Chapter 593： Columbus is going to Daming

In the world of 1505, the degree of development is too low. With the exception of the Eastern Daming Empire, Japan, India, Turkey, Persia, and European countries, most parts of the world are actually not much developed.

At this time in the Americas, only Mexico and the Andes had large populations and developed certain civilizations. As for the rich eastern North America, as well as most of Brazil and Argentina, they are still under the control of the Native Americans of the Stone Age.

In the eastern plains of North America, there are dense virgin forests everywhere. Towering ancient trees are everywhere, and the centuries-old oak trees that are rare in Europe can be found everywhere in the eastern part of the North American continent. The trailing North American Indians lived in the dense jungle, slashing and slashing and hunting.

The bow and arrow of the Indians, at this time there is no metal arrow, mostly stone arrow. The Indians loved to make knives and arrows with hard obsidian. Before the Europeans traded, all Indians were in the Stone Age except for a few Indian advanced civilizations such as the Inca Empire.

The arrow made of this kind of stone has poor armor breaking ability. Faced with the armor of Europe, there is nothing to do. Even when hunting thick-skinned bison, the Indians needed to change their spears and javelins.

Of course, after the British and French involved in trade with the Indians, the Indians' weapons were immediately upgraded. They had a matchlock, and then a flintlock.

However, the British and French merchants sold muskets to the Indians, but it was not good intentions. They gave the friendly Indian tribe a musket, in fact, to facilitate them to hunt more animals and obtain more fur. In addition, it is the Spaniards.

In addition to weapon factors, the biggest factor restricting colonization is the dense primary forest. The Spaniard's general policy was useless in jungle warfare. Because the Indians will hide in the virgin forest, and will not face the Spaniards at all. If you chase into the forest, cold arrows and traps are waiting for you.

Of course, if you follow Marin's idea, let a group of experienced jungle hunters be the vanguard, and hide in the forest is not terrible. Those old hunters can determine the hiding point of the prey that is hidden deep based on the footprints and feces on the ground and ambush it. Every old hunter in the forest is a master of tracking.

In addition, Marin not only recruited experienced Black Forest hunters, but also mass-bred Alsatian wolfhounds, the ancestors of German shepherds.

As long as they are trained, these Alsatian wolfhounds will learn to track the Indians in the jungle according to the smell. The specific approach is-which experienced hunters first discover the clues of the enemy first. Then, let the Alsatian wolf dog come forward to smell the smell, and follow the smell to trace the Indians.

The old hunter plus the wolfhound, even the cunning criminals of later generations, is difficult to escape, not to mention the Indians who have little knowledge. They will simply disguise and hide themselves according to the jungle environment. Faced with the combination of old hunter and dog, absolutely can not escape.

Of course, every old hunter is a baby. It's impossible to make them head-on with those Indian warriors. They are only responsible for tracing. For specific operations, they still have to use the swords and shields and ordinary musketeers. Those old hunters and wolf dogs, as long as they are responsible for tracking enemies and discovering enemy traps. The battle is still left to others. After all, such professionals are rare and not very easy to train. Unlike those artillery soldiers, if you die, go to recruit ...

...

Seeing Amerigo's fleet return, the nautical squad led by Captain Aben to explore the South American coast also set off. Next, naturally it was Columbus's turn ...

According to the original plan, Americo obtained the naming rights for the Americas, and found the credit for India and Daming, all attributed to Columbus.

However, in search of the Daming route, Marin intended to walk on two legs. What are two legs? Is to find two routes to Daming.

Columbus will go to Daming for the first time. After arriving in Calicut along the Indian route, go south to the Straits of Malacca. After passing the Straits of Malacca, go north to the coast of Fujian and Guangdong in Daming.

This route is clear and reserved for the Portuguese. What Marin wanted was for Columbus to get a discovery right. After all, the Portuguese have been dissatisfied with India ’s right to discover, insisting that Dhaka is India ’s first discoverer.

This time, Columbus went to Daming alone, so that the Portuguese would have no idea.

In fact, Marin does not like this route, but prefers the route on the Pacific Ocean, which is the route of the later Manila galleon trade.

Why? Because that route is east-west, it can be sailed in a wind zone, and it can be sailed downwind for a long time, and the speed of the ship can be very fast.

For example, when traveling from the Americas to the Philippines, the east wind belt near the equator is already downwind, and it also runs along the warm current of the north equator. So smooth and smooth, the natural speed is very fast. From Panama to the Philippines, it takes about three months (using the Spanish Galen boat); from Manila to the Americas, you need to first follow the Kuroshio tide of the Western Pacific, and in June each year, follow the southwest monsoon north, After arriving in the waters near Japan, we arrived at the westerly belt, following the westerly wind and the tributary of the Kuroshio in the North Pacific all the way to the east. It takes about 6 months to arrive in the Americas.

But if you take the African coastal route, according to Dutch records, it takes about 10 months from Europe to Taiwan Island, which is slower than taking the Pacific route.

This is because the wind belt is often changed when taking the African coastal route. This time it was downwind, and it was probably headwind after a while, unable to make full use of the wind. This is very unfavorable for sailing. Therefore, taking this route is not efficient.

Moreover, there is a big problem with this route, that is the problem of pirates ...

The waters of Southeast Asia have not been calm. Although the Ming Dynasty banned the sea, there were many pirates in the South China Sea. For example, at the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, there appeared the big pirate Chen Zuyi, who had been in Malacca for more than ten years, with tens of thousands of pirates and hundreds of warships.

Such a strength, most countries in the world can not beat him. If Zheng He ’s fleet had killed him, he might have established his country in Southeast Asia.

Now, although no big pirates like Chen Zuyi appeared. However, a prime location like the Straits of Malacca is definitely infested with pirates. Because this is an important route for trade between Daming and the Arab and Indian regions ~ www.novelhall.com ~ Although Daming did not open normal trade, the tributary trade is still very prosperous. Moreover, there is also smuggling. Therefore, the Strait of Malacca is still very prosperous.

In fact, some green religion countries in Southeast Asia were established by Arab merchants who came to Daming Trade. Such as Sulu. The main reason is that, on the islands of Southeast Asia, the indigenous people did not establish a country at all. A look at some ambitious Arab businessmen-hey, good opportunity, let's stop doing business and go to occupy an island as chieftain ... That's it, Green Education spread like this in Southeast Asia ...

This time, Marin sent Columbus to take this route, but he was actually very worried. Therefore, Marin sent four ships directly to Columbus-a 500-ton battleship, and two 250-class armed merchant ships. And, equipped with enough artillery and warriors.

Such force is specifically used against pirates in the Strait of Malacca. After all, if you use the boat configuration that explores the Americas, you may die very badly. After all, there are Chinese pirates over there. Those people are not stupid Native Americans. They have warships and kung fu. If they use ordinary troops without force, Columbus might be killed.

Therefore, for safety, Marin shot a battleship for Columbus as the flagship to ensure its safety. Now, just wait for Columbus to pick the captain and the sailors, and you can go ...