Back to Ming Dynasty with Industrial Revolution System

Chapter 1162
A sampan with sails is moored on the banks of the Sacramento River, and two sailors are checking the oars, sails, anchors, and ropes on the sampan.

"The pickaxe, shovel, map, compass, first aid medicine, straw hat, magnifying glass, iron pan, telescope in the toolbox...all are fine, let's carry them on board, and we must try our best to protect this box. Without these tools, it will be very difficult. It’s trouble. The tools we brought from the mainland are just a few. If we don’t have them, not only will we encounter troubles in surveys, but we will also experience troubles in normal navigation.” Geological experts are patiently inspecting the tools brought by this expedition.

The toolbox is a simple wooden box, which contains a lot of practical tools in different categories.For the colony of Jinshan Town, which does not yet have much production capacity, they are still unable to produce qualified tools such as pickaxes, compasses, and telescopes.Once the tools are lost, they can only wait for supplies from mainland ships three years later.

"The rest of the people must bring muskets and paper shell ammunition, and be careful not to let the paper shell bullets soak in water, especially when we are sailing on the river, and we may encounter rainy days. Also bring daggers, tents, and dry food. There are no supplies on the way. , Everything depends on our survival skills in the wild." Cao Bianjiao reminded the sailors to bring their muskets.

"The three of you should know how to use muskets, right?" Cao Bianjiao turned his head and asked two geological experts and Li Yizhu, who was in charge of identifying medicinal herb crops.

The expedition team looking for gold has 11 people, 8 of them are officers and soldiers, and only these three are technical talents.

"We learned how to use muskets when we were doing field survival training in the Ryukyu Islands. There was no problem." Li Yizhu and the two mineral experts received a musket and [-] rounds of paper shell ammunition.

"We built this sampan boat with great difficulty, so don't damage it easily. It will be used for navigation in inland rivers in the future." Zheng Zhihu was still a little reluctant to part with this sampan boat built locally in Jinshan Town. Said to Cao Bianjiao.

"Boats are built to be used. I estimate that nine out of ten expeditions will be damaged. Let's get on board!" Cao Bianjiao said.

A group of people boarded the ship one after another, and two giant Caucasian dogs also came on board. The small space on the ship made the two giant dogs feel a little uneasy.

"Pay attention to dangerous shoals, hidden reefs, and crocodiles and water snakes that may appear at any time. The river is not as safe as imagined, especially this kind of uninhabited primitive river. Try not to go down into the river." Zheng Zhihu reminded.

"We know, let's go." Cao Bianjiao asked the people on the shore to pull the sail and loosen the rope, and go upstream.

There are dozens of townspeople on the bank seeing off Cao Bianjiao and others, although they don't know that the purpose of Cao Bianjiao and others is to find the riverbed full of gold.

"Why are they going up the river, is there food on it?"

"I don't know, but since the captain leads the team himself, it may be to explore the terrain in the upper reaches of the river. I hope they don't encounter savages, or they will be in danger."

The townspeople talked about seeing off.

"Everyone, stop guessing. The captain is taking people to find out whether there are iron ore and wild men in the upper reaches of the river." Zheng Zhihu, who stayed at the stronghold, said to appease everyone.Of course, he did not explain to everyone that Cao Bianjiao and the others were going to look for gold, in order to prevent people from being distracted.

Cao Bianjiao and others entered the lower reaches of the Sacramento River from the Bay Area. The river surface is still very spacious and gentle, and occasionally aquatic animals can be seen surfacing.

"Crocodile." Not long after the expedition team set off, a sailor pointed to one side of the river and said.

Everyone looked in the direction the sailor pointed, and there was indeed a crocodile with black scales floating on the water, revealing a pair of eyes looking around.

Two giant Caucasian dogs on the boat growled at the crocodile floating on the water, seeming to be wary of the giant crocodile living in this watershed.

"I don't know if this crocodile is more than one foot two. I think it is very possible. This kind of primitive river is prey to the strong. It may be difficult for the indigenous people without iron to hunt giant crocodiles." Experienced sailors can roughly judge by observing the giant crocodiles that appear. its length.

"A giant crocodile that is one foot long and two feet long... If you fall into the water and meet such a big guy, it will be terrible. Don't fall into the water easily. The bullet will lose its power if it falls into the water." Cao Bianjiao reminded.

The sampan continued to sail upstream, and they saw water beavers, water snakes and other wild animals.Both sides are lush primeval forests, as well as the sound of insects and beasts.

In addition to looking for gold mines, it is also important to survey and map the river. The course of the Sacramento River is drawn to indicate the dangerous places in it, so that the course of the river can be developed.Even if gold mines are found in the middle and upper reaches of the river, it is still necessary to use the river to send personnel to mine and transport the gold away.

On the fifth day of careful exploration on the river, their boats entered the valley, where they found something unusual.

"That thing is a canoe." A sailor pointed to a tree trunk moored at the mouth of a tributary. There were actually two small boats dug out of tree trunks parked in the jungle by the river. It is dead wood.

"It seems that there are indeed indigenous tribes in the watershed where this river is located. Two canoes can be found here, indicating that there are indigenous tribes living nearby, and they will hunt and fish in groups. We have not found them before. , it seems that not many of them gathered in the harbor area, but concentrated in the valley area where food is more abundant." Cao Bianjiao made his own calculation.

"In addition to protecting against wild animals, we also need to protect against attacks by indigenous tribes."

The expedition team only moved forward for more than 20 miles a day, and then stopped to replenish food and fruits. Li Yizhu and two mineral experts were familiar with wild vegetables, fruits and vegetables, so as to prevent everyone from collecting poisonous food.

But they didn't go deep into the mountains and they still didn't see the real aborigines.

On the No.13 day when the expedition set off, they had already entered the American River Basin.

"Accurately speaking, the target location is four hundred miles away from our Jinshan Town. According to the schedule, we should soon reach the riverbed enriched with gold mines." River map.

"But the weather seems to be a bit bad. It often rains here in winter. If the river swells due to the rain, it will be over." The sailor who was in charge of observing the wind direction and weather noticed the gradually cloudy sky and the wind became stronger.

"Let's camp on the shore for the time being, don't risk the rain to continue sailing." Cao Bianjiao also felt the humidity in the air.

(End of this chapter)