Ming East India Company

Cheng Keqin was also on the same ship. This time, he was still traveling on his own ship, the "Keqin," closely following behind the Ryukyu tribute ship, the "Yuguan."

This is the largest ship in the Ryukyu tribute ship fleet. It is 12 zhang long, 2 zhang 5 chi wide, has a draft of 1 zhang 4 chi, and a carrying capacity of about 400 liao.

船只为三桅，头尾桅6丈5尺，大桅8丈5尺。水密舱28舱。

In East Asia at that time, it was basically a behemoth, but according to the classification standards of battleships in the later sailing era, it could only barely reach the threshold of a level 6 ship.

As for shipboard weaponry, there was none. There were no cannons on board, nor were there any windows or hinges on the sides for mounting gun emplacements.

Following closely behind the tribute ship were two other auxiliary ships, slightly smaller than the tribute ship, with 23 cabins each.

The Ming Dynasty granted Ryukyu a tax exemption allowance of three ships for each tribute mission, which Shirano naturally did not want to waste.

The three ships were filled with tribute items for this pilgrimage: 10,000 catties of sulfur, 5,000 catties of pepper, 3,000 catties of sappanwood, as well as exquisite maki-e lacquerware, Japanese swords, and gilded folding fans, all of which were local products that the Ming Dynasty had always favored.

But the most important thing on the ship was the heads of dozens of Japanese, which were presented to Emperor Wanli as a "gift".

The fleet also carried several medium-sized seagoing vessels, with the Keqin as the lead ship, which was filled with silver obtained from the voyage and Bai family servants preparing to return.

After passing the Kuroshio Current, the tribute fleet and the Bai family's private fleet parted ways.

The Bai family's private ship fleet, led by Bai Ye's second uncle Bai Wencheng and Cheng Keqin, headed straight for Yuegang to unload cargo. Bai Wencheng is the oldest living member of the Bai family and has been in business for many years, always handling matters with prudence.

Bai Ling continued to "follow" the tribute ship as it headed towards Fuzhou.

Bai Ling was busy planning her arrangements after landing when she suddenly heard the boat captain's voice:

"Master Lü has arrived in Fuzhou."

Bai Ling stepped out of the stern tower, and the dark coastline in the distance was already faintly visible.

Her official role this time was Zheng Jiong's interpreter, which meant she could accompany and supervise Zheng Jiong legally without arousing suspicion.

Further away from Min'an Town, the Yu Guan boat lowered its sampan and made prior contact with the Min'an Town Inspection Office.

Two hours later, the patrol boat from the inspection office slowly arrived.

Guided by the sampan, the Yuguan entered the mouth of the Minjiang River.

Since the Fuzhou Maritime Trade Office was still several days away, Zheng Jiong and several other key members of the delegation disembarked first.

A few days later, officials from the Maritime Trade Office came with a certificate to verify their identities.

Zheng Jiong, dressed in Ryukyu official robes and holding a tally, stepped forward respectfully, bowed, and announced loudly: "The Ryukyu Kingdom requests the investiture of its chief envoy, Zheng Jiong, who, on the orders of the Crown Prince, brings the obituary of the late King, a gold-leaf memorial, and tribute goods, to respectfully request the Celestial Dynasty to bestow investiture upon us. This is the tally of our Dynasty, and we request its verification."

The officials of the Maritime Trade Office took the tally and retrieved the copy kept by the Ministry of Rites. They pieced the two halves of the tally together, ensuring the seals and stamps on the seams fit perfectly. After verifying that everything was correct, the officials checked the number of people in the delegation and the list of tribute items. Seeing that there were no prohibited items, they finally ordered the delegation to leave.

Escorted by soldiers, the delegation transferred to sand barges and sailed up the Min River to Fuzhou.

Upon arriving in Fuzhou, the delegation stayed at Rouyuan Post Station, a post station established by the Ming Dynasty specifically for tribute missions from Ryukyu. The station was clean and tidy, well-equipped, and guarded by soldiers day and night to prevent disturbances by outsiders.

Zheng Jiong then went to the Fujian Provincial Administration Commission and the Maritime Trade Commission to submit a memorial requesting the sealing of the tribute and a notice of the late king's death. Officials from the three commissions verified the tribute and stored it on the tribute ship. The documents were then quickly sent to the capital by express courier to await the emperor's decree...

While Bai Ling was busy going to pay tribute, Bai Ye was not idle either.

"Sanshi, take a look at this blueprint. Go to the island and find some craftsmen to try and make one by hand."

Wang Sanshi looked at the blueprints; it was a strange thing he had never seen before.

It's not a circle, it's only one-sixth of a circle.

It looks like a wooden frame, but it has two extra booms with glass panels.

The strangest thing is that Shirane has marked the arc with a dense array of characters.

Although he found it strange, as a subordinate, Wang Sanshi dared not neglect Bai Ye's orders and quickly went down to make arrangements.

However, he soon realized what a difficult task he had taken on. This thing looked complicated and was not easy to do at all.

This drawing shows a sextant, which can measure specific latitudes.

This is Baiye's next task: to establish a maritime positioning system that can support him in completing his great voyage.

In the age of sailing navies, maritime positioning was always a major problem, and the core of the positioning problem was to figure out one's own longitude and latitude.

The star charts used in the Ming Dynasty and those used in the West are essentially based on the same principle: determining approximate latitude by the angle between the altitude of celestial bodies and the sea level.

The sextant is an upgraded version of this device. It uses two plane mirrors for secondary reflection. After the light is reflected continuously by the two mirrors, the angle between the incident direction and the final reflection direction is equal to twice the angle between the two mirrors.

By precisely measuring the angle between the two mirrors and doubling its scale, the altitude angle between the target celestial body and the horizon can be read directly.

This elevation angle is the latitude of the location.

If a precise marine chronometer were available, longitude could even be determined using this method.

By the late Ming Dynasty, all the necessary conditions for making a sextant were basically met.

Camphor wood can replace modern metal in the manufacture of frames and indicator arms.

If the markings made with cinnabar are preserved properly, they will not fade in a short period of time.

The pointer is at the end of the indicator arm, which craftsmen of that era could grind out using sand and gravel.

Then comes the most crucial part—the two plane mirrors.

Making glass is not difficult, but making crystal clear glass that can be used to make mirrors is quite challenging.

Unfortunately, Ryukyu Island, where Shirano is located, lacks metallurgical technology due to its limited resources, making glass manufacturing from scratch a complete pipe dream.

Fortunately, Ryukyu was a "bridge between nations," so it certainly had no shortage of all kinds of Western items.

Shirano easily collected a large number of glass products, and then used a large workforce to mobilize craftsmen to grind flat mirrors using a grinding method.

Following the artisan study movement before Shirano, the number of artisans on Ryukyu Island has increased dramatically. As long as you put in the effort, even an iron rod can be ground into a needle; with slow and steady effort, you can eventually produce something of better quality.

As for the pivot, copper nails and bamboo wedges can be used as alternatives to metal screws.

The only problem is that filters are hard to find, but as long as your eyesight is good enough, you can manage without them.

We can just raise a few more one-eyed bastards! Human rights are a luxury in this era.

The ideal was beautiful, but reality was harsh. The first problem Shirano encountered after this wooden sextant came into his hands was:

This thing just won't turn at all...