Chapter 795: The Desolate Continent, Nothing but Iron Ore

Chen Dazhuang and the star-observing ship set off from Coconut Haicheng, exploring a total of twenty-seven times over three full years before finally determining that the vast continent to the south had some value for the Ming Dynasty.

In the Age of Discovery after the Ming Dynasty opened the seas, the Ming Dynasty discovered many places, but most of these places had no value for development.

Minerals, large rivers, and land—at least one of these must be occupied to have development value; otherwise, they were all rotten land where input exceeded output. During the time when the Ming Dynasty had just opened the seas, it was difficult for them to become the first choice for development.

The Nanyang dream relied on plantations and Han towns to support it. Leaving the Han towns and without the prerequisites created by plantations, the Ming people were too lazy to touch them.

Ming development was always about occupying rich lands.

The Ming navy actually knew long ago that there was a vast continent south of the Thousand Island Nation's Yuanxu Archipelago, but in the local population's words, that place was a land abandoned by heaven.

There were people, but they were tribes that did not farm, living by hunting and gathering. Not to mention national construction, they hadn't even escaped the life of eating raw meat and blood; there was no diplomatic value.

These poor people would not trade cotton cloth or silk, and they had no special products; there was no trade value.

The climate was so hot that the local natives didn't even wear clothes. Natural disasters such as large-scale deserts, forest fires, and storms on the island, and even the water flowing with red color, made it a true land abandoned by heaven, with no value for conquest.

Only in the southeast were there parts suitable for farming, but it was really too far away.

The Nanyang widely lacked Han people. Within five years, there would be a gap of one million or even more, and the Ming Dynasty had no extra people to run to even further places to farm.

Natives in the Yuanxu Archipelago would occasionally go south to the large island, but most of the time, they went to touch sea cucumbers, so this desolate land was also called Sea Cucumber Land.

Overall, the Ming Dynasty's exploration of the southern large island had no value for exploration, except for catching a few jumping rabbits with pouches to offer as auspicious omens to the Emperor and to see new and strange species.

And this kind of jumping rabbit with a pouch ate a lot but produced little meat; it was not good livestock.

It wasn't until Chen Dazhuang explored the land abandoned by heaven in this land abandoned by heaven—the legendary barren land where even the rivers flowed with blood and not a blade of grass grew—and found an endless large iron mountain, that he determined this exploration was meaningful.

If there were no large iron mountain, the only role of this place would be as a destination for exile.

The Ming Dynasty needed high-grade iron ore, or rather, for the Ming Dynasty, any mineral resource required the stationing of Ming troops for the Ming Dynasty to feel at ease.

Mineral resources really would breed Ming troops.

"Your Majesty, this vast land still lacks a name," Chen Dazhuang took out the surveyed map, handed it to Feng Bao to present to His Majesty, and reminded the Emperor that it was time to give this place a name.

Zhu Yijun looked at the map for a long time. This

map completely outlined the contours of Australia. It could be seen that the star-observing ship had really tried its best, hoping to find a good reason for developing this place.

The star-observing ship had wanted to give up several times, but because they had invested huge amounts of manpower and material resources in surveying, the sunk costs prompted the exploration activities to continue for three years.

"What did you call it when you were exploring?" Zhu Yijun asked about their habitual name.

Chen Dazhuang showed a slightly painful expression and said, "We called that side the Desolate Land."

"Except for some places in the south that are suitable for living, other places are not very suitable for life. Your Majesty, this Desolate Land is really strange. Most areas of their deserts have annual rainfall exceeding twelve inches."

"Only when rainfall exceeds twenty-four inches can it be barely called moist."

"You must know that in the Ming Dynasty, twelve inches of rainfall is already good farmland, all in the hinterland of the Ming Dynasty. But in the Desolate Land, twelve inches of rainfall is a desert that doesn't grow a blade of grass, not even sandy land, but a desert."

The accompanying land masters found it really hard to understand this strange state. In any place, if annual rainfall exceeds twelve inches and the frost-free period exceeds one hundred days, it is a good place for farming. Even if the land is not particularly fertile, it can be slowly nurtured.

But the Desolate Land couldn't; twelve inches of rainfall was a desert.

In the land abandoned by heaven, most places were truly unsuitable for people to live. The local natives totaled only a few hundred thousand, divided into hundreds of tribes, scattered across such a large island, not interacting with each other, and unable to interact, lacking large livestock.

Chen Dazhuang continued, "The reason the land masters called it the Desolate Land is because the Desolate Land actually has too many inland rivers. The Desolate Land actually doesn't lack rainfall, so these inland rivers flood regularly."

"But these inland rivers have no outlet to the sea, causing salt to be unable to enter the ocean, forming large areas of saline-alkali land. Saline-alkali land is really difficult to farm."

Such a large piece of land, even if placed on a globe, occupied a large area. Unfortunately, it really wasn't good land.

Chen Dazhuang said with some emotion, "Your Majesty, your subject has stayed in the West for several years and protected Xu Fan, and then returned to the Ming Dynasty. Your subject considers himself knowledgeable, but this Desolate Land is considered a very poor place."

Exploration requires interest-driven motivation.

Except for iron ore, it seemed to have no value, and the mining of iron ore required paved roads, steam engines for transportation, and a large number of laborers.

"Then let's call it the Desolate Continent," Zhu Yijun gave this place a name, which was the Oceania of later generations.

"The iron ore is open-pit, a large iron mountain that the Ming Dynasty might not be able to use up in hundreds of years," Chen Dazhuang was afraid that the Emperor would not be interested in this barren land and would just fill in a color.

After all, in his impression, the Emperor preferred farming and silver. He again emphasized the iron ore endowment over there, high grade, high reserves, and easy to mine.

The Ming Dynasty also had high-grade iron materials, but these iron materials were called ginseng iron. Only when making precision instruments would these ginseng irons be used. The reserves were small, and they were in deep mountains and old forests, making them difficult to mine.

In comparison, the iron mountain already explored by the star-observing ship only needed a 600-li paved road to transport the inexhaustible ginseng iron to the Ming Dynasty.

And the construction cost of one li of Ming paved road was only 7,500 silver. Even if built in the Desolate Continent, the price per li would not exceed 10,000 silver.

This was absolutely a super cost-effective deal.

"The Marquis of Eagle-Raising and the Marquis of Sishui have already seen the hydrology and geography. They believe it has great mining value, and in that place, there is no need to worry about the problem of rebellion, because around the large iron mountain, it is impossible to farm at all, and it completely relies on the Ming Dynasty for food supply."

"Your Majesty, the southeast of the Desolate Continent is suitable for farming, but the southeast and the northwest where the iron mountain is located cannot be directly navigated, because in the sea area south of the Desolate Continent, the waves exceed one zhang high. Even with the Ming navy's warships, passing through is very difficult."

Chen Dazhuang again emphasized the issue of loyalty. He didn't understand politics very well. These words were taught to Chen Dazhuang by Yin Zhengmao after he had carefully looked at the surveyed hydrology and geography.

The imperial court had the imperial court's difficulties. The people might not understand the imperial court's difficulties, but as a minister, one must consider that loyalty was a topic that could not be bypassed.

To persuade the gentlemen to invest heavily, one needed reasons, and one needed to ensure that this region was under the control of the Ming imperial court, rather than raising a nest of rebels after heavy investment.

Being unable to produce food on a large scale meant a high reliance on the maritime trade economic order, which represented the Ming Dynasty's high degree of economic control over this place.

This was the greatest prerequisite for loyalty.

The Desolate Continent, nothing but iron ore.

"I know. You brought back such important hydrology and geography; I won't let your efforts go to waste," Zhu Yijun said with a full smile. "Dazhuang, how about you manage this large iron mountain?"

"I mean, I will confer you as a pioneering noble and station you there. This place is enough to eat for hundreds or thousands of years; descendants can rely on the mountain to eat from the mountain."

Since it was discovered by Chen Dazhuang, it was very reasonable for it to become his fief; otherwise, who would be willing to be the vanguard of development?

In the Age of Discovery, whoever discovered it owned it; this was very reasonable. Sailing was a matter of risking one's life.

"I will give you one million silver. You recruit people yourself, first build the port, then level the road surface so that carriages and horses can pass, immigrate bit by bit, and then survey where the paved road should go and how far it should be built. Ten years to succeed," Zhu Yijun simply described his plan.

"Your subject..." Chen Dazhuang said with a hesitant expression, "Your subject has no children

left. It would be better to let General Shi Longbo or General Deng go. Your subject has already agreed with the star-observing ship to go to the other side of the Pacific to continue exploration."

Chen Dazhuang once had two sons, one named Tiedan and one named Fugui. One son died at the hands of the Kong family, and one son starved to death.

Later, he had been running around, going to Nagasaki, going to the West, going to the Desolate Continent, and had left behind quite a few romantic debts. As for whether he actually had children, he didn't care much; they were all one-night stands, and he had never had the idea of taking a wife again.

"Like a monk, without desires or demands. How old are you this year?" Zhu Yijun asked with feigned anger.

Chen Dazhuang didn't know why the Emperor was angry and hurriedly said, "Your Majesty, your subject is thirty-five years old this year."

Zhu Yijun nodded and said, "Feng Bao, when Dazhuang leaves in a while, take a few beauties from ten thousand countries and bestow them upon him."

"I will also have someone play matchmaker for you and find you a wife as your main spouse. Just say that there is a mine at home, someone sitting on a golden mountain, a six-zhang-tall strong man, still worried about not having a wife? When you get there, just have children, have as many as you can!"

"I can't control others, but I can control you. That's it! You go and watch the Desolate Continent iron mountain for me. It's mine, and it must be the Ming Dynasty's for generations to come!"

"This is an imperial decree!"

Chen Dazhuang bowed again and said, "Your subject obeys the decree!"

Chen Dazhuang didn't want to be an iron mountain mine owner. He had somewhat opened his mind and just wanted to pursue unrestrained great freedom. He didn't care much about accumulating family property to pass on to descendants. He had been running around all these years and had gotten used to being wild.

Just like the exploration team established by the distant Marquis of Womagang beacon tower, the maritime defense inspectors also followed the Ming star-observing ships to explore the unknown world everywhere.

He received news that on the other side of the sea, in the deep mountains, there was a golden mountain. He wanted to find that golden mountain for His Majesty. When the Ming ocean-going merchant fleet traded with the local natives, they received a piece of dog-head gold.

No matter how heavy the dog-head gold was, it was just that. The land masters' obsession with dog-head gold lay in the fact that dog-head gold was the most important clue to finding gold mines, and there were often associated minerals.

Chen Dazhuang prepared to continue on the path of exploration after meeting the Emperor, and then die on the path of exploration.

After His Majesty avenged him, he had no more worries. His only obsession was to repay the imperial grace.

Governor Ling Yunyi gave him a sword in Shandong, telling him to kill his enemy with his own hands, but Chen Dazhuang couldn't kill, because it would bring endless trouble to Governor Ling Yunyi; that was, after all, the Duke Yansheng.

When Chen Dazhuang was in the most difficult time, Governor Ling Yunyi took him in. Bringing trouble to his benefactor was unrighteous.

His Majesty executed Kong Yinlin by dog-execution, his parents' great revenge was avenged, and he did not fall into an unrighteous situation. This was the imperial grace.

Now that His Majesty had an imperial decree, he could only obey.

"Your subject will watch the iron ore mountain for His Majesty," Chen Dazhuang bowed again. He didn't feel that the iron mountain was his own; this was His Majesty's property, and he or his family were just managing it on his behalf.

Under the whole heaven, there is no land that is not the king's; of the people on the land, there is no one who is not the king's minister.

Of course, he couldn't control much about the descendants. Providing a steady stream of ginseng iron to the Ming Dynasty was the most important thing. He had participated in a global voyage, and he couldn't think of anywhere else in the world that could consume so much iron ore.

Besides selling to the Ming Dynasty, there were no other big buyers for this iron ore.

Chen Dazhuang didn't say that, in fact, it was really, really difficult to survive in that place.

In the sea of the Desolate Continent, there were many, many sharks, but the sharks didn't dare to approach the shore; because there were many saltwater crocodiles on the shore, crocodiles that lived by the sea, big crocodiles with bared teeth.

Chen Dazhuang saw a big crocodile baring its teeth at him. That crocodile was about two zhang long. Of course, the final result was that everyone on the star-observing ship had an extra meal, about 1,800 jin, and everyone got five jin of crocodile meat.

Chen Dazhuang led three distant Marquis beacon tower guards to kill that very fierce big crocodile. They didn't use the tiger-crouching cannon; just the cooperation of bows, arrows, and fire muskets killed the big crocodile on the shore.

The place where the iron mountain was located had very serious miasma and heat. People in that place were very prone to heatstroke.

Zhu Yijun said with some worry, "Don't be stubborn. You can live in Coconut Haicheng, buy some black barbarian slaves, and let them mine in the large iron mountain. Just go and look once a year. Right now, besides the Ming Dynasty, no one will go there to buy iron ore."

"There is nothing there except iron ore."

The Han towns in Coconut Haicheng were still very prosperous, and all kinds of cargo ships were endless. Living in Coconut Haicheng, the life experience was far better than living in the Desolate Continent.

Zhu Yijun reminded Chen Dazhuang that he could adopt an offline monarchy system. Just take a look when sending food every year. If there were not enough slaves, buy some. He should show the style of a slave owner and not be like a farmer who does everything himself.

Chen Dazhuang was not very good at being a meat-eater. Zhu Yijun was teaching him how to enjoy life hand-in-hand.

"Your subject obeys the decree." Chen Dazhuang bowed again to receive the order.

When Chen Dazhuang left, he still had some regrets. The Emperor's imperial decree had interrupted all his plans. He could no longer follow the star-observing ship to the other side of the sea to continue exploration.

Zhu Yijun looked at Chen Dazhuang's departing back, his mouth twitched, and he said, "Why does Dazhuang look like he has seen through the red dust? Was he influenced by those evil spirits of the Jile Sect?"

In the conversation between Zhu Yijun and Chen Dazhuang, he felt a sense of indifference to drifting with the tide. Chen Dazhuang described his experience of discovering the mine. Zhu Yijun listened and heard that he didn't value his life and didn't care much about his own life.

The large iron mountain was found by Chen Dazhuang himself.

Most people on the star-observing ship had given up. They had been surveying for three full years and had no development

value, but Chen Dazhuang still found the red river in the words of the barbarians, found the iron mountain, and went alone and returned alone.

After exploring the road, Chen Dazhuang brought the land masters of the star-observing ship deep into the large iron mountain.

"Your Majesty, people must have worries. Chen Dazhuang has no worries anymore," Feng Bao answered this question carefully.

The Emperor was actually somewhat unaware of his own illness. For a period of time, the situation of the Emperor and Chen Dazhuang was very similar. If it weren't for Empress Wang walking into the Emperor's heart and having an emotional anchor, the Emperor would probably be even more open-minded than Chen Dazhuang.

Zhu Yijun said with a furrowed brow, "I gave a lot of rewards. He is now a Pacification Commissioner. In terms of status and money, isn't it easy to take another wife?"

Feng Bao took a deep breath and said in a very, very low voice, "Your Majesty, worries are sometimes also weaknesses."

After the 21st year of Jiajing, the Daoist master stopped receiving the late Emperor Yu Wang in the name of the two dragons not meeting. Especially as he got older, it was even more so.

For the Daoist master, he really couldn't meet anymore. If he met, he wouldn't be able to protect the only remaining son. Worries are weaknesses. No matter who it is, once their weakness is held, they will be hesitant, and the Emperor is no exception, and Chen Dazhuang is the same.

Chen Dazhuang's parents died, his two sons died, and for the rest of his life, besides revenge, he really had no worries. After the revenge was successful, Chen Dazhuang changed, becoming completely indifferent to his life. When he didn't care about life and death, there was nothing that could make him afraid.

And the Ming Emperor was introducing him to a wife and bestowing beauties from ten thousand countries, just for one purpose: to create worries.

After Zhu Yijun finished reading the map sent back by Chen Dazhuang, he made a copy. Feng Bao put the original in the side hall of the Wenhua Hall. That was something to be put in the tomb after death; it was what Zhu Yijun cared about most.

The Great Brightness Sect's Grand Shepherd, Ma Minister Liang. This woman showed her piety to wisdom from the beginning, but after she established the Free Knights, the Ming Dynasty changed its view of her, especially the Ministry of Rites, whose scrutiny of her became even stricter.

Using the authority of the Ming Emperor and the believers of the Great Brightness Sect to achieve one's own goals was not impossible, but not only refusing to pay but also planning to get it for free was absolutely not allowed!

No matter what, one must pay.

Ma Minister Liang was almost the last envoy to be granted an audience by the Emperor because she was identified by the Ministry of Rites as having ulterior motives.

Zhu Yijun looked at Ma Minister Liang, who was bowing respectfully, and shook his head, saying, "Are you plotting for the throne of Falanxi? If you are here to seek funding, I am powerless to help. The West is really too far away, and I have no way to help you."

Ma Minister Liang replied extremely helplessly, "Rich and wise prophet, I have explained to your bureaucrats countless times that that is my father's idea, not mine. I have no interest in the Falanxi royal family."

"Forgive the weakness of the Great Brightness Sect. I can only accept my father's funding to quickly establish a legion to face the complex situation."

"The Free Knights I established are to ensure that the believers of the Great Brightness Sect are not harmed. Your Majesty is the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty and does not understand the bloody degree of religious conflicts in the West. This is the wisdom of the prophet. The prophet once said: what is not seen with one's own eyes is all vanity."

"In the West, I can only use the sword to protect my believers!"

Ma Minister Liang had already said this countless times in the Ming Dynasty. The rapid establishment of the Free Knights indeed came from the help of her father, the Marshal of the Falanxi Army. Her father indeed had this ambition to replace, but she was not like that.

"Exempt from courtesy. I know very well that you have your difficulties, and I don't intend to make things too difficult for you. But, when did I say this sentence? What is not seen with one's own eyes is all vanity?" Zhu Yijun looked puzzled.

When did he say this? How did he not know!

Ma Minister Liang stood up, her eyes flashing with excitement, and she said quite solemnly, "In the opening of the Theory of Contradictions, it discusses wisdom itself."

"The great prophet once quoted the famous words of the sages: to know is to know, not to know is not to know, this is wisdom."

"Any experience requires practice to be true experience. Any experience detached from practice is vanity."

"Your Majesty is in the Ming Dynasty and does not understand the complexity of religious conflicts in the West because you have only heard of them but have not practiced them, so you cannot understand. Not knowing, but not speaking recklessly, this is true wisdom!"

Ma Minister Liang was very excited. Her purpose in coming to the Ming Dynasty was indeed to hope for the recognition of the Ming Dynasty, but she hoped even more to discuss doctrine with the Ming Emperor.

Zhu Yijun could only say that she was deceiving herself.

In fact, the Ming Emperor didn't care much about the Great Brightness Sect. He received these believers only because these believers were willing to pay for their pilgrimage.

"Uh," Zhu Yijun shook his head and said, "This is what you saw from the Theory of Contradictions. It is your understanding. Your understanding is very good."

"Let's talk about something concrete. What does your father want to get from the Ming Dynasty?"

Zhu Yijun felt that although this Great Brightness Sect was a bit strange, overall, it was not an evil spirit, and the color of an orthodox religion was stronger.

Ma Minister Liang looked slightly disappointed. She actually wanted to discuss doctrine more deeply, but the great Majesty seemed to want to do business more. She bowed and said, "We possess some colonies in the New World and Africa and have obtained some gold and silver. We hope to purchase enough warships from the Ming Dynasty."

Africa, this name originated from the Roman Empire era. The Roman Empire defeated Carthage, seized Tunisia,

and established the province of Africa. With the opening of new shipping routes and the Age of Discovery, this concept expanded to the entire continent of Africa.

In this Age of Discovery, Falanxi, the Netherlands, and England could only establish some strongholds in the places left over by Portugal and Spain. The returns were far less than Spain's, but there were still some returns.

Clearly, purchasing more ships would allow them to obtain more colonies.

Zhu Yijun shook his head and said, "That's probably not possible. The Ming Dynasty's five-masted ocean-crossing ships are not enough for our own use. The production capacity has reached its limit, and the scheduling is already three years later."

The five major shipyards of the Ming Dynasty were working overtime to build ships, and the shipyards were doing their best to expand production capacity, but the production capacity could only meet the internal needs of the Ming Dynasty. The industrial chain for things like ships was too long, and the speed of production capacity expansion was really limited.

The main difficulty here was the dilemma of wood.

The Ming Dynasty needed a large amount of teak to make decks. This precious wood was only used for decks, not for ship hulls. Now the ship hulls were copper-clad wood, which greatly increased the lifespan of the ships.

The Songjiang Prefecture Ship Design Institute was already trying to use more easily obtainable steel plates to splice decks to replace the difficult-to-supply teak.

The Ship Design Institute was always designing some strange things, such as a cement ship they launched, but it sank quickly. It had a large self-weight, thick ship hull, lacked crack resistance, and had poor extensibility, unable to withstand thermal expansion and contraction.

In order to find a substitute, the Design Institute really tried its best.

"Three years later is also fine. We can pay a 30% deposit. I implore Your Majesty to agree," Ma Minister Liang said very firmly. "We believe in Your Majesty's reputation."

This was one of the Emperor's eight virtues, and Ma Minister Liang had learned from all aspects that the Emperor had never breached a contract and valued reputation.

In comparison, Philip of the West had defaulted twice, causing those who trusted him to suffer heavy losses.

"The Ming Dynasty's shipyards must prioritize meeting the internal needs of the Ming Dynasty. I must ask about the specific arrangements for the Ministry of Works' scheduling and also ask the Ministry of Revenue about the expected scale of maritime trade."

"After all, the scale of the Ming Dynasty's maritime trade is expanding, and the demand for ships is increasing. Only after determining this can we know if the shipyards have the production capacity to meet your country's needs," Zhu Yijun said a lot of nonsense, but the meaning in his words was very clear. It was three words.

You have to pay more.

Recently, the Ming national treasury and inner treasury were both a bit empty, especially since Zhu Yijun had approved one million silver for Chen Dazhuang to develop the large iron mountain in the Desolate Continent, making it even more stretched.

Ma Minister Liang took a deep breath and said, "We will purchase five-masted ocean-crossing ships at a price of 250,000 silver each."

"We know this is very expensive. Within the Ming Dynasty, five-masted ocean-crossing ships usually only sell for 50,000 silver. But we don't have a complete shipbuilding industry, and Philip has almost monopolized the shipbuilding industry of the West. Only the Netherlands region can build them, but limited by territory and scale, it cannot meet our needs."

The independence of the Netherlands was causing Spain to lose its maritime hegemony. This hegemony included not only maritime route hegemony but also the monopoly on the shipbuilding industry.

Before the independence of the Netherlands, only Spain could possess the most advanced sea ships, but now, the English and the Falanxi all possessed usable sea ships.

In fact, Portugal also had its own shipbuilding industry in the past, but time had passed, and it had already been annexed by Philip.

"Then how many sea ships does Falanxi need?" Zhu Yijun asked, sitting up straight.

Ma Minister Liang looked unbearable and said, "Twenty ships, five million silver. This is already all the silver in Falanxi."

"Now, within Falanxi, it is believed that our backwardness in maritime trade has caused the current chaos in Falanxi. As long as we gain an advantage in maritime trade, everything will get better."

"Twenty ships, then I will arrange production as soon as possible and strive to deliver them fully within three years. If you need firearms or gunpowder, you can contact the Ministry of Works. The Ming Dynasty does business with clear prices and no deception to young or old," Zhu Yijun changed from perfunctory to sunny.

Production capacity, if you squeeze, there will always be some.

If you let the craftsmen work overtime, give enough rewards, the craftsmen will have the enthusiasm for production and exert their subjective initiative.

No matter how loud the slogan is, it is not as effective as the incentive of real gold and silver. ===== CHAPTER 796 =====

"Twenty ships? I will arrange for production as soon as possible and strive to deliver them completely within three years. If you need firearms or gunpowder, you can contact the Ministry of Works. The Great Ming does business with clear prices and treats everyone fairly." Zhu Yijun's attitude shifted from perfunctory to beaming.

As for production capacity, it can always be squeezed out if we try.

If we make the craftsmen work overtime and provide sufficient rewards, they will have the motivation to produce and will exercise their own subjective initiative.

No matter how loud the slogans are, they are not as effective as the incentive of real gold and silver.