More than 200 years ago, Marco Polo, a native of Venice, came to the Central Plains with his uncle and was welcomed at the feast of the Yuan Emperor, Kublai Khan.
He lived and served as an official in the Yuan Dynasty for 17 years. After returning to China, he published the Journey of Marco Polo (also known as the Eastern Knowledge Record).
The book described the palace walls, walls, and ceiling of the Yuan Dynasty's capital, which were painted with gold and silver.
There was a lot of gold to build houses, and the claim was absolutely credible.
The book was widely circulated, and the people of Europe were drooling over it, determined to cross the sea and go to the rich East.
Before the end of the Yuan Dynasty and the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, there were three main trade routes from the west to the east.
One was the land route, the traditional Silk Road. It landed from Constantinople, passed through Asia Minor, the Black Sea, and the south coast of the Caspian Sea to Central Asia, and then crossed the Pamir Plateau to the Central Plains.
The other two were sea routes. One was from Syria and the eastern coast of the mediterranean sea, through the two river basins to the persian gulf.
The other was from Egypt to the Gulf of Aden via the Red Sea, and then to India and the Central Plains.
These trade routes had been passed through Italy, Arabia, Byzantium, Persia, and other places for many times before the goods could reach Europa.
When the Ming Empire was founded, the Turks rose at the same time, blocking these roads.
Therefore, the merchants and nobles of Europe were eager to open up a new route that bypassed the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea and directly reached the Central Plains and India.
At this moment, the fleet of the Flang Mechs was already sailing on the sea of the South Sea. Their country was called Pu Taoya.
"General, the Ming Empire is in front. There is gold everywhere…"
"Ah! Was that the Ming Empire? This is too exciting. Lads, cheer up!，Our journey has arrived!" General Folangji shouted excitedly.
"General, the Ming Empire has millions of soldiers and a famous navy…"
" Oh, then let's observe first. I heard that the Eastern Emperor is quite powerful…"
The fleet of the Franc Mechs slowly advanced along the current, their masts taut by the sea breeze.
——
In the throne room, Zhu Houyan looked at the civil and military officials.
"Zhen wants a commander talent. There is no need to recommend someone who is a glutton. Yang Yiqing, you are the chief assistant.”Zhu Houjie called out.
As soon as he finished speaking, Yang Yiqing stepped forward with a board in his hand and bowed.
"Your Majesty, I recommend Tan Lun, the governor of Zhe Li, to be the navy governor! Tan Lun was a man of literary talent and martial strategy. He knew a lot about water warfare and had a strategic vision. He could take on a great responsibility!”
Tan Lun!
Tan Lun, also known as Zi Li, was a civilian in Jiangyou. He was a famous general who fought against the Japanese and an outstanding military strategist. He was as famous as Qi Jiguang, Yu Dayou and Li Chengliang.
Together with Qi Jiguang, they were also called Tan and Qi.
Tan Lun was appointed as the prefect of Taizhou to defend against the Japanese pirates that invaded the coastal areas. He recruited thousands of local soldiers to train and resist the Japanese pirates. He defeated the Japanese pirates in the eleventh year of Zhengde.
The following year, tens of thousands of Japanese pirates harassed Taizhou again, Tan Lun personally led the death squads to fight, three battles and three victories, so that the military prestige greatly increased.
In the hundreds of years when the pirates ran amok, Tan Lun had succeeded Zheng He's fleet and won a complete victory against the pirates. However, Zheng He was no longer around and Qi Jiguang's ability to command the overall situation still needed time to be honed.
The best candidate now was Tan Lun!
Zhu Houmo believed that with Tan Lun in charge of the entire navy, the Ming Navy would always be the strongest navy in the world.
"Tan Lun, Tan Lun! Where is Tan Lun now?"
"Your Majesty, Tan Lun is currently patrolling the coastal defense of the major provinces." Yang Yiqing bowed.”
"Announce that he has entered the capital. Zhen wants to see him.”
"This lowly subject obeys the decree!"
With Tan Lun, Zhu Houxin no longer considered other candidates.
——
Haihe Port.
In the Great Ming Navy camp.
Tan Lun, who was wearing casual clothes, was patrolling here. Qi Jiguang had already led his recruits to the sea to train.
Tan Lun looked at the prototype of the new warship made by the craftsmen and was instantly amazed!
Compared to Zheng He's Treasure Ship, the new battleship was bigger and sturdier. Furthermore, it didn't need to consider the wind direction and ocean currents!
The new warship was 150 meters long, and Zheng Hebao was 120 meters long.
The new battleship was sixty meters wide, while Zheng He's Treasure Ship was fifty meters wide.
The new warship was equipped with ten new cannons with a range of six kilometers.
Zheng He's Treasure Ship had twelve cannons with a range of three kilometers.
Starting Zheng He's Treasure Ship required 300 sailors to provide power in the lower cabin, and the new warship used coal…
On the other hand, the western superpowers 'sea giants, the Franc Mechs, rowed over wooden sailboats that were thirty-three meters long and three meters wide. They used small-caliber cannons with a range of two hundred meters. Each of them had a musket and rowed to provide power.
The warship that they were so proud of was just a small toy in front of the Ming Empire's new warship.
However, they were still immersed in their dream of being the giants of the sea.
They were secretly approaching the southern beach of the Ming Empire, coveting the golden land of dreams in the East…
In their generation after generation, the Central Plains was extremely rich.
Their dream was to follow the path of their predecessors and set foot on the Golden Country of the East.
To them, the Travels of Marco Polo was a treasure trove of wealth.
They firmly believed that what Marco Polo said in his travels was true, because the navigation technology they used was left behind by Zheng He's fleet in Nanyang.
There was also a compass, a nautical map, a nautical system, a nautical diary…all of them were left behind from Zheng He's era.
When they arrived in Nanyang, they discovered a large number of temples to King Zheng. These temples were used by the Nanyang people to worship Zheng He.
This trip to the East was under the orders of King Folangji.
However, they continued to land on the island and kill the natives on the island. It was a complete journey of bandits!
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