Chapter 3558
Chapter 3558
Chapter 3558
The fleet left Cape Xing and continued southward along the coastline, but as far as the eye could see, the land was still a brown-red desert, nothing like the lush green land seen in the South China Sea before.
Although the Luo brothers were also uneasy about this environment, their father Roger had said when he gave them the task that the destination they were going to would be a livable place, and they were convinced of this. Perhaps if they went further south, the natural environment would be different.
Sure enough, after sailing south for another four days, large areas of green finally appeared on the coast, and the river estuary could be observed through the telescope.
Although the flow of such a river is far from being considered as that of a large river, it at least shows that there is a relatively stable water source in the nearby inland area, which is a necessary condition for agricultural development.
This good news made the entire fleet very excited, and the immigrants in the cabins also came to the deck one after another to look at the greenery on Hai Han from afar.
The further south you go, the greener the coast becomes, gradually replacing the brown-red desert in the north. This shows that what Roger called a livable place really fits the local situation.
After sailing south for another two days, the Luo brothers ordered to slow down the speed and move closer to the coast. At the same time, they sent out two reconnaissance ships to begin checking the river estuaries along the way.
According to the map in their hands, the destination that Roger carefully selected for the expedition fleet was at the mouth of a river on the nearby coast.
Although there were slight deviations between the map and the actual terrain, they still found this slightly hidden destination easily.
With the warships leading the way, the expeditionary fleet entered the estuary of a river. Although the width of the river where it entered the sea was less than 100 feet, its depth was enough for the Majestic-class warships, which had the largest tonnage in the fleet, to pass smoothly.
After going upstream for seven or eight miles, the view suddenly opened up. There turned out to be a large lake upstream of the river. It is basically unaffected by the tides and waves of the sea, and it can be said to be an excellent natural harbor.
Although they had a map in hand, the Luo brothers still sent a boat to scout the lake out of caution. Before confirming that the environment was safe, they did not rashly dock to let the immigrants rest.
The reconnaissance operation continued until the next day, and the results made the two brothers believe that this was indeed a good place to settle down.
This lake was formed by the confluence of two rivers, and the upper reaches of these two rivers were located in the mountains thirty miles away to the east. Due to the abundant water, there were many lakes in the upper reaches and nearby areas, but the area was far smaller than the lake they were in.
According to preliminary survey data, the area of this lake should be more than 30,000 acres, and there are large areas along the coast that can be used to build port terminals.
The water in the lake is very clear. After a small number of people tried drinking it yesterday, there were no problems. As for using it for agricultural irrigation, that goes without saying.
The area around the lake was full of dense forests in their natural state, the terrain was flat, and the soil was fertile, which was completely different from the reddish-brown sand they had seen in the northern region.
After confirming that there were no other human settlements in the area around the lake, Luo Shenghuai ordered the construction of a port and settlement on a peninsula on the south bank of the lake that controlled the river mouth. There were many trees nearby, so there was no need to worry about the wood needed for building houses. The geological survey team that went out to look for resources also quickly found limestone and hard stone nearby.
The command center made a simple plan for the port area, camp area and immigrant settlement area, and carried out construction separately and simultaneously.
Basically all buildings have ready-made design plans. You just need to follow the plan, prepare the relevant building materials and then start building.
Xingdao had gathered nearly half of the craftsmen in the area for this expedition, and now they were officially put to use. If everything went well, within a month or two, a colony that could accommodate 10,000 settlers would be built here.
Considering the huge amount of construction work in the early stage of colonization, the first batch of immigrants brought by the expeditionary fleet were mostly young and strong, who could be used as labor immediately after arriving here. In addition, more than 2,000 soldiers were enough to cope with the needs of the early stage projects.
Perhaps because they had no natural enemies in the past, local wild animals had no fear of these newly arrived humans. But with past experience as a lesson, the immigrants no longer dared to underestimate the environment here, because any bush could be hiding a deadly poisonous insect.
While patrolling the lake, the Luo brothers noticed that there were a large number of large black birds on the lake. They looked like domestic geese, but they were able to fly.
After checking the animal atlas, I learned that this elegant-looking black bird is called the "black swan" and is one of the creatures unique to the Unowned Continent.
The brothers were inspired by this and named this nameless lake Swan Lake. The settlement near the lake was naturally named Swan Town and Swan Harbor.
After reporting this naming to the Xingdao Headquarters, Roger filled the map with the new place names named by the Luo brothers with a stroke of his pen and officially incorporated it into the territory of Hai Han.
The habitable place that the expedition fleet arrived at was the Perth region on the west coast of Australia in another time and space.
In the time and space where the time travelers originally lived, Roger once visited this fourth largest city in Australia. He knew that the local natural environment was quite good, the climate was very livable, and there was a natural inland harbor. It was definitely an ideal choice for establishing a colony.
If Hai Han had not set foot here first, it would have taken about forty years for the Dutch to discover this place. However, the Dutch did not choose this geographically remote area to settle down. It was not until the 19th century that the British built a town here and named it Perth.
Of course, in this time and space, since this place has been incorporated into the territory of Hai Han, there will be no more Dutch and British people in the future.
The reason why Roger chose this place as Star Island's first stop on this continent was not just because of the beautiful natural environment. More importantly, within a hundred miles of Swan Lake, there are many mineral deposits such as coal, iron, gold, bauxite, oil, and even natural gas, which Hai Han's mining technology is not yet mature.
These rich mineral deposits are far more valuable than the land here. In the future, we only need to develop a few mines to easily recover the initial investment.
The developable land area nearby is more than a hundred times larger than that of Sing Island. It is no problem to accommodate one million immigrants. If it can be managed well in the future, it will be enough for the descendants of the Luo family to become local lords.