Mao Yuanyi heard that it was only a railway of more than 100 miles, and he was relieved. Although the Ministry of Railways is short of manpower, as long as a dozen or so people are dispatched, they will be able to explore the itinerary well, and there is not much burden. As for the construction of the railway, there was plenty of manpower on the American side, but there was no problem, so he agreed to come down.

Wang Zheng went on to say: "We can do this in the north and we can do the same in the Americas by railroad to connect the places we now occupy together. Only by building a railroad can our territories become a whole, and even if the enemy attacks, it is easy to deploy troops and transport supplies. ”

Zhu Youxiao said with a smile: "Yes, it would be better if a railway could be built to connect the Americas with the Ming mainland, but the situation in the Bering Strait has not yet been explored, and I don't know if the railway can be built." This is not in a hurry now, most of our territories are on the coast, and it is very convenient to communicate by sea, and when there are more places to occupy and the distance from the coast is far, let's think about this problem again. ”

Naturally, everyone said yes. Zhu You proofread Lu Xiangsheng and said: "By the way, how much do we know about the island of New Guinea? ”

Lu Xiangsheng looked at the map and said: "Your Majesty, this place was first discovered by the Portuguese, and now the Portuguese have not officially occupied this place, but only occasionally replenish fresh water and other materials here." If Your Majesty wishes, our army can occupy this place. ”

Zhu Youxiao said: "This place is to be occupied, but I mean a big island to the south of it, and we will also occupy it." ”

Lu Xiangsheng said: "More than 20 years ago, there were Dutch who landed on a large island and were appointed by them as New Holland. ”

Zhu Youxiao was a little confused, because Australia is a Commonwealth country, and he always thought that the British were the first to discover it, but he didn't expect that it was the Dutch.

He thought for a moment and said, "Whoever finds it, we're going to take this place." Don't have too many troops, but bring some immigrants with you, find a suitable place to build a dock there, and plant the sun and moon flag of the Ming Dynasty there first, and then call it Xinmingzhou first. ”

Sun Chengzong said: "Your Majesty, what is produced here?" Is it useful to occupy it later? ”

Zhu Youxiao said with a smile: "No place is useless, the key is to see how you use it." Let's put it this way, when it was winter in my Ming Dynasty, this place was summer, and there was no snow all year round, so even if I went to escape the cold, such a place was a good place. ”

Sun Chengzong said with a face full of disbelief: "How is this possible? Your Majesty means to start from the winter of the Ming Dynasty, and when it arrives, is it summer? ”

Lu Xiangsheng said with a smile: "Elder Sun Ge, our base in the Americas, Hongwu City is summer, and Wanli City in the north is winter. I don't understand what that is, but it is. So when it is winter in the Ming Dynasty, it is possible to be in the summer here. ”

Zhu Youxiao said: "The reason for this is actually very simple, because the area where the sun shines is constantly changing, so there are four seasons. We are on the north side of the earth, and Xinming is on the south side of the earth, and when the sun is directly on the south side, the north side is obliquely shining, so when we are cold, it is hot over there, and it is the opposite. Now the Intermediate School is preparing to offer geography classes, which will be learned, so your children may know about it in the future. ”

Lu Xiangsheng said: "Xinmingzhou is not on the route, if it is just to avoid the cold, in fact, Luzon also has the same effect, it is also snowless all year round, and it is always hot." His Majesty wants to occupy this place, and there should be other reasons. ”

Zhu Youxiao said: "This island is huge, and it will not be much smaller than our Daming place." Moreover, the climate here is suitable, the products are abundant, especially the iron ore is not only abundant, but also the quality is excellent, and it does not take much effort to occupy it anyway, and it will naturally be beneficial in the future. ”

Lu Xiangsheng asked, "How do you deal with the natives here?" ”

Zhu Youxiao said: "As long as the Han people are in the majority, the existence of the natives will not pose a threat. They can do a lot of things, and it still takes a lot of manpower to open up a place. Let's recruit them to work first, and if they do a good job, they can be naturalized, and if they are our enemies, then destroy them. ”

Lu Xiangsheng was very determined, he was afraid that the emperor would care about his reputation and want to use the Huairou policy. At that time, it was a bit troublesome for the army to tie its hands. Since the emperor understands in his heart, there is no problem.

The General Staff sent Zheng Zhan to Xinmingzhou, and Zheng Zhan traveled south from Luzon, first to New Guinea, which had been named New South Island by the emperor. The fleet rested at a port where the Portuguese had landed, and some of them were left to build a wharf here, which was originally home to natives, so there were no immigrants here.

After the fleet rested, it continued south, and finally saw land a few days later, and Zheng Zha's team of soldiers went to check the situation first. There were two hundred men in all, each with a musket and a dagger, and they went ashore with dry rations that would last for five days.

Less than five miles from the landing site, a group of dark-faced men stood in front of them. Zheng Zha asked people to shout in front, but those people did not move. Zheng Zha's weapons looked at them, but they were nothing more than some wooden sticks, with some sharp stones tied to the tops, and some of them were holding some strange trefoil-shaped things in their hands, and they didn't know what they were used for.

The two sides did not speak the same language at all, so they could not communicate. Zheng Zhan was a little annoyed, so he was ready to kill them together. Then one of the soldiers said, "My lord, they seem to be talking dumb." ”

Zheng Zhan looked and saw that the black men were gesturing something, and he said, "It's dumb, and we won't say it." ”

The soldier said, "There is an elder brother in the little family who can't speak, so I learned some dumb language from him, so let me take a closer look at what they are talking about." ”

Zheng Zha's murderous intentions are not serious, and he doesn't want to kill people for no reason, if he can communicate with them, of course, it is the best. The soldier stepped forward a little and made a few gestures with his hand, and the black man opposite also made a few gestures back, and then the soldier did it again, and the black man went back, and they seemed very lively with each other.

Zheng Zha asked, "What are you talking about?" ”

The soldier said in frustration: "I greeted them first, and I couldn't understand their gestures." ”

Zheng Zha smiled: "I don't understand that you still compare with them for so long?" ”

The soldier said, "I'm afraid that their mute language is different from ours." It doesn't make sense, everyone can't speak, shouldn't it be the same? But the little ones don't think they have any ill intentions. ”

Zheng Zha said: "Daming is thousands of miles away from here, far away from the ocean, and the gesture is the same. Since you don't think they have any ill intentions, you can make a simple communication with them by gesticulating. ”

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