The Rise of the European Emperor

In the world of 1505, the level of development was simply too low. Except for the Ming Empire in the East, Japan, India, Turkey, Persia and European countries, most parts of the world have not been developed much.

In the Americas at this time, only Mexico and the Andes were more populated and developed a certain civilization. As for the rich eastern part of North America, as well as much of Brazil and Argentina, they were still under the control of the native Stone Age Indians.

In the eastern plains of North America, there are dense virgin forests everywhere. Towering ancient trees are everywhere, and hundreds of years-old oaks, which are rare in Europe, can be seen everywhere in the eastern part of the North American continent. The backward North American Indians lived slash-and-burn farming and hunting in this dense jungle.

The bows and arrows of the Indians did not have metal arrows at this time, and most of them were made of stone. Indians like to use hard obsidian to make knives and arrows. Before Europeans came to trade, except for a few advanced Indian civilizations such as the Inca Empire, other Indians were in the Stone Age.

Arrows made of this kind of stone have poor armor-piercing ability. In the face of European armor, there is nothing to do. Even when hunting thick-skinned bison, the Indians needed to change to spears and javelins.

Of course, after Britain and France got involved in the trade with the Indians, the Indians' weapons were upgraded immediately. They had arquebuses, and then, flintlocks.

However, the British and French merchants sold muskets to the Indians, but they did not have any good intentions. They gave friendly Indian tribes muskets so that they could hunt more animals and get more furs. In addition, it is to pit the Spaniards.

In addition to the weapon factor, the biggest factor restricting colonization is the dense virgin forest. The big strategy of the Spaniards is useless in jungle warfare. Because the Indians would hide in the virgin forest and would not fight the Spaniards head-on. If you chase into the forest, cold arrows and traps are waiting for you.

Of course, if according to Marin's idea, let a group of experienced jungle hunters be the vanguard, hiding in the forest would not be scary. Those old hunters can judge the hiding spots of deeply hidden prey based on the footprints and feces on the ground, and ambush them. Every old hunter in the forest is a master of tracking.

In addition, Marin not only recruited those experienced Black Forest hunters, but also mass-bred the Alsatian wolfhound, the ancestor of the German Shepherd.

With training, these Alsatian wolfdogs will learn to track Indians in the jungle by smell. The specific method is - which experienced hunters will find the enemy's clues first. Then, let the Alsatian wolfdog come forward to smell the smell, and follow the smell to track the Indians.

The old hunter and the wolfdog made it difficult for even the cunning criminals of later generations to escape, let alone those Indians with little knowledge.

They will also simply camouflage and hide themselves according to the jungle environment. In the face of the combination of old hunters and dogs, there is absolutely no escape.

Of course, every old hunter is a treasure. Impossible to have them confront those Indian warriors. They are only responsible for tracking, and the specific combat still has to be done by those sword and shield soldiers and ordinary musketeers. And those old hunters and wolf dogs are only responsible for tracking the enemy and finding the enemy's traps. The battle is left to others. After all, such professionals are rare and not easy to cultivate. Unlike those cannon fodder soldiers, who die before recruiting...

...

Seeing that Amerigo's fleet had returned, the sailing team led by Captain Aben, who had gone to explore the coast of South America, also set off. Next, of course, it was Columbus' turn to set off...

According to the original plan, Amerigo obtained the naming rights of the Americas, and the credit for discovering India and the Ming Dynasty belongs to Columbus.

However, when looking for the Daming route, Marin planned to walk on two legs. Why two legs? Is to find two routes to the Ming Dynasty.

Columbus will go to Daming for the first time. After arriving at Calicut along the Indian route, it will go south to the Straits of Malacca. After passing through the Straits of Malacca, it will go north to the coast of Fujian and Guangdong in Daming.

This line, on the bright side, is also reserved for the Portuguese. All Marin wanted was to give Columbus a right of discovery. After all, the Portuguese have always been dissatisfied with India's right of discovery, insisting that Dagama was the first discoverer of India.

This time, Columbus went to Ming Dynasty alone, so the Portuguese would not be able to say anything.

In fact, Marin did not like this route, but rather the route in the Pacific Ocean, which is the route of the later Manila galleon trade.

Why? Because the route is east-west, it can sail in a wind belt, sailing downwind for a long time, and the speed of the ship can be very fast.

For example, from the Americas to the Philippines, if you take the easterly wind belt near the equator, it is already downwind, and it also follows the north equatorial warm current. So smooth, the natural speed is very fast. From Panama to the Philippines, it only takes about three months (using Spanish Galen ships); and from Manila to America, you need to first follow the Kuroshio in the western Pacific, and in June each year, follow the southwest monsoon northward, After arriving in the waters near Japan, it reached the westerly belt and followed the westerly wind and the tributary of the Kuroshio in the North Pacific all the way to the east. Arriving in America, it takes about 6 months.

But if you take the African coastal route, according to the Dutch records, it will take about 10 months to travel from Europe to Taiwan Island, which is slower than the Pacific route.

This is because, on the African coastal route, the wind belt often changes. It was a tailwind for a while, and it might be a headwind after a while, making it impossible to make full use of the wind. This is bad for sailboats. Therefore, taking this route is not efficient.

Moreover, there is still a big problem with this route, and that is the problem of piracy...

The Southeast Asian waters have never been calm. Although the sea was banned in the Ming Dynasty, there were many pirates in the South China Sea. For example, in the early Ming Dynasty, there was a great pirate Chen Zuyi, who occupied Malacca for more than ten years, with tens of thousands of pirates and hundreds of warships.

With such strength, most countries in the world cannot beat him. Had it not been for Zheng He's fleet to annihilate him, maybe he would have been able to establish himself as a king in Southeast Asia.

Now, although there is no big pirate like Chen Zuyi appeared. However, in a prime location such as the Straits of Malacca, pirates must be infested. Because this is an important route for trade between Daming and the Arab and Indian regions. Although the Ming Dynasty did not open up normal trade, the tributary trade was still very prosperous. Also, there is smuggling. Therefore, the Strait of Malacca is still very prosperous.

In fact, some Green Religion countries in Southeast Asia were established by Arab merchants who came to Daming to trade. Such as Sulu. Mainly because the indigenous people on the Southeast Asian islands did not establish a country at all. Some ambitious Arab businessmen took a look - Hey, what a great opportunity, let's stop doing business and go to occupy an island to be the chief... Just like this, the Green Religion spread in Southeast Asia like this...

This time Marlin sent Columbus to take this route, and he was actually very worried. So, Marin sent four ships directly to Columbus—a 500-ton battleship, and two 250-class armed merchant ships. Moreover, equipped with enough artillery and fighters.

Such force is specially used to deal with pirates in the Strait of Malacca. After all, if you use the kind of boat configuration for exploring the Americas, you may die miserably. After all, there are Chinese pirates over there. Those people are not stupid native Indians. They have warships and skills. If they use ordinary troops without force, maybe Columbus will also be killed.

So, to be on the safe side, Marin photographed a battleship as a flagship for Columbus to keep it safe. Now, just wait for Columbus to pick the captain and sailor, and you can go...