If the silver trading rights before were a small and cold dish, then the next big meal would be enough for the Queen to have a good meal.

Under the description of Princess Sissi, the development of that island in Mauritius is really a journey of suffering.

Mauritius Island can be said to be a casual guy who had suddenly had an idea. It seems to have little effect on the Chinese Buwu chessboard.

Ryukyu is too far from Mauritius, separated by the entire Southeast Asia and the Indian Ocean, and reached a place 20° south of the equator.

This can be said to be an absolutely unfamiliar area for Chinese people. What is the use of Xiao Letian spending money to buy this land? Is it really just for the sake of having a tryst with Princess Sissi?

The head of state is not that boring and superficial. Many plans take many years to see the results, and many opportunities are very unpredictable.

Just like this bargaining with the Queen this time, Xiao Letian suddenly thought of this idle chess. It would be hard to connect to a big dragon after careful planning.

"Your Majesty, immigrating from far East Asia to Mauritius, the fleet is not walking in the Strait of Malacca, but another unfamiliar sea..."

In 1871, although humans had begun to use steam-powered ships on a large scale, sailing ships in the past did not withdraw from the stage of history.

Because sail-powered ships still save money, the distance is even longer without replenishing coal cruises!

Although the Chinese have money, they also spend a lot of money. Officials will definitely not use new technology steam-powered ships to develop non-emergency tasks like Mauritius.

Sailing ships set off from Ryukyu and headed south to Mauritius. Remember that this route does not pass through the Strait of Malacca, but goes south in the Strait of Sunda.

Because Mauritius is south of the equator and the Strait of Malacca is north of the equator, if you go around the Strait of Malacca, this is a typical long journey.

If you walk through the Sunda Strait or the Java Islands, you can enter the Walton Sea Basin west of Australia!

From here, you can go straight west and pass through some scattered archipelagos directly to Mauritius!

Taking this route is not just a shortcut, but more importantly, there is an equatorial warm current in this sea area, where the sea water of the Indian Ocean forms a continuous current from east to west.

From the Walton Basin, it all goes to Madagascar and the African coast!

The sail-powered ships take this route is really convenient and fast. Even if there is no wind, you don’t have to worry. The equatorial warm current can push you forward.

Everything seems beautiful, but the sea is capricious. Although the warm current is very stable, the Indian Ocean is a stormy ocean.

Another huge problem with this line is its emptiness, no land and few islands. Once it encounters a storm, you will have to bet on your life!

"Your Majesty, you should know how terrible the storm in the Indian Ocean is. Too many ships are buried in the sea, and too many Chinese immigrants die in the storm..."

"It is not only these immigrants who go to Mauritius, but also the growing marine fishing industry of the Chinese people, which has also received threats from storms..."

"So...I beg the Queen to sell us some islands and land as a safe haven for Chinese seafarers?"

"You don't have to worry, the land that the Chinese people want to buy is not near the Golden Channel, but is all barren land that has not been developed on the empire's territory..."

The atmosphere in the palace became a little nervous, and the queen's expression became a little serious. If silver was just an ordinary metal, then the symbolicity of the land would be much greater.

"Purchase the land?" The queen pondered for a long time. "Can you tell me where you want the land?"

Princess Sissi quickly smiled and said, "Christmas Island, Cocos Islands, Chagos Islands...including the coastline of western Australia..."

The picture shows how to find out, Xiao Letian's conspiracy has finally reached the core part, aiming at Australia!

The future industrial development of the Chinese people is inseparable from resources. In the second industrial revolution, Petroleum, coal, metal minerals... these raw materials are also indispensable!

But Xiao Letian is also very clear that the lifeline of resources must be controlled in his own hands to be safe. If you rely entirely on imports, then wait for others to choke.

Coal is not a problem. Coal from a single province in Shanxi is enough for China to use!

Oil is not a big problem, and the Brunei oil field is already controlled by the Chinese!

It is difficult to deal with metals such as gold, silver, and nonferrous metals. These are rare metals around the world, but the overall usage is still not large. I believe that the Chinese people can solve this problem in the future.

But iron ore! This one is just a choke!

If China wants to industrialize, its scale is too large. Iron ore is the most basic and important one of all metal resources. If we don’t start to consider layout now, it will be too late to wait until the fire is in full swing.

Western Australia is the most important iron ore base in the world in the future. China and Australia have fought diplomatic lawsuits for many years due to iron ore trade.

But in 1871, in the mid-nineteenth century, western Australia was still a completely wilderness!

That’s right, there is not even a white city in western Australia. It is completely deserted by deserts and plateaus, and even indigenous peoples are unwilling to live here.

Only a portion of the indigenous towns on the coast live on the fishing industry!

Why is this happening? Because the land in Australia is very strange, all the lakes and rivers are concentrated in the east, while there are only a few seasonal rivers in the west.

The Great Sand Desert, Gibson Desert, Victoria Desert, Darling Mountains, Kimberley Plateau... together form the barren Western Australia.

The only cognition here gives humans is drought. There are also rivers and lakes on deserts and plateaus, but they are all seasonal.

In the short rainy season, you can see precious water flow, and it will immediately dry up once the rainy season passes!

Agriculture cannot develop here at all, and people are even hard to maintain their lives, so no white immigrants live here, they are all concentrated in Sydney.

Of course, it is not without explorers and geologists who want to find minerals in that mountain desert.

However, due to the technological level at that time, the British had never found valuable mineral veins!

The development of western Australia actually took until the end of the 19th century, nearly twenty years later, after geologists discovered gold mines in Western Australia, and large-scale immigration emerged.

The iron ore development in Western Australia is even further away, and it will be after 1952, when the Korean War broke out!

BHP Australia, one of the world's three giants of steel, only started its business after that!

Xiao Letian dares to make this request, which is to bet on how Western Australia is in the eyes of the British!
Chapter completed!