MTL - I-Chapter 1060 1056 [New Guinea and Australia]

  Chapter 1060 1056 [New Guinea and Australia]

  When Liang Zhen led his army to attack the Fergana Basin, the main force of the Datong Army was dividing troops to attack Urumqi and Balikun.

   Both places are fertile soil that can be cultivated, but at this time they are all nomadic tribes, and the cities built in the Yuan Dynasty have long been abandoned.

  When the Datong army reached Urumqi, the local tribes fled directly.

  Among them, the Kuben Nuoyat tribe fled to the northwest to join Junggar. Galdan Dorji tribe fled to the northeast to join Heshuote.

  The Datong Army did not chase after it, and directly placed 5,000 civilians here, and rebuilt a new city on the site of Bali City in Yangji in the Yuan Dynasty. This is the bridgehead for the attack on northern Xinjiang. The Datong army is on an expedition, and they are unable to go north in a short time. Controlling the Urumqi area is for the future.

   Another Datong army that attacked Barkol also encountered no resistance.

  The nine brothers who escaped from Qinghai at the beginning have died of old age and disease, and only four are left. They had been terrified by the Datong army for a long time, so they directly abandoned the Balikun Basin and moved further north to avoid the front of the army.

  The Datong Army also did not pursue, and immigrated and built a city in Barkol, as a bridgehead for future attacks on northern Xinjiang.

  Seeing that the Datong army stopped in two places, Galdan, who was nested and Buxer, moved. Balikun's Heshuote tribe moved northward, and inevitably competed with the northern tribe for pastures. As a result, the Heshuote tribe fell into civil strife, and Galdan led his army to attack immediately.

  Galdan won three battles and three victories, and the Heshuo Special Department was forced to surrender. After this guy unified northern Xinjiang, he actually declared the establishment of the Junggar Khanate, blatantly ignoring the existence of the Nanjing court.

  Northern Xinjiang has not yet been taken, nor has the Yili River Valley, but the money, food and immigrants have been consumed almost.

  Jiang Liang applied for an additional 50,000 immigrants while applying for the allocation of money and food.

  When the cabinet ministers received the news, they all felt that the Western Regions were a bottomless pit, and when tens of millions of taels of silver were thrown in, there was nothing to see. In addition to military expenses, immigration and city building were too expensive.

  The imperial court was heavily in debt and owed huge loans to Datong Bank, and a lot of that money came from private storage.

Zhu Shunshui retired from his old age and returned to his hometown. Before leaving Nanjing, he privately advised in the palace: "Your Majesty, most of the Western Regions have been recovered, and the rest can be slowly worked out. The debt owed by the imperial court today is huge, which has never been heard of in ancient times. It must not... It's militaristic!"

   "It must be done once and for all." Zhao Han replied.

  Zhu Shunshui sighed secretly, it is not good to persuade, because persuasion is useless.

  He doesn't understand the current financial model. The imperial courts of the past dynasties fought wars, and if they didn't have enough money, they levied additional taxes, or collected salt and iron to make a fortune, and the civilians also expropriated without compensation. The current Datong imperial court actually borrowed money from the bank to fight the war, and did not use the money in the treasury, and even paid a small amount of wages for recruiting civilians.

  However, domestic people's livelihood has not been greatly affected, only a slight increase in food prices.

  Zhu Shunshui retired from old age and returned to his hometown, and Wu Yingji was also weak and sick. They both retired, and Zuo Xiaoliang and Wang Tiaoding moved into the cabinet to assist in the administration.

  The imperial court once again issued an order to encourage people from the southern provinces to immigrate. They also advertised in the newspapers that the Ili River Valley and the Fergana Basin were praised as the pearls of the Western Regions, and they were on the south of the Yangtze River. In the past, the land was allocated to immigrants, and they could work as officials after graduating from elementary school, and bachelors could also be assigned to wives of different races.

  In the southern provinces, the contradiction between people and land has become a little bit, and there are always people who are willing to immigrate.

  Especially for bachelors with too many brothers in the family, the previously allocated fields can only maintain food and clothing. After they immigrated, they were able to leave a sum of money to settle down and improve their family's living conditions, so they might not have thought of going to the Western Regions.

  In the year when immigrants were encouraged, tens of thousands of people signed up one after another.

  5,000 of them immigrated to the Fergana Basin, where it has been renamed Dawan Military and Civilian Mansion. The remaining thousands are planned to be settled in Ili, and next year they will attack the Ili River Valley.

  Although the battle has not yet ended, the imperial court has officially established the Anxi Protectorate.

   Among them, Dunhuang and other places were placed under Gansu Province.

  In the Hami and Balikun areas, the Yihe Military and Civilian Mansion was established, which is affiliated to the Anxi Duhu Mansion.

  In the Turpan and Urumqi areas, the Cheshi Military and Civilian Mansion was established, which belongs to the Anxi Duhu Mansion.

  In Aksu, Hotan, Kashgar, Yarkand and other places, Shache Military and Civilian Mansions were established, which belonged to Anxi Duhufu.

  In the Congling and Dawan areas, the Dawan Military and Civilian Mansion was established, which is subordinate to the Anxi Duhu Mansion.

  The Kyrgyz and Ili River Valleys are planning to establish the Yili Military and Civilian Mansion, which is affiliated to the Anxi Duhu Mansion.

   After taking over the northern border and operating it for another ten or twenty years, the Anxi Protectorate may be divided into two. On the east side, establish Xinjiang Province. The area to the west will continue to be governed by the Protectorate's Mansion, and then consider the establishment of a province.

  The household registration office of each province has been open to immigration business for a long time.

  As long as you are willing to immigrate to the Western Regions, you can go to the county government to register. Each province, prefecture, and county will provide special immigration funds according to the number of immigrants each year. This policy will last for ten years.

   It can not only enrich the population of the Western Regions, but also ease the conflicts between people and land in the country. Only the imperial court has been losing money and throwing money.

   There are three to five thousand immigrants a year, sometimes even tens of thousands. After ten years of persistence, even the Fergana Basin is enough to support four Han cities.

   What's more, there are businessmen who take the initiative to run over.

  There is the Silk Road, and merchants are willing to go no matter how far away they are in pursuit of profit. There are always some who want to stay in the Western Regions, first open a trading station, and then engage in various store operations.

  …

Shanghai.

  A fleet sailed north, Prince Zhao Kuanghuan was on board.

   We chose the season when the wind is smooth and the water is smooth, and we have to dock before summer to avoid the prince from encountering a big storm.

  Prince’s northern tour, one is to increase knowledge, and the other is to visit his mentor on behalf of the emperor.

  Pang Chunlai has been ill for several years, with ups and downs, he probably won't last long.

   "Ouch!"

  For two full days, Zhao Kuanghuan vomited on the boat, but the symptoms of seasickness were obviously relieved.

  The ministers objected to this trip, thinking that the prince should not go there, and they could choose other princes instead. After all, at the beginning of the founding of the Ming Dynasty, Prince Zhu Biao went to inspect Xi'an, and died of illness shortly after returning to Nanjing.

   Zhao Han insisted on letting the prince go, and stayed in Nanjing all day, how could he do it without seeing the outside world?

   "Your Highness, are you feeling better?"

   "It's okay, I didn't faint as much as yesterday."

  Although he was seasick, Zhao Kuanghuan was very happy. Who wouldn’t want to take a long trip among young people?

   Another day later, Zhao Kuanghuan fully adapted and stood on the deck to enjoy the sea view. The vast and boundless sea made Zhao Kuanghuan feel relaxed and happy, and he felt a sense of pride. He even wanted to visit the Mongolian grassland. He heard that the scenery of the grassland was also very magnificent.

   Li Quan also accompanied him. Zhao Han wanted the prince to get in touch with the Sihai Trading Company in advance. After all, this is a semi-royal company.

   "I heard that you went on an expedition to Nanyang and returned to China last winter?" Zhao Kuanghuan asked.

  Li Quan said: "Exactly."

  Zhao Kuanghuan asked curiously, "Where did you go and what happened?"

  Li Quan narrated: "First, I went to a large island called New Guinea. The name was given by the Portuguese, and I dared to change the name to Nanman Island."

   "Why did you choose this name?" Zhao Kuanghuan asked.

Li Quan said: "The natives of this island are all black, and they have the custom of headhunting. When it comes to headhunting, the women and children are the men, and the men go to attack the enemy tribes. They often attack at night to hunt the enemy's head. Some tribes, the Hunted human skulls are made into various decorative objects. There are also some tribes that have the custom of cannibalism, and also eat the corpses of relatives, thinking that they can carry the souls of dead relatives.”

  Zhao Kuanghuan said in amazement: "Headhunters and cannibals, the world is so big, there are really no surprises."

   "It is located in a remote area, mostly hot and humid rainforest, and does not produce spices and food. Even Europeans are unwilling to colonize the island." Li Quan said.

  Zhao Kuanghuan asked again: "Aside from Nanman Island, where else have you been?"

Li Quan said: "Further south, there is a big island called New Holland. It can't even be called an island, but a continent. It took five months to sail along the coast. On the way, we can only supply fresh water. The food was almost exhausted, and I relied on fishing and hunting to maintain it, and finally had to return to Java Island."

  New Holland is Australia. The so-called coastline has not been completed in five months because of frequent landings to check the situation.

   Several suitable places for survival have been identified, mainly on the east coast of Australia.

  Zhao Kuanghuan laughed and said, "If I wasn't the prince, I would have wanted to explore the sea with you. By the way, what name did you change to New Holland? Are there any natives on the island?"

   "I can't think of any good name, so I ask the crown prince to choose one." Li Quan cupped his hands and said.

   Zhao Kuanghuan asked: "Is it further south than Java Island?"

   "Exactly." Li Quan said.

  Zhao Kuanghuan thought for a while: "Why not call it Changsheng Island, or Changshengzhou."

   "Good name!" Li Quan immediately flattered him.

  The name "Longevity" comes from the Taoist "Antarctic Longevity Emperor", also known as the so-called Antarctic Immortal and Longevity Old Man, who is said to live in the extreme south.

Li Quan said: "There are also indigenous people on Changsheng Island. The people there also have dark skin, but they tend to be more reddish-brown. The people on Nanman Island (New Guinea) are already darker than those in Africa. Negroes are better."

   "Do the natives of Changsheng Island have the custom of headhunting and cannibalism?" Zhao Kuanghuan asked.

Li Quan shook his head and said: "I haven't encountered cannibals for the time being, and Changsheng Island is too big, and the indigenous tribes are very different. Some tribes have already built stone houses; some tribes still live in grass huts and caves. Once, Frightened by some native tribe!"

   Zhao Kuanghuan asked: "But want to attack outsiders?"

Li Quan explained: "No, they are very hospitable. When we went ashore to look for fresh water, we met a tribe who used stone tools. They seemed to be holding some kind of ceremony. The man broke open the belly of the frog with a stone knife, and the woman took the giant frog. Bite. Except for the internal organs and frog skin, the woman swallowed the rest alive."

   "You hairy drink blood." Zhao Kuanghuan sighed.

"Those women are looking for children," Li Quan said. "Frogs lay a lot of eggs, and the local aborigines worship them very much. They think that women can have more children by eating giant frogs. We went up to ask the water source, but we couldn't figure it out after a long time. The aborigines took us back to the tribe and invited us to dinner. They brought us blood-soaked snakes, lizards, geckos, etc. Some aborigines came over with sharp spears, pointing at the pregnant women and chattering. We were all scared When we arrived, we thought we had encountered cannibals, so we hurriedly fled back to the seaside.”

   Zhao Kuanghuan asked: "Aren't they cannibals?"

Li Quan shook his head and said: "No. Later, when we were looking for water sources, we happened to see the women of this tribe fetching water. After talking for several days, I probably figured out that the aborigines are really inviting us to dinner. They are very kind and enthusiastic. , but can't eat cooked food, and don't even know how to make a fire."

   Zhao Kuanghuan thought it was incredible that there were people who couldn't even light a fire.

Li Quan said: "We lit a fire and roasted an animal that looked like a big mouse, was as tall as a human, and had a pouch on its stomach. After it was roasted, we sprinkled salt and invited the natives to taste it. The natives were very happy after eating it. Learn how to make a fire with us, and exchange skins for salt."

  Zhao Kuanghuan said: "The natives who don't know how to light fire also know how to treat guests to dinner. It seems that not all raw people are evil. In the future when colonizing this island, we can routinely educate them, choose good and good people and tame them."

  (end of this chapter)