From Chief to Ball

"In short, it's difficult. The future is bright and beautiful, but it's inevitable that we will be scolded for decades... No way, who made us be called futurists? We are full of infamy, but we don't know what happened behind us. I don't care, you have to be mentally prepared."

Chapter 5 Forget about each other

"It's nothing to be scolded, but I'm worried about more realistic issues. Our large-scale immigration here must follow the legal principles of large farms with limited labor force, land and natural resources owned by the whole people. But how can we guarantee implementation? Those in the Netherlands People don’t agree, they prefer to draw a circle on the land and say it’s their own, and the fortress they built in Jakarta, the strait there is the only way or transit point for our future immigration. "

Chen Jian shook his head and said, "Don't worry about that. Now that this piece of land is given to them for free, they won't take it. For businessmen, this place is worthless and meaningless. When there are more people, development, and reclamation here, it is right For the republic of merchants, this place is meaningful, but by then it will be too late. They are the motherland of commercial capital, not the motherland of the bottom struggling to survive. Since capital does not like the present here, but only likes the future here, we There is plenty of time to hold the future in our hands.”

A person who was lying on the grass basking in the sun half-sit up and interjected: "Speaking of which, we may not be scolded. Look at these trees and grass, and the latitude here, there will be no cold winter here. It’s so comfortable, it’s easy to cultivate and plant with a couch drill and a big plow with two horses, and you don’t even need to worry about herding sheep, because judging from the kangaroos, there are no wolves.”

Another retorted: "The ones who scolded us must not be people who have been resettled."

The man smiled and said, "I mean people who stay in the old place won't scold us. It's so comfortable here. Let me ask you, with such a good place and such a vast land, would you like to farm the land and herd the sheep? Or would you To work in a workshop?"

"Do you still need to ask? Of course it is more comfortable to be a farmer and herdsman."

"So, the factories, workshops, and mines here cannot be built before the population is sufficient. Anyone who is not stupid will choose to be a farmer and herdsman. Even if you force him to work with a gun, he will rise up to resist or run away Yes. But pastoral songs also need things like iron, cloth, and farming machinery, right? Pastoral songs have plenty of wool, but no one spins it, so they can only use wool in exchange for iron, cloth, and woolen wool. What do you think, those The big workshop owners in the north will be happy. What we need to do is to be able to implement the policy and recover the money from the workshop owners in the form of taxes in the future, and use it on education, subsidies or relief at the bottom. After all, Even if it is not one country in terms of national borders, it is still one country economically."

Lan Qi nodded and added: "I agree with him. With the advancement of sailing, the popularity of the octant, and the success of the nautical clock and longitude instrument that Chen Jian spends money on in China, the world will be connected. It is impossible for our business to be limited to Xanadu or Huawaimengcheng, and we will inevitably be involved in the world."

"Once a clock that can maintain a 3-minute error on a ship appears, there will be no paradise in the world."

"That's why we don't spend all our energy and money in the Great Deserted City to build a dream city on earth, but we use part of our energy to change the Asian order. We can't be alone. Either change the world, or be ugly, Dutch and Spanish The open flames of the plundering world order have crushed the dream of Taoyuan."

Chen Jian clapped his hands and said with a smile: "Actually, I have even thought about what I will criticize the Netherlands and Spain in the future. I just waited for us to gain a foothold in Asia and start to build momentum - Dutch merchants cut down trees and burned them everywhere because of the high price of spices." Nutmeg, cardamom and clove trees; however, the majority of the people need more spices to improve their living standards, which is contrary to the pursuit of a better life for most people, so we must support the resistance of the local people. In order to monopolize profits, the Spanish royal family Sericulture is strictly prohibited in the Viceroyalty, and we can only buy raw silk transported by a monopoly at a high price; this is also contrary to the pursuit of a better life for most people, so we must support the local people to resist.”

"It's a pity that we are not strong now, so it's not good to shout like this. But one day we have a firm foothold, and when we drive the Dutch out in the Spice Islands, we will shout like this. This is consistent with our consistent pursuit. We are not dog-eat-dog. , but for a better world and the improvement of the living standards of more people.”

"Pen writers and everyone in the propaganda department must remember to say so."

"Because we want to establish a new order and new values. Otherwise, we will use interests as a reason, and there will be no justice or injustice. If interests are used as a means of propaganda, the Dutch lost only because of their lack of strength, but before they Doing the right thing, there is no right or wrong for the benefit, only victory or defeat - in the end we won the benefit, but lost the right to interpret the world order. The order and values ​​are still theirs, so what we lose is far more than what we gain many."

Speaking of this, everyone also understood that what they and the people around them were going to do was far more grand and magnificent than what most people in the world thought at this time.It's shaping a new world, not being a champion by the old world's rules.

Sitting on the soft grass, these most romantic young people with an average age of 28 and nine years old sat together and enjoyed a romantic grass picnic.Sitting on the ground and drinking wine, discussing all the realities and futures to be faced after returning to China.

This kind of picnic sitting on the ground was imagined when they were 23 or [-] years old before going to sea, but it was only after several years of going to sea that they matured that they really had the time and mood to try it.

Slightly drunk people look up at the blue sky and white clouds; feel the pastures without mosquitoes, horseflies and gadflies; step on the soft land that is very suitable for cultivation.

Reminiscing about the original intention of coming together because of a dream similar to Xanadu when I was young, and feeling the magnificence of Xanadu at my feet but no interest at this time, I couldn't help singing loudly.Beating the beat, several younger dancers danced a very traditional dance, stepping hard on the soft and plump land like pork belly, and the grass clippings and soil thrown up under their feet attracted bursts of drunken applause.

After the hilarity, Chen Jian led these people to a piece of low bushes and small grass, and burned the place to black.

Several people took out a few bags of alfalfa seeds that they had been carrying on their backs, and scattered these seeds on the burned land just like those slash-and-burn groups.

"Whether it comes out or not, whether it grows or not, it's up to fate."

Many people muttered to themselves, thinking that spreading alfalfa seeds was like a farming season custom handed down by the ethnic group, which might symbolize love for the land or future harvest.

But in fact, Chen Jian just thinks that there is no possibility of people settling here for more than ten years or even decades, and the sun and rain are all wasted. It is better to sprinkle some fertile alfalfa that can fix nitrogen that is not available here.

The climate here is most suitable for opening up some fruit tree plantations with a Mediterranean climate. Grapes and lemons can be used as pasture land and commercial crop production areas in the future.

Anyway, alfalfa is a foreign species here, and there are no natural enemies such as aphids. The only enemy is the local weeds, which compete with each other for living space.

After sowing seeds all over the sky, this expedition along the river valley is over.Back at the mouth of the Black Swan River, everyone has refilled the boiled fresh water, and rested at the mouth of the river for a few days just as a vacation, drinking drunk every day.

Chen Jian selected three pairs of domestic pigs, one bull, three cows, and eight sheep, and released them along the Black Swan River.

He took out another box of dung beetles that he had prepared earlier, and threw it near the excrement of the livestock.

There are no natural enemies here, quokkas are only cute, and wolves and foxes have not existed for tens of millions of years. The pigs, cattle and sheep that are put down now will soon be full of wildness, adding a bit of vitality to this empty grassland.

These domesticated animals, after so many bumps in the boat, seem to have forgotten how to survive in the wild, but that doesn't matter.This is not a wild place, but a vast breeding room of tens of thousands of square kilometers.It only needs to be able to eat, drink, and reproduce. Not to mention avoiding predators, even the function of the ox tail can be degraded-there are no large blood-sucking gadflies here yet.

Maybe wild boars, bison and wild sheep will be flooded in a few decades, but at that time, immigrants from the most food-loving ethnic group will come here, and the ecological balance will be guarded by them. The settlers provide some possible food.

A few days later, after recovering from rest and calming down the tiredness of the boundless sea, I boarded the ship again.

This is just the coast of Australia on the edge of the Indian Ocean. Of course, it will not be called Australia at this time or in the future, but Chen Jian has already thought of how to translate it into Chinese.

The black swans seen at the mouth of the river are referred to as black birds when they can be translated.Xuanniao and Suzaku are both birds, and Suzaku is in charge of the south. At the same time, according to the Five Elements Theory, Suzaku also means summer, which is exactly the opposite of winter and summer in the north.It is also said that the Suzaku is colorful, and the aurora can still be seen in southern Australia, and the description basically matches.As the saying goes, the mysterious bird of destiny descended to give birth to the merchant, and Jian Di swallowed the eggs of the five-colored black bird to give birth to the merchant contract.

Whether it is called Zhuquezhou, Yinzhou, Qizhou, Lingguangzhou, Shanbuzhou, or other names, that will be discussed later.

When she was about to set sail, Lan Qi looked at the black swan with its wings cut short brought by Lin Xi, and suddenly thought of something, and said with a smile: "In all, if there is a tribute next time and the need to maintain peace The relationship between the imperial family, this black swan can be used as a tribute."

Chen Jian nodded and said, "Well, it's really rare."

Lan Qi smiled and said: "It's not uncommon. Zhuangzi said: Husbands are white without the sun, and dark without the sun. This can tell them that the words of the ancients may not be unchangeable. It's just that I have something very strange."

"what happened?"

"Why when I was reading books like Zhuangzi with Lin Zigui in Wangbei City, I heard many stories, like chapters like Qiushui, which are exactly the same as those in the books hundreds of years ago, except that Classical Chinese rather than vernacular. Is there such a coincidence in the world? Or... our ancestors really migrated from here?"

Shaking his head in doubt, he suddenly asked, "Do you know what the next sentence about swans and crows is?"

"Being close to each other is like forgetting each other in the rivers and lakes. You want to ask him which is more important, the orthodoxy or the survival of the people? The emperor will not answer."

Chapter 6 Evolution

Lan Qi's doubts are not only her own doubts, but also the doubts of many people on board, who are confused by too many similarities in culture and too many coincidences in stories.

This kind of discussion is not the first time, and the boring life on the ship has also become a day for Chen Jian to read books to the sailors.

From "Zhuangzi" to "Three Kingdoms", from "Historical Records" to "Water Margin", when only male sailors are left, they will also read "Jin Ping Mei" or read those market books in the name of criticism.

Life on the boat became much more interesting, and unfamiliar names gradually became part of the daily discussion, such as Liu Guanzhang, the heroes of the Water Margin, and the sages such as Mozi and Zhuangzi.

Many people are busy translating these books into vernacular and printing them when they go back.The cultural similarity makes the people on board like these books more, and it is difficult to accept some European stories with Christianity as the core value, just like the entanglement of Hamlet is simply incomprehensible to the people on board.

What these people like most are those pre-Qin books. Even if they are translated into vernacular, the charm of them remains unchanged, and one can vaguely imagine the debates, doubts, and searches that took place in that era of changing times.

Once we live in this kind of life where there is food and drink, and people read books every day as if looking forward to stories, this kind of voyage will become more interesting, and these stories will be more deeply rooted and impressive.

In this way, the fleet slowly circled Australia, which is not called Australia, from the Indian Ocean to the southern tip, and then circled New Zealand for half a circle and landed.

I saw the rare low-latitude aurora, traded some gadgets with the Maori tribe, touched noses with the Maori, watched a feast of cannibalism, inspected the ecological structure of the social disintegration of the Maori clan, and sent a few by the way With dozens of steel knives and thirteen pairs of armor, the tribe fought a battle with a group of tribes who had clashed with the fleet.

Chen Jian also did a major event that can be famous in the history of natural history. He led people to see a moa with a height of more than three meters in New Zealand, snatched a few moa cubs, and saw the wingspan A Haster eagle that can easily crush a human skull at a height of more than three meters.

Killed two moas, tasted it, and found that the meat was kind of woody, not tasty, and had a strong fishy smell.The moa eggs are a full 34 centimeters long, and the taste is just that.A Maori with a fleet of trades taught Chen Jian how to eat this kind of bird's egg. After opening it, let it stand for a day until the fat in the egg yolk came out and cleared it before eating it.

He led Lin Xi to investigate in the woods for more than 30 days, and took away more than 20 moa chicks and four dried specimens of Haster's eagle.The extinction of Haster's eagle and moa is a foregone conclusion. Perhaps the more than 20 moa chicks in my hands will be the last batch of moa in the world, if they can return to their homeland safely and alive.

In fact, it has been a worthwhile trip to come here.In Wangbei City, Chen Jian bought a lot of furs of Taiwan clouded leopards that are about to become extinct from the aborigines; here Chen Jian saw two kinds of birds beyond people's imagination that were about to become extinct, and also saw the pterodactyl and diplodocus. The scene of the fighting Haster eagle hunting the moa, this giant bird of more than three meters high and three meters long left a deep impression on the expedition team.

There are no feathers, only fluff; no wings, only degraded and almost invisible flesh wings... This is simply the most primitive bird in the history of evolution, and it is not easy to see it with your own eyes.