When Datang Western Company dispatched the second fleet to India, three ships were sailing in the wind and waves at the far southern tip of Africa.
This is the southernmost tip of Africa, the Cape of Good Hope!
The fleet led by Ying Zihua actually arrived at the Cape of Good Hope ten days ago, but they had long heard that the Cape of Good Hope was very windy and dangerous to sail. They first found a small port nearby for rest and maintenance, and then waited.
After about ten days, we waited until the wind and waves calmed down a bit before starting again.
But even though today's wind and waves are lighter than usual, they are still very big.
Even though they have experienced storms, they still seem to be a little scared from the bottom of their hearts when facing such storms!
In the face of this power of nature, even though the performance of their ships is advanced enough, it is still far from enough!
The boat was blown by the strong wind and kept bumping in the waves. Ying Zihua firmly grasped the railing with both hands and looked at the huge waves ahead with his eyes closed!
Facing the huge waves, his fleet cannot dodge in any way, otherwise the end will be even more tragic. They must bravely rush up against the waves!
Huge waves came one after another, causing the three ships to rise high and then fall heavily. The huge force made the ships make a harsh and unpleasant squeaking sound, as if they would completely collapse in the next moment.
Like falling apart.
They continued this kind of sailing for half a day. After half a day, the wind and waves gradually subsided, but then Ying Zihua received a report that while resisting the wind and waves, a sailor was knocked over by the wind and waves and fell into the sea.
Upon hearing the news, Ying Zihua had no expression on his face and just nodded slightly!
This is already the second year that his fleet has gone to sea. Along the way, he has lost dozens of his crew members due to injuries, accidents, and wars.
Nowadays, the crews on these three ships are basically understaffed.
But this still cannot stop his determination to go to Europe!
This voyage, no matter what, we must go to Europe and open up European routes!
And after passing the Cape of Good Hope, the next road will be much easier. They only need to go all the way north along the west coast of Africa to reach Europe.
At that time, you can go to the Mediterranean coast or the Atlantic coast.
In addition, although most of the ports on the west coast of Africa are now under Portuguese control, it does not mean that all places are under Portuguese control.
In fact, in this era, the Portuguese's control over the routes from Europe to East Asia was mainly concentrated in their possession of numerous supply ports, and at the same time they built a number of fortresses and garrison fleets. This does not mean that they really controlled large areas.
of African territories are included.
Especially on the west coast of Africa, the living conditions are harsh, and most areas are not suitable for Europeans to survive. Therefore, for a long time, the Portuguese and other colonists limited their activities to parts of the coast.
stronghold.
The reason why the route is said to be monopolized is because the Portuguese do not allow merchant ships from other countries to enter their ports for supplies, and will let warships patrol and rob merchant ships from other countries.
Without a supply port, it would be very troublesome for the long-distance fleet.
You can only do it secretly, or find some small ports for supplies.
This is also the reason why although the Spaniards would send fleets to East Asia, their scale has never been able to increase. The reason is very simple, that is, there is no supply port.
At the same time, it is also the reason why it is so difficult for Datang Western Company to travel westward. If they had been traveling at normal speed, they should have reached Europe long ago, but now they have just rounded the Cape of Good Hope.
This is because supplies along the way cost them a lot of time!
But in any case, they finally bypassed the Cape of Good Hope. If they continue to go north, although there is still a certain distance that will be more difficult, it will be easier the further north they go, because by that time, they will be able to find more neutral supply ports.
Ying Zihua led the fleet to continue towards Europe, and in the foreseeable few months, his fleet will appear in Europe. By that time, it basically means that Datang Western Company has opened up for the first time.
route to Europe.
Although this voyage is still very immature, and there are not many supply ports along the way, and it also faces the risk of attacks from many countries or pirates such as the Portuguese, but in any case, the route is open.
Behind them, a large number of merchant fleets of the Tang Dynasty Western Company will go to India, Africa, and Europe to trade and earn huge profits. At the same time, they will continue to consolidate, expand supply ports, and establish colonies.
Once the route is in normal operation, it will bring huge profits to Datang Western Company.
However, even if the European route is operational, it will still take time. For the time being, the main trade route of the Western Company is still based in India. In the medium term, it can expand trade in West Asia, Northeast Africa and the east coast of Africa.
At the same time, in Jinling City, the eighth-year examination of Xuanping was about to begin!
In the past two months at the beginning of the year, there were basically no major events in the entire Tang Empire. The only major event was the ability to try.
On the Liaodong side, the situation remained stable. Under the severe cold, the Tang Army had no plans to launch a large-scale offensive at all, and planned to wait until spring before launching an offensive.
Although there are colonial wars in Nanyang, to be honest, compared to the entire empire, this nonsense in Nanyang is nothing at all, and the distance is so far that it is impossible to convey the news in a timely manner.
This is also the reason why the empire gives great power to local administrative officials in the rule of overseas directly administered territories.
Mei Jiachuan, the governor of Luzon Prefecture, has the power to launch war against the local indigenous people. Of course, the actual combat is carried out by the military, and Mei Jiachuan has no power to intervene in military operations.
At the same time, the power to wage war is only limited to the indigenous people within the jurisdiction of Luzon State!
And it’s not in the name of declaring war, but in the name of repression!
After all, the Tang Empire now includes the entire Luzon Islands into Luzon State. Naturally, these indigenous people in the state can be regarded as rebels or something, and launching a war against them can be regarded as suppressing or purging bandits.
does not constitute a declaration of war against a foreign country.
But even so, it can be seen that administrative officials in overseas territories have great power.
There is no way around this. The road is long, the transportation is inconvenient, and the communications are backward. It is impossible for Mei Jiachuan to report to Jinling City and then launch a war against the Luzon natives. In that case, it would take at least half a year to go back and forth.
How long has it been a year?
In this case, relatively speaking, although Jinling City is paying attention to Nanyang affairs, there is nothing to deal with. They can just look at the reports from Mei Jiachuan and the garrison generals.
The wars in various places were generally calm, and there were no large-scale natural or man-made disasters in the spring. Overall, in the spring of the eighth year of Xuanping, the Tang Empire seemed relatively peaceful. People who didn't know better thought it had entered a period of self-cultivation after unification.
But, this is not the case!
However, external expansion, overall, had little impact on the internal empire and the political structure of Jinling City.
What officials are more concerned about is not the expansion of Nanyang or the war in Liaodong, but the general examination in the eighth year of Xuanping!
The imperial examinations in the Tang Dynasty were held once a year, from county examinations in various places, to college examinations, to joint examinations, and palace examinations, all once a year, giving students full opportunities!
This year, the reason why officials pay more attention to the examination than in previous years is because this year's examination will be different from previous years' examinations.
At the beginning of the year, Emperor Sheng officially issued an order, ordering the Ministry of Rites to redesign the test questions and further add science content.
Further increasing the content of science subjects is nothing, but after further increasing the content of science subjects, there will be a drastic reform. At the same time, more importantly, this time the examination will not only be held in Jinling City, but also
Sub-examination points for the general examination will be opened in the four branches of Zhili at the same time. It is expected that 20 Jinshi and 20 Ph.D. students will be admitted in each route. After passing the examination, in order to prevent Jinshi from each route from taking up positions in their hometowns, these four sub-examination points will be taken at that time.
The positions of Jinshi and Ph.D. students will be in several other categories.
At the same time, the grades of various Jinshi and doctorate degrees are the same as those of the candidates who passed the examination in Jinling City.
Obviously, this is a pilot!
The Holy Emperor introduced a new round of reforms to the imperial examinations. However, strictly speaking, this reform did not harm the interests of the scholars. On the contrary, it also increased the number of students admitted, which was also welcomed by the Emperor's scholars.
Of course, they didn't know that Li Xuan was planning to gradually lower the grades of Jinshi and Doctorate in the next few years.
The situation of becoming a genuine seventh grader in the first exam will become a thing of the past in the near future.
Moreover, although this reform was in the name of separate examination points for the general examination, Li Xuan actually carried out the reform based on the national and provincial examinations of later generations.
Moreover, subsequent reforms will move towards selecting grassroots officials, even the lowest-level officials from the ninth rank, instead of focusing on middle-level officials as is the case now.
Only in this way can the imperial examination reform in Li Xuan's mind be completed!
A few years ago, Li Xuan's reform of the imperial examination was in another direction, which was to maintain the provincial examination of the imperial examination and the general examination unchanged, but increase the scale of civil service examinations, and try to use the rural examination to become a provincial examination, as a recruitment provincial examination
The main way to become an official.
But it is obvious that he underestimated the power of the imperial examination tradition and the desire of scholars all over the world for the title of Jinshi!