Taichang is not very clear about how big the territory is south of Nanyang.

However, he was sure that the combined area of ​​the islands there would definitely not be smaller than the original two capitals and thirteen provinces in the Ming Dynasty.

With such a large territory, it will take at least a few million people to develop it.

Originally, he was worried about the food problem of these millions of people.

After all, it is impossible for people to automatically grow food just after they arrive in a place, and it will take time to open up land and farm.

In other words, a lot of food will definitely be consumed within one or two years.

The food consumed by millions of people in a year is tens of millions of stones!

He was originally afraid that the British Duke's Mansion would not produce so much food, so he would have to go to the East Federation or even the Southern Zhili to transport it. That would be a problem.

Now it seems that he doesn't have to worry about this problem at all.

Didn’t British Duke Zhang Weixian say that he could open more than 200,000 acres of land by attracting more than 200,000 people?

very good!

Taichang said to Zheng Zhilong without hesitation: "Feihong, mobilize 60 armed merchant ships, take a few more trips, and bring the more than 200,000 people to the British Duke as soon as possible."

Uh, this one.

Zheng Zhilong felt a little embarrassed: "The emperor forgives the crime. I am afraid that I cannot transfer so many merchant ships, because the sub-colons of the Southeast, the southeast and the vassal states have just started at this time. There are too many things to pull, so I am able to bring these twenty armed merchant ships to pull people, and I am afraid that I cannot transfer other ships to me."

You can't transfer me to me!

Taichang said without hesitation: "You go and tell the boss and Yaoguang that the sub-colons of the South China Sea, the southeast and the vassal states can be slowed down. The Duke of England's government is related to the development south of the South China Sea. It cannot be slowed down. All armed merchant ships are mobilized to recruit people first. We don't have to rush to make money, and the most important thing is to occupy the territory we can occupy first."

OK, there will be no problem if you say it.

Zheng Zhilong hurriedly bowed and said, "I understand."

Taichang nodded slightly, and then said to Zhang Weixian: "Weixian is fine now, can we open more than 20 million acres of land this year?"

Zhang Weixian thought about it carefully, then nodded slowly and said, "Your Majesty, as long as the people arrive, the Wei ministers will help them think of ways to build these more than 20 million acres of land. The problem is to cultivate. They will have to hire at least one million laborers to plant these more than 20 million acres of land for three seasons. It is unlikely that all of these more than 10 million laborers will be hired into tenant farmers. They still need to travel back and forth, so there will be more ships needed."

This is no problem either.

Taichang said lightly: "Don't worry, Dongfan Shipyard can build 400 armed merchant ships this year. Even if more than 200 ships are transferred to the Americas, the ship here will still be enough."

Then there will be no problem.

British Duke Zhang Weixian hurriedly bowed: "Thank you, the emperor. I will open more than 20 million acres of land this year, and order more food next year. It is estimated that it will not be a problem to solve the food rations of five or six million people."

very good!

Taichang nodded slightly, looked at Xu Erjue again, and then couldn't help asking: "Ejue, you don't seem to be responsible for recruiting people, why did you come here too?"

Xu Erjue hurriedly bowed and said, "Your Majesty, isn't the land here fat? There is plenty of sunshine and abundant water sources. Therefore, I thought of trying to plant corn and peanuts here. These two things are actually sold. But now, the yield is not very high in the southeastern provinces, so the price is a bit high. I guess that if I planted here, the yield should not be low."

It turned out to be here to try planting things.

Not bad.

Taichang nodded slightly, then asked again: "Are you busy these days? Why don't you go to the south with me to check it out?"

OK!

Xu Erjue hurriedly bowed and said, "I am not busy, I am really interested in going south with the emperor."

OK, no further delay.

Originally, Taichang came to learn about the grain output of the British Duke's Mansion and supplement some fresh water.

The grain output is definitely fine now, and fresh water should be replenished.

Thinking of this, he waved his hand decisively: "Okay, Weixian, go and do it. I will go east first to see if there is any water source. If not, I may have to come to you in ten days to replenish your freshwater. You can prepare more."

Valley Acre

Upon hearing this, Zhang Weixian hurriedly bowed and said, "I understand."

After saying that, he got up and said goodbye.

Why did Taichang say that he would go east first to take a look?

Isn't he going to explore the places south of the South Ocean?

In fact, even to the east of Java Island is south of the South Ocean. Moreover, the Dutch and Portuguese have only explored a small archipelago to the east of Java Island. Further east, the map is Momao Garcia.

He remembered that it seemed that it was not Australia, but New Guinea.

I don’t know what the Dutch and the Portuguese did, but they actually painted the other side as a peninsula extending from Antarctica.

The reality is definitely not like this, and coupled with the rumor that there is a shortage of water in the north of Australia, he is going to go to Momao Garcia on the map to see if there is any water source there.

Soon, the fleet continued to set off and headed straight to the east.

The speed of the ship was not unusually fast. On the third day, they crossed the sea area north of the Duke of England.

Next is a series of islands of all sizes.

This is still the spice archipelago marked by the Dutch, so there is nothing to explore. When the British Duke's Mansion is finished, people will be sent to develop these islands.

They sailed along the islands of all sizes for about two days. There seemed to be no islands in the waters ahead. On the map, there was a blank sea area, and next was a peninsula that extended from Antarctica.

Of course this is impossible. It must be an island to the east, not a peninsula drawn by continental countries.

The reason they think that the east is the peninsula extended from the Antarctic continent is because they drive sailing boats.

If there are no strong winds and ocean currents, they can drive dozens of miles a day at most, and they may not be able to get around those big islands that are thousands or even tens of thousands of miles wide for several months.

It is almost impossible to float on the sea for several months now. Even if you don’t need to replenish food, you have to replenish fresh water or something.

In other words, it is basically impossible for the sailboats of continental barbarians to detour thousands of miles of large islands. Seeing the whole picture of the entire island, so in their eyes, such large islands have become large land-like existences.

The Ming Navy Fleet is different.

At this moment, they drove a steamer. If they drove day and night, it would be no problem to drive more than a thousand miles a day. No matter how big the island is, they can only take ten days to go around.

Moreover, they have many boats, and exploring islands is much more convenient than others.

The countries in continental Europe sent out their adventures not naval fleets, but so-called explorers.

It would be good if these explorers could organize several sailboats with more than 1,000 yuan in materials. Therefore, once these explorers encountered islands with a gap of hundreds of miles, they would stop. They would not dare to drive a boat to wander around unknown waters.

Taichang is different. At this moment, he has hundreds of large ships under his command. Exploring unknown seas is simply too simple for him.

He directly ordered forty Aegis ships and more than fifty Dragon-Tooth warships to be separated by about five miles, lined up in a row four or five hundred miles wide, and then led the fleet to explore the eastward.

After a day of sailing east, the fleet discovered several sporadic islands.

They continued to sail east for about a day, and an endless coastline appeared in front of them.

This coastline is located north of the fleet and extends all the way to the southeast.

In other words, the south of this large island is the sea, and its location is roughly on the north of Java Island.

This means that this is definitely not Australia.

Because Australia is on the south side of Java Island.

If they arrive at the north shore of Australia, then the coastline they see should be south of the fleet.

Taichang looked at the continuous coastline that stretched to the sky and couldn't help but sigh: "This island is really big!"

When Li Zhizao heard this, he couldn't help but ask: "Master, is this Momao Garcia on the map?"

Taichang thought for a while, then said lightly: "Maybe, maybe not. In short, this is not the Antarctic land drawn on the map. If we explore this coastline, you will know. Just in time, we have to find a source of water. There should be a source of water on such a large island."
Chapter completed!