Others colonized with guns and cannons, but I used an information gap

"Line up properly, anyone who pushes or shoves will be thrown into Gulf of Gabes!"

On the dock, more than a dozen Tunisia Legion soldiers on horseback shouted in Arabic. 🐳♔ 👺♬

Before the three gangplanks connecting the transport ships, doctors from the Gemini Trading Company examined the former Tunisia Guard Corps, placing the able-bodied men onto the ships and dismissing the rest without hesitation.

Those who boarded the ship breathed a sigh of relief; at least they wouldn't starve. Moreover, according to the Tunisia government's promise, if they behaved well in New Zealand, they could bring one family member with them a year later.

A scruffy-bearded, raggedly dressed Tunisia Guard Corps, leading his wife and two children, bypassed the crowd and boarded the ship, immediately drawing envious glances—he was a blacksmith, a highly skilled individual, who could bring his entire family aboard so quickly.

Before long, the three transport ships were full of people and slowly sailed out of the port, while the other three empty ships docked at the pier to continue loading laborers.

Yes, from this moment on, the so-called Tunisia Guard Corps has become history. From now on, they will only have one identity: New Zealand laborers.

At noon the following day, the Double Company's fleet, carrying 5,000 laborers, set sail, heading around the Strait of Gibraltar to the distant island of New Zealand.

South Pacific.

Cook Strait.

On the bow deck of the Double Company' armed merchant ship "Melodious," Lyon Marion du Fresne gazed at the wide, flat black sand beach in the distance and finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Previously, neither France nor Russia had explored this huge island called New Zealand much—a landmass roughly the size of the United Kingdom —yet His Crown Prince confidently instructed them to find a port of call nearby.

He was initially extremely worried because, according to information he had received from the Spain, the United Kingdom explorers seemed to have landed on the north side of the island.

He led the fleet along the West Coast of New Zealand North Island for three days and actually saw the harbor His Highness had described.

Well, Joseph didn't know the exact location of Kawhia Port either, but he remembered seeing it mentioned in a documentary as the port closest to the New Zealand ranch region.

Under Marion du Fresne's command, the five ships of the Double Company slowly docked in a U-shaped harbor, then lowered their Sloop and passed between two towering boulders on the shore, stepping onto this mysterious island.

As the vanguard of the Double Company's colonization team, only more than 600 people came this time.

Initially, the company only recruited fewer than 300 volunteers. After all, these islands in the South Pacific are notoriously desolate, and adventurers are not very willing to come here to look for opportunities.

The situation only changed after His Crown Prince told the Church that there were hundreds of thousands of people on the island and that they would definitely accept Catholicism.

The Church quickly organized a large number of priests to travel to the island at their own expense to colonize it. In fact, the Church even provided their expenses. In those days, finding a mission destination with tens of thousands of people was an extremely valuable resource. This achievement might be the key to competing for the position of Archbishop in the future, so the various dioceses were practically fighting tooth and nail for the quota.

Furthermore, in order to secure the support of the Double Company, the Church even handed over command of these priests to the company.

The Sailor quickly set up a makeshift Camp on the beach and began moving their belongings from the ship ashore.

Meanwhile, Marion du Fresne led an exploration team of less than a hundred people eastward into the heart of the islands—the construction of the New Zealand Colony, crucial to France, began beneath their feet.

After walking for a day and a half, as they approached a winding hilly area, they suddenly heard a loud shout coming from a huge Pando Tree ahead.

Remembering His Crown Prince's instructions, Marion du Fresne quickly ordered the exploration team to stop and then gestured for the translator, Tormann, to come forward. Before coming here, they had made a special trip to Tahiti, where they hired several locals who spoke French —Tahiti had been colonized by Spain long ago, and although there were few French speakers, they could still find some.

Tormann stepped forward and waved amicably to the burly, brown-skinned man in the tree. After speaking to him in gibberish for a while, the man replied with a few words. Then the translator turned to the expedition commander and said, "Sir, they want us to put down our guns."

Marion du Fresne couldn't help but feel a little nervous. Just as His Crown Prince had said, these natives were anything but uncultured. Although they were almost all naked, they knew that guns were dangerous.

In fact, this is one of the reasons why the United Kingdom colonization process in New Zealand was so tortuous in history. More than 100 years ago, the Spain came to New Zealand and came into contact with the Maori people, exposing them to many new things and making them far from being uncultured bumpkins.

This made them far more difficult to deal with than the Native Americans. They had seen Musket, cultivated Potato and Sweet Potato brought by the Spain, and Sweet Potato even became one of their staple foods.

Marion du Fresne ordered his men to put the weapons on the ground, and then, with two assistants and a translator, went forward to make contact with the Maori man.

He had only taken a dozen or so steps when dozens of Maori men wielding stone spears suddenly emerged from behind the weeds and low hills around him.

Marion du Fresne his players to stay still and had the translator announce loudly, "We are friends, here to do business with you."

Seeing that the Maori leader made no threatening moves, he mustered his courage and stepped forward, following the instructions in His Crown Prince's "New Zealand Guide," and brought his nose close to the native's.

The latter was clearly taken aback for a moment, but immediately leaned forward and touched nose to nose with him, then let out a cheerful laugh.

The surrounding Maori warriors smiled, and several of them even stepped forward to bump noses with the exploration team members.

The simple yet effective Maori traditional etiquette immediately brought the two sides much closer.

As evening fell, the exploration team, led by Maori warriors, met the leader of the "Hapu"—the Maori tribe.

After receiving a soft Wool as a gift from Marion du Fresne, the latter happily gathered their people for a welcoming celebration, treating them to roast meat, seafood, and Sweet Potato. Meanwhile, the exploration team strictly followed the instructions in the "guide" when interacting with the Maori.

Then, led by the tribal chief, Marion du Fresne traveled for five days to reach a vast Maori village, where he successfully met with the chief and High Priest of Tainui Iwi.

The Maori "Iwi" is equivalent to a tribal confederation, and the Tainui Iwi is the largest tribal confederation in New Zealand North Island.

Compared to the Dutch people, who were soundly defeated and driven out of New Zealand by the Maori decades ago, and the United Kingdom, who failed to subdue the Maori even after deploying a large number of soldiers and fleets decades later, Marion du Fresne's trip could not be described as smooth; it was as if he had divine assistance.

This is the terrifying power of information asymmetry!