A large island deep in the Southern Ocean, this is the South Island on the map, and later became the North Island of New Zealand.
Ten days ago, the expedition fleet found Nanda Island. Compared with the Southern Continent, the freshwater resources here are more abundant, the climate is more humid, and there are large tracts of natural pastures and endless forests. All kinds of resources here are rich, especially
Freshwater fish in the river are extremely abundant and easy to catch.
In fact, they entered the big island by going backwards from a large river that flows into the sea. On both sides of the river are endless fertile lands, which are simply fertile soil for agriculture and animal husbandry.
Everyone agreed to build a settlement on Nanda Island first and name the settlement Xinjiangning because there was a peaceful river in front of them.
The fleet was about to put all the more than 100 sheep and 20 cattle they were carrying into the grassland. These were high-quality cattle and sheep that they carefully selected for breeding offspring. A total of two batches were prepared, and one batch was released in the southern continent.
, this batch is specially prepared for Nanda Island.
The fleet was anchored by the river about thirty miles away from the mouth of the sea. People set up hundreds of tents on the shore. In the distance, hundreds of soldiers were building a board-walled camp. They would build two camps.
Before there was a county seat, board-walled camps were residential areas.
In a large tent, nearly two hundred men and women, all about thirty years old, were sitting on the floor. These were death row prisoners selected from various places. They were supposed to be executed after the fall of last year, but the court gave them a chance.
If they are willing to settle overseas and help the Tang Dynasty start a new land, then they will be exempted from crime. Almost all death row prisoners have signed the agreement and are willing to cooperate with the court.
Of course, these death row inmates are also selective. They are definitely not the kind of heinous and perverted villains. Most of them are death row inmates who sell private salt and mint coins privately. The women are killed because of conflicts between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law, or because they were abused by their husbands or fathers.
The women on death row whose husband killed their father are all around thirty years old.
There were 188 people in total, most of whom were adults, and there were 40 to 50 children, with an equal proportion of men and women.
Almost all adult men are on death row, but not necessarily women. Most of them are their wives. There are only about 70 female death row inmates, and more than 20 of them are with their children.
The single men and women voluntarily became husband and wife before setting off. After several months of sea journey together, everyone lived on the same boat and became very familiar with each other.
The manager, Yang Liangyao, was kind. He did not force these people to be placed in the Southern Continent, but let them choose by themselves. In the end, everyone chose Nanda Island.
"You have also seen this uninhabited land. The area of this island is equivalent to several Guanzhong. There may be a large island of similar size in the south. Both large islands are uninhabited. Our army has also explored it, and there are no tigers.
For beasts like lions, there are only some small animals as big as foxes. They will not hurt people, but they will threaten the sheep, so the role of dogs comes into play."
Yang Liangyao continued with a smile: "According to the regulations of the imperial court, each household will be given a thousand acres of land, and no taxes will be levied for a hundred years. You can live a carefree life here, but many things can only be done slowly.
I give you ten horses and eight donkeys, a dozen dogs, food and daily necessities, but you need to cultivate your own land to grow wheat. I found that the seasons here are opposite to those in the Tang Dynasty. In the summer of the Tang Dynasty, everything here is
It is winter, and it is estimated to be autumn now. You have to start preparing for the winter, cutting wood and building houses. Next year, a second fleet will arrive to transport more supplies and people."
"Mr. Yang, will there be a garrison?" a man asked, raising his hand.
"There will be a garrison of three hundred people, and three large ships will be left behind, which can be used as warehouses. If there is danger or something, you can hide in the ships, but there should not be any."
"What if there is not enough food?" someone worried.
Yang Liangyao smiled slightly, "Besides the seeds, the wheat I left is enough for everyone to eat for a year. There are many kinds of fish in the river, which will be everyone's main source of meat. There are also a lot of fruits in the forest, which you can pick as much as you like.
If we can't keep it, we will use it to make wine or make jam. We also kept more than a hundred rabbits. Next year, everyone can kill rabbits in large numbers. The meat will be edible, and the fur will be used to make clothes and shoes, as well as cabbage seeds. Our soldiers have already
After planting 500 acres, everyone will have vegetables to eat in the winter!"
Yang Liangyao gave each household two tents, one summer tent and one winter tent. The fuel in winter was cow dung cakes. This was a treasure of the grassland. It had an ugly name, but there was no smell.
After the arrangements were made, every household began to get busy.
A few days later, all the adult men spontaneously gathered together and held an important meeting.
They elected a leader who convinced most people. The leader was named Yang Jiqing. He was from Pu'an County, Langzhou. He was in his early thirties and came from a money-making family. Since several members of the family knew how to make money, Yang Jiqing led the family to start making money.
The private money was quickly reported by the villagers, and the internal guards came to arrest the entire family. The clan members were exiled to Yunnan because he was the leader and sentenced to death. Originally, Yang Jiqing was going to be beheaded in October last year, but with his luck
Yes, when he had the opportunity to go to sea to avoid death penalty, he decisively signed the agreement and went to sea with his wife and a pair of children.
Yang Jiqing has strong leadership skills and dares to take risks. More importantly, he is a kind and honest man. When the entire family was arrested, he took all the blame on himself, so that he was the only one in the family of more than 30 people who was sentenced to death.
When Yang Liangyao saw that everyone unanimously agreed to choose Yang Jiqing as the leader, he appointed Yang Jiqing as the owner of the workshop. At the same time, he left a team of ten technical craftsmen, all of whom were craftsmen from the ship's government agency and shipbuilding department.
With them, many technical problems can be easily solved.
On the main ship, four officials were making a major decision.
There is a map on the table, with the chief officer Yang Liangyao, the guard general Wei Zhentao, the shipbuilding department commander Wang Zhan, and the steam engine maintenance officer Yao Chunshan.
Yang Liangyao slowly said to the three of them: "Based on the situation of our food supplies and ships, I am considering continuing to sail eastward and carry out our mission this autumn in advance. We will go to the New World."
Everyone unanimously agreed to continue heading east. Wang Zhan carefully inspected the big ship and found that there was no problem with the hull. Yao Chunshan also checked the steam engine. Everything was running well. Moreover, they dismantled the steam engines of the three remaining big ships as backup. As for the fuel, it was not
The problem is, you don’t have to use coal, you can also use firewood, you can even use pedals or directly use sails.
But the only worry is Tamsui. Yang Liangyao pointed to the map and said: "This map is very accurate so far. We can go north first, and then turn east when we encounter the island group. It shows that there are many islands along the way. The islands should be
There is fresh water, and we can find fresh water at any time as long as we reach the New World and follow the coastline north."
"What is our mission to the New World?" Wei Zhentao asked.
"The main task assigned to me by the emperor is to exchange crops with the local natives, exchange daily necessities from the Tang Dynasty for crops, and collect crop seeds. And of course the natives may be our distant relatives."
"Why?"
The other three people were very surprised. They saw many native people along the way, and they had nothing to do with the Tang Dynasty people.
Yang Liangyao smiled, "It's possible that when the Shang Dynasty fell, many people from the Shang Dynasty fled there. Going north from Bohai Mansion, there is a narrow strip of land connected to the northernmost part of the New World. We will also follow this narrow strip of land when we return to the Tang Dynasty.
return to land."
The three of them looked at each other. The people who fled when the Shang Dynasty fell, weren't they the fellows from the Central Plains?
Of course, the Shang Dynasty was too far away from them, and they were more concerned about the present.
"When shall we set off!"
The three of them looked at Yang Liangyao together. Yang Liangyao thought for a moment and said, "Let's set off in three days!"
Three days later, four large ships carrying 500 soldiers set off northward. Fifteen days later, they arrived at Fiji Island. After replenishing fresh water, they turned eastward, passed through the Tonga Islands, and entered the vast South Pacific.
After sailing for nearly two months, the fleet, which was about to run out of fresh water, arrived at the later San Felix Island. The island was full of bare rocks and there was no fresh water, but they found a very small cave in the cave under the rock.
The small freshwater pool saved the entire fleet and they named the island Yanshou Island.
After sailing for another ten days, the fleet finally saw a long coastline, and all the soldiers rejoiced. They arrived at the New World, which would later become Chile.