April 28, 1642, light rain and southeast wind force three.

Sure enough, with the cooperation of more than 400 Eight Banner warriors and more than 100 sailors on the east coast, it only took them two and a half days to dig the first coal storage point in this small coastal area. The coal is buried less than three meters deep at this storage site, making it ideal for mining.

After finding this coal storage point, Li Yi immediately mobilized a large number of people to start digging near this point, and sure enough, he found that there was a large coal storage belt here. Although almost all of them are lignite with a low degree of carbonization, Li Yi and others are already quite excited, and the appearance of this coalfield can easily solve the problem of steamship mid-way coaling, which has plagued the people on the east coast for a long time.

If this coalfield is not found, then the people on the east coast will have to transport a large amount of coal from the Tacheng area to Gushan Port and store it here. This will inevitably limit the construction activities of these two supply points, because the ships coming from the mainland carry a large amount of coal, which will definitely crowd out the transportation space of other materials, which is actually very detrimental to the long-term construction of these two places. However, now all the problems have been solved, and in addition to carrying a small amount of coal, the ships from Tacheng on the east coast can carry a large number of daily necessities and means of production in the vacated cabins, so as to supply the two places for construction as soon as possible, so as to accommodate a large number of Ming immigrants.

"I've decided to leave some people here and put up the shelves first. After a large influx of immigrants from the Ming Kingdom in the future, the follow-up construction will be gradually launched. The task here is to dig up more coal to supply the local steam ships that may pass by in the future. Li Yi bent down and grabbed a piece of coal dug out and looked at it, then turned his head to Anji and said, "It's a pity that most of it is lignite." No matter. Well. We took 300 people with us. The remaining 90 people stayed here. Just like on the side of Gushan Harbor, we will leave them some weapons, food, seeds, etc., and then help them build a wooden village, that's all! ”

Anji nodded. Li Yi is right, there is a wooden fort here, and there are nearly a hundred skilled Eight Banner warriors left, which is enough to deal with those Australian natives who may appear. Those ignorant and savage Australian natives will never be able to fight against the Eight Banners warriors wearing armor, strong bows, and artillery, so there is actually no big problem with the security here.

"That's right. Gushan Harbor has been named by me, and the naming rights of this Melbourne area are handed over to you. How's that, I'm funny, right? Ha Lu Ha. Li Yi patted An's shoulder and said with a smile.

After thinking about it, he immediately called the mapping staff officer in the distance and ordered him to name the place "Jinshan Port" on the map. Because the Melbourne area is said to have been found in the past, it makes sense to name the place Gold Mountain.

On May 1, after helping the 92 Eight Banner warriors who had stayed in the area to initially renovate a rough camp, Li Yi ordered the two humpest oxen on the ship to be left for the people left behind. At the same time, they were left with a large number of axes, saws, wood knives and other tools, as well as a large amount of grain and seeds. After doing those. The two ships left Jinshan Bay in turn, then turned east and then north, heading for their final destination, the Daming coast.

The east coast of Australia was no easy voyage for the expedition fleets of the East Coast Republics. The main reason for this is the north-to-south trending East Australian Warm Current, which is formed by the combined action of the Earth's deflection force and the Australian continent. This warm current flows south along the east coast of mainland Australia, and this obviously hinders the navigation of people on the east coast. Fortunately, the Australian continent is now in summer and autumn, and the south-central part of the east coast, like Madagascar, has the prevailing southeast trade winds, so there is more or less wind power when sailing, which greatly offsets the adverse effects of sailing against the current.

On May 10, the two ships sailed to the ocean east of the Bowen Basin, which is already in the northern waters of Australia. At this time, as the southern hemisphere has entered late autumn, the direct point of the sun has moved north to the equator. As a result, the northwesterly winds, which had been formed by the southward movement of the pressure zone in the northern hemisphere, were greatly weakened, and the southeasterly winds began to take over the main role. In this way, the sails of the expeditionary fleet on the east coast never lowered, and they relied on the southeast wind blowing on the sea, assisted by steam power, to move resolutely northward against the current, and entered the Bismarck Sea on May 16.

After entering the Bismarck Sea, the two ships disembarked near the port of Rabaul, mainly for some fresh water, and at the same time to take the opportunity to pick some fresh coconuts - a rare addition to the voyage, because in this era, not every coast had coconut palms, and this tree native to the Malay region had not spread as much as it did in later generations. The sailors and the surviving warriors of the Eight Banners in the cabin were also allowed to take turns ashore for a short rest, and Li Yi and An Ji also waited cautiously for the land.

The tropical island, which was later named New Britain, is still a barren place, with an extremely harsh environment and dense rainforests that make your scalp tingle. The two were also not interested in exploring the interior of the island, and many people died when the Japanese built it. It was 1942, and with the technical conditions and industrial development level at that time, it was not possible to completely conquer this place, so it is conceivable that the people of the East Coast are even more helpless in this regard.

The two of them landed on land just to remember and express some special feelings in their hearts. For example, the staff officers who were following them from afar vaguely heard some words such as "Combined Fleet" and "Yamamoto Fifty-six", but they all looked at each other and did not understand what they meant. They only knew that this place was not far from the final destination, the coast of the Dongfang Ming Kingdom, and if the current map and climate data sent by the mainland were correct, then they boldly estimated that it would only take about half a month to sail from here to the final destination. As for how everyone should take the next step after arriving at the coast of the Ming Kingdom, then it depends on how the two chiefs arrange.

Their two commanders didn't stay here for long. On 17 May, after a day's stop near Rabaul, the East Coast expedition set out again, crossing the entire Bismarck Sea diagonally to the northwest before crossing the equator. As we entered the Northern Hemisphere, not only did the currents begin to favor navigation, but even the trade winds began to help the people on the eastern coast. The southeasterly trade winds in the Southern Hemisphere began to cross the equator and form the southwest monsoon in the Northern Hemisphere as the direct point of the sun moved northward, which greatly accelerated the speed of the expeditionary fleets on the eastern coast.

Along the way, the East Coasters carefully controlled the distance from the Dutch-occupied Spice Islands and the Philippine Islands, which were under Spanish rule, to ensure that the colonists would not discover their arrival. On May 25, the "Chopper" and "Breaking Waves" crossed the waves and temporarily docked on the banks of the Yilan River in the northeast of Taiwan Island to replenish fresh water.

"Combined, the two ships have consumed about 200 tons of coal so far. In other words, we are currently only a third of our coal reserves. However, the consumption of parts and components of the steam engine and its transmission system is large, and many wearing parts have even consumed nearly half of the spare parts, which is worthy of our attention. The second lieutenant took out a small notebook from his jacket pocket and said as he calculated, "But it's okay at all, thank goodness that we finally arrived near the coast of Ming Kingdom." To be honest, I couldn't even believe we were able to get here. But we did it, and it's a feat! ”

"Hey, hey." Li Yi smiled and said, "In the future, the history of the East Coast Republic of China will record our feat of opening up new routes today." Well, we can't stay here for long, after all, there are all kinds of sea forces entangled in this area, and the situation is complicated, and we must try to avoid trouble. After replenishing the fresh water, everyone will rest for a while, and then get on the boat and leave. Next, let's go to Jeju Island and harass the sticks there! There's hardly any decent sea power over there, and we can safely and boldly toss there. By the way, don't turn on the steam engine when you set off, and it will only take you about two or three days to reach the vicinity of Jeju Island by heading north with a smooth wind and water. ”

"There should be a North Korean army on Jeju Island at this time, right? There may also be some of their naval vessels. An Zhi expressed his disagreement at this time, only to see him continue: "We only have less than three hundred Eight Banner warriors and about two hundred sailors on hand, so it is difficult to occupy such a large island, right?" Or, I don't think it's possible at all, even if we take it, we won't be able to defend it. ”

"Let's go see first." Li Yi patted the back of An's head and said nonchalantly: "Besides, Jeju Island is only the first priority island we determined before, so if we can't do it, we will occupy other islands." There are so many islands off the coast of Daming, just occupy a deep-water harbor. Of course, you are right in saying something, we are short of manpower, this time we are mainly going to see, probe and find out the situation for the next big fleet. On a large island like Jeju Island, it is necessary to have one company of regular troops, at least 1,000 Eight Banner samurai with more than three years of combat experience, and more than four large naval ships to be able to barely claim it. Okay, stop grinding and get on board! Let's go north! (To be continued......)