On February 26, 1642, two expedition ships finally arrived at the docks of the South African River Harbour after cleaving the waves. During this 26-day voyage, the two-ship formation commanded by Li Yi did not follow the old path of first going south to Baleen Whale Harbor, then eastward and north to Hezhong Port; Instead, they have been sailing eastward along a route of about 30 degrees south latitude since their departure, during which neither the wind direction nor the currents are very smooth, and the ships were only able to use the crosswind as a help for a limited number of days, and the whole voyage mainly relied on steam power, and it took them about 26 days to reach their destination, and the average speed was more than 6.5 knots.

Unlike the southern route, which has a range of more than 5,600 nautical miles, the northern route has a range of only more than 4,000 nautical miles, which is much closer. However, the disadvantage was that they could not take advantage of the currents and winds in the South Atlantic, which led to their average speed being only a little over 6 knots, which was about the same as the average speed of the southern route at about 6 knots during the last voyage. However, it is worth mentioning that the speed of this 6 knots refers to the speed of ordinary transport and escort gunboats on the east coast, not the speed of clippers. In fact, the last time the sails of the "Breaking Wave" sailed on the southern route, the average speed reached about 13-14 knots, and the highest speed even reached an ultra-high speed of nearly 16 knots.

Therefore, we can see that if the two ships take the southern route and make full use of the currents and winds, the speed can be doubled, although the distance is 40% larger. In the end, the time it took them to stop at Baleen Whale Harbor for supplies would not have exceeded 20 days, which was more than 6 days faster than the northern route, and they could still stop for a day or two to replenish along the way. During these days and days, you can replenish food, add coal and water, and maintain the machinery. Its reliability is many times stronger than that of the northern route.

After passing this field verification. Li Yi and others finally understood the actual situation of each route. In their minds. By this point, the northern route had basically been sentenced to death, because it was inferior to the southern front in all respects. In the same way, they also proved that the advantages of clippers in a smooth environment will be infinitely magnified, with ultra-high speeds combined with almost unlimited endurance, and much lower maintenance and operating costs than steam ships, making this type of ship still very competitive on fixed routes. For example, Li Yi suggested that in the future, the mainland should vigorously build large flying scissor cargo ships to run transportation on a fixed route between the mainland and South Africa. They are certainly much more competitive than sailboats such as the Breaking Waves, as they are extremely low in terms of operating costs.

On February 28, after a day and a half of resting and replenishing in the port of Hezhong, the two ships hoisted their sails again, burned their boilers, and headed for the Xinhua area. From the mainland to Hezhong Port, the two ships consumed a total of more than 160 tons of coal, although Hezhong Port has built a warehouse to store a certain amount of coal, but Li Yi and others do not plan to add coal here. The coal in the hold was only a little more than 20 percent, and the rest was enough for them to sail to Fort Xinhua for a round trip. And it is said that there may be high-quality coal with a high calorific value of combustion. So who would use the inferior coal produced by the Ping An Mining Bureau in the current cabin that will only occupy tonnage?

They did not add coal, but instead rowed into two boats a full 500 carefully selected warriors of the Eight Banners. These five hundred men almost crushed the two boats. But at this moment, they can only endure it, anyway, it is only a ten-day voyage, and the physical fitness of these Eight Banner warriors is also strong, and it should not be a big problem to hold on to Xinhua Port.

These 500 Eight Banner warriors were led by Mo Dayong, who was born in the Zhenghong Banner, and the 500 people were organized into two squadrons, which was similar to the establishment of the Standing Force in the Tacheng area. These 500 people are the strong ones carefully selected from the entire Eight Banners, and their combat power is quite good. Speaking of which, I have to mention that since the end of the "Blood River War" with the Kama tribe, the South African Pioneer Team of the Eastern Coast Republic under the leadership of Mo Ming has successfully completed the construction of Fort Gouda, completely taking the Nanhu area, a land of abundant water and grass. Not only that, these days, Mo Ming personally led the 2nd Company, 104th Company, South African Cavalry Company and other troops to attack in turn, killing almost all the indigenous tribes that could be found in the eastern part of the mountain.

After more than half a year of fighting, they captured a large number of people, livestock, and property, and the total population of the Eight Banners tribe also increased by this time, and by the beginning of this month, its total population had reached a record of about 20,000. If you count the more than 10,000 South African laborers currently active in the country, the strength of the Eight Banners tribe may have to reach a new level.

These 500 of the most "elite" Eight Banner warriors will set off with the people from the east coast to reach the New China region, and then see if they will take them to continue their expedition to the east and open up a new route to Daming. Because if you sail eastward, many sea areas are extremely unfamiliar to the people who cross the sea, and the local climate, hydrology, geography and other information almost everyone only have a vague general impression, which is very unfavorable for exploration. There may still be some natives in some areas, and the attitude of these natives towards outsiders is also unknown, and many times I am afraid that there will be battles, so it is necessary to bring these hundreds of Eight Banner warriors.

According to the plan, these 500 people will be equipped with sophisticated weapons and equipment, armor, sabers, spears, bows and arrows, etc., and even 100 of these 500 people have been trained in how to use firearms, and some have been trained in how to use artillery. When it comes to a critical moment, such as encountering European pirates or the Dutch, a weapon can be used to shove it into their hands.

On March 1, after struggling to cross the stormy waters of Cape Agulhas, the two-ship formation waded up against the warm current of Mozambique under the southeast wind, and finally arrived at the calm New China Bay in the early morning of March 15, the whole voyage lasted more than 15 days, with an average speed of about 7.5 knots. After a long voyage of more than a month, the two ships consumed nearly 270 tons of coal, accounting for about one-third of the total coal-fired carrying. At the same time, some spare parts of the steam engine and its transmission system were also consumed, but fortunately, Li Yi and others carried a considerable number of spare parts when they went to sea, especially those wearing parts, and prepared about ten or twenty sets for replacement at any time.

This is not the first time that Xinhua Port has visited the "Breaking Waves". As early as October last year, the "Breaking Waves" had already transported a silver dollar under the command of Zhang Xiao. However, by the time he arrived here again after five months, the captain of the "Breaking Waves" had been replaced by a lieutenant in the Navy. As for her former captain Zhang Xiao, due to the nature of the cameo, he has now returned to the modern special shipyard in Hekoubao to concentrate on the position of senior engineer, and is working hard to develop more advanced propeller thruster ships.

The rainy season in the new Huaxia region has come to an end, and the weather at this time has gradually turned clear. The fort at the mouth of the headland and the various facilities of the land defense fortress have been improved a lot compared to the last time they arrived, and it can be seen that even in the rainy season, everyone is still working overtime to build. In particular, no one dares to be careless about coastal defense forts, which can be called lock-and-key defense facilities. After exchanging flags with the soldiers on the east coast of the No. 2 battery, the two ships passed through the narrow channel at the mouth of the headland without any hindrance and smoothly entered the new Huaxia Bay.

The turquoise waters of Xinhuaxia Bay gently lap the shore, a few seagulls soar in the distant sky, and seven or eight fishing boats are catching fish on the slightly undulating sea. Listening to the accent, it seems that some fishermen from the southern Zhili area of the Ming Dynasty are humming unknown tunes on the bow of the boat, occasionally pulling up a net of heavy fish, and the cheerful laughter of everyone can be heard on the surface of the sea.

According to the regulations, after the fish caught by these fishermen is handed over to the seafood processing factory, the factory will return 20% of the fish to the fishermen in cash, which is regarded as their "commission" for fishing. This repatriation system has effectively increased the motivation of fishermen, so that the catch per vessel has been steadily increasing in recent times.

Today, there are more than 3,800 Ming immigrants in the New China region, most of whom are still waiting for ships from mainland China or South Africa to carry them. Shi Qinjie, the supreme governor of the local area, naturally did not watch these people do nothing all day long, and he arranged work for almost everyone. The fishermen in front of them are examples, and the small 100-ton fishing boats produced by the local repairers are almost miniature versions of sail carriers. Shi Qinjie over-staffed each boat and let them take turns to steer the boats in order to familiarize themselves with the performance of the ships and various sail handling techniques, which objectively served the purpose of training reserve sailors.

In addition to the fishermen, in fact, after discussing with Wang Tiehammer, Shi Qinjie also selected a large number of Ming people to go to the ships of the Sino-Portuguese joint fleet as trainee sailors. Later, in order to train more sailors, after communicating with the Portuguese, Shi Qinjie even sent more than 100 people to the Portuguese ships for training as trainee sailors. In this way, the entire Combined Fleet became almost a training ground for the people of the East Coast to train sailors, which was something that no one expected at first.

Now, it is estimated that more than 6,000 Ming Dynasty immigrants will be detained by the New China region more than 1,200 people, of which most of them are detained locally as all kinds of workers, fishermen, local troops and sailors, except for some people who can only settle down on the spot due to physical reasons. (To be continued......)