In fact, Dutch merchant ships reached the Australian coast many times over the decades, but showed no interest in it.

For most Dutch people, the spice business is already making a lot of money, so why are they still running around?

Australia has long been located far away from the spice trade. Except for occasional expeditions, everyone who landed on this continent encountered shipwrecks and was blown away by strong winds...

The wealthy Dutch, even if they plant their flags, do not intend to take over this land where birds do not poop.

Later, the British wandered over.

A British pirate leader named William Dampier came to an island near Australia during his escape, which aroused his interest in this continent.

Ten years later, he set sail again and arrived at Shark Bay on the west coast of Australia.

Although the Dutch disliked this place, people at that time still called this continent New Netherlands. After all, only the Dutch had set up a sign here.

William Dampier wandered around the west coast of Australia for four months. He was completely disappointed. What was there in this place? It was deserted...

The Portuguese were not interested, the Spanish were not found, the Dutch were disgusted, and now it was the British's turn, and they were also disgusted...

This dislike means that for more than seventy years, the whole world has been busy, but no one pays attention to Australia.

It was not until 1770 that the Englishman James Cook came to Australia again. This time, he unexpectedly landed on the east coast.

This place is much more pleasing to the eye than the west coast. At least it is full of various plants and looks like a place where people can stay.

Because of this, James Cook portrayed Australia as a vibrant place in his adventure books...

However, the British do not regard Australia as a paradise and still dislike it somewhat.

So, a few years later, the British made a resolute decision to use Australia as a new penal colony for criminals, turning it into a natural prison.

In 1788, a fleet of 1,530 people led by Captain Phillip arrived at Botanic Garden Bay in Australia, including more than 700 prisoners.

Eight days later, they officially established the first British colony in Port Jackson, Australia.

The population of this place continued to grow, and it gradually became Australia's largest city, Sydney...

…

Hearing King Ding Zhu Cijiong talk about the New World, Zhu Cixiang thought of the Australian continent.

According to history, Australia had been discovered by the Dutch and Portuguese at this time, but they just soaked it and left.

As for the English, they had not yet visited the Australian mainland at that time.

If the Dutch and Portuguese knew that the continent they despised contained treasures underground, they would never leave.

Australia has more than 70 kinds of mineral resources and is known as a country sitting in a mine car.

As long as the Ming army is stationed in Australia, it will be difficult for other countries to land on this land.

The indigenous people above will be paid laborers of the Ming Dynasty from now on. As long as they work honestly and do not resist the Ming Dynasty, the Ming Dynasty will not destroy them and will let them live a good life.

And give them wages and food. After all, there has never been any conflict between the indigenous people and the Chinese there, so we still have to show mercy.

…

September of the seventh year of Shenwu

A mysterious continent in the South Pacific.

It borders the Coral Sea and Tasman Sea of ​​the Pacific Ocean to the east, and the Indian Ocean and its marginal seas to the west, north and south.

There are mountains in the east, plains in the middle, and plateaus in the west. Near the sea, there is a narrow beach with gentle slopes, gently sloping to the west, gradually becoming a plain.

The coastal area is full of wide sandy beaches and lush vegetation, and the terrain here is diverse.

This is an arid or semi-arid zone, and most of the central area is not suitable for human habitation.

There are 11 large deserts on the mysterious continent, which account for about 20% of the entire continent.

This is the flattest and driest continent in the world. The lake in the middle is the lowest point here, with the lake level 16 meters below sea level.

Buried underneath here is the world's largest iron ore, coal, bauxite, lead, diamonds, silver and more!

Although many minerals were not in use at this time, iron ore, silver ore, and copper ore were the most important resources at that time.

Among them, it ranks first in the world in iron ore reserves, second in the world in silver reserves, and seventh in the world in copper ore reserves.

There are only 260,000 square kilometers of land that can be used for livestock raising and farming, mainly distributed in the southeastern coastal areas.

This is Australia in later generations, but at this time it is just a desolate and mysterious continent.

Today, this continent welcomes its master, an ancient civilization from the East with a history of five thousand years, the Chinese Ming Dynasty!

In the southeast of this continent, countless sailboats and warships appeared on the blue sea, including an ironclad warship.

A few natives who were fishing on the shore suddenly saw the densely packed boats on the sea. As if they were seeing monsters, they threw away the tree forks and stone spears in their hands and fled towards the jungle on the shore.

The ships that came were none other than the Ming Dynasty fleet. Ding Wang Zhu Cijiong stood on the deck of the Shenwu armored battleship, holding a telescope in his hand and observing the mysterious continent ahead.

This armored battleship is a reward from Zhu Cixiang's system and is also the world's first steam-driven armored battleship.

Zhu Cixiang, the Shenwu Emperor of the Ming Dynasty, originally wanted to name the ironclad Shi Huang, but Zhu Chenggong, the military commander of the Ming Dynasty Navy and other military attachés such as Min Guogong, strongly opposed it and suggested naming it after the Shenwu. Zhu Cixi could only laugh it off...

The Shenwu is the flagship of this expedition fleet. The Vice Commander of the Navy, Huang Fei, and the King of Ding, Zhu Cijiong, are stationed on the Shenwu. They are ordered to develop the New World.

After hearing from the elder brother that there were iron mines, gold and silver mines, and copper mines on this continent, Zhu Cijiong led 30,000 troops to occupy it.

When he actually saw this continent, Prince Ding Zhu Cijiong suddenly felt disappointed.

He didn't see a single house. All he saw were weeds and dense woods. If it was really as good as the elder brother said, why didn't he find any human habitation?

At this time, Shen Tingyang, the captain of the Shenwu, walked up to Ding Wang Zhu Cijiong, raised his hands and asked:

"Your Majesty, we have finally arrived. There is not even a port here. When will the army land?"

This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! Zhu Cijiong put down the telescope and said:

"When you dock in deep water, if you can't find the deep water on the shore, put down your small boat and land, and bring all your weapons and tools to wade ashore."

"Here!"

Shen Tingyang took the order and immediately sent an order to find a suitable coast for landing, and soon found a coast suitable for landing warships and ships.

The sea water here is very deep, and the warship can drive about two meters to the shore and use the springboard carried on the ship to land.

"Your Majesty, you can dock ahead."

Zhu Cijiong nodded:

"Order some soldiers to guard the battleship, and all others to land!"

"Here!"

This fleet is very large, with one ironclad battleship, twenty sailing battleships, and hundreds of transport ships.

There are 30,000 horses, 5,000 soldiers and more than 20,000 indigenous people from Nanhai Province and Ming Dynasty people. They are all here to open up this new continent.

Zhu Cijiong gave the order, and the soldiers and civilians came ashore with their equipment.

There are many daily necessities and various tools that need to be moved ashore, as well as war horses and portable firearms.

The artillery is temporarily placed on the battleship, and can be moved on at any time if necessary. The soldiers only carry fifty mortars as backup, and carry rifles and grenades with them...

The fleet has just arrived here and knows nothing about this continent. Zhu Cijiong must take precautions...

There are no houses on the mainland. After landing, you must first find a suitable place to live. Otherwise, what will you do if there are so many people eating, drinking, and urinating?

When you come to this new continent, you also need to look for land that can be cultivated. China has been a farming nation since ancient times. Finding cultivated land is the first priority, and then settling down.

Only when you find a place suitable for living can you build a house and live there. There are tall trees everywhere here, so building a house is not a problem.

With the map and route map given by Emperor Shenwu, Prince Ding Zhu Cijiong and Deputy Governor Huang Fei did not need to use their brains too much and could just search according to the map.

King Ding led his men to inspect the terrain during the day and set up tents to sleep at night. After half a month, they determined where to live.

Searching according to the map, they did not find a place suitable for farming. The land was covered with grass and grass, and other than providing fodder for war horses, nothing else could be used.

They heard that there was gold and silver everywhere here, but what they saw was weeds everywhere. The soldiers who followed King Ding excitedly to pick up the gold were dumbfounded at this time.

"My lord, there is no fertile farmland here. It's all weeds and wild animals. The big rats scare people to death..."

Ding Wang Zhu Cijiong was also a little disappointed, but he knew that the eldest brother asked him to open up wasteland. Before development, there was no fertile farmland here.

Seeing that the morale of the soldiers was low, he consoled him:

"Don't worry, although there are weeds everywhere here, there are not many big trees. As long as the weeds are removed, it will become fertile land. Don't worry, as long as you do your job well, I will not treat you badly. Each of you will be rewarded fifty taels of silver, which will be considered as settlement expenses." Bar……"

"Setting-in allowance?"

"You have money and nowhere to go?"

Prince Ding spent a lot of words to persuade his subordinates to open up wasteland, but he did not use the authority of the prince to suppress them.

In addition to the people of the Ming Dynasty, there are also many soldiers. Although they have doubts, they will resolutely obey the words of King Ding Qiansui.

As for the natives brought here, they didn't dare to act blindly, they just worked hard.

From then on, more than 20,000 people began to work hard under the management of veterans.

Although everything had to be started from scratch, a few days later, thousands of acres of fertile land were cultivated.

The area here is too large, and more than 20,000 people are simply not enough. King Ding asked Shen Tingyang to go to Nanhai and Luzon to recruit another 50,000 people, and mainly focused on families.
To be continued...