Ding Debao stood at the bow of the ship, looking at the cargo ships that kept passing by on the route.
After the fleet crossed the Red Sea, the number of ships on the route increased significantly.
Most of the ships are cargo ships flying the Chinese dragon flag.
There are also a small number of cargo ships flying the typical crescent flag.
Arab merchants, who had been active throughout history, became active again.
Wang Sen and Li Xingge took a boat and arrived at Ding Debao's boat.
Li Xingge asked carelessly: "Brother Ding, I saw a cargo ship that did not belong to our fleet joined the fleet.
This should be a cargo ship owned by your company.
We have been away for more than a year, and there should be big changes in the country.
Does Brother Ding know the information in the country?"
Li Xingge and Wang Sen saw a strange cargo ship joining the Ding family's fleet. When they saw the flag on the mast, they knew the identity of the ship.
They came immediately to ask why.
Ding Debao smiled and said: "Brother Li, you guessed it right.
I did have a cargo ship join my fleet, and it was heading to Ottoman Türkiye to sell goods.
I asked the shopkeeper on the ship and got some information about the domestic situation."
When Li Xingge and Wang Sen heard Ding Debao's admission, they both looked eager, waiting for Ding Debao's next words.
They have been away from the country for too long and now they really want to hear news from the country.
Ding Debao briefly explained a few things.
The plague occurred in Zhili County, but the impact was not significant and the plague did not spread.
The imperial court dispatched exploratory fleets to explore routes to America.
King Zhao and King Cao are about to go to America to found a country.
When Wang Sen heard Ding Debao's story, he immediately reminded: "These news must be blocked, especially the news about the plague.
The sailors in our two fleets are mainly from the north.
It is possible that these sailors had relatives who died from the plague.
Once this news causes panic among the fleet, we will become extremely passive."
When Ding Debao heard Wang Sen's warning, he nodded seriously.
It is enough for leaders like them to know this kind of information, and there is no need for the sailors to know too much information.
He lowered his voice and said: "The shopkeeper of our business transports goods to Ottoman Turkey for sale.
In the Nanyang region, he saw signs of a large army gathering.
Based on what he saw, he deduced that war is likely to break out in the Nanyang region."
Wang Sen said worriedly: "Our fleet materials, especially these precious gold and silver, must not get trapped in the war zone. It is easy to get in but difficult to get out.
If the enemy sees it, they will definitely snatch it away.
Even if it’s China’s navy, if these navy find a reason to detain it, we won’t be able to get it back.”
Li Xingge did not care and said: "Which country in the surrounding Nanyang is our opponent.
We have now received news that by the time we leave for the Nanyang region, the war will have already ended.
I believe that with the country’s strength, against those small countries around Southeast Asia, the war will end soon.”
Even if Li Xingge says so, Wang Sen and Ding Debao may fall into war if they get the Nanyang region.
Their happy and smiling faces that they were about to return to China were gone.
Their expressions were solemn, but looking at the constant flow of cargo ships on the route, their worries were relieved a little.
The war situation is serious and it is impossible to have so many cargo ships running on the route.
They are worried about the lag of cargo ships and have been observing the number of cargo ships on the route.
I'm afraid that one day, there will only be a few cargo ships left from the south.
The fleet's journey eastward was smooth.
They are close to the southernmost island of Ceylon in India and have not seen a decrease in the number of cargo ships on the route.
Ding Debao summoned the heads of the firm together.
He said happily: "Across Ceylon Island, in front of us is the Nanyang Governor's Palace.
This place has not been affected by the war, which means we are safe.
We don’t need to take a long way back to China from the southern tip of the Nanyang Islands.
We can go directly to the Strait of Malacca and return to the country via this main channel.
We arrived at Loft City at the western end of the Strait of Malacca, where the fleet was undergoing maintenance.
Once we reach the waters controlled by the Nanyang Governor's Palace, we don't have to worry about unfamiliar roads and pirates."
Ding Debao spoke more relaxedly, and he was the nominal leader of the fleet.
Even if no one else asked, he still had a sense of responsibility in his heart to bring the fleet back home safely.
Now they are close to Nanyang, even if they have a firefight with pirates here.
It would be too late to send ships to Nanyang to bring reinforcements.
Being close to the island of Ceylon, the safety of the fleet is guaranteed.
Li Xingge said with a smile: "We will officially separate when we arrive at Lefo City.
Most of our members of the Nanyang Chamber of Commerce will not go to the mainland, but will directly enter customs and pay taxes here."
When Li Xingge saw Ceylon Island, he was extremely pleasantly surprised.
He is very familiar with the route between Ceylon Island and the Nanyang Governor's Palace.
Coming back here feels like going home.
Li Xingge suggested: "There is abundant fresh water on Ceylon Island. Let's go to this island to replenish fresh water.
The fresh water on each ship has been consumed for a long time and is no longer sufficient.
I also sent water ghosts before to check the situation on the bottom of the boat.
There are many shellfish and other marine organisms attached to the bottom of the boat, and they will continue to corrode the hull.
As long as they are docked in fresh water for a period of time, the creatures on the bottom of these boats will die one after another.
The indigenous forces on the island are very weak, and the force of our fleet can completely occupy the island.
There is no need to worry about the safety of the fleet."
Wang Sen nodded and said: "Our ship has been inspected and repaired before setting off from Liao Kingdom.
Our ship was too big. It was the dry season in the Liao Kingdom and the water level of the river was too shallow, so there was no way to clear the bottom of the ship.
Along the way, we have experienced many storms. The cargo ships were built very solidly and not a single ship sank due to wind and waves.
However, there were several ships that sank because the bottom of the ship was directly damaged due to the eating of creatures on the seabed.
While we are replenishing fresh water on Ceylon Island, it would be a good idea to clean the bottom of the boat.
I'm really afraid that some ships will sink suddenly while walking on the sea.
If a cargo ship carrying beer sinks, it will sink. If a ship carrying gold sinks, the losses will be unpredictable."
Wang Sen and Li Xingge's suggestions allowed everyone to understand the status of the ship.
After they replenished fresh water and cleaned the bottom of the ship, the fleet headed for Le Buddha City, the city at the westernmost end of the Strait of Malacca.
It is not a short route and is easy for all sailors to navigate.
They all know that this route is very safe.
The fleet can also be seen from time to time, and navy warships are patrolling around.
When Ding Debao saw the tall walls of Lefo City, he shouted excitedly: "I'm back, we're back."
He had mixed feelings in his heart. The route from China to Europe was too dangerous.
They encountered life and death crises several times, but they all survived by relying on their rich experience and luck.
Enjoy the fruits of victory now.
Li Xingge took members of the Nanyang Chamber of Commerce and they went straight to the dock where the customs was located.
Ding Debao and others took the ship into the dock for inspection.
Boats with minor problems can simply be repaired.
The main structure of the ship has been damaged, so the cargo can only be unloaded and replaced with a new ship.
They didn't have time to wait for the shipyard to repair the ship.
They handed over the old boat to other people in the company in Love City and set off with the new boat.
Ding Debao and Wang Sen bid farewell to Li Xingge. During these few days of rest, they also learned about what happened in China during this period through newspapers and other channels.
The two looked at the prosperous scenes on both sides of Malacca.
Wang Sen said happily: "I really didn't expect that the court would move so quickly.
In one fell swoop, we conquered the small countries in Southeast Asia. Cochin, Siam, Myanmar and other regions will all belong to our country from now on.
This sea area is our country’s inland sea.
When we are doing business at sea, we don’t have to worry about a few warships suddenly showing up and snatching our goods.”
Ding Debao looked at Wang Sen's happy expression, but there was some worry on his face.
"We didn't catch the opportunity to develop these places, but I believe that my family will never let this opportunity go.
At that time, we didn’t understand much about this big fat piece of meat in the Nanyang region, so we didn’t swallow it.
Places like Southeast Asia are richer than Nanyang.
These areas will be opportunities for major chambers of commerce to show their strength.
No one will miss it and will definitely invest all its resources in development."
When Ding Debao heard the news, he was even more worried about his situation.
They are familiar with the situation in Europe and their interests are already tied to European routes.
Traveling to Europe takes a long time and is relatively risky.
The benefits it brings are similar to those of developing Southeast Asia.
If the family is short-sighted, it is likely to give up the European route.
In this way, the routes they have worked so hard to open up are in vain.
The two of them crossed the Strait of Malacca with complicated emotions.
The fleet arrived at Temasek and was immediately intercepted by a customs warship.
When Ding Debao and Wang Sen met the customs officials, they realized that the court had issued a new policy.
The Strait of Malacca has officially started charging fees. Customs charges a certain fee based on the value of the goods transported by each ship.
The cargo ship docked at the port and was inspected by customs officials.
Shiploads of gold and silver directly caused a huge sensation.
Even if there is a large gold mine in Nanyang, gold must be transported to the mainland every once in a while.
People here in Nanyang have never seen so much gold and silver.
The flags on the fleet revealed the names of the companies and ships to which they belonged.
These merchants with great powers immediately discovered that they were merchant ships bound for Europe.
When all the merchants saw the fleet returning, they all understood that these merchants had officially opened a route to Europe.
You can get some clues about the benefits gained by traveling to Europe just by looking at the cargo of gold and silver.
If you go to Europe to sell goods and your fleet returns safely, you can earn back shiploads of gold and silver.
Businessmen here in Nanyang who have good relations with the Yang family and the Ding family immediately uploaded a visit.
Ding Debao and Wang Sen were worried because customs inspections revealed that most of their ships in Nanyang contained gold and silver.
This money is enough to make everyone crazy.
Wang Sen suggested: "Brother Ding, let's deposit all the gold and silver in banks in Nanyang.
Registered deposit certificates stored under a business name will be useless even if others snatch them away.
We may not be able to safely return to China with these gold ships.
Today's maritime merchants don't have many cannons on any ship.
These maritime merchants have never seen so much gold and silver in their lives, and some of them will definitely turn into pirates."
When Ding Debao heard what Wang Sen said, he was extremely worried and decided to deposit all the gold and silver in the bank.
Even if these gold and silver are brought home, most of them must be deposited in banks.
In China, they cannot directly trade gold and silver, they must trade gold coins and silver coins.
Some European metal currencies such as pounds sterling on board also need to be exchanged for silver coins at banks before they can be officially circulated.
They immediately contacted UOB and found that this bank had changed its functions and was responsible for issuing banknotes and no longer stored gold and silver.
All previous certificates of deposit from UOB were transferred to ICBC.
Ding and Wang could only deposit gold and silver into the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China with the help of the local shopkeeper of the company.
There was so much gold and silver that dozens of axles were broken in the carriages transporting gold and silver.
This incident immediately attracted reporters to fully report on Ding Debao and others' trip to Europe.
…………………………
When the caravan going to Europe approached the Nanyang Governor's Mansion from the west.
In the eastern waters of the Nanyang Islands, there is also a fleet of boats that look dilapidated and are sailing into the wind.
One characteristic of these ships is that they have black smoking chimneys in the middle and no sails.
Captain Lu Benyun of the exploration fleet looked at the more familiar sea area with a look of joy.
The exploration fleet returned from South America, with a total of twelve steamships.
As they returned following the chart, the steamship began to have problems and four ships were damaged one after another.
Basically, there is a problem with the steam engine.
They dismantled the steam engine and put it on other ships. After returning home, they handed it over to craftsmen to check for problems.
The ships that lost their steam engines had no choice but to sink them, leaving these ships to perish in the sea.
There was basically no supplies on the ship, and the crew was transferred to other ships.
Liu Yuanshan pursed his chapped lips and walked to Captain Lu Benyun.
He said in a hoarse voice: "Captain Lu, I still remember this sea area with many islands.
Seeing this place, we are not far from Nanyang.
We have gone through all kinds of hardships on our way back from South America and have arrived here, but we don’t want to get there only to die of thirst due to lack of water.”
Captain Lu Benyun was also very excited. He had come to this sea area and saw hope.
The fleet returned from South America, and they traveled very fast across the ocean.
However, the fleet discovered a strange phenomenon, even when the ship lost power.
The ships also drifted toward the southwest at a high speed, which caused the fleet to deviate from the originally planned direction.
Captain Lu Benyun was not proficient in using the sextant, and he did not notice this phenomenon at first.
He waited until the fleet drifted far away from the route before he thought of ways to correct the fleet's course.
This caused the fleet to make a large circle in unfamiliar waters, and the fresh water reserves on board were not sufficient.
Captain Lu Benyun consoled him: "Don't worry, Mr. Liu, we are relatively familiar with this sea area, and the charts also record dozens of islands that store fresh water.
As long as we persist for a while, we will be able to get fresh water replenishment."
Captain Lu Benyun had been worried about losing his way.
Only after he came to this sea area did he regain his confidence.
There are many islands in this sea area. With these islands positioned, there is no need to worry about the fleet getting lost.
A messenger asked them to come over.
"Report to Captain Lu that an island storing fresh water has been found ahead."
When Captain Lu Benyun heard the news, he immediately became excited, and the fleet discovered another island that was not recorded on the chart.
Now that they have found fresh water, they don't have to worry about anything happening to the fleet.
After the fleet replenished fresh water, Lu Benyun adjusted the direction of the fleet and headed directly to Luzon Island.
He wanted to hand over Liu Yuanshan and others to King Cao Li Dazhuang before he could take the fleet back to his homeland.
