Capital Datang

Australia, the continent with the world's largest export volume of various ores in later generations, is also the world's fourth largest agricultural exporter, especially in animal husbandry, where it is extremely developed, and its wool production ranks first in the world. If it is occupied here, it will undoubtedly be a huge driving force for Li Yin, especially for the "wool" textile industry in his hands.

Compared with North and South America, which are far away, Australia is undoubtedly closer to Datang, and from Taiwan Island to the south, there are many archipelagos along the way. As long as you don't lose your way, then even if you touch one island after another, you will be sure in the end. Can also reach Australia.When Li Yin heard that Yanbei sent people south to explore the route, he also thought that Lu Wan and the others might reach Australia, but when he really saw Australia marked on the fleet's chart, he still couldn't help being excited. extremely.

"Australia? Isn't Australia your son?" Yan Bei asked very puzzled when he heard Li Yin's questioning of Lu Wan.It is a big event for Li Min to have a son, as his friend and old subordinate, Yan Bei naturally gave him a big gift, and he also knows Li Qi's situation very well, even Li Qi's "baby" name.

"Tch~, Australia is not only my son's "milk" name, but also the name of a continent. Although the area of ​​that continent is not as large as the one we are on, it is still larger than the land of our Tang Dynasty. The difference is almost the same, Jinzhou and Borneo on the South Sea side can't be compared with Australia!" Li Yin said with a look of contempt.

At the beginning, Li Yin named Li Qi's "breast" as Australia, so he had his intentions. He even considered naming all his sons born in the future after places, such as Nanyang, North America, and South America. These will all be Li Yin. Alternate name for son.Of course, this is also Li Yin's way of being lazy.At least he doesn't have to worry about naming it in the future, and he also has a deeper meaning.But this meaning is only known to him.Capital Datang 446

"Your Highness is really knowledgeable. He actually knew about this continent long ago. When we discovered it, because it was too large and our fleet had reached its limit, we only walked along its coastline for a while and never came. And after walking the entire distance, I didn’t expect His Highness to know about its existence, and there is a name called Australia, so I will mark its name on it!” At this time, Lu Wan was also very surprised, and finally lost no time Give the name Australia.

Li Yin was also very happy about this.At the same time, I also drank a few more glasses, and immediately started talking with Lu Wan about the animals, plants and cultural customs in Australia.Although Li Yin has never been to Australia in later generations, he has enough understanding of Australia in various aspects, even people like Lu Wan who have been to Australia in person cannot compare to him.

Originally, Li Yin knew about Australia, which already surprised Lu Wan and the others, but what they didn't expect was that His Royal Highness King Qi, who was known for his intelligence and knowledge, was far more knowledgeable than they imagined, and he even Animals are very familiar, such as the animal with a bag like a mouse, and the animal named gray crane by Lu Wan.In addition, there are big lobsters they caught in the coral reefs in the east of Australia and so on.

Especially when it comes to big lobsters, Li Yin is drooling in a very imageless way, and regrets that this kind of lobsters cannot be transported long distances, at least not yet.If he wants to eat, he can only go to Australia. Unfortunately, in his capacity, he may not be able to travel as far as Australia in recent years.

Li Yin took the initiative to chat about various customs in Australia.This made Lu Wan and the others feel as if they had found a confidant, after all, for Australia.Except for the people in their fleet, only Li Yin can have a happy conversation with them.And they also learned a lot from Li Yin that they didn't know about Australia.For example, there are a lot of deserts in Australia, most of which are not suitable for human habitation. Only the coastal areas are more suitable for farming, especially in the east and west coasts where they almost arrived, which is the essence of Australia. Not only are they suitable for farming, but also Great for grazing.It's just that there are no sheep there. If the sheep from the Central Plains were brought there, the output of wool alone would be astonishing.

With Australia as the topic, Lu Wan and the others slowly let go, and told all the things they had encountered along the way. The natives pay special attention.From their mouths, Li Yin, Yan Bei and others also learned about an overseas world with a very different style, which can be regarded as a great harvest.

In addition, Li Min was also very excited about the copper and gold mines that Lu Wan and the others discovered in Australia. Australia can not only be used as an agricultural product base, but also a mineral base in Li Yinxiang's eyes. The iron, coal, gold and other minerals there are very rich. It is rich, and it will be the world's largest mineral exporter in later generations. In addition, Australia has huge reserves of bauxite. Unfortunately, there is no electricity now, and there is no way to extract aluminum by electrolysis, so it is not available for the time being. It can only be kept. For future generations.

Knowing this, in Li Yin’s heart, he has already placed Australia under his own rule. However, if he wants to rule Australia, there are still two difficulties to be solved. The first is the traffic problem. Australia is not close to Taiwan. If it is by boat, it will take at least a month.However, this problem is not impossible to solve. Now Yifan's steamship has been put into practical use. As long as he builds a few supply points along the way, he can open up the route from Taiwan to Australia, and then he can travel between the two places quickly.

However, after solving the problem of transportation connection between the two places, there is another problem of population. If you want to rule Australia, you can’t do without a sufficient population base. Of course, this population refers to the Han people, while the native Australian Not counted.If we only rely on natural immigration, I am afraid that it will be difficult to establish a sufficient population base in a hundred years, but now that there are gold mines, it is not easy, as long as the news is announced, and then Li Yin formulates some policies to encourage gold mining. Policies must surely attract many people to seek gold. When the number of people increases, the city will gradually be established. San Francisco in later generations is a good example.

Thinking of the next development of Australia, Li Yin was very excited, but he also knew that Australia is far away from Taiwan, so even if he wanted to develop, he had to take it step by step, absolutely not "fuck" too hastily.In addition, there are places such as Jinzhou and Borneo in Nanyang. These places are closer to Taiwan, and the products on the island are also very rich. Unfortunately, they are still in the hands of the natives. Next, my focus will be shifted to These South Sea islands have landed. As for Australia, it can only be used as a secondary target.

After the welcome banquet, Li Yin arranged for Lu Wan and the others to recuperate, and began to publicize the new route they explored through newspapers. However, if you want to get detailed information about this new route, you need to pay an information fee from the Slave Catching Association. , after all, in order to explore this route, they also paid a considerable price.In addition, people who are not members of the slave hunting association are not allowed to engage in slave hunting activities after entering this route, otherwise they will be severely punished if they are discovered.

In addition, regarding the discovery of Australia, Li Yin did not hide it from the adults. Although he will not make Australia the focus of development for the time being, he will not prevent the free development of the people, so the news about Australia is also released together. In addition, the news that Australia is rich in gold and precious stones has also been spread, so as to stimulate people's yearning for Australia.

In fact, for the maritime merchants of Datang, Lu Wan’s greatest contribution was not the discovery of Australia, but the discovery of the Spice Islands, which are rich in various spices. Spices are extremely in short supply whether in the East or the West. , For example, incense is very popular in China in Datang, and spices are regarded as a must for cooking in the West.Now Lu Wan and the others have explored this route, and the islands they pass along the way are rich in various spices, which undoubtedly opened up a huge treasure house for maritime merchants.

It is precisely because of this that when Lu Wan and the others came back, maritime merchants who got the news immediately gathered from all directions to Taiwan, and then paid the fee to the Slave Catching Association. After receiving the detailed chart, they immediately organized the fleet to go south , hoping to be ahead of other merchants and purchase spices that are still very cheap in the archipelago.

However, not everyone wants to make money honestly by doing sea trade. For example, quite a few people set their sights on Australia, where there is a gold mine of unknown scale and a copper mine that has not yet been determined. No matter what kind of these two precious metals are, they are very valuable. As long as they can get a part of the profits from them, it is already quite amazing.

It is also with this kind of thinking that many people contact the Slave Catching Association, hoping to get the location of the gold and copper mines, but this matter is not up to Yanbei, because he has already transferred the two mines The ownership of the two mines is handed over to Li Yin, and Li Yin needs to give [-]% of the income of the two mines to the association as a reward.

Regarding the gold and copper mines that Lu Wan and the others found, Li Min looked at the places they marked, and found that they were in the area of ​​Darwin in later generations. If he remembers correctly, Darwin seems to have started to develop by relying on gold mines. Yes, so the gold reserves there must not be small.It was precisely in this way that he put a lot of effort into the development of that gold mine.

For those who applied to mine gold and copper mines, Li Yin decided to adopt a method of cooperation between the government and the people. Li Yin agreed with these people to mine, but half of the mined gold had to be handed over to the government, and the remaining half belonged to the government. personal.Of course Li Yin wanted to set up a settlement there and send officials to monitor the matter.

Gold mining is a huge profiteering industry, so although Li Min's request to hand over half of the proceeds seems a bit heavy, it is actually acceptable to gold diggers, so they quickly reached an agreement with the official, and then took advantage of it. The officially organized fleet went south again along the footsteps of Lu Wan and the others, starting their gold panning journey. (To be continued.) Capital Datang 446