On August 15, 1648, Kingsoft Port, Australia.

After being filled with supplies, the "Exploration" sailing ship slowly left the port, and then, driven by steam, crossed the Bass Strait, turned southeast, and sailed eastward along the edge of the westerly wind belt between 38-42 degrees south latitude. They have been staying at Jinshan Port for four or five days. The ships have been repaired and maintained, and the personnel have received sufficient rest. Now it is time to embark on a new journey.

On the way back to Kingsoft Port from Tahiti, the ship had a brief stop in the Cairns area in northeastern Australia. Then the leader Zhang Jinhua ordered some of the lemon and sugarcane collected from Tahiti to transplant it here, and left sixteen expedition members here to guard it. Therefore, the voyage from Kingsoft Port to the coast of Chile in South America was only 40 people left.

Exploring and opening a route from Kingsoft Port of Australia to Araucan Port (Port of Natales) is an extremely important task of the expedition team led by Zhang Jinhua. After all, this is related to the implementation of the national strategy. Whether in the short term or in the medium and long term, it is a very meaningful thing for both the country and the people.

When the Discovery Departed, they randomly selected fifteen households and more than 60 people from the immigrants waiting to be transported in Kingsoft Port, both men, women, and young and old. They will follow the Discovery ship along the westerly belt of the South Pacific along the northern route and then sail along the Chilean coast in South America - they will become the first Far East immigrants to the Free City of Araucan.

However, from a realistic perspective, this so-called South Pacific route was destined to be unable to compete with the South Indian Ocean and South Atlantic routes in some initial ideas. Because the latter route has the New China region, which is extremely important to the East Coast Republic of China, and the immigrant ships passing through this place can continuously supplement the population of many settlements on the East Coast of New China Island, which has been continuously reduced in number of settlements on the East Coast of New China Island. The development of this island can continue to continue in-depth.

The former, along the way east from Australia, there are vast oceans and nothing except New Zealand. Their destination - southern Chile - is also a not-so-rich area. Apart from the strong winds that blow all year round, there are only large areas of broken mountain islands and desolate grasslands. It is almost difficult to develop grain planting except for the livestock industry. The population that the livestock industry can carry is obviously not as high as that of the grain planting industry.

Therefore, within the East Coast Republic of China, there are many people who have doubts or even oppose the South Pacific immigration route. Because this route is not economically cost-effective, and from a technical perspective, there are many realistic difficulties. The lack of many supply and maintenance points along the way, especially the lack of an indispensable port near Peru, has greatly increased the difficulty of navigation on this route.

However, no matter how difficult it is, we have to continue to explore. Within the Executive Committee - especially when the time travelers are still in power or can exert enough influence - it is an undisputed "political correct" thing for transporting more Ming people to the East Coast. Although the slogan "immigration from the Far East is the main point" by some emperors and Han elements is too radical, it still represents a certain tendency of most time travelers. No matter what happens in the future, at least when they themselves or the next generation who can exert direct influence are in power, they must unswervingly migrate a large number of Ming people from the Far East to the East Coast. The more this number, the better!

After a few days of sailing, the expedition ship swayed to the estuary of the Oreti River in the South Island of New Zealand. Zhang Jinhua asked the crew and immigrants to go ashore to rest in batches, and at the same time to replenish fresh water. They met some Maori people by the river. These New Zealand natives looked quite friendly, at least they did not show their weapons to the East Coast people who were on the shore. Zhang Jinhua asked the sailors to take out some East Coast goods to trade with them, and bought some dried fruits and cured meat they had stored. In addition, there was no other intersection between the two conveniences.

These Maori people have entered the agricultural society and at least know how to farm. They have separated from the primitive life of gathering and hunting. However, their technical level and social organization are still quite primitive, and the tools they use are either stone or wooden. This is not a bad thing for the East Coast people, because it means that the cost of future colonization here is very low.

A place like New Zealand has a suitable climate, abundant precipitation, a mature farmland and irrigation system left by Maori, and the soil is quite fertile. The agricultural conditions are many times better than Australia. If you intend to develop Oceania in the future, New Zealand will definitely be the first choice, suitable for agriculture, animal husbandry, mines and fishing. Under the current conditions, feeding a million people is not a problem.

The expedition members who landed on the shore paid the Maori for goods (glass balls, magnifying glasses, metal knifes, cloth, spirits, etc.). Then they pulled the anchor in the morning on August 21, left the southern tip of New Zealand and continued to head east. After they left, a large-scale influenza broke out among the Maori who had contacted the East Coast people. Of course, the East Coast people themselves did not know this, or they would not care even if they knew it.

From New Zealand to the east, the "Exploration" has been stably maintained in the sea area between 40-42 degrees south latitude. Due to the lack of land barriers, the wind and waves in this area are relatively large, which makes the crew members who have been voyaging here for the first time extremely nervous. At this time, even Zhang Jinhua, who had been staying in his room before, ran to the deck, while carefully feeling the 1,250 tons of ship's standard displacement of the sea was constantly surging with huge waves and the angle of tilting left and right, while ordering the expedition team members accompanying the boat to record this information carefully.

These data are extremely valuable information and can provide reference for East Coast ships that may sail on this route in the future. After all, even in later generations, this route is not a popular route, and many information is not complete, so people on the East Coast must explore them one by one.

"Keep the speed and do not adjust the course in harsh sea conditions. At the same time, grasp various information about the sea areas along the way as in detail - mainly weather information." Zhang Jinhua stood on the deck, trying his best to stabilize his body, and said to Captain Jiwen who was following him: "The weather patterns in this sea area are extremely important to us, especially for these unusual weather conditions that often occur. We need to figure out the causes and backgrounds of these weather conditions. Some weather does not occur due to a single weather, but the interaction between many weather systems."

"I understand that I have arranged for people to measure wind speed, air pressure, and temperature. Well, the humidity cannot be accurately measured yet, so I can only estimate it." Captain Jiwen echoed, "We will take the collected data back to organize experts to conduct analysis and research. Perhaps after we arrive, we can predict future weather changes. These are crucial for ships to avoid bad weather and improve the safety of ocean navigation."

Zhang Jinhua nodded and continued to observe the changes in the sea storm. Now there is no doubt that the "exploration" heading northeastward, a piece of cold air blowing from the southwest is shrouding over the nearby waters, and the front of the cold front moves to the northeastward, so the impact on the ship's navigation is not very big.

On the routes on the edge of the westerly wind belt, whether in the Pacific, Indian Ocean or Atlantic Ocean, there are often some cyclones blowing from the southern Ocean (the ocean surrounding Antarctica), causing bad weather and strong winds and waves in the relevant sea areas. In this sea condition, pure sail-powered ships are quite dangerous, because once the direction of the cyclone is different from the direction of the ship, it is hard to say what will happen in such a large wind and wave area. The Dutch ships heading to Batavia often go through the west wind belt (traveling through the coast of Western Australia, and heading north along the cold current). There are also many ships with bad weather. Since the East Coast people started immigration routes in the Far East, there have been three ships sinking in the sea area around 40 degrees south latitude over the years. This is because the survivability of the East Coast ships is far stronger than that of the Dutch ships, otherwise the shipwreck rate will be higher.

The cold front lasted for a whole day, weakened slightly after nightfall, and gradually stopped at four or five in the morning. At this time, the wind and waves on the sea surface also decreased significantly, which indicates that the Explorer Expo once again successfully crossed a dangerous sea area.

It seemed that bad luck had been used up in the waters east of the Chatham Islands (infected by cold fronts), and the Explorer expedition ship was basically smooth in the following voyage. In addition to encountering a major storm in the early morning of September 10, which caused two traffic boats and several artillery to be blown into the sea and a mast was interrupted, the ship could only see towering mountains in the distance in the early morning of September 13 in a sea with changing winds.

Maybe it was the coast of Chile! Everyone couldn't help but have this idea. Zhang Jinhua and Ji Wen met with the sailor on the Expedition to calculate it, and then compared it with a confidential map and found that the ship is probably in the complex sea area between the Jonos Islands.

After drawing this conclusion, Zhang Jinhua decisively ordered a change of course, and then the "Exploration" countered the sea breeze and ocean currents, and dragged his scarred body slowly docked on the side of the Port Araucan Pier on the evening of September 22, which made the people on the shore stunned. At this time, only 85 were left when they set off from Australia, including 32 crew members and 53 immigrants.

After a few days of emergency repairs at the Port of Araucan, the Discovery once again pulled its anchor on September 26 and headed towards the Strait of Magellan. They will follow the west wind across the Strait and then head north to return to their native Oriental Port to complete the feat of this global voyage. (To be continued)
Chapter completed!