The "Dayu Lake" that has just been launched for half a year has lost power at sea again because the new "Popeye-8" steam engine (the total horsepower reaches more than 400 horses) has stopped. Fortunately, they are very close to Rabaul at this time. After drifting the ship to the nearshore, they immediately dropped the double anchors from the head and tail, and anchored the ship not far from the dock.

Today is December 5, 1658. Several East Coast immigration transport ships were moored in Labaur Port that temporarily replenished water. As an extremely important intermediate node on the Pacific route, Labaur Port is now increasingly valued by people in the East Coast, especially after it was placed in the jurisdiction of the newly established Australian Development Team (upgraded from deputy development team to pioneer team), after the application of the captain of the Australian Development Team, Wang Yan, the local executive committee finally reluctantly ordered the construction of a permanent port and city here to serve as a safe haven for the East Coast fleet, supply ground and ship repair office.

Today, the "Dayu Lake" carried a large amount of local supplies to Labaoer Port, but it broke down when it was about to reach the finish line. Speaking of the "Dayu Lake", this is already the third fully steam-powered ship in the East Coast Republic of China, but it seems that the reliability of the steam-powered system is still not very good, especially this steam engine with a maximum of four or five hundred horsepower, which will cause some failure from time to time, which makes the captains of these ships without sail power extremely troubled. Because there is no sail power, the earliest all-steam powered ship, the Tahiti, has sunk; the second all-steam powered ship, "Trek Turkey", was washed away by waves when entering the port at Balewhale Port. Unfortunately, it broke a big hole at the bottom of the ship, and it had no choice but to rush to the beach and half-sank in the shallow water area (it has been dismantled), which is also very miserable.

Today, the stubborn problem of low reliability of the steam power system has not been completely solved. So, the "Dayu Lake" suddenly lost power. Fortunately, the Tianzun Guardian is close to the port, so he can drift into the anchorage along the sea current.

Since the East Coast people first stopped in Rabaul for the first time to supply freshwater and coconut in Rabaul more than ten years ago, they have never set up formal settlements here. However, although there is no official settlement, a semi-vassal village and town has gradually formed on the coastal plains. Most of their residents are immigrants and their descendants who have been unable to navigate due to physical reasons. After they were left here by immigration ships to recuperate, they soon gathered in the coastal area, and through violent deterrence, the natives (Melanesians) who originally lived on the coast did not dare to invade too much.

After more than ten years, as more and more Ming people who were "abandoned" here were in poor health, this force gradually grew stronger. Especially after they intermarried with several relatively friendly native tribes and traded, their ethnic groups gradually increased. Then they grew grain and vegetables, raised livestock, and picked fruits in the coastal plains. Labaul began to have the prototype of a town and gradually became prosperous.

In this way, the East Coast colonial authorities naturally could not ignore this place. After all, the existence of Rabaul Port provided much more food, vegetables, fruits, fresh water and fresh meat to the East Coast immigrant ships, and their value was increasing day by day. Therefore, at the strong suggestion of Wang Yan, the first captain of the Australian Development Team, the Rabaul Colony was officially established. Officials and some technical talents were invited from the local area. However, to Wang Yan's surprise, the Rabaul Colony was not placed under the jurisdiction of the Australian Development Team as he wished. This colony was actually under the jurisdiction of a separate committee. The committee had multiple members. Major events were held to discuss, and small matters (daily affairs) were determined by the general secretary of the committee. This seemed to mean that the local area was trying a brand new colonial bureaucracy.

Navy officer Ding Zhen and the sailors rowed a small boat and approached the dock. After taking the rope thrown by the dock force, they skillfully tied the cable to the wooden pier, then jumped and climbed up the pier.

"Master." Several dock workers, collectively known as the short black men (actually Melanesians) by local officials respectfully took the luggage from Ding Zhen, and then under the guidance of a Ming foreman, walked towards the dock management office. After they left, another group of dock workers called Papuans brought a lot of water, including fresh water, cocoa fruit, salted fish, and even two live fat pigs, which were supplies sent to the ship.

"Sir. Are your ships in trouble?" The big belly of the Port Authority rushed out of the house, wiping sweat while asking carefully: "There are all kinds of equipment in the repair shop, including steam forging hammers. If the officer brings parts, it should not be difficult to repair."

"What is the specification of the forging hammer? Can you correct a one-meter-long steel shaft?" Ding Zhen asked.

"It's OK," replied the Port Authority. "If the sir needs it, I will send a tow boat to introduce the big ship into the dock. Don't worry, we will maintain the equipment every few days, and there will be no problem with it."

"That's a blessing." Ding Zhen nodded, then asked his entourage to negotiate with the Port Authority and the repair shop. He sat in a small open-air teahouse next to the dock and ordered a cup of Ningbo green tea. While drinking it comfortably, he looked at the beautiful sea view ahead.

The waiters in the teahouse are some Kukukuku (pants and pants) from the inland mountains. They are attracted by the civilization of the East Coast people. After going down the mountain to naturalize, they plant local crops such as taro and big potatoes outside the city. As for fruits and vegetables, most of the coconut forests are owned by the East Coast people and outsiders cannot pick them. Therefore, these people can only plant some bananas in the open space, some of which are eaten by themselves, and some are sold to the East Coast people. In addition, they also need to work hard for the East Coast colonial government to build roads.

Of course, military service is indispensable in docks, drainage facilities and houses. There are many of their fellow disciples in the mountains and wilderness. They not only retain the barbaric customs such as cannibalism, but also are extremely disobedient to the East Coast people. There are often conflicts between the two sides. Therefore, the East Coast colonial government has begun to form a team to attack in recent days. A large part of the soldiers will naturally be played by naturalized indigenous people, which will allow them to consume each other and make some living space for the East Coast people.

"I'm used to seeing the Caribbean islands. I'm really scary when I walked along Papua Island this time. It's so shocking for me to have such a big island in the world!" Several rough men walked into the teahouse, and as soon as they sat down, they shouted, as if they were sailors who had just returned from the expedition.

"However, the scenery is beautiful enough, but it is also desolate and difficult to open up." Another man lit a pipe and said while smoking: "The magnificent mountains, vast forests, countless rushing rivers, countless lowlands full of malaria risks, annoying poisonous snakes and insects. To be honest, I am afraid of developing such a place, and the General Secretary must be unhappy. We only have more than 5,000 people in Labaur Port (including descendants born after intermarriage with the natives), and we cannot withstand such losses..."

"Development is impossible. Not only are we not interested, but even the Dutch people are in a lack of interest. Whoever wants to take this piece of bad land?" The man made a cup of tea for everyone, then ordered some taro snacks, and everyone started eating and drinking together.

Taro, now probably the largest crop in Labaur Port (secondly, big potatoes, and secondly, rice), is widely loved by people of all walks of life. It is one of the specialty foods in Labaur Port and is also the main food provided by local immigrant ships. At present, these sailors dressed in sailors eat steamed taro, which tastes quite good if eaten in sugar. Ding Zhen traveled around the world, but he has eaten it many times.

"The price of Tahitian candy has dropped by one and a half cents. This is the second time that the price has been reduced in a year." The man smoking a pipe peeled a taro, dipped it in his sugar, stuffed it into his mouth and chewed it. While eating, he said: "I heard that Zhang Jinhua and Lord Zhang are going to set up a Ocean Line Company to specialize in the route from Jinhua Port-Labaoer-Jinshan Port, and run once a year. This liner company is not all for transporting people, but mainly doing business. The amount of sugar in Tahitian is high and the price is low. The special fruits such as lemon, pineapple, and citrus have unique flavors. In addition, there are black pearls and some seafood, so the business is still very good."

"I heard the sailors coming from Jinhua Port brag about the bragging that Lord Zhang expanded the Tahitian garrison to more than 800 people, built ships, and encroached the surrounding islands and reefs, and many native tribes surrendered them. Lord Zhang captured many of these natives to work on Tahitian Island, otherwise how did you think so many plantation laborers came from? Not to mention anything else, the total population of Tahitian Island exceeded three more than four years ago

There are 5,000 (including natives), compared to where, Labaur Port is behind. In fact, if we really want to be serious, we must be worse than that? It may not be! It’s because of the loss of late development!” Some sailors “discussed” the "big policy” in a swift manner, and pointed the finger at the Executive Committee’s favoritism, which made the other sailors look at each other for a time, and they had to stop the big mouth and continue talking.

Ding Zhen, who was sitting by the side, smiled after hearing this. As the son of Ding Wei, the second generation of naval veteran, he still knows some major policies, such as the concept of "ocean economy" proposed by Zhang Jinhua once wrote a letter. This so-called ocean economy refers to taking advantage of the great opportunity for the South Pacific to be the back garden of the East Coast people at this time, and send people and ships to conquer the islands and reefs above, such as Tahiti, Samoa, Tonga, Fiji, Vanuatu, New Caledonia, Solomon Islands, Papua Island (New Guinea Island), etc. Zhang Jinhua admitted that these islands do not need to be directly occupied by people, and force the natives to surrender in name only, and then incorporate them into the economic chain of the East Coast people to create a tropical ocean economic circle facing black water and Southeast Asia, which will definitely make a lot of profit.
Chapter completed!