1635 Han style rises again

Chapter 599 The End of the World ([-])

On October 1647, 10, Hanzhou, Linzi City (now Sydney, Australia).

Two ships from the Qi State Exploration Fleet sailed into the crude port of Linzi City, and docked at berths that were still wooden trestles.

Dong Fengshan, Admiral of the Exploration Fleet, got off the ship with several officers and sailors, and walked straight towards the city.As for the fleet's water supply and ship cleaning, it is naturally left to the young people on board to do it.

As one of the most senior dignitaries in Qi State, Dong Fengshan should not have personally led the team to carry out dangerous sea exploration activities, but stayed comfortably in Jianye City, enjoying a beautiful and rich life.You know, except for a small number of veterans who landed with him to establish a foundation in Hanzhou, many of them are greedy for the current rich life, relying on the shares of Hanzhou General Trading Company, and they all live idle and extravagant lives. day.

A few years ago, at the call of King Qi, some people took out their accumulated money and invested it in the established Indian trading company, buying a large number of shares, and getting a generous dividend every year from it.

And Nanyang Trading Company, which was only separated from Hanzhou General Trading Company last year, because of the insistence of the Ministry of Industry and Commerce, although it only released less than 30.00% of the shares, it still allowed them, the "powers" of Hanzhou, to rely on their strong financial resources and connections. , won the vast majority of shares.

Dong Fengshan believes that even if he does nothing now, with the shares of these trading companies, several generations of his descendants will surely have no worries about food and clothing, and live a prosperous life.

But he didn't want to stay at home like this, because of his more than ten years of living habits at sea, and his desire to explore the unknown areas of the world, he led the team to sea again and again, looking for more unknown territories for Qi, and for future generations. People expand more space.

More than a month ago, King Qi ordered to start exploring the unknown seas in the eastern part of Hanzhou, planning to find a sea route to the western American continent within ten years.

Dong Fengshan has a highly confidential hand-drawn map, which was drawn by King Qi himself, and roughly draws some sea areas and islands in the east of Hanzhou.From this map, he discovered that there is a very vast ocean between the Hanzhou continent and the American continent in the east.King Qi once told him that this sea area is so big that it is farther than Hanzhou from Daming, and it may be [-] miles away.

However, in the middle of this vast ocean, there are many islands dotted around, but the exact location is impossible to judge. It is necessary for the exploration fleet to discover them one by one in the next ten years.

As for the first exploration, the task is actually very simple. It is to follow the route that the Dutchman Tasman explored Hanzhou, Tasmania, New Zealand, Tonga, Fiji and so on a few years ago, follow the route, confirm the exact location of these islands, and Pick a landing location where you can build a supply point.

Originally, Qi State wanted to lure the Tasman major with money to leave the Dutch East India Company and serve Qi State instead, but was rejected by the other party.However, because the vast sea area to the south and east of Hanzhou is stipulated in the peace agreement signed with the Dutch East India Company, it belongs to the sphere of influence of Qi State.Then, Tasman's previous exploration activities for the Dutch East India Company did not seem to make much sense.So, he sold all the exploration materials he kept in his hand to the Black Clothes Guard of Qi State in exchange for two thousand Hanzhou silver dollars.

Dong Fengshan has a detailed nautical chart and exploration materials in his hand, as well as a hand-painted world map by King Qi. He feels that the four-month exploration operation will not be too difficult.

Linzi City is a new settlement established two years ago, with a current population of more than 100 people. In the southernmost part of Hanzhou, there is a new settlement in March this year - Nandubao (now Melbourne, Australia) .However, considering that the various facilities in the area are not perfect and the supplies are not abundant, the exploration fleet uses Linzi as the last supply point before going to sea for exploration.

On October 10, under the watchful eyes of the main officials of Linzi City, the exploration fleet set sail and headed south.

According to the voyage records of the Dutchman Tasman, to explore the vast sea thousands of miles southeast of Hanzhou, one must first go to the island in the south of Hanzhou, and then at that location, with the help of the strong westerly wind, head all the way east face driving.

Weather in the Pacific Ocean is dominated by two large wind circles, or eddies, one that rotates clockwise in the northern hemisphere and the other that rotates counterclockwise in the southern hemisphere.In the northern hemisphere and the southern hemisphere, between about [-] degrees and [-] degrees, the westerly wind prevails.However, unlike the westerly belt in the northern hemisphere because of the blockage of the Eurasian continent, the wind is relatively "gentle", which is very conducive to the navigation of ships.The Spaniards' Pacific route was to use the westerly winds in the northern hemisphere to float all the way back to America, and then return to Mexico along the American coastline.

But in the Southern Hemisphere, where there is so little land to block the winds that they can reach alarming speeds, the high latitudes of the Southern Hemisphere have been given names such as "Roaring Forty South", "Furious Fifty South". degrees", "screaming sixty degrees south latitude"

Therefore, if the Qi State Exploration Fleet explores the southeastern waters of Hanzhou along the previous Tasman route, it will face complicated sea conditions and extremely high risks.For this reason, the Exploration Fleet abandoned their customary clipper ships and used two [-]-ton three-masted warships instead.Although the speed is a little slower, the safety and material reserves have increased a lot.

On November 11, the exploration fleet left the coastline of the Hanzhou mainland, sailed southwest, and began to try to enter the westerly belt.

On November 11, the fleet encountered several islands in a row, then slowed down, and began to compare the navigation data and maps to confirm whether the land they found was the big southeast island of Hanzhou that the Dutch had encountered years ago.

On 11 November, the fleet quickly passed the two larger islands (Flinders Island and Cape Barron Island) and continued south.At this time, the fleet could already feel the strong westerly wind, and slowly moved the ships eastward.

On November 11, the exploration fleet discovered a large piece of land again, and then approached the coastline, entered from its northeast corner, and then traveled south along the land.Lush and lush mountains, towering and steep mountains, the scenery is extremely beautiful, completely different from the scenery of Hanzhou mainland.

"This island should be called Bliss Island." Dong Fengshan put down his binoculars, turned his head and said with a smile: "From now on, this island will be our Hanzhou's Blissful Pure Land. Those Dutch people are so uneducated, they actually called this island Fan Dai Mandi (also known as Van Dimendi). I don’t know, I thought it was a place to eat!”

"Admiral, this island is named Bliss Island. What if, after a while, we head east and find an island with even more beautiful scenery than this one, so what?" Lu Zusheng, deputy commander of the fleet, said with a smile .

"The Ministry of Civil Affairs has given us so many names, there is always something suitable." Fengshan said disapprovingly: "I see that this place is beautiful, surrounded by the sea, rolling mountains, towering trees everywhere, and many suitable for fishing. The bay here, and the temperature here is not too hot, so when I get older, I will come here to support myself.”

"But although the environment here looks beautiful and the climate is pleasant, it's also a bit remote. Except for the Hanzhou Continent hundreds of miles to the north, the other directions are boundless seas, as if it's the end of the world. I don't like it here , I still feel more at ease staying on the mainland." Lu Zusheng shook his head and said.

"We don't have so many mountains and mountains in Hanzhou. Except for the endless forests, there are endless deserts, or some low mountains." Dong Fengshan turned his head and continued to look at the building that he had named Bliss The land of the island, "I think it looks very comfortable here, with all kinds of scenery.... Prepare to find a place to land on the shore, and go up to see what the actual situation is like."

In the evening of the same day, two ships from the fleet sailed into a peninsula (now the Tasman Peninsula in Tasmania, Australia) and stopped in a long and narrow harbor (now Port Arthur in Hobart, Tasmania, Australia).

(End of this chapter)