Chapter 228: The Last Continent

"Is this the legendary Antarctica? It's not at all like the North Pole we went to last summer! ”.

"According to our observations, after sailing along the westerly wind belt for so long, this continent south of 65 degrees south latitude is indeed a huge continent, not the permeable holes that we drilled everywhere with drilling equipment in the North Pole last year and not the permeable holes of the continent, you look at the sand and stones on this coastline, which is obviously a feature of the islands around the continental shelf, and we are now going to go to the ice and snow world further south to see the legendary Antarctic continent, Whether it is inhabited by Antarctic immortals is judged by our research data. Although there are two never-before-seen whales and a large number of fish in the sea, it does not mean that this unknown continent is the land of fish and rice, the temperature here has dropped to about 10 degrees, and further south, I guess it is correct. Even the tundra is not impossible, and there are basically no large groups of terrestrial flora and fauna at such low temperatures, and its ecological environment should be similar to the Arctic ice sheet we went to, rather than the land of fish and rice that scholars fantasize about. "The scientific expedition team sailing along the westerly wind belt and the coastline of the continent chose the landing site near 65 degrees south latitude on the tip of the Antarctic Peninsula at the lowest latitude, and found a large number of seabirds and lower plants, and some scientific expedition members even found a small number of seed plants.

"We can't even develop a large area of Xuanzhou land, how can we have the energy to develop this ice-covered continent, the cost of developing here is so high that even the government is difficult to accept, I estimate that in the future, unless there are too many people in the northern continents to fit it, it will be the turn to develop here, and it seems that we have no hope of seeing this day in our lives." The cartographer of the expedition exclaimed.

The surveyor smiled when he thought of the benefits of returning to China, "But it doesn't matter, although we can't make a fortune in this snow country in this life, but the first expedition team to discover this continent is enough to make us famous in history, and it is certain that we will gain fame and fortune after returning to China, and it should not be a big problem for the captain to get a hereditary earl, if this huge continent wants to declare sovereignty, it is impossible to have a permanent settlement, our strength is still not enough to establish a permanent settlement, and if you want to get a higher title, you have to spend blood, old skin, Didn't you study accounting for a few days? Do you calculate whether you can break even with permanent settlements on this continent? ”

"Break even? There is only ice and snow here, where is there income where the land and plants can not be seen, the expenditure here is huge, it does not cost much to build a village that is insulated and cold-proof, but the land cannot be cultivated, the food is not self-sufficient, the fuel is scarce, and the food, clothing and housing are all dependent on foreign imports, and a village of 100 people spends no less than 100,000 yuan in a year, and there is no output. If you don't ask, I won't even bother to say. ”

"100,000, where is it spent?"

"100,000 is not too little, we have state subsidies and a large number of rich nobles sponsorship, so the expedition team has abundant funds, do not worry about funds, we are an experienced expedition team, we did not spend money to buy too many things, plus we also fished while selling navigation materials to maintain a basic balance of payments, do you know? Aren't we the nouveau riche who went to East Xuanzhou to discover the Tooth Coast, and we are not the rich people who went to West Xuanzhou to discover the Silver Mountain, what valuable products can we get in this uninhabited Antarctic continent? Little South (Tasmania) still produces abalone and lobster. What else is there to produce here besides krill in the sea and seals on the seaside? These things can't be sold at a high price? The whales in the sea are difficult to transport back (the Whale Sea, that is, the Sea of Japan and Ezo Island, is very close to the densely populated coast, and the blubber fat and other parts that are initially processed on the ship are chilled and sent back to the nearby harbor is still fresh, but the voyage of more than 20,000 kilometers across the Antarctic Circle, the Tropic of Capricorn, the equator, and the Tropic of Cancer is too long, and the freight is not cost-effective for these whale products to be transported back to the mainland for deep processing, because the loss caused by deterioration will make this industry a loss-making business), so no one will settle down in the economic account. But there will still be people who come here to assert sovereignty when it comes to settling the technical and political scores. The captain affirmed.

"It is worthy of being the captain, it is so clear that although our Antarctic company is a newly established company, but the lack of talent like you, the position of captain of a small expedition fleet can not realize your talent, our company is carrying out various businesses, including contracting the government and various marine industry companies in the southern hemisphere of scientific research, meteorological research, resource exploration and logistics and other businesses, the talent gap is very large, I hope you can join our company after the end of this expedition." The representative of the ship's sponsor tried his best to win over the captain, and his main task besides supervising the use of the sponsorship money and registering the results of the expedition was to dig up the foot of the wall. You must know that in the Age of Discovery, the organizers who dared to go to sea for exploration were all talents with great wisdom, courage and civil and military skills, even if they returned to become nobles with honor, they had to continue to invest in order to gain a firm foothold. Investing in a promising upstart has become the second best investment behavior after the stealer Hou and Conglong's Gong since the time of Lü Buwei.

The most terrifying part of the Antarctic continent is different from the Arctic, where ice-covered ships can still be rescued on land, and in the era of icebreakers, the extremely cold world that has gone too deep into the high latitudes will be completely wiped out, and once the Antarctic is trapped within a radius of 8,000 kilometers, it will soon die due to lack of fuel and food.

This is not a problem that can be solved by great wisdom and bravery, but also careful preparation, strong team prestige and cohesion, once the captain is dug up, the whole team will be in hand.

Although the Antarctic company with the background of public investment and government investment is new, it is strong and wealthy, and it is almost as powerful as the East India Company and the Arab Company in the Indian Ocean in the ocean of the Southern Hemisphere, and is known as one of the three pillars of the South (Southern Mining, Antarctic Company, South Island Group, and the South Island Group will be introduced in the later chapters), and the mines and physical industries under its name are not as many as South Mining, but there are almost half of them. It can be said to be the absolute big brother in terms of trade and technical resources between the various specialized colonies in the southern hemisphere.

The discovery and exploration mapping of the Antarctic continent is one of the important tasks of the Antarctic Company, which has only been established for two years, has purchased large areas of forests and land with its strong financial resources, almost encircled all the ports along the southern coast of Xuanzhou and the south of Nanzhou, and vigorously expanded the wharf and logistics network to prepare for the expected surge in the flow of raw materials and passengers and goods exported by the south in the next few years. The biggest problem is not the lack of money, Antarctica faces the same embarrassment as all imperial companies – a huge shortage of talent.

This land destined to be marked with his name is the stepping stone for him to become a senior partner of the Antarctic Company in the future, as hundreds of people who have increased the land of the empire on the map and promoted to nobility in the era of great exploration, he has always been the object of unity through the hope of the people, and it is much cheaper to get close to the relationship from the time when he has not yet made a fortune than to be the icing on the cake after becoming famous.

It didn't cost much to pull this captain from a penniless fisherman leader to an imperial nobleman, but as the angel investors who controlled these upstarts who were stuffed into the Senate behind the scenes, the windfall profits gained were not only in terms of money, but also the loyalty and interest of hundreds of new gatekeepers who would inevitably become big families.

In order to enrich the high-level power space between the middle class of emerging skilled workers and the highest decision-making level of the empire, it has become inevitable to attract a group of low-level elites who dare to dare to do things.

After the discovery of Antarctica, the basic world map was completed, and only a few explorations of the interior of Xuanzhou and Chizhou (Africa and the Americas) remained. The world's history-changing continent-level discoveries are all over, the exploration of empires is basically over, and the hero's provenance begins to change from explorers to colonial investment. This is a turning point in an era and a prologue to the next.

When the Empire launched the era of great voyage and colonization at the same time, driven by a huge population and capital, the power of a hundred times the European 'future companions' shortened the length of this era by a corresponding multiple. It took 400 years from the beginning of the 14th century to the end of the era of expansion before World War I, and in just 30 years from 1940 to 1970 in the imperial republican calendar, the imperial flag was planted in every time zone, becoming an empire on which the sun never sets. (To be continued.) If you like this work, you are welcome to subscribe (this site), reward, your support is my biggest motivation. )