The Great Barrier Reef is the world's largest and longest coral reef group, running through the northeast coast of Australia, stretching for more than 4,000 miles, and the widest point is more than 300 miles, among which the coral islands are all over the place, not only live a large number of marine animals, some conditions are suitable for the coral islands, but also live a considerable number of natives, usually catch fish and shrimp in the sea for a living.

When Li Su and his fleet crossed the Jianjiao Peninsula, they plunged headlong into this group of coral islands, and when they just entered this incomparably beautiful Great Barrier Reef, Wenxin and Qinghe were all amazed by the beautiful scenery in front of them, and then began to point to the strange corals they found and screamed, no longer reserved as a noble lady.

But in comparison, the children of Chou Chou and Mo Qing are the most joyful, I saw them pointing to the red, green, purple and other colorful corals, chattering about which coral resembles something, speaking of the Great Barrier Reef corals in different forms, some like slender antlers, some like stout rhinoceros, and some more colorful and majestic, looking like a palace, attracting these children to jump and jump on the deck, more happy than going to the zoo.

Li Ke and Li Su were also shocked by the beautiful scenery in front of them, although Li Su had heard of the name of the Great Barrier Reef in his previous life, but he could only understand some through pictures and words, but when he stood in the Great Barrier Reef group, he found that this immersive feeling was far from being comparable to the feeling that pictures and words brought to him.

But the Great Barrier Reef surprised them much more than that, and soon Li and his fleet encountered a number of fishing boats that went out to sea to fish, most of which were Han Chinese, and occasionally some natives could be seen working on the boats. And when these fishing boats saw Li Su and their fleet. But they were all very enthusiastic, and they came forward to sell all kinds of seafood they had just caught.

This is the origin of the Australian giant lobster. So the lobsters here are also the freshest, and the prices are also very cheap. Therefore, for the seafood sold by these fishing boats, Li Su asked people to buy them all, it doesn't matter if they can't eat them, there are so many maids and guards, they also finally came to Australia, and the road is also very hard, Li Su, who has always been considerate of his subordinates, naturally will not treat them badly, so the rest is rewarded to the taste in the fleet.

It is also worth mentioning that among the acquired seafood. There are even a few huge dugongs, dugongs are a kind of manatees, legend has it that mermaids refer to this animal, but in fact, this thing is very ugly, but the meat is very delicious, even Li Su, who has always been a mouthful, is full of praise.

In addition to lobsters and manatees, the Great Barrier Reef is home to plump sea cucumbers, ferocious sharks and more. However, for this kind of fishing, Li Su has already made people manage, for example, the types of animals caught and the number of years they grow have been regulated, so as to avoid overfishing and the extinction of a certain animal.

That same evening. Li Su and the others came to a small city called Rainbow Harbor, a natural deep-water port located at the root of the east coast of the Jianjiao Peninsula. However, there were very few people living in the port, just over 2,000 people. And a quarter of them are military personnel stationed here, and the rest are mostly family members of these military personnel. Finally, there are some fishing teams, and in addition to the consumption of the city's residents, most of the seafood caught will be sent to the city's only seafood processing factory to be made into dry or canned food, which is also the largest financial income of Rainbow Harbor.

The mayor of Rainbow Harbor is named Meng Meng, who is in his Chinese New Year's Eve, and was originally a guard in the Li Shu Mansion, but he was later injured during the attack on Baekje, and his right hand was missing a few fingers, which did not look very heavy, but he could no longer hold a knife or gun, so he had to choose to retire. However, for these disabled soldiers, Li Su has always been very favorable, and also arranged for them to study and even enter politics, this Meng Meng took several years to step by step to the position of this small mayor, and his loyalty is also absolutely reliable, so he has already received the news of Li Su's arrival.

Meng Meng had already prepared a place for Li Meng and them, and after dinner, Li Su summoned Meng Meng as usual, and then asked about some local conditions, and Meng Meng also answered them one by one.

"By the way, why is this port called Rainbow Harbor, it won't be because the people who found out here saw the rainbow, right?" After asking the truth, Li Su chatted casually. Meng Meng has been a guard of the palace, it can be said that he is a henchman in his heart, and now he is released as an official, and he is likely to become an important minister of the palace in the future, and Li Su began to chat with the other party after asking about business, which is also a means to win over his subordinates.

And Meng Meng was also a little flattered and said: "Your Royal Highness, the rainbow of Rainbow Harbor does not refer to the rainbow in the sky, but to the rainbow in the water, because on some nights in spring every year, in those coral reefs in the south of the harbor, the sea water will suddenly turn into colorful colors, and the scene is very spectacular, it looks like a rainbow in the sea, which is also the origin of the name of Rainbow Harbor." ”

Hearing Meng Meng's explanation, Li Su was also a little surprised, if he didn't believe that Meng Meng would definitely not lie to himself, Li Su probably wouldn't believe that there was such a strange thing in the world? Rainbow Harbor belongs to the southern hemisphere, but their spring is equivalent to autumn in the northern hemisphere, and now that it's just May, if they can stay in Australia for two or three months, they may have a chance to see this wonder.

Although it was a pity that they could not see the wonder of the rainbow in the sea, when they left Rainbow Harbor the next day, they were fortunate to see the scene of the native women on the island going to the sea to dive pearls on an island inhabited by natives not far from the port.

At that time, Li Su's fleet passed by the side of the coral island, and just saw the native women on the island rowing a small boat, and then reached a clear sea area, through the sea water you can see the colorful corals below, and then these native women stripped naked, revealing a delicate and toned body, and tied two fish skin pockets around their waists, and then jumped into the sea to look for pearl oysters.

Seeing these natives and women diving, Li Su and their entire fleet were boiling, because in addition to Wen Xin and other female dependents and some maids, most of the others were men, and they saw a group of naked women jumping into the water in front of them, naturally all of them were full of blood, and even some people simply howled wolf, the scene was chaotic for a while, and even Li Ke and Li Su stared intently at the native women in the sea, and Wen Xin and these female dependents all snorted lightly and returned to the cabin with red faces.

But then the fleet slowly quieted down, because through the crystal clear water, you can see those pearl divers swimming in the water like a healthy mermaid, especially in those colorful corals, these women are even more graceful, beautiful and suffocating.

These pearl divers are very fast, and they can hold their breath underwater for a long time, some of them even come up for a change of breath for the longest time of seven or eight minutes, and they usually only need to change the air two or three times before they can pick a bag of pearl oysters, pour them onto the boat, and then dive again.

When leaving Rainbow Harbor, Meng Meng helped Li Su find a guide, and according to the other party, the work of these native pearl divers is very dangerous, because the coral reef is not as calm as it seems on the surface, there are many poisonous marine creatures living in the coral, and they may be poisoned if they are not careful, and they are in the sea, if they can't return to the ship in time after poisoning, then they are likely to die of suffocation, and even if they return to the boat, if the poisoning is too deep, they may also die.

Li Su also sighed after hearing this, he only knew that pearls were beautiful, but he didn't expect the pearl industry to be so dangerous. However, he remembered that the pearl oysters of later generations were all cultivated in captivity, but unfortunately he did not know the cultivation method, otherwise this cultivation method could be promoted.

Seeing these pearl divers working so hard, Li Su was moved by some compassion, so he asked the guide to contact those pearl divers, and directly bought the pearl oysters picked by the other party at a reasonable price, and then prepared to open them with Wen Xin and them, so that everyone could try their luck, because not all pearl oysters have pearls, and the particle size, color, and roundness of pearls all affect the value of pearls. In addition, pearl oysters are also a very delicacy, and the meat is also very delicious, so even if there are no pearls, it will not suffer.

Li Su's behavior of directly buying pearl oysters is very common in later generations, and many pearl-producing places have this kind of program, which is like a gambling stone in later generations, the risk is all borne by the buyer, and it depends on the buyer's own luck whether to make a profit or a loss.

And now this concept is a bit advanced, but those native women are not stupid, although there may be some precious pearls in the pearl oysters sold, but they may also get nothing, so it is better to sell them directly, so that at least a lot of income can be guaranteed, so they are also very happy to sell to the fleet, and Li Su is directly paid with copper money, these local people have understood the value of money, and know that they can use this copper money to buy all kinds of supplies they need from the Han people.

Wen Xin and Qinghe were very excited about the game of opening pearl oysters by themselves proposed by Li Su, after all, this kind of game has a bit of gambling nature, and gambling is born with human nature, so they all tried their luck, one by one with great interest with a knife, wearing silk gloves on their hands to prevent scratching the skin on their hands, and then began to open shells themselves.

And even Li Ke showed great interest, pulled Li Ke over and asked for two knives, ready to try his luck? (To be continued......)

PS: I'm sorry, I'm late to come back today, now update the first chapter, the second chapter will be there soon.