The Ming Dynasty did not revolutionize

Chapter 18 Difficulties and Ideas of Land Development
Emperor Zhu Zhonglin didn't know what Zhu Jianxuan was thinking, but he couldn't hold back when he heard the request to go to Australia:
"Don't you know that Australia is extremely poor? It's impossible to cultivate land and the local indigenous people are still Kunlun slaves.

“The key point is that it is not easy for the Ming Dynasty to go to Australia, and large ships have to go through America or Africa.

“If that’s the case, why go to Australia? Why not go directly to America or Africa?
"In short, you are not allowed to go. Go to Hangzhou and establish your vassal state!"

Australia's soil is extremely barren. Before the advent of fertilizers during the Second Industrial Revolution, direct farming would most likely result in a loss.

In Zhu Jianxuan's previous life, Australia's food self-sufficiency rate seemed to be as high as 200%, making it an absolute major food exporting country.

That's because Australia has a vast land area and a sparse population, as well as abundant modern fertilizers and large agricultural machinery.

Australia's self-sufficiency rate for fertilizers is only 30 percent.

Therefore, once the sea trade routes are cut off by external forces, Australia will not even be able to feed its own population of more than 20 million.

Without fertilizers at all, it might only be able to feed a few million people.

Before the Industrial Age, there was basically no agriculture in Australia, and the Aboriginals mainly relied on fishing and hunting for their livelihood.

The Austronesians, a true "maritime nation", set out from Zhejiang and Fujian regions more than 5,000 years ago and gradually occupied most of the islands in the Pacific and Indian Oceans.

From southern Japan in the north to New Zealand in the south, from Hawaii in the east to Madagascar in the west, the two oceans are almost all the territory of the Austronesians.

They drifted to Madagascar next to Africa, but did not occupy Australia, which was so close to them.

The island of Papua New Guinea, across the sea from northern Australia, has local indigenous people with a tradition of farming and who also row boats to trade with indigenous people on the Australian mainland.

But they just don't go to the vast Australia to reproduce.

Because the land in Australia is really terrible.

If agricultural people landed in Australia, they would quickly regress to the fishing and hunting era.

There were no horses, cattle or sheep in Australia, and it was impossible to give birth to a nomadic civilization like the Asian grasslands.

At the same time, Australia is not far from the Ming Dynasty geographically, but it is very far away on the shipping routes in the sailing era.

This is mainly because the ocean currents and wind directions are not suitable, and large sailing ships that rely on wind and ocean currents cannot sail directly there.

Either it can first float to America with the wind, then go south along the west coast of America, and finally turn around and float to Australia.

Either go to Africa first, sail along the coastline to South Africa, and then drift to Australia with the westerly wind.

It means making a big circle across the Pacific Ocean or the Indian Ocean.

In that case, why not go directly to America and Africa?
Sailing ships have the technology to sail against the wind, but their speed is not as fast as sailing around Africa and America, so they are only suitable for exploration.

It is also possible to row slowly from the South China Sea using human power, but the boats can only be very small and are not suitable for large-scale immigration and transportation.

So although the people of the Ming Dynasty had known where Australia was for a long time, they had never had any interest in it.

Zhu Zhonglin now has similar thoughts. He thinks Zhu Jianxuan is simply out of his mind. Why would he go to that damn place, Australia?
That place is indeed very big, but it is all barren. What’s the point of being so big?

Facing his father's questioning, Zhu Jianxuan explained his thoughts seriously:
“Although Australia’s land is barren, it is vast enough.

“If we explore it in general, there should be at least some land that can be cultivated.

"If all else fails, we can learn from the Mongolians and engage in animal husbandry. There are no horses, cattle or sheep in Australia, so we can bring them over from Australia.

“And Australia is so vast that there should be opportunities to find all kinds of minerals, perhaps even gold and silver mines.

"Now the Ming Dynasty's demand for coal and iron ore will increase rapidly. As long as Australia discovers coal and iron ore, it will not be poor.

“There are a lot of islands and coral reefs around Australia, and migratory birds inhabit these places for a long time, leaving a lot of bird droppings.

"The minerals left behind by the long-term accumulation of guano can be used as fertilizer for farming." As for how to get to Australia, it is not a problem because we now have reciprocating steam engines.

"As long as we install a steam engine and paddle wheels on the ship, we can easily cross the doldrums and countercurrents and reach Australia directly from the Ming mainland.

"In the future, we will not need to go around America or Africa to migrate to Australia on a large scale."

As a time traveler, Zhu Jianxuan knew that there were large amounts of phosphate mines on Nauru Island, which could be used as natural fertilizers.

In fact, it is not only Nauru that has phosphate mines, but Nauru has the most mines.

Australia has not only iron ore and coal mines, but also gold mines.

Melbourne is the New Gold Mountain corresponding to San Francisco, which has produced hundreds of tons of gold in history.

As long as I develop the gold mine in Melbourne, I will never be short of money in the short term, and I won’t have to worry about not having immigrants.

Although most of Australia is indeed barren, there are some lands in the southeastern corners and islands where crops can be grown.

And there is New Zealand not far away, whose environment is obviously better than Australia and is very suitable for developing animal husbandry.

Australia is really big, and even if it engages in animal husbandry, it can feed millions of people.

The key is that with the steam sailing ship, Australia was no longer the end of the world for the Ming Dynasty, but was right in front of it.

There is no need to use a steam engine for the entire journey to Australia. It is enough to be able to cross the sea areas where the wind direction and ocean current direction are not suitable.

The steam sailing ship is the most important invention after the First Industrial Revolution.

With the advent of steam sailing ships, humans are finally no longer restricted by ocean currents and wind direction, and can easily cross previously restricted sea areas.

Humanity’s cross-ocean delivery capabilities have increased by an order of magnitude.

The colonial empire was finally able to project enough armed forces and immigrants to directly conquer and colonize most of the world.

In the history of Zhu Jianxuan's previous life, before steam sailing ships were widely used.

Colonial empires are usually unable to directly conquer large populations, especially indigenous regimes with a high level of civilization.

They were not even able to forcibly conquer the indigenous regimes in Africa.

Their only choice was to occupy coastal strongholds, control the indigenous rulers through economic or deterrence means, and establish semi-independent colonies.

However, after the advent of steam sailing ships, major colonial empires began to directly conquer and rule colonies.

The end result is that the entire world is completely divided up.

Including the most remote and desolate islands scattered across the Pacific Ocean.

We can learn from the Europeans in our previous lives and occupy all the islands in the Pacific, including the undiscovered Hawaii.

If I fail in the fight for the throne in the future, Australia and these islands will be my retreat.

After mastering the steam sailing ship, before the steam sailing ship becomes popular throughout Ming Dynasty, Australia can take the initiative to isolate itself from the outside world.

Prevent chaos in other regions from spreading to Australia.

The key point is that other forces in the Ming Dynasty probably have no interest in Australia and these small islands.

Going to Australia directly by myself is no different from asking for exile.

Even if there was no revolution in the Ming Dynasty, if the Ming emperor really succeeded in the Northern Expedition and wanted to reduce the power of the feudal lords, he would probably be the last one to deal with himself.

(End of this chapter)