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Text Chapter 606 The Second Route

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    The first route Lu Wan and the others took to reach America was by relying on the eastward equatorial ocean current. However, the speed of this ocean current was not very fast, and the wind direction was usually blowing head-on. Fortunately, Lu Wan and the others' ship was specially made and used  It had a hard sail and could travel against the wind, but it was precisely for this reason that the ship moved very slowly. It took Lu Wan and the others so long to reach America, and they almost starved to death due to lack of food on the way.

    In other words, if you want to reach America through the equatorial ocean current, you must use the same ship as Lu Wan and others, and the sailing speed is extremely slow. If the ship is loaded with cargo, it will definitely need to reduce the amount of food and fresh water. This makes ordinary ships  The fleet cannot cross the Pacific at all, not to mention that the performance of most sea-going ships cannot be compared with Lu Wan's special ships.

    It is precisely for this reason that although the first route to the Americas discovered by Lu Wan was of great significance and brought back many specialties from the Americas, it had no commercial value.  Only a few brave businessmen would specially order a ship similar to the Luwan fleet, and then take the risk to go to America through this route, but only half of the fleet could return safely.

    It was under this circumstance that Lu Wan took the initiative to explore a new route. This route had already been suspected by Lu Wan before they first explored America, because it was also an eastward route.  The ocean current, but it is located in the North Pacific Ocean and can be reached through the ports of Japan. However, Lu Wan and the others thought that the equatorial ocean current was more reliable, so they did not choose to go through the North Pacific Ocean current.

    In response to Lu Wan¡¯s request, Li Min was naturally happy to find a commercial route to the Americas.  So after several months of preparation, Lu Wan and the others set off from Taiwan by boat again.  Entering a powerful ocean current, this ocean current goes all the way north.  It was just in time to reach the Japanese slave port, where Lu Wan and the others found an east-north current and set sail again toward America.

    In fact, the ocean current that Lu Wan and others took from Taiwan to Japan was later called the Kuroshio, or the Japan Warm Current. This ocean current originated from Luzon, and then after reaching Japan, it met the Qiandao Cold Current going south, forming  The North Pacific Warm Current flows eastward all the way to the west coast of North America.

    The North Pacific Warm Current is no faster than the equatorial current.  However, the western trade wind was blowing along this way, and the wind was quite strong, which also made the ship move very fast. In the end, Lu Wan and the others only took more than 80 days to reach North America, and the journey was smooth.  It's unbelievable.  At the same time, this also made Lu Wan and the others secretly hate themselves. Why didn't they choose this route in the first place? Otherwise, they wouldn't have to suffer so much.

    When they arrived in America for the second time, Lu Wan and the others seemed much more calm. They headed towards Mansa City on the west coast of North America.  While communicating with the natives you met.  Occasionally, they would encounter some unfriendly Americans, but Lu Wan and the others would not be as patient as they were with Mansa City. Instead, they would show their fangs to America for the first time.  This situation is understandable, after all, most of the crew members of the fleet are from the slave catching team.  They are best described as killing people, so they are facing some Native Americans who are hostile to them and are still very weak.  Naturally, no friendly behavior will occur.

    However, most Americans are still very hospitable, especially when they see the various exquisite products that Lu Wan and others bring out.  They were also very willing to trade some local products from the tribe with the fleet, but Lu Wan found that the natives of North America were obviously not as wealthy as the Mayans of Central America.  The trading items they could bring out, except for some animal skins, were at most some scattered gems or gold, and the quantity was pitiful.

    Of course, Lu Wan and the others did not gain nothing. For example, they discovered a large-scale open-pit coal mine near the west coast of North America. Not far from the coal mine, there was also a natural harbor with quite good natural conditions. This discovery  Lu Wan and the others were so excited that they immediately marked it on the map.

    The reason why Lu Wan was excited about a coal mine was mainly because he knew that before they set off, Li Min was already planning to use steamships to reach America. Of course, this would require the establishment of many ports along the way so that the steamships could replenish fresh water and coal.  From Luzon to the east, there are countless islands on the road where ports can be established, and coal can also be transported from Taiwan and the mainland.

    But further east from Hawaii, there is a blank section of the island. If you replenish enough coal and fresh water in Hawaii, you can directly reach the Americas. However, you need to replenish it when you reach the Americas, and this requires a coal mine in the Americas.  , although the coal they discovered in North America is a bit far away, it is undoubtedly a good sign. Even if coal mines cannot be found in Central America, they can still be mined and transported from here, which will only increase some costs.

    But Lu Wan and the others obviously underestimated the minerals in Central America.After their fleet arrived at Mansa City and Luwan Port again, they were warmly welcomed by the Lord of Mansa City. In particular, some Mayan women who gave birth to children for the crew members even held their children in their arms to welcome their lover.  Return.  And when Lu Wan showed the coal sample to the Lord of Mansa City, he told him with certainty that there was this kind of black stone about four days northeast of Mansa City.

    The words of the Lord of Mansa City made Luwan and the others extremely excited. Luwan Port has been initially built, and now there is a coal mine. This has laid the foundation for steam ships to dock. As long as a few more ports are built on the route, steam ships can naturally be used.  Traveling between two continents.

    In addition, the people in the fleet also saw a fleet also from Taiwan in Luwan Port. This fleet came along the equatorial route they discovered. There were originally six ships in the fleet, but they were lost on the way.  Two ships were taken, and now there are only four ships left. There are quite a lot of people, more than 250 people.

    This fleet belongs to a large trading company in Taiwan. They are here to transport a batch of chili powder back. Last time, the chili peppers brought back by Lu Wan and the others were very popular, but because of limited seeds, the yield was very low. Almost all of them were  It's sold by the gram.  In addition, peppers have a three-year planting right, and others cannot grow them at all. Therefore, the price of peppers is comparable to gold. Even if the other party spends such a high price to come to the Americas, as long as they ship a few ships of peppers back, they will still have the right to grow peppers.  Huge profits.

    This fleet was naturally very happy to meet such a famous person as Lu Wan in a foreign country like the Americas, especially when they heard that Lu Wan and the others had found a new route to the Americas, and it only took less than two days to go back and forth.  For months, this was great news to them. Many crew members even couldn't help wiping away tears when they thought of the brothers who died on the way here.

    Luwan and the others did not stay in Mansa City for too long. After all, this time they mainly explored new routes and did not need to collect crop seeds and seedlings. Therefore, they rested for a while at Luwan Port and confirmed the existence of the coal mine.  We immediately loaded up the supplies and boarded the ship, then sailed back along the last North Equatorial Current, and finally returned to Taiwan two months later.

    The discovery of the North Pacific Ocean Current finally provided a safer and faster channel between the Central Plains and the Americas, allowing goods from all over the Central Plains to be sold to the Americas in large quantities. At the same time, Li Min also began to establish strongholds in the coastal areas of the Americas. Although these strongholds  Most of them are very simple, and the number of people is not large, but with the passage of time and the development of America, I believe more and more people will choose to immigrate here.

    In addition, the discovery of this route directly promoted the development of Wozhou. At the same time, more Han people moved here, which made Li Min's rule over Wozhou more and more solid. Coupled with the promotion of sinicization, the Japanese people's  The degree of Chineseization is also getting higher and higher. Some young Japanese have even regarded themselves as a branch of the Han people and are proud of this identity. I believe that in a few decades, there will no longer be a Japanese nation here.

    In addition, what makes Li Min most happy is the discovery of coal mines in the Americas, because this also means that he can promote the application of steamships to the Americas, which will greatly facilitate transportation on the two continents and pave the way for large-scale transportation in the future.  Lay a solid foundation for the development of America.

    At the same time that Lu Wan and the others returned from the Americas for the second time, Prince Belus of Persia also led 40,000 Tang troops through the Western Regions, and then reached the Persian border west of Congling, where they found the last monarch of Persia.  Yazdgeld III, but this last king of Persia was really miserable.

    When Belus, Qibi Heli, and Xue Wanche found each other, Yazdgeld III was left with only a palace guard of about a hundred people, occupying a small village with a total population of less than a thousand people.  Moreover, the food output was also very limited, which also made Yazdgeld III unable to even collect all the food, so he had to starve with his guards.

    As a son, Belus burst into tears when he saw his extremely emaciated father, and then introduced Qibi Heli and Xue Wanche to Yazdgeld III. As a result, the other party was ecstatic, and he immediately took out the  The only few belongings he had were given to Qibi Heli, and he cried bitterly and accused the great cannibals of their cruelty, hoping that the Tang Dynasty would uphold justice and so on.

    Regarding Yazdgeld III who had lost his kingdom, Qibi Heli and Xue Wanche, although they looked down upon each other, still comforted them with words and promised on the spot that they would drive out the Dashi army that invaded Persia.  , Give justice to Persia.

    However, Qibi Heli, Xue Wanche and others did not know that just when they found Yazdgeld III, a Persian army of more than 10,000 people also found the hiding place of Yazdgeld III.  Now they are rushing here quickly, but they don't know the news that the Tang army has arrived. The first confrontation between the armies of the two countries happened under such a confused situation.  (To be continued¡­???)
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