Instead of stopping in the northern part of the South Continent, the fleet crossed the northernmost strait, turned south, and carefully navigated the endless perimeter of the Great Barrier Reef, where experienced seafarers were aware of the danger and did not dare to enter the Great Barrier Reef.

At first, one coral island after another amazed everyone, but the endless coral islands soon became tiresome, the days began to become boring, and everyone's mood became more and more depressed, and after 20 days of sailing, a lucky ship ran aground near a coral island, and the personnel were transferred in time, but the ship finally sank in the vast sea.

The ship's sinking on the reef caused everyone's discontent to explode, and they approached Fanning and unanimously asked to return, this place was too far away from the Great Song, they had been sailing in the sea for two months, and moving overseas was far from what they imagined, they would rather choose the islands near Luzon.

Facing the raging crowd, Fanning calmly said to everyone: "Didn't you notice it? There are fewer and fewer coral islands, we should sail out of this coral sea soon, please give me three more days, and if we can't land after three days, then we will sail back. ”

A middle-aged wealthy businessman said, "What should we do if all the islands and land on the Luzon side are robbed?" ”

This is what everyone is worried about, the southern continent is too far away, many people have no interest, and they regret following Fanning to the south, they are afraid that the islands and lands near Luzon Province will be divided up, and there will be no share of them.

Fanning said to everyone: "This time we went to sea openly to investigate, even if we fancy the island and land, we can't buy it, we must bid in a centralized manner, the purchase time is this autumn, almost five months later, don't worry." ”

"But we haven't carefully surveyed the islands and the land, and we still have to spend a lot of time to investigate, and there is too much time to be delayed here."

Fanning sighed, and everyone said, "That's it! We landed three days later, and then we divided our forces into two routes, and those who were willing to stay and continue the expedition could stay, and if they wanted to go back to Luzon, they would follow the fleet north and go back. ”

Everyone wanted to say anything more, but Cao Tong shouted: "After walking hard for more than two months, if you don't board the Southern Continent, won't you leave in vain?" What if I regret it later? ”

Cao Tong's suggestion persuaded everyone, and everyone had to go back to their ships, and the fleet set sail south again, and two days later, the coral island gradually disappeared, and the fleet began to sail along the coast, and a long coastline appeared in front of everyone.

The coastline is full of vast sandy beaches, with cliffs dozens of feet high above the beach and dense forests above.

However, the draft of the fleet is very deep, and this shallow beach can only be reached by small boats.

Fanning looked at the colorful cliffs, and he felt that this should be the famous Fraser Island, famous for its sand, and the location of the famous city of Brisbane should be not far to the south.

These famous cities all have one thing in common: they have excellent deep-water natural harbors.

Fanning immediately ordered: "Keep going south!" ”

Except for a few people, most of the rest of the expedition team members had gloomy faces, this continent was too large, so they had a deep sense of powerlessness, it was not at all what they imagined, the situation of the rich Jiangnan water towns, or the endless wilderness, there were none, almost all of them were covered by dense forests.

At noon on the third day, a headland bay finally appeared before their eyes, and Fanning breathed a long sigh of relief, this was where Brisbane was located.

Although the Great Song Dynasty was the first monument to be erected on the Kimberley Plateau, the actual colonial landing was on the east coast.

The people on the boat finally softened their faces, the conditions here are not bad, the mouth of a large river is plain on both sides, although it is also densely forested, but it is not a formidable rainforest, the climate is not so hot, it can be built as a city, but it is still too far away from the Great Song Dynasty, a cruel long journey, dispelled most people in the overseas king and emperor, they are all pampered rich people, there can withstand the hardships of overseas development.

Investing in an island near Luzon is already their limit.

After a short stroll around the boat, they returned, and they voted on Fanning's flagship, and on the table were placed two wooden boxes, one to return to Luzon and the other to stay and explore.

The result of the vote was almost expected, except for Fan Zhucao Gao's four families, who were willing to stay, everyone else unanimously chose to return.

Fan Ning stood by the river and looked at the wide estuary in front of him, Cao Tong squatted down and dug a handful of soil, spread it on the palm of his hand to identify it carefully, sniffed it again, and smiled at Fan Ning: "It is a good humus soil, the soil quality is very good, very fertile, and it is very suitable for the development of agriculture." ”

"Father-in-law, let's give this place a name!" Fanning laughed.

Cao Tong thought for a while and said, "The ancestral home of the Cao family is in Zhending Mansion, so let's name this place Zhenzhou!" In the future, if a county is built here, it will be called Dingnan County, and this river will be called Dingnan River, how about it? ”

Fanning smiled approvingly: "That's a good name!" ”

Cao Tong saw that Fan Ning's smile was a little bitter, so he comforted him and said: "These people are all enjoyment-type people, not suitable for pioneering, they think it is too simple to go overseas, and next time they will recruit directly in the Great Song Dynasty, with the population of the Great Song Dynasty, it is no problem to recruit tens of thousands of people who are willing to come to the mainland to open up." ”

Fan Ning sighed: "It's me who thinks about overseas development too simply, always thinking about completing the great cause within ten or twenty years, and now it seems that without a hundred years of operation, it is difficult for the Great Song Dynasty to take root in the Southern Continent." ”

"Take your time! We don't have enough time, so let's let our children and grandchildren come back. ”

Fanning nodded, having taken this step, he would not look back.

..........

Two days later, eighteen large ships returned to Luzon with their disappointed powerful families and wealthy merchants, leaving behind ten large ships to form a new fleet.

In the flagship's council hall, Fan Ning and Mingren and Mingli brothers, Zhu Lin and Zhu Yun representing the Zhu family, Zhu Lin is the third grandson of Zhu Yuanfu and the eldest son of Zhu Xiaolin, he also gave his name to his son, and Zhu Yun is the second grandson of Zhu Yuanfeng, and they represent the two houses of the Zhu family.

The Cao family is Cao Tong and Cao Ping, and there are also Gao Shilin and Gao Xuan of the Gao family, and nine people sit in the council hall on behalf of the four families.

At this time, Fanning hung out a map, this is a complete map of the South Pacific, it took Fanning a year, with a little memory of his previous life to draw it slowly, many details he has forgotten, this is just a sketch.

"Don't ask me how I got this map, anyway, I put a lot of effort into it, and the island we want to buy is here!"

Fanning pointed to the two islands on the east side of the map, "These are two large islands, called North Island and South Island, the area of North Island is similar to Luzon Island, and the area of South Island is slightly larger, equivalent to two Kunzhou, the climate is mild, very suitable for breeding and wheat cultivation, both islands have high mountains and valleys, there are endless grasslands, the Fan family and the Zhu family decided to buy the North Island, and the South Island was given to the Cao family and the Gao family, what do you think?" ”

"How far are the two islands from here?" Gao Shilin asked.

"Equivalent to the distance from Quanzhou to Luzon."

Cao Ping and Gao Shilin quickly glanced at each other, it would take at least eight days to sail, which was still a little too far.

Fan Ning glanced at everyone, and said slowly: "I might as well reveal a secret to you, we are now developing a new power, using burnt charcoal to propel the ship forward, once this kind of machine is invented, it will only take three days from Quanzhou to Luzon, and a 30,000 stone ship only needs fifty crew members, from Quanzhou Port to here, it will take one and a half months at present, but with the installation of a new machine, the big ship will arrive in half a month at most, which is equivalent to the time spent from Yangzhou to Luzon." ”

Everyone was in high spirits and asked, "When will the new machine be invented?" ”

"It started last fall, and I don't know the exact progress."

Fan Ning glanced at Zhu Yun and asked, "Does your grandfather have any news to reveal to you?" ”

Zhu Yun also shook his head, "Grandfather has stayed in Chenliu County since the end of last year, and he didn't even come back for the New Year, and he only came back in late January. ”

Fanning smiled: "When we go back in the fall, it is estimated that we will come out." ”

"And when are we going to Niijima?"

Fanning thought for a while and said, "I need to arrange it on the mainland, and then we will take two boats to Xindao." ”