Three 20,000-stone oars sailed east along the island of Java, and the route was full of islands large and small, each covered with tropical rainforests, and occasionally some dark-skinned naked natives with spears in their hands could be seen running out of the dense forest, shouting angrily at the Song ships in protest of their arrival.

The three large ships carried enough food and fresh water, and had a large number of professional seafarers, who were skilled in the use of the compass, able to identify the stars at night, familiar with the climate change in the South Sea, and able to accurately judge storms.

"There is a storm ahead, there will be stormy waves, look for shelter immediately!" A middle-aged sailor shouted.

On the bow of the second floor of the first large ship, Fanning was staring into the distance, it was only afternoon, but a strange dark yellow appeared in the sky in the distance.

"Is this a harbinger of a rainstorm?"

Fanning muttered to himself, and he immediately turned back and asked, "Is there a shelter nearby?" ”

"We were passing through a strait just now, but you didn't agree to enter it." The captain said respectfully.

"But there was no storm just now!" Fanning replied to him coldly.

"Ignorance, understood!"

The captain walked out quickly and ordered loudly: "Tell the fleet to turn around!" ”

The three large ships began to turn around quickly, and by this time, the sky had changed, and the eastern sky, which had been dark yellow just a moment ago, had now become pitch black, and in the dark clouds, lightning was constantly streaking.

The black quickly spread westward, and the sea also fluctuated greatly, and soon, the rain poured down, and rows of stormy waves rushed from the east, and the boat began to jolt violently, and Fanning grabbed the handrail on the board of the boat and did not let himself be thrown out.

"Has the strait arrived?" He finally roared.

"See the strait, enter the strait!" The captain hissed and shouted as hard as he could.

They finally rushed to the dark stone wall of the strait and rushed into the strait desperately.

It was also dark in the strait, but the sea was calm, and they finally got rid of the rough waves at the last moment, and the strong headland of the strait kept the wind and waves behind them.

The strait is about ten miles wide, it should be said to be very narrow, and there are many huge reefs scattered on the sea, as big as small islands, but they are indeed reefs, and there is not a single tree on the stones.

Sailors and captains were very experienced, and this terrain often had reefs, and when they hit it, the ship was finished, and the ship avoided the storm and stopped sailing, quietly waiting for the dawn.

The storm raged all night, and when the morning sun shone on the sea level, the waves had disappeared, and the sea was as calm as a piece of glass, and the boulders stood on both sides, like a flash opening an ancient gate for thousands of years, waiting for its owner to pass.

Fanning looked south of the strait, which matched his sketch, "Where the hell is this?" He asked in his own words.

At this time, the captain appeared at the door and said in a deep voice: "Envoy, waiting for your order, do you want to leave the strait and continue eastward?" ”

"No!"

Fanning shook his head, "I changed my mind, and the fleet continued south, through the strait!" ”

"Yes!" The captain gave him a deep look and turned away.

No one knows what exactly Fanning is looking for? Three large ships, hundreds of seamen, more than a dozen experienced boatswain, none of them have ever been here, for them, the islands here are too ordinary, they can be seen everywhere in the South Seas, the islands are all endless primeval forests, inhabited by savage and cruel natives, some of whom are said to eat people.

Fanning was looking for Irian Island, a dinosaur-like island, the largest island in the Pacific, and once they found Irian Island, the fleet would turn around and head north to Luzon, which is not too far from Mindanao in southern Luzon.

The fleet sailed out of the strait in only one hour, and sailed for two more hours, a blue sea in front, the air was so clean that there was no trace of impurities, the vision was very good, and a black line could be vaguely seen in the distance, it should be a big island, located a hundred miles away in the south, and a strait appeared again in the east of the big island, but this strait was much wider, more than a hundred miles.

"Where is this?" Fanning muttered to himself, he was not at all impressed.

The fleet is slowly approaching the big island, and the second boat is running out of fresh water, so the first boat needs to be even, or to find a lake or stream on the big island.

At this time, Fan Ning suddenly thought of something, ran to the first floor, and said to the commander Qin Gang: "You lead a hundred soldiers ashore to look for a water source, and if you can find the natives, try to catch two people back." ”

"Obey!" Qin Gang went to assemble the team.

Fanning just remembered that many place names in this area were taken according to the pronunciation of the natives, so let's see if the pronunciation of these natives has any names that they are familiar with.

The water here is so deep that the big boats can go directly to the shore and get on the board, and the first and second boats each send a team to go ashore in search of fresh water.

An hour later, the team of the second ship returned, and they found a river, and just twenty miles to the east, the team of the first boat had already passed towards the river.

The fleet set sail again, and sailed forward, about twenty miles, only to see a waterfall appear in front of them, and a river fell from a cliff more than ten feet high, straight into the sea.

Fanning looked up at the waterfall, and if there was a leather pipe, he could direct the river to the boat.

The second big boat stopped at the bottom of the cliff, and the soldiers on the top of the cliff slowly lowered the large jug full of fresh water into the boat with a long rope, and the jug was placed in a wooden cage, which could hold twelve cans at a time, and the jug was poured into the pool of fresh water and began to be hoisted a second time.

It wasn't until late in the evening that the three large ships were filled with fresh water, and at this time, the commander made Qin Gang capture three natives from the island and returned.

The three natives were very young, two young men and a young girl, who looked to be in their teens, but they were very strong, dark-skinned and naked, their hands were tied behind their backs, and their eyes were terrified.

Fanning walked up to the three natives, pointed to the island and asked, "Where is this?" ”

The three of them looked at Fanning blankly, and Fanning pointed to the waterfall and asked, "What is this called?" ”

"Amon!" A teenager blurted out.

Fanning nodded, pointed to the island and drew a circle and asked, "What is the name of the island?" ”

The girl seemed to understand what Fanning meant, and said timidly: "Sau! ”

The name was a little familiar, Fanning pointed to the east and asked, "What's the name of the land over there?" ”

The girl hesitated for a long time and said, "Diwen! ”

Fanning suddenly understood, it is Timor Island, and in front of it is East Timor, by the way, this sea is called Savu Sea, this big island with waterfalls should not be Savu Island, but Sumba Island, isn't this strait the Zomba Strait?

Fan Ning suddenly brightened, and his heart was suddenly overjoyed, and he said to Qin Gang: "Let them go back, and each of them will give a handful.... Woodcutter! ”

"Yes!"

As soon as Qin Gang waved his hand, the soldiers escorted the three back to the shore, and Fanning hurried back to his cabin, marking the islands of Timor and Sumba on the map he had drawn in advance.

To the south of the island of Timor is the Timor Sea, and on the other side of the Timor Sea is the ...... Fanning couldn't hold back the excitement in his heart, Australia was not far from him.

Fanning slowly walked out of the cabin and walked to the side of the ship, looking out at the ocean in the distance, when he saw dozens of men and women standing on the cliff, holding wooden spears in their hands, watching the fleet, and the three young men and women were among them, each holding a woodcutter in his hand.

In a moment, the group turned and left, disappearing into the dense forest.

The flotilla continued eastward, and two days later rounded the island of Timor and headed towards the Timor Sea.

Along the way, Fanning saw too many uninhabited islands and countless lands, and his heart had long since lost the excitement he had when he first saw Tanzhou, and he was even a little numb.

Of course, this is a tropical rainforest, and it is too difficult to develop, and Luzon is the best food base, and Baozhou will be the same in the future.

The fleet's journey through the Timor Sea took longer than expected, three days, and Fanning was awakened by the sound of a knock on the door outside.

"Envoy! Come and see. ”

Fanning hurriedly got up, put on a coat and walked outside, out of the side of the ship, the soldier kept ahead, "Look, that piece of land!" ”

Fanning froze for a moment, and a long coastline appeared in the distance, it was a continent, his nose was sore, his eyes were a little red, and they found Australia.

"Which direction?"

"Southeast, a little too south!"

Fanning nodded, that's right, it's really Australia, they may not see Melville Island, but the Kimberley Plateau to the west.