Dominate the Country

Let’s go back to Nanmingzhou three months ago.

At the mouth of the Mohu River, the Chinese immigrant fleet that traveled from Belitung Island thousands of miles away finally arrived at its destination. The long voyage is over, and a new life is about to unfold in front of the immigrants.

The voyage of one or two months was windy and rough. They had previously established three small settlements on the west coast of this continental island, each of which had three or four hundred immigrants and a certain number of guards, so the number of immigrants who arrived here had dropped by one third, and it also cost them more than half a month on the journey.

Today is the day they arrived at Mohu, but their luck is not very good. The situation at the mouth of the Mohu River today is not very good. Not only is there a strong wind, strong winds and high waves, but there is also fog and rain.

The estuary of the Mohu River, which the fleet needs to deal with, is also a relatively tortuous waterway. The river is shaped like a spoon in the shape of the Big Dipper. They must walk through this tortuous waterway connected to the sea before they can appreciate the beauty here.

In this relatively tortuous waterway, there is a huge gourd-shaped lake. The water of the Mohu River flowing from the inland of Nanmingzhou is winding and tortuous. When it flows through Mohu, the waterway suddenly narrows, and then suddenly opens up, forming two large gourd-shaped lakes, and then merges with another water flow named Swan River, and finally flows westward into the vast Indian Ocean.

It is also the best and safest anchorage for ships.

The lake is named Swan Lake, and Mohu City is located on the shore of Swan Lake. This will be one of the most beautiful cities in the world in the future. Whenever the sun is shining, the blue water of the Mohu River jumps and flashes with crystal-like colorful rays of light, which is even more sparkling under the sun. There are often large groups of black swans swimming leisurely on the river, and large groups of seagulls perch on the river beach.

So the immigrants' lives are beautiful, but the road ahead is a bit tortuous.

Before their grand goal is achieved, they must first land on the shore of Swan Lake and find out whether there are indigenous people in the surrounding area. They want to build China's first city on Nanming Island here.

The last exploration ship that came here did not find any signs of indigenous life, but this does not mean that there will be no one living now. The indigenous people on this land do not seem to have developed agricultural civilization, but live on fishing, hunting and primitive animal husbandry.

Fifty members of the advance team took six small rowboats and rowed inland along the Mohu River. Their first task is to investigate the situation of Swan Lake, and the other is to explore the hydrology. Although there is no obvious hydrological change here in such a short interval. But the fleet must be careful.

The small rowboat was carrying weapons, food, tents, bedding, flares, etc., and was firmly fixed to the boat with a net. In addition, there were some trading items such as strong liquor, cotton cloth, knives, and iron pots in the cargo, which were used to bribe the natives in case of encountering them, or for mutual trading and exchange.

According to the data on Western colonial history collected by the court, the natives liked these little things very much.

No matter how the two sides will go in the future, the Chinese immigrants have not yet established their foothold, so it is better not to conflict with the natives.

The wind and waves at the estuary are a bit strong. At this time, there are no breakwaters and piers built in later generations. The small rowboat is placed in the water and seems to be likely to overturn at any time. But these can't stop the advance of the advance team.

When the advance team all went into the water and left the big ship, the rain became heavier and a drizzle floated in the sky.

It is already summer in Nanmingzhou, but the rain hits the face coolly. The splashes of the waves are also cool.

A petrel was flying proudly like a black lightning. Sometimes its wings split the waves like a blade, and sometimes its body pierced through the rain curtain like a sharp arrow. It fluttered its wings in the wind and rain, and flew steadily along the wind direction.

Zhang Gou stood straight on the bow as if his feet were nailed, and the ups and downs of the waves seemed to have no effect on him. Some of the advance team soldiers staggered and almost fell, but he swayed with the swaying of the boat, and his feet did not move at all. Several soldiers' faces were a little pale, not only because of the current wind and waves, but also because of the suffering they had suffered along the way. Including the soldiers, some immigrants who fell ill on the way here could only lie in the dim hammock in the bottom cabin and gasp and groan.

The advance team members went down to the rowboat through the rope ladder, and then one by one began to row hard towards the mouth of the Mohu River, and then began to measure the water depth and mark the channel.

The whole operation lasted for several hours, just for an estuary. It was not until three o'clock in the afternoon that the six rowboats that had explored the sea near the estuary rowed deeper.

The waves on the sea gradually became smaller, but it was still difficult to row the boats. The cold waves hit the cabin, the oilcloth raincoats, and the faces of the team members, blurring everyone's vision. The sea and the sky in the distance were gray, and only the occasional cry of the petrel reminded everyone to fight the wind and waves.

There were some water hyacinths floating on the sea, fixed to the bottom of the water with small iron anchors, and there were conspicuous red ribbons tied on the gourds. This was the channel marked for the big ship. The tonnage of the lightest ship in the fleet was hundreds of times larger than that of the small rowboat. With such a deep draft, it is naturally impossible to shuttle and sail freely like a small boat, otherwise it would be troublesome if it ran aground or hit a reef.

Two hours later, when the sky was getting dark, with the hard work of the group, six rowboats finally passed through the "Spoon" waterway and entered the interior of Swan Lake. The water here was much calmer, with only some slight ups and downs, and a large group of black swans were playing on the lake. Zhang Gou looked around, and in the confused rain and fog, the lush forests in front and on both sides were so fresh.

Just like walking on the prairie for a long time, a delicate red flower is far more "pleasing to the eye" than the green grassland. After a long time on the sea, Zhang Gou felt that the green in front of him was as green as Cistanche.

Zhang Gou directed the team members to row the rowboat to the left front shore, comparing the right bank of Swan Lake, that is, the south and north of the land and various conditions were better. When the boat was about to reach the shore, it ran aground. All the crew members got off the boat collectively, jumped into the waist-deep lake water, and shouted slogans and worked together to push the boat ashore.

From the shore to the endless reed marsh, as a virgin land, the environment here is "protected" as good as it can be. In the ninth and tenth months of the Chinese lunar calendar, the weather in the north has been snowing heavily, and it is just the beginning of summer in Australia. The green reeds swayed in the wind, and countless water birds lived in the reed marshes.

Zhang Gou chose the weakest place and rushed in. Without encountering any danger, they used machetes to "kill" a way and reached the shore safely. During this time, they scared away countless water birds, including the black swan.

The feathers were curly, the whole body was black and brown, and the long pointed beak was bright red, with a graceful and luxurious style.

Many of the cut reeds were dragged to the shore by them and neatly arranged on the ground. These things can be said to be good materials. After being dried yellow, they can be tied up to build a simple house, and they can also weave mats. Reed spikes can be used as brooms, and fluff can be used to fill pillows. In addition, this thing can be used to raise livestock! It can also attract. It can be said to be a useful treasure.

The rain stopped before it got dark. The advance team set up tents on a slope where there were no signs of human activity or large animal activity, and built simple earth walls and fences overnight.

The latter is to cut down trees directly. There are many trees here, especially big trees. It is visible!

Cut down small trees or branches of big trees. Tie three branches together and put them on the earth wall, and it will work.

According to the exploration bureau's understanding of the indigenous people of this place, the cultural level of the indigenous people of this continental island is very low, and they may still be in the primitive tribal slave era. There will be no muskets here, and perhaps even bows and arrows are very simple, or even no bows and arrows. A greater role of fortifications is to block and separate each other, giving both sides a space for communication, rather than relying on fortifications to block the bows and arrows of the indigenous people.

At noon the next day, the large fleet entered Swan Lake.

The river channel of the Mohu River is only three or four hundred meters. Excluding the shallow water areas on both sides, the water surface in the middle that can be used by the fleet to sail is relatively spacious. Once the fleet enters Swan Lake, it is like running from a narrow road to a square. It is too wide.

Zheng Ji stood at the bow of the ship and looked at the two banks. The vast water area is at least ten miles wide from north to south!

"Harvest reeds, clean up the site, build a pier, build a simple dock..." Zheng Ji quickly entered the state of "Governor". With the sound of freezing, small boats of immigrants were brought ashore. After these poor immigrants stepped on the ground, they all cried bitterly. China is more of a continental nation. Even those fishermen who drifted on the sea have never walked such a long sea route, including the Tanka people.

Moreover, the strong winds and waves in the ocean are completely different from those in the near sea. I don’t know how many people dream of their ships being destroyed and people dying, or the taste of stepping on the land. Now they can’t wait to step on the solid ground.

But after the venting cry, these people's emotions were relatively stable, because they could still accept the place in front of them, and even said they were very satisfied.

Such a large lake, flat land. The ten mu of basic land promised by the country for each person is absolutely enough.

If they can move faster, they can harvest a season of grains this year. It is summer here now.

By the time these immigrants moved to the shore one by one, Zhang Gou had already led thirty people to explore inland. The remaining twenty advance team members on the shore cleared a large open space, and the felled trees fell crookedly on the ground.

Not far from the landing point is a sharp corner protruding into the water. But it did not make the water flow at the landing point become so rapid. This "peninsula" protruding into the water will also be wrapped by the camp, which is a safe place.

The deck of the big ship became noisy. People coming and going were constantly being sent off the ship by the crew using a crane. Bags of supplies were also lifted from the deck to the rowboat. After being loaded with supplies, the rowboat used sails and oars to transport supplies and personnel to the shore.

After the fleet entered Swan Lake, it was far away from the wind and waves at the estuary. The wind and waves on the water made it almost impossible to feel the hull fluctuations. The sick people in the cabin were sent to the deck one after another, and then transferred to the shore first.

When Zhang Gou led the team back to the original place three days later, he saw that a circle of fences had been built around the advance team's foothold within a few hundred meters, and a simple camp had been built. Although the fences used here were all made of burnt black tree trunks, tents stood in the fences, neatly arranged, with room and drainage ditches left around. He could also see several naked children running around the tents.

More immigrants worked hard under the command of the architects who came with the ship. They had to dig protective ditches outside the camp, they had to dig drainage ditches inside the camp, they had to level the land, cut down trees, reclaim land, dig foundations, and so on.

This virgin land, which had rarely been stepped into by human footprints before and was full of primitive and natural atmosphere, ushered in a new page with the efforts of two thousand Chinese immigrants and three or four hundred armed forces including the security team.

In February of the fourth year of Chengtian, the second batch of immigrants to Nanmingzhou had set off from Taiwan by ship.

God took good care of Chen Han. There was no major disaster in the first immigration operation. This second batch of immigrants obviously made Chen Ming feel more at ease. It also made Chen Ming no longer have to worry about this matter.

He can now focus more on India and the upcoming British envoy.

Oh, and the Russians.

The failure of the Battle of Lake Balkhash will change the domestic situation in Russia. Chen Ming has not relaxed the collection of Russian intelligence in the past two years. Sweden and France are his good partners in this regard.

Although the Russians defeated the Ottomans arrogantly and also divided Poland with Prussia and Austria, they made a lot of money in terms of land area, but their national strength was also exhausted.

Regarding the war in Lake Balkhash, Carl Johan Ticilius, the Swedish ambassador to Nanjing, believed that it was the last fight of the Russians. "If we win, the war will continue; if we lose, the Russians will withdraw from the war."

Including old friends, Robin Lustig, the representative of the Swedish East India Company, and many European envoys and representatives, all made such predictions.

Then Chen Han should also start negotiating with the Russians. Finally, there are the Ottomans...