Chapter 1451: Remains of the Shang Dynasty

Chapter 1451: Remains of the Shang Dynasty

  Chapter 1451 Yin Shang adherents

   "Tianzu, you are serving your baby again, when did your baby get ready?"

A child carrying a canvas schoolbag came from a long way away, and he shouted loudly, Qin Lang knew from the sound that it was his fifth grandson, Qin Chang, who was always in a hurry just like his father Qin Rui .

  He is wearing the uniform cotton straight body school uniform for primary school students in San Francisco. Because he has already entered school, even though he is only six years old, he has already divided the hair on both sides of the head into two halves, and tied each into a knot on the top of the head, shaped like two horns, becoming a boy with full horns.

   "Missing my corn again?"

  Qin Chang ran to Qin Lang with his schoolbag on his back, looking for corn buds on the corn stalks in the green gauze-like corn field.

   "Tianzu, this beard is turning red again, isn't it almost ripe?"

"Well, when the corn silk is dry and burnt, it will be ripe. You can also peel off some leaves and look at the bracts inside. The innermost bracts that wrap the ears of corn have become dry and yellow, which also means It is ripe, of course, if you are still not sure, you can directly look at the corn kernels, they will become plump and shiny, then pinch them again, if you can’t pinch them, it will be fully ripe.”

  Excitedly, Qin Chang hurriedly found one, and began to judge according to the method taught by Qin Lang. It turned out that the beard was still fresh, so he had to find another one, but the beard was still not in a state of burning.

   "Look at this!" Qin Lang smiled and pointed to one.

  Qin Chang raised his toes and observed carefully, "The beard is burning like fire."

   "Peel it open again to see the bract leaves and corn kernels."

  The outer husk is peeled off, revealing the inner bract leaves that have turned yellow and the golden corn kernels. "Wow, the grains of this corn are really as beautiful as jade. No wonder Tianzu called it corn. Did this thing really come back from a remote wild continent?"

   "Well, it is very far away, separated from us by a huge East China Sea, tens of thousands of miles away."

   "Is this really edible? Is it delicious?"

  The young man in Zongjiao pinched the corn kernels with his fingernails, and found that they were a little hard, and they were basically mature.

   "Of course it's delicious."

   "Then can we pick one and eat it?"

  Qin Lang smiled and nodded, "Many of the corn fields in this field have already begun to mature, we can pick a few more and go back to taste."

  Qin Chang excitedly began to pick corn, Qin Lang helped him find and distinguish the ripe corn, Qin Chang broke it off excitedly.

   After a while, I was already full of arms.

   "Okay, let's pick these first."

A group of guards in the distance saw this scene, and they could only watch from a distance. This plantation is the treasure of the grand master, and it is strictly forbidden for idlers to approach it. There are special guards who take turns guarding it for twelve hours. Experienced old farmers are in charge of taking care of it, and there is also a group of people who are responsible for making records, recording the growth status of the various crops brought back from the wild continent planted in this garden, etc.

  Each crop is numbered.

   It is the corn, and each one is recorded in the record. Naturally, one of them is broken in the middle, and it must be recorded in the record with the reason attached.

  Now, Wei Chang has picked a bunch, which can't even fit in his arms, and it's rolling all over the floor.

  Many people watched with great heartache.

   "How do I eat this?"

   "It can be eaten roasted, boiled or stewed. It can also be dried and threshed and then ground to make steamed bread or cakes. In short, this is a very good food."

Corn is said to be native to the Mexican plateau in Central America. After thousands of years of domestication and cultivation by the Indians, it finally formed a kind of cold-resistant, barren, drought-resistant, high-yield, short growth cycle, easy cultivation, management, harvesting and processing. It is even storage-resistant, can be processed with various varieties when eaten, has good nutrition and taste, and is a multi-purpose baby for food, vegetables and feed.

  It is said that the Mayan civilization in America was built on the success of corn.

  The Indians brought corn to every corner of the Americas, planted it everywhere, and became their favorite staple food.

   As a time traveler, Qin Lang has always been very fond of corn, potatoes, peppers, tomatoes, pumpkins, peanuts, sunflowers, etc., and even misses the tobacco that originated in America.

  However, the Americas are too far away. Although some people in later generations say that the American Indians are the ancient people who passed through the Bering Strait and came from Asia during the Ice Age, and then slowly became the American Indians.

There are also textual researches that the important livestock such as cattle and horses were originally native to the Americas. They were later brought from the Americas to Asia, and then spread throughout Asia, Africa and Europe. Finally, the land bridge was submerged and Asia and America were separated. The ancestors of the Indians in the past, on the contrary It was because the ancestors of the cows and horses were eaten up, which led to the extinction of the cows and horses there, leaving only the North American bison with a specific body shape that cannot be domesticated.

  Of course, some people also suggested that the Indians were actually the remnants of the Yin Dynasty. They said that a fleet of remnants of the Shang Dynasty formed a fleet to take refuge in the sea, and finally reached America all the way. Of course, this assumption is too bold, and Qin Lang does not believe it.

  Although he knew that there are many treasures in America, he still misses these treasures, such as stewed pork ribs with corn, stewed beef with potatoes, fried pork with pepper, scrambled eggs with tomatoes, pumpkin pie, and a box of cigarettes with peanuts and melon seeds, how pleasant it is.

   But after all, most people in this era even think that the sky is round and the earth is square. They don't believe that the earth is a ball at all, and they can't imagine it.

  Even Australia is a place known only to the aborigines of the neighboring islands, let alone the remote oriental wild continent.

  In the eyes of many Central Plains people, Japan was already the most oriental, so they are called Fusang. Even the Japanese think so, claiming to be the country where the sun rises, and the name Japan also comes from this.

Since Zhenguan, Qin Lang has invested a lot of money every year in the fields of shipbuilding, navigation, and astronomy. He has built more advanced sea ships, mastered more new navigation technologies, and can sail into the deep blue ocean and open up more routes. .

  The fleet of the Qin family can even sail directly to Alexandria, Egypt in the Mediterranean, Constantinople in Rome, and the coast of the Two Rivers region of the Persian Gulf...

   Later, it began to go further north along the northeast coast.

  The discoveries of Liugui and Yasha countries even sailed to the Bering Strait.

   But the further you go, the harder it is.

  After all, even if Qin Lang told the most daring captains and sailors who had the spirit of adventure, telling them such a general direction, telling them to keep sailing like this, they could discover the new continent.

   But this is no better than going south to find Australia and find New Zealand.

  The route to the north is more difficult. In fact, in the age of great voyages, those European explorers, who later crossed the Pacific Ocean from the Americas to the South Seas, seldom took the northernmost route.

  The main reason is to follow the ocean current, so it is roughly divided into two routes, north and south, to cross the Pacific Ocean.

  Without the help of the predecessors, it is indeed too difficult to open up a new route, or to find a route to the New World. How to resupply in the middle, what to do in the event of a storm, and how to make sure that you are heading in the right direction, there are too many problems.

  Qin Lang also knew that going directly to the depths of the Pacific Ocean was almost the same as sending him to death, so he spent decades preparing.

   First explore the entire Nanyang Islands, train more excellent captains and sailors, and then continue to explore north along the coastline.

   Explored all the way to the Bering Strait, where the harsh environment once made the adventure voyage almost come to a standstill.

For a while, Qin Lang was hesitating, planning to change his mind. Since the route to Europe is very mature, and the distance between Europe and the Atlantic Ocean is relatively close, should he simply go from the South Sea to the West, pass through the Red Sea, and then pass by Roman Emperor Trajan? The canal built from Cairo, Egypt to Suez, enters the Mediterranean Sea, then enters the Atlantic Ocean through Gibraltar, and then heads west to Central America, Cuba, and the Caribbean Sea?

But in the end, Qin Lang still felt that in this way, the efforts of the previous decades would be in vain, and even if he really found a route from the Atlantic Ocean to America, it would not be the best solution. After all, the Trajan Canal was built for hundreds of years. Over the years, it has been blocked and sparse, not to mention that it is difficult to pass large ships, pirates are rampant, and big cannibals often block the Red Sea. There was even a plan to fill the canal before, so that merchants and goods can go from the peninsula to ensure Medina. Wait for the development of big food towns.

  If the canal is blocked, even if you find a route, you can only go around Africa. This is a new route to explore again, which is very difficult.

   What's more, Qin Lang felt that this might be a wedding dress for Europeans.

   Finally made up his mind to increase the number of ships and personnel, increase experience, and find a way to pass. After more than ten years of exploration, he finally found a new continent.

This hard-to-find route starts from San Francisco and goes north, passing through Xinjinshan, Ningyuan, and Liuqiu Jilong Port, and then going north to Dangjin Port in Waguo, passing through Silla Port, and then continuing northward, resting in Vladivostok, Jianzhou, Bohai Sea , and then sailed to the North Seaport established by the Qin family in the territory of the Ainu people in the north of the country of Wa, and then continued to sail northeast along the Thousand Islands, arriving at Liugui Port (south of the Kamchatka Peninsula). The archipelago crossed the Bering Sea with difficulty and arrived at the coast of the Gulf of Alaska. Although the next voyage was still difficult, the weather here was harsh and supplies were difficult.

   But fortunately, Qin Lang spent more than ten years slowly exploring, and did not rush for success. Strongholds were established on the Thousand Islands and the Aleutian Islands, and supplies and logistics personnel were arranged.

It’s like going forward again and again, turning back again and again, adjusting the route again and again, setting up outposts, establishing supply bases, spending countless money and energy, and even capsizing many ships and killing many explorers. Arrive in North America a little bit, then set up supply points along the coast, and continue southward.

  Anchorage, Vancouver, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Mexico, Panama, these famous coasts of the west coast of America, expedition ships landed and docked one by one.

  The main task Qin Lang entrusted to them was to discover the New World, find a safe and reliable route, and then search for the crops that Qin Lang wanted in the New World, draw routes, draw maps, and collect information on the natives.

   Try to avoid contact with the natives. If you encounter them, try to be friendly with them and give them some items as gifts.

  The expedition team is not to conquer the new world, but to find and discover the new world, and to find special new crops in the new world.

   As for whether he can trade with the natives in the future, buy their furs, or search for gold and silver mines in the New World, Qin Lang is not in a hurry.

   Although fur is very valuable, high-quality fur is also produced in remote and cold Xianbeilia areas such as Liugui, Yecha, Qudumei, and Kushuo, north of the Heishui Duhufu in the Tang Dynasty.

Today, Datang merchant ships have long been driving at Vladivostok Port in Jianzhou, the Protectorate of the Bohai Sea, the Giant Monument Port in the Protectorate of the Black Water, and the Liugui Port in the Country of Liugui (Petropavlovsk, Kamchatka Peninsula). Dumei’s Qudumei Port (Magadan, Magadan State) and Yasha Port (Manilei) in the Yasha Kingdom have ports. Although they are very simple and small, even seasonal, they are also official ports established by the imperial court. The fortress is small, but it also represents Datang, and it is a trading site with several northern vassal states. It mainly buys fur from them, sells various Datang goods, and is also responsible for passing Datang to several According to the will of the vassal king, he was even responsible for sending the envoys from several countries to pay tribute to the Tang Dynasty to the Central Plains.

So Qin Lang doesn't care about North American fur at all. What he needs are corn, potatoes, tomatoes, peppers, and other new crops that can only be found in the New World. Although the Tang Dynasty has a vast territory and no famine, corn, potatoes, and sweet potatoes can be used as fodder. It can be used as a dish and even as a staple food. The value is very huge.

  Of course, after finding these new crops, and after the route is stabilized in the future, they will definitely start looking for new world furs, gold and silver mines, etc. sooner or later.

I have to say that if it weren't for Qin Lang's unwavering determination, his hard work for more than sixty years, countless financial support, and the unremitting efforts of several generations of adventurers, in this era, basically It's impossible for someone to be so crazy to find something new in the world.

However, with the support of big money owners like Qin Lang, especially when they discovered the Spice Islands in Nanyang and the new continent in the South China Sea, when Qin Lang said that there was a bigger new continent in the east of the East China Sea, they also agreed. turned into dubious.

And when they passed through the Bering Sea and saw Alaska, and saw that the place Qin Lang had described to them had really appeared, they finally believed Qin Lang's statement, and finally found a new crop, I also saw the legendary Yin Shang adherents.

  Although the survivors of the Yin and Shang Dynasties did not recognize their self-proclaimed Chinese kinship at all, they threw axes and spears at them in surprise and even panic, and shot arrows at them, causing them casualties.

   But no matter what, in the end they completed the task Qin Lang gave, found a new world, met the survivors of the Yin and Shang Dynasties, and found new crops.

  In the end, the seeds of these crops were brought back to the Central Plains together with some survivors of the Shang Dynasty, the snowy fur of the New World, the gold in the central part, the tobacco in the southern part, and even the huge bison, and sent them to Qin Lang in San Francisco.

Qin Lang was not interested in those angry and frightened Yin Shang survivors. It was just a lie he used to fool the adventurers casually, so as to persuade them to go on an adventure, telling them that this road was the Yin Shang survivors in ancient times. It's not just a reason why it can't be done.

What he treasures are the seeds he brought back. Qin Lang specially built a plantation for these seeds, sent guards to guard them, and sent teachers and students from the Agricultural College to take care of the records. good.

   Another batch of corn was harvested today.

Qin Lang plans to dry a few for seeds, and use the other half for cooking, such as stewed pork ribs with corn, boiled corn with milk, grilled corn kernels, fried sausage with corn kernels... the remaining half is dried and ground into cornmeal to make corn Cakes, corn buns, etc.

  Thinking of these delicacies, Qin Lang was as happy as Sun Qinchang.

  (end of this chapter)