, so Yang Wenyue could only arrange people from the Yingzhou Gongwei Battalion to carry out the mission of exploring North Asia Merica.

The ships of their expedition this time were only six thousand armed merchant ships, not comparable to the navy's warships.

The sound of arrows and firecrackers, which was not considered loud, sounded, and less than a quarter of an hour after the sound sounded, the [-]-meter ship staying at sea began to put down small boats of two or three feet one after another.

Huangdian uses workers to generate income, and then pays taxes to Yumajian and local yamen.

Despite the language barrier, the expedition team still learned a lot of news from each other by relying on body language and foolish paintings of branches and beaches.

"The boatman went back to bring the things, and we camped nearby."

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

"Although it is true, it is not good to hate the local natives after all. After all, we have to return."

"I still haven't found it. Even homing pigeons can't fly at such a long distance..."

"How many Han people have migrated?"

"Needless to say! I won't violate the military order unless the situation is exhausted."

Even at the moment, the main force of immigrants from Ming Dynasty is the people from the drought-stricken Shanxi and Shanxi provinces.

"Don't worry, I've asked the people in the Shipbuilding Department that such a large-scale fleet will generally not encounter any accidents when it goes to sea."

After everyone put on their armor, the leading chief banner officer shouted:

"Yes!"

Immigration depends on the sky. If the world is peaceful, no one is willing to leave their homeland.

"After transporting 600 million shi to the imperial court, counting the loss, there are still 800 million shi in the treasury."

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

The Chief Secretary's left and right political candidates all graduated from Yanshan, and they are familiar with all kinds of data, so they can answer without flipping through the text:
"The contract is about 97. It is too difficult for the people in Jiangnan to migrate..."

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

"First give the imperial court a profit of 200 million, and then order Gongwei Ying to go fishing."

Even though we can't get along with the Saracens for a few months, simple communication should be no problem.

"Hmm..." After hearing what the two said, Yang Wenyue nodded slightly, but before he could do anything else, a councilor from the chief envoy walked into the yamen hall with a note, and bowed respectfully:

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

"General Yang and Master Liu, good news!"

In this way, the people in Yingzhou who could maintain two shimi per capita in the past can only live on one and a half shimi per capita now.

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

Unless Yang Wenyue finds a large amount of alternative food supplements, food prices in Yingzhou will inevitably be pushed up, and workers and people who have no food to eat will be in turmoil.

"Guochao used trade to make Frangji retreat to the west of Xiaoxiyang. If they knew that I, Ming, had also appeared in North America, they would probably target us first."

But when he looked at Yang Bingwen, Yang Bingwen frowned and said, "The matter of buying grain is on hold, so don't contact Frangji."

Holding two pieces of paper in his hand, he shook his head and said, "Zhang Shoubei discovered a strange current yesterday, which probably blows from the north to the west. He traveled more than a hundred miles and returned only after realizing it was feasible. He is already on his way back. gone."

Yang Bingwen, who is only 20 years old, looks very young. He and Yang Wenyue have similar features, but at the moment he is walking back and forth anxiously in front of the faint candlelight.

"Although according to His Highness's "sea chart", it is only [-] miles to return to Yingzhou from here, and the normal driving can take up to two months, but if you get lost halfway, once the food is eaten, the whole army will be buried in the sea ..."

When Yang Wenyue said this, his tone was somewhat melancholy, and Cao Dingjiao couldn't help comforting him when he heard the words:

Tents were set up in the clearing, and the army's gang began to prepare dinner.

Cao Dingjiao did not express any opinion after hearing his thoughts, but Yang Wenyue asked: "How is the land reclaimed in Yingzhou? How is the reclaimed land in Beidao Prefecture and Kuwu?"

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

Yang Wenyue was not worried about exhausting these people to death, he cared more about immigrating to Qi State and Yingzhou taxes than their death.

The distance between this place and the banners is less than a hundred miles. If the banners need support, he can go there by boat within five hours.

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

The labor force of more than two million reformed-through-labor laborers who were defeated by the shogunate is very impressive. In just eleven months, more than 300 million mu of arable land have been roughly cultivated from the twelfth lunar month of last year to the present.

Due to the rise of cement fields, fertilizer fields, and mines, nearly 50 people from Yingzhou have poured into them, creating a large amount of resources.

Now it seems that the strange current is blowing towards North America. If they don't find a strange current that can help them go back, they may be trapped to death in this wild place.

In front of them, a man who was the leader of the expedition also frowned and said:
"There is less than three months' ration of food in the army. Even if we hunt every day, I'm afraid we won't be able to withstand such consumption."

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

"It should be fine, you can go back and notify the people on board that you have landed."

Yang Wenyue sat down and asked the left and right to participate in politics, and the two replied one after another:

The content of Yang Wenyue's report to Zhu Youjian was very concise and clear, but the reality was bumpy and complicated.

Master Bo was a little helpless, but Yang Bingwen frowned and stopped:
"Before we set off, my father said that it is best not to clash with the natives."

After glancing at the lake and making sure that there were no strange animals in the water, the five of them began to search boldly along Hubei. During this time, some people spoke:
"I hope the natives here are different from what the natives on the island to the north say, not so cruel."

"This place doesn't look good either. It's so cold that it's not as good as Yingzhou. I don't know why Jinglue asked us to explore this place. I don't know how to go back now."

"Separating more than 800 brothers out has relieved the pressure, but it is not the way to go on like this."

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

These small boats brought enough people towards the beach, and they were picked up by the Ming army on the beach after a quarter of an hour, and they went ashore one after another.

What he's worried about right now is not that the natives will attack them, but that he won't be able to go back to Daming.

"I heard that the Little Western War is coming to an end, and I am going to ask His Highness to transfer a full-time admiral to cross the sea and emigrate."

"If you can't stabilize the place like this, then you should suppress it, don't be soft-hearted!"

Yang Bingwen arranged in an orderly manner, Liu Zhubo and another guard stood up and bowed immediately when they saw this, but while they were contributing to Zhu Youjian's cause of Qi, Yang Wenyue who was in Yingzhou was also worried about them.

The five captains, the deputy chief banner officer, and the chief banner officer gathered around a fire, and while they were roasting their bodies, they were also looking at the map in their hands.

With only thirty armed merchant ships of six thousand materials, less than two thousand rifles and one hundred cannons, Yang Bingwen is not so stupid as to want to break out a conflict with the Spaniards in this America.

"Jinglue, the flying pigeons in the capital passed on the letter, ordering Yingzhou to send another 200 million shimimai to the capital to solve the food shortage in Shanxi..."

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

But before they sighed for too long, the hot venison was served, and a group of rough men forgot the complaints and complaints just now, and began to feast on the venison.

A wasteland covering an area of ​​one acre was quickly cleared by them, and the felled trees were also peeled and piled up in the corner.

When some boatmen heard the news, they immediately returned to the sea with the dozen or so small boats, and embarked on the return journey towards the [-] boats.

As the No.1 member of the Ming Dynasty who arrived on the west coast, Yang Wenyue's eldest son Yang Bingwen, the leader of the expedition, first ordered people to go north and south to find the monsoons that would return to Daming, and then divided the two sentinels under his command into two parts.

Helpless, he had no choice but to send the fleet into two groups, going north and south respectively, looking for the "strange current" that could send them back to Daming.

In other words, the annual output of rice and wheat in Yingzhou is only 3000 million shi. Originally, the surplus of 600 million shi was given to Liaodong, which was a bit unsustainable.

After finally recording what he saw and heard, and building a three-acre wooden fort, Yang Bingwen found that the "strange current" that sent them to North America could not send them back.

"There are more than one million stones left in the treasury, plus the harvested 500 million stones, the total is nearly [-] million stones."

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

It's just that from the current point of view, the people in the south of the Yangtze River are still so resistant to the relocation of Yingzhou, let alone the state of Qi, which is tens of thousands of miles away...

No conflict broke out between the two sides, and the expedition team chose to camp not far from the boat and the beach.

Hearing the words, the four people beside them exhaled foul air one after another, and then returned to the beach under the leadership of the corporal leader, and took out loud arrows and shot them into the air.

Seeing that Yang Wenyue was silent, Cao Dingjiao said cautiously:
"It's okay this year, if it's the same next year, I'm afraid many people will starve to death..."

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

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

"Pardon Yingzhou a little longer, and when there is more arable land, it will be fine."

(End of this chapter)