Tang Ping still set out from the East China Sea Fleet Military Port in Qiongzhou, but this time he went farther. The straight-line distance between the two places was more than 4,000 kilometers.
Following the route, it is close to 5,000 kilometers.
At the current average speed of a steam ship of about 10 knots, which is about 18 kilometers per hour, it takes about 12 days to travel at sea.
Because he had no idea about the current situation on the Australian island, Tang Ping brought a lot of various supplies.
"Is it going to snow in the Tang Dynasty? It's still summer here, it's really amazing!"
When getting off the boat, Lao Cui was amazed while helping to move things.
He has been to Southeast Asia near the equator, where it is summer all year round. But now that they set foot on this island, it is the opposite season to the Tang Dynasty. That's why he found it interesting.
"Build a base on the coast now!" Tang Ping looked at the map, and then used a drone to look at the nearby terrain. He chose a relatively flat place and said, "The dock will also be built here in the future."
The location where they settled now was probably Port Hedland in the northwest of Australia in later generations. Not far to the southwest from this location was Australia's main iron ore producing area.
But before that, Tang Ping and the others must establish an advance base and then slowly explore the inside of the island.
While searching for iron ore, I also looked for traces of aboriginal people.
The only information Tang Ping can get now is that there were probably dozens to one million aborigines in Australia at this time.
The number one million sounds like a lot, but you have to know that the entire Australian island covers an area of almost 7.7 million square kilometers, which is basically four-fifths of the modern area of China.
During this period, the population of Chang'an in the Tang Dynasty exceeded one million.
Therefore, it is not easy to find people who can help Datang mine on such a large island.
Now the Tang Dynasty already has the shadow of the infrastructure madman of later generations of China.
A simple forward base was completed in only about ten days. Nearly 3,000 people were left in the base, half of them soldiers and craftsmen.
The task of these craftsmen is to build base posts, infrastructure in the iron ore mining area, and roads from the iron mine to the port.
Fortunately, Australia
In addition to having a lot of iron, Australia also has a lot of coal mines, and the fuel for steam engines can be produced locally.
Tang Ping and the others have been riding around on horseback for the past ten days, but they have not found any trace of human life.
Only then can we understand what it means to have a vast land and sparsely populated areas.
"Forget it, let's build the road first. While we're building the road to the iron ore and coal mining areas, we'll look for people at the same time!" At the same time, Tang Ping warned: "If you find local indigenous people, try to protect yourself and don't conflict with them. You can use food and other supplies to express goodwill to the other party, and then notify me immediately!”
You must know that some of the first European colonists who arrived here in history were not very happy with the Australian indigenous people, and there were bloody conflicts over this.
Because Australia is one of the flattest continents, it was not difficult for the craftsmen of the Tang Dynasty to lay roads.
When the steamboat sent them there, it also left behind all the cinders left over from burning along the way. They just used flat ground and then spread the cinders.
Time passes day by day, and Tang Ping and the others will soon enter the iron ore producing area. Even where they are now, they can see some exposed brown-red stones. According to experienced craftsmen, these are the most abundant in the Tang Dynasty. It can be regarded as a top-notch iron mine.
So they were very curious about the iron ore producing area that Tang Ping mentioned, and wanted to see what the scene would be like after arriving in the mining area.
Only Tang Ping was a little anxious. He used the drone to carefully search a large area along the way, but he didn't encounter any people.
If the road is built to the front of the iron ore area and no one is found yet, he may have to work as a miner with those Datang soldiers.
Because the terrain is now flat, Tang Ping and the others even drove a steam locomotive and started looking for people in this area.
Just when Tang Ping thought he would still find nothing today, Xue Rengui pointed in a direction and said, "There seems to be something there."
Lao Cui quickly turned around and drove in the direction Xue Rengui said.
When I parked the car and took a look, I found faint traces of a bonfire.
But because it may have been a long time, there are only a few small stones in a circle and the dark color burned inside.
Tang Ping reached out and touched it, nodded excitedly and said, "This is indeed what was left after burning the wood."
After so many days, this was the only trace found. He believed that if he followed this, he would soon find an aboriginal tribe here.
"But which direction did people go?" This is the eastern plateau of Australia, and at first glance they are almost the same grassland.
There were also some kangaroos and other animals moving around on it, and because it was their first time seeing a steam locomotive, they didn’t even have the intention to avoid it.
Lao Cui and the others were surprised to see kangaroos at first, but after getting two of them to eat, they were no longer very interested.
The meat was too woody, and even with the addition of star anise mulled wine for cooking, it still had a strong fishy smell.
"If people move around, they must be inseparable from water sources. Master, look where there are rivers and other water sources." Lao Cui reminded.
TangPing nodded: “That makes sense!”
As he said that, he started to control the drone and flew it to the highest level to start investigating.
He soon discovered that there was a river behind a forest in the distance.
"It should be in that direction!"
They drove to the edge of the forest and left the car outside without being able to get in.
Who else could steal a car here in this day and age?
Entering this kind of forest, everyone should be more vigilant, because various animals, insects and even some plants may bring danger.
But fortunately, Lao Cui and Lao Du are experts in this field, and with the various equipment support provided by Tang Ping, they can move forward faster in the forest.
"Here!" Xue Rengui pointed to a bush and said, "There are blood stains."
Tang Ping and the others went over and took a look, and sure enough, there were some dark red blood stains.
"How long has it been?" Tang Ping asked, "Is it human?"
"About three days." Lao Cui touched it: "But the climate here is relatively dry, so the time may be shorter. I can't say whether it is human blood."
"Well, at least we are heading in the right direction!" Tang Ping pointed forward: "Keep looking."
Drones were hovering in the sky looking for traces of aboriginal people, while Tang Ping and the others were looking for clues on the ground.
"Here!" Soon they found new blood stains and scratches on the tree.
"It should be someone fighting some kind of beast, and the blood is relatively fresh."
