Han Du looked at the towering tree in front of him, his eyes widened, and he said dissatisfied: "Are you kidding, this is red sandalwood? Can red sandalwood grow so big? If red sandalwood grows so big, how many years will it take? Three thousand years or more
Five thousand?"
Zhu Biao was also stunned when he saw it, but he agreed with Han Du that this was probably not red sandalwood. If it were red sandalwood, it would be too exaggerated.
Fu Yong lowered his head and smiled bitterly, "I didn't dare to deceive His Highness the Crown Prince and the Marquis. The common people didn't believe it when they first saw it. But the common people have a steward who loves all kinds of precious wood very much and has a deep understanding of all kinds of precious wood.
.This is also the first place he discovered, and he also gave the common people a piece of evidence."
"What evidence?" Han Du asked immediately.
Zhu Biao also looked at Fu Yong with a puzzled expression.
Fu Yong quickly took out a cloth bag from his arms and opened it layer by layer. A piece of wood appeared in his hand. "He cut this from the tree here. Your Highness, please take a look." ??
Zhu Biao reached out and picked up the piece of wood and looked through it twice. After just two glances, the look on his face suddenly became surprised, "This, this does look like red sandalwood. But is the red sandalwood so tall?"
Zhu Biao raised his head in confusion and looked at the towering tree in front of him.
Han Du took the wood piece from Zhu Biao's hand and after looking at it for a few times, he felt that it looked very similar to red sandalwood.
"Are these really red sandalwood?" Zhu Biao looked at Han Du with some uncertainty.
Han Du bit his teeth and said fiercely: "Wang Heng!"
"The end is here." Wang Heng immediately bowed and clasped his fists.
"Go and gather five hundred soldiers immediately. By the way, ask them to bring the guys who cut down the trees."
"As ordered, I will come back as soon as I leave." Wang Heng immediately turned around and left quickly.
He had listened carefully to the conversation between His Royal Highness and the Marquis just now. Now he was also eager to know whether these towering giant trees were red sandalwood. If they were really red sandalwood, he would make a fortune.
As long as the navy gets rich, every Handu will give different rewards to the soldiers. Even if it is not a reward, when cutting down these towering trees, some branches must be removed, right? Don't underestimate these branches. Wang Heng just said
You can see that many of the branches of these towering trees are thicker than the trunk of an ordinary red sandalwood tree.
And rosewood is a treasure regardless of its thickness. Of course, the thicker the rosewood, the more valuable it is. But the thinner rosewood also has its value. It must be said that it can be used to make some small wooden boxes, even ones as thick as chopsticks.
Use, it can be made into the holder of a writing brush, and its value is also
Not cheap.
The five hundred soldiers were all powerful and powerful. They swung their axes and struck the huge tree trunk again and again. Soon, a big tree was chopped down.
Han Du and Zhu Biao stood in the distance. When they saw the trees falling, they couldn't wait to step forward.
After careful inspection, Han Du looked up at Zhu Biao, nodded and sighed: "It is indeed red sandalwood."
After Zhu Biao looked at it, he nodded in agreement with Han Du's words.
Han Du looked at the thick and straight tree trunk lying on the ground and couldn't help but said to himself: "The bigger the red sandalwood is, the more valuable it is, and the bigger it is, the more large things can be made. How much is such a big red sandalwood worth?"
"
These words made Zhu Biao silent. Even he didn't know how much such a piece of red sandalwood could be worth. Suddenly, he saw Zhu Biao and Fu Yong looking at him, obviously wanting him to give an approximate estimate.
price.
Zhu Biao pursed his lips immediately and said, "Don't look at me, I don't know how much this one is worth."
Seeing the disappointment in their eyes, after a pause, Zhu Biao added: "As far as I know, my father's dragon bed is entirely made of rosewood, not even Gu's."
Han Du suddenly became happy. No matter how he looked at it, the value of such red sandalwood was far beyond his imagination. And there were so many here.
Han Du raised his head and looked at the vast expanse of forest. If these were all red sandalwood, "Then why would I go tens of thousands of miles away? Cutting these red sandalwood back would be enough to make a fortune."
Fu Yong on the side listened and nodded in agreement. Even though he made a lot of money from sea trade, the biggest transactions he had made in so long were still unfunded transactions like this.
After chopping and chopping, looking at the large red sandalwood forest, Han Du sent people to chop down more than a dozen trees at once. He was about to continue chopping down, but was stopped by Zhu Biao.
"A dozen trees are enough. Who do you plan to sell to after you return to Beijing? Besides, even if you cut down the trees, how are you going to transport them back?"
The fleet originally came back loaded with Western equipment, and now the available load capacity is very limited. It is good to be able to transport a dozen red sandalwood sticks back, but there is really no way to transport more.
A dozen red sandalwood trees are really nothing compared to a drop in the bucket for this forest. Han Du's hard cutting down was like scratching the forest's itch.
Han Du wanted to cut down all these red sandalwood trees at once, but his strength did not allow him to do so, so he could only leave with a dozen huge red sandalwood trees in anger.
When the fleet set sail, Han Du couldn't help but look back in the direction of the red sandalwood forest.
Zhu Biao looked a little dissatisfied, smiled and joked: "Well, those red sandalwoods have been growing there for so many years, and no one has touched them. Are you still worried that someone will steal them? Besides, there is also the governor.
The palace is guarding it, no one can steal it."
After Han Du heard this, no matter how unwilling he was, he had to leave like this.
The fleet sailed all the way to the southeast and soon saw the long islands of Sumatra again.
Zhu Biao stood on the bow of the ship and watched the fleet sailing ahead. The farther forward, the islands on both sides became smaller and smaller. After observing carefully for a moment, he praised: "This is indeed as you said, it is indeed a very beautiful place."
An important pass."
Han Du nodded, looked at the island that was about to appear in the middle of the strait, and said: "As long as the Ming Dynasty occupies this place, then whoever wants to enter Nanyang must open this strait. On the contrary, if this place is occupied by outsiders, then
Their entry into Nanyang will be unimpeded, and the thirty-three governor's mansions on countless islands in Nanyang will all be under the enemy's military front."
"Yes, this place is like a Great Wall, dividing overseas and Nanyang." Zhu Biao nodded, "I understand. When I go back, I will report to my father and ask him to establish a water stronghold here. No matter what,
We must also keep this strait firmly in the hands of Ming Dynasty."
Han Du immediately nodded. Since Zhu Biao has such an idea, then the matter of establishing a fortress in the strait is stable. Even if Lao Zhu does not agree, then after Zhu Biao ascends the throne, he will definitely order to build a fortress here.
.
Finally saw the old port again, whether it was Zhu Biao, Handu or Tang Ding, everyone's faces were filled with the feeling of long absence. I originally wanted to take a good rest in the old port, after all, I had sailed nearly 20,000 miles this way, whether it was Handu
Waiting for others, the navy officers and soldiers were all exhausted.
But the warship had just docked at the port. As soon as Han Du and others got off the warship, they saw Wang Yuanji who was already waiting on the plank road.
"Your Majesty, Wang Yuanji, pays homage to His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, the Marquis of Zhenhai and the Marquis of Suyi."
"Excuse me, why are you here?" Zhu Biao looked at Wang Yuanji and asked curiously.
Wang Yuanji raised his head and said with a wry smile: "I didn't come here, but"
Before Wang Yuanji finished speaking, a year
The young eunuch, carrying his robe, hurriedly ran over from a distance.
Han Du was obviously surprised when he saw the eunuch. This was in Old Port, thousands of miles away from the capital. How could the eunuch come here? Suddenly, Han Du suddenly thought of something, and his expression suddenly changed.
Zhu Biao had obviously thought of it, and his expression suddenly became solemn. There was only one possibility for the eunuch to appear here, and that was that he was sent by his father.
And since Lao Zhu sent eunuchs here, it was probably because something big happened in the capital, and he couldn't even wait for himself and others to return to the capital, so he had to send eunuchs here.
"My slave, please pay homage to Your Highness, my slave!" The eunuch came to Zhu Biao and immediately knelt down in a hurry.
Before the eunuch could finish speaking, Zhu Biao's face darkened, he waved his hand to interrupt him and asked, "What happened in the capital?"
"Capital? Nothing happened in the capital. Everything is fine." The eunuch was confused by Zhu Biao's question.
Hearing that nothing happened in the capital, Zhu Biao felt nervous. He thought something had happened to Lao Zhu, so he sent the eunuch here so eagerly. "What about the father?"
"In response to your highness, everything is well with you, your highness. Please don't worry," the eunuch replied quickly.
Seeing the eunuch's calm expression, Zhu Biao immediately felt relieved, and then asked curiously: "Since there is nothing going on in the capital and my father is fine, what are you doing here?"
Only then did the eunuch react. He was asked two questions in succession by His Highness the Crown Prince, but he almost forgot about his imperial order. He quickly bowed to Zhu Biao and replied: "In reply to His Highness the Crown Prince, the Emperor is worried about His Highness's safety, so
I sent my slave to look for His Highness. And the Emperor has a decree for Your Highness to return to the capital as soon as possible. Now that I see Your Highness, my heart is in my stomach. This is the Emperor's handwriting, please read it."
After saying this, the eunuch took out a letter from his arms and presented it to Zhu Biao with both hands.
Zhu Biao reached out and took it, opened it and saw that it was indeed his father's handwriting. There was only one sentence in the handwriting, telling Zhu Biao not to delay at all no matter where he was after seeing the handwriting. He must set off immediately and return to Beijing as soon as possible.
Between the lines of the handwriting, Zhu Biao could still feel the urgency in his father's heart when he originally wrote the handwriting.
After pondering for a while, Zhu Biao suddenly closed the oracle, turned to Han Du and said: "I'm afraid we don't have time to rest. We order the fleet to seize the time to replenish fresh water and food, so that we can return to the capital in the shortest possible time."
"I obey." Although Han Du didn't know what happened, he obeyed Zhu Biao's order without hesitation.