In the winter of the third year of the Hezhong period, in the Indian Ocean, the undiscovered Kangaroo continent was about 600 miles away from the west coast of the west coast of the Kangaroo continent.

Two "Shenjia"-type galloping exploration ships are driving with oars and traveling south against the wind.

Although there is always a vast sea around, even a reef that surfaces cannot be seen, and the ships are still in annoyingly sailing against the wind, the naval officers and soldiers on the two "Shenjia"-shaped galleys were all extremely excited.

Because they know that they are experiencing some great events, which are enough to be recorded in history.

Because the theory of Diyuan has basically been confirmed!

The two Shenjia exploration ships, Shunfeng, and Ruyi, sailed south on the windless and hot ocean for two days, and a miracle happened.

A cool southeastern wind suddenly hangs on the calm sea! After sailing against the wind for two days, the temperature also dropped significantly.

The further you go south, the lower the temperature!

This shows that the official Zhao Huan's speculation is correct, the earth is round. Therefore, sailing all the way south can also reach the extremely cold land in the north of the Great Zhou Republic. Now they may have passed the extremely hot land in the south and should be sailing to the extremely cold land in the north. The reason why it is said to be "should" is because the direction of the compass on the ship has not changed.

In addition, the North Star still did not appear in the night sky, while the Southern Cross star was still bright.

However, the reason why the compass always points to the south, and why the North Star and the South Cross appear in the north and south night sky exit of the Sanfoqi Strait respectively, is not clear.

Therefore, we cannot use this as a basis, just say that the "Shunfeng" and "Ruyi" are still heading south, rather than sailing north.

Even if the course has not changed, their discovery is very remarkable.

They discovered that there were also cool places to go to the south! A cool climate means that there may be a habitable land. On the habitable land, there may be a civilization that can trade with it.

If you can find livable and fertile land, it would be even more ideal...

Chen Jiang stood on the stern stairs behind the "slow wind", holding a telescope and searching the sea, as if he wanted to find the shadow of the land.

After searching for a long time, what I saw was still sea water like a shiny blue blanket, rolling layer by layer, slowly rising and falling.

Although spectacular, it also makes people feel a little disappointed.

The climate on this sea surface is already relatively cool, probably similar to the sea outside Fujian. How to find islands or continents, maybe you can find rich indigenous city-states to trade...

Chen Jiang just sighed softly.

His younger brother, Chen Hai, the paddler of the "Shunfeng", was hurriedly walking up the stern of the boat.

Seeing the disappointed expression on my brother's face, I asked, "Brother, have you still not noticed it?"

"No," Chen Jiang shook his head, "but it has only been 10 days, and there are 6 days of headwinds, and the average speed may not even be 6 knots."

The "Zhou Song system" section is 3 miles per hour. The speed (hourly speed) is 6 miles per hour, 18 miles per hour, 12 hours a day is 216 miles per day, and 10 days is 2160 miles per hour.

Of course, this number is not accurate, it is only about one. So their current location is about 1,080 kilometers south of Bali. Bali is about 1,300 kilometers away from the Australian continent.

It is not surprising that Chen Jiang and the others can't find Australia now, but the distance is not too far.

The great geographical discovery that is about to unveil a new chapter in human history is 600 miles away.

"Do we still want to continue to go south?" Chen Hai asked.

"Of course!" Chen Jiang said, "The order of the Nanyang Navy Admiral Division is to let us travel south for 20 days and then go back. Today is only 10 days, how can we go back? And the cooler we go south... it has not heated us up, right? According to the plan, if we don't encounter islands or continents, we will continue to walk south for 20 days, how to turn to the northeast and see if we can find the south side of Nanlantao.

Second brother, tell them that everyone will be tired... and tell them that after this mission is completed, everyone will be rewarded, and the sins they committed will be spared, and the navy can also send a ship to take them back to their hometown."

"Shunfeng" and "Ruyi" both the paddlers on the two exploration ships are all served by criminals.

Now the prisons of prefectures, cities and counties in the Eastern Song Dynasty were empty, and death rows were rarely executed. All kinds of bad people and good people who were wronged were two places to go, either to be exiled overseas or to be used as naval paddlers.

The former is first-class, thousands of miles away, and is a wild and miasma-dry place. The criminals who were placed there to open up the land are easily infected and died! In a few years, almost half to two-thirds of them can die!

The latter is easy to survive, but it is too hard. They are locked on the small and dirty paddler deck all day and sell their hard work. It usually takes three or five years to regain freedom.

However, the Navy is not responsible for sending them home, and they will be released in various commercial cities in Nanyang to make a living.

Most of the oarsmen who are now being held on the "Shunfeng" and "Ruyi" exploration ships were arrested for resisting Qingtian in various parts of Jiangnan. Not all the landlords and old wealthy people, but some are poor and lower-middle peasants who were incited. It's really pitiful.

So it becomes an exciting reward to release it in advance and to release it back to Jiangnan.

...

Wang Zhongfu, who is already seventeen years old this year and is about to turn 18, quickly climbed up the "Shunfeng" lookout basket.

He is now a student of the Young Martial Arts Hall of the Eastern Song Dynasty. The so-called Young Martial Arts Hall is actually similar to the Knight Primary School of Zhou State. Its purpose is to provide excellent students to the martial arts hall (military academy), and also to the army to provide grassroots officers and sergeants.

Wang Zhongfu moved to Jiangning with his adoptive father Chen Go two years ago. Chen Go and his brother Chen Shi were both loyal ministers (Chen Go was not considered the second master when he was an official in Zhou State, because Zhou State was a republic and had no master). Of course, he could not become an unfilial son Zhao Kai. So he found a teaching position as a doctor of Confucianism in Jiangning University where Wu Haode served as the official in the Siye (another famous school was born).

Wang Zhongfu was recommended by Chen Shi's friend Wu Haowen to attend the Martial Arts and Military Academy for the Shui Juniors because of his good martial arts skills. This child was really smart. Although he had no basic foundation in mathematics, physics, and nature, he quickly made up for it and ranked among the top in the school.

During this period, he was assigned to the Navy Nanyang Fleet for internship. When the internship was completed, he could apply for the Navy Military Academy.

His performance during his internship in the Nanyang Fleet will also become an important basis for whether to be admitted to the martial arts lecture hall.

Since the Eastern Song Dynasty did not have an imperial examination system, if you want to enter the officialdom, you had to obtain a graduation diploma from elementary school or university, and then take the public official exam or join the army.

Therefore, obtaining graduation diplomas from the Navy Junior Military Academy and the Navy Junior Military Academy and then becoming a navy officer became the only and the most ideal way for young Wang Zhongfu to rise.

After climbing up the observation basket and taking the telescope from a comrade, Wang Zhongfu started on duty for three hours.

The image in the telescope is no longer reversed by the sea and sky, but has become an image with a big head facing upwards. This is the result of years of research on the optical department of the Yuntai Academy of Natural Sciences...

In addition, the material used to make telescope lenses is not natural crystals, but has become a very transparent Tianjin glass sheet with very low yield rate, and only about a few percent of the products are qualified. However, compared with natural crystals, it is still much cheaper. Therefore, it can produce telescope equipment for the troops in large quantities.

Wang Zhongfu followed the continuous left, front, right and back, observing the undulating ocean surface over and over again. There was nothing on the ocean surface... only the waves were ups and downs, and there were a few white seabirds hovering.

No! There are seabirds!

There are no seabirds in the vast ocean, only seabirds can soar near islands or continental coasts.

Now there are seabirds in the sky, so will the island be far away?

Wang Zhongfu rubbed his eyes a little unbelievably, then put one eyeball on the eyepiece of the telescope and looked carefully.

That's right! It's just a bunch of seabirds!

Wang Zhongfu put away the telescope, then turned around and sounded the alarm bell.

"Dangdangdangdang..."

When the harsh bell sound came, Chen Jiang was eating breakfast in the back forecastle of the ship, and the porridge was just a bun. He was snoring and the alarm bell rang.

It is not a rapid battle signal, but a interval alarm bell, which is a signal that the lookout post has discovered.

Chen Jiang quickly put down a half-eat bun, then wiped his mouth, stood up, strode and walked out.

After getting up the rear forecastle, Chen Jiang saw that several officers on the ship had arrived, each with a telescope, and were all looking at the sky.

"What is discovered? Is it land?"

"Benchengjie is a seabird! A large flock!" someone answered immediately.

"Is it a migration?"

"No, it's just hovering in the air, as if fishing."

"Near the sea..." Chen Jiang's breathing suddenly became rapid. He quickly took out the distant tube and looked into the air ahead. Sure enough, there were more than a dozen white birds flying in the air.

"We are near the sea!" Chen Jiang ordered loudly, "Send additional observation, search carefully! Order the paddlers to speed up, and all paddlers will be on duty!"

The paddlers are rotated when cruising the ship, and only in combat will they all be on duty. As for the full speed paddling, it can only last for a quarter of an hour, which is the situation when an impact is launched during combat.

The speed of the "Shunfeng" suddenly accelerated, and Chen Jiang held the telescope and tried to observe forward.

Seabirds, more seabirds!

Chen Jiang is almost certain that there must be an island nearby, maybe not small!

When Chen Jiang made a judgment, Wang Zhongfu, who was standing at a high place, had already seen the horizon in the distance from his eyepiece.

The horizon is vast and boundless! If it is the horizon of an island, it must be a very vast island, and even... it may be an unknown continent!

A new continent!
Chapter completed!