I am the prince of the Ming Dynasty, I don't give up

Chapter 480 Report
Nangong.

Zhu Houxuan was meeting Chen Lang and Wu Liangchen who had returned from a long voyage in the garden.

Compared with when they set out, both Chen Lang and Wu Liangchen have lost weight, even to the point of looking unrecognizable, but they are in very good spirits.

Following behind them was a man in strange clothes - an Indian.

"Thank you for your hard work, both of you. It took us a year and a half to travel tens of thousands of miles. Today's success is all thanks to you two." Zhu Houxuan bowed and said.

"Thank you, Your Highness. You are too polite. I shall be loyal to my emperor and I hope I don't disappoint Your Highness," Chen Lang said hurriedly.

Wu Liangchen couldn't say anything fancy, so he just said, "Me too!"

Zhu Houxuan nodded and looked at the Indian.

The Indian was very smart. He could tell that Zhu Houxuan was an important person, so he immediately prostrated himself barefoot. It was not because they could not afford shoes, but it was their tradition to pay homage to the dignitaries barefoot. This guy even had gold ornaments on him, which showed that he was of high status and had a certain level of education.

What's even more ridiculous is that this Indian actually said in Chinese: "Nice to meet you."

Zhu Houxuan felt very surprised, and bowed to the man in return, and then asked Chen Lang: "Can he speak Chinese?"

Chen Lang laughed and said, "This man has been with us on the sea for a few months and can already speak some simple Chinese. But his Chinese is very poor. I guess he thinks 'Nice to meet you' means 'Greetings'."

"Then please tell us about this trip in detail," said Zhu Houxuan.

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"We followed the sea chart given by His Highness and returned with favorable winds and waters. However, we did not have enough fresh water. There were few storms on the return route, and we only changed water once at sea. Many crew members became sick from drinking rotten water. There were 746 people when we left, but only 578 were left when we returned, including six natives."

In other words, a total of 174 people died during this trip to America.

The Inca mission originally consisted of nine people, but three of them died on the way. There was enough fresh water, but it had gone bad, so survival depended entirely on one's physique.

Take the historical Magellan fleet for example. There were five ships with 270 people, but only one ship with 18 people returned to Spain, but they successfully brought back four Indians.

Zhu Houxuan was silent after hearing this number. This was the first time that the Ming Dynasty's expedition fleet left the shallow sea and entered the deep sea with the help of positioning tools, crossing the Pacific Ocean twice, one north and one south...

He found that even though he thought he had paid enough attention to the issue of fresh water, it turned out that he had not paid enough attention.

The main reason for the casualties during this voyage was the problem of fresh water preservation. Some people may say that if fresh water goes bad, it must breed various bacteria. Isn’t it enough to boil the fresh water at high temperature to sterilize it?

It is indeed true that the deterioration of fresh water is indeed caused by bacterial growth. High temperature can indeed kill bacteria, but the metabolites of these bacteria are difficult to decompose by high temperature, and these metabolites are harmful to the human body.

"You are all heroes of my Ming Dynasty!" said Zhu Houxuan.

"I will hold a commendation meeting for you at the Royal Theater to honor your contributions. In addition, I will erect a monument to commemorate your merits at the port of Jinshanwei, where you set sail. I will not forget those heroes who sacrificed their lives. I will build a lighthouse for them at Jinshanwei. The lights on the tower will never go out to show them the way home," Zhu Houxuan said in a deep voice.

"Thank you very much, Your Highness. We thank Your Highness on behalf of our brothers!" Chen Lang and Wu Liangchen burst into tears and knelt down to thank Zhu Houxuan. Zhu Houxuan's actions were so thoughtful.

The crew members who died did not even bring back their ashes, because there were no conditions for cremation on the ship, so their bodies were thrown into the sea after death.

The ancients had a strong obsession with returning to their roots. Although Zhu Houxuan was not superstitious, he did not mind doing things that cater to superstition to comfort the living.
"Chen Lang, you will be conferred the title of Earl of Tanhai, and Wu Liangchen, you will be conferred the title of Earl of Tuohai. The imperial edict of the awards will be issued in a while," Zhu Houxuan continued.

"Thank you, Your Highness!" Chen Lang and Wu Liangchen were even more excited. This was a great honor for them.
"Go back and summarize and review your voyage. I will need you to lead the fleet to sail to the Far East Continent again." Zhu Houxuan said with a smile.

"I will not refuse even if I die!" Chen Lang and Wu Liangchen said solemnly.

With this first icebreaking voyage, we have explored various conditions on the route, and we can make targeted preparations based on these conditions for the next voyage. I believe that the casualties in the second voyage will definitely be reduced a lot, but the problem of fresh water storage still needs to be solved.

Zhu Houxuan, who took this issue very seriously, had already thought of a way to solve it. In later generations, bottled water could be stored for six months without deteriorating. The method was to sterilize and disinfect it first, and then seal it.

Zhu Houxuan planned to have people give this idea a try. First, put the water container in boiling water to sterilize it, then fill it with boiling water, and finally seal it with metal tin. In this way, the water in the container is sterile, and no bacteria can invade it in a sealed state. In this way, the water will hardly deteriorate and can be stored for a long time.

Moreover, this method is relatively convenient to use. Long-distance fleets can also use this method to preserve fresh water when replenishing fresh water at islands during their voyage.

If this method can solve the problem of fresh water storage, the casualties of each voyage to America will be reduced to single digits, and Ming will have the ability to immigrate to America.
"What should we do with those Spaniards?" Chen Lang said after he calmed down.

Zhu Houxuan knew that the Spaniards Chen Lang was talking about were the team that sailed around the world led by Magellan. The logbook written by Magellan and the nautical charts he made were in front of him, and he had already roughly flipped through them.

"This is well done!" Zhu Houxuan said in an appreciative tone.

Then his tone became serious: "Detain those people first, but treat them well. You can also let them go to the navigation school to give lectures, but don't let them run away, and don't let them contact the outside world."

Chen Lang and Wu Liangchen exchanged glances, somewhat puzzled as to why Zhu Houxuan made such arrangements, but in the end they did not ask any further questions.

Zhu Houxuan thought he had done a good job. Although Magellan lost his freedom, he would not die in the hands of a native of the Philippines as he did in history.
He understood the significance of Magellan's circumnavigation, which had a profound impact on geographical exploration, trade and the world pattern, and Zhu Houxuan did not want the Europeans to verify this so quickly.
"As for him, send him to the Ministry of Rites to learn some rules first," Zhu Houxuan said, pointing at the Indian.
(End of this chapter)