Chapter 3559
Chapter 3559
Chapter 3559
Compared with the time when Roger led his troops to develop Star Island more than 20 years ago, it would be much easier for the expeditionary fleet to build a colony on the shores of Swan Lake.
The Luo brothers not only have sufficient material support, but also the natural environment here is excellent. The hydrological conditions of Swan Lake are very suitable for building an inland port, which is much easier than Xingdao which has no natural harbor.
Most importantly, the expeditionary force had not yet found any hostile forces that could pose a threat in the area around Swan Lake. This allowed the Luo brothers to focus their resources on infrastructure projects as much as possible, instead of having to deal with the threat of force from neighboring countries while building settlements like their fathers did when they developed Star Island.
Of course, the disadvantage of this place is also quite obvious, that is, it is too far away from the Sing Tao base.
There were a large number of slow-moving cargo ships and immigrant ships in the expedition fleet, and even with accurate nautical charts, it took them more than half a month to arrive here. In the future, most of the tasks of transporting personnel and materials between the two places may have to be undertaken by these civilian ships.
To make a simple comparison, this is roughly equivalent to the flight distance between Sing Tao Island and Hangzhou.
However, there are countless ports of all sizes on the voyage between Xingdao and Hangzhou, and there are places along the way for supplies and shelter from bad weather, and most of the sea areas are under the control of Hai Han.
Going south from Xingdao to the newly opened Swan Port, after crossing the Sunda Strait, you will enter a vast uninhabited area. There is no port for supplies during the thousands of miles of voyage, which will be a big test for ships traveling between the two places.
The fact that such a long distance caused the cost of developing the Swan Harbor colony to increase significantly was secondary, after all, the investment could be earned back through mineral development in the future. What really made the Sing Tao authorities uneasy was the governance problem caused by the distance.
This is just like Xingdao, which is far away from the power center of Hai Han. Over time, it will naturally be influenced by the consul and gradually become an independent entity overseas.
That was why Roger sent his two sons to lead the expedition fleet to ensure that the new colony would be deeply imprinted with his own mark from the very beginning.
Of course, if we take into account the internal stability and balance of Sing Tao, the family of Sing Tao's second-in-command Tan Ju Ren should also be included in this team. However, Tan Ju Ren's eldest son Tan Tian Ming has gone to Phuket on behalf of the Sing Tao military, and his second son Tan Tian Ming is still studying in Sanya. There is no one available for the time being, so arrangements can only be made in the future.
A week after the expedition fleet settled in Swan Lake, a telegram from Sing Tao Island brought good news to the Luo brothers.
The Executive Committee has confirmed that the Star Island Expeditionary Fleet is the first team representing Hai Han to officially set foot on the unowned continent and establish a colony.
This means that they have achieved their goal of landing first before their competitor, the Luzon Region. The Executive Committee will award the entire Xingdao Expeditionary Fleet a collective second-class merit, and will issue commemorative medals and cash rewards to all members of the fleet.
The telegram also briefly explained why they were able to achieve this victory. It was because the Luzon fleet was indeed harassed by the Spanish on its way south. As a result, they fought with the Spanish fleet among the islands in the Banda Sea for many days and fought several battles. Only after the threat was eliminated were they able to continue moving south.
The time when Luzon arrived at the designated location on the north coast of the mainland was only one day later than the time when the Xingdao fleet arrived at Swan Harbor. For the Luo brothers, this was a narrow victory. However, as Roger had expected beforehand, the victory or defeat of this competition was only a symbolic honor at this stage and was unlikely to have a real impact on the development of the two regions in the New World.
The place chosen by the Luzon Region on the north coast is more than 5,000 miles away from Swan Harbor on the west coast, and the sea voyage is close to 7,000 miles, almost the same as the voyage from Xingdao. Even if the Luzon Region voluntarily handed it over to Xingdao, it would definitely not have the spare capacity to take over such a remote place.
Therefore, the instructions given by the Executive Committee to the Sing Tao region are to continue the current development work, achieve self-sufficiency in the colony as soon as possible, and expand the scope of control in the New World depending on its own development.
At the same time, the Executive Committee also granted the Swan Port authorities the power to appoint local officials on their own and to use force when necessary, and to report to the authorities afterwards, so as to avoid inefficiencies caused by reporting to other levels and waiting for approval.
This is indeed good news for Swan Harbor. Even with a fast information transmission channel like telegraph, if everything has to be reported and processed, the delay will be considerable. After the Executive Committee eliminates these red tapes, many things can be done freely.
At the same time, a team that went out to scout nearby areas brought back another piece of news. About thirty miles upstream of the source of Swan Lake, they discovered an indigenous tribe of about three to five hundred people.
According to the description of the scout cavalry, the appearance of these indigenous people is somewhat similar to that of South Asians, with dark skin, curly hair, and generally short stature.
The indigenous people were equipped with stone knives and spears, and seemed to make a living by hunting animals and picking fruits of plants. It seemed that they had not yet evolved to the stage of agricultural civilization.
Such an indigenous tribe certainly could not pose much of a threat to the colonists of Swan Harbor, but the Luo brothers wished that their level of civilization could be a little higher so that they could at least communicate and negotiate.
But even so, they still hope to try to make contact with the natives. If they can convince these natives to accept barter, then there may be a chance to get the natives to sell their labor for them and do some heavy work.
So Luo Shenghuai brought a batch of Hai Han products and a large group of armed cavalry to visit the area where the indigenous tribes were located.
After repeated attempts by both parties, some of the gifts sent by Luo Shenghuai were finally accepted by the other party, but the subsequent negotiations were not smooth.
The two sides are basically unable to communicate through language and can only use gestures to express their meaning. However, this method makes it difficult to convey information accurately to the other party, and after gesticulating for a long time, the communication is still ineffective.
Luo Shenghuai had seen many uncivilized natives near Sing Island in the past, but those natives had more or less had contact with the outside civilized world, and it was much easier to communicate with them than with the natives of the New World.
Seeing that he could not achieve his goal, Luo Shenghuai could only leave in disappointment. Before leaving, he asked someone to draw a map of the area on the ground and marked the location of the colony.
However, they never expected that the rivers and lakes on the map allowed the other party to understand the meaning. He actually pointed at the map and nodded to them, as if he understood where they came from.