Established a thousand-year family from the end of Qin Dynasty

Chapter 693 The Great Voyage (Seventeen)

Autumn of the first year of Republic 480 (691)
Chang'e City

teahouse
"Shopkeeper, please bring me a morning report."

"okay!"

16-year-old Wang Fuzhi drank tea comfortably, took a morning newspaper from the teahouse waiter, and began to read the recent domestic and foreign news.

[Chaobao] was born in the State of Yan as early as the Northern and Southern Dynasties.

However, there was no printing technology at that time, so the court newspapers were all handwritten and very expensive. They were read by the officials within the court themselves and were generally not visible to the outside world unless they spent a lot of money.

Nowadays, with the development of movable type printing, [Chaobao] has also ushered in great development and officially entered the private sector.

Some teahouses, brothels and other consumption places will purchase the latest court newspapers from the government and then sell them to tea-drinking guests to earn an intermediary fee.

In [Chaobao], the international news is nothing more than a certain country at war with a certain country, a certain country announcing major events, and so on.

For example, this month's top international news section is about a major event in the snow-covered Zhou Kingdom.

This major event is that Jifa VI, the emperor of the Snowy Zhou Kingdom, suddenly died of illness, and the cause of death is doubtful. A Yan State political commentator commented on this: The Snowy Zhou Kingdom may have a civil war because of the issue of inheritance!
Another major event was that Wu Zhao, the empress of the Zhou Kingdom in the Central Plains, executed dozens of descendants of the Li Tang clan in Luoyang, which shocked the whole world. Political commentators commented on this: Although the Central Plains dynasty suffered from civil strife due to some reasons, As we all know, the Central Plains dynasty has a powerful self-correction mechanism, so such civil strife will soon end. The empress of the Central Plains will join hands with the remaining Li Tang clan to build a powerful and rich Central Plains dynasty, and our Yan country should also Consider following the trend and embracing the Central Plains.

"The error correction mechanism is okay." Wang Fuzhi smiled mockingly, and then continued to read other news.

The civil strife in the Central Plains from last year to this year was a joke to some people of the Yan State, but there are still many scholars of the Yan State who believe that the Central Plains Dynasty can rely on the error correction mechanism to survive this civil strife.

When civil strife broke out in the Central Plains, the scholars of the Yan Kingdom were most distressed. A few days ago, a simple sailor was still mocking the Central Plains dynasty in this teahouse.

Then, a scholar from the Yan Kingdom loudly rebuked: "What do you know? A bunch of ignorant fools! The Central Plains is just experiencing a little pain, and you, the Yan Kingdom, are the ones who are about to be finished! They only know anti-Tang mobs every day! "

Wang Fuzhi looked down and saw the news that the government had established a trading station on a small island in the Dashi Sea.

The island was named West Zhenghe Island (Bahrain Island).

Zheng He obtained the right to use this island through leasing.

However, because the food is too powerful, it cannot be dealt with with a can of fine wine every year like Lion Island does.

The trading post has to build a Genshin Cannon for Dashi every year. The reason is that Dashi has seen Datang use the Genshin Cannon in the Western Regions. So when he learned that the Republic would also build a Genshin Impact, he asked the Republic to submit it to Da Shi every year. He paid tribute to a Genshin Cannon and regarded it as rent for renting the island.

There are only a few villages on this island, and they are all indigenous people. There are no rivers, but there are many springs. There are straits as isolation to avoid the chaos on the land.

The Republic likes to occupy these outlying islands because it does not require too many troops to defend. If it occupies territory on the mainland, it will need to send a lot of troops to defend, which is too costly.

For example, if you occupy a city in Tianzhu itself, you will need thousands of soldiers to defend it, because the surrounding Tianzhu countries will attack you all the time.

The Spice Islands, which occupy a larger area, require almost no troops to defend, because no one except pirates will come to attack the Spice Islands.

This is the geographically strategic belly of the golden horn and silver edge grass.

The goods from Damascus are transported to the Persian Gulf through the two rivers, and then purchased by the Republic Trading Station on West Zhenghe Island, and finally wait for the Republic merchant ships to come to purchase the goods stored in the Trading Station.

"Within 20 years, all the income from the trading station will belong to Mr. Zheng He. Well... Mr. Zheng He deserves such a return."

Wang Fuzhi drank a cup of tea, and then saw a scarred man entering the teahouse. "Shopkeeper, bring a big bowl of tea! A plate of dried fish, and a morning newspaper!" The scarred man sat on the bench opposite Wang Fuzhi, with a sad face.

"Brother Wang is here, don't you want to eat mutton today?" the teahouse owner said with a smile on his face.

"Alas!" The scarred man sighed: "Hurry up, I'm hungry!"

"Okay!" The shopkeeper ordered the waiter to pour tea and serve the dishes: "Big bowl of tea, dried fish and a butterfly."

Wang Fuzhi, who was reading the morning newspaper, looked at the man with a scar sitting opposite him with some curiosity. This man with a scar could be said to be a man of the hour this year.

What is a man of the hour?
Scar Wangzhi has been looking for investors for more than a year, hoping that someone can sponsor him on an ocean voyage to explore a maritime trade route to the legendary Rome.

This is not a big deal, overseas adventures are popular in the current Republic.

However, Wang Zhi's development plan was too whimsical.

Wang Zhi claimed that as long as he kept sailing eastward, he could reach the legendary Rome.

Although someone in Yan State proposed the hypothesis that the world is spherical hundreds of years ago, it was just a hypothesis after all.

There are only a handful of explorers, navigators, and mathematicians who truly believe that the world is spherical. Most people scorn this hypothesis.

"How could the earth be round? It's simply ridiculous. The person who proposed this hypothesis must have lost his mind!"

"If the earth is spherical, then why don't people standing on the other side of the sphere fall?"

"If the earth were spherical, I, Lu Benwei, would eat this shit right then and there!"

However, Wang Zhi, who was crazy about opening up new shipping routes to make money, firmly believed that the earth must be round, and as long as he kept sailing eastward, he would be able to reach the legendary gold-filled Rome.

In the mythical version of Journey to the West, Rome is described as a rich and powerful fairyland with golden beauties everywhere. It is a place that countless people of the Yan Kingdom yearn for.

Wang Zhi first found his boss, the Taoyuan Guild, and hoped that the Taoyuan Guild would provide money to help him find a new route.

At the beginning, the Taoyuan Guild was hesitant. After all, it was not easy to find a new shipping route. If it could not be found, the investment would be in vain. The shareholders of the Taoyuan Guild did not believe in Wang Zhi's ability.

But when Wang Zhi said that he wanted to find a new route eastward, the Taoyuan Guild refused on the spot.

Just kidding, there is only the vast ocean to the east and there is no civilization. Isn’t it sheer nonsense to look for a new sea route to the east?
Wang Zhi found several more guilds, hoping that they could provide money to help him form an expedition fleet and open up a new sea route to Rome eastward.

However, every time, the talks were going well at the beginning. Once Wang Zhi said that he wanted to open up a new route to the east, the guild shareholder representatives rejected it on the spot.

The money of the guild merchants does not come from the strong wind, and cannot be wasted on things that are 100% loss-making.

Because of this, Wang Zhicai looked gloomy. With no income, his wallet was gradually drained. He could not even afford his favorite mutton, and could only eat smelly salted dried fish.

-

Going east to reach Rome seems normal to us today, but hundreds of years ago, it required infinite courage. ——"General History of the World·Song Dynasty·Li Qingzhao"

(End of this chapter)