The Ming Dynasty did not revolutionize

Chapter 36 Preparing for Coal Mining and Slave Hunting

Four paddle steamers sailed along the coastline, riding the winter southerly monsoon all the way south.

It turns eastward in the north of Java and follows the southeast coastal current in winter all the way to the west of Papua New Guinea.

Then it goes south through the equatorial doldrums, continues to cross the reverse South Equatorial Current, enters the Australian East Warm Current range, and flows downstream.

Over the past two years, the prince has been truly focused on preparing for Zhu Jianxuan's founding of the country.

The prince requested that four of the steam paddle-steamer ships that were being tested at the Longjiang Shipyard be converted at once.

At the same time, the original official and civilian sailing ships were mobilized to transport stored coal to islands near the Australian route when the winter southerly monsoon arrived.

Now the four steam paddle-wheel sailing vessels, running their steam engines most of the time, made their way across the equator and the South Equatorial Current.

When the steam ship reached the east coast of Australia, it temporarily stopped the steam engine and used the wind power to sail to its final destination.

There was also coal on the ship, but the ocean current along the east coast of Australia runs from north to south, so it was downstream when going there and upstream when returning.

So according to the mission plan, the fleet kept the coal for use on the return journey.

On December 20th of the 31st year of Xianning, the fleet arrived 130 kilometers north of the designated capital of Wu.

When Zhu Jianxuan was discussing the planning of the royal capital with his father, the emperor, and his elder brother, the crown prince, he mentioned that the river valley to the north of the royal capital might lead to the back of the mountains.

There may also be large plains behind the mountains, and there may be opportunities to reclaim land and cultivate land in the future.

Cao Zhendong also received a corresponding task. He used a small boat to drop off a company of the Second Battalion here and asked them to find out the situation in the valley.

They were also left with three small boats and three specially prepared bicycles as a means of quickly transmitting messages to each other.

Then the entire fleet continued to sail south and arrived at the valley where the capital of King Wu was located in the early morning of the next day.

Four immigrant ships anchored at the bottom of the bay at the mouth of the valley, and soldiers from four battalions of the 1st Regiment of the 1st Australian Division, except the first battalion, disembarked one after another.

First, survey the surrounding situation and set up patrol guard posts to prevent sudden attacks by the natives.

Other soldiers were building simple fences, setting up temporary tents for the troops to station, and unloading the cargo from the ship in an orderly manner.

The regiment commander Cao Zhendong also got off the boat with his military command office and set up three tables in the middle of the empty camp.

Cao Zhendong began to handle official business on the spot, signing documents requiring his orders on the spot, responding to direct requests from all parties on the spot, and assigning and deciding more detailed tasks and arrangements on the spot.

The first ship unloaded some soldiers and carried Liu Biao's first battalion south to explore the bay in southern Australia.

The Second Battalion was responsible for a detailed survey of the valley where the royal capital was located and its surroundings.

The Third Battalion was responsible for cutting down trees and building future short-term residential areas around the camp.

The Fourth Battalion tried to grow corn. It is summer in Australia now, and the climate near the royal capital is similar to that of the Jianghuai region, which is a perfect time to grow autumn crops.

It is said that the land in Australia is barren. Now we want to try to see if we can grow food and how much we can grow.

Cao Zhendong and his officers and soldiers all felt that it was impossible that nothing could be grown.

There is no shortage of rain or heat in the royal capital, and there are a lot of rotten dead branches and leaves under the forest.

After tens of thousands of years of accumulation, these things will eventually form some organic fertilizers.

Even if the soil below is really not good, these humus can at least provide nutrients for a few years.

The fifth battalion was responsible for patrolling and guarding while continuing to unload cargo.

The three immigrant ships were carrying a large amount of daily necessities, storable dry food, agricultural and handicraft tools, and it took time to unload them.

After nearly two thousand people worked for ten days, Cao Zhendong's side was basically settled.

Everything on the ship has been unloaded, and the fleet is preparing to make some minor repairs before returning to the mainland.

As a result, at this moment, the communicator of the exploration team of the northern valley, together with two other escort soldiers, came breathlessly on bicycles to see Cao Zhendong.

Seeing that the other party was very nervous, Cao Zhendong thought that the exploration team was attacked by a large number of indigenous people, but it turned out that the other party brought good news.

The exploration team has not yet found the end of the valley, but they have discovered an open-pit coal mine in the valley. After a simple survey, the exploration team found that this coal mine is really easy to mine. Just dig down along the ground and you will find the best hard coal.

Cao Zhendong was also stunned after hearing this:
"There is an open-pit coal mine in the valley north of the capital? This is really too lucky.

"Oh, right? The steam engine on the sailboat uses coal, so we wanted to save coal when we came here, so we didn't run as fast as we could?

"We have coal here. If we load it up, can't they run free when they return?"

Second Battalion Commander Zhou Dahu said:

"Captain, the steam engine on the ship needs coal, but how do we transport it?
“That valley is said to be very close to the seaside, but it’s at least 70 or 80 kilometers away, and the key is that there is no road.

“We didn’t have many llamas with us, and we only had a few bicycles.

"It's OK to bring back some coal to cook, but it's not enough to power the steam engine on the ship."

Cao Zhendong opened his mouth and sprayed:
"You are stupid, what are you exploring? It's a river——the valleys on both sides.

"Why don't we just send all the boats we brought over and have people tow them down from the riverbank?
“The boat was empty when we went up, so it shouldn’t be hard for people to tow it.

“When we came down, we were carrying coal, but we went downstream without much effort, and people pulled to control the direction, and all we had to do was not to capsize.

"There aren't enough boats, and we're too lazy to tow them up the river. We can just cut down some trees in the valley and make a raft to float down."

Zhou Dahu suddenly realized:
"Captain, you are so wise! Why didn't I think of that?"

Cao Zhendong didn't know if this guy really didn't expect it, but it didn't affect his orders anyway:
"Mobilize all the members of the Second Battalion to dig coal in the North River Valley first, and have all the sailors on the ship go digging coal as well.

“Let the third and fourth battalions, which are responsible for building houses and farming, organize their own exploration.

"I will ask the Fifth Battalion to send out a group of people, wearing armor, to capture Kunlun slaves in the surrounding mountains and inland areas.

“In the future, we will let these Kunlun slaves dig coal, and our people will be responsible for transportation.

“Let me make it clear to you brothers, only with sufficient coal can the ship run faster and travel back and forth quickly.

"It will allow the sailors to return home sooner, and it will also ensure the safety of our supplies."

Cao Zhendong is the immediate superior, there is no one higher than him here, and the key is that this order is reasonable.

Of course Zhou Dahu did not dare to delay and immediately went to call together his soldiers.

Cao Zhendong personally signed the order and went to the ship to ask all sailors to obey Zhou Dahu's orders.

Zhou Dahu led the team north on a large ship, dropped anchor at the mouth of the North River Valley in Wuwangdu, and took small boats to the middle reaches of the valley to dig coal.

The immigrants and cargo on the large ship had been unloaded, and it was able to take on more coal than when it came.

Originally, because there was not enough coal, the speed of returning against the wind would be very slow.

We are stopping here for the time being and not returning. All the people are going to dig coal to replenish fuel. The final return speed may be faster than running against the current.

The key is that once the coal mine is opened, coal can be stored at the river mouth in the future. Next time a ship comes, it can directly load coal and leave without having to wait.

Cao Zhendong personally went to arrange the capture of Kunlun slaves. Cao Zhendong felt that this matter was obviously very important.

Because this was specifically written in the action plan issued by the Governor's Office, the Arms Department also provided armor, mainly chain mail with a mask.

As firearms become more and more powerful, their offensive power far exceeds their defensive power, and the defensive power of conventional armor has lost its meaning. Regular armies of various countries are gradually abandoning armor.

The traditional full body armor of knights has been basically eliminated, and usually only cavalrymen will retain partial breastplates.

But the natives at that time had no guns, and the Ming Dynasty absolutely did not allow merchants to sell guns to the natives, otherwise their property would be confiscated and their clans would be exterminated for treason.

In addition, if you use firearms to attack the natives from a long distance, it is easy to kill or cripple them, or simply scare them away, making them unable to work as laborers.

Therefore, the Governor's Office specially made some armor for the soldiers to wear to lure, trick, buy, and even forcibly capture the natives with cold weapons.

The main method used was still entrapment, and armor was only used to prevent soldiers from being ambushed and killed by the natives.

(End of this chapter)