It is not difficult to raise sheep in Perth, as long as you send dozens of honest shepherds, you can easily graze in Perth's Swan River Basin. Moreover, sheep reproduce very quickly.

According to a news story that Marin had seen in his previous life, fishermen in Ecuador's Colón Islands (Galapagos Islands) saw that it was a pity that the dry Colón Islands, which were not suitable for agriculture, were so empty, so they released three sheep on the island. Then, I didn't care much.

Unexpectedly, the speed at which these sheep reproduce is too scary. After 14 years, these three sheep gave birth to sheep, and the sheep reborn sheep...... It has grown to more than 30,000 animals......

Later, the number of sheep grew to 250,000, almost eating up the grass on the arid Galapagos Islands, resulting in the original "native" Galapagos tortoises of the archipelago not being able to find food and almost became extinct due to starvation...... Then the Ecuadorian authorities had to urgently send troops and kill hundreds of thousands of sheep on the island......

At that time, sand sculpture netizens were still very sorry - hundreds of thousands of sheep, how many skewers can be made...... It's a waste to just kill like that......

Merino sheep are not very reproductive, but the Swan River basin in Perth is dry and warm without water (after all, there is a Swan River), which is very suitable for the survival of Merino sheep. Today, the Merino sheep population in the Laayoune area has reached its limit. So, Marin plans to start a new business on the banks of the Swan River in Perth and breed merino sheep.

Moreover, it does not violate the original agreement with Spain. Because, Marin only swore not to bring Merino sheep back to Europe to raise, and did not say that he could not bring them to the colony to raise. As for why Spain did not emphasize this point at that time, it was because the Spanish kings tried to raise merino sheep in the American colonies at that time, but they were unsuccessful. At that time, the two kings of Spain did not think that Marin could successfully raise Merino sheep in the American colonies, so they did not restrict them.

As for the Laayoune colony, the Spaniards had already sent people to see it, and it was a small oasis with a very limited number of sheep to raise, so they didn't care.

How did they know that in the southern hemisphere, there is an arid continent called Australia, which is super suitable for raising merino sheep, more suitable than Spain mainland......

What the? Why not go to Sydney, you ask? Sydney is on the east coast of Australia, further away from the mainland of the North Sea Country. Perth, on the other hand, was able to reach the WA region quickly after sending a boat around the Cape of Good Hope and drifting along the westerly wind and strong westerly winds. As for the way home, the boat drifts east with the westerly wind and reaches the southernmost point of South America and enters the Atlantic......

In these days, sailing ships are completely dependent on the wind, and it is best to follow the currents. The Southern Hemisphere is famous for westerly drifting, and sailing ships can sail at this latitude with the wind and water, and they can be raced at great speed......

And, from Perth Harbour and north along the Western Australian Snap, you can reach the island of Java. If you go north from Java Island, you can go to Guangzhou or Taiwan......

That's not all, between Perth and Java, there is a Christmas Island, but it is a famous struvite production area in later generations, and it is also a famous island dominated by Chinese in later generations.

In this way, Perth could not only raise sheep, but also serve as a transit port for ships bound for the East. At the same time, it can also be used as a colony springboard to control Christmas Island. Then, you can also send troops to invade the island of Java and capture some Indonesian monkeys as slaves......

In addition to raising sheep, Marin can also raise horses locally. After all, Australia is also a great place to keep horses. In particular, Arabian horses, which prefer warm, dry climates, are very suitable for the local area. After all, in the Arabian Peninsula, where the Arabian horse originated, there was too much desert and too little vegetation, which severely limited the growth of the Arabian horse's population......

Moreover, Sydney, located on the east coast of Australia, is actually a humid subtropical climate, similar to Jiangnan, with a humid climate, which is not very suitable for Merino sheep. Only Perth, on the west coast, has an arid climate and a Mediterranean climate similar to that of the Spanish interior, which is most suitable for raising merino sheep.

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In addition, there is another unknown reason why Marin chose Perth - Perth is less than 600 kilometers north-east along the Swan River in Australia's famous Kalgoorlie gold mining area!

Although the gold reserves here are not as large as those in the South African Rand region, it is also a world-famous top gold mining area. It seems that in the later generations, Australia mined for more than 100 years and mined 1,000 tons of gold, which is much more than the hundreds of tons of gold reserves in China at the beginning......

Of course, Marin is also in no hurry to develop the Kalgoorlie gold mine. However, there is always a good thing to do first. If Western Australia is occupied by others in advance, when the time comes, it will be easy to cause war if it is robbed again. Colonization is a very important thing. Portugal, a small country like the five scum of war, is now living a very nourishing life because it took the lead. But Marin still doesn't dare to touch Portugal, after all, people's colonization has been recognized by the Holy See. Therefore, it was only last time that Marin made a special means to change the treaty and clarify the scope of Portuguese colonization. In this way, there is an opportunity to occupy Australia first.

Anyway, it's no problem to put some people in Perth and raise some sheep and horses now. If the number of merino sheep rises, it can also provide a large number of high-quality wool for the wool industry in Beihai!

In fact, after having America, Marin didn't bother to ask for Australia. After all, he doesn't have that much population to develop Australia. Originally, in history, the British began to colonize and develop Australia after losing the colonies of the thirteen North American states and having no place to exile criminals. As for the reason, it's not because Australia is too far away. Moreover, after entering the 19th century, because of the Industrial Revolution, the colonial goals of European countries also shifted from seizing land to competing for markets. Therefore, the Qing Dynasty, with its large population, became the main target of European countries. After all, the British had previously colonized India and received a demographic dividend, which was the envy of European countries.

As for a remote and unpopulated place like Australia, no one is interested. Unless, a gold mine is found or something. Historically, Melbourne rose because of the discovery of gold in Melbourne, and it was also known as the "New Gold Mountain". If it weren't for the gold rush in Melbourne, it is estimated that no one would want to go to Australia.

Similarly, Marin has little interest in Australia, which is too far from home. However, Australia has a world-class Kalgoorlie gold mining area, and there is also the world's first silver mine - the Cannington silver mine near Mount Isa!

In this era when gold and silver can be directly used as currency, Australia's gold and silver mines are probably the main object of Marin's concern. Of course, being able to raise merino sheep is also an advantage of Australia. In the 19th century, the British even used clippers to bring Australian merino wool back to their homeland. Marin can also consider learning this and using clippers to transport Australian merino wool back to the country to be processed into high-grade woolen ......

In addition to the great value of the Kalgoorlie gold mine, in fact, the phosphate rock (strounce stone) of Christmas Island between Perth and Java is actually very valuable. In this era of high agricultural prices, phosphate, which can greatly increase agricultural yields, is definitely a high-value commodity. In fact, struvite phosphate, which contains nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium at the same time, is a natural compound fertilizer.

In addition, Marin also intends to let the fleet of ships exploring the Western Australian route look for the island of Mauritius. Then, catch some dodos on the island and come back. Marin was curious about this famous species that became extinct in the 17th century, and at the same time, he was also curious about what the dodo tasted like.

If he could, Marin planned to send someone to catch some dodos to roast and eat to see how it tasted. If it tastes good, it is raised in captivity. If the taste is not good, then bring out a batch and disperse it to multiple islands with good conditions to avoid its extinction.

Marin wanted the dodo to be tasty, and it is said that the dodo is huge, up to 1 meter tall and weighing 10 to 20 kilograms, which is dozens of pounds. If the meat is delicious, a single dodo can serve many people......

Moreover, this large, stupid but not aggressive creature is a very interesting creature. If it is introduced back to Europe, it can be kept in a zoo and make tourists smile. And with the zoo feeding, there is no need to worry about this silly creature going extinct. After all, the zoo certainly won't starve them and won't put them in danger.

That said, the fleet sent by Marin to explore Western Australia has a great responsibility. In addition to finding Perth as a place to raise Merino sheep, there are also a lot of things to do to find phosphates on Christmas Island and dodos on Mauritius Island......