Compared with the danger of the storm that I encountered when I first came, the journey back will be much calmer.
Because compared to the large fleet that set off in Bijinggang ahead of the time, some of the elite men and horses led by Zhou Huaian took another sea canal line; that is, from Haimen Town in the south (near Haiphong, Vietnam) to Qinzhou in the north. Tanpeng Canal at the Baiteng River Estuary (near Crescent Bay, Fangchenggang City, Guangxi).
Because most of this river runs through several coastlines from the inland, there is little danger of wind and waves and no trouble with torrents and surges. And in the wide and deep meandering river, nowadays it is full of large and small ships and merchant ships;
Among them, there were Qianzhong (now northern Guizhou) and Lingnan business travelers who wore hanging hats and hats, and there were also Tu men and women with their heads wrapped around their arms. There were even some snail bun Xitan or bare-armed clothed Zhenla, Nanzhao and other foreigners trip. People can't help but sigh that the charm of money and farming directly transcends the barriers of nations and countries in this era.
During the boat trip, in addition to all kinds of tourists, merchants and travelers and a variety of Tu people's customs along the way, they also enjoyed the graceful and varied scenery of the Indochina Peninsula.
Sometimes you can see that on one side is the turbulent waves on one side, and the sound of the waves is faint, and on the other side is the calm and no waves on the parallel inland canal and the wind and the sun; and then this kind of movement and quietness is vivid In contrast, sometimes a short estuary meets again somewhere, and turns into a clear, blue-green transition of water and sky.
Sometimes it is the undulating hills, such as Daiyuan Mountain and the villages and villages in between, sometimes it is the strange cliffs of the ileum and the rugged high cliffs close at hand; sometimes it suddenly opens up. In the narrow and mountainous cross-cutting point, it presents a wide valley in the middle of a stream or a plain that is like a peach blossom source;
Sometimes, it's the willows in the shadows of the hidden mountain crevices, suddenly rushing out of a turbulent rapids on the river surface, or the high waterfalls and deep creeks that are cascading down, and the volley is swaying like The rain is moistened like mist.
Sometimes in the wild forests or in the dense forests, they will meet the wild animals such as monkeys, leopards and elephants that are constantly active day and night, inadvertently facing each other across the river, and then yelling. Noisy, or indifferently watching each other go away.
While resting near the Hekou Fishing Village in the middle of the road, Zhou Huaian also deliberately went to the places known as "Tianweiyao" and "Xianrenlong" to observe and explore on the rocky beach obstructing the river mouth; It is a pity that only the broken stone edges washed by the water and the obvious traces of gouge hit by the cone and axe were seen, but no trace or clue that could prove the use of gunpowder was found.
As for the obvious traces of smoky fire on the boulders, it is the result of the pedestrians and merchants who passed through here in the past, and the villagers of nearby Juyi have paid homage and sacrificed to the ruins here. In the end, Zhou Huaian discovered a lot of things resembling paleontological fossils on the rocky beaches of the old riverbed exposed after the local diversion, which was regarded as some kind of souvenir and souvenir through this time.
But this discovery also aroused his thoughts. In fact, Zhou Huaian has always hesitated about another thing, that is, whether to release part of the sailing skills he knows for later generations;
For example, after the great foreign exchanges in the nearly 300 years since the founding of the Great Tang, the people of this era actually already had a water compass as a azimuth navigation, as well as a starboard introduced by the Arabs to assist the ancient constellation positioning method; Ensure the direction and positioning of the navigation.
In the Kaiyuan year, when the world calendar was redefined to determine the ecliptic meridian, there was a "complex moment" invented by the famous astronomer and classical scientist, Seng Yixing; the altitude of the two polar stars can be used to determine the north-south distance of the land. Measurement technique.
There is also a local navigation method that uses geographic coordinates along the way. It is in the "Island Calculation Classics" annotated by Li Chunfeng and others, by using the Pythagorean theorem and the principle of proportionality to the corresponding sides of similar triangles, the "weight difference method" of two observation calculations is used to measure landmarks.
In addition, the Tang Dynasty has initially established the quantitative concept of navigation related to trade winds, not only grasping the law of the coming of the monsoon, but also accurately calculating the time when the northeast monsoon is coming; and formulating the cycle of timely voyages.
When Jia Dan, the former prime minister, he even compiled "The Map of Huayi in the Sea", "Study of the Four Barinesses of Ancient and Modern County, Country, and County Roads", and "The Story of the Four Dao of Huanghua" on these foundations. Departing by boat and arriving in East Africa where the Persian Gulf and Kunlun countries are located, the specific circumstances and time required along the way.
In the Battle of Taluos, he was captured by the Great Eater, and traveled through many countries including the Abbasid Dynasty, the Eastern Roman Empire, the Frankish Kingdom, Egypt, Nubia, and the Axum Kingdom in Ethiopia. After returning home from Emasawa Port in Shunai Kingdom (now the southern part of Somalia in East Africa), he left behind a book comparable to Xuanzang’s "Story of the Western Regions of the Tang Dynasty", which opened a fan to the Tang people. The window to understand the outer domain thousands of miles away.
In addition, there are such things as the keel structure of the hull, the watertight compartment technology sealed by tung oil and lime, the hull covered with copper skin, and the original chart and star map made by copperplate. Measure the depth of the sea with a long rope tied mound, and judge the navigation position and situation from the sediment on the bottom of the mound. Use homing pigeons as a means of marine transportation. And it has been possible to use fish gel and sawdust to repair ships underwater to prevent leakage and sinking.
And so on, some series are enough to smash the advanced technology of shipbuilding and navigation that are mostly civilizations and countries in the world.
Just like the treasure ship of Zheng He in later generations, there is also a kind of ocean-going giant ship called "Mulan Boat" in this era, which is known to carry six to seven hundred people and continue to sail for more than half a year. Therefore, it is common in many Tang poems; Tang Dynasty poet Jia Dao's "Jihan Chaozhou Yu" has the saying, "This heart was once with Mulan boat until the tide of the south of Tiannan."
In this case, the calcite that can be used to observe the position of the sun and the sextant that can be used to measure the angle between the sun or other celestial bodies at a certain moment and the sea level or the horizon are not so necessary. Instead, some of the sailboat designs from the great nautical era, the more maneuverable canvas manufacturing process, and the rope pulley group seem to be more useful.
There are actually no technical problems in woven coarse canvas (dense weave) and fine canvas (fine weave) with multiple strands; there were prototypes similar to those used in the early Roman era; it was just before the birth of the hydraulic textile machine. It takes more labor to make.
And all the buds of all these will be restored and developed to the extreme in the Southern Song Dynasty after a long setback and loss in the Five Dynasties of war; so do you want to play the role of a behind-the-scenes pusher and let it take another path? Go further up.
With this still in mind, Zhou Huai'an arrived at the Baiteng River Estuary in Qinzhou, and then changed to a large ship going to sea from the local area. He also received the latest news from the government again.
For example, the left-behind Division still accepted his suggestion and formed many armed expropriation teams to conduct inspections and expropriation activities on various temples and religious sites under the rule; although a lot of money, food and materials were collected quickly in a short period of time, but This also aroused many backlashes and resistances;
It’s okay to say that the temples in those towns are nothing more than financial loss and disaster elimination or non-violent non-cooperation. However, the local temples that occupies a lot of fertile land and have many tenants are not so easy to talk, and even reappeared in some places. The monastery is a new soil group called to fight against the expropriation team of the left-behind division; these rushing situations have made the left-behind division overwhelmed and unable to take care of him for a while.
Moreover, under the activities of these expropriation teams, many women were rescued from these monasteries in short intervals without accident, and many rare artifacts that violated the identity of monks were copied, and even the armored weapons that the government had to expressly prohibited. Among these hidden women, some were privately occupied tenant wives and daughters, some were victims of looting, and some were bought by the turmoil of the world or sold by human teeth;
It can be said that in addition to the areas with a relatively high degree of enlightenment along the coast, there are still some real penances and preaching. The inland temples outside the ridge are actually no better than those in the inland that deserve to be exterminated." Masters" have lived much better; even have passed. Because of their remoteness, some monasteries in the mountains have simply become robber dens dressed in monks' robes and local tyrants in disguise.
Originally, these monasteries Zhou Huai'an intended to stay until the end. After the rebels had a firm foothold in all aspects, they would boil the fat sheep in warm water and slowly clean up and concoct them in a frog style; now they can only be thrown to the left-behind division as an alternative plan. And bait
This is also a dignified and arrogant means, and can't help but rush to meet the left-behind division that is needed in front of him, and don't try to deal with and plan. However, if the person who came up with this idea is leaked out in the future, it is undoubtedly the reputation of "outer Buddha enemy" in a certain sense will not escape.
At least the Annan land that Zhou Huai'an saw was better. At least Buddhism and Taoism were simultaneously developed and Confucianism also had a corresponding influence; the existence of temples was more an important help for the missionary and naturalization of the natives. On the other hand, There is not so much accumulation of fertile land, so Zhou Huaian's processing sequence is quite late, but only ordered to donate some things to help the army.
But the upper part of the neighboring Linyi (Champa dynasty) and Luchenla kingdoms (Jimie/Khmer dynasty) have the Hinayana Buddhism, which is the other extreme; the monks are a natural privileged group and class in the local area. As long as you put on the robes, you are regarded as inviolable. There is no tax or service, and there are no prisoners. Instead, the temple is the core and the land and slaves are gathered, and they can enjoy the spare no effort to provide them.
For example, Lin Yi country was deeply affected by the relics of the Brahmins of the Southern Tianzhu, from the noble surnames of the monarchs to the common people of Li Shun. Both the government and the private people have the tradition of directly giving women alms to the temple, which is part of the "Buddha offering"; It’s even more powerful. Girls from rich families are 7 to 9 years old, and girls from poor families are under 11 years old at the latest. The monks must be removed from their virgins, which they call "the blanket".
In the evening of the "Array Carpet", gongs and drums were beaten to bring the monk home. That night, the monk lived with the female until dawn and left. After that, the host family will use cloth to redeem the girl, otherwise the girl will be owned by the monk for life and cannot marry someone else. Before the "Blank", the girl lived with her parents, but afterwards she was unrestrained. (See "The Chronicles of Zhenla" in later generations)
So after Zhou Huai'an took these places, he sent them to the Abi Hell to find the Bodhisattva of the Earth Zang to report, and then replaced them with monks from the Han region, which is another way of spreading the Dharma. (End of this chapter)