Volume 3: Confrontation! The Run of Civilization Chapter 427: Thirty Thousand Miles Back
After a storm, the sea surface, which was originally covered with heavy clouds, suddenly became calm, the sky was high and the clouds were light, and the waves were sparkling. The seagulls that were hiding somewhere just now flew out from everywhere and circled around the masts of the two Jinling-class battleships.
Although the scenery on the sea was very pleasant and the air burned by lightning was unusually fresh, the situation of the two warships was really not good.
"Admiral Zheng, the Chengdu has sent a flag, saying that the hull that has been sealed is leaking again."
"Tsk!" The lieutenant general with a greasy face and a sling on his right hand waved his hand in annoyance: "Let them keep blocking the way!"
After the order was passed on, Zhang Hong on the boat was furious: "Zheng Wei, you bastard! There is nothing in this vast ocean except water. What can I use to plug the hole? I have taken apart all the tables, chairs and beds in my room and used them to plug the hole. You can't ask me to use grain bags to plug it, right? This guy is a navy, and he doesn't know as much as me, an army soldier!"
After complaining about this, Zhang Hong said to his men, "Send another signal. Chengdu asks Chongqing to get closer to us. Ask Admiral Zheng to take down everything that can be taken down in his room and send it over. Otherwise, I will use food bags to plug the holes. Please ask Chongqing to give us some food."
"Zhang Hong is a bandit! All these landlubbers in the army are bandits!" Zheng Wei jumped up and down at the signal coming from the other side: "Zheng Guangyuan, what do you say we should do?"
"What can we do?" With a helpless sigh, Zheng Guangyuan waved to a few sailors to come over: "Go to my cabin, take down everything that can be taken down, and then send it to the Chengdu."
"Well, forget it, just dismantle my cabin as well."
It was December 30, 1619. A year and a half had .
This round trip of nearly 30,000 miles was relatively smooth at the beginning. They set out in early June 1618, and continued to move southeast along the Taiwan, Guam, and Marshall Islands. However, it took more than three months for them to successfully arrive at a place in South America that belongs to Peru in the 21st century.
At this time, Spain had a viceroyalty in Peru. However, the entire South America was vast and sparsely populated at this time, and the so-called viceroyalty could effectively govern a limited area. In addition, Zheng Wei and others had given various "educations" to the Spanish and Portuguese who were accompanying them along the way. So after landing, with the help of these guides, they quickly contacted the local Indians. After sending a considerable number of flintlocks and bullets, these Indians took them into a large rubber forest.
After successfully obtaining a large number of plants and seedlings, Zheng Wei and his team stayed in the local area for several months with the mentality of "since we are here, we are here". The farthest they traveled was even Bogota, the capital of the Viceroyalty of New Granada, the center of Spanish rule in South America at that time. They loaded more and more things on the ship: in addition to South American native crops such as corn, sweet potatoes, yam beans, potatoes, cassava, pumpkins, peanuts, sunflowers, peppers, tomatoes, beans, lima beans, apples, pineapples, sugar apples, guavas, avocados, cashews, cocoa, American ginseng, papayas, upland cotton, and tobacco, they also got a few pairs of anacondas, cougars, and alpacas on board.
Not only that, they also kidnapped seven local Indians in America and boarded the ship: We are all yellow people, and now you are under the cruel rule of white devils like Spain. Do you want to go to our Ming Dynasty to see what a real empire established by the yellow people is like?
By June 1619, when the Spanish colonial government had already turned its attention to this group of strange people who had come out of nowhere and were "buying, buying, buying", all the cabins of the three warships of Chengdu, Chongqing and Shunqing were already filled with things. At the command of the commander of the small fleet, Zheng Wei, the three warships finally embarked on the journey back home.
It was different from the time they came, because when they returned, they could use the North Equatorial Current. So after they set out from Lima, they first sailed north against the wind to the present-day California area, and then after finding the huge ocean current running from east to west, they adjusted their route and sailed quickly towards the western Ming Dynasty.
But once you leave like this, problems arise.
In July, when Zheng Wei wanted to temporarily break away from the North Equatorial Current and go to the Hawaiian Islands for resupply based on the nautical chart, he encountered Tokugawa Yoshinao's troops who had arrived here only a month ago.
There was nothing much to say when the Sun-Moon Flag and the Rising Sun Flag met on the sea. However, Zheng Wei and his men were only leading a small fleet of three 600-ton ships, and they had more important tasks to complete. Therefore, Zheng Wei and his men wisely chose to retreat.
But Tokugawa Yoshinao, who had just arrived in Hawaii and was still in shock, couldn't stay calm when he heard the news: What? Is Kaiyang going to continue to hunt me down? Is this the advance reconnaissance detachment? In that case, I must keep you here!
The Tokugawa family still had nearly 20 warships at this time, and such a force was certainly not something that Zheng Wei's small fleet could resist. What was even more annoying was that Zheng Wei's fleet was fully loaded and sailing slowly. However, the Tokugawa family had a large number of clippers!
As a result, one side retreated at full speed without any intention of fighting, while the other side desperately pursued. The two sides fought for nearly a month, and the Tokugawa family paid the price of sinking seven clippers, and finally sank the Shunqing, the rear guard. Even the Chengdu and Chongqing ships that escaped were scarred. The Chengdu had two large holes below the waterline, and it leaked water at any time...
What's worse is that they were so focused on getting out of the battle that they didn't even consider the ocean currents. After they had completely gotten rid of the pursuers, Zheng Wei and his team used the sextant developed by Fangshan Laboratory and the Imperial Astronomical Observatory to reposition themselves: They were almost retreating to Mexico.
Zheng Wei had no choice but to lead his team to land on a deserted beach near Mexico, resupply food and fresh water, and simply repair the ship before setting off again. This time they did not dare to take the North Equatorial Current, and could only rely on the northeast trade winds to detour to the South Pacific. However, in this way, the North Equatorial Current from east to west could not be used at all, and the time spent on the return journey was significantly increased.
Anyway, after a difficult climb, they first arrived at the Marshall Islands, and then passed through Guam - basically walking the same route again.
The most annoying thing during this process was the leak under the waterline of the Chengdu: the damage here could not be completely repaired without entering the slipway, and the only way now was to plug the leak. As a result, the safety and speed of the voyage were significantly reduced.
The worst thing was that they had just encountered a storm: they had enough fresh water, and the brave sailors took a bath on the deck when the storm weakened but had not completely stopped. However, the Chengdu was leaking again.
"Well, if we can't stop it, we'll just have to abandon the Chengdu."
"What a pity! We are not far from Taiwan Island now. If we can hold on for another two or three days, even if we run aground on Taiwan Island, at least the cargo on the ship will be saved."
"Forget it." Zheng Guangyuan, who had been working as a civil servant in the Ministry of Public Administration since the government, was the calmest at this moment: "We'll see what happens. If the Chengdu still can't stop the leak, let them transfer all the rubber here. As for us, we'll transfer all the animals that are still alive to the Chengdu. After all, the first mission this time is rubber, and we must bring back as many rubber plants as possible."
"good!"
Just as Zheng Wei and Zheng Guangyuan were about to make their plans, the Chongqing's lookout rang the gong: "My dear officers, northwest, at ten o'clock, there are more than twenty ships approaching us at high speed!"
"Hiss! We have used up all our shells. To reduce weight, all the artillery pieces have been thrown into the sea. Is this a friend or an enemy?"
"Lookout, did you see the flag clearly?"
"..." After carefully observing for a while, the lookout shouted in surprise: "My two superiors, among these ships, the ten or so ships in front have no flags, while the ten or so ships in the back have flags of Chen, the captain of the Jinyiwei Taiwan!"
"Ah~! Great, it turns out to be Chen Xiaotian's team. We are saved!"
