This time, the fleet is fully equipped and fully prepared for the upcoming long voyage.

Not only did they carry out maximum supplies, but all six ships, including the captured Spanish galleon, were also completely renovated.

In addition to replacing the bottom hull with teak, which is not easy to rot, all the decks, planks and barrels of the ship that are easy to replace were also replaced with Brazilian mahogany.

This extravagant move simply shocked the Portuguese. Because Brazilian redwood is extremely valuable, the red dye extracted from it is ten times more expensive than gold. However, the Ming people used it as ship material, which was like using gold bricks to build walls!

Add to that more than 13 million taels of silver. This is not just a ship, it's simply six mobile treasure houses!

If it weren't for their strong ships and powerful guns, and their vigilance, these Portuguese merchants who were originally pirates would have long been unable to resist robbing their fellow pirates...

But the black and thick cannons were pointed at the Governor's Palace and the Council Building in Rio. The Portuguese could only see off the distinguished guests from the East and welcome them to come and take care of their business often.

~~

Liu Daxia, who had finally regained his normal functions, slowly sailed out of Rio Bay.

Lin Feng stood on the deck, with his hands stretched out, looking down at the gradually receding harbor city with a solemn expression, and asked Zhang Xiaojing beside him: "Xiaojing, what do you think of this posture?"

"Not very good, what are you going to do?" Zhang Xiaojing looked at her strangely, holding a little capybara that she had rescued from Lin Feng.

"In a few years, I want to build a statue for my master in Rio. It won't be the bronze one like the one Fatty Tang built in Newport. It has to be more than ten feet tall!" Lin Feng pointed to the abrupt hill behind Rio City and said, "I have chosen the place. That mountain is the most suitable!"

Looking at the hill that is seven or eight hundred meters high, imagine a thirty or forty-meter-high statue of Zhao Hao erected there, facing the bay dotted with mountains, with its arms open to embrace the city at its feet. How solemn and majestic it would be?

"That's so cool..." Little Zhuzi couldn't help but be fascinated.

"Tsk..." Lin Feng rolled her eyes, flicked the big parrot that landed on her shoulder and said, "Same pose, your husband is really handsome, I'm not so good."

"Everyone's best posture is different." Zhang Xiaojing smiled and covered her mouth, "For example, you are best suited to holding a whip, holding a parrot, and stepping on a box full of gold coins."

"Hahaha, that's right." Lin Feng nodded in agreement and said with a smile, "Then it's settled. When we go back, you can help me draw the blueprints and see the effect. It would be better if we can make a budget or something to see if I have enough money."

"You have to ask the Portuguese whether they agree first." Zhang Xiaojing said with a wry smile.

"By then, they won't be in charge here anymore." Lin Feng licked his lips and said disdainfully:

"With just a few people like them, they dare to occupy such a large territory. Isn't it like a child holding gold and walking through a busy city? If we don't rob it, others will!"

"That's true." Zhang Xiaojing was not a pushover either. She actually agreed and said, "My biggest feeling during this trip to America is that the Spanish and Portuguese are so lucky. They actually occupied such a fertile and vast land."

She sighed and said, "It's a pity that it's a little too far."

"Don't be afraid. The Spaniards can go to Luzon to colonize, so why can't we fight back and go to America?" Lin Feng said nonchalantly.

"That's right. The invaders can come, and I can go too. It's impolite not to return the favor." Zhang Xiaojing smiled and nodded, "This trip to America has really been fruitful."

"Unfortunately, only half of the ballast stones were replaced with silver." Lin Feng sighed.

"Just be content. The ballast stones for the six ships weigh nearly a thousand tons in total." Zhang Xiaojing rolled her eyes and said, "If all of it were converted into silver, it would cost nearly 30 million taels!"

"Then we have to keep working hard." Lin Feng said enthusiastically, "When we get to the West Coast, we'll do some big things!"

"Ah, coming again?" Zhang Xiaojing helplessly held her forehead with her hand. She thought she could go home for the New Year at the end of last year, but she didn't expect that it's New Year now and she's still in Brazil.

She is already eager to go home.

But there was nothing they could do about it, because they had offended the powerful Spaniards. They had to waste a lot of time avoiding the pursuit of Admiral Leon.

According to the intelligence obtained in Rio, Admiral Leon and his fleet were still guarding the Strait of Magellan, anxiously awaiting their arrival.

Moreover, the voyage along the east coast of South America was truly terrible and a real torture to the crew.

So when they were in Rio, the crew members all said in unison that they would follow the westerlies eastward, go around the Cape of Good Hope and return to Asia through Africa.

Lin Feng did indeed announce this, and all the crew members believed it, not to mention the Spanish spies in Rio.

The spies also saw that after the Ming fleet left Rio, it sailed directly eastward and disappeared on the sea level. They became more and more certain and quickly rode on llamas to Argentina to report the news.

~~

But what the Spanish spies didn't know was that after sailing eastward for half a day, Lin Feng suddenly ordered to turn the rudder south!

There was an uproar on the ship. All the crew members, who were eager to return home, looked at their captain in confusion, wondering why she changed her mind.

"What are you doing? You're like a horse with a sudden impulse?" Lin Feng pouted and teased without any hesitation, "Have you forgotten why you came out here? You want to go home after robbing? How are you going to explain to my master when you go back?"

"Sorry, sir, we just robbed someone and wanted to be rich after the robbery. Who cares about sailing around the world?" Lin Feng looked at everyone with a smile. "Anyway, I don't have the face to say such things, and I don't want to be laughed at for half my life."

"Commander, why didn't you say so earlier?" The crew members said depressedly, "You are the same if you go east or west. Are you kidding us?"

"Bah, what do you think!" Lin Feng spat, "I set off a smoke bomb to make the Spanish think we were heading east, so they will withdraw from the Strait of Magellan and give us a way home!"

"Oh, so that's it, the commander is wise!" Everyone immediately flattered him, saying, "We all listen to the commander!"

"That's more reasonable." Lin Feng's expression eased a little, and he continued, "And I've found out clearly that Spain's colonies on the west coast of America are basically undefended because they have been peaceful for many years and their military preparations are lax. Don't you want to grab a few more and exchange all the ballast stones for silver?!"

"We want to!" The crew members became excited and shouted.

There is no such thing as too much money, and robbery will definitely become addictive!

"Then hurry up and do what you need to do!" Lin Feng snorted coldly, "I think you guys deserve to be punished recently. You even dare to question what I say!"

"We dare not, even if we are beaten to death!" Everyone laughed and said, "Commander, we lost our minds just now. How about you give us a good beating?"

"You wish! Get out of here as far away as you can!" Lin Feng cursed with a smile and pretended to hit him.

After all the people and animals below had scattered, she turned and entered the cabin, sat down on a chair, and let out a light sigh.

"What's wrong? Are you feeling a bit overwhelmed?" Zhang Xiaojing poured her a glass of cognac.

"A little bit, indeed. But this is normal. As the time at sea increases, the crew will become more and more impatient. We have been at sea for two years, right?" Lin Feng took a sip of wine.

"Two years and one season." Zhang Xiaojing said with a wry smile.

"It's been so long? Normally, all disciplines should have been abandoned long ago. The crew have become animals that act only on instinct." Lin Feng whistled and said, "It's a miracle that they are only slightly impatient now."

"But we still need to sail for another half a year, right? We should pay more attention to their mentality." Zhang Xiaojing frowned slightly. To be honest, this should be the job of the police commissioner, but she is obviously incompetent in this regard.

"It's okay. In fact, it's mainly because we have been chased by the Spaniards for half a year. Although we have never met, our mentality has changed." Lin Feng drank the liquor in the glass, wiped his mouth with his backhand and said: "What we need now is victory. Win a few battles and everything will be fine!"

~~

After leaving Rio, the fleet headed south in the deep ocean to stay away from ships sailing close to the coast to prevent its whereabouts from being disclosed.

A month later, the fleet docked at an archipelago 600 kilometers away from the mainland to rest and replenish fresh water.

The shape of this archipelago is very interesting. It is like a complete island that was split into two halves with an axe, with a straight and wide waterway in the middle, just right for the fleet to stop and take shelter from the wind.

After Lin Feng flew up to overlook the place, he excitedly named it Butt Island.

Ma Yishan thought it was too ugly and asked her to change it. Lin Feng brazenly changed it to "Ma Yishan's Buttocks Island", abbreviated as Ma Island.

"Commander, you don't have to be so polite. I am very satisfied to have Ma Yishanwan." Old Ma said with a bitter face.

"No problem, an island is an island, a bay is a bay, it doesn't matter." Lin Feng waved his hand and said, "This is the privilege of pioneers, it's settled!"

~~

"What? Aren't we in the old horse's butt ditch?!" The crew members who learned about this burst into laughter. They were checking and reinforcing the sails and cables, and nailing soffits to all the portholes, preparing for the next step of crossing the Roaring Westerlies.

The westerly belt is a low-pressure area surrounding the earth, between 40 and 60 degrees south latitude. Because there is little land, friction is small, and the vast sea allows the westerly wind to run wild, with strong winds and huge waves all year round. Strong winds above level 7 can reach more than 7-10 days in each month of the year, so it is called the "roaring westerly belt."

Whether you want to go around America or Africa, you have to pass through this westerly wind belt, which is why the Cape of Good Hope is called the Cape of Storms.

Precisely because he had experienced its power at the Cape of Good Hope, Lin Feng carefully chose the time to sail into the westerly belt. Now is midsummer in the southern hemisphere, which is theoretically the time of the year when the wind is the weakest.

They had to be cautious, because there was no refuge like Cape Town this time. There were only angry Spaniards waiting for them in the Strait of Magellan, vowing to bury them in the roaring westerly wind.

After ten days of rest in the Falkland Islands, the fleet set sail towards the Magellan Strait, facing the roaring westerly wind!

ps. Next chapter will be in a quarter of an hour.