Chapter 398: The Southern Land

"Big Brother"

In the garden, Stefan pestered Peter to let him go out to sea to see the East.

"No, you are still young now"

As the youngest child, Stefan has never experienced the difficulties of starting a business. In addition, he is the youngest and the throne is not his turn. That's why he wants to go to the East to make achievements.

"I am not young anymore. I will soon be a grown-up."

"Then wait until the grown-up ceremony."

Peter doesn't want Stefan to take risks for the time being. Besides, he is unfamiliar with the East, so he should find a place in Europe to be the lord.

But it seems that Stefan will not give up until he achieves his goal. At present, the empire has entered a stable period, and expanding and exploring the colonies in the East has become a major task at present. He has not returned from the exploration two years ago, but there are often letters to prove that he is still alive.

At this time, the person Peter is talking about is directing construction thousands of kilometers away. After all, this is his territory.

Mason formed a fleet of 350 people at his own expense to explore the East. After saying goodbye to his family, he set off from Constantinople. After sailing on dry land, they arrived in Aden, and then went south along the map. After reaching Zanzibar, the southernmost part of the map, they directly entered the exploration fog stage. They could only rely on the compass and the stars in the sky. They encountered a storm on the way, and a supply ship unfortunately sank. If they could not find land as soon as possible, they would starve to death.

Fortunately, God had mercy on them. After three days of aimless advancement, they finally found land. Then they officially set up camp here for repairs. According to the orientation map, this should be the island.

The first thing Mason did after landing was to kiss the earth and thank God for his gift. Then he planted the flag of the Roman Empire in the ground, indicating that this land had an owner.

The remaining 300 people began to build houses here. Fortunately, there was a lot of wood here, and with the help of craftsmen, they soon had a base and a dock.

Then they immigrated from Rome and explored the tribes inside, but there were too many local forests, and no traces of human life were found after going deep into it for several kilometers. So it was temporarily identified as an uninhabited island.

"Sir, we have found a lot of high-quality wood here, and the land is very fertile. You can harvest a lot of crops by farming here."

Mason also found that the local climate is very suitable for cotton growth. If it can become a large-scale industry, it will be able to have a steady stream of income.

"According to the letter, they should be here, why haven't they arrived yet?"

Mason stood at the dock and waited anxiously. The supplies he had asked for from above using his status as governor should have arrived. Could it be that there were none?

But soon, several ships appeared in his field of vision. Mason was happy and ordered them to prepare to welcome the first fleet.

After the other side docked, the representative of the Trade Hall came to him and announced to Mason the materials transported here this time, including 300 immigrants who came here on their own initiative, including 60 women.

"Your Highness also wrote you a letter."

Mason opened it and saw that Peter first congratulated Mason on finding the land. Since that was the case, he kept his word. This piece of land was his fiefdom, which could be inherited, and exempted from taxes for 5 years. After returning, he would immediately hold a ceremony for him to be enthroned.

In return, he will help the empire maintain exploration and colonization in the southern region. Of course, he can also carry out immigration activities in the empire, but he needs to report to the Ministry of Affairs. This time, he also brought him materials worth more than 20,000 lei, hoping that he can stick to it here.

After reading the letter, Mason was moved to tears. He didn't expect that His Highness trusted him so much. He must create a foundation of his own here.

The local port has begun to expand, and there are patrols. The farmland has also been reclaimed. It only needs to be connected to other ports to drive trade, so that the colony can turn.

"My lord, what is the name of this place, so that I can go back and mark it on the map?"

The representative asked Mason, who thought about it carefully and said slowly.

"Andre Castle, named after Saint Andre."

It's not a big deal to name it after a saint, and the representative will stay here for a while.

Of course, the exploration is still going on. After continuing to go deeper than ten kilometers, the tribesmen were finally found. But the other party obviously didn't welcome them, and directly attacked them with javelins and blowpipes. The exploration team killed several people with muskets, but still retreated. They went back and told Mason about this discovery. Mason decided to form a large army to go deep into the country and prepare to wipe out this group of stubborn people.

All the troops added up to only 300 people, 150 muskets and a lot of gunpowder. Under the leadership of Mason, they headed inland.

All along the way, there were suffocating jungles and unknown animals. They were very careful in everything, fearing that they would die. And in the dark corner, a group of people were staring at them.

"What kind of weather is this? It's better to go to the port to rest."

A soldier complained incessantly, but he soon couldn't complain anymore. For some reason, he fell down directly, which made the team alert immediately.

"There are enemies, get ready!"

The army hurriedly prepared the muskets, but didn't know which direction the enemy would come from, so they shot in every direction.

"Ahhhhhhhhh!!!"

A scream suddenly came from one direction, and the army attacked in this direction together, and soon there was no sound.

"You, take a few people to take a look."

Mason ordered a group of people to go and see, and they saw more than a dozen people lying on the ground. The blood dyed the land under them red, and there were some blowpipes and spears beside them, which looked very primitive.

"They are not far away, prepare for battle."

The army continued to advance and finally saw the houses where the tribe lived. But the other side was all on high alert, and when they saw Mason's army coming, they went straight forward to fight.

They threw spears and rushed towards them with wooden shields in their hands. Under Mason's order, the army used the matchlock guns in their hands to fire at the other side, and a group of people fell directly.

Some of those who were not shot directly entered the melee mode with them, but the other side used iron tools, while they were still using wooden products. The outcome of this war was obvious. Mason exchanged one person's casualties for a huge victory of nearly 400 people on the other side. This was also the first large-scale war encountered by Roman colonization.

This tribe was directly dispersed, their children would be sold to the empire, and everything in the tribe would be taken back to the port for research. It seems that the population here is quite small, which is very suitable for Roman immigrants to come here to start a new life. The climate in the port is too hot, and we need to find a more suitable place to become the capital.