Tibet.

Chapter 1449: Continuing Eastward
A large island deep in the Southern Ocean, this is the South Island on the map, which later became the North Island of New Zealand.

Ten days ago, the expedition fleet found South Island. Compared with the southern continent, the freshwater resources here are more abundant, the climate is more humid, there are large tracts of natural pastures and endless forests everywhere, and all kinds of resources are abundant here, especially the freshwater fish in the rivers are extremely abundant and easy to catch.

In fact, they entered the big island by going upstream from a large river that flowed into the sea. On both sides of the river was endless fertile land, which was fertile land for agriculture and animal husbandry.

Everyone unanimously agreed to establish a settlement on Nanda Island first and named the settlement Xinjiangning because there was a tranquil river in front of them.

The fleet immediately released all the more than one hundred sheep and more than twenty cows they were carrying into the grassland. These were high-quality cattle and sheep that they had carefully selected for breeding. A total of two batches were prepared, one for the southern continent and this batch was specially prepared for South Island.

The fleet anchored at the riverside about thirty miles away from the estuary. People set up hundreds of large tents on the shore. In the distance, hundreds of soldiers were building a large plank-walled camp. They would build two camps. Before the county town was built, the plank-walled camp was the residential area.

Inside a large tent, nearly two hundred men and women were sitting on the ground. They were all around thirty years old. These were death row prisoners selected from various places. They were supposed to be executed last autumn, but the court gave them a chance.

If they were willing to settle overseas and help the Tang Dynasty start a new land, then they would be pardoned. Almost all death row prisoners signed the agreement and were willing to cooperate with the court.

Of course, these death row prisoners were also selected. They were by no means the kind of perverted evil people who were unforgivable. Most of them were death row prisoners who sold contraband salt and minted coins privately. The female death row prisoners were those who killed each other in conflicts between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law, or those who killed their husbands or fathers because they were abused by their husbands or fathers. They were all around 30 years old.

There were a total of 188 people, most of whom were adults, with forty or fifty children, and an equal ratio of boys to girls.

Almost all adult men are death row prisoners, but not necessarily women. Most of them are their wives. There are only about seventy real female death row prisoners, and about twenty of them are with their children.

Single men and women voluntarily became husband and wife before setting off. They spent several months on the sea voyage together, living on the same boat and becoming very familiar with each other.

General Manager Yang Liangyao was a kind person. He did not force these people to stay in the South Continent, but let them choose for themselves. As a result, everyone chose South Island.

"You can see this uninhabited land. The area of ​​this island is equivalent to several Guanzhongs. There may be another large island of similar size to the south. Both islands are uninhabited. Our army has also explored and found no ferocious beasts like tigers and lions. There are only some small animals the size of foxes. They will not hurt people, but they will threaten the sheep. That's why dogs come into play."

Yang Liangyao continued with a smile: "According to the court regulations, each household will be given 1,000 acres of land, and no taxes will be levied for a hundred years. You can live a carefree life here, but many things can only be done slowly. I can only give you ten horses and eight donkeys, a dozen dogs, food and daily necessities, but you need to cultivate the land and grow wheat yourself. I found that the seasons here are opposite to those in the Tang Dynasty. It is summer in the Tang Dynasty, but winter here. It is probably autumn now. You should start preparing for the winter, cut wood, and build houses. Next year, the second fleet will arrive to bring more supplies and people."

"Envoy Yang, will there be garrison?" a man asked, raising his hand.

"There will be a garrison of 300 people, and three large ships will be left behind to serve as warehouses. If there is any danger, we can hide inside the ship, but it is unlikely to happen."

"What if there is not enough food?" someone worriedly asked.

Yang Liangyao smiled slightly, "In addition to the seeds, the wheat I left is enough for everyone to eat for a year. There are many kinds of fish in the river, which will be the main source of meat for everyone. There are also a lot of fruits in the forest. You can pick them as much as you want. If you can't keep them, you can use them to make wine or jam. We also released more than a hundred rabbits. Next year, you can kill a large number of rabbits. You can eat their meat and use their fur to make clothes and shoes. There are also cabbage seeds. Our soldiers have planted 500 acres, so everyone will have vegetables to eat in winter!"

Yang Liangyao distributed two tents to every household, one summer tent and one winter tent. The fuel for winter was cow dung cakes, which are a treasure of the grassland. The name is not elegant, but it does not have any smell.

After the arrangements were made, every household began to get busy.

A few days later, all the adult men gathered spontaneously and held an important meeting.

They elected a leader who convinced most people. The leader was Yang Jiqing, a native of Pu'an County, Langzhou. He was in his early thirties and came from a family of minters. Since several people in his family knew how to mint coins, Yang Jiqing led his family to mint private coins. Soon, they were reported by fellow villagers. The internal security came to arrest the entire family. The clan members were exiled to Yunnan because he was sentenced to death as the leader. Originally, Yang Jiqing was going to be beheaded in October last year, but he was lucky and had the opportunity to go to sea to avoid the death penalty. He decisively signed the agreement to go to sea and went to sea with his wife and a pair of children.

Yang Jiqing had strong leadership skills and the courage to take risks and explore. More importantly, he was a righteous and kind person. When his entire family was arrested, he took all the blame on himself, making him the only one out of more than 30 people in his family sentenced to death.

Seeing that everyone unanimously agreed to elect Yang Jiqing as the leader, Yang Liangyao appointed Yang Jiqing as the master of the workshop. At the same time, he left behind a team of ten technical craftsmen, all of whom were craftsmen from the ship's office and shipbuilding department.

With them, many technical problems can be easily solved.

Aboard the main ship, four officers were making a momentous decision.

There was a map on the table, with the chief officer Yang Liangyao, the guard commander Wei Zhentao, the shipbuilding director Wang Zhan, and the steam engine maintenance officer Yao Chunshan.

Yang Liangyao slowly said to the three people: "Based on our food supplies and ship conditions, I am considering continuing to sail eastward and carrying out our mission this fall ahead of schedule. We are heading to the New World."

Everyone unanimously agreed to continue traveling east. Wang Zhan carefully checked the ship and found no problems with the hull. Yao Chunshan also checked the steam engine and found everything was working well. They dismantled the steam engines of the three remaining ships as backup. As for fuel, it was not a problem. Coal was not necessary, firewood would also be fine, and it could even be powered by stepping on it or directly using the sails.

But the only thing they were worried about was fresh water. Yang Liangyao pointed to the map and said, "This map is very accurate at the moment. We can go north first, and then turn east when we come across an island group. There are many islands along the way, and there should be fresh water on the islands. As long as we reach the New World and then go north along the coastline, we can always find fresh water."

"What is our mission in the New World?" Wei Zhentao asked.

"The main task the emperor gave me was to exchange crops with the local natives, using Tang Dynasty daily necessities to exchange crops with them and collect crop seeds. Of course, the natives could be our distant relatives."

"why?"

The other three were very surprised. They had seen many natives along the way, and none of them had anything to do with the Tang people.

Yang Liangyao smiled and said, "It is possible that when the Shang Dynasty fell, many Shang people fled there. Going north from Bohai Prefecture, there is a narrow strip of land connecting to the northernmost part of the New World. We will also return along this narrow strip of land when we return to Datang."

The three of them looked at each other. Aren’t those who escaped when the Shang Dynasty fell their fellow countrymen from the Central Plains?
Of course, the Shang Dynasty was too far away from them, and they were more concerned about the present.

"When shall we set off!"

The three of them looked at Yang Liangyao together. Yang Liangyao pondered for a moment and said, "We'll set off in three days!"

Three days later, four large ships with a capacity of 10,000 tons and 500 soldiers continued to set out north. Fifteen days later, they arrived at Fiji Island. After replenishing fresh water, they turned east, passed the Tonga Islands, and entered the vast South Pacific.

After sailing for nearly two months, the fleet, which was about to run out of fresh water, arrived at what was later called St. Felix Island. The island was all bare rocks and had no fresh water, but they found a small freshwater pool in a cave under the rocks, which saved the entire fleet. They named the island Yanshou Island.

After sailing for another ten days, the fleet finally saw a long coastline. All the soldiers were rejoicing. They had arrived at the New World, which was Chile in later generations.

(End of this chapter)