Chapter 18, Twenty-seven moments in the four years of Chongzhen 18 The eighteenth moment: Unexpected and unscientific December 7, 1630, northwest coast of Australia An exploration ship "Chopper" from the emerging power of South America, the "East Coast Republic", is slowly heading north along the coastline of Western Australia, driven by ocean currents and steam engines.
Due to the unfavorable wind direction, all the sails on the mast of the "Breaker" fell down.
Only the huge paddle wheels on both sides of the ship continued to rotate, providing acceleration power for the expedition ship drifting along the ocean current.
Captain Li Yi stood on the stern of the expedition ship, casually looking through the telescope at the desolate coastline to the east.
Indeed, in this desolate land, there are countless high-quality mineral deposits that are easy to mine, but for the small East Coast Republic with a small population, it is of little significance.
The main goal of Captain Li Yi's voyage was not to seize an Australian colony for the East Coast country.
The most important purpose of his expedition to the sea was to try to bypass the blockade of European powers and open a route to the Ming Empire, so as to collect more Chinese immigrants for the East Coast Republic located in the Uruguay region of South America.
Since more than 500 Chinese travelers from the 21st century laid the foundation for the country of Uruguay in later South America on the east bank of the La Plate River, people of the same language and race were imported from the distant Ming Dynasty to ensure the number of the main ethnic group and maintain the country.
Stability has become a national policy on the East Coast.
However, Uruguay, located in the south-central part of South America and adjacent to the Atlantic Ocean, is really far away from its homeland in the Central Plains.
If the East Coast Country wants to obtain a large number of Ming Dynasty immigrants, the only way is to use Portuguese channels and entrust them to recruit refugees in China.
At this time, they are the only Westerners with strongholds and connections in China.
The Spanish and The Dutch have not yet opened the way for direct communication with the Ming Dynasty.
Obviously, any monopoly business will lead to huge profits.
What's even more terrible is that nine thousand kilometers away in the New York area of North America's original time and space, there is another group of Chinese time travellers, "Chinese America", who also have an urgent need to import Chinese immigrants from the East.
Under the fierce bidding of the two buyers, the only "supplier", Putian, took the opportunity to raise the price, causing the two Chinese traveler groups in North and South America to complain.
This population business ended with the transport of an immigrant from the Ming Dynasty.
The price to America was actually raised by the Portuguese to a full four hundred taels of silver, which was still the minimum price.
If a thin girl was shipped, so much silver would probably be almost as much as her weight.
In the Ming Dynasty at the same time, the price of buying a little girl was only four taels of silver at most, and the cheaper ones were often only one or two to two taels.
As a result, China, the United States and the East Coast countries have built many "advanced" industries such as textiles, metallurgy, pharmaceuticals, and sun salt over the years, and used their technological advantages to carry out the industrial revolution in advance.
A considerable part of the development dividends have been obtained by Portugal, which monopolizes distribution channels.
The person swallowed it all in one gulp.
The money gained from the two American traveler groups through the human trade amounted to one-fifth of the annual fiscal revenue of the Kingdom of Portugal.
After gritting their teeth and persevering for a few years, China, the United States and the East Coast countries finally couldn't stand such expensive large expenditures, and started their own independent exploration of the Eastern Sea Route.
Unfortunately, things didn't go well from the beginning.
In order to obtain access to As a relay station in the Eastern world, China, the United States and the East Coast countries established colonial strongholds in South Africa almost at the same time, and then because of a mountain The relationship between two tigers could not be tolerated, and serious armed conflicts soon broke out.
Starting in 1628 AD, the indigenous vassal armies of both sides launched armed confrontations and small-scale exchanges of fire in South Africa.
The blue and white five-star flags of the United States and the red background were displayed.
The warships of the countries on the east coast of the Sword Goshawk Flag opened their guns to each other and were at war with each other.
A South African war seemed to be about to break out.
In the end, given that China and the United States in North America already had steam armored warships and had superior firepower and military strength on the South African battlefield, the east coast countries of South America were forced to compromise and ended in peace talks.
China and the United States obtained the territory of South Africa, but out of compatriots Therefore, the port must also be open to the East Coast countries, and people from the East Coast countries were also included in the colonial government, which was somewhat similar to the public concession in Shanghai during the Republic of China.
Then, the East Coast colonists who withdrew from South Africa in despair moved to the island of Madagascar, where they established a port "Tower City" as a base for advancing to the East.
Next, the East Coast State sent two warships to attempt a voyage to the East in 1629.
As a result, they were beaten to pieces by the Dutch fleet in the Strait of Malacca and fled.
In this era, the British maritime power had not yet developed, and the Netherlands was the one.
The world's most powerful maritime overlord, with at least 6,000 warships and armed merchant ships around the world, the name "Sea Coachman" is not for nothing.
As the key to controlling the spice trade, Batavia's Dutch fleet is also quite powerful, second only to the Netherlands itself.
With such a powerful fleet, the Dutch almost monopolized the Eastern route in this century, especially the crucial Strait of Malacca, which was regarded as forbidden by the Dutch.
Except for a few British, French or Danish ships with which they had exchanged interests, which might be able to pass through in peacetime, other forces would be attacked by the Dutch fleet as soon as they appeared near the Bay of Bengal and the Strait of Malacca.
Even the Portuguese and Spanish who came to the East earlier were blocked by the Dutch fleet in this century.
The contact between the mainland and the Far Eastern colonies was always intermittent, and often there was no Portuguese ship for many years in a row.
Fortunately, after arriving in Macau, around 1630, the relationship between the Portuguese and the Dutch was relatively good, so they were able to do business with two groups of travelers from the Americas in trafficking Ming Dynasty people.
There are only two ways to break through the Dutch blockade.
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One is to assemble an unprecedented large fleet to go to the Far East, so that the Dutch Far East fleet will not dare to talk nonsense; the other is to try their luck to sneak across.
If the ship is fast enough, If we were quick, we might be able to break through the Dutch blockade in the Strait of Malacca.
But the cost of the former was too terrible, and the latter was too unreliable, so the East Coast country chose the third method: not to go through the Strait of Malacca, but to take a detour.
Specifically, it uses the westerly drifting belt of the southern hemisphere ocean as a natural power source to sail from Uruguay to South Africa or Madagascar, and then continue to rely on ocean currents from the southern tip of Africa to cross the Indian Ocean and reach Perth on the west coast of Australia.
This sea area is far away from the land and desolate.
It is open and there is basically no danger of encountering pirates and enemy navies.
Then turn north from here and follow the cold current of Western Australia all the way north into Southeast Asia.
This area is dotted with thousands of islands.
No matter how strong the Dutch are, they can only control a few places such as Batavia and Malacca.
This is a key point.
It is impossible to monitor every route.
Stowaways can easily cross this sea area and reach Japan, Taiwan, North Korea and even mainland China in the north.
When it's time to return, you can go south along the East Australian Warm Current on the east coast of Australia, enter the westerly belt of the southern hemisphere again, and then ride the wind across the Pacific, through the Strait of Magellan or the Drake Strait, and finally return to the Republic of the East Coast. .
Of course, this immigration transportation route around the world was just drawn by a few naval officials from a chart.
It seems feasible in theory.
As for the troubles it will encounter in practice, no one knows at all.
Thus, there was Captain Li Yi's voyage.
More than a month ago, Captain Li Yi was ordered to command the two newly developed steam paddlewheel and sail hybrid expedition ships on the East Coast, the "Breaking Wave" and the "Chopper" with a displacement of more than 730 tons, from Madagascar.
We lifted anchor from the Tacheng base and set sail.
It took about half a month to successfully cross the Indian Ocean and reach the desolate and dry west coast of Australia.
After landing to survey the landform, burying a monument of sovereignty, and replacing the smelly water filled with suspicious green suspended matter in the water tank with fresh water, Li Yi left the "Breaking Waves" to build a colony in the Perth area of the original time and space.
Based on the stronghold, he took the "Chopper" replenished with fresh water and continued northward to survey the shipping routes in Western Australia.
Looking towards the shore from the "Chopper", you can see a desolate stretch of yellow sand.
There are no plants and no rivers.
Barrenness and drought are the main colors here.
However, there are some green embellishments at the foot of the bulging mountains in the distance.
Perhaps only in the mountains can there be a few streams that can provide a source of life to this arid land.
As the expedition ship moved slowly, the desert scenery on the shore gradually turned into a flat prairie, but it was still quite dry, and even trees were rarely seen.
Due to the influence of the Western Australian cold current, Western Australia is such a tropical area.
The desolate scene where grasslands and tropical deserts intersect, in terms of living environment, is probably similar to that of the Western Regions of China, and it is even more isolated and lonely.
There are no traces of human civilization, and even the animals are a full era behind Eurasia.
Just as Captain Li Yi, who had just had breakfast, was holding a teacup and thinking randomly, the lookout at the top of the mast suddenly blew the copper whistle, indicating something that he had never thought of before. happens quietly Then, in disbelief, they saw through their telescopes the ruins of man-made buildings scattered along the coast, the boats and rafts wandering on the seashore, and a beacon tower on the cliff, which was emitting billowing smoke into the sky.
I seemed to have vaguely heard gunshots before.
For a moment, Captain Li Yi and the several time traveler officers around him were all dumbfounded:
Hey, according to historical records, the British will not start colonizing Australia until 150 years later.
And these buildings and houses on the shore are not built by the Stone Age indigenous people of the Australian continent.
This is unscientific.
Then, another even more unscientific thing happened: They found a man who could fly Facing this "flying man" appearing in the sky, many sailors were so frightened that they knelt down and crawled on the deck, expressing their awe and fear in the most humble manner.
Even the travelers from the East Coast Country headed by Captain Li Yi had weak legs and confused thinking.
And this "flying man" still circled slowly over the "Chopper" and shouted to them in English, French, Italian and Mandarin Chinese, "You have entered the jurisdiction of this city, please indicate that you are I am, gentlemen, welcome to Australia."
More than half a month later, the last day of the year on the Gregorian calendar was December 31, 1631.
Captain Li Yi stood on the dusty streets of Zhongnan City, which had just begun to be rebuilt, watching forklifts, forklifts, and trolleys coming and going on the sandy road.
The Polish Big Nose, the African Black Uncle, and the strong Indian members of the East Coast Country Expedition Team Shouting slogans to erect pillars and wooden beams, and then accompanied by a roar from far to near, a steel monster like a hill roared over the road.
Well, for people of this era, the heavy-duty trucks produced in Shaanxi, China, nearly four hundred years later, can definitely be called steel monsters.
After being in contact with each other for so many days, the travelers from the countries on the east coast of South America have basically regained their composure towards these "travel Australians" who suddenly appeared.
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After all, he had experienced such horror and shock a few years ago when he learned about the existence of another traveler group in North America.
Since a bullish "China America" can pop up in Manhattan, New York, North America, So why can’t a group of “modern Australians” from the 21st century appear in Derby Port in northwest Australia?
Of course, calm down, but it is better to be excited.
Although the planned trip to China to recruit refugees is probably abandoned halfway, their discovery in Australia this time is enough to make up for any losses: not to mention if they can If you kidnap that modern large sailing ship with a fully loaded displacement of more than 10,000 tons, the heads of the navy will go crazy.
If these more than 140 compatriots who traveled through time could be lured back to the East Coast Republic, they would definitely contribute far more to national construction than a thousand Ming Dynasty immigrants.
In fact, even this later-generation Derby Port in Central South City, regarded as a miserable place by "travelling Australians", is also a very good navigation relay station, coaling station and advance base in the eyes of the Republic Navy on the east coast: it is possible There are woods that provide timber, grasslands where horses and sheep can be herded, valleys and streams that can be cultivated.
It is estimated that the resources can only support the production and life of tens of thousands of people at most, but it is enough for this era of vast land and sparse population.
More importantly, there are already developed coal mines, copper mines, silver mines, and iron mines.
The "Breaking Waves" and "Chopper" that have arrived at Jinwan are filled with high-quality coal previously mined by the "Australians".
According to the most perfect idea of Captain Li Yi, the leader of this Eastern expedition, it is best to lure all these more than 140 "modern compatriots" back to the east coast.
The large sailing ship "COSCO Star" was brought back.
In the world at this moment, the "COSCO Star" The tonnage can probably be called the world's largest.
If it is decorated with the red-backed double-sword goshawk flag and converted into a naval flagship, it will definitely be outrageous.
In addition, the thousands of tons of various modern metal products carried on this ship are also Eastern.
There are many alloys that everyone in Kishi country covets.
In today's world, no matter how much money you have, there is nowhere to buy them.
As for this central-south city, it was taken over by the black militias and European immigrants he brought from Madagascar.
Of course, the indigenous slaves captured by the "Australians" continued to work here until they died.
Those Polish big noses who have an equal relationship with "Australians" can give them free choice: those who want to go to the East Coast can go to the East Coast, and those who want to stay here can stay.
The East Coast has always been short of labor anyway.
It is a pity that the above-mentioned deception plan to attract people cannot be implemented for the time being, because the "Cosco Star" was washed into the lagoon by the floods in the rainy season.
Unless a canal is dug to the outer sea, it will have to wait until the water level rises in the next rainy season.
It is possible to set sail.
According to the amount of work calculated by the traversers on both sides, it is simply an impossible task for them to dig such a canal on the soft and muddy tidal flats.
Therefore, no matter how much he covets the "Cosco Star" with a full load displacement of 11,000 tons, Captain Li Yi can only rest for the time being and reach a cooperation agreement with the more than 140 "Australians" on the ship.
Using the grain seeds and vegetable seeds carried by the expedition team, the fields in Zhongnan City were sown with potatoes, sweet potatoes, wheat, rice, gourds, tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, cabbage, water spinach and other crops.
In addition, the expedition team generously allocated more than 20 tons of flour directly to the "Australians", making these poor people who were tired of eating kangaroo meat smile with joy.
But despite this, there has been no further progress for the time being on the matter of recruiting Australian travelers to join the East Coast country.
The most critical problem is that Captain Li Yi's level is really not high enough to make any reliable guarantee on the post-acquisition treatment of the Australian travellers.
Both parties are treacherous modern people, and they all know the casual deception of the kid below and the big boss above.
They may not recognize it, so Captain Li Yi alone can't talk much.
The attitude of those "Australians" towards the incorporation of East Coast countries is: it can be considered, but please find someone who can talk effectively.
This reply made Captain Li Yi, the expedition leader, feel very frustrated, but he had no choice but to do so: If he let domestic substitutions negotiate, his achievements would be greatly reduced.
If he was not directly floated away, but if he directly used force, the consequences would be even greater.
It's unimaginable.
For modern Chinese time travellers, who work together to survive in this strange world, fighting between time travellers is a very taboo thing.
No one wants to set this precedent unless absolutely necessary.
Even in the military conflict between the East Coast countries and China and the United States for the South African colony, only a handful of European and Indian officers and a small group of black soldiers were killed, and no one broke out between the warships of both sides.
There was an artillery battle, and none of the time travelers on both sides died under the opponent's guns and swords.
Captain Li Yi did not want to set a precedent in this regard.
While Li Yi was thinking so wildly, Li Wei, one of the leaders of the "Australians", hurried over and said hello to him.
In the eyes of Captain Li Yi, it is a miracle to discover the "Cosco Star" and the Australian traverser during this expedition.
So when you meet Levi, a veteran traveler who was once pulled into the infinite space by the "Lord God" and lived in medieval Europe for several years, it is even more of a miracle among miracles.
The Black Death and Doraemon are unscientific In fact, if he hadn't seen with his own eyes the bamboo dragonfly and the shrinking lamp, the magical props in Li Wei's hand, Captain Li Yi would never have believed that this yellow-haired Chinese-Russian mixed-race man had ever had such an incredible experience, let alone that he had been reincarnated.
A super soldier in infinite space.
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But unfortunately, after personally trying these two things that clearly surpassed the technological level of the 21st century, all the time travelers in the East Coast Country had to believe what Li Wei said.
Outrageous story, most likely true.
What's even more pity is that the shrinking lamp in the hands of this strange man Levi is a mini version of the product the size of a finger.
It is probably not a problem to deal with opponents of the size of tanks, dinosaurs and whales, but for "Cosco" Such a huge man-made thing as a 10,000-ton modern sailboat is a bit overwhelming.
Otherwise, he would have shrunk the "Cosco Star" into a mini model aircraft, picked it up, and then taken it to the open sea to "release" it.
However, Li Wei came here this time not to show off any magical props to him, nor to discuss how to get the 10,000-ton modern sailing vessel "Cosco Star" out of the shoal.
"Captain Li Yi, Baron Andrew's funeral is about to begin."
Well, why don’t you go and participate?”
Captain Andrew Baron Li Yi blinked his eyes, and after thinking for a few seconds, he remembered that this was the name of the little Polish nobleman.
"Well, the Pole who sought death yesterday is about to be buried now, so let me go and see it too."
Captain Li Yi replied casually, while bending down to pick a white flower from the grass on the roadside, and inserted it into his chest, "But haha, this guy actually died like Franklin.
I should say that he really deserves to be his own son."
A Polish person with a talent for committing suicide?"
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