Chapter 3557
Compared with the dense tropical vegetation that can be seen everywhere on land in the South China Sea, the first impression given by this uninhabited continent is that of desolation. It does not seem to belong to the same world as the environment that the fleet members are accustomed to.
Luo Shenghuai immediately ordered a cavalry reconnaissance team to be sent out after landing to explore the situation in the nearby area.
However, the news brought back by the cavalrymen who returned one after another after half a day was disappointing. There were no traces of human activities in the area, and no drinking water sources such as rivers and lakes were found. There were not even patches of woods. .
No matter from any aspect, this does not look like an environment suitable for human settlement.
During the reconnaissance, the cavalry saw many strange animals, such as a giant rat that was several feet long and jumped while standing on its hind legs. There are also large birds with long necks that are about the same size as humans. They cannot fly but are good at running quickly on the ground with their two claws.
Some cavalrymen even believe that these should be the legendary "monsters". Perhaps it is precisely because of the existence of these "monsters" that the natural environment here is so harsh and it has become a no-man's land.
Although the cavalry were greatly surprised, their mission was only to explore the environment and did not include hunting. In order to avoid exposing their whereabouts, they only observed these strange animals from a distance and did not shoot them.
Although the Luo brothers have not seen it in person, they have seen the atlas provided by Roger before setting off. It depicts various strange animals and plants unique to the Boundless Continent. The giant rat seen by the scout cavalry should be in the picture. The "kangaroo" in the album is called "Kangaroo", and the big bird that is good at running is called "Emu" in the album.
Of course, these animals are not "monsters" as some cavalrymen think, they are just creatures unique to this place.
This continent is ownerless, not uninhabited. It is said that in some areas, there are still uncivilized indigenous people.
The top-secret information Roger showed them, as well as the various charts and maps used by the fleet during its march, were said to come from Sanya Victory Fort. However, Roger did not make any comment to the two brothers as to where these information came from. Detailed explanation.
According to the two brothers' own understanding, these information should be treasures left by the ancestors of Haihan, and they involve the future ownership of this ownerless continent, so they must not be leaked.
Therefore, they did not give a detailed explanation to their subordinates. They only told them that although these animals looked strange, they were by no means the "monsters" in folklore. There was no need to panic about this, let alone spreading false information to the public.
No matter how bad it is, the expedition fleet still has powerful guns and artillery that can be used for self-defense. No matter what beasts are in front of the guns and cannons, they are just flesh and blood, and there is no way they can withstand the lethality of hot weapons.
In the information the two brothers had read, there was no mention of traditional carnivorous beasts such as lions, tigers, leopards, and bears in this place, so in their opinion, there seemed to be no wild animals that could pose a real threat to the expedition fleet.
However, the complexity of the real environment is actually far beyond their imagination, and many risk factors cannot be reflected in simple paper data.
Considering that the fleet had been drifting at sea for many days after setting off from Xingdao, and both the soldiers and immigrants were exhausted, the Luo brothers finally decided to rest here for two days before setting off.
Someone found a boulder more than two feet high near the temporary camp. After Luo Shengding went to check it out, he found that the flat side of the boulder faced the sea, so he arranged for craftsmen to carve the name "Xingjiao" on the boulder, which is unique to Haihan. , as well as the time when the expedition fleet landed here as a commemoration.
Luo Shenghuai personally led his troops to hunt nearby, shot several "giant human-shaped rats" as the scout cavalry called them with rifles, took them back to the camp, skinned and cut out the meat, and ordered the cooks to make meat soup and distribute it to the soldiers and civilians, in order to pacify the situation. The so-called "monster" rumors. Although the Luo brothers had thought carefully, something went wrong in the camp that night, and several incidents occurred in which soldiers and civilians were bitten by venomous snakes and scorpions.
After investigating the cause, it was discovered that the fresh meat and drinking water in the camp may have attracted these poisonous insects.
However, some of these poisonous insects were so poisonous that three people died of the poison very quickly and became sacrifices on the first day they set foot in the New World.
Luo Shenghuai could only ask military doctors to take out all the medicines to prevent snakes and scorpions and distribute them to soldiers and civilians stationed on land. All injured personnel were transferred back to the ship for treatment.
The next day, the Luo brothers personally held a simple funeral for the three people who died of poisoning and buried them not far from the engraved boulder. The fleet still has tasks to do next and cannot return to Star Island in the short term, so it can only bury it here first.
Of course, this time they would have to trouble the masons to carve an inscription for them.
For such a large-scale expedition, it is extremely common for several people to die during the journey. As long as the general leading the expedition provides the deceased with proper burial treatment, others will not complain about it.
However, affected by this incident, the Luo brothers all believed that this place was not suitable for continuing to stay, and the originally planned three days of rest was reduced to one day.
After sending a telegram to the Star Island base camp to report the progress of the operation, the fleet quickly packed up and left Star Cape to continue heading south.
In the original exploration plan, starting from this point was the third leg of the scheduled voyage. The fleet would continue southward along the west coast of the continent, inspecting the environment along the way, and finally arrive at a place 2,500 miles away - where they would be. The end of this journey.
The call back from the base camp did not bring good news. It is said that the expedition fleet of the Luzon Region also set off southward from the Davao Port in Mindanao half a month ago, but its current location is unknown.
Although the departure time of the Luzon Fleet is later than that of the Star Island Fleet, if calculated from the departure port of Davao, the distance to the north coast of the Borderless Continent is much closer than the voyage of the Star Island Fleet.
If the Luzon fleet had not been harassed by the Spanish on the way, it is very likely that they had arrived somewhere in the Unclaimed Continent before the Star Island Fleet. This also means that the competition to be the first to land on the New World may have been decided at some point in the past.
Of course, the specific situation has yet to be officially announced by the Executive Committee in the future. Both fleets had accompanying officials appointed by the Executive Committee, so the landing time reported to the Executive Committee was unlikely to be false.
This made the Luo brothers a little frustrated. They hurried along slowly and hurriedly, traveling day and night without slacking off at all. However, it seemed that God was not as good as God, and it seemed that they were just missing the mark.
However, Roger comforted them in his call back that the order of landing would not immediately affect Star Island's development of the New World, and the destination he selected for the expedition fleet would have more advantages than the Luzon fleet.
As long as the fleet establishes a foothold there as soon as possible, no matter how the executive committee arranges it in the future, it will not be able to take away Xingdao's local interests.