An Hengtong went on to say that according to historical records, that is, in recent times, the British established a trading post on the island of Java in the South Seas, which is said to be in a place called Banten.

The British signed a trade agreement with the local king and gained a stronghold, but the nearby Dutch had been resentful of this, and heard that negotiations were underway with the king of Banten to ask him to drive the English away.

But to this day, at least, the Dutch have not achieved their goal, and the British have finally gained a foothold in the South Seas and are beginning to compete with the Dutch for trade.

Also, some French and British merchants are said to have entered Annam and Siam.

In the history of the Old World, it was at this time that the Zheng family of Jinxia joined the British, because they now had a common enemy: the Dutch East India Company.

The situation is a bit complicated, right?

So, when we got sideways, we thought the Portuguese were the most likely to go to our side first, because they were the weakest of those countries.

In short, there is an unchanging principle in the process of the game between various forces in the world: The purpose of forming an alliance is to help the weak and suppress the strong in order to achieve a certain dynamic balance.

Our principles are certainly no exception.

It is clear that our alliance with the Portuguese is very much in the geopolitical interests of both sides.

In this regard, the Fire Pond Club came to the conclusion that in terms of diplomatic strategy, the first thing should be to win over the Portuguese to our side in Australia.

As for the real war with the Netherlands in the future, we are also confident of winning, this is not to say that we have strong ships and guns from the old world, in fact, as long as we have a period of development and accumulation, relying on our advantages in all aspects, the final result is that the Dutch and Spaniards are forced to accept the reality that Australia is the boss, as for the British and French, they are just small shrimp in the South Seas, after all, the main direction of competition is in the distant North American continent.

But it should be noted that our strategic goal is not to expel the Europeans from the South Seas, but to unite the Portuguese, the Dutch, the Spaniards, and all the European merchants who are willing to trade freely with us, and bring these forces into our trading system, which in the near future will be a world trading system with Australian trade goods at its core, and from which there will be mutual benefit.

When everyone heard this, they couldn't help but applaud, and several older people nodded to each other, which clearly meant that they not only agreed with this point of view of the Fire Pond Club, but even appreciated it a little.

Of course, there is a little surprise, after all, in the impression of everyone, this Huotang Club belongs to a quite radical and "iron-blooded" circle in the crossing group, and now it can actually say words that win the hearts of all the bigwigs, and also came to a rather "far-sighted" conclusion, which makes many people feel incredible, is it that this group of young people is beginning to mature?

In any case, the fire pond club did not keep shouting and killing, which is an improvement.

It was probably from this time that the various suggestions and "deductions" of the Huotang Club began to be taken seriously by everyone, and many people's views on this group of young people also changed greatly, of course, this is a story for later.

Time back to June 1657 at this Dragon Boat Festival dinner, probably the reason why the fairy cave is a little too tidy, at this time An Hengtong finally a little floating, not only said a little dry mouth first, people are also a little unstable to stand, so it was the turn of the two young people of the chemical group to take over the speech.

Qiao Xiaomu stood up at this time and said loudly, First of all, we should start with five-spice powder, so that these forces can recognize that the boss of the world's spice trade is us!

Moreover, we should declare our territorial sovereignty to various surrounding forces, including the island of Papua in the east, the Australian mainland south of the South Ocean and its surroundings, all of which must be Australia's sphere of influence.

Therefore, the Fire Pond Club suggested that the first step should be to fill and develop the Caï Islands with immigrants in the near future, and then use the Caï Islands as a springboard to the north to the Sulu Islands and take control of Luzon.

Therefore, the base of the Kaye Islands is extremely important to us, so that we can even control the entire eastern part of the South Seas.

The geographical location of the Caya Islands also prevented Europeans from expanding east of Papua rather than letting the world's richest tropical island fall into European hands.

Once we have gained control of Papua, we will be able to move further towards the vast chain of islands in the southwest Pacific, and this division of spheres of influence will have a profound impact on the geopolitical pattern for the next few hundred years---- and it all began with the historic landing of the Kaji Islands.

Before Qiao Xiaomu's words fell, the restaurant once again burst into warm and long-lasting applause......

On June 15, 1657, the Nicole and Pride set sail early the next morning after a night of repairs at Cape York. After the fleet slowly sailed north for about two hours, Wan Ming on the Nicole's watchtower shouted:

"Discover the land!".

This call set the whole ship into action, and with the exception of the helmsman and navigator on duty in the cockpit, and the hard-working men who were on duty in the engine room on the lower floor, almost everyone who was out of duty gathered on the deck, took out the binoculars they had with them, and began to look north.

By this time, the morning fog had already dissipated, and as the Nicole approached, the coastline in the distance became clearer and clearer, and finally people could see the shore clearly without binoculars.

Across the green coast is Papua Island---- the largest rainforest island in the world.

At this moment, facing this tropical island that is a pristine scenery even in the 21st century of the old world, everyone on the deck can't help but look amazed.

It is not only a treasure trove of wildlife and plants, but also a treasure trove of mineral resources, with non-ferrous metals such as copper, gold and tin, as well as energy minerals such as open-pit coal mines and natural gas, making Papua Island one of the important resource exporters of the Old World in the 21st century.

Of course, at this time, the people on deck have not had time to think about this, because what comes directly into people's eyes is the breathtakingly beautiful coastal scenery.

The coast is full of rich colors, including blue-green coastal waters, red shallow sea corals, dark red and brownish green forests, and dark green distant mountains with white mist......

Brightly coloured birds of paradise inhabit the forest, and a variety of unknown rainforest plants cover the entire land and extend directly into the sea.

There is no bare earth or rocks to be seen, as it has the highest rainfall in the world, and the ground is always covered with a variety of plants, from low-grade mosses to tall hard trees.

The air here is also always humid and the characteristic humus of the jungle, and it is said that there is not even a clear wet and dry season, only a very wet rainy season and a less humid rainy season.

Obviously, only the Pride could get up close to observe this, and the Pride began to fold its sails and the Stirling engines to turn on, allowing the Pride to slowly approach the land, so that only the crew on the Pride deck could see the details of the shore without binoculars, as well as the rich greens and vivid reds and yellows, as well as the unknown tropical flowers and fruits.

Only the occasional giant crocodile and the giant python entrenched in the mangrove forest remind these coastal observers that this seemingly heavenly place is in fact a dangerous land.

The fleet did not stay near the coastline for long, and since they had no intention of landing, the Nicole and Pride did not stop for a moment, and immediately turned the rudder and sailed westward as soon as they reached the southern shore of Papua.