This tribe has no special products. Even the three copper daggers they have were obtained from tribes further east.
The prospector in the team traded an iron ax for a copper dagger.
First put it on your fingertips and weigh it, then smash it directly with a hammer and carefully observe the fracture of the dagger.
"It's not artificially smelted," the prospector said to Wang Chongdu, "it should be ground from natural copper (alloy). There must be copper-rich mines nearby. You can ask them where they got it from."
It's hard to tell the result.
Lin Wu took the broken copper dagger and ran to the tribal chief to discuss it for a long time. The other party thought that Lin Wu wanted to trade the copper daggers, so he offered the remaining two daggers, hoping to get the iron axe again.
Lin Wu was scratching his head and head anxiously, not knowing how to explain it at all.
"I'll do it."
Li Zuqia carried two iron axes over and exchanged them for the remaining two copper daggers.
Then, he took out three more iron axes.
The chief's eyes gleamed when he saw it, and he quickly asked someone to get a bunch of offal. There were accessories, paints, bone axes, and boomerangs... He wanted to exchange these things for Li Zuqia's axe.
Li Zuqia waved his hand and shook his head, pushing the offal back, pointing at the copper dagger to express that he still wanted it.
The chief became increasingly anxious and ran to consult with the wizard.
During the whole process, the members of the exploration team were all extremely vigilant. Some people pressed their hands on the handles of their knives, and some loaded their muskets, for fear that the natives would take advantage of the money and rob it directly.
Finally, the chief ran back, pointing first to the dagger, and then further to the east.
The meaning is very clear, their copper daggers come from the East.
The natives seemed to be planning to travel far, so they organized a team of ten people and brought with them dried kangaroo meat. This kind of dried kangaroo meat is so spicy and woody that it can make people want to vomit.
The real way to cook kangaroo is to braise it as before to retain enough juice.
The Mongolian roasting of whole sheep with skin is actually done in a similar way. Both in Inner and Inner Mongolia, red-hot stones are stuffed into the sheep's belly, covered with charcoal and then covered with soil and slowly simmered.
While the natives were making preparations, Wang Chongdu also sent people back to the shore, called for more people and brought enough food.
Two team members were acclimated and were suffering from stomach upset, so they were thrown back to the shore to recuperate.
The next day, everyone set off with the natives and walked eastward for more than two days.
There is another tribe here, and it is larger.
The two tribes began to communicate and showed off the iron axes they had exchanged.
Wang Chongdu warned: "This tribe is quite large. There are probably several hundred people in it. Be careful if they suddenly attack after they are greedy for the iron ax."
"Always on guard." Li Bin patted the flintlock gun in his hand.
Wang Chongdu said: "There is no reason to guard against thieves for a thousand days. When the natives take us to search for copper mines, if we encounter prey on the way, we will kill one with a cannon. Show our strength!"
Soon, the chief of the big tribe came over and had a chat.
Lin Wu, still acting as a communicator, held out a piece of floral cloth taken from the ship.
Tie-dyed ordinary cotton with blue background and white stripes. The price is not expensive. Even the people at the bottom of the Ming Dynasty can make new clothes for every year and festival.
The chiefs of this large tribe like it very much, although they have no habit of wearing clothes.
Accept the gift and return it immediately.
"What kind of gem is this?" Wang Chongdu asked in surprise.
This object is about the size of a chestnut, polished to a round and smooth shape, and exudes dreamy and brilliant colors.
Opal!
There will be more as you continue to the southeast, 90% of the world’s opal comes from here.
That night, everyone was entertained and took turns standing guard at night.
Heading south the next day, representatives of the two tribes led everyone to look for copper mines.
By a small river, more than a dozen kangaroos were found drinking water. Wang Chongdu shouted: "Shoot those big rats with a cannon to open the eyes of the savages here and prevent them from having any evil intentions!"
"Bang bang bang!"
A burst of gunshots startled the natives, and then they saw four kangaroos fall.
They looked at the Ming Dynasty exploration team and then at the dead kangaroo in the distance. They didn't understand what was going on for a while.
Wang Chongdu sent someone to carry the kangaroo body back and said to Li Bin: "Load the bomb and fire another gun."
Li Bin quickly cleared and reloaded the gun, and while the natives watched, he shot at the kangaroo at close range.
"Bang!"
There was a gunshot and a bloody hole was made.
The expressions of the indigenous people seemed quite panicked, and several people rushed over to check the kangaroo carcass.
Suddenly, a native knelt down and kowtowed to the Ming expedition team.
They already have primitive religious worship, and they obviously regard Wang Chongdu and others as gods.
When the gods do things, naturally you can’t ask too many questions.
After walking for another half day, there was not enough drinking water, so everyone set up pots to boil water by the river and took a break to cook food to satisfy their hunger.
The first one comes from the medical development of the Ming Dynasty, the second one comes from the imperial court’s popular science propaganda, and the third one comes from the personal experience of the expedition team. As long as they have the conditions, they will never drink raw water, especially raw water from unknown areas.
The staple food at the moment is rice supplied from Java Island.
Simply cook it into white rice and grill the kangaroos that were shot to death with a gun.
Grilled kangaroo meat is really unpalatable. Even with a lot of salt, the smell can't be suppressed. Moreover, the meat is as woody and hard as an old wild boar. It makes everyone miss the braised kangaroo meat from the past few days.
Some white rice was also given to the natives. The natives devoured the delicacies and thought that rice was the exclusive food of the gods.
After filling their stomachs, everyone waited for the boiling water to cool down and poured the cold boiled water into water bags for storage.
After walking around for nearly two days, everyone was exhausted.
The climate here is a savannah, and the temperature is not high. It is less than 30 degrees Celsius during the day and drops below 20 degrees Celsius at night. However, the air is dry and there are many mosquitoes. Everyone is covered with natural mosquito repellent.
The natives were naked and didn't know how to resist mosquito bites.
The natives continued to lead the way forward, but the prospector stopped, pointed to the small mound of soil on the surface and said: "Iron hat."
"Iron mine?" Wang Chongdu asked.
The prospector shook his head: "Not necessarily, it could also be a copper mine."
Wang Chongdu frowned and said: "Although there are indigenous tribes here, the population is still too small, and it is two or three days away from the coast. Even if copper mines are found, it will be difficult to mine. Unless..."
"Unless there is a gold mine." Li Zuqia said.
Copper mines cannot attract adventurers, and not much can be mined with local human resources.
Only gold mines have mining value at this stage.
The prospector found more than ten iron caps nearby. After some research, he regretted: "They are all iron cap copper mines. If they were placed in China, they would make a fortune."
The small mounds that emerge from the ground are iron caps formed by the reaction of copper oxides and hydroxides with iron. Mining is more difficult than ordinary copper ore, and it is also mixed with gold, silver and other substances.
Under the leadership of the indigenous people, continue southward for one day.
The prospector was going crazy, because after crossing the iron hat band, he soon discovered an open-pit rich copper mine.
The copper daggers of nearby tribes were obtained from this area.
"Let's record it," Wang Chongdu sighed. "This place is too far and too desolate to be exploited at all, but it can be reported to the court for meritorious service."
They returned north and took out a few iron axes in exchange for some natural copper lumps.
He also exchanged cotton cloth and other items for hundreds of opal gems.
Continue by boat heading east.
When the three large ships set sail, people from both tribes came to see them off and knelt on the shore to reluctantly see them off.
Every time the fleet traveled a certain distance, people were sent ashore to investigate, and they encountered several tribes one after another.
Unfortunately, they did not explore deeply.
In one of these explorations, if you continue walking south for a few days, you can reach the largest silver mining area in Australia.
According to 1997 statistics, the silver reserves there are 23,000 tons, and the annual output accounts for 7% of the world's total silver mine output. It has few impurities and is easy to mine.
The most important thing is that the silver mine is only more than 300 kilometers away from the coast, and there are some small rivers leading to the sea along the way!
Oops, missed it.
On the other hand, Wang Chongdu got more opal gems. This thing is very beautiful and colorful. It is estimated that it can be sold for a good price if it is shipped back to Ming Dynasty.
That silver mine is also within the opal producing area and is relatively close to the core area.
If you come to buy opal gemstones in the future, you may accidentally discover silver mines.
Gradually, the fleet sailed from the savanna climate zone to the tropical rainforest climate zone in the northeastern corner of Australia.
Then it turned and headed south along the east coast of Australia.
Throughout the east coast, the population is increasing and the tribes are becoming more densely distributed.
This place is suitable for human habitation!
They have been sailing along the coastline, going ashore from time to time to communicate with the indigenous people.
The natives on the east coast are more aggressive, and tribal wars often occur. It seems that some small-scale tribal alliances have been formed.
The Ming Dynasty exploration team even got involved. While trading with one tribe, they were attacked by another tribe. One man was injured by a flying stone thrown by a sling, and Wang Chongdu was so angry that he led his men to pacify that tribe.
The tribes that were raided before fought together throughout the whole process and respected them like gods.
It took about two months for the fleet to stop and go and reach the southeastern corner of Australia.
They docked in a natural harbor, later called Melbourne.
The Chinese have another name for it: Xinjinshan!
San Francisco is in the United States, and Xinjinshan is in Australia. Both places have gold.
When exchanging items with the local natives, Li Zuqia walked up behind Wang Chongdu and asked, "Is the yellow chief's necklace gold?"
Wang Chongdu walked closer and took a closer look. The more he looked, the more it looked like gold.
The necklace was strung together with straw ropes, and there were ornaments made of bones and stones, mixed with a few golden things.
Wang Chongdu took out a small bag of refined salt and asked the chief to taste it.
Then, point to the other person's necklace and try to exchange.
Perhaps the necklace was very precious, so I put it on a piece of cotton and finally replaced it.
That night, the main members of the expedition gathered together.
Wang Chongdu said: "There is gold near here. The indigenous people definitely do not have the technology to mine gold. It is either gold sand washed from the river or gold nuggets picked up from somewhere."
"We are rich!" Gao Wenbao said with a ferocious smile.
Li Bin said: "Don't show off your lies. We'll ask more tomorrow."