Zhu Hao led the fleet and followed the ocean currents, successfully arriving at the northeastern corner of the Australian continent in about a month.
Large tracts of uncultivated land are a novel area for Zhu Hao. This continent has amazing reserves of coal and iron ore, but in this era there are almost no people. The number of aboriginal people is extremely rare. When he set sail to sea in the Ming Dynasty, he
I never thought about establishing myself in Australia.
In order to develop, in addition to sufficient mineral deposits, there must also be a population and the food to feed this population.
Apparently only the Americas qualify.
Immigration to Australia is simply not in line with the principle of maximizing interests. Only after it develops in the Americas will it consider using this place as a transit point for immigrants to develop the necessary industrial system.
In fact, there is an advantage to developing here, that is, it is closer to the Ming Dynasty, especially Australia's iron ore producing areas are mainly in the northwest corner of the mainland. The establishment of a port there will make it more convenient to transport enough iron ore to the Ming Dynasty.
Therefore, Zhu Hao must capture the islands along the route from Australia through Southeast Asia to Daming as early as possible.
Zhu Hao led his troops to land.
The first thing he wanted to find was the coal mine area near Sydney.
He had studied the major mineral deposits in Australia in his previous life and found them to be easier to explore than in the Americas. However, the first problem the army faced after landing was still how to deal with the aborigines.
They are also indigenous people. The indigenous people in Australia are very different from the indigenous people in the Americas. First of all, the indigenous people here have darker skin color, and they have not been invaded by Europeans yet.
European colonization of America began in the 16th century, while Australia was colonized in the mid-to-late 18th century, a gap of about 230 years. However, Australia was actually discovered by the mainstream of the world, not in the 18th century, but in the early Ming Dynasty.
Zheng He had discovered this continent during his voyages to the West and drew a map. However, the Ming Dynasty did not regard this continent as a place of immigration at that time, and it never thought of conquering this land.
The main reason why Zhu Hao deliberately detoured to Australia was to explore the coal and iron ore resources on this continent.
There are several tribes along the coast, and the population is probably only a few thousand. This is a high estimate. These indigenous people live on the seaside, farming and fishing to make a living. When they discovered the arrival of the fleet led by Zhu Hao,
, the first thing I did was actually want to come over and attack.
But their attack, not to mention Zhu Hao, even the indigenous soldiers who came from America thought it was too primitive.
They were also in the Stone Age before and had no fighting capacity. However, the indigenous Americans still had certain social and cultural development. Their settlement life allowed them to build city-states and gradually establish a huge empire, forming a set of top-down rule.
system.
But the Australian aborigines in front of me are more like a group of savages, who have eaten their last meal without finishing their meal.
This can only be said that Australia does not have crops such as sweet potatoes, corn, and potatoes that are easy to grow and have extremely high yields, and the pressure on the indigenous people here to survive is not small.
Just imagine, if you can't even guarantee basic food rations, how can you develop a ethnic group?
If ethnic groups cannot develop, how can culture be produced?
Ruining hair and drinking blood has become a basic characteristic of Australian Aboriginals.
…
…
After landing, the so-called Australian Aboriginal attack had no practical significance to Zhu Hao.
Zhu Hao now has to judge the direction based on the direction of the mountains, rivers and rivers on the mainland. In his memory, the best landing point is in the south of Sydney, while the minerals around Sydney are mainly distributed in the north.
This time Zhu Hao is planning to come over to mine aluminum ore and other minerals. Such a geomantic treasure land is basically his own now. He must manage it well in the future and use it to create huge value for his new empire.
"I caught a few savages and came back, but I didn't kill them. I just threw the net out and captured them!"
Guan Jing entered the Chinese army's tent and saw Zhu Hao still studying the map. He came over to take a look and then said with a smile.
Zhu Hao said: "It is unrealistic to expect the aborigines here to mine, so we still have to immigrate here from the Americas. This route is not close, and the minerals have to be transported directly back to the Americas. The transportation costs are too high, and local production is not feasible."
Nothing better."
Guan Jing asked: "How long will it take?"
"It's possible in a few years, or even decades."
Zhu Hao said helplessly, "There are coal mines here, but no iron mines. Next we have to go west and then north along the coast. This time here, the exploration of hydrology and geology and landforms is of greater significance. In the future, the main immigrants will be
You can find a solution from Daming or Nanyang."
Guan Jing couldn't help but ask: "Sir, I would like 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 in summer now?"
Zhu Hao smiled and said: "Because this place is located in the southern hemisphere, the climate is originally opposite to the northern hemisphere where the Ming Dynasty is located. Just like if you are in America, can you distinguish the four seasons of the year?"
Guan Jing was dumbfounded, and then carefully recalled the climate differences between Central and South America. He felt that many things he had experienced in the past few years had completely subverted his inherent cognition.
"Okay, let's continue our journey tomorrow. After sailing for a while, we will find a place to land and do some careful exploration... We have to speed up our voyage, but we still need to determine where the reef is first. The closer we get to the land, the more hydrographic surveying and mapping work we need to do.
.”
Along the way, Zhu Hao discovered that the biggest problem was actually his unfamiliarity with the waters.
It is impossible for him to remember every place in the world with reefs, and there are many islands and reefs around Australia, so it is not easy for large ships to dock.
And the coastal area of the Australian mainland that Zhu Hao is going to visit next is exactly where the reefs gather.
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…
Zhu Hao's exploration has been traveling along the coast of Australia.
Local aborigines would be captured along the way. To the troops brought by Zhu Hao, these aborigines had no fighting power at all. After being captured, they could not understand the language, so they gave them ore samples and asked them to tell them where they were.
Yes, please show me the way.
When Zhu Hao came this time, he also trained the indigenous people first, and found some smart and intelligent indigenous people to go back to "civilize" and teach them language and writing in preparation for the subsequent official 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 plunder some indigenous people. He was very particular about steps in doing things.
If you just bring immigrants from Ming Dynasty or America and are not familiar with anything, how can you start a mine?
And the next time he comes, he will probably not come in person, so this time he brought some craftsmen and exploration professionals. In the future, the mining work will mainly be left to them, and there are various mines that have been established in the Americas before.
With their experience in the field, these people can serve as professional managers to help him complete the mining work. At the same time, people who are good at building cities will come over and build towns at key nodes in the Australian continent bit by bit.
Australia is relatively quiet. It is far away from the European countries. Generally speaking, there is no need to worry about Europeans coming over. It will be almost isolated from the world for the next two hundred years, which is conducive to the development of industry and agriculture.
However, Zhu Hao is not sure whether the butterfly effect caused by his arrival will change the historical process here on a large scale. In the future, the news of minerals produced in Australia will soon spread around the world, and it is inevitable that Europeans will come to explore. These will be his future
There is a need to be vigilant, so there will be troops stationed on the Australian mainland in the future.
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…
Zhu Hao sailed south along the east coast of Australia, first to New Zealand, then turned west and sailed along the southern coast of Australia until he reached the coast of the Indian Ocean.
The fleet traveled very fast, and it took about two months, plus the time for exploration along the way, to finally complete the survey of Australia's main coal and iron ore producing areas, that is, the southeast corner and northwest corner. A total of two large-scale surveys were discovered along the way.
coal mining areas, and some small iron ore mining areas.
It was not until they reached the northwest corner of Australia that the fleet found a large-scale iron ore producing area, which was two to three hundred miles deep into the land. It would have been difficult to find it unless Zhu Hao had an impression in his mind.
The northwest corner of the Australian mainland is mostly a deserted Gobi Desert, with almost no indigenous people. Obviously the indigenous people will find some areas with better climate conditions to settle.
After Zhu Hao came to Australia, he found that the indigenous people in Australia were distributed in a very messy manner. They were basically organized into tribes without establishing any city-states. Most tribes lived in the coastal areas... Perhaps only by living by the sea could the indigenous people supplement their income through fishing and other methods.
rations.
Zhu Hao actually brought corn and sweet potatoes to these tribes as a "show of goodwill."
But the tribe's attitude towards him was extremely unfriendly. After all, Zhu Hao's arrival destroyed the living pattern here for thousands or even tens of thousands of years.
Australians have a complex language, but some tribes actually have their own writing. This is different from the Inca Empire, a country as large as the Inca Empire, which still uses knotted ropes to record things. In the evolution of tens of thousands of years, Australians have almost always developed in tribes, and each tribe
The relationship between them is not as incompatible as that between Americans.
For the most part, Australians have developed a way of living in harmony with each other. Each has its own territory and rarely infringes 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 survive. It stands to reason that wars for survival and supplies should always follow... This can only be explained by the formation of a tacit understanding among the tribes.
They also summed up the way to get along after experiencing a series of wars.
Unless the tribe wants to perish, some rules must be followed.
But the Malthusian trap also exists... This seems to be worthy of Zhu Hao's careful study.
In any case, Zhu Hao has gained a lot from this trip to Australia. The most important thing is... he discovered a vein larger than several coal mines and iron ore producing areas in the Americas. He can mine it by just moving people here, but how?
The problem of turning these ores into steel products and transporting them needs to be solved urgently.
However, as he improved his ships, steamships were now capable of ocean navigation, and their speed of fifteen knots was significantly more than twice as fast as sailing. The minerals produced here had channels to transport them.
When Zhu Hao returned to the coastal port in the northwest corner of the mainland from the Australian interior, he boarded the ship, looked at the northern sky, and sighed: "The next step is to command the Ming Dynasty!
"When we return to the place where we have lived for more than ten years, we should be timid about being close to home, or be filled with joy in our hearts, but this time we will no longer tolerate the Ming Dynasty when we go back, and the consequences are unpredictable!"
Hearing this, Guan Jing held up the handle of the sword on his waist and said loudly: "Does Prince General Xiang Ning have the guts?"