After the old man signed a contract with the Portuguese in Macau last year, Zhao Hao procrastinated until the end of the year, but finally returned the two large Western sailing ships.

He delayed the time mainly to allow Jiangnan Shipyard to reassemble the dismantled Oriental Beauty. Yang Fan was indeed a great man, and he actually reassembled it for them. In order to allow the poor Oriental Beauty to sail safely to Macau, it is said that the rivets and iron hoops alone weighed a full 5,000 kilograms, just like the sailing wind was turned into multi-rivet steamed steel.

As a result, the Oriental Beauty swayed from Chongming Island to Xiangshan Bay, and at least it did not fall apart in the middle of the journey. As for what will happen in the future, whether it will fall apart as soon as the guns are fired, that has nothing to do with the Jiangnan Group.

Most of the Portuguese crew members, including Major Alfonso, returned to Macau with the two Western ships. However, there were also some who chose to stay, such as Pinto and Blanco.

Pinto was afraid of being a scapegoat. Blanco and the others were because Master Zhao gave them too much and they were the only ones who had milk. Although the Ming Dynasty stipulated that foreigners were not allowed to enter the country without tribute, so they could only work in the shipyard and live in Xingang City, it was still a hundred times better than living on a ship with only sheep in dangerous waves.

Now Pinto is a full-time professor at the Jeju Coast Guard School, and Blanco is a specially appointed engineer at the Jiangnan Shipyard. In order to hear both sides, Zhao Hao also brought them along on this trial voyage.

Both of them are proud of the Western sailing rigs, especially the full sail rigs. They believe that the reason for this test result is that the three ships are too small. If it is replaced with the Oriental Beauty, the unparalleled speed advantage of Western sails will be reflected. Because larger ships can be equipped with larger and more full sail rigs, the larger the hull, the faster it is.

For example, the speed of the Oriental Beauty when downwind was not as fast as the Duke of Goa, which was outdated in terms of ship type. No matter how good the Chinese sail was, it was limited by the weight of the sail itself and could not be infinitely increased as the ship grew larger. If a large warship of more than 1,000 tons was to be built, it would be like a small horse pulling a big cart.

Therefore, the more Atlantic the ship, the more obvious the advantage of sails! Therefore, large warships still have to use Western full sails!

Yang Fan disagreed, he thought the shortcomings of the sail could be overcome, if it was too heavy, he could try to reduce the weight, and he could also install rigging to reduce the burden on the sailors.

As for the full sail rig that the red-haired devil was so proud of, he just laughed because through communication with the Portuguese shipbuilders, he knew that this kind of sail rig suddenly appeared in Europe without any signs during the Xuande period.

According to the records of the treasure ship factory, the foremast and mainmast of Zheng He's treasure ship were sails, and the mainmast was also equipped with a horizontal soft sail, and the mizzen mast was equipped with a horizontal soft sail and a triangular soft sail. In addition, there was a bow with an upward-slanting stem, on which a horizontal soft sail was hung. There was also a triangular soft sail in front of the foremast.

Except that all the sails were replaced with square sails, it was almost exactly the same as the full sails of Western ships.

Moreover, this so-called full sail outfit was already very perfect in the Tang Dynasty...

If this is a coincidence, it would be such a coincidence.

Blanco was not happy when he heard Yang Fan's insinuation that they copied the Ming Dynasty's sail rigging. He said no, at most we just borrowed from the Arabs.

The Arabs also copied the Ming Dynasty, Yang Fan said.

The two sides then fell into a fierce quarrel, and soon entered the stage of greeting each other's female elders and relatives, and racial discrimination.

Of course, in this era, the people who are discriminated against are the red-haired devils...

Blanco said aggrievedly, "Isn't it just that she was born good? What's the big deal?" Mr. Zhao finally couldn't help but yelled "Stop!" Then he scolded Yang Fan, saying that racial discrimination should not be spoken or written on the face. What's the difference between that and being the object of discrimination?

Finally, he concluded that commercial ships and warships below 1,000 tons should mainly use Chinese-style sails, but should also absorb the advantages of Western-style sails and cables.

As for large warships over 1,000 tons, you have to build ships of that size first.

~~

The reason why sailing rigs are so important is that the main source of power for ships in the Age of Discovery was wind.

In addition, ocean currents in the East China Sea of ​​the Ming Dynasty are also very valuable.

After two years of continuous patrols, the garrison has basically understood the ocean currents and monsoons in the East China Sea.

"The area within the garrison is mainly affected by the Kuroshio Current, which is the main current of the entire East China Sea circulation of the Ming Dynasty." A few days later, on the Prajna, Jin Ke reported their observation results to Mr. Zhao: "This ocean current is darker than other normal seawater, so it is named 'Kuroshio'. The Kuroshio Current flows from south to north and remains unchanged throughout the four seasons. The flow rate is very fast, so when going north, you should sail with the current as much as possible, which can greatly shorten the voyage time."

"The Kuroshio will also bring rich fishery resources." Young Master Zhao stood by the railing, looking at the countless seagulls circling on the obviously darker sea surface, and couldn't help laughing: "It's a pity that there is no cold storage, so we can't develop deep-sea fishing..."

"Cold storage, ice cellar?" Jin Ke was stunned.

"Just pretend I didn't say anything and continue." Zhao Hao shook his head and took a sip of the bubbly orange soda.

Drinking soda while enjoying the sea breeze was his dream a few years ago, and it finally came true.

"As for the wind in the East China Sea, it is also obviously seasonal. In winter, the wind is mainly from the north, but the prevailing wind direction is different. North China and Japan are generally northwest winds, while central China and southern China are northeast winds. In summer, south winds prevail..." Jin Ke continued to report: "So we have re-arranged the sailing schedule for East Asia based on ocean currents and monsoons, and handed it over to the Royal Shipping and Tamra Chamber of Commerce for trial implementation, in the hope that it can help them further improve efficiency..."

~~

The East China Sea that Jin Ke talked about far exceeds the scope of the East China Sea in another time and space.

In the world map published by Tiedi Publishing House of Jiangnan Group, "Kunyu Wanguo Quantu", Master Zhao brazenly defined the four seas of the Ming Dynasty.

Among them, the coastal waters of the East China Sea of ​​the Ming Dynasty, which stretches from Ainu Island in the north to Diaoyu Island in the south, completely include Japan and Korea and are also under the jurisdiction of the Tamra Garrison District.

The Ming South China Sea refers to the entire sea area south of Diaoyu Island, north of Jue Island, east of Malacca and west of Luzon Island.

The so-called Jue Dao is what Chinese sailors call Australia.

According to the "Records of the Islands and Barbarians" by Wang Dayuan, a folk navigator in the Yuan Dynasty, he had been to the port of Darwin in Australia. He described the local customs and people in detail. Quanzhou merchants and sailors who sailed between the East and West Oceans all year round also knew about that place. They believed that it was the last island on earth and called it "Juedao".

In another time and space, in 1606 AD, 45 years later, Europeans would discover the island. Nearly two hundred years later, British Captain Cook would land on the east coast of the island and shamelessly claim it as British territory.

Mr. Zhao naturally couldn't let the British devils take advantage of this. How could such a good place be used as a labor camp by the British? That would be a waste of natural resources!

Wouldn't it be nice to take it down and exile it to the Ming Dynasty?

In accordance with the international practice at the time, Master Zhao brazenly declared that this land belonged to the Ming Dynasty.

But in fact, the international practice at that time was that you had to at least set foot on this land before you could brazenly declare it. But how could Zhao Hao have the time to send a scientific expedition team? Fortunately, the Chinese had been there at the latest during the Yuan Dynasty, so he could of course brazenly declare that "since ancient times" Juedao has been an inseparable part of the Celestial Empire.

As for the Ming Dynasty's Western Sea, it refers to the waters west of the Strait of Malacca and east of the Western Ocean Countries, including Siam, Burma, Ceylon and all other vassal states of the Ming Dynasty. It is also the Andaman Sea and the Bay of Bengal in another time and space.

These countries are all traditional tributary states of the Ming Dynasty, and most of them belong to the core vassal states stipulated in the "Imperial Ming Ancestor Instructions" - the list of "unconquered countries". Their territorial waters are of course the territorial waters of the Ming Dynasty, and the Ming Dynasty has the obligation to protect their security from the threat of invaders.

There is also the Ming Dynasty North Sea, which refers to the coastal waters of Nurgandusi to the north of Ezo Island. But it should be noted that the Ming Dynasty did not clearly define the area under the jurisdiction of Nurgandusi. So Mr. Zhao brazenly believed that the area north of Liaodongdusi and all the way to the sea belonged to the jurisdiction of Nurgandusi.

To explain it with another concept of time and space, the Ming Dynasty's North Sea includes the Sea of ​​Okhotsk, the Bering Sea, and the entire East Siberian Sea...

These four seas constituted the vast maritime territory of the Ming Dynasty. The East China Sea, South China Sea and West China Sea were inland seas, which were the key sea areas to be managed.

As for the North Sea, it will not become a hot spot for hundreds of years, so its importance is not as high as the first three seas. But it is always right to occupy it for future generations in advance, so that they can get the claim of "since ancient times" in the future.

He who sweeps the world encompasses the entire universe and takes in the four seas!

Mr. Zhao’s lifelong dream is to make the world illuminated by the sun and the moon, and for all corners of the world to belong to China forever!

~~

Wang Rulong and Jin Ke stood upright behind Zhao Hao, watching the Boluo ship cut through the waves and listening to him describe his boundless dream of conquering the world...

"What? Do you think I'm dreaming?" Seeing that both of them were shocked, Zhao Hao asked with a smile.

"How could that be?" Jin Ke shook his head and said seriously, "The East Sea is already under your control, you can ignore the North Sea for now, so aren't the South Sea and the West Sea the only ones left?"

"Yes, with our current strength, it is not difficult to drive the red-haired devils out of the South China Sea." Wang Rulong also said in a deep voice: "According to the plan, within ten years at most, you will be able to dominate the South China Sea. Then after another ten years, the West China Sea will belong to you. By then, you will not even be forty years old."

"Hahaha, I also think we have plenty of time." Zhao Hao laughed for a while, and said seriously: "To conquer the four seas within 20 years is a very serious task, because the window of opportunity given to us by history is less than 30 years. After 30 years, it will be multiplied to unify the four seas."

"Yes! We will complete the mission at the cost of our lives!" Although the two did not know what basis the young master had, they firmly believed in the judgment of the Lord of the East China Sea.

"Well, thanks to you guys, otherwise I wouldn't dare to have such a dream." Zhao Hao smiled emotionally.

"You are joking, sir. With your ability, even if there is no Jinke Wang Rulong, there will be a Yinke Wang Ruhu to serve you." Jin Ke said modestly, "The Ming Dynasty is full of talents and there is no shortage of generals like us, but there has never been a genius like you who values ​​the ocean more than the land!"

ps. There is one more update.