Fang Lingxi has been hired as a staff member by Governor Li Yinglin, with a monthly salary of 10 taels, full board and lodging, a signing fee of 500 acres of land, and twelve indigenous slaves.
"Are you saying that we can really reach Dongshun Port (Cologne Port) by bypassing the southernmost tip of Yinzhou?" Li Yinglin asked.
Wang Ji was worried about the rubber saplings, so he left two crew members to escort them back, and also brought a new navigation chart.
A crew member presented the chart: "Governor, please take a look."
Li Yinglin took the chart and read it carefully, feeling a huge shock in his heart.
What Wang Ji sent was not only a sea map, but also a detailed information on the coastal area of Nanyinzhou. Where the land was fertile and suitable for farming, where the indigenous people were peaceful and friendly, and what strange animals and plants were found along the way, all were recorded in this information.
.
There is a sea area that has been specially circled, where a large number of giant whales are found. You can make a lot of money just by hunting whales.
Governor Yinzhou had a copy of Magellan's nautical chart, but the record was full of errors and omissions, and it did not match the world map drawn by Wang Yuan. Wang Ji's nautical chart seemed slightly more accurate because it was included in Wang Yuan's version of the world map.
, based on Magellan's version of the nautical chart, revised and formulated based on field observations.
"Mr. Fengyi, please take a look." Li Yinglin handed over the information.
After reading the information, Fang Lingxi thought carefully for a moment: "The focus of future immigration should be on Dongshun Port, and Dongshun Port should build a shipyard as soon as possible."
Dongshun Port is the Atlantic end of the Panama Canal.
Governor Yinzhou controls this area, which is the narrowest point in the entire Central America. By establishing a shipyard in Dongshun Port, the Ming Dynasty's power can be radiated to the Atlantic coast without bypassing Nanyinzhou.
After the naval fleet is built in Dongshun Port, it can attack Mexico to the north, Cuba to the northeast, and control Ebas to the southeast. Spain and Portugal's colonies in Yinzhou, the Ming Navy can attack wherever they want.
It's easy to grab it from anywhere.
Of course, using a map to perform temple calculations is definitely not completely consistent with the reality.
Half a year later, Li Yinglin first built a small shipyard in Dongshun Port, allowing people to sail offshore boats to explore north and south.
It was found that Darien Bay is more suitable as a naval base. A variety of precious woods grow along the coast. There is also a lot of wood for building large sea ships. Forts can also be built on both sides of the bay and on the islands to form a joint sea and land defense system, which is not afraid of the Spanish fleet.
Surprise attack.
But it was very embarrassing. This was a Spanish colony and the port was built in the bay. Wang Ji happened to not notice it when he crossed the bay.
During the colonial era, this was also the most famous gold producing area in South America. It also had the world's largest emerald reserves, and was also extremely rich in silver, copper, iron ore, and coal resources. I won't talk about oil and bauxite for the time being.
It’s useless to bring it. In the nuclear age, rich uranium deposits can still be found—this place is called Colombia!
A difficult problem faced Li Yinglin: Colombia must be captured, but then he would have to go to war with Spain.
And it was no small war. The gold and silver Spain obtained from Colombia was second only to Mexico in the north, and not comparable to Panama or El Salvador.
Once the Ming Dynasty captures Colombia, it will mean a full-scale war. Charles V will probably bring the Invincible Fleet over. By then, the Ming Dynasty naval battle will undoubtedly be defeated. Even if all the powerful Ming Dynasty naval forces come to Yinzhou to help, they will have to come from the south.
Yinzhou has to go around a circle to participate in the battle.
However, the Ming Dynasty will definitely win the land war.
You can send troops from Panama and the Inca Empire to attack the Colombian region from the north to the south and drive the Spanish colonists to the sea for fishing.
This is a story for later. When Li Yinglin needed to make a decision, it was already a year and a half later.
…
Wang Ji continued to sail north, passed Panama controlled by the Ming Dynasty, and then came to the Spanish colonies: Costa Rica and Nicaragua.
Unfortunately, gold mines were discovered in Spain in both of these places.
To the north is Chen Li's private colonial power, and to the south is the Ming Dynasty's official colonial power. These two gold mines in Spain live in fear all day long. They build castles whenever they have free time, ready to deal with the Ming army at any time.
Therefore, Wang Ji could not land at all, and received shell greetings from the other party when they met.
Wang Ji could only send a crew member who could speak Spanish to drive a small boat to the port to contact him. He sent a few pieces of medicinal jade jewelry and showed that he was a navigator and was planning to sail around the world. The other party finally agreed to provide a small amount of fresh water supply.
As long as Wang Ji does not get off the ship, he will be absolutely safe.
Because Charles V was also on guard against the colonies and did not allow any ships to contact the colonists to prevent the gold and silver from the colonies from being secretly transported away. There were only two fleets coming from Spain to transport treasures every year, and there were no powerful fleets at other times. As long as they did not encounter
The Spanish treasure transport fleet, Wang Ji's ship, is fully capable of protecting itself.
This situation will probably last another twenty years, by which time France and Britain will come.
A large number of British and French warships and pirates appeared in the Caribbean. The French even went to rob Brazil and occupied several colonial ports in Portugal. In order to protect the colonies, Spain could only ask the governor to equip maritime armed forces and be ready to attack the British and French fleets at any time.
After replenishing a small amount of fresh water in Nicaragua, and following the guidance of the Spanish colonists, Wang Ji turned east and entered the famous Caribbean Sea.
Soon, they encountered a big island: Jamaica!
Of course, Jamaica is an Indian name, and Spain calls this island Santiago. Damn it, Santiago, this bad name is everywhere in Yinzhou, making it seem like there is gold everywhere.
Choosing a suitable place to land, Wang Ji personally took people to the island to explore.
There are many small hills on the island, and there are rivers formed by mountain springs everywhere. Fresh water supply is very convenient.
Climbing a hill, Zhou Fei pointed to the distance and said, "Look, young master, there is a sugar cane field there. It doesn't look like it could be grown by indigenous people!"
"Form up!"
The Han musketeers and the Japanese rogues immediately formed the "Xiao Sancai Formation", the predecessor of the Yuanyang Formation, and it was the Xiao Sancai Formation improved by the Jishi Sect.
They cautiously headed to the sugar cane plantation, and then a few dark guys looked at them stupidly.
Zhou Fei was surprised: "How come these natives are as black as charcoal?"
Wang Ji muttered: "Master Ning (Ning Botao) said that the people south of the Dashi Kingdom have skin as black as jet ink. Are these people from there?"
The indigenous people of Jamaica are already extinct, and the Spanish can only transport black slaves from Africa.
Of course, the famous triangular trade had not yet been formed, and the cost of the black slave trade was relatively high. Therefore, only extremely wealthy plantation owners could own black slaves in the colony, and the entire island of Jamaica was in a semi-abandoned state—all the Indian slaves died of smallpox.
It was difficult for plantation slave owners to survive, so they had no choice but to abandon their land and go to Mexico and other places, where they re-captured the indigenous people and built new plantations on the spot.
The reason why there are so many pirates in the Caribbean is because a large number of island natives died out, and the colonists abandoned the islands one after another, leaving them as bases for pirates.
Just when Wang Ji was trying to communicate with the black slaves, the plantation owner came on horseback. The slave was wearing a face covering, as if to isolate himself from smallpox. When he saw Wang Ji with a large number of armed personnel, his attitude could not help but be respectful: "Hello, foreigners.
Sir, welcome to Blanco’s plantation.”
Blanco had six children. His first two wives died of smallpox, and three children also died.
Now, he has three wives at the same time, all survivors of smallpox.
In Blanco's own words, their whole family had already suffered from smallpox and were no longer afraid of the plague, so there was no need to leave the island.
Wang Ji sent people back to the ship to get some rum and food, and stayed at Blanco's plantation.
Faced with the powerful force, Blanco completely let down his guard, because if Wang Ji had evil intentions, he could only hold his neck straight and wait for death. The guy soon got drunk and said with a cry: "Dead, everyone is dead
. Half of the friends who went to sea with me died and half left, and now I am the only one left. Christina is also dead. It must be God’s punishment. We have brought too much killing here. "
Christina is this guy's white wife.
After the death of his first wife, he married another aboriginal, but the aboriginal wife also died of illness. He simply slept with all three of the remaining female slaves as wives, because the three female slaves had been infected with smallpox but did not die.
A few male slaves also died, but they tried to rebel and escape, but they were all shot to death by Blanco.
Wang Ji took advantage of the other party's drunkenness to obtain a lot of information on the island, but he still couldn't believe it was true.
Immediately, Wang Ji led people to continue exploring the island. As a result, the front was deserted, and the corpses of the dead could be seen from time to time. Several plantations in a row had been completely abandoned, and the reclaimed land was overgrown with weeds and shrubs.
This place was originally a paradise, and the Arawak indigenous people have lived here for generations. The Spanish brought war and plague, and the entire ethnic group disappeared in the long river of history.
Today, there is only "Spain City" in the southeast of the island, which barely maintains normal human society. A large number of people have fled to Spain City to settle. However, outsiders are not allowed to enter the city, or even get close to the city, so they have to live scattered around Spain City.
In the wild, from time to time there are reports that someone has died of smallpox.
living hell!
Wang Ji thoroughly felt the cruelty and bloodshed of the colony, so he sailed to Port Royal in Spanish Town, took some supplies, and then continued on.
In front of us is the island of Haiti, another hell on earth. Most of the natives of Haiti have died, and the entire island is shrouded in the shadow of smallpox.
Fortunately, all Wang Ji's crew members were vaccinated against cowpox at Mazu Port.
A brief inquiry revealed that the political center of this sea area was the island of Cuba further north, where there was a governor of Cuba appointed by the king. However, smallpox was also rampant on the island of Cuba, and the governor hid in the castle all day long and did not dare to come out.
There is not much to see here. After Wang Ji replenished his supplies, he prepared to cross the Atlantic Ocean to Europe.