Chapter 942: Little Japan, You'd Best Keep Following the Ming! (Please Subscribe)

Preparations for the expedition to the New World had been underway for many years. As early as when the Flying arrived in China, the Zhu Emperor had ordered the Navy Bureau and the Shipbuilding Bureau of the Grand Marshal's Office to secretly prepare for the long voyage.

The reason for secrecy was that in this era, the west coast of the New World was still firmly under the control of New Spain. New Spain treated all non-Spanish vessels with hostility, even sinking them — in these days there were no telegraphs or satellites, so if a sailing ship vanished off the eastern Pacific, no one could pin the blame on the New Spain authorities! The New Spain authorities would simply throw up their hands and claim ignorance — what could anyone do to those lunatic Spaniards?

On the Atlantic coast, someone might still be able to rein in those lunatic Spaniards, but here on the Pacific side, even the Dutch could do nothing about them.

So the Zhu Emperor's New World plan had to be kept secret!

Besides secrecy, the other requirement was building a large armed exploration vessel!

Because of New Spain's hostile stance, small sailing ships were unsuitable as exploration vessels, and the slower Chinese-style junks were also unsuitable.

The Flying, which had come from Holland, was perfect for cruising the western Pacific, because this ship was no exploration vessel, nor an armed merchantman, but a warship of the Dutch navy! In this era, the Dutch navy was the finest in the world!

Moreover, the Flying's combat power was not weak by European standards. Though it was no match for Spain's Royal Flagship or England's Sovereign of the Seas, its eight-hundred-ton burden was enough to rank as near first-rate, and its armament of forty cannon was formidable. And the Flying's speed ranked among the top three of all large and medium warships in Europe at the time!

In the words of the Flying's captain, David Jones, any warship faster than the Flying was certain to lose a fight with it, and any warship with greater firepower than the Flying was certain never to catch it.

Furthermore, this warship had been designed for the rough seas of the North Atlantic, so it was extremely sturdy and could sail through gales and storms, which also made it well suited as an exploration vessel for crossing the Pacific.

However, the Zhu Emperor did not immediately send the Flying into Pacific exploration. Instead, he had the master craftsmen of the Shipbuilding Bureau, with the help of foreign craftsmen invited from Holland, build a copy of the Flying.

Because Ji Kun and Li Shaoyou had purchased the complete blueprints of the Flying, the replication work proceeded fairly smoothly, and by the seventh year of Hongxing, the replica of the Flying — the eight-hundred-ton warship Henan — was finally completed, passed sea trials, and was delivered to the Ming navy.

While the Henan was being delivered and brought into service, its original, the Flying, remained active in the Pacific theater, becoming the formidable rival of the Spanish navy's Far East Fleet, which sailed under Mongol colors.

Although the Spanish navy was superior to the genuine Ming navy in every respect, the backbone crew of the Flying were all Dutchmen who had also trained in the Dutch navy, and their skill clearly exceeded that of their Spanish counterparts.

Moreover, the Flying's own combat power was stronger than any warship the Spanish had in the Far East. So in the naval engagements of these past few years, the Flying had become the pillar of the Ming navy, sinking or capturing at least three Spanish galleons of small and medium size.

Its sister ship, the Henan, however, had never made a formal appearance after completion — few even knew of its existence.

This ship had not been built at the shipyards of Nanjing or Shanghai, but at the highly secret Shijing shipyard in Fujian. After delivery, it had been commanded by Chen Shangchuan, a first-class graduate of the Naval Academy who had once served as first mate of the Flying, and it operated in the South China Sea flying the flag of the Dutch East India Company.

Not until the fourth month of the ninth year of Hongxing did it secretly sail into Dinghai naval port, the home port of the Ming navy's Eastern Ocean Fleet, to await orders.

When word that the Henan had reached Dinghai arrived in Nanjing, Wei Zaode — who had already handed over the post of Chief Grand Secretary to Lu Zhenfei — was summoned, together with Navy Bureau Director Zheng Jiangong, to the Old Mountain Palace where the Zhu Emperor was staying.

When the two men arrived at the Hall of Imperial Supremacy in the Old Mountain Palace, Zhu Cilang was in a meeting with the Grand Secretariat. Today the Zhu Emperor was to discuss with the Grand Secretariat the issuance of Northern Land Certificates and the opening of the Shanghai Stock Exchange.

According to memorials sent by envoys from Shi Kefa and the already-assumed-office Shen Tingyang, the confiscated and ownerless farmland in the North that could currently be confirmed amounted to roughly one hundred million mu. In addition, there were higher-value assets such as forest lands, pasturelands, coal mines, and iron mines, which could also be converted into land certificates — that is, these "state assets" would be securitized, then distributed to meritorious officers and soldiers and to the loyal refugees who had followed the Zhu Emperor south, and then rationally allocated through the market, which would incidentally get the securities market going as well.

If such a huge undertaking succeeded, then the capitalist road of the North would be on the broad highway!

Capitalism, in Zhu Cilang's view, was nothing more than making capital answer for productivity — if the farms lost money, then you capitalists could go weep! Hadn't the socialist reforms of the Celestial Dynasty of later generations also used "working for yourself" to encourage workers and peasants in the early days? Workers and peasants worked for themselves, capitalists ran businesses for themselves, and Zhu Cilang was being emperor for himself — it all amounted to roughly the same thing!

Zhu Cilang, being emperor for himself, was always brimming with drive. As soon as the Grand Secretariat meeting ended, he took advantage of lunchtime to continue receiving Wei Zaode and Zheng Jiangong.

The great navigator Wei, soon to become the first Chinese to open up the New World, now looked very haggard and had aged considerably — though only in his early forties, he already had white whiskers.

Zheng Jiangong also looked unhappy — he had been busy with the New World voyage for how many years! And now at the last moment Wei Zaode had snatched the ready-made prize. The whole affair was thoroughly vexing.

"Sit, both of you, sit down," the Zhu Emperor said with a smile, beckoning to the two men.

"We thank Your Majesty!"

"This subject thanks Your Majesty for the seat!"

Neither man stood on ceremony with the Zhu Emperor, and both sat down with an air of ease.

Zhu Cilang smiled and instructed the attendants, "Add two sets of bowls and chopsticks!" Then he said to Wei Zaode and Zheng Jiangong, "Eat something with me."

He paused. "When can the Henan set out? How many armed merchantmen have been arranged to accompany it? How much supplies do you plan to bring?"

"Your Majesty," Zheng Jiangong said, "the Henan can set out at any time. But this ship is our trump card and cannot be shown lightly. This subject suggests that the Marquis of Tongzhou first take the Flying to the Japanese port of Uraga. After completing his mission in Japan, he can then transfer to the Henan and sail east."

"Is there risk in the eastward voyage?" Zhu Cilang asked with an expression of concern for his subject. "The Marquis of Tongzhou must not come to the slightest harm."

"Your Majesty, affairs at sea have never been absolutely foolproof." Zheng Jiangong smiled. "If Your Majesty is uneasy, this subject can make the voyage in the Marquis of Tongzhou's place."

Zhu Cilang smiled and waved his hand. "The Earl of Xiamen can wait for the next one — We have an even better destination in mind, and We'll arrange it for the Earl of Xiamen next time. But to get there, we must first drive a nail into the New World!"

The fine destination arranged for Zheng Jiangong was Australia!

The plan to explore Australia was also advancing, but the difficulty was considerable — America had to be secured first, because to reach Australia one had to pass by America! It sounded incredible, but reality was just that absurd.

This route was related to the winds and ocean currents. To reach the humid east coast of Australia from East Asia at the lowest cost and in the shortest time, the route was to ride the Japan Current and the Pacific Current to the vicinity of the west coast of North America, then turn south and ride the California Current southward, then take the North Equatorial Current westward — though of course one could not keep going west the whole way, or one would end up back near the Philippines. Instead, after proceeding west for a time, one had to use the north winds, northwest winds, and northeast winds to sail south into the Equatorial Countercurrent, then drift eastward and look for sea winds that could be used to continue south.

Because the Equatorial Countercurrent lay in the equatorial doldrums, sailing south by wind was somewhat difficult, but not impossible to wait for — and even if one could not wait it out, one could drift back to America. For the Equatorial Countercurrent turned southward near the coast of South America, which would help a ship sail out of the windless zone, after which it could ride the Peru Current westward again, and then ride the South Equatorial Current westward to reach the east coast of Australia.