"However, Brother Zhang and I overcame all difficulties and continued to follow the map without slacking off. Unexpectedly, even after reaching North America, Brother Zhang eventually fell ill and died in a foreign land."
"I can only bring his remains back with me. After arriving in Mingzhou, I will ask someone to send his ashes back to his hometown in Yueqing."
"I still remember that before Brother Zhang died, he never forgot to entrust me with the mission I must complete. Therefore, I dare not neglect it and will rush through the night, hoping to reach America as soon as possible and obtain what I need."
Chen Haizhong sighed and said, "I am ashamed that I originally wanted to sail south to South America. However, when I arrived at a place called Portland, I was suddenly attacked by the local natives. I suffered heavy losses and was forced to return, unable to complete my mission."
Zhao Zhen was also moved and said, "You and Zhang Xianwen are both pillars of the Song Dynasty. When I was selecting talents, you actively went to join me. This has already proved that you put your life and death aside. You are both great!"
"I failed to travel to South America and bring back what the court wanted. Your Majesty, please punish me!"
Chen Haizhong was quite ashamed.
"The court will not punish you, but will only praise your wisdom and reward your courage!"
Zhao Jun comforted him, "You have accumulated valuable sailing experience for the Song Dynasty. I hope you can write down your journey and compile it into a book."
"Thank you, sir. I will do my best."
Chen Haizhong bowed.
Zhao Zhen asked again: "What did you bring back?"
Speaking of this, Chen Haizhong brightened up and said, "I have fulfilled my mission. Although I did not bring back any rubber or cinchona trees, I did exchange them with some friendly local natives. I used our Song Dynasty silk, fine wine, porcelain, tea, and ironware in exchange for a large amount of gold, silver, corn, sweet potatoes, potatoes, peppers, peanuts, and other local vegetable and fruit seeds."
He added, still unsatisfied, "I really don't know where the Magistrate got this map. Not only are the locations clearly marked on the map, but the local products are also clearly marked. Only after I went there did I realize that it was exactly as the Magistrate described. The Magistrate is truly an expert."
"Very good."
However, Zhao Jun had no intention of accepting Chen Haizhong's flattery, but became excited.
Rubber and cinchona trees were not obtained.
But having products like corn, sweet potatoes, potatoes, and peanuts is already very satisfying.
Now productivity will be greatly improved, and we can even consider distributing the tax on land, officially allowing the Song Dynasty to enter a period of population explosion.
Then, under the questioning of everyone, Chen Haizhong talked about some of his experiences at sea.
His journey to North America was the most dangerous. He had to overcome many obstacles along the way and even ran aground. More than 20 ships were damaged and leaking, so he had to dock and repair them for more than a year before he could set off again.
It took him more than three years to travel from the Song Dynasty to North America, but it was much faster to come back. The crew members were eager to go home, and they arrived in just over a year.
If they had not consumed a lot of supplies on the way, they would have had to find ways to exchange supplies with the locals every time they arrived at a place, or survive by fishing and hunting. I'm afraid they would have returned even faster, arriving in at most half a year.
After all, it seems far to travel from the Song Dynasty to North America. In fact, even if you go along the coast, it is only about 11,000 kilometers. If sailing at full speed, the Song Dynasty ship can only travel 30 to 40 kilometers per hour, which is more than enough to travel 400 to 500 kilometers a day.
Excluding possible risks, under the best-case scenario, it will take 20 days to reach North America.
But unfortunately, this situation only exists in ideal conditions. Their actual experiences may prevent them from saving for more than a year. This is the price they must pay to open up a new world.
The price paid by the Song Dynasty this time was actually very small and very lucky.
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