At the beginning of the text, chapter 623 is far away, and Nanzhou opens the door

The sea is blue and blue, the coast is a rugged cliff, the stone and soil are vast, you can see the erosion of wind and rain for 10,000 years, and the towering trees on the top of the wall show a full of vitality. Press Ctrl+D to quickly bookmark "Please see the novel"

"Faster! Beidou is gone, is that thing under your crotch gone!? ”

Beneath the cliff is a white sand beach, and a small boat is breaking through the waves, flicking fine foam behind its buttocks. A middle-aged man in his forties on board yelled at the sailors in dissatisfaction that the ship was not fast enough. In the sea behind the boat, a large ship is lowering its sails and anchoring.

"Mr. Lan, we are people and not machines, there has been no wind since we came from Dili, and it was all because we shook that we were not carried away by the current, and now our arms are as soft as dough."

"I heard from the Dutch that the island here is deserted, there is no water, and there is no one to live in, I'm afraid that no colonial company will be interested, can we really make money here?"

"I have lost enough money on Tonglu Island, and I gave the Dutch three thousand taels of silver in order to buy the news of the route, and if it wasn't for a piece of cooked land, the news would not have been able to earn back."

The sailors were not at all afraid of this "general director" and chattered and chattered.

"Shut up! Shut up! You softets! The Shi family relies on Yunxia Island, the Lin family relies on Tonglu Island, the two families have grown big, how can our Lan family compare to them! Where is the benefit of not fighting!? ”

Lan Dingyuan scolded these sailors who were actually the children of the clan, listening to the tone of his speech, looking at his dark skin, looking like an old man rushing to the sea, changing his old acquaintances, how could he not believe it, this is the prodigy of the Manchu era, the scholar Lan Dingyuan who studied behind closed doors, this is the naval officer of the Anglo-Chinese era, and Lan Dingyuan of the civil affairs office of the Tainan Naval Base.

"It doesn't matter if it's ripe or not, it's big enough! According to the Dutch, this island is no less than Java! The Lin family's copper furnace island is only a few hundred miles away......"

Lan Dingyuan refuted his subordinates, but he was a little restless in his heart.

Since the promulgation of the "Navigation Regulations" by Yinghua, Lan Dingyuan decided that this was an opportunity to expand his business, and established the "Lan Navigation Company" based on his clansmen and devoted himself to the colonial cause.

Relying on the tribesmen, they soon occupied an island south of Luzon and built themselves as a trusteeship. However, the island is not large, it costs a lot of money to operate the trust land, and there is no spare energy to organize colonization by people from outside the clan, so Lan Dingyuan simply turned the company into an exploration company instead of a colonization company, and dedicated to the work of discovering the island and exploring the route.

The Anglo-South Ocean Colony has a whole set of statutes, and the Navigation Regulations have been revised several times and have been very perfect. The imperial court divided the colonial cause into several links, each of which had corresponding benefits, but also required corresponding investment. The Discovery Company has the "right of discovery", which includes the right to name islands, straits, and bays, as well as the right of first refusal to colonize new lands discovered.

The so-called "colonial power" is to turn the newly discovered land into a trusteeship, with the nominal governorship position of the land, as well as the right to trade and excise taxes.

Discovery companies have priority colonization rights, and there are not many exploration companies that can actually monetize colonization rights. Even the four seas of Fujian: the Shi family, the Lin family, the Lan family, and the Shen family, have a hard time supporting more than one colony, not to mention those wild groups that rely on a small sea carp boat and a dozen people to run around the ocean.

The Navigation Regulations stipulated that in order to turn a place into a company trusteeship, a number of conditions must be met, the most important of which was that there were at least 100 residents with Anglo-Chinese household registration, so that the imperial court would send officials to be stationed there. One hundred people will be dispatched, and the military, political, and legal posts will be in charge, and one thousand people will be dispatched according to the establishment of one township in the interior.

It sounds simple, but for 100 Anglo-Chinese people to settle in one place, there are too many things involved, and a lot of investment is required in the initial stage. And if there is no special product export in the place, it is a money-losing business.

The only ones that really have the ability to accept the trusteeship are the three colonial companies of Nanyang, Luzon and Boni, which not only have experience but also have a large layout, and can look at the value of a place from a longer-term perspective.

As a result, the Exploration Company became the spearhead of the Colonial Corporation, and benefited from the resale of the new land it discovered to the Colonial Corporation. Of course, the price also depends on the value of the place itself. And the value is divided into raw and cooked, raw is the need to develop, cooked is to live without spending any effort, cooked land is naturally valuable.

The exploration company flourished in Yinghua, and three or five people pooled money to buy the old ships of the navy, and even build a new clipper for exploration, and recruit a group of sailors to cruise around the South Seas. As long as a new island is found that no other exploration company has "released", the situation on the island is clarified, and the nautical chart and shipping route are well drawn, there will be a colonization company to buy the right of first refusal, and the naming right of the place is still its own. During this period, the Anglo-Chinese exploration company continued to operate in Java, rediscovering the islands that the Dutch had discovered or even occupied, so the court was very tense with the Dutch, and even Papua Island did not escape the dispute.

There was not much potential for the "exploration market" in Nanyang, and Lan Dingyuan heard from the Dutch that there was a large island in the southeast of Java, just south of Papua, so he decided to take a risk.

"The charts of the Dutch are really bad, more than two hundred miles less......"

When the boat docked, Lan Dingyuan still thought so.

A strait where they landed came ashore along a steep valley, and Lan Dingyuan's eyes suddenly opened up.

The boundless plains stretch out in front of you, and although the vegetation is vigorous, it is also happily stretched, as if you have not known what it feels like to be "crowded" for thousands of years. Lan Dingyuan has a deep knowledge in the identification of plants and trees, after all, the exploration company still relies on new products to make profits, but he has not found a few familiar plants and trees in Nanyang.

"Sure enough, it's the Southern Hemisphere, the canopy has changed, and the grass and trees have changed."

Lan Dingyuan was still emotionally moved at this time, and then beckoned his subordinates to start work.

"This place is seen, owned, and governed by Yinghua, and I am ruled by Emperor Yinghua, and the person who found it, Lan Dingyuan, Zhangpu, Fujian, is named ......"

The subordinates skillfully planed a piece of stone surface, then carved these words, carved them to the back, turned their heads and asked Lan Dingyuan, "General Division, what is the name of this island?" ”

Lan Dingyuan didn't want to think about the island: "It's called Blue Island!" The island I see in Lan Dingyuan! ”

The subordinates felt very earthy, pouted and carved these two words, and then engraved a line of small words on the back: "The fifth day of the tenth month of the eighth year of the Holy Dao." ”

Regardless of whether this is cooked or raw, it is the iron law of the exploration company.

After a while, another boat brought several Luzon horses to the case, and after Lan Dingyuan and his subordinates checked the materials such as muskets, water, and tents, they got on the horse and shouted: "Go, enclose the land!" ”

If the island is really big, it can't be eaten by his exploration company, and the exploration company's priority colonization rights are also ranged, at least there must be reliable maps and signs to prove that you have personally visited these places. Therefore, when you find a new land, the first thing you do is to stake the land and figure out the situation. It would be ideal if there were any other minerals to be discovered, but for all minerals, the exploration company also has the right of first refusal, which is separate from the colonial right.

"Put the trick on the spot, beware of the beasts, the natives or something, rush out of the grass and trees!"

Lan Dingyuan subconsciously commanded, although the exploration company has a lot of benefits, but it is all the benefits of fighting with life, whether it is navigation or land exploration, the probability of injury and even loss of life is much higher than that of being a soldier.

"It's better to be a native, and you can sell it for money......"

The men carried their sawn-out muskets and smiled absently. No matter how dangerous it is, it can't compare to the ancestors who drove a sampan to go to the sea, at that time it was just to survive, but now it is rich. The Shi family's Yunxia Island and the Lin family's copper furnace island, because they are both familiar land and copper and silver minerals, the two families sold the colonial rights to the Nanyang Company, and the two families have hundreds of people, and they will no longer be worried about defeat for the rest of their lives.

A group of people laughed and walked towards the depths of the land, and at the same time looked around curiously, an hour passed, a day passed, three days later, standing in the waist-high grass, looking at the towering mountains in the distance, Lan Dingyuan stopped suspiciously, this is really an island!?

"There are enemies! Be...... It's cavalry! ”

The subordinates suddenly shouted, Lan Dingyuan's scalp exploded, cavalry!?

Raising the binoculars, I could vaguely see several figures approaching, not fast, but by no means walking. The figures jumped and jumped in an unusually strange rhythm, like sentry horses crouching low on the saddle and jumping forward.

"Damn the Dutch! If you make it back alive, you'll have to blast that guy's head into bean dregs! ”

Lan Dingyuan gritted his teeth and cursed, ordering everyone to raise their guns and be ready to fire. Since there are cavalry, it must not be a new land, and I don't know which country of Europa occupies this place, anyway, it is definitely not a native, and I have never seen a natives who can ride horses in Nanyang.

There are only about a dozen people in the small exploration team, and the Luzon horse ridden is a species raised by Sichuan horses and Yunnan horses in Luzon, which is heat-resistant and tired, but small and cannot run fast. Seeing that the other party was only a few dozen people, Lan Dingyuan decided to meet the attack first, and then retreat.

One hundred paces, fifty paces, the group of "cavalry" jumped on their own, as if they regarded Lan Dingyuan's team as nothing, and saw that at a distance of thirty or forty paces, the yellow-brown "horse head" could be seen, and some subordinates couldn't bear it anymore, and the rifled flintlock pistol in their hands rang out. …,

A strange howl sounded, the group of "cavalry" scattered in all directions, Lan Dingyuan and the others stared at each other, and at this moment they saw clearly, what kind of "cavalry" it was, it was clearly a group of beasts...... But it's the first time I've seen a beast walking like this.

Cautiously touching it, looking at the beast lying in a pool of blood, everyone was silent. A thick pair of lower limbs and a small pair of upper limbs are like people.

Something suddenly came out of the beast's belly, and everyone took a few steps back, and the muzzles of more than a dozen black holes pointed at the little head, and under the furry ears above the head, a pair of big black eyes looked extremely innocent.

The man and beast held each other for a while, and the other scattered beasts turned back, jumping and jumping, surrounding the exploration team on all sides. There was not the slightest fear in his eyes, but he was extremely curious. Of course, there may also be anger at the man who fired the shot......

Being silently watched by these beasts whose height was not much worse than himself, Lan Dingyuan and the others felt a lot of pressure, he waved his musket, trying to drive away these beasts, and finally shocked the other party, when Lan Dingyuan flew out on his back facing the sky, he didn't understand what was happening, and he felt like his stomach was hit by a battering ram.

"Up...... Up the trees! ”

The subordinates carried Lan Dingyuan and retreated in a hurry, and those beasts were in hot pursuit, so they had to make this decision.

I finally climbed the tree, and suddenly someone screamed: "What is this!?" Bear!? How bears are also in the trees! ”

The man put his arm around the trunk of the tree, but he took a soft mass into his arms, looked down, and was terrified.

The round ear, like a bear-like little beast, slowly opened its eyes, whispered to the man dissatisfied, closed his eyes again, and continued to sleep with the tree, as if as long as there was sleep, the destruction of the world had nothing to do with it.

"What a strange island, just these plants, trees, birds and beasts, we can make a lot of money."

The exploration team tried their best to retreat safely, and also brought out a small "two-legged beast" and a "little koala", and a number of grass and tree samples, and everyone felt that they had gained a lot.

Lan Dingyuan said: "Go around this island and see how big it is ......"

If you have it, you don't know how big it can be, depending on the size of the island.

A month later, Lan Dingyuan, who went to the "island" again, saw a vast and boundless desert Gobi, and suddenly despaired: "Return!" ”

There was an expression on his face that he didn't know whether it was ecstasy or anger, which made his face jump up and down: "Where is this *** island, this is a land continent at all!" I don't know the land continent with a radius of tens of thousands of miles! ”

In the eighth year of the Holy Dao, in 1725, Lan Dingyuan discovered the "Blue Island", which was what Li Shi called Australia in his previous life. Due to navigational errors, he did not land on the island of Bathers, which was charted by the Dutch, but deviated to the western coast of Darwin Harbour to the south. Then he sailed westward, all the way to the south of the Great Desert of Western Australia, and still did not see the end of the land.

When he reported this discovery to the Coastal Defense Department of the Anglo-Chinese Privy Council in accordance with the "Navigation Regulations", he changed his "Blue Island" order to "Nanzhou". It was changed to "Southern Oceania" by Li Shi, who had long known it, also referred to as "Oceania". This is an appropriate name, because the Pacific Ocean at this time is habitually called "the ocean".

Yingyang Harbor, Admiral Zhonglang, captain of the cruiser "Lianjiang" Lin Liang said to the chief officer of the Yingyang Port base, Zhonglang General Lan Tingzhen: "Okay, your Lan family has won......"

Lan Tingzhen pouted: "Hypocrisy, it seems that your Lin family didn't buy the shares of Nanyang Company, don't you have to sell the colonial rights to Nanyang Company?" Besides, such a large piece of Xinzhou, Ding Yuan can't eat it alone. ”

The two discussed Nanzhou, and their eyebrows danced, and Captain Shi Baige, who was the captain of the frigate, came over and made up a sentence: "I heard that there was an accident in Jiangnan again, and Zhenhai wanted to go south, but was rejected by General Manager Fan." ”

Lin Liang and Lan Tingzhen glanced at Shi Tingge like monsters, and shook their heads at the same time: "Jiangnan? Who cares? ”

Nearly nine years after the Holy Dao, Jiangnan is close at hand, in the eyes of the British and Chinese, it seems to be a distant place, while Nanzhou, thousands of miles away, and the new islands in the South Sea, are like neighbors who can be seen right at the door.

*J@b