Zhu Di and Li Jie rode all the way along the way, and changed horses at the post station several times on the road. Finally, they arrived at Taijin Port at night. At this time, the port was still brightly lit. After all, there were no curfews at the port, especially the docks were busy all night, with boatmen who were loading and loading goods overnight, and small vendors who were busy doing business.

However, Li Jie and Zhu Di were not in the mood to enjoy the night view of the port. The two of them were led by the port officials to the position where the fleet was docked. Captain Jiang and others on the ship also received news in advance, and they all stood on the deck waiting.

Li Jie and Zhu Di stepped onto the boat, and when they entered their eyes, they saw rows of black and thin crew members. Although their clothes had been replaced with new ones, their weather-beaten faces were filled with the hardships they had along the way.

Zhu Di also looked shocked when he looked at the crew. Although he didn't know what these people had experienced at sea, he knew that these people must have been able to return to the Ming Dynasty for a lifetime, especially Captain Jiang and Li Fangyuan, whom he knew, Zhu Di also took a lot of effort to recognize the two of them from the group.

"See Your Highness, King Yan!" Captain Jiang was so excited that he came forward and bowed.

Zhu Di hurriedly reached out to help Captain Jiang up and said, "No need to be polite, thank you for your hard work along the way!"

Thank you for your hard work, Captain Jiang almost shed tears. Especially when he thought of the brothers who died on the road, Captain Jiang felt even more sad. However, he still held back his tears and said, "Thank you, Your Highness, although your subordinates and brothers worked hard, they lived up to the mission. Not only did they find a route to America, but they also brought back what Your Highness asked us to find!"

"Don't worry, let's go in and chat slowly!" Zhu Di said with some emotion at this time. When he said this, he looked up at the crew standing on the deck, and immediately shouted loudly, "Thank you all, brothers, you have worked hard. I know you have experienced many difficulties and dangers along the way. I won't say much about other nonsense. I just want you brothers to rest assured. Both the court and I will never treat you badly. There will be a heavy reward for you in the future!"

"Thank you Your Highness!" The crew members were all excited to politely salute Zhu Di. They were all ordinary people, and they didn't know what it means to leave a name in history, nor did they know what it means to be famous for a lifetime. For them, the most important thing is real benefits, and this is what Zhu Di promised to them.

Looking at these excited crew members, Li Jie also felt a little moved. He originally wanted to say a few words to let these crew members know the importance of their trip to America, their impact and significance for future generations. However, when he heard Zhu Di's words, he felt that what he was going to say was superfluous, and not many people were willing to listen, so he shut up.

After promising the benefits, Zhu Di and Captain Jiang entered the cabin. Li Jie also followed him. When he entered the interior, Zhu Di immediately said: "Why are there only three ships back? Have the other two ships been surprised?"

"One boat was lost on the way to go, and the other boat stayed in America..."

Captain Jiang roughly explained the willingness left by the second ship. Zhu Di didn't say anything after hearing this. He could understand the crew members who stayed in America and didn't want to come back. After all, it could be seen from Captain Jiang and others that these people were almost dead on the road, and it was not easy to come back.

"Is the fleet a major casualties this time?" Li Jie also asked afterwards.

"The casualties are indeed quite large. The ship that lost at first found several bodies, and the others probably failed to survive. Later, we also lost some manpower one after another. Some died of accidents, some died of illness, some were killed in conflicts with the natives, and many people were injured or even disabled. In short, the entire fleet lost almost one-third of the manpower, and now the remaining three ships are not full."

When Captain Jiang spoke at the end, he also showed a painful expression on his face. After all, all the people who lost were his brothers. How many of them were the old brothers he brought from the navy, but these were forever left at sea or America and could not come back after death.

"How is the situation in the Americas? Is it really several times bigger than the Ming Dynasty?" Zhu Di suddenly asked. The situation in the Americas was said by Li Jie alone. Although he believed in Li Jie, sometimes he still needed to prove it from others.

"The Americas is indeed a vast land. Although we are only moving on the coast, what we see and hear is indeed several times larger than that of the Ming Dynasty. In addition, there are abundant gold and silver. The goods we carry alone have been exchanged for a lot of gold and silver. However, in order to motivate the crew, all the gold and silver are distributed to the crew. I hope your highness will not blame it!" Captain Jiang said in the end and saluted Zhu Di again.

In addition to carrying the supplies needed, the fleet also brought some more common goods, such as cotton cloth, porcelain, etc. These things are sometimes better than gold and silver. However, these goods actually belonged to Zhu Di and Zhang Dingbian. Captain Jiang and others arbitrarily exchanged the goods for gold and silver to distribute them to the crew, and did not obtain Zhu Di's permission in advance.

"It's okay, these are all the crew deserved. Tell me about the situation in America!" Zhu Di waved his hand indifferently when he heard this. At that time, the fleet didn't carry much cargo, and it was only worth thousands of taels of silver to death, so he didn't care. Of course, he didn't know that these thousands of taels of silver goods came to America but received dozens or even hundreds of times of profit. These were what he only found out later, and he felt distressed for many days.

"Yes, as soon as we walked east along the ocean current, we experienced storms and hungry on the road. Finally, we finally arrived in America, but we met local natives in America. Some of these natives were very cruel, and some were very friendly..."

Captain Jiang explained the fleet's experience in the Americas in detail, and finally even took out his own navigation log, because they had too many things they had experienced in the Americas, and he couldn't remember some things himself, so he needed to find the exact time from the log.

Li Jie and Zhu Di were also very stunning, especially Li Jie, because many of the contents of Captain Jiang's speeches were verified with what he knew about America, especially the customs and habits of the native Americans, which also made him feel a little familiar.

"...When our fleet arrived at the area suspected to be Central America, we met local natives and found the same crop His Highness asked us to look for, that is corn, the locals used corn as their staple food..."

"Wait a minute, did you really find corn?" Li Jie interrupted Captain Jiang with excitement when he heard this and asked, "If corn is found, then have the crops such as potatoes, sweet potatoes and peppers been found?"
Chapter completed!