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Leaving the port of Nanshan, the expeditionary fleet sailed around the southern tip of Africa at an average speed of 11 knots, preparing to cross the Indian Ocean with the northeast monsoon for the last ten days.

After consulting with the Portuguese navigators, who were accompanying the ships as navigational advisers, the American expeditionary fleet, which was so advanced that it staggered all of Europe, did not go north to the Strait of Mozambique (the sea between the African continent and the island of Madagascar), as the Portuguese knew it, but turned straight to the northeast.

Although the Huamei did not actually cross the Indian Ocean route, their carefully prepared nautical charts still amazed the Portuguese navigators. It turned out that the fleet had to rely not only on the northeast monsoon, but also on the southward warm current of the Mozambique Channel to maintain optimal speed. The charts of the Chinese are countless times more detailed than those of their European contemporaries, and not only are the coastlines very accurate, but also the wind direction and ocean current information are extremely rich. In the past, this information was kept strictly secret by navigators from all over the world.

A week later, on the evening of 27 September, the fleet arrived off the coast of an island.

The Dandelion sail frigate sent by the Nanshan Port Naval Base officially broke away from the formation and headed towards the island at this time, and the entire expeditionary fleet began to access the monsoon route from here, hung up full sails one after another, saved coal as much as possible, and with the convenience of the monsoon, rushed to the northeast at a speed of more than 12 knots.

……

Historically, Reunion Island was just one of the uninhabited islands of the Mascrean Islands, which a Portuguese navigator named in his logbook more than 100 years ago. Reunion Island covers an area of about 2,500 square kilometers, 650 kilometers from the island of Madagascar to the west, 190 kilometers from the island of Mauritius to the northeast, and 2,000 nautical miles from the port of Nanshan.

There are two volcanoes on the island, of which the southeast is still a relatively active volcano, and the whole island is dominated by plateau mountains. Only along the coast with narrow plains. Due to the volcanic islands and abundant rainfall, the land on the island is fertile and the vegetation is abundant.

"The fleet heading to the East did not stay to observe, quietly went away, only the frigate Dandelion took care of us on the sparkling sea. The stars are shining, and the moon wheel is spread in the spacious and calm estuary in the distance, like a light lock, just the right size. It has never been so perfect. We cautiously landed on the island, perhaps because of the season, and felt the air moist and cool...... The next day, as far as the eye can see, above the rolling mountains and forests. The magnificent gray-green volcano emits a faint smoke that looks wonderful at every qiē. It was so primitive and empty that there was no sign of civilization to be found here except for wild beasts and birds. ”

According to the diary of a geology student who was going to sea for the first time, the island will soon be renamed "Luna Hill Island", and the small river bay to the south of the landing will historically belong to the town of Saint-Pierre in Réunion. Now it is called "Yuexikou", and the river that flows into the sea is also called Yuexi River naturally.

There is no one and no deep-water harbor. There are no unusual mineral deposits, and perhaps there is nothing special about Wolshan Island itself, except for fertile land, dense forests, and sulfur. But as an extension of the Atlantic Checkers program, it is the same as the Dutch-occupied island of Mauritius to the northeast. It guards the southern entrance and exit of the Indian Ocean monsoon route.

According to the plan of the Ministry of Defense, Wolsan Island will initially become a communications relay station. Only one platoon of the Foreign Legion was stationed. A small village will then be established at the mouth of Yuexi to provide a stopover for the Chinese fleet to and from the Indian Ocean, and administratively, it will temporarily come under the jurisdiction of the Governor of Nanshan.

Under the moonlight, this is the most low-key and poetic island exploration operation. After daybreak, hundreds of tons of logistical supplies and engineering equipment were transported to the island in the latest 60-horsepower steam boat, and the Dandelion frigate stayed here for only two days before returning in a hurry. A pioneering team of less than 70 people will stay alone here for more than a month before welcoming the next cargo merchant ship.

……

“…… It was much cooler and drier than Butterfly Island, the soil was very fertile under the volcanic ash deposits, almost all the forest was primeval forest, and I found a lot of new creatures that I had never seen before...... The volcano to the east seems to be more active, and I can seem to smell distant sulfur, but it's quiet for now......"

In the small camp at the mouth of the moon stream, Frey carefully recorded what he saw and heard in his diary. Over the past few days, with a map of the school library, he has made several field explorations along the river to the north, adding more details all the time. As he imagined, there were no signs of human activity here, and he didn't know how the country's ancestors learned about the island's existence, and even the island's coastline was depicted so clearly.

As a top student in the Department of Land and Resources of the Ivy League High School, Frey, who studied under Professor An Shaoqing, is 19 years old, and he is the only student who has been specially selected by Professor An Shaoqing to conduct a field trip to Yueshan Island. According to Professor An Shaoqing, Frey is required to provide a more detailed geological resource investigation report within six months.

"Hi our esteemed Mr. Frey, do you know what this is? I knocked this idiot out with the butt of my gun! ”

While concentrating on writing the internship record, suddenly a familiar voice came from a distance, and it seemed that Sergeant Ed, who had led the team to protect the state-owned telecommunications engineering company, had returned.

Sergeant Ed, one of the first German soldiers to join the Foreign Legion, fought extremely bravely, became a sergeant this year, and also obtained Chinese-American citizenship ahead of schedule, and his family also immigrated to the mainland.

A group of Army Foreign Legion soldiers came down the river with their guns in their hands as if they had just finished a big sweep, and the tall and sturdy Sergeant Ed at the head of the army was twisting a strange "big bird" in his hand, weighing at least 10 kilograms in terms of size alone.

The fat bird has grayish-white feathers, a black tail and wingtips, a featherless head with a curved beak, and wings that are so short that it makes people laugh, like a domesticated and mutated fowl.

"Wait!" Frey's eyes lit up, and he quickly took out a copy of "Classification of Animals and Plants" jointly published by Professor Huang Nian and Professor An Shaoqing last year from the backpack beside him.

"Hmm...... Looking at the classification of birds alone, it is impossible to find more precise information, maybe it is a species of duck? Frey flipped through several pages of the book, unable to pinpoint the origin of this strange fat bird.

"Good news, it doesn't need to go into more detail. At least it proves that we can eat roast duck every day in the future! Ed winked humorously, and the soldiers around him burst into laughter.

The Reunion dodo, a close relative of the famous Mauritian dodo, is an endemic creature that lives on the island of Reunion, but like its close relative, the Reunion dodo also perished in later generations.

"Sir, are there a lot of them?" Watching a group of big men who picked their feet hurriedly plucking their feathers to clean up their prey, Frey couldn't help but ask.

"A lot, and it's stupid. You know, their little arms and legs can't fly at all, that's all we need to do...... They become barbecued meats. One soldier smiled and gestured as he pulled out his lighter, ready to light the pyre beneath his prey.

"Maybe we shouldn't hunt them like that. My mentor said that the creatures of these islands are actually very fragile, and it would be the greatest regret of mankind if they disappeared into history one day. The young college student picked at the back of his head and retold the original words of his mentor, Professor An Shaoqing, in a half-understood manner.

"Mr. Frey thinks differently than we do. I think you should give them a beautiful name, like 'flightless mallard'? Sergeant Ed came over with a large cloth bag and gently placed it next to Frey. This is the stone we have collected along the way, in accordance with your wishes, and may be helpful for your expedition. ”

"Oh, thank you!"

Frey saw that the army sergeant was very supportive of his internship expedition. Quickly thanked him, and then couldn't wait to open the cloth bag. Rummaging around and looking at it a few times, quite a few stones though look beautiful, except for a few pieces of inferior limonite, afeldspar and sulfur ore. But it has no real value. However, Frey was still very careful to keep this information on record, and presumably there must have been at least a job as a blacksmith here.

A meal of "island roast duck" made everyone eat very tangled. The meat of this "wild duck" is simply too fatty, and the meat is very coarse. The poor taste of the lunch disappointed the army soldiers and discouraged the idea of eating barbecue every day in the future. Frey just smiled at the result.

In the next few days, Frey, accompanied by Sergeant Eide, began to map the detailed geological numbers, and the state-owned telecommunications engineering company completed the first phase of the construction of the communication relay base station, sending a telegram back to Nanshan Port.

……

October 1, 1628, National Day, Sunday.

Privately, this is the 7th anniversary of the founding of the American Republic of China, but in the public textbook chronicle, today is the "2469th anniversary of the founding of the Huamei Zhou Republic". This gimmick that surpasses the perception of all classical civilizations in the 17th century sounds quite scary, but whether it is the European nationals who are currently ignorant of Oriental history and blindly pursue them, or the Chinese who worship the ancient sages, today's national day of this country is indeed a day worth showing off in a year.

In the past two months, almost every factory and enterprise has been very busy, with generous overtime bonuses, and workers' pockets have also swelled a lot.

The large-scale expedition of the Navy and Army has once again cancelled the favorite military parade program on the National Day, but this year's National Day activities are still eye-catching.

The first edition of the Manchester Food Competition, sponsored by the "One Spoon" Hotel, took a high-profile debut on National Day. Applicants from all over the local town gathered in the commercial street square on the West Side of Long Island, where pots and pans were lined up in a long row, and various ingredients were colorful, aromatic or bloody, and several rows of tables were piled up.

According to the rules of the competition, each participating housewife or cook can only choose a maximum of 6 ingredients and make at least one dish. All the citizens who attended the event could taste the food prepared by the contestants for free, and then receive a score sheet to give a score for their favorite dishes and contestants.

The aroma was overflowing, cooking and frying, and the lively competition scene made the citizens of the capital very excited, and they also ate one by one. Children take the opportunity to grab the free fruits of the arena and jump, and adults pretend to feast on plates.

Eventually, the first place was taken by a Chinese housewife from the town of Silver Valley, and a broth that took hours to brew made almost all the citizens who tasted it fresh their tongues. Second place went to a chef from Twin Bays, Bermuda, who instantly made it clear that there is such a spice recipe in the world. The third place went to the chef of the Yipinspoon Hotel, and the braised fish with luxurious ingredients and exquisite appearance looks like people can't bear to spoil it.

The championship prize was as high as $1,000, and the Chinese housewife who won the huge prize almost trembled and took the check from Ouyang Ling, the proprietress of Yipinspoon, and the envy and joy of the scene were all in one piece.

The cooking and food competition was successfully held, attracting at least tens of thousands of capital citizens to participate, and even the business of other commodity stores in the commercial square was several times more popular than in previous years. According to Ouyang Ling's plan, the Manchester City Food Competition will continue to be held next year, and it will develop into an annual food festival in the future.

At the same time, in Ansai, Yan'an Prefecture, Shaanxi Province, far away in Asia, an inconspicuous peasant uprising broke out.

Since Wang Er, a peasant in Baishui County, northern Shaanxi, led hundreds of peasants to kill Zhang Douyao of Zhixian County last year, the peasant war in the late Ming Dynasty was out of control. Wang Jiayin, Wang Ziyong and others set off a larger-scale uprising in Fugu and other places in Shaanxi, and Gao Yingxiang, a horse dealer in Ansai, Yan'an Prefecture, also followed closely with a group of desperate homeless people to raise the banner of rebellion.

Like most of the mud-legged rebels at that time, whether the combat effectiveness is high or not is a matter of ability, and whether the momentum is strong or not is a matter of attitude, and the ability can be insufficient, and the attitude must be correct. Therefore, Gao Yingxiang, who is said to be "good at riding and shooting, and has excellent strength", soon mobilized a large number of followers, attacked the county seat and plundered the official mansion, and stepped onto the historical stage with a resolute attitude of "either being killed or starved to death".

For a time, the smoke of gunpowder broke out all over Shaanxi, and the local officials were loud, and they were so busy that their feet did not touch the ground, and the Ming officials and soldiers were also anxious.

But almost no one would believe that this kind of disorganized and undisciplined peasant rebellion would have a climate in the future, and it might only be a matter of time before the Ming Dynasty had a million troops and put out these grass bandits. Because at this time, the biggest disaster of the Ming Empire was the Houjin in the north.

In September of the first year of Chongzhen, after the death of his father the year before last and the heavy loss of the "Ningjin Campaign" last year, Huang Taiji, the leader of the Later Jin Dynasty, who had just been on the throne for two years, began to change his strategic direction, and some of the Mongolian tribes attached to the Shenyang Alliance were preparing to launch a large-scale attack on Lin Dan Khan, a Mongolian vassal of the Ming Empire, in order to achieve the strategic goal of jointly attacking the Ming Empire. (To be continued)