The Rise of the European Emperor

Yes, Amerigo is back!

After leaving Keelung Port in September last year, Amerigo's fleet followed the route indicated by Marin, first following the Kuroshio north, then arriving in the waters near Japan, and then following the westerly wind in the westerly belt, all the way to the east. After arriving near the west coast of the Americas, we followed the California cold all the way south, and reached Panama City again.

However, after arriving in Panama City, Amerigo did not continue south, but parked the boat in Panama's freshwater harbor. He himself, with a few cronies, rode overland on horseback, crossed the Isthmus of Panama, arrived at Colon Bay on the Caribbean Sea, and hurried back to the mainland by the new-style 250 armed merchant ship that had been waiting here for a long time.

Because the new 250-class armed merchant ships use top-rigged sails, the Caribbean Sea and the east coast of North America are very fast. When crossing the Atlantic Ocean near Cape Breton Island, it was replaced by a sail suitable for downwind sailing... Then, after more than two months, Amerigo returned to Emden Harbor...

At this time, it is already the end of June, and the weather is already hot. Of course, the hotter here is the guide to the European region. The East Frisian side is located on the North Sea, plus it is a westerly belt, the sea breeze is constant, and it is not very hot at all.

Amerigo was just about to go to sleep after landing, but the guards sent by Marin, who was anxiously roaring, invited him to board a spring shock-absorbing carriage. So Amerigo simply fell asleep in the carriage. The carriage took a concrete road from Emden to Aurich, and it was very stable and did not affect Amerigo's sleep.

Arriving in the city of Orich, the guards woke Amerigo, who was sleeping soundly, and took him to Marin's office. At this time, Amerigo was full of beards, obviously he had not been talking to him for a long time, and his clothes were dirty and sloppy like a beggar.

But Marin didn't care, and went up to give Amerigo a hug, welcoming him back.

Amerigo was also very knowledgeable, knowing that Marin was not interested in him, but in his voyages. So, he handed over the logbook in his arms to Marin for review. He then began reporting on the voyage and answering questions from Marin.

In fact, Amerigo was puzzled that Marin could predict this route in the Pacific in advance. After all, this route, it seems that no one has ever set foot in it. Moreover, since someone knew about this route, someone should have walked this route ahead of him. Well, his "discovery" seems worthless. Even, it belongs to the "false claim" of the right of discovery...

For Amerigo's doubts, Marin's explanation is very simple and rude - no one has actually traveled this route, because this route was predicted by the great sage Einstein using his "prophet" ability divination... …

Amerigo was instantly stunned... Nima, there is such a saying...

but,

Although he doubted it in his heart, Amerigo never dared to raise it. Because, to object to this statement is to question Marin's identity as a "great disciple", and it is also to question the gods. This kind of death-defying behavior, Americo dare not mess up.

However, without finding any traces of senior's voyages, it seems that only Marin's explanation is the most reasonable...

And Marin also valued this logbook. Because the above coordinates can be used as an important reference for future navigation. As long as you have these coordinates, in the future, as long as you are a captain who knows how to use a sextant and calculate latitude and longitude, you can sail along the coordinates.

Moreover, in this logbook, not only the route coordinates, but also where the reefs may be encountered, and that sea area needs to be more careful. As long as you follow these reminders and pay attention to the relevant sea areas, there will be no problems.

Of course, Marin also added a note to this logbook - there are typhoons in summer and autumn every year, and among them, the three months of August, July and September are the most dangerous...

This label is very important, because in the era of sailing ships, navigators could not resist the natural disaster of typhoon. The existence of sails makes the sailboats more likely to be overturned by typhoons. Even if the 10,000-ton steel ships that do not need sails in the future will have to avoid typhoons, let alone the wooden sailboats of this era?

Of course, it doesn't matter if the average sailor or even the average captain lives or dies. This mark is actually marked by Marin for himself.

After all, Marin had to avoid the typhoon season for a trip to the Ming Dynasty. Otherwise, in the event of a typhoon, even Marin would not be able to stop him with a fleet.

In the event of a normal storm, even if the ship Marin was on capsized, he could still escape to another ship in a lifeboat. But if there is a typhoon like this, I am afraid there is no place to escape. Because, the entire fleet could be destroyed.

...

In fact, on the mainland, a fleet of up to 10 500-ton warships is already ready. They are ready to set off at any time, as long as an order is given, they will leave their home port and go to Daming.

The home port of these 10 warships is very hidden, no longer in Emden, but in the later Wilhelmshaven. That is, the deep-water port to the west of the outlet of the Gulf of Yard in the county of Oldenburg. It is also an excellent deep-water port with the deepest water in Germany in later generations, and it was also the largest military port in Germany during the two world wars.

Of course, this is the best port for ships to be ironed. But in this era, it is not a good port. Because, this is a sea port, not a fresh water port.

It has been said many times before that wooden boats could not stay in sea water for a long time before the British Navy invented the invention of nailing copper skin on the bottom of the boat to prevent ship maggots. Otherwise, the wooden bottom will be easily damaged by ship maggots, resulting in leakage of water in the cabin and sinking of the ship.

Therefore, before the 19th century, most of the ports were at the mouth of the Freshwater River, such as New York at the mouth of the Hudson, London near the mouth of the Thames, Hamburg at the mouth of the Elbe...

It was not until the mid-19th century, during the American Civil War, that ironclad ships in the true sense appeared and wooden boats with copper bottoms became popular that saltwater ports had practical significance. Wilhelmshaven was also built in the late 19th century. Moreover, its important construction purpose is to serve as a home port for large German ironclad warships.

Originally, Marin did not have the conditions for enabling Wilhelmshaven. But with the advent of nickel-steel skins, and the success of the four armed merchant ships Amerigo having nailed nickel-steel skins to their bottoms to prevent seawater corrosion, the existence of Wilhelmshaven made sense.

As it happens, the port of Emden is a trading port, and too many warships docking there will scare others. Therefore, Marin made up his mind and decided to move all 10 warships with nickel and steel skins on the bottom to Wilhelmshaven. After all, this place is relatively hidden and remote, and generally no one comes. By the way, Wilhelmshaven is still called Wilhelmshaven. As for the reason, because Marin is lazy... But to the outside world, Marin announced that his second son will be named William, and it doesn't matter...

At present, Marin has a total of 20 500-ton warships in his hands. In the future, he plans to nail nickel steel skins to the bottom of all ships. In the future, they can all hide in Wilhelmshaven. Saltwater ports like Wilhelmshaven are generally rarely visited. And those Danshui ports at the estuary of the Danshui River often have a lot of people coming and going, and there are many people with mixed eyes. After all, the banks of the Danshui River are populated areas.

However, due to the limited availability of sisal fibers from the Aztec Empire in Mexico, there was not enough sisal rope to make pulley-type steering wheels, as well as the "skins" of marine cables and sails. As a result, Marin can now only scrape together 10 battleships with sisal fiber ropes and sails (partly). More sisal fiber will have to wait until next year when Cuban sisal fiber is harvested. After all, Marin has already ordered the cultivation of sisal in the Cuban hills, and the first sisal fibers will be harvested by the end of next year.

And this time to Daming, Marin intends to use these 10 warships. Marin intends to notify the 10 warships to set off as soon as possible. However, he did not set out with him.

why? Because these warships need to bypass the southernmost Tierra del Fuego in South America and arrive at the west coast of South America first. Then, all the way north, arrived in the waters of Panama.

Marin didn't want to follow the fleet around South America, he planned to let the fleet set off first. As for myself, I will go to Panama by boat at the end of the year. Then, cross the Isthmus of Panama from the land, join the fleet, and go to Daming together.

At that time, it was probably early spring. When he went to the Caribbean Sea, it was winter, and there were no hurricanes in the Caribbean Sea. And there will be no typhoons in the western Pacific in spring... As long as there are no hurricanes or typhoons, he doesn't have to worry about accidents...

After all, the life of a traveler is only once, and it is the best if there is no accident... Caesar is still young after all, if he died in an accident, God knows that the North Sea will not collapse like the Alexander Empire...

Moreover, the Knight Tournament is about to start, so he can stay and join in the fun...