The Rise of Ming Dynasty 1646

Chapter 754 Australia
Zhu Linmei nodded and said, "How many nine-pound guns are loaded?"

"Returning to Your Majesty, there are two on the starboard and starboard sides. There are also six four-pound guns."

"A total of ten cannons are enough to deal with small groups of pirates."

Lin Yaocen was a little surprised when he heard the words, and asked Shao Zhizhang, the ambassador of the shipyard, in a low voice, "My lord, the clipper ship can only be equipped with such a small number of guns, which may not be conducive to naval warfare?"

Ambassador Shao looked at his clothes and knew he was a Jinshi of Xinke, so he cupped his hands and said with a smile: "Brother, I don't know, this clipper ship has a narrow hull, if heavy cannons are fired at the side of the ship, it will swing violently from side to side until it capsizes. It is extremely difficult to be equipped with a nine-pound gun.

"However, this ship is so fast that ordinary warships can't catch up with it, and it is only used to transport goods on weekdays, but it doesn't need cannons.

"Let's say that we sent grain, rice, and daily necessities to places such as the Guinea Asian Games. We set off from Quanzhou and arrived in more than 20 days. Then we transported the ore produced on the island and returned, which took more than a month less than ordinary sea ships!"

Lin Yaocen suddenly realized that in this way, hundreds of thousands of catties of copper arrived in Daming every month. No wonder the price of copper has dropped so much recently. These clipper ships contributed a lot, and he immediately became interested in these sea-going ships.

Shao Zhizhang suddenly pointed to a [-]-ton clipper ship that was sailing in the distance, "Look, brother, that is the 'Shaohua Mountain' under the direct control of the Ministry of Commerce, and it is about to set sail for Australia..."

The north coast of mainland Australia.

This flat and warm grassland was named "Xiaoquanzhou" by the Ministry of Commerce of the Ming Dynasty, and only Zhu Linmi knew that this place should be the Darwin City of later generations.

Two men in gray cloth long gowns, one tall and one short, were talking to each other, and the shorter man raised his head from time to time, directing dozens of dark-skinned and curly-haired natives to dig wells in jerky language.

"Master Zhao," several soldiers who were obviously Han Chinese came running quickly with bows and arrows on their backs, and cupped their hands and said, "I saw a large ship approaching quickly from the lighthouse. It must be an official ship of the Ministry of Commerce."

Master Zhao showed joy, and hurriedly asked: "How far is it from the shore?"

"Back to my lord, it's less than ten nautical miles away."

"Quick, quick, call everyone and go to the pier to meet him!" Master Zhao ordered, then turned to the shorter human beside him and said, "Master Hu, do you remember the Master Sun I mentioned to you a while ago? He's on this boat."

Shopkeeper Hu was taken aback, "Is that the Governor-General Sun Fu Sun who was sent to Australia by the imperial court?"

"Who else? It's him!"

"Great!" Shopkeeper Hu clapped his hands, "Australia finally has an official! It seems that the Ministry of Commerce is quite satisfied with what I have done recently."

"Haha, that's that, that's that. You hurry up and change your clothes, and follow me to greet you. They're talking on the side road."

"it is good!"

After a while, Mr. Zhao and shopkeeper Hu changed their clothes, and they hurried to the pier a few miles away, surrounded by seventy or eighty Chinese and more than a hundred natives.

It's just that among the Han people beside them, only two are wearing official uniforms, while the rest are all civilians.The reason for this is that the first settlement established on the Australian mainland was established by the expedition team of the Ministry of Commerce, and the main personnel were people recruited from Fujing.Those "soldiers" with weapons are actually servants brought by shopkeeper Hu, one of the shareholders.

On the way, Shopkeeper Hu turned his head and asked, "Master Zhao, how many people did the Governor bring along this time?"

"It is said that there are more than 300 craftsmen, [-] soldiers each, and some Tartars sent here to do coolies. There are probably more than [-] people."

"This has added more than 800 people." Shopkeeper Hu's eyes lit up. "It seems that the imperial court really wants to spend time in Australia! In this way, maybe we can start mining the copper mine in the east!"

He invested most of his wealth in the expedition team, and brought his servants here, naturally hoping to make money as soon as possible.Although Australia produces sea cucumbers, animal skins, and birds of paradise, selling these items alone is far from enough for him to recoup his money. Only when copper or gold mines are dug up are the real cornucopias.

Mr. Zhao shook his head in thought, "If we want to open mines... I'm afraid this manpower is not enough."

As they were talking, a group of people had arrived at the port of Xiaoquanzhou - this is a good natural port, as long as wooden frames are laid according to the terrain, it will become a simple wharf, which can dock four to five hundred tons of ships.

In a moment, a huge sailboat appeared in everyone's field of vision.

Although most of the large triangular sails on the ship have been furled, the sharp bow still cuts through the waves with ease, obviously at an extremely fast speed.In the blink of an eye, the ship had already sailed into the harbor.

A cable was thrown from the boat, and under the command of shopkeeper Hu, a large group of natives tied the rope to the stakes with force. When shopkeeper Hu returned, sweating profusely, dozens of people had already disembarked from the boat—no way, the whole of Australia He is the only one who understands the native language, and he can only do everything by himself whenever the native people are used.

Mr. Zhao hurriedly pulled him forward, saluted the leader, "Your Majesty Zhao Weisheng pays his respects to the governor."

"Hu Yuancai, a grassroots man, pays his respects to the governor."

Unexpectedly, the leader quickly stepped aside, helped them up and said, "Master Sun is still on board, and the next official is the secretary of the Ministry of Commerce, Lin Yaocen."

Zhao Weisheng and Hu Yuancai looked at each other, only then noticed that the pattern of 鸂鶒 on the body of the person in front of him was the seventh grade, and hurriedly asked again: "I don't know, my lord governor..."

Lin Yaocen said solemnly: "Master Sun contracted the disease the day before yesterday, and he is already extremely weak. The lower official wanted to send him back to Fujing for medical treatment immediately, but he was worried that Australia would run out of food and rice, so he still insisted on unloading the things on the ship before returning to the hospital." Return."

Zhao Weisheng and shopkeeper Hu hurriedly boarded the boat to visit, but Sun Fu kept them out of the cabin, fearing that the disease on their bodies would infect them.

The two of them had no choice but to muster manpower to move the supplies off the ship as quickly as possible, and they also asked people to deliver the recently prepared goods onto the ship, so that the "Shaohuashan" could return to Daming as soon as possible.

Lin Yaocen and others followed Zhao Weisheng for a few miles, and saw a hill with the top flattened in front of them. The top of the hill was about one foot high, and neatly bundled wood was used as a fence, enclosing the range of tens of feet from the top of the hill.

The wall has two layers, inside and outside, and there are six to seventy people patrolling under the wall with weapons in hand, and nearly half of them are natives.Inside the wall are a large number of wooden houses with thatched roofs. Although the workmanship is rough, it looks quite strong.

"I didn't expect Australia to have such a big camp!" He turned his head and praised Zhao Weisheng, "Master Zhao has only been here for three months, and he has only a hundred people under him. High walls and houses are not easy."

The latter hurriedly waved his hands and said with a smile: "Master Lin is absurd. This was originally a local aboriginal village, and the walls and houses were built by the aboriginals long ago. The officials only asked people to repair it, but it didn't cost too much. Work hard."

(End of this chapter)