The sea is blue and blue, the sky is cloudless, and there is not even a trace of wind on the sea. The silvery white sand of the coast stretches inland, and it looks like a desert reaching the sea, and only further away can you see the yellow mud with a hint of green, and the trees here are very strange, which is obviously different from other places.

In the distance, a fleet of about six clippers appeared, and the fleet was slowly heading towards the coast.

"There's no wind here, nephew, your clipper is still useful?" Zheng Xi complained, "Why did you let your uncle come to this place?" How long will the boat have to go in this windless place! ”

The fleet departed from the East, laden with captives and soldiers, ready to go to Australia to open up the lands. The fleet passed through Luzon and was resupplied before reaching Borneo, where it sailed southeast after receiving its last supplies.

However, after the fleet had crossed the Nusa Tenggara Islands, it sailed southeast, and there was no wind all the way, and the clippers, who had been sailing very fast, were suddenly trapped on the surface of the sea. Fortunately, there was a spare oar on board, and Wang Xinyu drove the captives to the oar, and then slowly crawled at a speed of less than two knots, and walked for more than a month, and there was no trace of the coastline.

After entering the southern hemisphere, the sky and stars were completely different, and some of the people in the fleet who were familiar with astronomical astronomy and astronomy were of no use here, and relied entirely on compasses and sextants to guide the way.

Wang Xinyu patted his head, it was obvious that he had forgotten one point: after entering the southern hemisphere from the equator, sailing in the direction of Oceania, there was a long voyage that was windless all year round, which was an indescribable disaster for the wind-powered sailing ship back then!

Zheng Xi was still complaining: "When you get to this ghost place, even if there is more land and more minerals, what about it? I can't even bring people! The mined minerals can't be shipped back! ”

"Brother-in-law, the red-haired ghost has already said it. From Borneo Island to the southeast, there are a series of deserted islands, and there is no wind, the red-haired ghosts dare not go here, we rushed over, how can we go back then? Zheng Jing asked.

On the windless belt, not to mention clippers, even the fastest catamaran clippers have turned into useless waste.

"It seems that we have to build the kind of ship that eats the big cannibals, the slave oarsman's boat. Wait for us to go back. Let's go to a few big food shipbuilders and ask them to help us build this kind of ship. Wang Xinyu replied.

Steam ships, don't think about it for the time being, to build a steam engine, that technology will take many years to achieve. To solve the problem of sailing in windless areas, the only way to build an oarboat is to build a sailboat.

The so-called slave oarsmen's boats were Arab galleys, which were used by Arabs and Persians. The ship is slender in shape, with numerous oars sticking out of the windows of the oarsmen's deck on both sides. The slave oarsmen were shackled to the deck and sat in the oarsmen's cabins, paddling non-stop to provide power. There are also several overseers in the oarsman's cabin who are armed with leather whips. Whoever is lazy will be whipped with a whip.

Since Arab boats often operate in the Mediterranean, and the Mediterranean Sea is a windless area, galleys are the best choice.

Most of these slave oarsmen were black slaves captured by the Arabs from Africa. There were also some Arabs, Persians, or low-caste people in India, and even white slaves captured by Arabs from Europe.

Since the Arab Empire weakened. After the rise of the Ottoman Empire, the Turks inherited the Arab galleys. However, the Ottoman Empire did not seem to be as business-friendly as the Arabs, but more interested in war. The Arab galleys, originally merchant ships, were turned into gunboats in the hands of the Ottoman Empire.

If Wang Xinyu wants to build this kind of ship, he only needs to ask the British to make a trip and find a group of Arab shipbuilders. The Turks, in their occupied territories, preserved the Arabic language, as well as the shipbuilding technology of the Arabs.

"Go back?" Zheng Xi smiled bitterly, "We are in this windless belt, how long will it take to go back?" It took us a month to get here, and it took a month to go back. We don't have enough food on board! ”

"We won't go down this road when we go back! If we had known that this was a windless zone, we should have built a galleys first. Wang Xinyu said apologetically.

Just go around Australia, sail north, and meet the monsoon belt again, when the ship can go all the way north to Dongfan Island, and then follow the coastline north to Nuergan. When we get back to the East, let Albert go back to the East India Company and ask the British to come forward and recruit a group of shipbuilders from the Ottoman Empire.

"Let's wait until we find the shoreline and land! I know about Dongzhou, and the Taixi people have been there. It's just that my uncle was hurt by you. Zheng Jing said dejectedly. At this time, he regretted that he had died, why did he follow his uncle here to have a look, why didn't he just sail to Dongzhou. If you hadn't come to this hellish place and sailed directly to Dongzhou (North America), you might have arrived a long time ago, and you would have occupied a large area of land over there, and maybe you might have dug up gold.

"Coastline!" At this moment, someone on the boat shouted excitedly.

"Hurry up and swing! Get ashore early! Zheng Jing shouted and told the captives to hurry up and shake the oars.

Everyone has been adrift on the sea for a month, and the foreign sailors in the fleet are fine, but the sailors of the Zheng Jiajun and Qiongzhou Army have suffered, and they have been adrift like this on the ocean once upon a time? The sailors of the Zheng Jiajun and the Qiongzhou Army, every time they set sail, they walked along the coastline, and they could dock at any time along the way to get fresh water and food supplies. This voyage did not dock for a month, and everyone was miserable.

The fresh water carried on the ship had long been green and smelly, and even if it was mixed with rum, it still had a foul smell that was hard to swallow. The beer brought out has long been drunk, and even if it is not finished, the beer has long since turned sour. Although Wang Xinyu designed the seawater desalination, the firewood on the ship was also exhausted, and he couldn't even cook rice, so he could only gnaw dry food, where was the excess firewood to distill seawater. Due to the lack of fresh water and the hot climate, the food on board became unpalatable.

At this time, when the land was seen, everyone let out a shout of excitement.

However, no matter how hard you sway the oar, a boat has a pair of oars, and it is already very crowded to let more than ten people shake a pair of oars at the same time. The 500-ton clipper ship relied on a rocking boat to sail, and no matter how hard it tried, it couldn't get up fast.

The captives panted and rocked for more than an hour before the boat approached the shore.

Wang Xinyu ordered to put down the boat. Oars rocked by a group of sailors. The musketeers with the pathfinder went ashore from the beach.

After going ashore, the team members found that the beach here was too big, and they went deep into the interior, and as far as the eye could see, it was a yellow, orange and orange sand. But a little further to the left, a large expanse of grassland appeared in front of me, and sparse woods were scattered across the grassland.

The boat rowed back, and Wang Xinyu, Zheng Xi and Zheng Jing took their own soldiers and went ashore in a small boat.

After going ashore. Zheng Xi, Zheng Jing and others found that the flowers and trees here are completely different, even the flowers and trees owned by Nanyang, which is not too far away, most of them cannot be seen here, and the plants that can be seen here cannot be seen in Nanyang, in short, this is a magical place.

However, at this time, everyone is most interested in not the exotic flowers and plants here, but the urgency to find water to drink. The green, smelly water on the boat had been drunk for a long time, and when they found a place of clean water, everyone rushed to the water's edge. took a big gulp of water, and after drinking, some people greedily picked up the water to wash their faces.

"It's hot to death! Go down and take a shower here, not to mention how comfortable it is! Zheng Xian shouted and shouted.

"Let all the brethren get off the boat and start their work here. Build a barracks first, and then develop into it little by little! Wang Xinyu said to Zheng Xi.

"Yes, let the brethren come down, they have to settle down here!" Zheng Xi said. This is already Zheng Xi's fiefdom. These Ming soldiers and prisoners who came, as well as the people summoned from Dongfan, Qiongzhou and other places, were all under Zheng Xi. They will all make their home here. Although Zheng Xi does not need to live here for the time being, the early development of this place, the grain and minerals produced, and the money earned are all Zheng Zheng's wealth, and the sooner it is built, the sooner it will be harvested.

"Since we're here, we have to put up a sign with the name of the city, right? It's like Yanping City established by my brother-in-law. Zheng Jing made a suggestion.

"Let's call it Xin'anping! There is an Anping City in the east, and it is called Xinanping here! Wang Xinyu said. To be honest, Wang Xinyu himself didn't know where his specific location was at this time, only that this should be the edge of the Dasha Desert in northwest Australia, with the savannah in the east and deserts in all other directions.

"Good! That's called Xin'anping! Zheng Xi then asked people to take a large stone tablet and engraved the three words "Xin'anping" on it.

One by one, the people who came to this land left the ship and went ashore in small boats, and the group settled down in the grasslands on the edge of the desert. The soldiers first buried the cauldron on the spot and boiled the pot to cook. After the meal was served, the captives and the men, under the supervision of the soldiers, went to cut wood in the surrounding area. To be on the safe side, a group of soldiers went with the people and the captives.

Some distance from the nearby forest, the men and the captives walked about five miles into a forest, where they cut wood, built carts, and brought the wood back. While the men and captives cut down wood to build their vehicles, the soldiers stood guard with their guns in case of attacks by wild beasts and natives.

"There's an attacker coming!" Suddenly, someone shouted.

The men and captives left their work behind the felled logs. The flintlock muskets raised their guns and aimed them at the outside of the forest.

"What kind of monster?" Seeing that the "attackers" were getting closer and closer, the hands of the soldiers holding their guns were a little sweaty. I saw that kind of monster stood up so tall, and its head was like the head of a deer, but the front two legs were very short, and the back two legs were very long, and it was bouncing on the ground and running very fast. When they saw people, these monsters rushed over, and they seemed not afraid of people at all.

"Not good! They're coming to eat us! Someone screamed.

One of the officers shouted: "Quick, get ready to fire!" Kill them, brutes! ”

"Slow! Don't shoot! Wang Xinyu's shout came from outside the forest, "They are not hostile!" Don't shoot! If you shoot, you will be retaliated by them! ”

The soldiers put away their guns suspiciously, but saw that Wang Xinyu and the others, who had arrived outside the forest, were surrounded by a group of "monsters", which looked very tall, but they were obviously very docile, and they were not afraid of people. The "monsters" surrounded Wang Xinyu and others, but Wang Xinyu reached out to greet these "monsters" in a friendly manner. And the "monsters" stared at these people with big round eyes, curious. The "monster" stood there with its thick tail propping up the ground.

Among them, there are also several "monsters" with their bellies, and the heads of small "monsters" come out, looking curiously at the people around them.

After a while, these "monsters" may not feel new to people, and they will bounce away again.

"You don't have to be afraid of them, they are not hostile to us. This is the animal here, and like the deer, it was raised eating grass. In the future, when you get acquainted with them, those who want to raise them can also raise a few to play. Wang Xinyu said to everyone.

While they were talking, the "monsters" came running back and surrounded them curiously.

"Leave them alone, we do our job! When you're tired from work, you can tease them, but don't overdo it, they have a lot of strength, and it's hard to be swept by the tail or kicked by them! Wang Xinyu reminded.

Seeing that people were ignoring them, the "monsters" watched from the side for a while, and then left.

Men and captives cut down wood and built vehicles at the edge of the forest. Soon after, more than a dozen large cars were built. The men and the captives then returned to the seaside camp with the felled wood in their carts.

"Dig a trench around and erect the wood, and build a barracks to the same standard as usual." Wang Xinyu said. Although there are no man-eating beasts and there are not many natives, it is necessary to take precautions. According to the knowledge in his previous life, Wang Xinyu vaguely knew that there were about four or five hundred thousand aborigines in Australia, and if he didn't take some precautions, if he was really attacked by the natives, it would be too late to cry.

Under the command of the soldiers, the men and the captives dug a circle of trenches one zhang wide and five feet deep along the camp, and piled up the excavated earth into a mud city one zhang wide and five feet high, and then put a wooden fence on top of the earthen city.

On each of the four corners of the city, a tower was built, on which stood sentry archers, which were both guard towers and arrow towers, just like the towers in the gold mining areas of Borneo, when an attacker arrived, the soldiers on the tower could send an alarm signal in time, and could shoot from a distance with their compound bows.

The soldiers removed sixteen tiger squat cannons from the ship and set up cannons around the earthen city, with four cannons on each side.

After the outer fortifications were built, it was already dark. On the first night of arrival, the group could only spend the night in a tent. The next day, Minzhuang and the captives began to build houses in the camp. (To be continued.) )