Late Yuan Dynasty: I am the true emperor

Chapter 542 The Return of the Yuanwang

"My goodness, what a huge harbor! It's actually naturally formed, which is incredible. A ship as big as the Yuanwang looks like a small sampan inside. I think if we clean up Tanzhou Port and build more docks, it could accommodate even a thousand Yuanwang ships. No wonder His Majesty values ​​this place so much!"

After eating the offerings from the local natives, the group boarded the ship again and arrived at Pearl Harbor. Standing on the ship's side, they looked out at the huge harbor and couldn't help but marvel. Chen Youliang was especially amazed.

Wang Dayuan said, "What's more important is its location. This island is extremely important on the Pacific shipping route. Not only does it have a naturally formed deep-water harbor that can accommodate a large number of ships, but more importantly, it has a large indigenous population and fresh water and food supplies, making it very suitable as a transit point."

"If we really want to settle and cultivate Lizhou on a large scale in the future, we must take over these islands. In this way, we can build a stable shipping route from Daming to Chengzhou, or from Daming to Edo Bay in Japan, then to Tanzhou Island, and then from Tanzhou to Jinchuan (San Francisco) or Yuzhuji (Los Angeles).

"The journey will only take about thirty days one way, making travel very convenient. If any problems arise along the way, we can rest in Tanzhou. Therefore, we must take this island!"

Everyone nodded in agreement. In fact, after seeing the scale of Pearl Harbor, they had already realized the importance of this place.

Just kidding. Pearl Harbor in later years was one of the main bases of the U.S. Pacific Fleet. This naturally formed deep-water harbor was larger than imagined. It could easily accommodate 500 battleships and cruisers, and the water depth met the requirements for docking supercarriers. Its value is self-evident.

Although the Ming Dynasty cannot build those things now, even in the era of sailing warships, Pearl Harbor alone would have been enough to stop all the British warships at their peak.

At this point, Zhang Chao asked again, "So what should we do now?"

Wang Dayuan was also troubled. After thinking for a moment, he said, "The main problem is that we can't leave anyone to garrison here right now, which is very troublesome. Otherwise, we could leave a group of people here as divine envoys to establish a stronghold. First, we could have the chieftain help build a Tianfei Temple, then build a fortified village around the temple, and have them pay tribute every year. We could deal with the rest later, but right now..."
"There's nothing we can do for now. We'll issue them an appointment letter and a silver seal first, then make some deals with them, buy a few people, and get them to give us some land. That's all we can do for now."

Wang Zong asked in confusion, "But aren't we pretending to be divine messengers now? How can we make a deal with them? What kind of deity does business with humans?"

“That’s easy. We’re making them pay tribute, and what we’re giving them is a reward. That’s not doing business.” Before Wang Dayuan could explain, Chen Youliang reminded him from the side.

"Oh, I see. I was just overthinking it." Wang Zong scratched his head, feeling like he might have gone stupid from being on the ship.
So Wang Dayuan and his men first chose a spot next to Pearl Harbor, and then, once again as divine messengers, summoned Canejoro, the leader of Oahu, and the priest. They first pretended to be supernatural and made them worship the statue of Mazu. Then, Wang Dayuan, as a divine messenger, bestowed upon him the appointment certificate and silver seal of "Envoy of Tanzhou of the Great Ming Dynasty".

The appointment letters were blank ones given to them by Lu Jin before their departure, all pre-stamped with the official seals of the relevant departments, and even included blank imperial edicts, to facilitate their actions overseas. Of course, the rules were the same as those for Han envoys: if it was beneficial to the Ming Dynasty, the court would recognize it; if it was detrimental, then Wang Dayuan was accused of forging imperial edicts and would have to wait to be punished upon his return.
As for the silver seal, the ship's blacksmiths could forge it, and there was plenty of silver, so it was a piece of cake.

Seeing the divine messenger bestow treasures once again, Canejoro was still very happy, even though he didn't know what Wang Dayuan and the others meant.

Then Wang Dayuan had them offer more food, pork, fresh water, and firewood. He then led them to claim land in the port, saying that he would build a temple for Mazu there in the future, and that the island's natives were not allowed to approach the port.

The island's area was already quite limited, and Canejoro was naturally reluctant to have Wang Dayuan claim land there. However, when Wang Dayuan and his men presented various porcelain, silk, iron pots, knives, and other cooking utensils as rewards, Canejoro's eyes widened, and he agreed without hesitation.

They offered tribute to the divine messenger, who then bestowed upon them various treasures—a perfectly reasonable and fair arrangement.

The crew of the Yuanwang stayed on Tanzhou Island for eight days, living peacefully with the island's natives. Oahu chief Canejoro warmly welcomed them, treating them as true messengers of the gods and giving them almost anything they wanted.

Furthermore, at Wang Dayuan's request, they presented them with two teenage indigenous boys. Under the watchful eyes of the indigenous people, Wang Dayuan and his men then dressed the two boys in the same iron armor as the other soldiers.

Although Wang Dayuan did not offer any explanation, in the eyes of the natives, this probably meant that the two children had been taken away by the divine messenger and would become the guardians of the goddess Pelle in the future.

It's not surprising that the natives reacted this way, regarding Wang Dayuan and his group as divine messengers, because in the original history, the first European to visit the Hawaiian Islands, Captain Cook of England, had a similar experience.

In 1779, Captain Cook first discovered Hawaii. At that time, the natives were holding a ritual for 'Lonno,' the god of war and agriculture in their beliefs. The natives were carrying out a procession around the island, and some of the decorations on Cook's ship were very similar to some of the ritual objects used by the natives to worship Lonno. In addition, Cook was also sailing his ship and followed the natives around the island twice, which made the natives mistakenly believe that they were Lonno descended from heaven.

So the natives warmly welcomed Cook for over a month and then happily saw him off. But not long after Cook left, a storm caused damage to the foremast of his ship, forcing him to return to Hawaii for repairs.

Because the indigenous people hold a fixed annual festival to worship Ronno, they believe that Ronno's return at an inappropriate time will lead to bad things. Therefore, they want to drive out Cook and his party and even steal a small boat from Cook's ship.

Cook was a ruthless man. He immediately decided to kidnap the native chief as a hostage, exchange him for his own small boat, and then extort some benefits. This move immediately angered the natives.

Although Cook and his men were equipped with muskets, they were ultimately outnumbered. There were only nine Marines on Cook's ship at the time, and almost all of them, including Cook, died at the hands of the natives. Cook was 50 years old when he died.

However, Wang Dayuan and his group were different from Cook. Cook was regarded as Ronno, who was in charge of war and agriculture, while Wang Dayuan and his group were regarded as messengers of Pele, the goddess of volcanoes who was in charge of destruction and rebirth.

Cook offered no benefits whatsoever, allowing the natives to eat and drink for free for a month; while Wang Dayuan and his group immediately showered them with gifts, even producing portraits and statues of Mazu, which further solidified their claim that they were messengers of the goddess Pele, making the natives believe it without a doubt.

It's not surprising that these isolated Pacific natives would regard outsiders as gods. Hawaii, at least, has its own customs and festivals, while some more remote and underdeveloped islands still practice shamanism, which is animism, and some even practice airplane religion.

The airfields that the U.S. military deployed on some islands during World War II were regarded as gods by the island's natives.
They stayed on Tanzhou Island for eight days. By the last day of September, the ship had almost run out of fresh water, firewood, fodder for the livestock, and smoked pork.

Although they couldn't build the Mazu Temple for the time being, they still managed to get a large stone from the local chieftain. Wang Dayuan and his men placed it near Pearl Harbor and carved it into a stele. The stele inscribed with the year 4052 AD, the second year of the founding of the Ming Dynasty, that a Ming delegation visited Tanzhou Island. The island's inhabitants, feeling the Ming Dynasty's benevolence, were willing to submit the island to the Ming. Wang Dayuan, as the envoy, representing the Ming Emperor, presented the local chieftain, Kaneholo, with a letter of appointment and a silver seal as the Pacification Commissioner of Tanzhou. From then on, Tanzhou Island belonged to the Ming Dynasty. This was tantamount to declaring sovereignty; Hawaii was now inherent territory of the Ming Dynasty. They would record this in history books, and regardless of whether it could be defended in the future, this would be the source of China's claim to Hawaii, a legal basis, allowing future generations to say, "Since ancient times."

Don't think such behavior is shameful. Back when those white people were colonizing the world, they did the same thing. They would 'discover' a new place and make a claim, saying it was their country's territory.

After doing all this, Wang Dayuan immediately decided to continue the journey on the first day of October, heading to the next stop, the Marshall Islands. On the day the Yuanwang set sail again, many natives came to see it off.

Fearing that it would arouse the suspicion of the natives, Wang Dayuan deliberately took a detour, first going to the back of South Island, and after leaving the natives' sight, he turned southwest and headed towards the Zhuma Islands.

After leaving Hawaii, Wang Dayuan immediately issued an order for the entire ship to conserve fresh water, and began to supply fresh water in limited quantities per person each day.

Although Lu Jin had planned a stop on the route to the Marshall Islands for them, the Marshall Islands are mostly atolls with virtually no surface freshwater. Even if some water could be stored up during rain, it would quickly be polluted by the rising tide. So they had to prepare for the worst.

If they were unable to resupply in the Marshall Islands, they would have to rely on the fresh water they obtained in Hawaii until they reached the large islands in the South Pacific to resupply again. This was the most dangerous part of the entire voyage.

The journey from Hawaii to the Marshall Islands is 3800 kilometers, about the same distance as from San Francisco to Hawaii. The entire route is surrounded by vast oceans, and it's rare to see any islands or even seabirds. The people on the ship are extremely bored, but after more than a year, most of them have learned how to pass the time.

Some people were playing chess and Gomoku, while others were playing mahjong and cards. Cards were also invented in China and were initially called leaf games. Some people were practicing boxing on the deck, cleaning their muskets, or being trained by officers to operate cannons. Others were feeding turkeys and ducks, as well as the dozen or so alpacas and huskies. Everyone was busy with their own things, and it was quite lively.

Zhang Chao, Wang Zong, and several other officers who wanted to advance in their careers spent their days diligently studying navigation and astronomy under Wang Dayuan's guidance.

After traveling for more than ten days, the Yuanwang finally arrived at Majuro Atoll in the Marshall Islands in mid-October. However, it was obvious at a glance that there were no freshwater rivers or even streams on the island, just as Lu Jin had said. If they wanted freshwater, they would probably have to go ashore and try to dig a well.

However, drilling a well was out of the question. They didn't have time to waste in this godforsaken place. Although the ship didn't have much fresh water, it was enough to last another month or two. In that time, they would have already reached Southeast Asia.

So Wang Dayuan only stayed in Majuro for one day. After landing and measuring the local latitude and longitude to confirm their location, the group set off again the next day, continuing their journey southwest.

Zhang Chao had already learned to read a compass and nautical charts, and had also learned to plan routes. Seeing that Wang Dayuan was not heading towards Guam, he asked him a question.

"My lord, which way are we heading this time? This doesn't look like we're going to Guam."

Wang Dayuan immediately explained, "Guam is still northwest of the Zhumadian Islands. If you are going to Guam, the next stop should be Manila Port on Luzon Island, and then from Manila to Guangzhou or Fuzhou."

"But I plan to go to Southeast Asia first to send the rubber seeds and rubber tree seedlings, as well as the cinchona seeds and seedlings on our ship, to Makassar. His Majesty said that rubber trees are difficult to grow in the Central Plains. At most, they can be tried in Hainan Prefecture, Lingnan, Guangdong and Guangxi, or Yunnan. Therefore, even if we bring the seeds back, we will have to send them to Southeast Asia again."

"Since that's the case, why bother with all this? We can just send it directly to Southeast Asia."

“If I want to go to Southeast Asia, the route from Guam to Manila is not very convenient. Therefore, I decided to go directly to Cebu Island, which is further south, or the northernmost part of Sulawesi Province, and then go to Makassar Province.”

"I see, I understand now." Zhang Chao nodded immediately. If it was going to Southeast Asia, this route was planned quite reasonably.

The journey from the Marshall Islands to the southernmost point of the Philippine Islands is about 5,000 kilometers. It took them a full seventeen days to complete, during which they encountered a storm that blew the ship slightly south, almost causing it to veer into the Solomon Islands. It was only thanks to Wang Dayuan's recalculation of the course and direction based on celestial observations that the Yuanwang was able to return to its original course and finally arrive safely at the southernmost point of the Philippine Islands, which is now near Marita in the Philippines. Everyone present was still shaken by the experience.

However, they also encountered local natives and even Chinese merchants here. They learned from the Chinese merchants that the Ming Dynasty had successfully launched a northern expedition, recovered Yan and Yun, and occupied southern Mongolia and Liaodong. In the first half of this year, His Majesty once again sent troops to conquer Fujian, Guangdong and Guangxi, as well as Sichuan.

Today, Fujian, Guangdong and Guangxi, as well as Qiongzhou Prefecture, all the coastal provinces of China have been restored by the Ming Dynasty.

There was another matter that greatly alarmed the Chinese merchant. According to him, His Majesty the Emperor had launched a massacre in Fujian, almost wiping out all the Pu-surname Semu people in Fujian. Various foreign religious temples were also destroyed. Furthermore, the Emperor ordered the people of various prefectures and counties in Fujian to voluntarily break away from the heretical cult and hand over the heretical scriptures, with those who disobeying being exiled and their homes confiscated.

At that time, maritime trade between China and Southeast Asia, as well as between China and India and Persia, was almost entirely controlled by these Semu people from Fujian. His Majesty's action nearly set back world maritime trade by fifty years.
Originally, almost all Chinese merchants coming from Fujian would stop in the Sultanate of Sulu to resupply and rest. Naturally, Sulu became a distribution center for goods, with merchants gathering and cargo ships coming and going all day long. But now, Lu Jin had killed all the Semu people from Fujian, and no more merchants came to Sulu.

The ports of Sulu are now deserted, and all industries are in decline. They are no longer as prosperous as they once were. Many Chinese merchants have moved their businesses away from here, fearing that they will be implicated by the Ming emperor. The Chinese merchant who told them this news was someone who had just moved from Sulu to Cebu this year.

Upon hearing this, the crew of the Yuanwang were immediately excited. When they set off from Jiankang, the Ming Dynasty had not yet held its founding ceremony and the enthronement ceremony, and Lu Jin had not yet launched his northern expedition. They never expected that in less than two years, His Majesty would have already successfully launched the northern expedition and recovered all the provinces along the southern coast. Everyone was overjoyed.

However, after the initial excitement, although Wang Dayuan knew the saying that one's feelings are more intense when one is near home, he still told everyone to remain calm and continue on to Xinjin Prefecture to finish the mission first.

A few days later, when the Yuanwang arrived in Xinjin Prefecture and met Li Bin, the head of the Nanyang intelligence station, and others, many of them burst into tears of excitement. After two years, they had finally returned to the territory of the Ming Dynasty.

Yes, Sulawesi Island was also part of the Ming Dynasty's territory, no problem.

(End of this chapter)