Chapter 3557
Chapter 3557
Chapter 3557
Compared with the lush tropical vegetation that can be seen everywhere on land in the South China Sea, the first impression of this uninhabited continent is desolation. It does not seem to belong to the same world as the environment that the fleet members are accustomed to.
As soon as Luo Shenghuai landed, he ordered a cavalry reconnaissance team to explore the situation in the nearby area.
But the news brought back by the cavalry who returned half a day later was disappointing. There were no signs of human activity nearby, no drinking water sources such as rivers, lakes, or even large forests.
From any perspective, this place does not seem to be an environment suitable for human settlement.
During the reconnaissance, the cavalry saw many strange animals, such as some giant rats several feet long, standing on their hind legs and jumping, and long-necked birds about the same size as humans, which could not fly but were good at running quickly on the ground with their two claws.
Some cavalrymen even believed that these should be the legendary "monsters". Perhaps it was because of the existence of these "monsters" that the natural environment here became so harsh and became an uninhabited area.
Although the cavalry were greatly surprised, their mission was only to explore the environment, not to hunt. In order to avoid exposing their tracks, they only observed these strange animals from a distance and did not shoot at them.
Although the Luo brothers had not seen it in person, they had seen the atlas provided by Roger before they set out. It depicted various exotic animals and plants unique to the Unowned Continent. The giant rat seen by the reconnaissance cavalry should be the "kangaroo" mentioned in the atlas, and the big bird that was good at running was called an "emu" in the atlas.
These animals are certainly not the "monsters" as some cavalrymen believed, but simply creatures unique to this place.
This continent is just ownerless, not uninhabited. It is said that there are still uncivilized indigenous people in some areas.
The top-secret information that Roger showed them, as well as the various nautical charts and maps used by the fleet during its journey, were said to have come from Sanya Victory Fort, but Roger did not give the two brothers a detailed explanation of where the information came from.
According to the two brothers’ own understanding, these materials should be treasures left by the ancestors of Hai Han. They involve the future ownership of this ownerless continent and therefore must not be leaked.
Therefore, they did not give a detailed explanation to their subordinates, but only told them that although these animals had strange appearances, they were definitely not the "monsters" in folk legends. There was no need to panic about this, and they must not spread false information to the public.
No matter how desperate the situation is, the expeditionary fleet still has powerful muskets and artillery for self-defense. No matter how ferocious the beast is, it is just flesh and blood in front of guns and artillery, and there is no way it can resist the lethality of hot weapons.
In the information the two brothers had read, there was no mention of the presence of traditional carnivorous beasts such as lions, tigers, leopards and bears in this place, so in their opinion, there seemed to be no wild animals that could pose a real threat to the expedition fleet.
But the complexity of the real environment is actually far beyond their imagination, and many risk factors cannot be reflected by simple paper information.
Considering that the fleet had been drifting on the sea for many days after setting off from Xingdao, both the soldiers and the immigrants were exhausted, the Luo brothers finally decided to rest here for two days before setting off again.
Someone found a huge rock more than two meters high near the temporary camp. After Luo Shengding went to check it out, he discovered that the flat side of the rock faced the sea. He then arranged for craftsmen to carve "Xingjiao", a place name unique to Hai Han, and the time when the expedition fleet landed here, on the rock as a commemoration.
Luo Shenghuai personally led his troops to hunt nearby, and shot several "human-shaped giant rats" as described by the scout cavalry with rifles, brought them back to the camp, skinned and fleshed them, and ordered the cook to make meat soup for the soldiers and civilians to eat, in order to quell the rumors of the so-called "monster". Although the Luo brothers had considered everything carefully, something went wrong in the camp that night, with several incidents of soldiers and civilians being stung by poisonous snakes and scorpions.
After investigating the cause, it was discovered that the fresh meat and drinking water in the camp might have attracted these poisonous insects.
However, some of these poisonous insects were extremely toxic, and three of them soon died of the poison and became sacrifices on the first day they set foot in the New World.
Luo Shenghuai could only ask the military doctors to take out all the drugs to prevent snakes and scorpions and distribute them to the soldiers and civilians stationed on land. The injured personnel were also transferred back to the ship for treatment.
The next day, the Luo brothers personally held a simple funeral for the three people who died of poisoning, and buried them not far from the inscribed boulder. The fleet had other missions to complete, and could not return to Xingdao in the short term, so they could only bury them here first.
Of course, it would be necessary to trouble the stonemason to carve an inscription for them.
For such a large-scale expedition, it is very common for a few people to die on the way. As long as the leading general provides the deceased with proper burial treatment, others will not have any complaints about it.
However, affected by this incident, the Luo brothers felt that this place was not suitable for continued stay, and the originally planned three-day rest was shortened to one day.
After sending a telegram to the Xingdao Headquarters to report the progress of the operation, the fleet quickly packed up and left Xingjiao and continued to move south.
In the original exploration plan, this was the beginning of the third leg of the scheduled voyage. The fleet would continue southward along the west coast of the continent, surveying the environment along the way, and eventually arriving at a location 2,500 miles away - which would be the end point of their journey.
The reply from the headquarters did not bring good news. It was said that the expeditionary fleet of the Luzon region also set out south from the Port of Davao on Mindanao Island half a month ago, but its current location was unknown.
Although the Luzon Fleet's departure time is later than that of the Star Island Fleet, if calculated from the departure port of Davao, the distance to the northern coast of the Unowned Continent is much closer than the voyage of the Star Island Fleet.
If the Luzon fleet had not been harassed by the Spanish on the way, it is very likely that they had arrived somewhere in the unowned continent before the Xingdao fleet. This means that the competition for the first landing on the New World may have been decided at some point in the past.
Of course, the specific situation still needs to be officially announced by the Executive Committee in the future. Both fleets have accompanying officials appointed by the Executive Committee, so the landing time reported to the Executive Committee is unlikely to be false.
This made the Luo brothers feel a little frustrated. They had been traveling all the way, working day and night, without slacking off at all. However, man proposes, God disposes, and it seemed that they were still one step behind.
However, Roger comforted them in his reply, saying that the order of landing would not immediately affect Xingdao's development of the New World, and that the base he chose for the expedition fleet would be more advantageous than the Luzon fleet.
As long as the fleet can gain a foothold there as soon as possible, no matter how the Executive Committee arranges things in the future, it will not be able to take away Xingdao’s local interests.