Chapter 697: Ming Dynasty's Pacific Island Chain (First update, please subscribe)
Of course it is not easy to find your father.
Even according to tradition, there is a price to pay for having a godfather.
What price will be required?
Those who understand this matter will understand.
Therefore, the issue of Japan's return to its ancestral roots can only be put on hold for the time being. Of course, the simplest reason for making this judgment is that the Tokyo government can still hold on for a while.
Therefore, there is no rush for this matter. Besides, Emperor Zhu has already made corresponding arrangements for the situation in Japan. And now the fleet is still in Hiroshima, and the military can get in touch with the fleet and Ryukyu at any time - last year, the Ming Dynasty finally made the world's first radio station.
It was not the spark radio station invented by Marconi, but a radio station that used vacuum tubes, or electron tubes, which had extremely superior performance. Although a radio station capable of intercontinental communications had not yet been built, the Ming Dynasty had its own island chain in the Pacific.
This island chain starts from Ryukyu, passes through the Marshall Islands, Chenggong Islands, Samoa Islands, Easter Island and then reaches the South American mainland of Ming Dynasty. As for the central Pacific Ocean, there is an island chain composed of islands such as Midway Island.
These island chains were originally used to serve immigrants. During the long voyage, steamships needed coaling stations and immigrants needed a place to rest and recuperate, so the Ming Dynasty took the lead in seizing many islands in the Pacific. Now those islands are not only coaling stations for sailing and immigrants, but also transit stations for radio stations.
This relay-style telegram transmission may seem a bit cumbersome, but it is a great improvement compared to the past. After all, in the past, telegrams from Ming Dynasty to China and other places had to be transferred through Europe.
Now the wireless telegraph has changed everything. Even the "Nanhua" installed a temporary radio station in Ryukyu at the beginning of the year, but until now the island chain communication system is still under testing.
Looking at the telegram about the Hiroshima incident that I had just received from the "Nanhua", although I have to leave Japan alone for a few days, some things still need to be adjusted.
"It looks like the plan needs to be adjusted a little bit."
Emperor Zhu thought for a while, then called Qian Zizhuang of the Investigation Department. A few minutes later, a telegram was sent from the wireless telegraph room of the Imperial Investigation Department. The radio signal was sent through the transmission tower on the roof, and after the first transfer in Linhai, it was sent to the next stop.
…
Easter Island is 3,000 kilometers away from the west coast of the Ming Dynasty. During the Age of Exploration, almost no country was interested in it because it was not on the route. Even if someone was interested in it, it was just for slave trade. In 1862, Peruvian pirates captured more than a thousand people at once, and almost all the men on the island were caught and sold into slavery. Although the Peruvian government had to release more than a hundred surviving Rapanui people under the condemnation of international public opinion, these people contracted smallpox on the way back to Easter Island, and only 15 people returned home in the end. And these 15 people brought smallpox to Easter Island, and all the chiefs and priests died. There were only a few hundred residents left on the island.
In 1863, when smallpox was raging on the island, a merchant ship of the South China Company entered the island. The doctor on board saved many local people through vaccination. South China entered the island as a savior and was naturally welcomed by the people.
From then on, the island became the land of the Ming Dynasty.
Porto Statue is the largest city on Easter Island. In the past 12 years, dozens of immigrant ships have docked here every year to refuel with coal and water. Some weak immigrants have gone ashore at Porto Statue and settled on the island. Their arrival has brought prosperity to this coastal city.
However, for anyone who is accustomed to the prosperity of a big city like Nanhua, this so-called small town is just a small village.
Standing in front of the radio signal tower and gazing at this coastal town, Wang Wenxing felt a little homesick.
“I don’t know when I can go home!”
He is an employee of Nanhua Electric Company. Three months ago, he and his colleagues came here by boat and built a 30-meter-high signal tower near the coastal fort.
With this signal tower, wireless television stations can send telegrams to other telegraph stations thousands of kilometers away in the mainland or in the Pacific Ocean.
"Wait a minute. The radio still needs to be tested. We need to teach them how to use and maintain the radio. Then, we can leave only after we make sure the equipment is stable."
Lighting a cigarette, Zhao Wei looked at the huge stone statue in the distance with a smile.
"Although this place is not very lively, if we hadn't come here, how would we know that there are such giant stone statues in the world? And there are so many stories behind them. Oh, by the way, I bought a few Ronge Ronge boards from the indigenous people yesterday. The words on them look quite beautiful. I heard that there is someone on the other side of the island who can write this kind of words. I plan to go find that person and find out what is written on the boards."
Although he is an engineer, Zhao Wei is very interested in Easter and local culture. For this reason, he was fascinated by those exquisite Langge Langge wood panels from the first time he discovered them.
What he didn't know was that in another world, almost all of these Langge planks were burned under the leadership of French missionaries, with only 25 planks left secretly preserved. Twenty years later, when Chile occupied the Easter Islands and archaeologists came here and discovered the Langge planks, the last person who could read the text had died. Since then, no one has been able to decipher this text.
Under the rule of the Ming Dynasty, these Langgelangge wood boards were not burned, but even sold as a kind of handicraft to sailors and soldiers traveling here. Zhao Wei didn't know what impact his personal hobby would eventually have?
But one thing is certain, that is, as the Ming Dynasty expanded around the world, just like the British scholars of this era, there would be many Ming Dynasty scholars who would study cultures from all over the world, and bring cultural relics from all over the world to the Ming Dynasty through archaeological discoveries. People like the Ming Dynasty could intuitively feel the achievements of civilizations from all over the world in different eras.
Of course, corresponding disciplines will also be opened in the universities of the Ming Dynasty to study the history and culture of various parts of the world.
As they were talking, a soldier in the telegraph room spoke up and shouted at them.
"Engineer Wang, Engineer Zhao, the signal from the radio station is not very stable. We just received a telegram from Linhai. Part of the signal is not very clear. The station director asked you to come and take a look."
The soldier's shouting made Wang Wenxin and Zhao Wei look at each other helplessly, and then Zhao Wei smiled.
"Look, isn't it? It's broken again. If we want to go home, we have to at least wait until the signal is stable."
As a new product that has just been invented, there are of course some issues with its reliability, which is why these engineers have to stay here.
"Okay then, let's go over and check what the problem is."
Compared to personal hobbies, the current work is undoubtedly more important. It is precisely because the radio station is not very reliable that they stay here.
I have set up a book club: 335260551. Everyone is welcome to join and discuss and deduce the plot together.
(End of this chapter)
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