1635 Han style rises again

Chapter 246 Breakthrough of the Eastern Route

The "Flying Fish No. 3" and "Flying Fish No. 5" led by Dong Fengshan slowly docked beside the wooden wharf of Tongzhou Fort.

Tongzhou Fort is a supply transfer point established by the exploration fleet in early June, located in Manokwari City, Papua, Indonesia.

After the ship stopped, more than [-] Hanzhou natives who had been waiting for a long time at the pier drove a group of Luzon natives forward to unload the cargo.

Looking at the Hanzhou natives and Luzon natives who were thrown here last time, it seemed that there was not much change in the number of people, Dong Fengshan secretly breathed a sigh of relief.Because this time, after they plan to rest here for a day, they will continue to drive north and explore a broken island (Palau Islands) located in southeastern Luzon on the map.

Therefore, the ship was not loaded with redundant supplementary personnel, but was filled with various supplies.In addition to unloading some supplies for the use of the natives and Luzon natives who are responsible for building the camp here, there is also a need to reserve enough round-trip supplies for the two ships to explore the route.

Regarding this exploration of the eastern route, the Commander’s Office gave Dong Fengshan two options, either to find the archipelago in southeastern Luzon and choose an opportunity to set up a camp; or to go to the big island in southern Luzon (Mindanao) to find a suitable transit supply point.

If the task of exploring new supply points can be successfully completed, it means that most of the route from Hanzhou to Daming from the east has been proven.The remaining work is to increase the construction of several transit supply points on Weiyuan Island (New Guinea Island), preparing to accept immigrants from Ming Dynasty.

The "Flying Fish No. 5" ship that followed the exploration this time is currently the largest tonnage flying shear ship built by Hanzhou. equal to 160 km/h), far exceeding other types of boats of this era.

At present, Hanzhou has four flying shear ships, two of which go to Weiyuan Island for daily supplies of personnel and materials and to explore the eastern route. The other two flying shear ships are mainly responsible for the daily supply of personnel and materials in the eastern part of Hanzhou and south Exploration of settlements.

After setting off from Tongzhou Fort, Dong Fengshan decided to head northeast first to explore the location of the archipelago.If you can't find it, turn westward and go to the Luzon Islands to find a remote and safe supply transfer point.

Sailing at sea is boring, especially in the calm Pacific Ocean. Looking around, the endless sea seems to never end.

Holding the jug, Dong Fengshan drank a sip of the sweet wine extracted from sugar cane, and smacked his mouth, feeling a little unfinished, so he took another sip.As the captain of the exploration fleet, he has the privilege of being able to supply unlimited rum.

However, to be honest, this kind of sugar cane wine with a slight sweetness is really good to drink.In this vast ocean, it would be too unfair to drown in the sea because of drunkenness.

It has been seven or eight days since I left Tongzhou Fort. According to the distance on the map, I should have already reached the broken island group.But right now, nothing was found on the surface of the sea, and it was probably overdone.The watchman on the mast also seemed to be a little tired from watching, drooping his head on it, dozing off once in a while.

Dong Fengshan took out the compass and pointed it at the sun, then looked at the compass again, wondering if he had deviated from the course.I looked at the route I had traveled in the past few days, and then compared the location of the archipelago randomly drawn on the map.I can't help but sigh in my heart, in this vast sea, relying on an inaccurate map to find a group of islands is undoubtedly like finding a needle in a haystack.In addition to skilled sailing skills, there is also a little bit of luck.

"Signal to Flying Fish No. 3 and turn to the southwest." Dong Fengshan directed to the signaler: "I won't be looking for this broken island anymore, who knows where they are. Let's go around Luzon!"

The two Flying Fish slid across a light arc on the sea, adjusted their sails, and headed southwest.

In the evening of the second day, as the rays of the sun receded gradually, a light blue light appeared on the sea.The two Flying Fish lowered several sails one after another, and the speed also slowed down.With the weak wind, the boat maintained a speed of four to five knots.

"Brother Shan, give me a drink." Wu Bochun, the lookout who replaced him, said to Dong Fengshan with a smile: "It's very bitter in your mouth!"

"Didn't everyone drink a jug of wine in the morning? What's the matter, are you finished?" Dong Fengshan asked.

"I'm so thirsty, I finished drinking at noon."

"You're a fucking glutton!" Dong Fengshan threw half of his own jug of wine to Wu Bochun, "Don't let me get drunk. If you hit an island reef at night, sink the boat, and drown you bastard!"

"Brother Shan, it's unlucky to say that a shipwreck is on the sea!" Wu Bochun took the jug, took a big gulp down for himself, and then burped contentedly.

"Having a bastard subordinate like you is the biggest unlucky thing for me." Dong Fengshan said, ready to go to the cabin, "When you are on duty at night, be more vigilant."

"Brother Shan, you can rest assured and go to sleep. As long as there is a fish on the sea, I will not miss it!"

"Fuck you!" Dong Fengshan scolded, "The sea is so dark, you can see fish!"

"Xiaochun probably saw the legendary Kunpeng!" A sailor said with a smile.

"How can there be any Kunpeng?" Another sailor said, "I heard from those brothers who explored to the south of Hanzhou that there are really big fish the size of houses in the sea."

"Hey, a fish the size of a house, it won't capsize the boat!"

"By the way, it's really such a big fish, so why eat it?"

"You eat it?" A sailor said with a smile, "I'm afraid such a big fish can eat you!"

"There are big fish!" Wu Bochun exclaimed suddenly: "Oh, no,...there is land!"

"Drink too much?" said one sailor disapprovingly.

"I didn't drink too much, you look to the right front!" Wu Bochun pointed to the right front of the ship's side.

Under the gray sky, two or three miles in front of the right side of the ship, there was a blur of dark black, which formed two completely different pictures from the dark blue sea water around.

"Drive the boat over there!" Dong Fengshan held up the binoculars, looked at the dark place, and felt faintly in his heart that maybe, just when they were about to give up their search, the group of islands marked on the map appeared.
-
At the end of July, He Qing finally set foot on the land of Hanzhou again.

When he left Manila and returned to Daming.Looking for an opportunity, he went back to Quanzhou, reported to Chen Hui the information he had collected on Spain in Luzon, and then followed him to see Zheng Zhilong.

Zheng Zhilong is obviously also more interested in the Spaniards in Luzon. While he asked people to record the situation in Luzon described by He Qing, he also carefully asked about the process of the Netherlands and Hanzhou attacking Luzon, as well as the various difficulties the Spaniards are currently facing.

After He Qing reported the information, he was only reunited with his family for a week before he was urged by Chen Hui to return to Hanzhou as soon as possible.Zheng Zhilong's side was quite surprised by He Qing's situation, but even more delighted.With He Qing reporting all kinds of news, Zheng Zhilong can easily obtain most of the situation in Hanzhou and all the information they have detected and mastered.

After traveling to Guangzhou, passing Xinsheng Island (now Phu Quoc Island, Vietnam), Batavia, Xinxiangbao (now Suai Town, East Timor), and finally waiting at the Jianye City Wharf.

In just half a year, all the temporary wooden piers in Jianye City have been replaced with stones and cement. There is also an 800-meter-long breakwater on the shore. Eight cement trestles go deep into the harbor, which can accommodate more than 20 ships at a time. The ships docked at the same time.More than a dozen large pulley devices for lifting cargo have been erected on the pier, which can quickly and efficiently load and unload cargo for passing ships.

At this time, more than 700 people on the pier were queuing up to board the four transport ships, and more than 100 township soldiers were carrying muskets and knives, maintaining order beside them.

"Where are all these people going?" He Qing asked curiously.In the past, a large number of immigrants came, and they were sent to Heishan City, New Huai'an City, and Kaiyuan City after a short period of isolation.How come so many people have to be transported out by boat.

Wu Na took a look at He Qing, who was dressed in a typical Ming costume, probably a Ming maritime merchant who came to trade in Jianye City.He couldn't help staring, and scolded: "Hanzhou's confidential affairs, outsiders don't have to ask!"

He Qing looked at the dock manager in astonishment, thinking in his heart, when did Lao Tzu, the guard in black, become an outsider!
"If you want to trade and buy supplies, go to the city quickly, don't stay in the port for no reason, spying around. Be careful not to be caught as a foreign spy!" Seeing He Qing in a daze, Wu Na urged him to leave quickly.

"Heh..., a spy?" He Qing smiled bitterly when he heard this, "Isn't I just a spy?"

"He Qing, why are you back?" Someone suddenly called out on the pier.

He Qing searched for his reputation, and found that it was Li Dazhu, the earliest partner after joining the Black Guards.He was walking towards the dock berth with five or six naval officers.

"The errand is over, come back and report to the Commander." He Qing also felt a little kind when he saw Li Dazhu, "The Commander is in Jianye City, right?"

"My lord commander went to Xinxiang Castle to deal with the matter with the native kingdom. No, I have brought the latest instructions from the commander's office, and I will also go to Xinxiang Castle." Li Dazhu happily punched He Qing, "I haven't seen you in half a year, I thought you were dead! Haha..."

"What the hell are you cursing me!" He Qing smiled and punched Li Dazhu.

Wu Na saw that He Qing was so close to several naval officers, and felt guilty, it turned out that he was one of his own.Well, most of them are black guards, only they don't wear military uniforms very much and like many immigrants, they don't have their hair shaved.

"Oh, those immigrants..." Li Dazhu glanced at the immigrant team who were still boarding the ship one after another, and said softly: "They are new immigrants who were assigned to settle and colonize Weiyuan Island and the eastern part of Hanzhou."

"Isn't the environment on Weiyuan Island difficult to live in?" He Qing remembered that when he first left Hanzhou for Luzon, the exploration fleet threw many Hanzhou natives and Luzon natives to Weiyuan Island for preliminary development.

"Weiyuan Fort reported that Weiyuan and Jinhua are currently in the dry season, and the temperature is cool and dry. Large-scale development and construction are requested. Therefore, the civil government sent more than 600 immigrants to Weiyuan Island in one go. These should be It's the second wave of immigrants."

"There are two settlements in Weiyuan?"

"There are three." Li Dazhu said with a smile: "The northernmost Tongzhou Fort has just set up a camp, and immigrants will not be transported there for the time being."

"Is Hanzhou going to occupy that big island?" He Qing murmured.

(End of this chapter)