In February of the twenty-sixth year of Chongzhen, Zhang Yu, the deputy battalion commander of the Tiger Ben Army, stood on the seaside hills of New Guinea Island, and carefully looked at this huge island as he walked forward.

It's more of a small continent than an island.

According to the pamphlet Mr. Li sent to Mr. Zhang, the island of New Guinea is the second largest island in the world, the size of five Shandong provinces and larger than the island of Borneo a little to the west. The island is crisscrossed by mountains, with the highest peak reaching an altitude of more than 4,000 meters. The coastal zone is densely wooded and very sparsely populated.

It is said to be more sparsely populated than Borneo.

There are almost no sandy beaches in the coastal area, and the mountains stretch from a distance into the ocean. The ironclad did not understand the hydrology of the seashore and was afraid of hitting the reef, so it did not dare to dock, but stopped at a great distance.

Zhang Yu led hundreds of people to paddle a small boat and landed on land.

Like all the islands of Southeast Asia, it was hot, very humid. After walking for a while, Zhang Yu couldn't help but roll up all the sleeves of his short-sleeved military uniform, but the sweat that came out of his body still soaked the back of his clothes.

In fact, there were so many places to occupy on this expedition to the Southeast Asian archipelago that the officers of the Tiger Army played an important role in the expedition. In the next year, Zhang Yu, the deputy battalion commander, became the head of military management in the northern part of the island.

In the southern part of the island, there is another deputy battalion commander, and two deputy battalion commanders will rule over the five large Shandong territories.

Of course, it is unrealistic for a few hundred people to effectively rule such a large territory, and the areas that the Tiger Army can actually control are only some important strongholds.

Therefore, Zhang Yu landed in this place for another purpose, which was to find a trading post abandoned by the Dutch. It is said that the Dutch built a small fort in this area and exchanged goods with the local natives. This fortress is the only "city" in the northern part of the island, and Zhang Yu hopes to find this stronghold and use it as his base camp.

As I walked, the sky suddenly became thick with clouds.

"Boom!"

A bolt of lightning fell from the sky and struck a huge tree in the distance, which was split in half and burned violently.

It's going to rain.

Zhang Yu looked around and suddenly found a cave a mile away. Zhang Yu shouted to the soldiers behind him, "Run forward, go into the cave to avoid the rain." ”

More than 200 people ran up with Zhang Yu and rushed to the cave.

As soon as he entered the cave, Zhang Yu was startled.

There are people in the cave.

Seeing Zhang Yu rushing into the cave, the owner of the cave, more than a dozen black-skinned local natives curled up in the innermost part of the cave. The natives were brownish-black and short, with no clothing but a pair of shorts that covered their private parts. They held wooden spears and shields in their hands, and their expressions were nervously defensive.

The first man yelled at Zhang Yu loudly, as if asking Zhang Yu to leave immediately.

Zhang Yu thought about it, pulled out his handcuff, and fired a shot at the top of the cave.

"Smack!"

The crisp sound of gunfire was particularly loud and deafening in the closed cave.

The dwarf blacks seemed to have seen the power of this musket, and they were immediately frightened. They understood that wooden weapons could not be used against muskets, so they threw away what they had in their hands and fell to their knees, prostrate and did not dare to get up.

Zhang Yu looked at these natives and smiled. He looked at the raindrops that began to fall outside the cave, wiped the sweat from his head, and sat down on a stone bench in the cave.

"Song Renfei, these natives have obviously seen the Dutch, you go and compare with him, and let them take us to the Dutch's trading post."

A platoon commander under Zhang Yu saluted Zhang Yu, walked up to the kneeling dwarf blacks, and began to communicate with them with body language, trying to make the natives understand what Zhang Yu meant.

Zhang Yu sat on a stone bench and began to observe the living facilities of these natives.

There is a faintly burning fire in the cave, presumably a fire carefully maintained by the natives

There are some pottery in the cave, which looks very bulky, but this shows that these natives have already made pottery, which proves that they have a certain level of civilization.

In addition to pottery, there are also some wild fruit pits and small animal bones in the caves, which indicates that these aborigines did not farm, but hunted and gathered for a living.

There were no beds in the cave, and Zhang Yu saw a large stone with some dry weeds on it, which was probably the sleeping place of these natives.

Zhang Yu looked at it for a while, and couldn't help frowning.

According to the "History of Human Civilization" compiled by the prince, these natives are basically still in the late stage of the primitive society that the prince said.

Such a vast territory is occupied by these uncivilized semi-savages. And the industrious Han Chinese are crowded into crowded East Asia, plowing how many acres of land per capita?

Zhang Yu felt more and more that it was a wise decision for the prince to lead the Han people to kill overseas. The ocean is bigger than people think. Everywhere there is fertile land, waiting for the Han people to cultivate.

If in a few hundred years, these islands will be full of Han people, how many trillions will the population of the Han people become?

Platoon Commander Song Renfei gestured in front of the dwarf black man for half an hour, and after the rain stopped outside the cave, he finally let the natives understand what Zhang Yu wanted. The natives sent three men and led a team of two hundred men to the outside of the cave to find the trading post abandoned by the Dutch.

The ground was very slippery after the rain. Fortunately, the shrubs on this island are very dense, and the soil is tightly wrapped in the roots of the vegetation, but it is not muddy.

After following the three natives to the west, they walked seven or eight miles into a bay surrounded by mountains, and suddenly their eyes lit up and they saw a large human settlement.

There were hundreds of thatched huts in that area, and hundreds of dwarf, unclothed black men gathered. The blacks were frightened when they saw the yellow-skinned Tiger Army soldiers walking into the bay with their rifles in hand. Many fled into the house, while others knelt on the pavement, prostrate and did not dare to get up.

Apparently these natives had seen the Dutch muskets.

Zhang Yu followed the three natives all the way forward, came to a two-story building made of stone, and stopped.

Obviously, this was the Dutchman's trading post.

Zhang Yu went into the house to take a look and found that except for some tables and chairs, all other things had been transported by the Dutch.

Zhang Yu patted the wall of the stone house and said, "Okay, this is our new stronghold, and we will stay here for at least a year." ”

"Song Renfei, you can give this stronghold a name."

Song Renfei saluted and said, "My subordinates think that this harbor is rainy, so it should be called Yuwan!" ”

Zhang Yu nodded, pulled over a chair and sat down, and said, "Okay, it's called Yuwan." ”

A soldier ran to the second floor of the building holding the "star flag" of one town and nine provinces, and hoisted the flag symbolizing sovereignty.

From then on, this was the land of the Han people.