Zhu Hao led the fleet to move forward along the ocean current, and successfully arrived at the northeast corner of the Australian continent in about a month.

Large tracts of uncultivated land are a novel area for Zhu Hao, a continent with incredible reserves of coal and iron ore, but in this era there are almost no people, the number of aborigines is extremely scarce, and he has never thought of establishing a foothold in Australia since he set sail in the Ming Dynasty.

To develop, in addition to having enough mineral deposits, it is necessary to have a population and the food to feed it.

Apparently only the Americas are eligible.

However, immigrating to Australia does not conform to the principle of profit maximization at all, and only after he develops in the Americas, will he consider using it as a transit point for immigrants to develop the necessary industrial system.

In fact, there is a little advantage to the development here, that is, it is closer to Daming, especially Australia's iron ore area is mainly in the northwest corner of the mainland, and the establishment of a port there can make it more convenient to transport enough iron ore to Daming, so the route from Australia through Southeast Asia to Daming, the islands along the way are also Zhu Hao must capture as soon as possible.

Zhu Hao led his troops to land.

The first thing he had to find was the coal mines near Sydney.

The major mineral veins in Australia, which he had studied in his previous life, were easier to explore than in the Americas, and the first problem he faced after the landing of the army was still how to deal with the aborigines.

The same is indigenous, the indigenous people of Australia are very different from the indigenous people of the Americas, first of all, the aborigines here have darker skin tones, and they have not been invaded by Europeans for the time being.

The European colonization of the Americas began in the sixteenth century, and the colonization of Australia was not until the middle and late eighteenth century, with a gap of about 230 years, but in fact, Australia was discovered by the mainstream of the world, not the eighteenth century, Zheng He had discovered this continent when he went to the West in the early Ming Dynasty, and drew a map, but the Ming court did not use it as a place of immigration at that time, and never wanted to conquer this land.

The reason why Zhu Hao deliberately detoured to Australia was mainly to plot the coal and iron ore resources on this continent.

The coastal natives, with several tribes and a population of only a few thousand, are still high estimates, living by the sea, farming, fishing, and subsisting. When they found out that the fleet led by Zhu Hao had arrived, the first thing they wanted to do was to come and attack.

But their attack, let alone Zhu Hao, even those indigenous soldiers who came from the Americas felt that it was too primitive.

It was also in the Stone Age before, and it was also ineffective, but the indigenous people of the Americas still had some social and cultural development, and the settlement life allowed them to build a city-state, and gradually build a huge empire, forming a top-down ruling system.

But the Australian aborigines in front of them are more like a group of savages, and they still eat the last meal but don't have the next meal.

This can only be said that there are no easy-to-grow and high-yield crops such as sweet potatoes, corn and potatoes in Australia, and there is a lot of pressure on the indigenous people here to survive.

Just imagine, if you can't even guarantee basic food rations, how can you develop the ethnic group?

If ethnic groups cannot develop, how can culture be produced?

Ru Mao drank blood, which became the basic characteristic of the Australian Aborigines.

……

……

After the landing, the so-called Australian aboriginal attack had no practical significance for Zhu Hao.

Zhu Hao now has to judge the direction by the direction of the mountains and rivers on the mainland, and in his memory, the best landing place is in the south of Sydney, and the minerals around Sydney are mainly distributed in the north.

This time, Zhu Hao is going to come over to mine aluminum ore and other minerals, such a feng shui treasure is basically owned by him now, and he must manage it well in the future, and use it to create great value for his new empire.

"I caught a few wild people and came back, but I didn't kill them, I threw the net out and caught them!"

Guan Jing entered the big tent of the Chinese army, saw that Zhu Hao was still studying the map, leaned over to take a look, and then said with a smile.

Zhu Hao said: "It is not realistic to expect the aborigines here to mine, so it is still necessary to migrate from the Americas to this side, this route is not close, and the minerals have to be transported directly back to the Americas, the transportation cost is too great, and local production is better." ”

Guan Jing asked, "How long will it take?" ”

"Years, even decades, it's possible."

Zhu Hao said helplessly, "There are coal mines here, but there are no iron mines, so we will go west and north along the coast." This time here, the exploration of hydrology and geological landforms is more significant, and the main force of immigrants in the future can find a way from Daming or Nanyang. ”

Guan Jing couldn't help but ask, "Sir, I want to ask, if you go all the way south from here, where is the end of the sea?" Why is it still so cold here when it's summer? ”

Zhu Hao said with a smile: "Because this place is located in the southern hemisphere, it is originally opposite to the climate of the northern hemisphere where Daming is located, just like you are in the Americas, can you tell the four seasons of the year?" ”

Guan Jing was dumbfounded, and then carefully recalled the climate differences between Central America and South America, and felt that many things he had experienced in the past few years had completely subverted his inherent cognition.

"Alright, let's continue our march tomorrow, and after a little sailing, we will find a place to land and explore carefully...... We need to speed up our navigation, but we still need to determine where the reef is, and the closer we get to land, the more hydrographic mapping we need to do. ”

Zhu Hao came along the way and found that the biggest problem was actually that he was not familiar with the waters.

It is impossible for him to remember every place in the world where there are reefs, and there are so many islands and reefs around Australia that it is not easy for large ships to dock.

And the coastal area of the Australian mainland where Zhu Hao is going to go next is precisely the reef gathering place.

……

……

Zhu Hao's exploration has been traveling along the coastline of Australia.

Along the way, they will catch local natives, for the army brought by Zhu Hao, these natives can be said to have no combat effectiveness at all, and after they are captured, they will not understand the language, so they will show them the ore samples, let them tell them where they are around, and guide the way.

When Zhu Hao came this time, he also trained the natives first, and found some natives who looked smart and clever to go back to "civilize", teach them the language and writing, and prepare for the subsequent formal colonization of Australia.

Just like before he went to sea to the American continent, he also asked Lu Bing and Guan Jing to go to the Americas first, and captured some natives, and he was very particular about steps.

If you come directly with the Ming Dynasty or immigrants from the Americas, and you are not familiar with anything, how can you open a mine?

And the next time he comes, he probably won't come in person, so this time he brought some craftsmen and exploration professionals, and the future mining will mainly be handed over to them, and with the previous experience of establishing various mines in the Americas, these people can be used as professional managers to help him complete the mining work, and at the same time, there will be people who are good at building cities to come and build towns at key nodes of the Australian continent little by little.

Australia is relatively quiet, far away from the countries of Europa, generally do not have to worry about Europeans killing, here in the next 200 years will almost be isolated from the world, but also conducive to the development of industry and agriculture.

However, Zhu Hao is not sure whether the butterfly effect of his arrival will change the historical process here on a large scale, and the news of Australia's minerals will soon spread all over the world, and it is inevitable that Europeans will come to explore, these are the places he needs to be vigilant about in the future, so there will be garrisons on the Australian continent in the future.

……

……

Zhu Hao traveled south along the east coast of Australia, first to New Zealand, and then turned west to sail along the south coast of Australia until he reached the coast of the Indian Ocean.

The fleet traveled very fast, taking about two months, plus time spent along the way, to finally complete the survey of Australia's major coal and iron ore areas, namely the southeast and northwest corners, and found two large coal mines along the way, as well as a number of smaller iron ore areas.

It was not until the northwest corner of Australia that the fleet found a large iron ore area, and it was two or three hundred miles deep into the land, if it was not for the impression in Zhu Hao's mind, it would be difficult to find it.

The northwest corner of the Australian continent is mostly barren Gobi Desert, and there are almost no aborigines, and it is obvious that the natives will find some areas with better climatic conditions to settle.

After Zhu Hao came to Australia, he found that the indigenous distribution in Australia was very chaotic, basically based on tribes, no city-states were established, and most tribes lived in the coastal zone...... Perhaps only by living by the sea, the natives could supplement their rations by fishing and other means.

Zhu Hao brought corn and sweet potatoes to these tribes, which was a kind of "show of goodwill".

But the tribe's attitude towards him was extremely unfriendly, after all, Zhu Hao's arrival had destroyed the life pattern here for thousands or even tens of thousands of years.

The language of the Australians is complex, but some tribes actually have their own scripts, which is different from the Inca Empire, a huge country that still uses knotted ropes to record things, Australians in the evolution of tens of thousands of years, almost all of them are developed by tribes, and the relationship between the tribes is not as incompatible as the Americans.

For the most part, Australians have developed a way of living in peace with each other, each with its own territory, and rarely encroaching on the other.

Zhu Hao couldn't quite understand this.

The living conditions of Australia's primitive society are extremely backward, and almost everyone is struggling to make ends meet...... It can only be explained that there is a tacit understanding between the tribes, and they also sum up the way of getting along after a series of wars.

Unless the clan wants to perish, there must be some kind of rule.

But the Malthusian trap also exists...... This point seems to be worth Zhu Hao's careful study.

In any case, this trip to Australia has gained a lot for Zhu Hao, and the most important thing is ...... Ore veins larger than several coal and iron ore regions in the Americas have been discovered, and can be mined by relocating people, but the problem of how to turn these ores into finished steel products and transportation needs to be solved urgently.

However, with the improvement of his ships, the steamship has become capable of seagoing voyages, and the speed of fifteen knots has been significantly more than double that of sailing, and the minerals produced here have been transported by means.

When Zhu Hao returned to the coastal port in the northwest corner of the mainland from the interior of Australia, boarded the ship, looked at the sky in the north, and sighed: "The next step is to wave the master!"

"When I returned to the place where I have lived for more than ten years, I should have been timid, or my heart was full of joy, but this time we will no longer tolerate Daming, and the consequences are unpredictable!"

Hearing this, Guan Jing helped the handle of the knife across his waist, and said loudly: "What kind of prince will Xiangning?" ”