Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 339 The Great Voyage (Thirteen)

On July 1642, 7, two expedition ships of the East Coast Republic arrived at Rishiri Island near Ezo against the wind blowing from the southeast.Li Yi led the "Chopper" expedition ship to wander around the north side of the island for a long time, and it was best to choose the later Japanese Yuanbo Port as the wintering place for the east coast fleet.

This island is deep in the Japanese warm current. Rebun Island on the northwest side is its natural windbreak and breakwater, and a small peninsula extending hundreds of meters into the sea on the west side of the location of Yuanbo Harbor blocks the waves coming from the northwest. Outside, it is indeed a good natural shelter.In addition, it is not frozen all year round, and the precipitation on the island is abundant, and part of the cultivated land can be reclaimed. It is perfect as an outpost port and winter base of Heishui Port.

The few Ainu people on the island watched them in horror, not knowing what these sudden outsiders were doing here.Li Yi and the others did not pay too much attention to them, but exchanged some seafood with them with the little cloth left on the ship, which was to contact them in advance.

On July 7, the East Coast Expedition Fleet left Rishiri Island and traveled all the way south, crossed the Tsushima Strait, traveled east of Taiwan, and headed straight for Jinshan Port in the southeastern corner of the Australian mainland.This time going south, the two ships have been sailing against the wind in the ocean north of the equator, but after crossing the equator and entering the South Pacific, the two ships can go south along the East Australian warm current, which is quite convenient.Therefore, it only took the two ships about a month to arrive in Melbourne from Rishiri Island. No further stops except for fresh water and coconuts.

Jinshan Port is now in the middle of winter.With a bitter cold wind blowing on the sea, the two expedition ships cautiously sailed into Jinshan Bay one after the other.

Thank goodness they are still alive!This was the first thought that popped into Li Yi's mind after entering the bay. Yes, the more than 90 Eight Banners warriors he left here are still alive. The big boat waved its arms vigorously.

With the quick action of the steam winch, the "Chopper" lowered its bow and stern anchors and docked firmly at the side of the trestle.Li Yi, who was wearing a cotton coat, was the first to jump off the trestle bridge. He shook hands with every Eight Banners warrior who came to meet them by the trestle bridge, and patted their shoulders vigorously as a sign of encouragement.It is not easy for them to guard here alone, it is worth being

Disembarking behind him were hundreds of soldiers from the No. 2 Squadron of the Volunteer Squadron, as well as hundreds of North Korean immigrants.After a month of long-distance voyage at sea, the physical condition of these people is not very good, and many of them were even carried down.Even those brave Hezhe people and Oroqen people are the same. These warriors who have only sailed in the Strait of Tartar in canoes have never seen the stormy waves on the ocean.After a month of nightmares they'll never forget, they're all prawns now.Of course, these people are lucky, because nearly twenty companions have left them forever during the voyage, and they are buried in the depths of the ocean, sleeping with darkness.

The death rate of the 150 North Koreans brought over was even higher, firstly because their physical condition was not as strong as those from Sakhalin Island, and the cabin conditions they lived in were also worse and more crowded , so a total of nearly [-] people were thrown into the sea during the voyage, and the death rate in one month was as high as a quarter, which can be described as shocking.

There are nearly 550 people in the stand-up team and North Koreans. Naturally, it is impossible for so many people to be put on the Jinshan Port side. It is very simple because there is not enough food.When passing by here, Li Yi ordered people to leave them with about 4 tons of grain, a small amount of seeds, and agricultural tools. However, considering that it was the end of April, the ninety Eight Banners warriors who stayed here had neither time nor No one has cleared a field for sowing.Therefore, the fifteen tons of grain will be enough for them to eat for another half a year.If they took advantage of the winter to level the fields and sow short-growing potatoes and sweet potatoes in the spring, then maybe their food would be able to last until the harvest.But if some new arrivals are added, this fragile food balance will soon be broken.

This problem is more troublesome. Li Yi scratched his head. There are still thirty or forty tons of grain in the cabin, but it is left on the ship just in case, and some grain must be left for the Gushan Port that is going to go next. Because Li Yi couldn't be sure that Gushan Port hadn't had time to harvest a crop of grain this year.However, after thinking about it again and again, Li Yi reluctantly ordered the sailors to unload fifteen tons of sweet potatoes and five tons of corn from the cabin, and at the same time, put some salted fish, cured meat, bacon, etc. that were about to deteriorate in the food cabin. Throw it to them, saving waste.

After calculating the total amount of food at Jinshan Port, Li Yi felt that he could only leave about 150 North Koreans here, because no matter how many people there were, there would not be enough food.Trapped in this desolate place, they could neither hunt nor fish, and could only survive on their food reserves.

150 people were quickly selected. These people were all Korean soldiers captured on Jeju Island. They were still strong and strong. It was suitable for them to stay here to dig coal and plant land.But when it comes to digging coal, more than three months have passed, and a batch of coal has been stored in Jinshan Port, which is piled up on the grass beside the pier.Li Yi made a rough estimate and felt that there were more than 800 tons, but it was a pity that most of them were lignite, with a low calorific value of combustion.Moreover, most of these coals have not been washed and are mixed with a lot of thick coal gangue, and the actual combustion calorific value may be even lower.But at least it’s better than nothing, at least it’s also coal, so it can be burned, right?

The 150 newly landed North Korean soldiers only had time to rest for one night, and they were kicked and beaten by the Eight Banners warriors. Two ships of the East Coast Expedition Fleet set out to prepare fuel.While they were busy, Li Yi also took the "Chop Wave" and "Breaking Wave" to catch fish on the nearby ocean to store more food for Jinshan Port.It's a pity that there may not be any good fishing grounds here, or Li Yi and others were unlucky. After several days of tossing, they caught a total of over ten tons of fish and shrimp.If the inedible parts are removed, these fish and shrimps may be less than ten tons.However, if this is the case, so many fish and shrimp can be eaten by them for more than a month after being piled up with salt, which can save a lot of food.

After washing and sorting the coal for a few days, these people finally produced about 360 tons of coal.These coals, coupled with the [-] tons of coal remaining in the coal bunkers of the two ships, are almost enough for the two ships to sail to Xinhua Castle.

On August 1642, 8, the two ships of the East Coast Republic’s expedition fleet left Jinshan Port again. Under the watchful eyes of more than 16 Eight Banners warriors and 90 Koreans on the pier, they turned due west and headed towards the southwest corner of the Australian mainland. Gushan Harbor sailed.

Gushan Port is located in the southwest corner of the mainland. Except for the initial section where it can sail with the wind, the whole journey is a difficult voyage that is neither smooth nor smooth.Someone here may say, why not go to the north coast of Australia, where the wind and the water are smooth, and it is very suitable for sailing.But isn't this to avoid the Dutch?Otherwise, who do you think would take this bullshit route that is neither smooth nor smooth.

In this way, they dangled in the sea for more than 9 days. It was not until September 8 that the two ships sailed into the bay where Gushan Port was located.Like Jinshan Port, the expedition fleet left about 70 Eight Banners warriors stationed here when they passed by.If more than five months have passed, these Eight Banners warriors are still firmly guarding the walled city built for them.Sure enough, the fighting power of Australian aborigines is scum. Can primitive people in the Stone Age still be called human beings?I am afraid that the only difference between them and animals is that they can use some simple tools.

The situation in Gushan Port is more optimistic. At least they have reclaimed some wasteland around the Walled City, planted some potatoes with a short production cycle, and harvested a crop in late July.Although the yield per mu was only over 7 catties because it was wasteland, nearly 600 tons of grain had been harvested, which almost filled several wooden grain depots in the village.

This situation made Li Yi very relieved, because it meant that he no longer had to take a group of people to travel long distances back to Xinhua Castle because of the lack of food here.Therefore, he quickly made a decision: the remaining about 2 North Korean men and women and more than [-] officers and soldiers of the No. [-] Squadron of the Volunteer Squadron will all stay here.They will open up wasteland and cultivate land here, and build ports and urban areas at the same time, because a large-scale oriental immigration plan may soon be launched in the country, and Gushan Port, as an important transit node, must be built well no matter what.

In the long-term plan of the executive committee, in the next few years, more than ten transport ships will be mobilized to carry out a large-scale oriental immigration operation.The geographical location of Gushan Port is extremely important. Both the outbound and return fleets will stop here for supplies and repair ships.What's more, after fighting against the Dutch in the future, the fleet on the east coast can go north from here to Batavia and the Spice Islands, which will definitely give the Dutch a big surprise.

After lingering for a few days and fishing fish and shrimp for the residents of Gushan Port for a few days, on September 1642, 9, the two ships left the wharf of Gushan Port one by one, turned due west, and then went northward along the cold current of Western Australia. , and then along the southern equatorial warm current and the southeast trade wind, headed for the new Huaxia colony.

(End of this chapter)