Guide to Traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty.

Chapter 1111 1106 [Named Australia]

Luoyang.

The large cages were carried off the ship one after another, quickly attracting a crowd of onlookers at the dock.

Even the coolies stopped working, put down their work and squeezed into the crowd.

The first to get off the boat were two kangaroos.

These things are really hard to keep alive, they like dry environment, but it is hot and humid inside the cabin. Wang Chongdu caught 14 kangaroos and brought them back, but only these two died of illness along the way, and they were still listless and in low spirits.

They were unable to reproduce, and the two that survived were both males.

Perhaps they are used to being watched, the kangaroos are no longer scared by humans. They lie bored in the big cage, one of them sleeps in a seductive way, with legs crossed and head resting on arms like a lady.

"Oh my, is this a rat spirit?"

"That one must be a female. It's lying in the cage and seducing men. I'm afraid it will turn into a beautiful woman at night."

"Where did you catch him?"

"Auspicious! Auspicious!"

"Auspicious signs are not popular in our Ming Dynasty. If this happened in the previous dynasty, offering the two rat spirits to the tyrant emperor would probably earn them a title of nobility on the spot."

"What's in that box at the back? The noise is scary."

"..."

The ones in the cage at the back are Tasmanian devils. We caught more than twenty of them, but only these three are left dead.

One male and two females.

There were probably too many people, which made the Tasmanian devil a little stressed, and it suddenly let out a roar similar to that of a donkey. It was very strange, because the Tasmanian devil is very small, but the sound it made was like that of a giant animal.

Because of its scary cry, it has a nickname called "Tasmanian Devil".

This thing later became extinct in the Australian mainland and only existed in Tasmania. However, the Ming Dynasty expedition team encountered it in Melbourne and used cloth to ask the local tribes to set traps and caught many of them.

If Ming immigrants went to Melbourne to farm, they would probably protect the Tasmanian devils on their own initiative, because the number of pests would decrease rapidly on farms with Tasmanian devils.

The sound of the Tasmanian devil's stress scream immediately evokes a response from another animal.

A few bird cages had just been taken off the boat, and a lorikeet in one of the cages shouted, "Long live His Majesty, long live His Majesty!"

When the crowd heard this, they immediately laughed.

There are also parrots in China, and they can learn to speak human language, but they are a different species from this lorikeet.

The few lorikeets in the cage were brought back from Java and had long been accustomed to by the locals. Wang Chongdu taught them to say "Long live the emperor" along the way, and these guys learned it very well and especially liked to interact with people.

In the other cage was a cockatoo brought back from Australia. Although it looked good, it was not very good at speaking human language and was not very interactive.

There was also a large cage with four animals that looked like dogs lying inside.

Tasmanian tiger!

This species has become extinct in later generations, but is now found everywhere in Australia.

"Make way, make way. These are exotic animals presented to Your Majesty. Don't scare them."

The Royal Zoo in Kaifeng is located in the southern suburbs and has now been emptied.

The Royal Zoo in Luoyang is located in the eastern suburbs, next to the royal gardens and the official horse farm. It is open to the public for ticket sales for 20 days each month. If important royal members move into the nearby Dongxi Garden, the zoo will close a few days in advance.

Wang Chongdu had a set of exclusive code books, and he sent a secret report to the emperor in Hangzhou. At this moment, he sent someone to the eastern suburbs to inform them, and the zoo director immediately came to help.

Seeing the exotic animals being taken away, the people who were busy with their livelihoods dispersed one after another, but there were still many curious people who followed along.

They chased to the zoo entrance but were stopped. The eunuch in charge said, "We will stop selling tickets to the public this month. Don't scare these exotic creatures. We will reopen the zoo after they get used to it."

Everyone was reluctant to leave and watched the various animals go in.

There are not only elephants, tigers, rhinos, leopards and other animals, but in recent years, ostriches, lions and giraffes from Africa have also been added.

Zoo tickets sell particularly well, especially among people from other places who come to Beijing, many of whom are willing to pay to come and have a look.

A group of Australian animals were brought in, and Wang Chongdu's men introduced the habits of various animals to them. In fact, no one knew much, but at least they had been raising them for several months, and more than half of them had died, so they knew what animals liked to eat.

"This... looks a bit like the ostrich that came to Beijing a few years ago, but it's actually taller than an ostrich." The keeper stared at the strange big birds.

Wang Chongdu laughed and said, "We don't know what to call it. They used to live in places that were neither dry nor wet, neither cold nor hot. They were only seen in grasslands and less dense forests."

The breeder said, "Then I know how to raise them. It's different from raising ostriches. Wait for the government to give them names. The name of the ostrich is also determined by the government. By the way, what do these big birds eat?"

Wang Chongdu said: "Fruits, insects, grains, and sometimes grass."

After some communication, Wang Chongdu left.

A few days later, Wang Chongdu went to the palace to see the emperor. He thought he was going to the Chuigong Palace, but he went directly to the Imperial Garden, where the empress and the prince were drinking tea in the pavilion.

After the meeting, Wang Chongdu presented tribute.

"Long live your Majesty, long live your Majesty!"

Two lorikeets were vying to speak.

Zhang Jinping was amused: "This parrot has beautiful feathers, different from the parrots in the Ming Dynasty."

Wang Chongdu said quickly: "Your Excellency, this kind of parrot likes to play with people. Once you get used to it, it will be very friendly."

The two female officials took the parrot and gave it to the queen and the prince respectively.

Zhu Ming asked, "Did you also bring it back from the unknown continent in the south?"

Wang Chongdu replied, "This kind of parrot can be found in the unknown continent and Java Island, but it has never been seen anywhere else. The two in front of us were bought from Java Island. The locals have tamed them. We also brought back parrots from the unknown continent. That kind of parrot is more beautiful, but it has some difficulty speaking human language."

"Tell me in detail how you discovered the New World in the South," said Zhu Ming.

Wang Chongdu said: "I have always remembered your Majesty's instructions. After I became familiar with sailing, I explored the Java area. In the first year, I sailed around Java Island. In the second year, I became familiar with the trade winds and currents there. In the third year, I chose the right time to sail south with the wind."

Zhu Ming asked, "Smooth sailing?"

Wang Chongdu said: "It was smooth sailing when we went there, but smooth sailing when we came back. There were no states found on that continent, but there were many black tribes who looked similar to the Kunlun slaves in Southeast Asia."

"What else did you find?" Zhu Ming asked.

Wang Chongdu also presented opals and gold: "There are a lot of iron and copper mines there, and they are very easy to mine. But the mining area is located in a desolate place. There is even no grass growing in one iron mine. There are not even black natives there."

"There was no grass where we first landed. It took us a day and a half to sail east before we could get some vegetation. The northeasternmost part of the continent has a lot of rainfall (tropical rainforest climate), but the eastern and southeastern coasts have the most indigenous people."

"I found gold in the southeast, and found a place to pan for gold along the river. I continued to sail westward in the south for two days and then returned. The wind along the southern coast is particularly turbulent, mainly northwest and southwest winds, with occasional south and east winds."

"The local natives are quite simple, but there are also some that are quite brutal. Especially along the eastern coast, tribes are attacking each other. One tribe wanted to kill people and rob them, but we defeated them with muskets and swords..."

While Wang Chongdu was speaking, the emperor and empress were playing with gold and gems.

Zhu Ming looked at the gold nugget.

Zhang Jinping was more interested in opals. After Wang Chongdu finished speaking, she smiled and asked, "Are there many such gems over there?"

Wang Chongdu replied: "It seems a lot. I exchanged more than 500 gems from the four tribes."

"How much did you sell?" Zhu Ming asked.

Wang Chongdu answered honestly: "In Guangzhou, Hangzhou, Yangzhou and Chuzhou, a total of ten were sold. The least one was sold for two or three hundred strings of cash, and the most was sold for six or seven hundred strings of cash. They were all put up for auction at the exchange."

Zhu Ming said: "Eighty percent of the gems will be handed over to the royal family, and the remaining twenty percent will be yours to deal with."

"According to the order!"

Wang Chongdu only took 20% but he had no complaints. Even if he got more this time, he would hold on to it and sell it slowly.

This kind of gem is not rare in Australia, I'll get some next time.

The emperor took 80% of the gems, which he certainly did not sell, but gave as rewards to his concubines, children and meritorious officials. This kind of reward was very helpful in raising the price of gems, and Wang Chongdu had to thank the emperor for helping to advertise.

Wang Chongdu also presented a map of Australia.

This map is a work-in-progress, showing only the northern two-thirds of Australia and the eastern coastal areas, ending at the southeast.

Moreover, the size ratio is somewhat distorted.

Wang Chongdu was allowed to come closer to talk. He pointed to the location of Melbourne and said, "The climate here is mild, very suitable for farming, and there is a natural harbor. Gold was also discovered there."

"What are your plans?" Zhu Ming asked.

Wang Chongdu said: "I am willing to expand the territory of the Ming Dynasty overseas. In the first year, I will attract hundreds of people to go to pan for gold. In the second year, I will bring some of the panners back home and let all the panners write letters to their families and send back some of the gold they have found."

"By then, it will surely cause a sensation in all the states and counties. I will organize a fleet to transport more people. Year after year, gold diggers may gather tens of thousands. Then we can open up fields for cultivation, build small towns, shops, temples and the like. There may not be many women willing to go to sea, and the native women are too ugly. We can recruit women from Southeast Asia to marry. We can also recruit some Japanese women. As long as we give them enough money, the Japanese nobles are willing to send women to sea."

Zhu Ming nodded in approval of Wang Chongdu's strategy, and then said, "I will not send any officials there within five years."

Wang Chongdu was overjoyed: "Your Majesty is so kind and magnanimous. I will do my best for you!"

Letting Wang Chongdu manage Melbourne for five years is enough for him to make a fortune. This is a reward for the ocean explorer.

Only with tangible benefits will more people explore the unknown waters.

Zhu Ming said, "Let's call that continent Australia. You can name the places in Australia as you like. The place where gold was discovered can be called Gold Mountain. This name is attractive enough."

"Your Majesty is wise!" Wang Chongdu flattered again.

(End of this chapter)