bookrandom Chapter 1148 Arrival in Africa
Chapter 1148 Arrival in Africa
Chapter 1148 Arrival in Africa
Zhu Su's fleet, which had killed illegal merchants and cleared the Spice Islands, began to lead its fleet to leave the Spice Islands and head towards the Strait of Malacca in the northwest.
According to the original plan, the fleet was supposed to pass through the Strait of Malacca and sail along the coastline of the Indian Ocean to Central Asia. However, when leaving the Spice Islands, the fleet encountered an unprecedented huge storm.
It was a storm that was big enough to swallow up the heaven and earth. The terrible gale rolled the dark clouds and the sea water together. The treasure ship that could carry thousands of people was like a powerless fallen leaf in such a terrible sea storm, being tossed up and down effortlessly by the power of heaven and earth.
In the face of such crazy power of heaven and earth, Zhu Su's fleet suffered devastating damage. Three Fu ships lost their whereabouts in the wind and rain, and other treasure ships and Fu ships also suffered more or less damage due to the storm.
What was even more fatal was that the sea storm that lasted for dozens of days caused the fleet to completely lose its direction.
In this era without satellite positioning, they were surrounded by the vast ocean. They seemed to be abandoned in the depths of the vast Guixu, completely away from the established route.
In this case, even the star-pulling technique was useless: the error of the star-pulling technique was very large, and it could only determine the approximate direction. And the lack of sunlight for dozens of days made the error increase exponentially. Zhu Su's fleet had no idea where they were.
Finally, after consultation between Zhu Su, Li Jinglong and Tie Xuan, it was decided to order the fleet to sail northwest: because the only thing that could be speculated was that they should still be in the Indian Ocean at this time.
Then, as long as we sail northwest, we will find land sooner or later.
But... after sailing for several months, Zhu Su's fleet still did not see the shadow of the continent. It seemed that there was only the vast ocean between heaven and earth, and they had been lost in this boundless ocean.
Fortunately, the treasure ship had sufficient supplies. Although food and grass were scarce for several months, there was no worry of running out of food. The most difficult thing was the sepsis caused by the long voyage.
Zhu Su had brought a large amount of canned food with him to prevent sepsis, but because of the storm, a large portion of the canned food was broken by the violent shaking of the ship, which led to a shortage of canned fruit in the fleet.
Even though the Ming army had experience in long-distance voyages and cultivated crops such as bean sprouts on board to prevent sepsis, it was still a drop in the bucket. In addition, the fresh water stored on board began to stink after sailing for too long. In addition to missing their homeland, the soldiers had to drink sewage, and some soldiers had to endure sepsis. The morale of the Ming army dropped significantly.
Thanks to Zhu Su's prestige, the Ming army was able to continue sailing forward in such an almost desperate environment. However, even so, a rebellion still occurred in the fleet. Some soldiers' homesickness reached its peak. They believed that Zhu Su's decision was wrong. If they continued to move forward, they would all die in the boundless sea. They wanted to drive the ship back the same way, and perhaps they could return to the Spice Islands again.
So, a split broke out and the fleet began to split. This group of soldiers hijacked a Fujian ship carrying nearly two hundred people, left the main force, turned around and sailed into the vast ocean.
Excluding those who were lost in the storm and those who died of sepsis, the entire Ming fleet had only 2,000 people and four warships. Now that these 200 people left, the Ming fleet only had three warships and 1,800 people.
Then, no one knew whether it was God’s mercy or God’s trick. Just ten days after the fleet split, Zhu Su and his party finally saw the outline of land in the unchanging mist on the sea... And at this time, more than half a year had passed since they left the Spice Islands.
As for this piece of land, Mr. Li Jinglong, the great navigator and admiral of the early Ming Dynasty, who was the second in command of the fleet at the time, clearly recorded what he saw and heard in his sailing diary: "... After sailing for more than half a year, we finally saw land, and everyone was happy. When we landed, there were natives in the forest, all with curly hair and black bodies, and no clothes..."
"...When the King of Zhou saw this, he realized that this place was a continent thousands of miles away from Daming... Because the natives on the island seemed to be slaves of Kunlun, the King named this continent 'Kunlun Continent'."
The so-called Kunlun Continent is what later generations called Africa. Zhu Su and his companions lost their way due to a storm and arrived in Africa after more than half a year of sailing.
Thousands of Ming troops landed in Africa, which aroused the vigilance of many surrounding African indigenous tribes. You know, many tribes in Africa have a population of only a hundred people at most. Suddenly so many Asians came here, driving huge ships that looked like miracles, which made many tribal leaders terrified.
However, Zhu Su was not interested in this place for the time being. The fleet had been drifting for half a year and was not able to establish a colonial base in the wild and untamed Africa. The top priority now should be to replenish food and fresh water, and repair the ship.
Zhu Su then ordered the Ming army to go out and cut wood and collect food. At the same time, a temporary dock was dug in the river valley to repair the treasure ship. As for the natives, they traded with them with the goods on the ship. For example, broken glass from cans was as precious as gems in the eyes of the natives, enough to exchange for a large amount of food and fruit.
The Ming army set up a large pot, boiled the fruits and sealed them in unbroken glass jars. The emptied canned fruits were finally replenished. This symbolized that sepsis, the biggest enemy of the fleet on the voyage, was no longer a problem. Zhu Su felt relieved.
Because the Ming army never attacked them and even brought them beautiful "gems", and then saw the Ming army's tall warships, strict fortifications, and smoke from cooking all night long, the natives spontaneously danced around the Ming army's camp, causing the Ming army to be surprised.
Later, hundreds of years later, scholars studied the local products of Kunlun and found that the natives of Kunlun regarded the Ming army as gods sent down from heaven. Since then, the image of the gods in Kunlun has gradually changed to black hair and yellow skin, and the carved gods are often dressed in robes that look like the Ming army's mandarin duck war jackets. This is the origin of the story.
After solving the problems of supplies and ship repair, Zhu Su summoned Li Jinglong, who was already tanned, and Tie Xuan, who was already mature and steady at a young age due to the wind and rain at sea, to discuss the next step of the fleet.
Because of the deviation from the route, the fleet was seriously delayed at this time, and the Crusade in Central Asia might have been settled. Now there were two options before them: retreat to Ming Dynasty, or continue to move forward.
Back to Ming Dynasty, there is a vast ocean behind. Even if you walk along the coastline, there are still many difficulties. After all, Africa at that time was also a huge continent that had hardly been developed. It must be difficult to supply, and there was no ready-made route. You still need to slowly explore along the way.
If they continued to move forward and headed for the heart of Europe... it would be even more dangerous. They had already lost contact with their homeland and Zhu Di's troops. If they rashly sent these 1,000 people to Europe, it might just be a drop in the bucket.
It is not certain whether Zhu Di's troops had been defeated. Even if they had won, they would have continued to advance and reached the western part of Europe. Zhu Di's troops were attacking from Central Asia to the eastern part of Europe. Even if they had defeated the Crusaders, the distance between the east and the west was so great that it would have been difficult for the two sides to coordinate.
(End of this chapter)