The expedition ship "Exploration" was finally repaired four days later, and when Zhang Jinhua stepped onto the deck under the gaze of the ashamed shipyard technician, he couldn't help but let out a long breath: after only a few days in this hot and humid place, he felt that he was not feeling well, but fortunately he could finally leave now.

After replenishing the harbor with some salted fish, biscuits, jerky, vegetables and other supplies, the "Discovery" slowly left Xinhua Port, then sailed south along the warm current of Mozambique, and arrived at the port of Tacheng in the early morning of March 28 - on the way they also sent 200 exiled Klandians and Guarani to St. Mary's Island.

Tacheng Port is still the same as it was a few years ago, with coal mining as the main industry, logging and corn planting as sidelines, and so far it cannot be self-sufficient in grain, so it needs to be transferred from St. Mary's Island. Of course, there are now more plantations here, and it is believed that the population will increase over time.

There is a 300-member Tacheng garrison stationed in Tacheng Port, mainly East Asian soldiers, well-equipped, fierce style, in the suppression of miners' riots and harassment of small local tribes and other public security operations such as Xiàn is relatively good, by the New China Pioneer Team awarded the advanced collective honor commendation.

After replenishing the refined coal and fresh fresh water at Tacheng Port, the expedition ship set off south again, heading straight for the edge of the westerly wind belt at about 38 degrees south latitude. In this era, there were two routes to the East Indies, the first was the coastal route explored by the Portuguese, that is, along the coast of East Africa through the Arabian Sea to the East Indies; The other was a route used by the Dutch, who caught the southwesterly wind in the eastern part of Madagascar and caught it and sailed across the ocean to the Sunda Strait. If it is not caught, it heads south and then eastward along the periphery of the westerly wind belt. After seeing the Western Australian continent, follow the ocean current to the north. Enter the waters near the East Indies.

It can be seen that the outer route of the westerly wind belt taken by the people on the east coast is actually the backup route of the Dutch to Batavia, and most of the two legs overlap. It's just that the sea is vast, and the seasons of the voyage are different, so the chance of meeting at sea is infinitely close to zero.

On April 3, the 1,250-ton "Expedition" had sailed to about 38 degrees south latitude, and by this time the sails on all four masts had been opened, and the strong southwesterly wind blew the cotton woven sails. The ship's steam boiler also reduced the temperature at this time. In addition to the power to control the sails, the propellers are only kept running at a low speed under the propulsion of the cylinders, and the entire ship has now reached an astonishing speed of 12 knots.

Looking at the waves splashing from the bow from time to time, Zhang Jinhua couldn't help but secretly rejoice, fortunately his boat was not a pure clipper design, otherwise the bow might have been smashed by the waves at this moment. I really don't know how those special ships with a high center of gravity walked in such sea conditions, but you must know that the people on the east coast have sunk three ships in this sea area, or hit an iceberg, or unfortunately encountered a cyclone, or lost their course in the sea fog, in short, there are many strange ways to die. The captains of the ships had to fight to the death in this sea almost every year from May to September to transport the migrants, which shows the courage and great sacrifice they made.

Of course, it is not without merit that they take this route. The first is to avoid the pirates that are abundant on the offshore routes. The second is that the voyage speed is fast and the range can be greatly shortened, and the third is to avoid some bad weather in the summer and autumn in the northern hemisphere (there are many dangerous weather such as typhoons and tropical cyclones in the northern hemisphere). The last one is that this route is navigable all year round, and all in all, the advantages outweigh the disadvantages of the offshore route, otherwise the Dutch would not have chosen to go from here in the same way.

After spending less than 20 days on the voyage and recording the meteorological and hydrological conditions of the sea area it traveled, the "Discovery" finally arrived at Gushan Port (later Albany) in Western Australia on April 21. Gushan Port is the capital of Australia (in fact, it is also in charge of a Jinshan Port), a large immigration transit station. Its permanent population has exceeded 4,500 as of today (3,000 in Jinshan Port), and the proportion of the population is relatively mixed, of which about 45% are Ming people, 15% are Guarani people, and about 15% are native white exiles, and the rest are Ottoman female slaves transported from Xinhua Port, and a small number of Persian and Baloch female slaves captured by Muscat merchants.

The city also has a garrison of 300 people, which was expanded from the original Shandan garrison of more than 120 people, and later added dozens of South African Eight Banners blacks and local Ming people, and it was expanded to its current size. This security force, known as the Western Australian garrison, is an all-firearms unit, and even has more than 20 war horses from the local military horse farm, which is definitely a hegemon in the deserted Western Australian area.

When Zhang Jinhua came ashore, he met the deputy captain of the Blackwater Pioneer Team who came to greet him, and the captain of the Ansu Navy, who was only in his early forties, had a scruffy beard and blank eyes, as if Australia, a place where birds don't, had exhausted his vitality.

Xiao Xuanzi, the godson of An's place and the eunuch of the former Heng Palace, hurriedly handed Zhang Jinhua's entourage towels to wipe their faces, and then took everyone to the canteen to eat. The food is crude sweet potato porridge, and the people in Gushan Port are barren and poor, and there are still a considerable number of daily necessities that have been strictly rationed. Local residents can only reclaim wasteland on the spot, and then grow some high-yield crops such as corn, potatoes, sweet potatoes, and sorghum, and then sell them to the government in exchange for some daily necessities such as salt, sugar, tobacco, cotton cloth, and farm tools. However, the order here is stable, the law and order are excellent, and you can eat a full meal, so everyone doesn't have much opinion, and they can make do with it.

Of course, this kind of life refers to the living conditions of ordinary Ming people in the area. As for the exiled Guarani and white Catholics, it was a literal hell. They had to serve their sentences on the spot – usually working as coolies in brick kilns, lime mills, and lumber yards – before they could be freed and apply for mortgages for houses, land, and slave girls, and they undoubtedly lost a lot at the starting line compared to those immigrants from the Ming Dynasty. Unless they can be pardoned and commuted for being like Giovanni's gifted lad for being mechanically proficient, they can continue to suffer.

And of course, there are many people who can't endure it and take risks. However, they don't have the courage to create any trouble in Gushan Harbor, the 300 garrison soldiers trained all year round in the city are not vegetarians, and these mixed troops of Shandans, blacks and Ming people often suppress the whites who make trouble, which really makes these European bulls, ghosts, snakes and gods who were sent to Australia frightened, so they often flee to the vast wilderness at night to find the so-called "freedom". And if they are not captured by the cavalry of the garrison after dawn, then they are really free, they can be free to be wild people in the field, and they can be captured and eaten by the local natives freely.

At this time, there was a large backlog of migrants in the port. These people live in shantytowns outside the city, where the migrants live in a mix of wood, thatch, and brick, where they will live for about five months and then wait for a migrant boat from the New China area to pick them up. They will certainly not be able to sit still for a few months, they will build walls and houses for the local area, dig artificial reservoirs, build water and irrigation canals, open up wasteland, etc., in short, a bunch of things, and it will never be possible for them to be idle.

Today, there are three steam engine sailing ships transporting people and supplies between the two bases in Australia, and it takes about a month to make a round trip, and the three ships are navigable all year round, and last year's maintenance of the ships could transport about 30,000 people from Jinshan Port to Gushan Port every year. There are ship repair shops in both ports in Australia, and the mechanical parts, ship boards, canvas and even nails and skins required need to be transported from New China and even the mainland for long distances.

The two settlements have a total of only a brick kiln factory, a lime factory (both in Gushan Port), a small cement factory (in Jinshan Port) and a coal mine (producing lignite of very poor quality), as well as a ship repair yard (which also doubles as a small fishing boat). Unlike other colonies, the chief officer of the colony actively applied to the mainland to build industrial projects, the captain of the Ansu Navy in charge of Australia had no intention of developing the local economy, and in addition to ordering the officers and soldiers of the garrison of the two bases to attack and capture the aborigines for hard labor, the most he did was to keep writing to his local friends, asking them to help him move so that he could be transferred back to the mainland, and he was really tired of the desolate place of Australia. Now that the purpose of coming out to mix qualifications has been achieved, there is no need to spend it here, and it is only right to return to the country as soon as possible to enjoy the blessings.

Zhang Jinhua is also not interested in the poor and remote area of Gushan Port, and he believes that the officials of the Executive Committee are not interested in it either, because there is no coal, no hardwood, no iron ore, and it is far from the mainland, and if it is not at the transit point of the migration route, no one would want to take a look at it directly. Perhaps when there are millions of people in the East Coast Republic, Australia will be developed to a certain extent, but the iron ore resources in the deep inland desert areas are still difficult to use, in short, this is a bitter place, and South Africa is a nature, rich in resources on paper, but in fact it is a fart, and it cannot be used at all under the existing conditions.

Zhang Jinhua and others stayed in Gushan Port for five days. During these five days, they also visited the Western Australian Military Horse Farm, which now has more than 170 Andalusian and Turkmen horses. Five days later, they set sail and finally berthed at the port of Jinshan in South Australia on 3 May after navigating the rough waters of Australia's southern coastline. (To be continued......)