Mourning took the soldiers and patrolled the island for a week, and found that in the southeast, about two hundred steps from the center of the island, there was a huge pond.
"Go and see if the pond is salt water or fresh water."
A soldier ran over, squatted down, held a handful of water in his hand, and tasted it in his mouth, "Tuanzai, it's fresh water."
"Fresh water?" Mourning was overjoyed. If there is fresh water on the island, crops can be grown on the island in the future. Soldiers can also stay on the island. He ran over by himself, recruited some water, put it in front of his nose and smelled it. It is fresh water, but the fresh water exudes a strong smell of bird droppings. This pond should be a place for seabirds to drink.
Since the seabirds are drinking here, the water quality should be no problem. As long as the seabirds are dispersed in the future, the water quality will be automatically purified.
Mourning originally planned to leave fifty soldiers on the island to garrison. Considering that this was the first time the fleet came to this unknown island, next time he didn’t know what to come again, so he gave up this plan. He was prepared to fight with the guards. After discussing the letter, make a decision.
"Leave the general flag on the small island, engrave words on the rock, telling latecomers that this small island belongs to us."
The soldiers planted the Sun and Moon flag on the edge of the pond, and carved the word "Da Ming" on the nearby rock with a knives, indicating that they were the first to land on this small island.
Mourning pointed out on the island where houses could be built and where farmland could be opened up. He also planned to build small docks and lookout posts where ships were anchored.
The group did not return to the ship until noon.
The soldiers who had returned earlier had plucked the captured seabirds and simmered them with clean water. They could smell a scent from a distance.
"Tuanzuo, if only a few more seabirds would be hit, brothers are crowded, and these seabirds may not be enough to eat."
"You are stupid, when the flintlock slaps, the other seabirds are not running away, waiting for you to fight?"
Mourning smiled, being able to eat fresh meat on a remote island can indeed improve the soldiers’ food and boost their morale, but if the seabirds will come back for a while, he can’t help it, but Mo Ning immediately thought that there are fish in the sea. If you can bring a few pieces of fishing nets, you can eat fresh fish.
When distributing food, there are more monks and less porridge. Most soldiers still use white rice with potatoes, and at most one spoonful of seabird soup can be shared.
After Mourning asked the recorder to record the location of the island, the ship returned.
This time, Mourning’s biggest gain was to find an uninhabited island, which would belong to the North Sea Fleet, and would not need to be purchased from Han Wuye like the Blue Island.
When returning home, because it was sailing against the wind, it took almost twelve days for the fleet to return to Blue Island.
Han Wuye has not yet decided whether he wants to go back to Middle-earth and see the hometown of his ancestors. Mourning is inconvenient to persuade him. He passed by Hachizhang Island and visited the soldiers guarding the island before returning directly to Qingdao.
As soon as Mourning came back, he was found by Wei Xin and asked him to talk about strange anecdotes in the foreign land.
"Mo Tuanzuo, what's the gain this time?" Wei Xin had no interest in expedition to the east. He didn't even know the east of Ryukyu and the wider ocean. He sent Mourning's fleet purely to complete. The task assigned to him by Zhu Youjian.
But every time Mourning came back, he would bring him new knowledge and new experience, especially when he discovered Hachijo Island and Blue Island. His interest in exploring the east became more and more intense. If it were not for the commander of the North Sea Fleet, he You must personally travel eastward.
"Return to the commander, there are two major gains from this trip to sea." Mourning knew that Wei Xin was more and more interested in exploration, and deliberately sipped tea to adjust Wei Xin's appetite.
"Then you don't want to say it?" Wei Xin waited for a long time, but he couldn't help but stared when he didn't see the following.
Seeing that Wei Xin’s expression was wrong, Mourning said, “One is to negotiate with Wang Yongqing and Han Wuye about the garrison on the two islands; the other is to find an uninhabited island in the southeast of Blue Island. It is estimated that no one has ever been on the island. We left a military flag on the island and carved the word'Da Ming' on the rock, and then we returned."
"An uninhabited island? Have you stationed troops on the island?" Wei Xin is obviously more interested in the newly discovered uninhabited island. "Only when an army is stationed, there is Daming's land. You only leave the army flag. Mark the rocks. If someone else comes and throws your flag and rocks into the sea, who do you call to reason?"
"Commander, this small island is too far away from Qingdao's home port. I sailed against the wind for nearly a month and two months back and forth. If the soldiers stay on this deserted island, I don't know when they can wait for our fleet." Mourning stated his plan, "If you establish an official supply base on Hachijo Island or Aoshima Island, where you will go from in the future, you can save a lot of time."
Wei Xin is right to think about it. If the soldiers on the island meet the ships of other countries, a small number of soldiers will not be able to fight the enemy at all. If the number of soldiers is large, the supply will be a problem. "How is the negotiation between Hachijo Island and Aoshima Island? Up?"
"Commander, there is a company of soldiers stationed on Hachizhang Island, a total of 113 sergeants. The owner of the island, Wang Yongqing, has set aside a piece of land of about 600 acres for us."
"Isn't it possible to build a supply base on Hachizhang Island?" Wei Xin didn't know what Mourning meant.
"Commander, there is a problem here. Now they need the protection of soldiers, so we are allowed to be stationed there. If one day they regret not letting us be stationed, what shall we do?"
This is indeed a problem. In other words, the base has no time guarantee, and the islands are all Han people, so you can't kill them all, right? If there are Japanese on the island, it will not work even more. If a large number of Japanese are killed, it may cause disputes between the two countries, or even war. Wei Xin asked casually: "Then how do you plan to solve it? "
"Commander..." Mourning hesitated.
"You are a soldier, why are you mother-in-law? Just say whatever you want. If it doesn't work, let's think of other ways."
"Yes, Commander," Wei Xin tightened his throat. "On the Blue Island, the land that Han Wuye assigned to me was permanently bought by me."
"Buy it? After all, what's going on." Wei Xin didn't know that the island could still be bought.
Mourning told Wei Xin about the contract between him and Han Wuye, "Commander, one hundred taels of silver, isn't it too expensive?"
"It's not expensive, it's not expensive at all," Wei Xin wished to hug Mourning and turn around twice, "With this permanent piece of land, we can build a supply base."
"Commander, I think so too." Seeing that Wei Xin agreed with his approach, Mourning wanted to find some credit.
"You think so too?" Wei Xin glared, "You have already bought this piece of land, why didn't you tell me earlier? Isn't it a test of me?"
"How dare I test the commander?" Mourning had to tell the truth: "Because without the commander's consent, he voluntarily used the North Sea Fleet's military payment to purchase land, and his subordinates were not at ease."
"You are a little bold," Wei Xin shook his head and nodded again. "However, you are not buying the land for your personal enjoyment, but for the base of the North Sea Fleet. Your Majesty should not blame it."
"Thank you Commander."
"Why are you grateful? You do two things right now. Well, think about building a supply base on Blue Island. In addition to building houses, warehouses, docks, and growing vegetables, you also need to do those things."
"Yes, Commander," Mourning suddenly jumped up from his seat and offered a military salute to Wei Xin, "what about the two?"
"Secondly, I'll give you two days off. You first have a rest. Two days later, report to the barracks and follow me to Beijing."
"Commander, why? This is almost Singapore dollars, why do you want to enter Beijing?" Mourning was a little dissatisfied. He had been wandering at sea for more than half a year, not even allowing Singapore dollars.
"I also hope to spend Xinyuan at home, but someone in the capital wants to see you." Wei Xin held back a smile and waited for Mourning to continue asking questions.
"The subordinates have no acquaintances in the capital, who wants to see the subordinates? Besides, it costs Singapore dollars, I don't even bother to see him!" Mourning muttered.
"You have to see this person. Even me, because of you, I have to rush to the capital in time." Wei Xin has only said a few words until now. He is deliberately trying to slander Moning's appetite. Who made Moning just now? Hesitating to him!
"Who the hell is it? Commander, this is the New Year..."
"The emperor, the emperor wants to see you, can you say you can't go?" Wei Xin saw that Mourning was so anxious that he couldn't find the lice on his body, and this opened up the mystery.
"Ah? The emperor? Why did the emperor want to see me?" Mourning stayed for a while, he first thought about the bad, and he didn't do anything to deceive him! As for the stationing of troops on Hachijo Island and Aoshima Island, that was also agreed by the commander. If he was to be held accountable, he would not be held accountable. He only understood Wei Xin's triumphant expression that it might be because he wanted to be crooked.
It turned out that the last time Wei Xin had boarded Mourning on Hachizhang Island and Blue Island, he reported it to the National Defense Agency in the form of a military report. Li Chunye felt that the matter was special, so he reported it to Zhu Youjian.
Zhu Youjian had long heard about Xu Fu's eastward crossing. In the history of later generations, many people even suspected that the Japanese were descendants of Xu Fu and those virgins, but there was no scientific basis.
Now that Li Chunye reported to him about Hachijo Island and Aoshima Island, he realized that the Japanese are not the descendants of Xu Fu and the virgin boys. The descendants of Xu Fu and the virgin boys are other people. They are not living in Japan. The island has not been assimilated by the Japanese. For more than two thousand years, they have lived on Hachijo Island and Aoshima Island. They lived in isolation from the rest of the world, and their lives were relatively difficult.
Although Zhu Youjian is not a strict nationalist, he still can't hold back when he hears that the descendants of the Han people have a difficult life and want to help them.
Originally, Zhu Youjian only wanted to help them secretly, without changing their quiet life. There are really too few such places in the world, but he heard that the Japanese daimyo had begun to exile criminals on the two islands, and their quiet life could no longer be maintained. So there are new ideas.
People living on these two islands are all Han people, so these two islands should belong to the land of Ming Dynasty, as long as the Han people on the islands do not object.
Although the area of the two islands is not large, in the future, with the addition of territorial waters, adjacent areas, and exclusive economic zones, the sea area that can be controlled will reach hundreds of thousands or even millions of square kilometers.
In Zhu Youjian's mind, he is not worried about Japan's arbitrary interference. Since Ryukyu is in his pocket, it is normal for the islands to the east of Ryukyu to belong to Da Ming.
If Japan must come to snatch these islands, that would be the best excuse for the war of Tomorrow. If it is really going to fight, the Japanese will not have the final say to what extent the war is fought.
Zhu Youjian is not an easy-headed person. He is still not sure whether Wei Xin’s military report is true. This matter is too peculiar. It is afraid that the North Sea Fleet created a scam like "South China Tiger Photo" in order to claim credit. None of this exists, and the manpower and material resources he has made for the two islands are a big joke.
Therefore, Zhu Youjian issued an imperial decree to Wei Xin, commander of the North Sea Fleet. Once Mourning returns to Qingdao, he will let Wei Xin take Mourning and immediately rush to the capital. He will summon Mourning himself.