The Sui Dynasty's chess game

Chapter 842 Ocean Exploration
In the spring of the third year of the Zhongxing era, several major events occurred in the Sui Dynasty.

First, the Sui army in the Western Regions, under the command of Li Jing, won a series of great victories, capturing Beiting, the Ili River Valley and Suyab, annihilating nearly 100,000 Western Turkic troops, forcing the Western Turkic royal court to flee far away, and adding four new prefectures to the Sui Dynasty: Yiwu, Gaochang, Beiting and Rehai, expanding its territory to tens of thousands of miles.

At the same time, a major event also occurred in Jiangdu County of the Sui Dynasty: an ocean expedition team consisting of thirty ships with a capacity of 20,000 shi (a unit of dry measure), one thousand soldiers, and one thousand crew members set sail from the Yangtze River docks.

This was an ocean expedition personally overseen by Emperor Xiao Xia. The imperial court prepared for this expedition for two full years, including establishing supply stations, with the furthest supply point being the Kamchatka Peninsula.

Of all the preparations, the most important was medicine. The Sui army had ample military strength and was not afraid of the natives. They would also sail along the coast and would not encounter deep-sea waves. The key was to deal with the various diseases that could easily occur during a long voyage.

The Sui army prepared a large quantity of medicinal herbs. Xiao Xia even sent people to Zangke County in Qianzhong Road to find a kind of thorny and sour grass fruit, which the locals called prickly pear. This plant has the highest vitamin C content and can effectively prevent soldiers from experiencing various symptoms during long voyages.

In addition, the fleet also had twenty military doctors accompanying them.

This ocean-going fleet was led by He Man, the deputy commissioner of the Maritime Trade, and Shen Guang, the general of the Tianjing Guard. All one thousand soldiers had extensive experience in ocean voyages, and they had even escorted Li Yuan to Ceylon.

The thirty large ships, each with a capacity of 20,000 shi, were also equipped with the latest technology of the Sui Dynasty, including watertight compartments, fine steel oars, three-masted sails, double-needle compasses, and measuring rods.

In the early morning, as the horns sounded, the oars of thirty large ships, each carrying 20,000 shi of grain, began to turn and slowly set off.

The fleet's first stop was Tamna Island, where they replenished their freshwater supplies. After passing through the Tsushima Strait, they continued north. They had another resupply trip at the southernmost tip of the Kamchatka Peninsula, where the Sui army had built a simple military city.

Inside the cabin, He Man stared at the nautical chart on the table, genuinely surprised. This chart was given to them by the Emperor. It was the first time he had realized that there were actually two continents in the distant ocean. If they followed the coast, they could reach the northern continent in two months.

Shen Guang laughed and said, "Didn't the Emperor say that when the Shang Dynasty fell, many Shang people were unwilling to be killed by the Zhou people, so they sailed out to sea and went to distant continents? We are sailing along the route they took back then."

He Man sighed and said, "Many secrets in history have been buried by time. Perhaps there are still some clues hidden in the palace. If I can discover a new continent, I will be satisfied for the rest of my life."

"Lord He, don't forget the task the Emperor entrusted to you," Shen Guang reminded him.

"Of course I won't forget!"

The first major task assigned to them by the emperor was to collect seeds of various crops from the New World. The New World was likely to have a variety of high-yield crops, which would allow the people of the Sui Dynasty to have enough to eat and cotton clothes to wear in winter. As the population grew in the future, a large number of people would be able to migrate to the New World.

Thirty large ships, shouldering heavy responsibilities, sailed majestically into the depths of the sea.

Inside the Luoyang Imperial Palace, Xiao Xia was listening to Du Ruhui's report on the completion of the Straight Road. Du Ruhui had been appointed as the Censor-in-Chief, and after the Straight Road was completed, he led a group of censors to audit the accounts of the Straight Road.

"The Zhidao Road has employed 100,000 laborers, spent 1.2 million strings of cash, 300,000 shi of grain, and mobilized 500,000 head of various kinds of livestock. Twenty-five laborers died. According to the current audit results, it is basically qualified, the accounts are standardized, and there is no serious deficit."

Xiao Xia would certainly not repeat his father's mistakes. The Straight Road would not be rebuilt, but rather repaired on the basis of the Qin Straight Road, filling in the ditches and fixing the damage. This would reduce the amount of work. After completion, it would be reviewed to effectively prevent corruption and disregard for human life.

Xiao Xia nodded and asked, "What happened to the twenty-five dead laborers?"

"Your Majesty, we have conducted an investigation and determined that eleven people died from the onset of their chronic illnesses, which were actually due to old age and poor health. The other fourteen people died from various accidents. Twelve people died from falling into a ravine, and the other two people died from being hit by heavy logs due to improper operation during the ramming of earth. Compensation has been paid to all twenty-five people."

"What is the quality of the repaired straight section?"

"The quality is quite good. Your humble servant has arranged for people to conduct tests. A cavalry unit departs from Chang'an, changing horses every hundred li, and can reach Jiuyuan County in the Hetao region within three days." "So the real difficulty lies in the post stations along the way."

"Yes, there are a total of eighteen post stations along the way. Each post station has a hundred horses, one postmaster, and ten postmen."

After the report concluded, Du Ruhui took his leave.

Xiao Xia paced back and forth in the imperial study with his hands behind his back. He realized there was a very real problem: arriving in Jiuyuan in three days was only to deliver a message, and a large-scale military march was clearly not feasible.

With tens of thousands of troops setting off, where would you find hundreds of thousands of warhorses to replace them along the way? The army still needs to camp and rest, and it will take at least ten days to half a month to reach Jiuyuan.

In reality, the function of sending messages was not very meaningful to them, but it was very meaningful to the Qin Dynasty. This is because the Qin Dynasty did not have carrier pigeons or hawks. Now, the military and government have generally set up carrier pigeon stations. By using carrier pigeons as transit points, intelligence can be sent from Jiuyuan to Luoyang in two days.

Of course, the straight road is not without its advantages. First, it greatly facilitates the transportation of military and logistical supplies. Second, it also has a good effect on civilian use, promoting the transportation of goods and the development of commerce along the route.

But these are far from enough for Xiao Xia. He wants more than just the effect of the road; he also wants other more important processes, such as standardized transportation.

Standardized carriages, standardized containers, and standardized wheels are very easy to replace. Once this standardization is implemented, the entire society will be transformed.

Xiao Xia had plenty of capable men under his command; he only needed to propose an idea and have them execute it. With this in mind, Xiao Xia ordered, "Summon He Chou, Minister of Works, and Yun Dingxing, Director of the Imperial Workshops, to come before me!"

Before long, Yun Dingxing arrived first, saying, "Your humble servant Yun Dingxing greets Your Majesty!"

Xiao Xia's eyes lit up when he saw an iron pipe on the guard's plate. He picked it up and said with a smile, "Is this the iron pipe I wanted?"

Yun Dingxing wiped the sweat from his forehead and said, "Your Majesty, this iron pipe is too difficult. I have worked on more than three hundred of them, and only this one barely meets Your Majesty's standards."

Xiao Xia became even more interested and picked up the iron pipe to examine it closely. It was made of high-quality steel with a very high density, and no impurities or pinholes could be seen on the edges.

"The quality is good. How was it made?"

"Your Majesty, this was rolled out."

Xiao Xia asked with a smile, "Wasn't it cast directly?"

Yun Dingxing shook his head. “Your Majesty, I initially tried casting, but after casting nearly two hundred tubes, every single one had pinholes, which was unavoidable. So I switched to rolling. First, I repeatedly forged the steel billet, then rolled it into a tube, and then repeatedly forged it to fuse the joints together. Finally, I restored the shape to a circle, and after quenching, it was finished. It sounds simple, but it was actually very difficult. I failed more than a hundred times, and it took three whole days to complete this tube.”

Xiao Xia finally found the interface, but there was only a faint trace left, and it was basically unrecognizable.

Although the steel pipes were up to standard, Xiao Xia thought of another fatal problem.

"Is it impossible to mass-produce this type of steel pipe?"

(End of this chapter)