Chapter 943: You Must Be a Little Smarter! (Please Subscribe)

"Your Majesty, in earlier times the Dutch reached the southern continent without detouring by way of the New World. Perhaps we could first search for it, and once a suitable site for a colony has been found, then seek out the best sea route."

Zheng Jiangong had also taken part in the preparations for exploring the southern continent. He was now Director of the Naval Staff, the equivalent of a naval chief of staff, so he had a hand in all naval matters, and he knew that the southern continent could be reached by way of the equatorial doldrums. For as early as 1605, the Dutch navigator Willem Janszoon had set out from Java, sailed along the southern coast of New Guinea, and finally crossed the Torres Strait, landing on the northern coast of the southern continent, which he named New Holland.

Between 1642 and 1644, Abel Janszoon Tasman, a captain of the Dutch East India Company, was likewise ordered to survey the southern continent. He did not, however, take the doldrums route to the northern part of the southern continent, but instead made a circuit through the Indian Ocean, found the West Wind Drift, and then sailed steadily east. Three months after leaving Java, when he altered course northward to avoid a cold current, he chanced upon the island of Tasmania, and shortly afterward discovered New Zealand, Tonga, and Fiji. But he did not discover the true southern continent, that is, Australia.

Because the islands Tasman discovered were all difficult to reach and seemed to offer no special products, the Dutch East India Company did not occupy or develop them.

Tasman himself was now in Shanghai. He had retired from the East India Company in 1653, and shortly afterward accepted Zheng Jiangong's invitation to serve as deputy head of the Shanghai Naval Academy, a post he still held.

Since the East India Company had no interest whatsoever in Tasmania, New Zealand, Tonga, and the like, Tasman had not concealed his discoveries of 1642–1644. He had also taken part in the Great Ming's southern continent exploration project.

In the initial plan, the preferred route was to sail through the Indian Ocean, find the West Wind Drift, sail east for a time, and then turn north — in other words, to replicate the route Tasman had taken in 1642–1644. But this plan was rejected by Zhu Cilang, for the simple reason that it required passing through seas and islands firmly held by the Dutch.

Unless the Great Ming could seize Java and Malacca, the plan simply could not be carried out.

After that, Tasman proposed another plan: to set out from Timor, which was controlled by the Portuguese, and sail south through the equatorial doldrums in search of the southern continent — in other words, to replicate Willem Janszoon's route.

But this plan was also rejected by the Zhu Emperor. For sailing through the doldrums was too slow, and the currents in that region flowed westward, so the exploration ships would have to take a route of light winds and contrary currents. Although there were many islands along the way for convenient resupply, the speed was still too slow, and it would be very difficult to reach the rich east coast of Australia by this route.

Even if they forced their way through, subsequent immigration would be very hard to sustain. For this route still passed under the very noses of the Dutch, and it also went through the Spice Islands, which the Dutch East India Company treated as a cash cow... Of course, the chief difficulty was still that the sailing speed was far too slow!

Exploration ships did not fear slowness, because they carried few men, and thus relatively more supplies, so they could hold out for a long time. But immigrant ships or merchant ships could not do this: they had many crewmen and much cargo, and relatively fewer supplies, so the time they could sustain themselves at sea was shorter.

If they were to carry more supplies and fewer men and less cargo, then the cost of immigration would be too high — Australia's value belongs to the twentieth and twenty-first centuries; this is only the seventeenth century, so how could one invest everything for the sake of benefits three hundred years in the future? Therefore, colonizing Australia also required considering the question of cost.

Moreover, once the Great Ming's exploration ships reached the east coast of Australia and began colonizing there, the Europeans might well follow suit!

Since the Europeans controlled the Indian Ocean–West Wind Drift route, they could transport immigrants to Australia's east coast at relatively low cost, so the Great Ming's high-cost colonization of Australia might very well end up doing all the work for others to reap the benefit.

Therefore, although Zhu Cilang had long wanted to obtain Australia, he had not rushed to invest, but was patiently waiting for an opportunity to open up a Pacific sea route.

For he knew that only the Pacific route could possibly be brought under the Great Ming's control within the next ten or twenty years. At present, the only power controlling the Pacific route was the already declining Spain, and the Great Ming still had a chance of defeating the Spanish navy in the Pacific.

But to take the Indian Ocean and West Wind Drift route, they would have to challenge the powerful Dutch and English navies, and there was no chance of victory in that!

"Do not take the road the Dutch have taken," Zhu Cilang once again rejected Zheng Jiangong's proposal. "The Spanish charts already mark the eastward Equatorial Counter Current and the westward South Equatorial Current; it should be feasible. Once we have secured a foothold on the west coast of the New World, we can try exploring it. If Captain Janszoon's discovery of 1606 proves true, we will certainly find something. If not, then we will go in search of the island of New Zealand, which Captain Tasman discovered in 1645. Since that island has so many fierce natives, it may have some value, and we might be able to take it."

The Zhu Emperor then smiled and said to a gloomy-looking Wei Zaode: "Marquis of Tongzhou, do not worry. We will not keep you long in the New World. If you truly fear it, then stay at the port of Uraga in Japan, deal with the Japanese side in the name of an imperial commissioner, and take charge of supplies for the eastward exploration. Once the expedition carried by the Henan has secured a foothold in the New World, you can enter the New World with the second wave of colonist ships and establish the America Protectorate. Once the America Protectorate is established, your son Zhongcheng will succeed to the post, and you, in the name of a special imperial envoy of the Great Ming, will travel by way of New Spain to visit Europe, and finally return eastward to the Great Ming... That would be a voyage around the world!

If the Marquis of Tongzhou can accomplish such a feat, who will still care how those several hundred thousand taels of family wealth were obtained? Then We can employ you again and make you Chief Grand Secretary once more!"

He could become Chief Grand Secretary again?

When Wei Zaode heard Zhu Cilang's promise, his eyes lit up, and his whole bearing seemed to grow much more spirited. He immediately rose and bowed to the great Zhu Emperor. "Your Majesty's great kindness, this subject will never forget as long as he lives. On this mission, this subject will not fail his charge!"

"Sit, sit!" Zhu Cilang beckoned to him. "With those words from the Marquis of Tongzhou, We are reassured... We have always kept Our word. When the time comes, We will certainly make you Chief Grand Secretary again!"

Lu Zhenfei, who had replaced Wei Zaode as Chief Grand Secretary, was too old — sixty-six already — and in poor health, and he was not as tactful as Wei Zaode, so the great Zhu Emperor found him very uncomfortable to work with, and was already somewhat missing "the Second Zhuge," Wei Zaode.

"Your Majesty," Zheng Jiangong said, now with a somewhat worried look, "the Spanish have always regarded the west coast of the New World as their private preserve. If we truly establish a protectorate in the northwest of the New World, I fear it will provoke a great war between our two countries!

The present clashes between the Spanish and us around the Japanese islands are, in the final analysis, also aimed at preventing us from sailing east across the Pacific.

If we truly set foot on the New World, then a great war will be unavoidable!"

"Can we win?" Zhu Cilang asked.

"That..." Zheng Jiangong said hesitantly, "on land, this subject dares not say. But at sea, the advantage still lies with Spain! They have quite a few thousand-ton galleons, and our eight-hundred-ton warships cannot defeat them! Moreover, our naval officers and men are still somewhat inferior."

"We cannot win?" Zhu Cilang frowned.

After receiving the Spanish charts sent by Oboi, Zhu Cilang already knew that the Spanish American empire was missing a large piece in its northwest corner. The northern border of New Spain roughly lay along what would later be the boundary between the American states of California and Oregon. Everything north of New Spain was now unclaimed land!

It was likely that even the King of Spain would not necessarily know if the Great Ming's troops went up there and built forts, ports, and farms!

Moreover, after more than ten years of tempering in the Ming-Qing wars, the Ming army was now very skilled at building bastion forts, its artillery technology had advanced by leaps and bounds, and it possessed fairly reliable explosive shells, so it should be able to hold a base in northwestern North America with a small force.

Therefore, the Zhu Emperor did not want to delay any longer, but wished to drive a nail into northwestern North America as soon as possible!

So long as the nail was driven in, he believed the Spanish would not be able to pull it out. If the matter kept dragging on, he feared the Spanish would strike first and plug the gap in northwestern America...