My younger brother Zhuge Liang

Chapter 732: Zilong finally unsheathed
After making sufficient preparations, Lu Yi finally bid farewell to Zhuge Situ and embarked on a long voyage to explore the Northeast.

In late May of the 15th year of Jian'an, the fleet set sail from Hailing Port in Guangling County, sailed downstream out of the mouth of the Yangtze River, and headed northeast before the typhoon season.

The south wind in midsummer is long-lasting and strong, but not as violent as the typhoon season in June and July. It is a good time to sail northward.

The lowermost cabin of the fleet was loaded with a lot of steel tools, swords and other shiny copper, silver, crystal and other items as ballast.

Some of these things are weapons used by the navy for self-defense and exploration, while others are for trade with barbarians that may be encountered along the way.

The metal tools cast by the Han Dynasty are bound to be highly sought after in the wild lands. Once Lu Yi explores too far and his own supplies are insufficient, he can just take out a little bit of his supplies when he meets the natives and trade them for a large amount of survival supplies.

And as long as the transaction volume is kept small, the local barbarians will not become bigger and stronger. A hundred or so steel weapons and tools are not enough to change anything. At most, it will lead to the accelerated annexation of barbarian tribes with thousands of households.

Moreover, if it is possible not to sell weapons and tools, try not to sell them. The copper and silver items carried on the ship are the main trading items.

Zhuge Jin was familiar with history. He knew that in the early days of the Age of Discovery, Europeans went on expeditions to black Africa. They mainly relied on glass beads, playing cards and other things that were of little actual value but looked fancy to ask the black people to buy large quantities of supplies.

Of course, there were not enough cheap glass beads in the East Asian cultural circle at that time, and it would have been a waste to use pearls, jade and gold to buy off the barbarians.

The "Book of the Later Han" records that when Gongsun Kang was in control of Liaodong in the late Han Dynasty, the Yamatai Kingdom on the Fusang Islands came to pay tribute. Gongsun Kang rewarded the Yamatai people with 100 polished bronze mirrors. When the Yamatai people received them, they were immediately amazed and thought they were divine objects.

It is said that the "Three Sacred Treasures of Wakoku" mentioned in the "Kojiki" and "Nihonshoki" of the Fuso people later were the Eight-foot Mirror, the Yasakani no Magatama, and the Kusanagi sword. Among them, the Eight-foot Mirror was the bronze mirror that the Yamatai people received as a reward from the Eastern Han Dynasty and later the Cao Wei Dynasty.

Therefore, in order to obtain a large amount of materials at a lower cost, Zhuge Jin asked people to prepare copper and silver mirrors and other utensils for Lu Yi in advance. It didn't matter whether they were practical or not, as long as they were fancy and beautiful.

For some high-end products, Zhuge Jin even had them inlaid with crystal as the outer shell to isolate the air as much as possible to prevent the copper and silver from oxidizing too quickly. When those barbarians who had never seen the world got them, they would worship them as artifacts.

After all, copper and silver utensils are still valuable. They can be sold at high prices in the Han area, and can even be hard currency, so the shipping quantity will definitely not be too large.

The ballast cargo needed in the lower cabin was insufficient, so the remaining space was filled with canned porcelain jars, and more pickled vegetables and fruits could also be transported to provide additional supplementary supplies for the navigation.

Further up, the middle cabin can be loaded with relatively light cargo, which is used to store the sailors' cold-resistant clothing and some silks.

The topmost cabin can only carry light cargo, and the upper floor is well ventilated and not as humid as the middle and lower floors, so it is used to transport cargo that is rare in barbaric lands and is not resistant to moisture.

In the Age of Exploration, many Chinese merchant ships bound for the West carried a mixture of porcelain, silk, and tea, which remained unchanged for hundreds of years. In fact, the demand, popularity, and profit margins of silk, tea, and porcelain were very different. Porcelain, in particular, was in very large quantities, but its profits were far less than those of silk, and its sales were not as fast as those of tea.

If you pursue maximum profit like players of the game "Uncharted Waters", many ships should choose to only transport the most profitable and best-selling items. Things like porcelain should not have such a large trade volume.

But in real life, sailing requires many more considerations than in games, such as the ballast density and whether the boat is afraid of moisture and deterioration.
Porcelain is needed to occupy the ecological niche of "heavy but not afraid of moisture". Silk is needed to occupy the ecological niche of "neither sinking nor afraid of moisture", and finally the niche of "neither sinking nor afraid of moisture" is left for tea.

Even if they don't like selling porcelain, even if they dump it until the price drops, they still have to ship it for ballast. No matter how large the shipment of porcelain is, it is more cost-effective than shipping a few large stones as ballast, at least they can make some money.

The Han people, with their original experience in maritime trade, naturally did not know about this kind of cargo distribution plan. However, Zhuge Jin had common sense, and Lu Yi had some experience in long-distance voyages. Before setting sail, all parties discussed the matter together and avoided many pitfalls.

……

Lu Yi had a thorough plan, and Zhuge Jin helped him to find out the gaps and give him some suggestions, so everything went very smoothly at the start.

In just about ten days, in early June, the fleet arrived accurately at Jeju Island.

During the voyage, the morale of the fleet will definitely decline gradually. The fear of the open sea and the worry about unknown new navigation technology and route selection will cause considerable psychological pressure.

However, this is also an excellent training opportunity. As long as they can get through it, the overall spirit and outlook of this navy will be permanently elevated to a higher level. When they encounter the same degree of difficulties and storms in the future, their mentality will be much stronger.

When the island appeared on the horizon, all the doubts and fears disappeared in an instant. The morale of the sailors on the fleet returned to the peak state when they first set sail.

After all, this was a journey of more than a thousand miles in the vast ocean before accurately finding an island.

The length of this island is only a hundred miles, and the width is only seventy or eighty miles. In other words, as long as the direction error exceeds 5%, it is possible to miss it. Even taking into account the observation compensation, the maximum tolerance is only 6-7%.

When Lu Yi came, he was mentally prepared. Even if the route was not accurate and he missed Jeju Island, he could at least hit the main land of the Korean Peninsula.

The Korean Peninsula is dozens of times larger than Tamra Island, so it is definitely impossible to miss it, and it is also Lu Yi’s “bottom line”.

Unexpectedly, in the end, we didn’t even have to use the guaranteed bonus and directly achieved the first goal, which gave us an extra boost in morale.

When Lu Yi arrived at Jeonra Island, Bing Yuan, who was in charge of governing the island, came to the dock to greet him. He provided Lu Yi with some supplies and also asked Lu Yi to buy some steel tools that were in short supply on the island.

Bing Yuan was originally an aide to Gongsun Du and Gongsun Kang. Later, he followed the armed forces loyal to the Gongsun family and retreated to Chaoxian County. Finally, he was besieged by Zhou Yu's troops and surrendered only after agreeing on the terms of surrender.

Gongsun Kang's eldest son Gongsun Huang also surrendered to Liu Bei's camp at that time and was settled in the Busan Basin. Another old minister of the Gongsun family, Liu Zheng, followed him to assist him.

Bing Yuan was left on Jeonra Island, and Jeonra Island and Busan County were merged to form a new county. Gongsun Huang was nominally the prefect, but in reality, daily government administration depended on his subordinates.

Lu Yi negotiated with Bing Yuan and gained a deeper understanding of the situation on the island - this was also one of Lu Yi's missions on this trip.

He was not here just to conduct geographical exploration and species discovery. It was not easy to make a long voyage. He also wanted to inspect the governance of remote counties on behalf of Zhuge Jin and report back after returning.

Bing Yuan had anticipated this, so he took Lu Yi for a run around and showed him everything he wanted to see.

Lu Yi looked at the lush grasslands on the island and the large amounts of alfalfa fields that had been planted and left alone to grow naturally. Each patch was divided by fences and wooden stakes, with countless cattle and horses scattered among them. He felt as if he was in another world.

"I've heard that Jeonra Island was originally just a wild and barbaric land, but the grasslands are suitable for animal husbandry. I haven't been here for a long time, but I didn't expect that in just five or six years, it has been built so well. How many cattle and horses can this island produce every year now? Why are there so few sheep?"

When Zhao Yun led the expedition to Liaodong and dealt with the Gongsun family, it was in the ninth year of Jian'an, which was 204 AD. It took a year or two to completely deal with the situation.

Zhuge Jin helped to carefully select the time, and at that time he found a lot of excuses and made serious analysis and reasoning. But in fact, Zhuge Jin just wanted to copy the historical answer that was foreseen and to fit in the moment when Gongsun Du died of illness and old age.

Finally, he was able to get together with them, and then all the civil and military officials in Youzhou felt that "the lord and the Han Dynasty are indeed blessed by heaven. Situ said when to choose to deal with the Gongsun family, and as expected, Gongsun Du died suddenly of fright as soon as he made a move."

It is now the 15th year of Jian'an, and it has been five or six years since the conquest of Jeju Island. The natural environment of this place is quite good, with sufficient support for maritime transportation, and enough steel production tools, so it is not difficult to build a ranch and a fishing port.

The pastures on the island are divided rather roughly, with each piece of grassland being at least several miles in radius. It is quite troublesome to drive and capture the cattle and horses after they grow up, and it requires a lot of manpower to cooperate in the containment.

When Lu Yi was on patrol, he could see a group of herdsmen on horseback wielding long whips, spinning lassoes, and even using lances and rapiers. When they encountered charging cattle and horses, they would gently strike them, using the pain to force them back. Everything seemed to be becoming more and more professional and efficient.

Bing Yuan also knew that Lu Yi was asking these questions on behalf of Zhuge Jin, so he did not dare to take it lightly and answered seriously:

"The island can now breed 20,000 oxen and more than 10,000 horses every year. There are 2,000 herders, 3,000 fishermen, and more than 1,000 farmers and craftsmen. When the oxen and horses are old enough to be used, they are transported to Daifang County and other places by sea, and sometimes to Busan County.

In the future, the general will be able to sail directly to Donghai County and Guangling County by sea, and the cattle here can also be transported across the sea, perhaps in just a dozen days. However, it is difficult to transport horses over such a long distance, because horses cannot tolerate bumps, so it is better to go overland and drive them by themselves.

As for not raising sheep, firstly, the cattle and horses raised on this island are not for meat, but for servitude. Sheep cannot be used for servitude, they can only be eaten, and the people on this island have enough fish catch, so they don’t need to supplement with other meat, and they can just grow some grain to have enough food. In addition, we have tried raising sheep before, but sheep like to eat grass roots, and the pastures they pass by often need to be re-cultivated for several years. The sea wind on Jeonra Island is very strong, and once the grass roots are eaten and the pastures are exposed, it is easy to form sandstorms and fertile soil will be lost, so raising sheep is now prohibited. "

Cows and horses eat the surface of grass, but sheep like to dig up the grass roots and eat them together. On islands with strong sea breezes, this can easily cause soil erosion. Bing Yuan and Lu Yi certainly didn't know this scientific knowledge before, but after working for a few years, they summed up their experience.

Jeju Island has been governed for five or six years, and the necessary understandings have been reached long ago.

Before leaving, Bing Yuan made an exception and supplied Lu Yi with a considerable amount of beef jerky and horse jerky, and also gave him a batch of war horses that were suitable for mountainous terrain and relatively unafraid of sea waves, in order to help Lu Yi with his subsequent explorations further inland.

If Lu Yi wanted to look for new species and conduct geographical exploration, he couldn't just follow the coastline, as the harvest would be too small. If he encountered a natural harbor suitable for docking, he would always go ashore to take a closer look.

Lu Yi was initially worried that the horses would get seasick, but after personally trying the warhorses provided by Bing Yuan, he immediately put aside his worries.

Then he was modest and said that cattle and horses should not be killed for meat. Bing Yuan also reassured him that there were too many cattle and horses on the island, and there would always be some that were too old and weak to be kept, so they should be killed and pickled fresh before they died, which was a reasonable natural loss.

Lu Yi didn't say anything else and soon continued on his way.

Five or six days later, Lu Yi arrived in Busan County and was greeted by Gongsun Huang.

On behalf of Zhuge Jin, Lu Yi gave Gongsun Huang a slight warning, telling him that his father and second brother were now in Buyeo and seemed to have acted excessively again.

Gongsun Huang no longer had any real power and could only say, "General, just go ahead and do your job. I believe you are doing this for the good of the Han Dynasty."

Lu Yi stayed in Busan for several days, and at the same time he recruited guests from afar as guides, and he managed to recruit some people.

Among these people, some came here across the strait from the Fuso Islands, some were from more remote areas, and some were even the Mao people.

After a brief screening, Lu Yi confirmed that these people were not sick and could speak some Chinese, so he let them on board.

From these guides, Lu Yi learned about the waterway conditions in the strait opposite Busan, and also learned the locations of several islands in the strait that could serve as relays.

In early July he set sail again and arrived at Yamatai via Tsushima Island.

The country of Yamatai appears in many Three Kingdoms-themed games. Generally speaking, it is generally believed that it was a country on the coast of northern Kyushu and was unlikely to be in the Kinai of later Japan.

On the island of Kyushu today, there is a Yamatai in the north, which is closest to the Korean Peninsula, and there are some Xiongxiong barbarians in the south, who are even less civilized.

The indigenous barbarian tribes on Honshu Island were even worse than Yamatai, and because Yamatai monopolized the trade channels with the mainland, it was even more difficult for them to obtain advanced production technology and military technology.

Therefore, as long as we can conquer Kyushu Island now, it is basically equivalent to conquering the future Japan.

According to legends recorded in later historical books, Himiko, the Queen of Yamatai, lived to be nearly ninety years old, from the time of Emperor Huan of Han until the eve of Sima Yi's killing of Cao Shuang in the Gaopingling Incident - this was almost impossible given the lifespan of ancient people.

According to common sense, the name "Himiko" may not refer to a specific person, but to the ruling period of a certain tribe or family.

Just like Yanhuang, Yao and Shun in ancient Chinese history were all recorded as living for more than a hundred years, which does not conform to the medical conditions and common sense at that time.

Many later studies have suggested that Yao and Shun actually refer to "the period when a certain tribe served as the leader of the Huaxia tribal alliance", that is, the Yao tribe ruled for nearly a hundred years, and the Shun tribe "took turns" to rule for nearly a hundred years.

Himiko may also be a matrilineal family passed down from mother to daughter, and several generations ruled together for more than 237 years. However, there is a very clear record of their sending envoys to pay tribute to Cao Rui in 237 AD, and there are historical materials on the gift lists of Cao Wei and Yamatai, so the Himiko who was alive in AD should be the real one.

But now it is only the year 211. When Lu Yi landed, the ruler of the local tribal alliance country should be Himiko's mother, who is still a little girl.

When the Yamatai people saw the Han Chinese expedition merchant fleet, they were naturally astonished.

Especially when they saw Lu Yi taking out bronze mirrors and other items for trade, the Yamatai people immediately bought them at a huge price and worshipped them as sacred artifacts. Later, they really became sacred artifacts in local legends.

The "huge sum of money" they offered was indeed a lot of real money, not an imaginary sum, because the Fuso Islands have been rich in gold since ancient times.

As a volcanic archipelago, even if the Sado Gold Mine has not been discovered in this era, it is normal to find some natural gold based on Fuso's complex geological activities.

Mount Aso in the center of Kyushu Island is a large volcano that is always active. Local bears often go into the mountain to pick up gold nuggets.

Lu Yi was originally worried about whether he would need to mobilize troops to conquer the wild lands, but he didn't expect that these barbarians were so inexperienced that they knelt down at the slightest touch of the mirror.

Lu Yi was too lazy to commit murder anymore, so he just let the barbarians lead the way for him. He also occasionally sent some cavalrymen to go ashore and explore on horseback.

After a month or two of stopping and starting, Lu Yi had roughly mapped out the coastline of the Fuso Islands, and also made a vague sketch using Professor Zhuge Jin's grid method.

During the Mid-Autumn Festival, Lu Yi explored all the way to Hokkaido in later generations, and established relationships with the local Ainu people and even the Mao people of Sakhalin Island.

Bronze mirrors and steel tools were used to clear the way all the way, and crystals were occasionally used to bribe local chieftains, but there was almost no military action.

He also recruited hundreds of guides from various ethnic groups, intending to bring them all back when he returned to show them to his lord Liu Bei and Prime Minister Zhuge Jin, so that he could explain to his lord in person the customs, people, products and geography of these unknown places.

During his exploration of Hokkaido and Sakhalin Island, Lu Yi also discovered the cold-resistant rice grown in Hokkaido and the rye that was later commonly grown by the Russians.

Many of the cold-resistant rice varieties grown in the hinterland of Northeast China in later generations were gradually selected and improved from Hokkaido rice.

Rye is also more cold-resistant and can remain dormant than wheat and barley. The Russians in later generations were able to grow this crop in southern Siberia.

Lu Yi did not have time to observe the actual growth of these crops, so he only saw the mature crops with his own eyes or listened to the verbal descriptions of the local barbarians.

After discovering that these two things might indeed be of great use, Lu Yi naturally felt like he had found a treasure. He tried his best to get more of them and preserve them properly.

It was not until the end of September that Lu Yi had completely explored Sakhalin Island and even discovered the mouth of the Heilongjiang River on the coast of the Sea of Okhotsk in later generations. Only then did he begin his return voyage - but Lu Yi did not know that this was a very long river. There was no such geographical term as Heilongjiang at all, and the Han people had never been that far before.

On the way back, Lu Yi did not intend to repeat the old route, so he sailed south along the coast of the mainland side of the Sea of Japan, finally passing through Vladivostok in later generations, and then sailed south along the east coast of the peninsula. During the voyage along the coast of the Sea of Japan, he did discover some new species, and there is no need to elaborate on the details.

After going through hardships and returning to Daifang County, Lu Yi quickly handed over part of his gains to Zhao Yun, who was in charge of Youzhou. Then he took a short rest before returning south to report the situation to Zhuge Jin in person.

Zhuge Jin also immediately ordered Zhao Yun to try to grow the things that Lu Yi brought back during the winter, and to test the cold resistance of these things in a realistic manner, so as to prepare for promotion as soon as possible after conquering the Kingdom of Fuyu next year.

Zhuge Jin did not intend to make such an important decision based on his own limited impressions.

Human memory is limited, and it is better to have no books than to believe in them completely. Since Lu Yi brought back so many things, he would try his best to plant one of each, which would not cost much manpower and material resources. As long as he could find a little bit of results, it would be a huge profit.

Finally, after several months of preparation, Lu Yi really verified that Hokkaido rice seeds and Sakhalin rye can both grow well in the hinterland of Northeast China.

The rice has been fed to Zhao Yun's mouth, waiting for him to chew it a few times.

(End of this chapter)