Chapter 18, the twenty-seven moments of Chongzhen's four years (18)

The eighteenth moment: unexpectedness and unscience

7/02/63, North West Coast, Australia

An expedition ship from the "East Coast Republics" of South America, the Chopper, is slowly moving north along the western coastline of Australia, driven by ocean currents and steam engines. Due to the unfavorable direction of the wind, the sails on the mast of the "Breaking Waves" were all lowered, and only the huge paddlewheels on both sides of the ship were still spinning, providing power to the expedition ship drifting along the current.

Captain Li Yi stood on the stern of the expedition ship, casually surveying the desolate coastline to the east with a telescope.

It is true that in this inhospitable land, there are countless high-quality mineral deposits that are easy to exploit, but for the small republic of the East Coast, it does not mean much. And the main goal of Captain Li Yi's voyage was not to seize an Australian colony for the East Coast country.

The most important purpose of his expedition was to try to circumvent the blockade of the European powers and open a route to the Ming Empire, so as to collect a larger number of Chinese immigrants for the eastern republic of Uruguay, which would later be located in South America.

Since more than 500 Chinese travelers from the 21st century laid the foundation of the country in the later South American Uruguay region on the east bank of the La Platte River, it has become a national policy on the east bank to import the same population of the same language and the same species from the distant Ming Dynasty to ensure the number of Juche ethnic groups and maintain the stability of the country.

However, Uruguay, located in the south-central part of South America and bordering the Atlantic Ocean, is too far away from its homeland. The only way for the eastern states to obtain a large number of Ming immigrants was to channel the Portuguese and entrust them to recruit displaced people in China, who in those years were the only Westerners with a foothold and a presence in China, and neither the Spanish nor the Dutch had yet to open a direct path to communication with the Ming Dynasty.

Obviously, any monopoly business leads to huge profits. What's even worse is that 9,000 kilometers away in the New York area of North America, there is another Chinese traverser group, "Huamei", which also has an urgent need to import Chinese immigrants from the East. Under the bidding of the two buyers, the only "supplier" grape man took the opportunity to sit on the ground and raise the price, which made the two Chinese traverser groups in North and South America complain bitterly - this population business was done in the end, and the price of transporting an immigrant to the Americas from the Ming Dynasty was actually fried by the Portuguese to a full four hundred taels of silver, which is still the minimum reserve price, if it is a thin little girl, so much silver is probably about the same as her weight

In the Ming Dynasty of the same era, the value of buying a little girl was no more than four taels of silver, and the cheap one was often only one or two taels......

As a result, China, the United States and the East Coast countries have built many "advanced" industries such as textiles, metallurgy, pharmaceuticals, and salt drying over the years, and have used technological advantages to carry out the industrial revolution in advance. The oil and water that the guò trade brought from the two groups of travelers in the Americas amounted to one-fifth of the annual revenue of the Kingdom of Portugal

After gritting their teeth and persisting for several years, the United States and the East Coast finally couldn't bear it anymore and began to explore the Eastern Route alone, but unfortunately things did not go well from the beginning - in order to obtain a relay station to the Eastern World, the United States and the East Coast established a colonial base in South Africa almost at the same time, and then because one mountain could not accommodate the relationship between two tigers, a violent conflict soon broke out...... Beginning in 62 AD, the indigenous vassal armies of the two sides engaged in armed confrontation and skirmishes in South Africa, and the warships flying the blue and white five-star flag (China and the United States) and the red-background double-sword goshawk flag (the eastern coast country) opened their guns to each other, and the war in South Africa seemed to be on the verge of touch.

In the end, in view of the fact that the North American countries already possessed steam armored warships and had an advantage in firepower and troops on the battlefield in South Africa, the East Coast countries of South America were forced to compromise and retreat and end in peace talks - China and the United States got South Africa's territory, but out of the friendship of compatriots, the port must also be open to the East Coast countries, and the colonial government also inserted people from the East Coast countries, which is somewhat similar to the public concession of Shanghai in the Republic of China. Then, after evacuating the East Coast colonists from South Africa, they moved to the island of Madagascar, where they established a port called "Tower City" as a base for their advance to the East.

Next, the East Coast sent two warships to try a voyage to the East in 62, only to be beaten by the Dutch fleet in the Strait of Malacca and fled—the British maritime power of this era had not yet been shown, and the Netherlands was the world's maritime hegemon, with at least 6,000 warships and armed merchant ships in the world, and the name of the coachman at sea was really not in vain

As the key to controlling the spice trade, the Dutch fleet in Batavia was also quite strong, second only to the Netherlands itself. With such a powerful fleet, the Dutch almost monopolized the eastern shipping routes in this century, especially the crucial Strait of Malacca, which was regarded as a forbidden territory by the Dutch. With the exception of a few British, French, or Danish ships with which they had exchanged interests, which might be able to pass Guò in peacetime, the other powers were attacked by the Dutch fleet as soon as they appeared near the Bay of Bengal and the Strait of Malacca.

Even the Portuguese and Spaniards, who had arrived in the East earlier, had been blockaded enough by the Dutch fleet during the century, and the mainland's connection with the colonies in the Far East was always intermittent, often without a single Portuguese ship reaching Macao for many years in a row...... Fortunately, around 63 years, the relationship between the Portuguese and the Dutch was quite good, so they were able to do business with the two groups of American traversers to traffick the Ming Dynasty people.

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If you want to break through the blockade of the Dutch, there are only two ways, one is to gather a large fleet of unprecedented scale to go to the Far East, so that the Dutch Far East Fleet does not dare to talk nonsense; The second is to try their luck at smuggling, and if the boat is fast enough, it may be able to break through the Dutch blockade in the Strait of Malacca...... But the price of the former is too terrifying, and the latter is too unreliable, so the eastern shore country chose the third way: not to take the Strait of Malacca, to detour

Specifically, using the westerly drifting belt of the southern hemisphere ocean as a natural power source, sailing from Uruguay to South Africa or the island of Madagascar, and then continuing from the southern tip of Africa across the Indian Ocean with ocean currents to Perth on the west coast of Australia - this sea area is far away from six places, desolate and empty, and there is basically no danger of encountering pirates and enemy navies. From here, they then turned north and followed the cold current of Western Australia all the way north into Southeast Asia, an area dotted with thousands of islands, and the Dutch, no matter how powerful, could only control a few key points such as Batavia and Malacca, and there was no way to monitor every route, and the stowaways could calmly cross the sea area to Japan, Taiwan, Korea, and even China in the north. On the return journey, you can follow the East Australian Warm Current on the east coast of Australia, enter the southern hemisphere westerly wind belt again, and then ride the wind across the Pacific Ocean, through the Strait of Magellan or Drake Passage, and finally return to the East Coast Republic.

Of course, this route of migration around the globe was only drawn by a few naval officers from nautical charts, and it seemed to work in theory, but no one knew what troubles it would encounter in practice...... For this reason, there is this voyage of Captain Li Yi.

More than a month ago, Captain Li Yi was ordered to command two newly developed steam paddlewheel-sail hybrid expedition ships on the east coast, the "Breaking Waves" and the "Choppers" with a displacement of more than 730 tons, to set sail from the Tacheng stronghold on the island of Madagascar, and successfully crossed the Indian Ocean in about half a month, arriving on the desolate west coast of Australia. After surveying the landform, burying a sovereign stone monument, and replacing the stinky water full of suspicious green suspensions in the water tank with fresh fresh water, Li Yi left the "Breaking Waves" to build a colonial base in the Perth area of the original time and space, and continued to go north on the "Chopper" supplemented with fresh fresh water to survey the shipping routes in Western Australia.

Looking from the "Chopper" to the shore, you can see a desolate yellow sand, lack of plants, no rivers, barrenness, drought is the main color here. But at the foot of the uplifted mountains in the distance, there are some green dots, and perhaps only a few streams in the mountains can provide a source of life for this arid land. With the slow movement of the expedition ship, the desert scenery on the shore gradually turned into a flat savannah, but it was still quite dry, and even the trees were rarely seen - due to the influence of the cold current in Western Australia, Western Australia was such a barren scene of savannah and tropical desert, in terms of living environment, it was probably similar to the Western Regions of China, and it was more lonely and lonely, there were no relics left by human civilization, and even the animals were a full era behind the Eurasian 6......

Just as Captain Li Yi, who had just had breakfast, was bored with a teacup while thinking wildly, the lookout at the top of the mast suddenly blew the copper whistle...... It indicates that something that has never been thought of before has quietly been born......

Then, through their telescopes in disbelief, they saw the ruins of man-made structures scattered along the coast, the boats and rafts roaming the seashore, and a beacon tower perched on a mountain cliff with billowing smoke rising into the sky, and it seemed that they had faintly heard the sound of gunfire before......

For a moment, Captain Li Yi and several traverser officers around him were all dumbfounded:

Hey, according to historical records, the British should not start colonizing Australia until 150 years later, and these buildings on the shore are not something that the Stone Age aborigines of Australia can make...... It's not scientific

Next, another more unscientific thing was born:

They showed up as a man who could fly

In the face of this "flying man" who appeared in the air, many sailors were so frightened that they fell to their knees, prostrate themselves on the deck, and expressed their awe and fear in the most humble gesture. Even the East Coast country crossers with Captain Li Yi are all soft-legged and messy-minded.

And the "flying man" also circled slowly over the "Chopper" and shouted to them in English, French, Italian and Mandarin Chinese, "...... You have entered the precinct of this city, please identify yourself, gentlemen, and welcome to Australia."

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Half a month later, the last day of the year on the Gregorian calendar, February 1, 6-1

Captain Li Yi stood on the dusty streets of Zhongnan City, which had just begun to be rebuilt, watching forklifts, forklifts, and wheelbarrows come and go on the dirt road, and the Polish Big Nose, the African Black Uncle, and the Indian Strong Man (a member of the East Coast Expedition) shouted trumpets to erect pillars and wooden beams, and then with a roar, a steel monster like a hill roared and drove from the road. Well, for the people of this era, the heavy-duty trucks produced in Shaanxi, China, nearly 400 years later, can definitely be called steel monsters.

——After being in contact with each other for so long, the traversers from the east coast of South America have basically recovered their composures about the "traversal version of Australians" that suddenly appeared. After all, such horror and shock were experienced once a few years ago when he learned that another group of traversers in North America existed - if Manhattan, New York, North America, can emerge with a cowhide and coax "Chinese America", then why can't a group of "modern Australians" from the 21st century appear in Port Derby, northwest Australia?

Of course, calm is calm, but what should be excited is still excited-although the scheduled trip to China to recruit displaced people is estimated to be abandoned halfway, their presence in Australia this time is enough to make up for any losses: not to mention that if they can abduct the modern galleon with a full load displacement of more than 10,000 tons, it will make the heads of the navy crazy. If these more than 140 compatriots can fool them back to the East Coast Republic, they will definitely be able to make a contribution to the construction of the country far more than a thousand immigrants from the Ming Dynasty.

In fact, even this city of Central South (later Port Derby), which was regarded as a bitter place by the "crossing version of Australians", was also a very good nautical relay station, coal filling station and forward base in the eyes of the navy of the East Coast Republic: there were woods to provide timber, grasslands to graze horses and sheep, valleys and streams to cultivate—although the water resources were estimated to only support the production and livelihood of tens of thousands of people at most, they were enough for this vast and sparsely populated era, and more importantly, there were coal mines that had been opened, copper, silver, iron...... At present, the "Breaking Waves" and "Choppers", which have arrived in Jinwan, are loaded with high-quality coal mined by the "Australians" before.

According to the most perfect idea of Captain Li Yi, the leader of the oriental expedition, it is best to fool these more than 140 "modern compatriots" back to the east coast, and at the same time, of course, to get back the modern five-masted intelligent sail control sail galleon "COSCO Star" with a full load displacement of 11o6 tons - in the world now, the tonnage of the "COSCO Star" may be called the first in the world, and if it is changed into a naval flagship with a red background double sword goshawk flag, it is absolutely magnificent. It's also something that is coveted by everyone in the East Coast - there are many alloys in today's world, and there is nowhere to buy even if you have more money

As for the city of Central South China, it was taken over by the black militia and European immigrants he brought with him from Madagascar. The Aboriginal slaves captured by the "Australians" of course continued to work here until their deaths. And those big Polish noses who have an equal relationship with the "Australians" can ⊥ them to choose freely: if they want to go to the East Coast, they will go to the East Coast, and if they want to stay here, they will stay...... In any case, there has always been a shortage of labor on the east coast.

Unfortunately, the above-mentioned plan to attract people could not be implemented for the time being, because the "COSCO Star" was washed into the lagoon by the floodwaters of the rainy season, and unless a canal to the open sea was dug, it would have to wait until the water level rose in the next rainy season before it could sail - according to the amount of work calculated by the crossers on both sides, it was simply an impossible task for them to dig such a canal in the wet and muddy tidal flats.

Therefore, no matter how greedy he was for this "COSCO Star" with a full load displacement of 11 ouu tons, Captain Li Yi could only be calm for the time being, and first reached a cooperation agreement with the more than 140 "Australians" on board, and used the cereals and vegetable seeds carried by the expedition team to sow potatoes, sweet potatoes, wheat, rice, gourds, tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, cabbage, water spinach, and other crops in the fields of Zhongnan City. In addition, the expedition team also generously allocated more than 20 tons of flour directly to the "Australians", which made these poor people who were tired of eating kangaroo meat smile.

But despite this, there is no further progress on the matter of co-opting the Australian Travelers to join the East Coast Country. The most critical problem is that Captain Li Yi's rank is really not enough, and he can't make any reliable guarantee on the treatment of the Australian crossers after their co-optation - both sides are treacherous modern people, and they all know the casual flickering of the little ghosts below, and the big guys above may not recognize it...... So Captain Li Yi alone can't talk about anything.

-- The attitude of those "Australians" towards the co-optation of the East Coast countries is: you can consider it, but please talk about it with someone who can speak effectively

This reply made the expedition leader, Captain Li Yi, feel very frustrated, but helpless: if he let the domestic substitution negotiate, his own credit will be greatly reduced—if it is not directly floated away...... But if it is directly used, the consequences will be even more unimaginable.

——For modern Chinese time-travelers who are trying to survive in this strange world, fighting between time-travelers is a very taboo thing. No one wants to set this precedent unless absolutely necessary. Even in the military conflict between the East Coast and China and the United States over the South African colony, only a handful of European and Indian officers and a small group of black soldiers were killed, and the warships of both sides never exploded in a single artillery battle, and none of the crossers on either side died under the guns and swords of the other side...... Captain Li Yi doesn't want to set a precedent in this regard

Just when Li Yi was thinking so crankily, Levi, one of the "Australian" leaders, hurriedly walked over and greeted him.

In the eyes of Captain Li Yi, it is a miracle that the COSCO Star and the Australian Traveler appeared in this expedition. Then meeting Levi, a veteran time-traveler who was once pulled into infinite space by the "main god" and lived in medieval Europe for several years, is even more of a miracle among miracles - infinite space, the main god light ball, reincarnation, the Hundred Years' War between Britain and France, and the Black Death...... And Doraemon? It's not scientific

In fact, if he hadn't seen the magical props [Bamboo Dragonfly] and [Shrinking Lamp] in Li Wei's hand with his own eyes, Captain Li Yi would not have believed that this yellow-haired Chinese-Russian hybrid had ever had such an incredible experience, let alone that he was once a warrior reincarnated in infinite space—but unfortunately, after personally trying these two things that obviously exceeded the level of technology in the 21st century, the travelers of the East Coast Country also had to believe that the outrageous stories that Li Wei said were likely to be the truth.

And what's even more a pity is that the [shrinking lamp] in the hands of Levi, a strange man, is a miniature version of the size of a finger, which is probably not a problem to deal with opponents of the size of tanks, dinosaurs and whales, but it is a little powerless for such a huge man-made object as the 10,000-ton modern sailing ship of the "COSCO Astral", otherwise he would have shrunk the "COSCO Astral" into a mini model airplane and then picked it up, and then took it to the open sea to "release".

However, Levi's visit this time was not to show off any magical props to him, nor was it to discuss how to get the 10,000-ton modern sailing ship COSCO Star out of the shallows," ...... Captain Li Yi, Baron Andrew's funeral is about to begin, why don't you go and attend? ”

Baron Andrew? Captain Li Yi blinked, and after thinking for a few seconds, he remembered that this was the name of the little Polish nobleman.

“…… Uh, the same Pole who looked for his own death yesterday? Already going to be buried? Then I'll take a look at it too."

Captain Li Yi replied casually, while bending down to pick a white flower from the grass on the side of the road and inserting it into his chest, "...... But...... Hehe, this guy actually died like Franklin...... Should it be said that he really deserves to be a Pole with a talent for death? ”

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