When Liang Yunan saw the thick man in front of him, the expression on his face changed several times in an instant. Finally, he forced out a smile, and then unobtrusively pulled his arm out of the other man's hand.

"...Shopkeeper Wu, you're so surprised, it really scares me."

"What are you afraid of?" Wu Shanming, who is also a leather goods merchant, said carelessly: "Is it possible that you are still a spy for the Qing Dynasty, and you are afraid of being caught by me and reporting to the official? Hahaha..."

"Shopkeeper Wu, you... you are really good at joking." Liang Yunan's eyelids twitched involuntarily, and he said with an embarrassed smile: "A few years ago, when I was in Qing... Qinglu, my family was almost ruined and I was killed.

It was easy to escape to Hanzhou, but it was too late to hate them to the core, so how could I be their spy?"

"The clowns of the Qinglu will not be able to dance for too long. I feel that as long as the people of the Ming Dynasty are united and dare to fight hard, how can the Qinglu people occupy the mainland of China like us in the past!"

"Shopkeeper Wu...that's right." Liang Yunan laughed and nodded in agreement.

"By the way, Shopkeeper Liang, in a few days, I and several other furry companions will take ships to Weihai (today's Cairns, Australia), Guangling (today's Townsville, Australia) and Yunyang (today's Mackay, Australia) and other places.

We are going to the prefecture and county to purchase some local furs for raw material inventory. I wonder, would you like to go with me?"

"Ah?" Liang Yunan was stunned for a moment, then said: "I applied to go to Batavia more than ten days ago to see if I can collect some furs. No, I'm still waiting for the approval of the application."

"How can the red-haired ghosts get good furs?" Wu Shanming shook his head and said disapprovingly: "Most of the goods in their hands are sold by Nanyang Trading Company or Ryukyu Trading Company from the north, and they only get some second-hand goods, the price is

There are definitely not many discounts. Hewei in the north of Jianye Mansion

On the meadows of Hainan, Guangling, Yunyang and other northeastern regions, there are tens of millions of livestock grazing, and most of them are fine wool. Moreover, we can also sell some cotton cloth from Weihai Cotton Mill and make up a

Pulling the entire ship back, the profit earned will definitely be twenty or thirty points!"

"But, my application has been submitted for a long time, and the approval will probably be in the next few days." Liang Yunan shook his head and said, he thought it would be better to run away to Batavia, and then find an opportunity to escape back to the mainland and return to our territory of the Qing Dynasty.

For good.

"Shopkeeper Liang, the news I got from the Ministry of Civil Affairs and the Ministry of Police is that in recent times, special controls have been imposed on individual merchants and private individuals to leave Hanzhou and several overseas territories. Therefore, your application may not be approved.

.Especially for someone like you, who has immigrated to our country of Qi for less than three years, so you will probably not be allowed to leave."

"Ah?" Liang Yunan's expression changed, "Why is that so? Hasn't Qi State always preached that it wants to give our ordinary people greater freedom, more living security, and a more promising future?"

"Freedom, security, and a hopeful future must be ensured on the premise of ensuring the security and stability of our country of Qi so that all people can obtain all of these." Wu Shanming smiled and patted Liang Yunan on the shoulder, "You were in the Ming Dynasty before.

I must be able to appreciate more how precious a safe and stable environment is."

-------------------

July 16, Beikou (now the small town of Newland Bay in northern Australia).

Liang Yunan disembarked from the ship with several merchants and stepped onto solid land. He couldn't help but let out a long breath. After all, he was still not allowed to go to Batavia. Instead, he and a group of fur traders applied to go to the eastern part of Hanzhou.

At that time, they were immediately allowed to pass. Afterwards, a group of people took a scheduled flight transport ship owned by Hanzhou Transportation General Trading Co., Ltd. and embarked on a journey to Weihai.

This small coastal town about 700 kilometers away from Jianye City was established more than 20 years ago. It was the first supply point set up by Qi State to go to the eastern part of Hanzhou.

Today, the area has a population of more than 2,300 people, distributed in a coastal plain. Because the land here is not very fertile, except for a small amount of corn, potatoes, sweet potatoes, vegetables, and fruits, most residents graze cattle.

Mainly sheep. Of course, because it is located on the seaside, the rich fish resources are also one of the main economic sources of the place. There is a small fish canning factory here.

Beikou City is very small, with a radius of less than 800 meters, and a population of only 500 people. There are only a few hotels and restaurants in the city to provide necessary food and accommodation needs for passing tourists.

In fact, within the territory of Hanzhou itself, there are many small towns like Beikou, and they are all sparsely populated. There are often only a few settlements within hundreds of kilometers. If you think of those densely populated places, you can only build them.

Yefu and several coastal counties in the east may be a little more prosperous and lively. After all, such a huge land has only a population of more than 1.2 million. Isn't it just like sprinkling pepper noodles, which can only be found in the elite areas or necessary areas?

Route, set up some settlements, and migrate some people.

Although the population of this settlement is very small, what makes Liang Yunan jealous is that the living standard of the residents here is not bad at all. Not to mention that they can eat three meals a day - although most of the meals are sweet potatoes and corn.

and other coarse grains, mixed with

A little rice or flour - and they can eat every meal. Even the clothes they wear are neat, their faces are rosy, and they are in high spirits. They are not at all like the common people at the bottom of the Qing Dynasty who are so naked and trapped.

The look of death.

In addition to the lack of bustling hustle and bustle here, it may be a little barren on a spiritual level - in other words, during this period, having a full stomach should be the greatest spiritual enjoyment - it can be said that people have enough food and clothing, live and work in peace and contentment, and everyone even has a few dollars in their pockets.

I have some spare money. Because this is the key supply point to and from Jianye Prefecture in the eastern part of Hanzhou, many ships like to dock here temporarily to recover from the fatigue after the long voyage, and then head to Qi State in the most energetic state.

The location of the temporary capital.

Food, accommodation, and supplements of vegetables and fruits can allow the residents of this small town to harvest lovely silver coins (or gold coins).

Because the land is vast and sparsely populated, thousands of cattle and sheep are grazed in the surrounding large areas of mountain forests and meadows, allowing many fur merchants to purchase local wool and cowhide when passing through this area, which also brings more income to the local people.

Liang Yunan and several fur merchants traveling with him purchased more than a hundred bags of wool during the two days the scheduled ship stayed, and temporarily stored it in a local warehouse. The purchase price here was much cheaper than that in Jianye Mansion.

Even if shipping costs are added, the profits earned are fully guaranteed.

In fact, on several small islands near Beikou, the local government has stocked thousands of deer and deer, and sends people to hunt them regularly every year to obtain meat and furs, which are sold to fur merchants who come to buy them. But Liang Yunan and others

But it came at the wrong time, as the hunting deadline was not yet approaching, so we had to regretfully leave by boat and continue heading east.

On July 22, the ship arrived at the northernmost settlement in Hanzhou mainland - Cape City (today's Bamaga town near Cape York, Australia). Here, it is far away from Weiyuan Island (today's New Guinea Island) on the other side.

In contrast, the key control point of Hanzhou Strait (today's Torres Strait) is an important node leading to the eastern Hanzhou area.

In addition to building strong coastal defense forts, Haijiao Fort and Yanjin Fort on the north shore of Weiyuan Island (today's Daru City in southern Papua New Guinea) also built a naval supply base to protect and protect the fertile land in eastern Hanzhou.

This place is only more than 500 kilometers away from Weiyuan City (today's Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea), so it is closely connected with the place. Food, timber, copper mines, copra, and tuna from the Weiyuan area are exported to the mainland of Hanzhou.

Every day, they will pass through this place and stop here briefly, which also promotes the active business environment of this town.

In addition, many islands in the shallow sea not far from Cape Fort are rich in pearls and sea cucumbers. Residents there often drive fishing boats in small groups, bring enough supplies, and find a small island to station for ten and a half days to collect pearls and sea cucumbers.

Occasionally, you can also find a lot of tortoise shells on the beach. These are the specialties that businessmen like to buy.

"In such a small town, it is estimated that the accumulated wealth is no less than three to fifty thousand taels of silver." Liang Yunan looked at the small market in the city. The ground was filled with crystal clear pearls, colorful tortoise shells and flowers in full bloom.

Looking at the thick sea cucumbers in the bucket and wooden basin, I couldn't help but murmur to myself, "If I grab a handful, it will be enough for me to spend my whole life."

Damn, every small place in Qi is so wealthy. It’s really like what they say when they recruit immigrants. When you come to Qi, you will not only have enough food to eat and warm clothes, but you will also be able to save a lot of money.

Little gold and silver.

Think of me, the Qing Dynasty, which occupies half of the country, and the ordinary people there are living a miserable life. Let alone having a full stomach, even having one meal a day is a luxury.

No wonder the people in the coastal areas within the territory would try their best to sneak out of the sea, hold a piece of wood, and plunge into the sea. They would either escape to the Puppet Ming Dynasty, or try their luck, climb aboard a Qi ship passing by the coast, or float to Chang'an.

Shandao. I heard that many people in Pseudo-Ming in the south seemed to have been deceived by the Qi immigration ship, and then boarded their ship without hesitation and crossed the ocean to the Hanzhou continent.

In the future, if we can return to the Qing Dynasty safely, we must let the masters in power know that the border relocation and sea ban must be implemented more strictly. If the people of the Qing Dynasty know that the people in Qi are so rich, they must not run away.

Got it!

On July 24, the ship left Cape Fort, went around the headland, and continued southward along the east coast of the narrow peninsula.

In the early morning of July 25, Liang Yunan was awakened by his companions, who invited him to the deck to view the beautiful barrier reefs at sea.

Although he traveled tens of thousands of miles by sea to reach the Hanzhou continent, until today, Liang Yunan still doesn't like taking a sea ship. The endless sea makes him always feel an inexplicable fear and panic. Only when he steps on solid land can he

This would make him feel completely at ease. Therefore, when on the ship, he was usually used to staying in the cabin, lying on the hard deck, and passing the time half asleep and half awake.

They are all a bunch of rough old men, who have no interest in admiring the beautiful barrier reefs on the sea. They are just some desert islands on the sea.

"How come, you have never seen such a beautiful scenery on the sea, have you?" Wu Shanming, a fellow fur trader, saw Liang Yunan's dazed eyes and pointed to the nearby Barrier Reef (Great Barrier Reef) with a smile, "I passed by here a few years ago.

, was attracted by this scene. His grandma’s, this is simply God’s pearl necklace falling into the sea, and it turned into such a long string of beautiful barrier reefs.”

I saw that on the left side of the ship, hundreds of meters to several kilometers away on the sea, colorful coral reefs were looming, including red, pink, green, purple, yellow... and their shapes were also varied.

Some seem to open the screen

some are like red plums in the snow; some are round like mushrooms, some are as slender as deer antlers; some are as white as flying frost, some are as green as emeralds; some are like Ganoderma lucidum... indescribable, forming a strange and varied picture.

Spectacular natural art pictures.

Moreover, this series of beautiful barrier reefs stretches endlessly all the way to the south, as if it is never-ending. It is really like a "pearl necklace" dropped by God. Well, it is so beautiful, and it really looks like shining pearls.

A pearl of azure, indigo, azure and pure white light.

The weather here is calm and the sea ships move extremely slowly. These beautiful barrier reefs are like natural havens. Various fish, crabs, seaweeds, and molluscs are colorful and dazzling. Through the clear water, you can clearly see them.

Schools of small catfish feed on plankton on the outside of the large reef

. Giant clams weighing nearly 100 kilograms and looking weird and scary, ferocious sharks that want to dominate the ocean, soft and boneless shellless snails, huge sea turtles, crabs with red spots... and animals washed up far away by the tide.

Shells, large and small, sparkle with countless stars under the sunlight.

But there are also times that make people lose their sight. When passing by a beautiful barrier reef along the way, I found some fishing boats docked here and there. Many people were wielding shovels and pickaxes, and they were working hard to extract guano. I heard the sailors on the boat said

, these fishermen who mine guano will pull the guano onto the land and sell it to farmers to improve and increase the fertility of the land.

Of course, there are also some fishermen near this barrier reef who do not take these beautiful barrier reefs seriously at all. Just like the fishermen near the Cape Fort, they collect sea cucumbers and fish for pearls on a large scale.

"His grandma, this Qi country is really dependent on the mountains and the sea. There are treasures everywhere. No wonder the people are so rich!" Liang Yunan said with envy.

On August 5, after more than 20 days of sailing, the ship arrived at Weihai, the most important economic center in Northeast China.

Although Weihai City was surpassed not only in terms of population size but also in terms of economic size due to the impact of preferential immigration policies and capital construction three years ago, it was surpassed by the newly developed Daxing City (today's Brisbane City, Australia), but it still relies on its

With twenty years of development heritage, and as the most important local cotton textile center and sugar refining center, it has an important position that cannot be ignored.

The entire Weihai Prefecture has six counties under its jurisdiction: Chengde (now Cooktown, Australia), Panjiagang (now Port Dogdas, Australia), Tonggu (now Atherton, Australia), and Gaoping (now Innis, Australia).

Fair City), Guangling (now Townsville, Australia), and Huating (now Ingham Town), with a total population of more than 136,000.

In addition to the industrial scale of Weihai Prefecture after Jianye Prefecture and Daxing Prefecture, the area is also the second largest livestock production area in Hanzhou. The number of cattle, horses, donkeys, mules, camels, pigs, sheep and other livestock far exceeds that of other prefectures.
To be continued...