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Volume 1 Spice, Spice!

The zodiac is very auspicious on the Xuyin day of the 1911 month in the Renchen year. It is suitable for traveling, opening the market, collecting money, and making great profits in the west.

Yun Ye and Li Tai set out from Guangzhou with forty-five merchant ships, large and small, and plunged into the vast South China Sea, preparing to make profits. They also wanted to completely open up the maritime trade routes. The land trade routes have been opened, and the Western Regions, Persia,

Hu merchants gathered in Chang'an, and since then, the tinkling camel bells have been ringing on this ancient road for five hundred years.

The Maritime Silk Road is also long, but unfortunately it has not played its own strengths at all, let alone comparable to the land trade route. Obviously the cargo capacity of a ship is much larger than that of a camel team, and it requires fewer manpower.

It takes less time, so why do savvy businessmen turn a blind eye to it?

Hu merchants who traveled 10,000 miles to trade in Datang needed baggage that was ten times the weight of the goods. There was no need for such trouble at sea. Yun Ye's trip was intended to maximize the advantages of sea trade.

Being escorted by a powerful fleet is a once-in-a-lifetime good thing for those merchants, not to mention that the one going to sea is the famous Marquis Yun, and his Lingnan fleet itself is invincible.

When the three giant ships sailed into Guangzhou Bay, the entire bay suddenly fell silent. Those who are familiar with ships have not seen big ships. Mulan boats that are larger than these three ships are also common, but no one has seen them. They are all for war.

It is a giant service ship. The entire ship has a graceful streamline shape, and the gleaming horn of the bow can easily tear apart all the ships blocking it. There are no rackets on both sides of the giant ship, and some only have densely packed eight-oxen crossbows.

, there is a trebuchet standing on each of the front and rear decks, and the tough sailors are climbing on the mast like apes. Just by looking at their skills, you can tell that they are all tough men.

Merchant ships filed out of the harbor. A total of forty-five merchant ships would closely follow the giant ship and do business all the way to Sanlan Kingdom. Everyone knew that this time they were actually exploring the road, but they had to do business.

There are not only storms and waves on the sea, but also very vicious pirates. Koryo pirates, Japanese pirates, Dashi pirates, and the most terrifying ones are the pirates of the Sanlan Kingdom. They not only plunder goods, but also kill people without calculation. Countless merchants have defeated the waves.

, the hurricane was swallowed up cleanly by these pirates in an instant.

It doesn't matter now. Looking left and right at the giant ships following behind, I am full of confidence in my own voyage. This is what the Tang Dynasty should be like, and it is also time for the Xiong Zhu people of the Tang Dynasty to avenge the merchants who have perished in the sea.

Yun Ye sat on a chair, holding a telescope and looking into the distance. In front of him was Hainan Island. There were only natives and some prisoners on it. The golden dragon flag on the giant ship was flying loudly. Yun Ye saw many people on the beach.

He was waving, jumping, trying hard to let the people on the giant ship see him, holding on to the slimmest illusion that the giant ship could take him out of this hell on earth.

Yun Ye put away the telescope, returned it to Liu Renyuan and said: "Let's move forward at full speed. We don't have much time, but we have a lot of things to do. When we encounter obstacles, we must eliminate them. Opening the road is the first element."

Liu Renyuan promised, and not long after, the horn sounded, and the sailors on the ship kept waving various flags. The wind blowing on the sea now was very suitable, neither too strong nor too weak. The most important thing was that there was no swell.

The Princess only hung half of its sails, and the sails of the merchant ships behind it were already full. The speed of the entire fleet suddenly became much faster. The bow of the battleship plunged into the sea and suddenly raised its head, and the crushing waves surged up.

The bow of the ship returns to the sea along the drainage outlet.

The sun gradually rose, and the deck became hotter. Yun Ye returned to the cabin and saw Wu Shi and Liu Fang holding a teapot and playing chess on a fixed chessboard. This was a set specially made with magnets.

As long as a piece is placed on the chessboard made of iron, the iron chess pieces will stick to it firmly. Wuji regards this chess piece as a treasure and does not allow others to touch it.

Shan Ying stood aside and watched the battle. He had grown up with Ding Yanping in Zhoushan since he was a child. He was no stranger to the sea, so this period of training was almost nothing to him. The ones who endured the hardship were Hanzhe and Xitong.

Iron is stronger than them, and after several months of training, he has already become good at water.

Han Zhe seemed to have a well-proportioned body and extraordinary martial arts skills, but this guy was just a weight when he threw it into the water. He had no intention of floating at all and sank directly to the bottom. After he was rescued, he even injured two people who taught him how to swim. Later he was able to

The person who taught him how to swim was Shan Ying. Han Zhe tried to compete with Shan Ying, but unfortunately he was beaten up again and thrown into the sea by Shan Ying over and over again. He waited until he drank enough sea water before pulling him up. After a long time,

Hanzhe discovered that he could already swim.

Xi Tong has fallen in love with swimming since he was kicked into the water by Mr. Tongueless for the first time. In addition, he is a martial arts practitioner and his favorite is diving. Nowadays, he dares to go down wherever there are sharks.

The big sword was replaced with two iron thorns. According to him, now when it comes to water skills, I am as good as anyone else.

Yun Ye sent Dong Yu and Ren Xiong to Li Tai's Qingque. Lao Tie personally drove his beloved boat Cheng Qian to the rear. The three ships formed a Zigzag shape and surrounded a large number of merchant ships. The light yellow offshore water surface

The entire fleet was sailing at high speed.

After passing Hainan Island, a long list of small islands appeared in front of them. Yun Ye deliberately circled the ship around the Crab Island. It was very good. The corpse stuck on the wooden stick had already turned into withered bones. The entire island

It looks so eerie, even in the clear daylight, that it makes people's hair stand on end.

"Commander, since you established your power, no barbarian ship has dared to enter this sea area, not even pirates. When my subordinates commanded the navy here, the pirates they caught every year would

Plug it into this island."

"You said these corpses are no longer the ones I set up?"

"Commander, the sea breeze is strong. If a corpse is hung up, it will be eaten up by seabirds in a few days. If there is another wind, there will be nothing left. New corpses must be hung up every year."

Yun Ye nodded, this is the sea area that belongs to the Tang Dynasty. Warships of the Lingnan Navy often appear. It is estimated that no pirate who is short-sighted would dare to come. Establishing prestige is sometimes a very effective method.

"After passing Wangxiang Terrace, we are out of the waters controlled by the Tang Dynasty. Lord Marquis, the local natives will swarm here. I wonder where the spice island you mentioned is? There are only three ships with no cargo at all.

, we can’t ask our brothers to make this trip in vain. "Liu Renyuan was very worried that the commander was lying. If there is no goods, just lying to people will have a fatal blow to morale.

"Don't worry, I specially prepared five empty ships this time, just to load spices. They are not an island, but a series of islands. I'm just worried that I can't find enough people to pick spices. I'm not worried about not having spices."

The so-called spices refer to condiments such as cardamom, pepper, cloves. Spices are one of the most important commodities in international trade. During the Qin Dynasty, the spice trade had already appeared. By the end of the Han Dynasty, the scale had expanded.

Unfortunately, when the Five Husbands invaded China later, those people on horseback did not understand what maritime trade was, so for a long time, this kind of trade had a fault in the Central Plains.

It was not until the emergence of Persian merchants that the spice trade began to rise. The Persians got spices from India and sent them to Chang'an thousands of miles away.

Still willing to compare prices with gold, Yun Ye planned to find the Spice Island first during this trip.

Yun Ye only knew that Spice Island was on the equator, not far from Indonesia. He didn't know anything else, but in Datang, knowing this was enough.

Long-distance sailing is a very boring thing. Li Tai has already boarded Yun Ye's ship. It is very boring to stay alone on the Qingque. The Tang Dynasty's fleet does not allow women to board the ship. This is a very unlucky thing. Even if

Even in the most enlightened Lingnan Fleet, women would not be allowed on their ships. Last time, because they met a ship of Silla maids, everyone encountered a dragon sucking water. No matter how Yun Ye explained that there was no relationship between the two,

But even the most obedient sailors disagree. Women are the bane of the ship and are still a taboo that all sailors follow.

Li Tai couldn't take the beauty on board to relieve his boredom, so he had to watch Yun Ye growing bean sprouts on the ship. If he didn't eat vegetables for a long time and couldn't supplement his vitamins, he would get scurvy sooner or later. Although oranges are very good, they can't be stored well.

Fortunately, the Yun family has simple canned fruits, especially oranges in sugar water, which are the most popular.

Eating a few oranges every day is a supreme enjoyment at sea. Li Tai holds a jar and eats it with a spoon. He also likes this thing, especially when Yun Ye said that if you don't eat this thing at sea, your blood will become bad.

We couldn't live without each other even more. Fortunately, we brought enough so that Li Tai couldn't finish it by himself.

Yun Ye found a large sieve, carefully selected the soybeans, and threw away the flat and bad ones. If he washed it twice with water on the shore, it would be fine. But at sea, no one wanted to waste water, so Yun Ye just

Pick them up one by one.

"Yezi, the battle you mentioned has never happened. There is not even a mustache ship on the sea, and there is no way to rob it. By the way, you said that people who don't eat bean sprouts and oranges will really have bad blood?"

"It's natural. Don't complain. Being able to sail safely on the sea is something that many people can't hope for. I didn't expect to be able to sail in such a comprehensive way. But look at these three big ships. They have plans.

Those who robbed will also run away without a trace. Lai Chuanfeng and Yang Yueli are on your ship. Will you be obedient these days? "

"It's not bad. Your men are very easy to use, and the dog is also good. Let me tell you, let the dog follow me from now on. My captain of the guard is loyal, and his martial arts is also good, but his brain is not good."

Yun Ye wrapped the beans in gauze and soaked them in water until they were completely submerged before saying: "The dog is not mine in the first place. He has his own home and his own heels. If you want to use him, go ahead and use him."

Talk to him, and then go talk to Mr. Wuji. It's probably not a big problem. His father-in-law, Hong Cheng, has long forced him to get an official position. It's not bad to work as a guard in your house. At least there is an official.

body."

ps:

In the first period, I held a parent-teacher meeting for my son, so I was a little late. Sorry.


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