"Old Lin, your handwriting is really good. I usually see you wielding a knife and a gun, but I didn't expect you to be able to fly like a dragon or a snake when you pick up a pen. It's amazing."
"It's just average. I started learning calligraphy on a sand table when I was three years old, and I've been writing calligraphy for almost forty years. Any Jinshi master is much better at calligraphy than me."
Standing on the Vladivostok Peninsula, the Prime Minister looked at the sailboats on the sea and the bustling docks. He couldn't help but sigh. In just over a year, this place has changed a lot.
When they came last year, they first settled in Mokuowei in the west and built the Mokuowei West Port Camp there. Later, after meeting with the leaders of the Jurchen tribe in the east of the sea, they came to Vladivostok to set up camp and fence.
Yuewu Mu Temple, Guandi Temple, Confucius Temple, and even the newly built Taoist temple of Tianshi Taoism here.
Lin Xuewu was one of the three leaders of the Pioneer Fleet, and he was also born in Juren. He put a lot of effort into his calligraphy. He wrote an inscription recording China's rule over the Vladivostok area since ancient times, and then wrote that they came here last year.
The port was re-opened and the city was built, the Jurchens were recruited, the captive Han people were redeemed, and households were resettled here. Now the city of Vladivostok was established, and the imperial court officially established the Vladivostok Prefecture here, and the prefectural town Tongzhi City.
This is also the home port of the Pioneer Fleet, as well as the Vladivostok Station and Border Market.
"Who would have thought that there are tens of thousands of people here."
"really."
The Vladivostok monument is erected at the port, and you can see it as soon as you enter the port and board the pier.
Vladivostok was originally just a small fishing village with not many people.
Weizi is a common place name used to describe the winding and uneven mountains and rivers. Vladivostok is naturally an inlet rich in sea cucumbers.
It is true that sea cucumbers are abundant here, but they are not big in size. However, because the water temperature here is low, the sea cucumbers produced grow slowly, but the taste is excellent.
The large coastal mountains extend into the sea, forming the Vladivostok Peninsula and Lefou Island Islands. The pioneer fleet took a fancy to this natural harbor and built a city and dock at the top of the peninsula.
The harbor city is surrounded by bays on three sides: east, south and west.
The temperature here is relatively comfortable, the four seasons are distinct, and the temperature difference between day and night is small. Although it is in the Far East, because there are large mountains that isolate the inland, the climate here is very different from that in the north of the mountain.
Spring comes early, summer is cool with moderate rainfall, autumn is bright, and winter is relatively wet.
Because the Ming Dynasty defeated the Manchus and recruited the barbarian Jurchens. They not only conferred officials and titles, but also traded with each other and gave rewards. They also used goods and money to redeem Han slaves in various tribes. The emperor's friendly actions also gave the Jurchens face. Anyway, this slave was also
Don't give it back in vain, you can exchange it for the good things they want.
A large number of Han slaves were sent back.
The Ming Dynasty also kept its word, paying as much money as it sent, and it could be exchanged for supplies and merchandise, and everyone was happy.
At the beginning, many savage Jurchens were conquered by the Hou Jin Dynasty and moved south and west. They were also recruited to fight in Liaodong and the Pass. Naturally, they were also assigned and robbed many people, livestock, money, etc. They brought these Han people back to the tribes as slaves, and there were a lot of them.
.
In more than a year, the Ming army in the Bohai Sea has redeemed tens of thousands of people, and most of them have been resettled in various strongholds. Among them, Vladivostok has the most resettlement. Because this is an important place for future development designated by the Ming Emperor, most of them went here.
Side placement.
It is also because this is a seaport, and various materials such as food, clothing, etc. can be transported by sea from the mainland. Otherwise, such a large population cannot be maintained in the mainland.
Someone has everything.
The arrival of batches of Han people made the place increasingly vibrant, and after the beginning of spring, merchant ships continued to arrive, bringing various supplies and then transporting back many Jurchen goods.
Some merchants came with the ships, opened shops and workshops here, and even went deep into the Jurchen tribe to trade.
The imperial court also sent officials, garrison troops, etc.
The redeemed Han people were selected as young and strong as post soldiers, garrisoned troops, assigned to post fields, farm fields, reclamation, and fisheries were set up to catch fish and process seafood.
The Shaofu Superintendent also sent stewards and craftsmen to build a shipyard, ship repair yard, etc. here.
Now a new city is rising from the ground, and the city is built in the Golden Horn Bay in the south. This bay is very good, about fifteen miles long, four miles wide, and seven or eight feet deep.
Even in the cold winter season, when the wind is biting, the sea water in the Golden Horn Bay is still rippling. During the three-month freezing period in the outer bay, most of the ice in the Golden Horn Bay is small and scattered. As long as a ship is sent to clean it regularly, it can be cleared away.
Affected navigation.
The key to such a miracle is that the high mountains in the north block the cold current, and the second is that the peninsula goes deep into the sea and there are no freshwater rivers flowing into it, so the seawater has high salinity.
What is particularly magical is that on the east and west sides of the peninsula, the two larger bays will freeze after entering the middle of winter. Only the long and narrow Golden Horn Bay in the south maintains this specialness.
However, during the coldest period, although the Golden Horn did not freeze, access to the open sea was restricted and was frozen for a period of time.
But for such a northeastern seaport, the time it is closed to navigation is much longer than that of the Bohai Sea ports, and its conditions are almost the same as those of Port Arthur.
The three ports of Vladivostok, Qingdao, and Lushun are open to navigation for more than ten months a year, which ensures the prosperity of this emerging port city. Otherwise, tens of thousands of people would suddenly arrive here, and it would be difficult to even spend the winter.
And thanks to supplies from the sea, no one froze to death or starved to death last winter here.
Up to now, the Golden Horn harbor is bustling with activity and there are more ships.
The long and narrow Golden Horn Bay is surrounded by the top of the Vladivostok Peninsula and the southern archipelago, with forts and turrets built on it. The city of Vladivostok is blocked by mountains to the north, and there is only a long and narrow corridor in the west. The Ming army also built one here.
Beiguan, the envoy to Vladivostok, one man is in charge of the pass, and no one can open it.
Nowadays, these tens of thousands of redeemed Han people, as well as newly arrived garrisons, soldiers, sailors, postmen and their families, have established many settlement villages along the coast of Sea Cucumber Bay, reclaiming wasteland and farming, and also engaged in fishing.
There are also people who do hunting or logging on the side.
The resources here are still very rich, and the forest resources are very rich, including various cedars, firs, spruces, larch, birch, linden, maple, elm, etc. The forest is also rich in ginseng, schisandra, rowan and other medicinal materials.
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! There are also many sables, moose, lynx, brown bears, lynx, tigers, leopards, wild boars, sika deer, etc. in the forest.
Sea cucumbers are very famous in the bay. In addition, there are scallops, oysters, various shrimps, crabs, octopus, etc., and there are also many algae such as kelp.
These new residents quickly settled down here.
Even if it is wasteland or newly cultivated land, you can still get some harvest by sowing seeds. Although the yield is not high, there is a lot of land. Simply burn the wasteland and then cultivate it intensively. Even if one acre of land only yields 70 to 80 kilograms, it can be enough for a family.
If you plant hundreds of acres, it will cost tens of thousands of kilograms.
Corn, potatoes, soybeans, even wheat and rice can all be grown here, the soil is very fertile.
During the off-farm time, you can also help build cities and roads at the port, load ships and unload goods, or work in shipyards, or go logging, or go fishing on boats, or even go hunting and collecting herbs yourself, and the income can be quite good.
There is no tax on land and land tax here. Generally, there is no tax on collecting medicines, selling wood, and fishing. As long as it is a small personal business, there is no tax.
Except that the walls of Vladivostok Port City are now a bit crude and the houses are a bit crude, there is nothing else I can say about it. It is extremely popular.
Not only is it the center of Sea Cucumber Bay, it is also a large market where many nearby Jurchen tribes often come to trade. If you want pots, bowls, tea, salt, and other good things from Han, just carry your own leather bag and come here to exchange them.
They can rock their canoes or walk over the mountains.
Wang Chaoxiang and Lin Xuewu were also full of pride when they looked at the port city they had developed.
"Are everything ready? When will we set off?"
"Leave tomorrow."
Lin Xuewu was a little reluctant to leave, "I'm a little reluctant to be separated."
Wang Qi smiled and said, "There is nothing to be reluctant to do. Wang Qi has been getting good news frequently in the Wusuli River area recently. There has been a lot of trouble there. I can't lag behind him."
Once the three leaders of the vanguard fleet, Lin Xuewu was now assigned by the emperor to be stationed at Vladivostok Port, patrolling the East Coast Road, and also being the admiral in charge of military provisions and pay at Vladivostok Port.
The hook-hand Wang Qi took some old brothers of the vanguard fleet from Suifen River in Haishen Bay to Shuangcheng, then entered Lefu River by land and followed the river straight to Xingkai Lake.
Wang Qi built the Dragon King Temple at the mouth of the Songacha River in the northeast of Xingkai Lake, built a shipyard, and built ships there. Because many accessories and materials were shipped directly from the shipyards in Zhejiang, Fujian, and the new ships were also inland river ships, using
It's a fast sailboat, so it can be built quickly.
After it was built, it directly followed the Songacha River and merged into the Ussuri River, and began to visit the Huerkha and other tribes of the wild Jurchen tribes in the Ussuri River Basin. On behalf of the imperial court, they recruited and conferred titles, awarded official positions, made alliances and made oaths, and drew pictures along the way.
Maps, erecting monuments, engraving monuments to declare sovereignty.
At the same time, we also traded with various tribes, and the progress was very smooth.
"That's because he worshiped the little white dragon and was blessed by the little white dragon." Lin Xuewu joked. There is a legend here. It is said that a long time ago, Heilongjiang was called Bailongjiang, and it was governed by a white dragon that turned into a white snake. Because of its short stature, Heilongjiang was called Bailongjiang.
So it was called Little White Dragon. Later one year, a thick black dragon with only half a tail came from Shandong, the Central Plains.
Seeing that the Bailong River was deep and flowing, he was homeless, so he sneaked into the river to compete with Little White Dragon for the throne. After more than ten days and nights of fighting, Little White Dragon was defeated and escaped. From then on, Bailongjiang became Heilongjiang.
After Xiao Bailong was defeated in the battle, he fled along the Wusuli River to Xingkai Lake, defeated the old turtle spirit in the lake, and regarded this place as his new home. He diligently provided clouds and rain for the nearby people to ensure a good harvest and everyone was happy.
Thanks to Xiaobailong, all the tribes here worship Xiaobailong.
When Wang Qi went to Xingkai Lake to build a shipyard, he also built a Dragon King Temple to enshrine the little white dragon in Xingkai Lake. Not to mention, since he built the little white dragon temple, his vanguard fleet has been running smoothly.
Tribes from all over the Sulijiang River joined one after another, and they made a lot of money by trading with them.
From Xingkai Lake to the Wusuli River, and then merged into the Heilongjiang River, he almost traveled all over the Sanjiang Plain, where he was nicknamed the Pioneer Little White Dragon.
Wang Chaoxiang is now the leader of the new fleet development fleet. He also used Vladivostok as his base this year and made several trips, mainly to recruit various ministries along the coast, but from Vladivostok all the way to the Heilongjiang estuary, including the huge library opposite the estuary.
The islands are relatively desolate, with basically rolling mountains. There are some tribes along the rivers that flow into the sea, but they are very backward and difficult to recruit.
The major tribes on Sakhalin Island were even more barbaric and backward. They even encountered a cannibal tribe once, and a Jurchen guide was unfortunately kidnapped. By the time the dynasty minister arrived with muskets and people, the people had already been roasted and eaten.
All that's left is his head.
For more than half a year, he sailed thousands of miles, but his harvest was mediocre.
After coming back for rest this time, I also replaced the cannon with a new ship, a clipper ship. This is a treasure. In the past, the Royal Young Master cooperated with the Spanish, Portuguese and Dutch to build ships. Later, they dug up many craftsmen and invested heavily in cooperative research.
A new type of clipper ship was released.
It has a carrying capacity of about a thousand tons and is extremely fast in both wind and headwinds. It can travel against the monsoon. It can travel from Ningbo to the British East India Trading Station in Mumbai, India, three times during one monsoon period.
Last year, there were five flying shear ships transporting tea, starting from Fuzhou, passing through the South China Sea, crossing the Strait of Malacca, crossing the Indian Ocean, around the Cape of Good Hope at the southern tip of Africa, and sailing north to London, which took only ninety-nine days.
A new record was set.
Another fleet of clippers, also loaded with tea, departed from Guangzhou Port and headed to the Dutch trading post of New Amsterdam in North America in the New World.
This trading post was purchased from the locals by Peter, the Dutch colonial governor, on Manhattan Island for sixty guilders. At this time, it was an important fur trading point for the Dutch in North America. During the tea season, in order to ensure the quality of the tea and gain time
,
This clipper fleet traveled from Guangzhou to Manhattan in only 88 days.
These sea racing parties have become the first choice for tea trafficking in various countries. The main producing areas of tea are in China, and the quality of tea is highly time-sensitive. Especially long-distance shipping is more likely to cause tea to be affected by moisture and deteriorate. Moreover, under the same voyage, the quality of tea is very time-sensitive.
The shorter the time, the higher the freight. Especially when new tea comes on the market, there is more competition for time in order to seize the market.
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! The clipper ships produced by the Royal Shipyard of the Ming Dynasty spent a lot of money to research and build, and brought together outstanding craftsmen from all the major maritime powers, and they lived up to their high expectations.
With its lightness and speed, it has not only become the first choice shipping vessel for various countries competing for the tea market, but has also been found by many businessmen to be extremely suitable for smuggling, and has received many orders.
In the past, the imperial court began to use clipper ships to transport supplies to Vladivostok, with a speed of 12 to 14 knots, allowing them to fly to and from the major ports of Qingdao, Dengzhou, Lushun, and Tianjin, and other ships could make a trip.
They can make two or three trips.
Although they have a smaller load capacity and less firepower than traditional merchant ships or armed merchant ships, they also have many advantages in transporting lighter goods.
Now the imperial court has set up a fleet of clippers for the Prime Minister's development fleet, and is considering the small sea from Vladivostok to the Heilongjiang estuary. The distance is really too far. If they want to patrol the Kamchatka Peninsula, Chukotka Peninsula, etc. further north,
, then it’s further.
In order to expel the invasion of Tsarist Russia and recapture these northern lands, especially the area north of Xiaohai, the emperor specially ordered a number of clippers for the dynasty, so that they could quickly patrol north to Xiaohai, and even patrol Liuli.
Ghost, the old land of Yaksha.
The Prime Minister has successfully received these ships and is still getting used to them.
"Lv Yicheng is in Jilin Shipyard, so he should set sail and go south, right?" Wang Chao Xiang said.
The imperial court now attaches great importance to the Northeast, especially after declaring war on the Golden Palace of Tsarist Russia. Of course, the emperor cannot just verbally reprimand him. War has been declared, so he must take action.
Lv Yicheng built ships in Jilin and established a blackwater fleet to cruise the Songhua River, Nen River and the upper reaches of Fuyuan in Heilongjiang, as well as support the Qili River, Ergun River, etc.
Wang Qi built a shipyard in Xingkai Lake. The fleet is still a pioneer and is responsible for patrolling Xingkai Lake, the lower reaches of Wusuli River and Fuyuan in Heilongjiang to the mouth of the river, and the tributary Hengu River.
The dynasty successively developed a fleet from Vladivostok to the Xiaohai at the mouth of the Heilongjiang River, as well as Sakhalin Island, and the two peninsulas of Liugui and Yasha in the north of the Xiaohai, all the way to the Yasha Strait.
The three fleets have a clear division of labor. The Blackwater and Pioneer fleets are inland fleets, while the Pioneer fleet is an offshore fleet.
It is their mission to appease the Jurchen tribes, trade with each other, declare sovereignty, and wipe out the Tsarist Russian bandits.
They are not affiliated with the Ming Navy, nor are they affiliated with the Fifth Military Governor's Office, but are under the supervision of the Ming Royal Young Mansion. Their public identities are the Royal Merchant Fleet and a trading firm, but in fact everyone understands their nature. This is
Royal fleet, representative of the emperor.
"The further north you go, the better the quality of the leather is, especially on the Ruki Peninsula and the Yaksha Peninsula. The Inubu and Shikabu on the Yasha Peninsula can hunt fur seals, sea otters, seals, sea lions, and walruses. They ride on dog-pulled sleds or deer-pulled sleds.
The sledge travels everywhere to hunt, not only these seals in the sea, but also the huge whale oil.
Brown bears, moose, elk, reindeer, snow sheep, mink, sable, blue fox, silver fox, muskrat, beaver, mountain eagle, hazel pheasant, etc. are also very abundant on land.
Your ship is very fast, so if you bring more lighter commercial goods, especially ironware such as knives, axes, iron pots, etc., they will definitely be welcomed."
Wang Chaoxiang has been to the Heilongjiang estuary and to Sakhalin Island. He also has some understanding of the Liugui Yasha and other peninsulas north of the Xing'an Mountains. Over there, in the ice and snow, you can ride reindeer sleds or dog sleds. These people are very powerful hunters.
, make a living by fishing and hunting.
Quite original.
"This time we go north, trade is just a side trip. My mission is to find the Tsarist Russian bandits, first remove their strongholds on the coast, and capture all these bandits as slaves."
"Then bring more guns and artillery. Those Russians also have muskets and artillery. They are even equipped with flintlock muskets."
The Prime Minister smiled and said, "This time, His Majesty not only brought clippers to develop our fleet, but also many flint-haired muskets."
Shao Tianchao's research on flint-haired muskets is also unparalleled. Although they have not yet deployed a large number of troops, they have begun to increase the amount of equipment for reconnaissance troops such as Ye Bushou. If this kind of fire muskets are used in large army operations, they will be useless.
The main reason for its power is that its speed is not as fast as the matchlock gun.
A bird gun fires three shots, and a flintlock gun may fire only one shot, but this kind of flintlock gun also has advantages, that is, it shoots farther, is more accurate, and is even more concealed. After all, it does not use a match rope and is fired directly with flint.
This kind of flintlock gun is very good for small-scale Ye Fushou or bodyguards.
For small teams such as the Pioneer Fleet, the emperor specially gave them flint-fired muskets so that they did not have to worry about being blown out by the wind and not easily exposed.
"It is said that the Tsarist Russian bandits took three or four years to travel from Moscow to the Ryugui Peninsula. Even if they cross the Lena River between three and five thousand people a year, they are only a few thousand people. And we have more than a year to cross the Lena River.
Tens of thousands of people have already gathered in Vladivostok. Our three fleets are marching eastward with such mighty force that the Tsarist Russian bandits cannot compare with us."
The Prime Minister was very confident and would not be afraid of a head-on confrontation no matter how many times there were Tsarist Russians. The key to the problem was that it was difficult to find these people.
"No rush, you first clear out the Tsarist Russian strongholds along the coast of Xiaohai. Our three fleets have eradicated all the Tsarist Russian bandits in the Heilongjiang Basin south of the Outer Xing'an Mountains. Then we will study how to cross the mountains to the north to attack Yakuts, the bandit's nest.
It’s never too late.”
Seas and rivers are Ming Dynasty's advantages, guns and cannons are also Ming Dynasty's advantages, and numbers are even more of an advantage.
Lin Xuewu smiled and said, "I will build a prison camp for Tsarist Russian Cossack bandits here first and prepare it for you."
"Okay, I'll catch more alive ones!" Wang Chaoxiang also said with a smile.
The two brothers laughed together. Although the pioneering fleet was not large in number and was not a regular army of the Ming Dynasty, they were very confident.
