Late Yuan Dynasty: I am the true emperor

Chapter 550 New Shipping Route in Lizhou
"One more thing."

After explaining the strategy for managing Southeast Asia, Lu Jin suddenly seemed to remember something, picked up a small globe on the table and looked at it before speaking.

"After you have cleared the east coast of Borneo this year, you should choose a place with good port conditions and abundant water and grass in the southeast corner of Borneo, preferably opposite the Xinjin Prefecture, and establish a ranch. If conditions are suitable, you can also establish one in the southwest corner."

Upon hearing this, everyone exchanged bewildered glances. Chen Youliang also frowned in confusion and asked, "Establish a pasture? Does Your Majesty intend to raise horses in Southeast Asia? But aren't horses most susceptible to dampness and heat, preferring dry and cool conditions? Can horses survive in a pasture like this?"

Seeing that everyone was puzzled, Lu Jin explained, "First of all, the idea that horses are afraid of heat is just a rumor. It was just the pedantic scholars of the former Song Dynasty making alarmist claims and finding excuses for their failed horse administration. Especially the Mavari horses from India and the Persian horses, these warhorses grew up in much hotter environments than the South Seas, and they still lived just fine."

"Furthermore, I do not intend to raise horses on a large scale in Southeast Asia. Once you have established these two ranches, you can use them to raise water buffaloes first. In the future, the court will definitely continue to send immigrants to Southeast Asia. After the immigrants arrive, they will need to cultivate the land, which will require a large number of oxen. At that time, these water buffaloes will come in handy."

"Secondly, although these two ranches are not mainly used for raising horses, they should still have the capacity to raise horses for a short period of time. This time, you went to Lizhou in the east and brought back a large number of high-quality breeds, which can be considered to have solved half of the agricultural problems in the country. Therefore, I am thinking that after two years when the Lizhou route is well-established and someone can take over from Mr. Huanzhang, I will have him make another trip to the Western Ocean."

"In this world, the eastern continent of Lizhou has various kinds of grains, while the western continents of India, Persia, and Europe have many cattle and horses, especially various tall warhorses and draft horses, as well as cattle and sheep that produce wool, meat, and milk."

“Long-distance sea transport of livestock is very difficult. The fresh water that cattle and horses drink every day can feed several people. This puts a lot of pressure on the fresh water storage of ships. In addition, the cabins are closed and cramped, and the livestock cannot move around. The manure of cattle and horses can also easily cause diseases. Therefore, it is best to set up supply points and transit stations along the way and transport them in stages so that the livestock can go ashore for a short rest and treatment of diseases. This is the purpose of setting up ranches in Southeast Asia.”

"Actually, the best place to set up this ranch would be in Srivijaya, which is close to the Strait of Malacca. After coming from India, we can rest nearby. However, Malacca is not yet under our control, so we can only place it in southern Borneo, which is a little further back."

Everyone then realized that after this trip to Lizhou, the food problem had been temporarily solved, so His Majesty had set his sights on Western warhorses and livestock.

Chen Youliang nodded, "Your Majesty, I understand. Rest assured, after we finish clearing out the eastern coast of Borneo, I will immediately go to find a suitable pasture."

"Yes, but don't just focus on Borneo. Xinjin Prefecture is currently our only foothold in Southeast Asia. I've heard that besides the Gowa tribe that was wiped out in Xinjin Prefecture, there are other indigenous people in other parts of the island. Don't forget about them. If you only focus on the present, those indigenous people will steal from your backyard," Lu Jin reminded him again.

Chen Youliang nodded again, "I remember. This matter can be investigated by Station Chief Li and the others first. Once I have dealt with the east coast of Borneo, I will deal with them."

"However, Your Majesty, can you provide me with a few ships and a certain number of troops?"

Lu Jin thought for a moment before saying, "Besides the Yuanwang, the court only has four gunboats like it. I can give you a fourth-class cruiser with 46 cannons, which is enough to crush any ship in the South Seas."

"Then I will give you fifteen ships from the Navy's decommissioned vessels. You can choose any of them, whether they are Fujian ships or Guangdong ships. However, do not choose the ones that are too big. Large Fujian ships can carry a lot, but they are not fast. You are leading an army, which emphasizes maneuverability and flexibility. Such large ships are not suitable for you."

Chen Youliang nodded repeatedly upon hearing this, while Lu Jin continued, "As for the army, I can only give you one regiment for the time being, about four thousand men. That's more than enough to fight those indigenous tribes. We can't afford to support more than that in Nanyang for the time being. After all, quality is more important than quantity in the military."

"I will also allocate a sum of money to Li Bin so that he can purchase grain in Southeast Asia. The Xinjin Prefecture will be responsible for your logistics."

"It's mid-November now. I'll give you a month and a half to rest and recuperate. You can set off after the New Year next year. Before you set off, I will allocate troops and ships for you."

"Yes, thank you, Your Majesty." Upon hearing this, Chen Youliang immediately agreed without any further doubt.

After arranging Chen Youliang and the various matters related to the development of Southeast Asia, Lu Jin looked at Wang Dayuan and asked him a question.

"Mr. Huanzhang, what are your plans regarding the future shipping route and trade with Lizhou? Although I personally planned the Lizhou shipping route, I have never been there myself. As the chief envoy to explore the ocean, you are most familiar with the situation here. I need your reliable advice, in any area."

Upon hearing this, Wang Dayuan thought for a moment before saying, "Your Majesty, I believe the Yuanwang needs to be refitted."

"How so? Is there a problem somewhere?" Lu Jin asked immediately.

"That's right. The Yuanwang was a four-masted sailing ship. The first three masts had soft sails, and only the fourth mast had a hard sail. It was originally designed this way so that when the weather conditions were bad, only that one hard sail could be used for yaw."

“But after two years of sailing, I found that adjusting the sails of the soft sails is not a problem. So why not replace the hard sail on the fourth mast with a soft sail as well? That way, we can use the same sailors. There’s no need to bring two different types of sailors. By unifying the sails of the whole ship, we might even increase the speed a bit,” Wang Dayuan explained immediately.

Lu Jin nodded upon hearing this. "That's no problem. There's at least six months from now until next May. Modifying just one mast isn't difficult. I'll have the shipyard do it. Do you have any other suggestions?"

Wang Dayuan hesitated for a moment before saying, "Actually, I wanted to change ships directly. After all, the Yuanwang is a warship with so many gun positions. Using such a ship for trade is really a waste of its talents. If there were a merchant ship that was as fast as the Yuanwang, could carry more cargo, and had the same excellent seaworthiness and endurance, then we would only need to carry a few guns to handle most situations."

Arming merchant ships is indeed a good idea. Lu Jin immediately nodded and said, "I know your considerations. This is not the first time. Of course, we must make full preparations. Using warships is a last resort. We can naturally switch to other merchant ships in the future."

"As for the fast merchant ships you mentioned, I will have the shipyard build new ship types as soon as possible, but it will take at least one or two years. For the time being, you can only use the Yuanwang."

"Furthermore, even with new merchant ships, a warship must accompany the Lizhou route in the future. Escort is one aspect, and other ordinary goods are fine, but sir, don't forget that Lizhou has a large amount of gold and silver. Ordinary goods can be transported by merchant ships, but gold and silver must be transported by warships to prevent anyone from coveting them."

Wang Dayuan then said, "Your Majesty is right. It was my oversight."

Lu Jin waved his hand, showing no sign of blaming him, and then continued to ask, "Any other suggestions?"

After careful consideration, Wang Dayuan said, "I would also like to change the route and the sailing time."

"What's the reason?"

After considering for a moment, Wang Dayuan said, "Last time I went to Lizhou, I took the Qingqiu Islands (Aleutian Islands) route. The purpose was naturally because I had no experience going there for the first time. Traveling along the coastline would allow me to resupply frequently and reduce the level of danger."

"However, after I went through it once, I found that as long as you are bold enough and the navigation is accurate enough, with the speed and range of the Yuanwang ship, it does not seem to be difficult to cross the Pacific Ocean directly from Chengzhou (Hokkaido) to the east. In that case, there would be no need to go around to the north again."

"Didn't Your Majesty tell me before that the best route across the Pacific Ocean from the west coast is from Edo Bay (Tokyo Bay) in Japan, directly to Jinchuan (San Francisco) or Yuzhuji (Los Angeles) on the other side? This route takes advantage of the North Pacific warm current, with favorable winds and currents, and the whole journey only takes more than thirty days, which is much faster than the previous route."

"Furthermore, after my previous trip along the Qingqiu route, I discovered that the Liugui Kingdom (Kamchatka Peninsula) is deserted and uninhabited. There are more bears than savages there. Aside from resupplying some firewood and water, it's useless there. "As for the Qingqiu Islands, Shanglin (Alaska), Changchun (Vancouver/Seattle), and other places, there are only some tribal savages. These savages don't even know how to grow crops, so it's difficult to trade with them. There's also little gold or silver in those areas."

“If it were private merchants going on their own, it would be better, as they could squeeze out some profit. But for the imperial court's transoceanic voyages, the gold, silver, and rubber of Zhonglizhou are far more important than those of Beilizhou. In that case, we might as well go directly to Zhonglizhou. Anyway, a base has already been established there. We can go and come back quickly, and we can make a trip every few months.”

Upon hearing this, Lu Jin nodded slightly, thought for a moment, and then said, "So, sir, you feel that the northern route is no longer profitable, and therefore you want to focus all your efforts on developing the central and southern routes?"

“That’s right,” Wang Dayuan replied immediately.

Lu Jin then said, "No, we can't give up the northern route easily either. The court should also bring those barbarians under its control and allow merchants to trade there, gradually incorporating those lands into the territory of the Ming Dynasty."

Upon hearing this, everyone looked puzzled. If Chengzhou Island (Hokkaido) could serve as a starting point for crossing the ocean, a supply station, and was rich in resources, and could also threaten Japan, making it of great strategic value and well worth developing, then they really didn't know what value the places north of Chengzhou Island had.

Those places have harsh climates, can't grow crops, and have very few people. Occupying them would be a losing proposition; the little profit squeezed out probably wouldn't even be enough to pay the officials' salaries.

Seeing their puzzled expressions, Lu Jin said, "Those lands in the north, even though they're all barren now, still have some value. Why did we go to occupy Borneo in Southeast Asia? Wasn't it for the climate there, where we could grow rubber, and for the oil beneath that land? There's oil in the north too!"

Lu Jin spun the globe on the table and pointed it out to everyone, saying, "Here, north of Sakhalin Island, there are billions of tons of oil, enough for the entire Ming Dynasty to use for a hundred years. Here, in the Kingdom of Liugui (Kamchatka), volcanoes are everywhere, there is a lot of sulfur, as well as timber, bears, animal hides, and salmon. If you want to extract some oil, you can still get some benefits. Most importantly, the location of the Kingdom of Liugui has significant strategic geopolitical value."

"There is also Shanglin (Alaska), which has a large amount of oil that could supply the Ming Dynasty for more than two hundred years, as well as countless gold, and countless wild animals in the mountains and forests. Even Changchun (Vancouver) has a considerable amount of gold."

"Perhaps these things have no value to us now, and it is not easy to mine these riches. However, we are the founders, we are the pioneers, we established the Ming Dynasty, and the power of China has now been handed over to us. We must be responsible for all the Chinese people of China."

"We may not need these things, but we should accumulate more wealth to leave to our descendants. We clearly have the opportunity now, and it would be easy to take over these places. If we have the ability but don't do it, we will regret it in the future. Hundreds of years from now, when our descendants want to use these things but can't, they will all criticize us behind our backs!"

The group immediately fell silent. Although Lu Jin's vision was far-sighted, it was too far-sighted. Who could see things hundreds of years from now? Who could know when the things Lu Jin mentioned would be useful?

However, Lu Jin thought for a moment and said, “What you said makes sense, sir. Although the places in the north are important, we must prioritize things. Right now, we have few ships and few people to use. It’s okay to concentrate our efforts on developing one route for the time being. As for the north, once we build new and fast merchant ships, I will arrange for others to manage it.”

"Speaking of the Pacific route, if we want to start from Chengzhou and use it as a fixed starting point, we'll probably need to establish a base there to facilitate resupply. We should also establish bases in places like Jinchuan and Yuzhuji on the other side of the strait, as well as in Tanzhou, which we'll pass through on the return trip. Is that what you think too?"

Wang Dayuan nodded. "Your Majesty is wise. I do indeed have this plan."

"So the flight route has been changed, but what does it mean to change the time?" Lu Jin asked again.

"That's right. Your Majesty told me before that the typhoon season in the South Pacific is from June to September every year. However, when I returned this time, I departed from Xiangxun Port in September, first went to Jinchuan, then to Tanzhou, stayed in Tanzhou until the first day of October, and then returned to the Luzon Islands in the South Pacific."

"Logically, there shouldn't have been any storms during this period, but on my return journey I encountered one and was almost blown to Australia in the South Pacific. I nearly lost my life. It was only after the weather cleared up and I recalculated my position that I was able to get back on the correct course."

"Therefore, I suspect that the nautical charts passed down in Your Majesty's family may contain errors, and the timing of the South Pacific monsoon season may be incorrect?"

Lu Jin fell silent upon hearing this. He wasn't a meteorologist or geographer, and his knowledge was limited to compulsory education and high school. After studying mechanical engineering and materials science in university, he hadn't touched geography much since. Therefore, he felt a little guilty upon hearing Wang Dayuan's question. Could it be that he had remembered it wrong?
After thinking for a moment, Lu Jin still spoke honestly, "My studies are quite diverse, and geography is indeed not my specialty. There is a possibility that I might have misremembered. So, what are your thoughts, sir?"

Wang Dayuan, of course, could not find fault with Lu Jin, so he said, "Your Majesty said that June to September is the windy season. I think this is correct for the western Pacific, which coincides with the plum rain season in the Jiangnan region of China. However, the climate in the southern Pacific and near the equator may be somewhat different."

"When I was returning, I passed through Xinjin Prefecture and had a conversation with Station Chief Li Bin. According to him, during the two years he was in Xinjin Prefecture, the rainy season was from November of the current year to March of the following year, and the dry season was from April to October of the following year. It was rainy in winter and spring and dry in summer and autumn, which was completely the opposite of the situation here in China."

"Moreover, even when there are strong winds, they coincide with the rainy season. There are no strong winds during the dry season. So I wonder if the rainy and dry seasons in different places are not the same as in China, and the typhoon season coincides with the rainy season?"

"Furthermore, my journey back home this year seems to confirm this point. I set off from Hong Kong in September and went to Tanzhou Island. There was no rain or strong winds during the entire month of September and October. On the contrary, when I left Tanzhou and headed west to Southeast Asia, there was rain every few days after the first day of October, and I also encountered a storm."

"Therefore, I speculate that the windy season along the North Equatorial Current route might only begin in October. Given that the rainy season in other places usually lasts for four to six months, could the rainy season along this route be from October to February of the following year, or perhaps April, with the dry season between May and September?"
"If that's the case, we'll need to adjust our return journey from Lizhou. It would be best to avoid the rainy and windy seasons and return during the dry season, which would be safer on the way."

Wang Dayuan spoke very tactfully, using words like guess, doubt, and reasoning. After all, the emperor cannot make mistakes; he couldn't very well say directly that His Majesty was ignorant and incompetent, had misremembered the season, and almost caused their deaths.

Lu Jin nodded upon hearing this. "Sir's guess is reasonable. After all, I only read it from a book, and I may have misremembered it. Sir, on the other hand, saw it with his own eyes, which is more convincing. So, in your opinion, how should the sailing time be adjusted?"

Wang Dayuan immediately said, "I think we should depart from Jiankang in March, arrive at Chengzhou Island, wait there until the first day of April, and then travel from Chengzhou to Lizhou in April. This way, we can most likely avoid the windy season. It would take about 40 days to travel from Chengzhou to Jinchuan or Yuzhuji, and about 20 days to travel from Jinchuan to Xiangxun Port. This way, the journey would take exactly two months, and we would arrive at Xiangxun Port in June of that year."

"Then we'll stay in Xiangxun Port for a month, and then immediately return in early July to reach Nanyang before October. After October, we'll return to Jiankang from Nanyang, arriving in early November. This way, we can rest in China for five months and set off again in March of the following year, avoiding all the storms along the way."

Lu Jin frowned upon hearing this. "Then we won't be able to stay in Lizhou for very long. We'll only have a month. After unloading the cargo and resupplying, we'll have a few days to rest before we have to return to port. It will be difficult to do anything else in Lizhou after that."

Wang Dayuan immediately spread his hands helplessly and said, "Your Majesty, even if we don't change the time, if we set off in May, arrived in Lizhou in July, and returned in October, not to mention the storm, it would be difficult to do anything in Lizhou in three months. It was precisely for this reason that I decided to stay in Lizhou for an extra year. Otherwise, we wouldn't even have had time to collect the seeds that Your Majesty mentioned."

"If Your Majesty intends to manage Lizhou for the long term, why not send people with a few ships to be stationed there permanently, for a term of several years? This would allow for more flexibility in handling affairs. If it is just a matter of running fixed trade routes, a month is more than enough for unloading and resupplying. After all, a base has been established in Xiangxun Port, which can be responsible for trading goods with the natives for a long time. The ships of the Ming Dynasty can only be responsible for round-trip transportation."

Lu Jin immediately nodded and said, "What you say is right, sir. It seems we still need to send more people and ships to Lizhou."

At this point, Lu Jin sighed and said, “It seems that quite a few new strongholds need to be built this time. We need to build one in Chengzhou, one in Tanzhou and Jinchuan, and one in Yuzhuji. In the central part of Lizhou, in addition to Xiangxun Port, it would be best to also open a stronghold in the central isthmus (Panama) to try to connect the two oceans. In addition, we also need to build a stronghold in the Inca region to facilitate the collection of Inca gold and silver.”

"Do you have any suggestions for establishing these outposts, sir?"

Upon hearing this, Wang Dayuan immediately began to recount how he had bought an Ainu boy in Chengzhou, and how he had pretended to be a deity in Honolulu, Hawaii, to trick the locals into building a Mazu Tianfei Temple. He explained that these were all preparations for establishing a base in the future, and now they were about to come in handy.

(End of this chapter)