Susa Guedes, a serious Portuguese, is forty-six years old this year and an experienced captain. As a sailor who climbed up from the lowest level, he naturally cannot be from a noble family.
Just an ordinary civilian.
When I was a child, I did everything from stealing to kidnapping. At the age of fourteen, I became a glorious pirate and served as the most ordinary sailor on a ship.
During his more than thirty years of maritime career, he robbed ordinary merchant ships in the Mediterranean, robbed Spanish galenic ships laden with gold and silver in the Atlantic and the Caribbean, and even fought against the British and Spanish navies.
shelf!
Eight years ago, he followed others to fight in the Indian Ocean, and then came to Southeast Asia. A few years ago, he was already the first mate and finally succeeded in killing the captain who taught him how to sail, control ships, and rob other merchant ships, and then he became
Captain of the Marie.
After becoming the captain of the Mary, he changed the old captain's style of only plundering but not doing business. Instead, he used the high speed of his ship Mary to start a spice business in Southeast Asia.
, on the one hand, he robbed other maritime merchants, thereby changing his profession from a pirate to a maritime merchant, and working part-time as a pirate.
There are many captains/marine merchants like him in the Southeast Asian waters, but there are only a few pure pirates. These days, when doing business can earn more lovely gold coins, who the hell is willing to fight and kill them?
Killed.
But when he encounters other merchant ships with little protection and weak strength, he will also revisit his old trade. After all, although doing business can make money, he can make more by doing it conveniently, so why not do it.
Over time, he became a well-known maritime businessman in the Southeast Asian waters. He even bought a mansion in Malacca and had a good relationship with the Portuguese colonial officials in Malacca.
This time he originally came to Guangzhou for trade, but before departure, the Portuguese colonial officials in Malacca wanted him to escort a special envoy and bring a so-called letter of credence, and then establish formal diplomatic relations with the Tang Dynasty.
He didn't take it seriously at first, just treating it as incidental, but what he didn't expect was that after arriving in Guangzhou, the idiot envoy actually said something rude, saying that he was the special envoy of the Portuguese emperor. As a result, people from the Tang Dynasty did not
After being polite to him, he was immediately put under house arrest, and Guedes was also affected by Chi Yu and was detained together.
After all, in the eyes of the people of the Tang Dynasty, Gerdes and the idiot special envoy looked alike, and they could not tell them apart at all. They simply regarded Gerdes as a member of the envoy.
A few days ago, this mission finally received a notice that they could go to Zhaoqing to meet the emperor of the Tang Dynasty. For this reason, even Gerdes, who had been sailing across the sea for decades and had seen strong winds and waves, couldn't help but feel a little excited.
.
This kind of opportunity to meet the Prince of China is not something that ordinary people can encounter!
The ancient Chinese country, in the eyes of Europeans of this era, is full of superiority, everything is superior!
Especially when he first came to Guangzhou, which had just opened its port two years ago, Gerdes was stunned by the scale of Guangzhou City, and then he was even more blinded by the various goods piled up at the dock!
Silk and porcelain, which are more expensive than gold in Europe, can be seen everywhere here. They are even piled up in a large warehouse. As long as you have money, you can immediately ship them back to Europe. Once they are successfully shipped back to Europe, then
The profit is not doubled, but dozens of times!
Of course, it is not easy to transport the silk, porcelain, spices and other Southeast Asian specialties that were successfully transported back to Europe if you are not careful.
It won't be so expensive.
Without such terrifying profits, people would not have the need to cross such long distances and risk their lives to conduct maritime trade.
Everything he saw in Guangzhou made him feel extremely novel. Later, when he learned that the Tang Dynasty allowed these foreign seafarers to buy and live in specific port trade areas, although the price was not cheap, he also bought it.
Got a small house.
Guangzhou Port Trade Zone and Lianzhou Port Trade Zone are areas dedicated to sea trade. Whether Chinese or foreign businessmen want to engage in sea trade, they can only do so in the port trade zone.
At the same time, foreigners are allowed to buy real estate and live in this place, as well as open commercial firms, etc.
Of course, Li Xuan would not be stupid enough to turn this trade area into a leased area. This trade area is a place where all foreigners, including the natives of Nanyang, live together. There are also a large number of Chinese businessmen, so as to avoid becoming a separate area.
country’s place of residence.
At the same time, a strict household registration management system is implemented. Foreign businessmen who want to enter the port trade need to obtain a customs entry permit before disembarking from the ship, and then they can enter the trade zone through customs. This is only a temporary customs entry permit.
That’s it, it only lasts for half a year, and you have to get out after half a year!
If you want to live for a long time, you need to spend a lot of money to buy real estate. After paying a residence fee, you can get a temporary residence permit for five years. If you still want to live after five years, you will have to pay another residence fee.
.
Moreover, after entering this place, they need to abide by all the laws of the Tang Dynasty. If they violate the laws, they will be dealt with according to the laws of the Tang Dynasty. At the same time, they are not allowed to leave the scope of the business zone and enter other places in the Tang Dynasty.
So this time, it was actually the first time for Gerdes to go deep into the land of China. He was not curious about the scenery along the way, but after arriving in Zhaoqing, he was shocked by the prosperity of Zhaoqing.
There were many ships and a large number of buildings on the shore, and some of these buildings were still emitting thick smoke. It was not known whether they were on fire or something else, but Gerdes guessed that it was not a fire.
If he could accept the above, then the strange-looking ship he saw now was directly beyond his understanding.
As an old pirate who has been traversing the sea for decades, he dare not say all, but he has seen most of the ship types. However, he has never seen or even heard of a ship that can do without sails.
, and can walk without relying on oars.
This is not going down the river, but going up the river!
Weird, abnormal!
This is his first feeling!
Not only was he curious, but other people in the mission were also extremely surprised by this. Some people even kept scratching their chests and saying that this was some kind of devil!
"Devil, it's impossible. Is this an Eastern magic?"
"Look, those two wheels are moving. It should be these two wheels that drive the ship forward, but how do these wheels turn?"
"There must be a lot of people on this boat pushing those two wheels!"
"Someone is pushing it? There is a possibility!"
"Yes, I guess so!"
"But what's with that weird sound and smoke?"
"Maybe they are cooking, who knows!"
After feeling weird, they quickly used their imaginations and thought they had figured out the truth.
But they had absolutely no way of knowing that although there were many people on the small ship far away from them, no one was pushing the two paddle wheels.
The truth is very simple, that is, this ship belongs to the Tang Dynasty, and it is also the first ship in the world to be powered by a steam engine and driven by a paddle wheel: Bing 16.
Ever since Lin Hui in the young military camp built a steam engine a few months ago, Li Xuan personally formulated a research and development plan for a paddle wheel ship on the spot.
The steam engine is existing, and the paddle wheel is not a technical problem. The only problem is the linkage device and the transmission device. After working on it for several months, a group of students in the Youjun camp finally designed a complete plan.
Then the machinery under the Zhaoqing Arsenal was delivered to build the physical objects, and a naval river battleship No. Bing 16 was modified, and the steam engine was moved onto the No. 16!
Today is the third and final sailing test of this ship. Gerdes and the others are lucky to see it.
After being surprised, Gerdes and the others began to disembark, and were led by officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to live in an independent courtyard. They were also guarded by Guards soldiers. Later, someone would come over to teach them the procedures for an audience.
Etiquette, only after they have learned and mastered the etiquette of meeting Li Xuan can they truly meet Li Xuan.
Just when Gerdes and others began to learn Chinese etiquette, Li Xuan also met several major engineers from the Ministry of Industry and the Youjun Camp, and these engineers were responsible for the design, construction, and testing of the first ship in the Tang Dynasty.
core technicians at work.
Among them, Lin Hui, as the person in charge of the steam engine and the most important technician among them all, was saying to Li Xuan at this time: "Your Majesty, the steam engine on the Bing 16th uses an improved model of the last test model, with a volume and weight
They have been reduced a lot, but the power still remains at five horsepower. At the same time, the manufacturing process is more mature and simple, and it can be mass-produced.
This steam engine has now begun extensive application testing. The testing in factories and mining areas has been successful. This time we crashed it into the B-16 and successfully drove the ship!"
At this time, Tang Jincai, a seventh-grade student in the young military camp who was designing the ship, also said: "Your Majesty, although there were a lot of minor troubles in the test of Bing-16 this time, it was overall a success. The three navigation tests
It sailed a total of twenty kilometers, during which the steam engine, transmission, and paddle wheel continued to operate stably.
The longest trouble-free time was one and a half hours, and the top speed reached five kilometers per hour!
Although there are still many faults during navigation and the speed is slower, as long as we continue to improve, students believe that these steamships can truly sail on the sea!"
Hearing these words, Li Xuan smiled: "I have never doubted this!"