Daming Town Haiwang

Chapter 1851, An anecdote about the Golden Continent

Emperor Hongzhi and Liu Jin drank tea and ate side dishes, looked at the busy city outside, and listened to the bragging and chatting of these people around them.

"Have you heard?"

"Someone found in the extreme north some descendants of wealthy merchants who claimed to be Inuit. They lived in the Arctic Circle. It is incredible and a miracle that there are still people who can survive in such a cold place. "

"seriously?"

"Can people survive in the Arctic Circle? There is no way to grow farms, and even if it is hunting in such a place, it seems that there is no prey to hunt, right?"

"That's right. In the past few years, I have been walking north in order to find gold. It is already extremely cold here at Sanhekou, let alone the Arctic Circle further north. How can I survive?"

"I still lie to you?"

"It's true that some people said that these Inuit people were found in the Arctic Circle. They lived by hunting, hunting seals in winter, catching salmon in summer, and whales for a living."

"They eat everything raw, and they live in houses made of snow."

"Seal Hunting in the Arctic Circle?"

"It is said that the Arctic Circle is frozen for thousands of miles in winter, and even the sea water is covered with thick ice. How can you hunt seals?"

"And isn't this house made of snow even colder, and can people still live in it?"

When the people at the same table heard it, they all expressed their disbelief. They simply didn't believe that someone could survive in the Arctic Circle and live in a snow house. Wouldn't it be cold to death in a snow house?

"Believe it or not, it's up to you, anyway, my friend has really been to these places, and even got this kind of thing from the hands of the Inuit."

The man who spoke took out a long thing.

"What is this?"

"It seems to be a bone or something, or a horn or something?"

Everyone watched carefully and guessed.

"Hey~ This thing is called a whale horn. It is a whale horn obtained by the Inuit hunting a whale with such a long horn on its head, called a narwhal."

"You don't have this thing, do you? I spent a few hundred taels of silver, and I sold one to me because it was cheap."

"The horn of a narwhal?"

"There is such a thing as a narwhal?"

"There should be. I've heard people say that they have seen this kind of whale with horns on the side of Bailing Strait."

"Speaking of which, this thing is quite rare."

"That is, at least it is very collectible, and it is still very good for decoration."

"In this way, there are really people living in the Arctic Circle?"

"It's hard to say. I have a friend who is exploring in the rainforest. There are still Yin and Shang tribes living in places like the rainforest."

"That's different. At least the rainforest isn't cold. The Arctic Circle is so cold. I just couldn't stand the cold in Qianhe City, so I moved to Penglai City."

"Although the big rainforest is not cold, you may not know it. There are all kinds of dangers and poisons in the big rainforest. I don't know how many. A bug that may come out casually can poison you to death."

"If you want to survive in the big rainforest, it's more difficult than anything else. It's hard to find a dry place anywhere. Regardless of the number of trees, you can't find dry wood to make a fire."

"That's right. I'm in the mahogany business. There are many kinds of wood in the rainforest, but it's more difficult to cut and transport them out. That place is not suitable for human survival at all. Those who can survive in it Tribes really have their own way."

"."

Emperor Hongzhi and Liu Jinna listened with gusto.

"Liu Jin, there are still people living in the Arctic Circle?"

Emperor Hongzhi thought for a while and said to Liu Jin: "Our Northern Grassland Province of the Ming Dynasty and the area north of Liaodong are very vast, but there are not many people living here. It is incredible that there are still people living in the Arctic Circle further north."

Emperor Hongzhi shook his head while speaking.

Daming obtained the Grassland Province, developed Liaodong Province, and later obtained the Northwest Province, which was established on the basis of the original Siberian Khanate.

It can be said that Daming still has a certain understanding of the extreme north.

Like the Northern Grassland Province of Ming Dynasty, after passing the Beihai, there is basically no human habitation. Once Liaodong Province passes Heilongjiang and reaches the Waixing'an Mountains, there are basically no people.

Daming has many expeditions and gold treasure hunting teams who have explored these extreme northern places. In this vast and cold area, there are very few people. There is no one at all.

So even if Daming exiled criminals, at most they would be exiled to Cold Winter City, Beihai, and Outer Xing'an Mountains, and there would be no one in the north, which is already the limit.

Who knew that there were still Inuit living in the extremely cold Arctic Circle, where they settled and survived.

"I don't know, but human creativity is boundless. It is hard to say that it is really possible for human beings to thrive in this kind of place."

Liu Jin thought for a while and shook his head.

To be honest, it is really incredible. It is really a miracle that the Inuit can survive in that environment.

"Ah."

Emperor Hongzhi also nodded.

The world is big, and all kinds of strange tribes are not uncommon. The Golden Continent is nothing, and the real weirdness is the African continent.

Now the vassal states and colonies in Africa are constantly expanding into the interior of Africa, and their understanding of Africa is getting deeper and deeper.

The ancient land of Africa not only has all kinds of strange diseases, but also the indigenous people here are also diverse and strange.

Some tribal people are very short, only about 9 meters tall, and their average life expectancy is also very short. They can get married and have children at the age of 20, and their average life expectancy is less than [-] years old.

From time to time, the Ming Morning Post will report some strange things around the world. There are endless reports of various strange tribes, and everyone is used to it.

"Have you heard of it?"

"Someone discovered oil in his own field on the Great Plains, and sold it directly to Daming Petroleum Company, and sold it for 1 taels of silver in no time. This is quite a fortune overnight."

"seriously?"

"This oil is very difficult to find. Can you find oil in your own fields?"

"Of course it's true. If you don't believe me, you can inquire about it. That person's name is Su Laosan."

"I seem to have heard of this too. That youngest Su is really lucky. Oil can be found in his own fields."

"Oil is as valuable as gold and silver now. Many people stop looking for gold and look for oil instead. They find an oil field and sell it for tens of thousands of taels of silver. This is a pretty good deal."

"Yes, that's right, but it's not easy to find oil, but it's a technical job, because it's buried deep underground, and you need to do geography to find oil."

"I heard that the price of oil has risen again. There is very little oil here in Ming Dynasty, but there are many places to use oil. Kerosene lamps need oil, and this car also burns gasoline. Oil is still needed."

"I heard that this oil can also be used to make chemical products. It has a wide range of uses. Now the demand is increasing. However, there is very little oil here in Daming, and it is difficult to find."

"On the contrary, this Golden Continent has a lot of oil. I heard that someone discovered several oil fields on the east side of the Rocky Mountains, and they made a lot of money right away."

"Yes, the price of oil has already reached 350 yuan a barrel. The price of kerosene has also risen because too many people use it."

"Then isn't it very profitable to mine oil?"

"Of course, I have a friend who works in the Daming Petroleum Company. He said that exploiting oil is like exploiting water. The oil flows out continuously like water. Just put it in a barrel. A barrel costs several hundred renminbi. , do you calculate how much money you can earn this day?"

"This is terrible. A barrel of oil costs a few hundred cents. It's the same as releasing water. You can easily release tens of thousands of barrels a day, right?"

"This is a few thousand taels of silver a day. A good oil well may earn tens of thousands of taels of silver a day."

"Then you can consider doing this business in the future. Gold is getting harder and harder to find."

"Yeah, gold and silver are getting harder to find, and mining them is also troublesome. Many slaves are needed to slowly mine them. I heard that mining oil is still very simple."

"After the new year, I will also try this oil and water. I am tired from the adventure. I am too tired to run outside all year round, eat in the wind and sleep in the open."

"I'm also going to try this oil. I heard that Daming Petroleum Company is planning to build an oil refinery here in Penglai City. The extracted oil can be sold directly to Daming Petroleum Company."

"."

Emperor Hongzhi and Liu Jin drank tea and listened to the people in the teahouse talking about one thing. This place is far away from the mainland of Ming Dynasty. Unlike people in Beijing and Tianjin who care about state affairs, people here are more concerned about getting rich. Things, gold, silver, exploration, oil are the themes here.

(End of this chapter)