1635 Han style rises again

September 1677, 9, Fort Okhotsk.

Although the vast Sea of ​​Okhotsk has a temperate monsoon climate, the entire sea area freezes from October to June of the following year, making it unnavigable.Even in midsummer, the temperature is no more than ten degrees.In the coastal areas close to the mainland, in September, the temperature is already as low as five or six degrees, and under the strong sea breeze, it makes people feel completely cold.

Fort Okhotsk, the first settlement established by the Cossacks on the Pacific coast of the Far East in 1647, suddenly ushered in a group of uninvited guests on this cold autumn day.

An armed merchant ship belonging to the Qi State Yunzhou Trading Company and two merchant ships belonging to the Daming Royal Trading Company inadvertently broke into the Fort Okhotsk near the mouth of the Okhota River while avoiding the attack of a storm. .

Already in the autumn of 1641, Oymyakon Castle sent an expedition consisting of 18 Cossacks and 20 Yakut guides, led by Cossack Andrei Ivanovich Karerei.They followed the Guidusun River, a tributary on the left bank of the Indigirka, and crossed the divide to the source of the Ohota River.Then go down the river and reach the Sea of ​​Okhotsk smoothly.

The total length of this road is only more than [-] kilometers, but it took this group of brave expedition members a total of five weeks to find out the shortest road from the Lena River Basin to the Sea of ​​Okhotsk.

By 1647, as more and more Cossacks arrived at the mouth of the Okhota River, the winter camp here gradually became a gathering center, and the Okhotsk Castle was established.Because of its pivotal location, it soon became the economic and political center of the Sea of ​​Okhotsk, as well as the region's main center for fishing and fur trade.

At this time, there were 38 Cossacks in Okhotsk Castle, 45 local Koryaks who were forced to serve hard labor, and [-] Yakuts, a total of [-] people.

Originally, after a while, when the weather freezes, most of the Cossacks and Yakuts in the castle would take snow sledges and return to Yakutsk with the furs they hunted (or plundered) for a summer, and Fur traders from Europe and Russia traded.Then, take the money you get and enjoy a rare peaceful life.

But now, looking at the three armed merchant ships moored outside the river mouth, Igor Smolnikov, the governor of Okhotsk City, was shocked and frightened.When the other party discovered the castle, they did not show a friendly attitude, and came to negotiate with them at the first time, in exchange for some necessary supplies.

Instead, they kept observing outside the harbor, trying to spy on the actual situation in the castle.After lingering in the harbor for a day, several small boats were put down and landed. As many as 70 sailors were fully armed, armed with muskets, and slowly approached the castle with malicious intentions.

Oh God!They even wanted to capture Okhotsk Castle and rob them of the large amount of fur and other materials they had accumulated in the city.

A shameful and despicable band of robbers!

Okhotsk Castle has never been attacked in the 30 years since its establishment.Brave Cossack warriors often rely on this castle, carry muskets and knives and axes, collect fur tax and food tax from the aborigines dozens of kilometers away, insult their wives and daughters, and kill any barbarians who dare to resist .

And those poor and ignorant savages have no decent weapons at all. Wooden spears, stone axes, and bone arrows are extremely simple and cannot cause any harm to the Cossacks. As for attacking the Okhotsk castle built of wood and rammed earth , it is naturally impossible to do it.

As long as the muskets sounded and the knives and axes swung, the ignorant savages had no choice but to flee and escape into the dense forest.Of course, if they can honestly pay all kinds of precious furs, offer their food, and offer their wives and daughters, the benevolent Cossack warriors will also feel compassion and let these poor savages go.

Unexpectedly, a group of Tatars who were more vicious than them touched their castle today, intending to attack the city, kill all of them, and seize all the wealth here.

I originally thought that the Okhotsk Castle was remote enough, and the sea area in this area was windy and rough, and there was a freezing period of more than eight months. It was impossible for ordinary people to find this place, which was enough for them to visit this vast area every year. In the region, hunting (plundering) a large amount of precious furs, and obtaining wealth that ordinary people can't match.

In the past 20 years, the many strongholds and winter camps established by the Cossacks in the Amur River (Heilongjiang), Zeya River (Jingqili River), Ussuri River and other major rivers were uprooted by the Tatars one by one, almost killing them. All Cossacks were expelled from the southern Far East.

Moreover, with the expansion of the power of the Tatars, the Lake Baikal colony established by Tsarist Russia also faced the threat of the Tatars.It is said that the Bohai State has extended its tentacles deep into the upper reaches of the Shilka River (near Chita City in the Russian Far East today), and established two frontier strongholds there.

The Yakutsk Warlord District and Lake Baikal Warlord District are constantly asking for help from Moscow, hoping that His Majesty the Tsar can send more Cossack fighters to support the Far East. Next, wage a large-scale war with this ever-expanding Bohai state to curb their westward advance.

As a small stronghold on the Pacific coast, Okhotsk Castle is not like those strongholds in the Amur River and Zeya River basins, which have strong force and solid defense.They didn't even have a cannon, only 35 old-fashioned matchlock guns and dozens of swords and axes.Moreover, there are more than 40 local Koryaks who were taken captive to do hard labor in the castle, and their loyalty is really questionable.

But Igor Smolnikov, the governor of Okhotsk City, did not intend to surrender voluntarily. Although the opponent has a large number of people, they may not be able to capture the castle.Perhaps after suffering a few casualties, they will retreat and leave here.

Well, after repelling the enemy's attack, we must recruit some local people to strengthen the castle. It is best to get more stones to replace some of the weak rammed earth walls.Also, a few artillery pieces need to be brought from Yakutsk next year, and the city of Okhotsk must be turned into an indestructible battle fortress.

"This castle built by the Raksha people looks like it has no artillery, but there are at least dozens of musketeers in the city. Once they fight, it is still a bit difficult!" Under the city of Okhotsk, a Qi State The bosun put down the binoculars, shook his head and said.

"What's going on?" The companion next to him asked in surprise: "I don't want to pat my ass and leave. If I come back again, it will have to wait until next year. By then, the Raksha people might take this ruined village away." It has been repaired more firmly, and even a few cannons have been added.... We will not be able to take it down even more."

"Why don't you get two cannons off the boat and blast the motherfucker." Another companion licked his lips, "Look at this fortress, there might be a lot of fur inside. Well, it's still possible, and A lot of gold and silver. If you grab one, the big guys can share it, so it's not worth the risk to take such a trip!"

"Or, try to persuade them to surrender first. Tell the people inside that as long as they give up resistance, they will not die and let them go back."

"Okay!" Qi Guo, who was elected as the combat commander, nodded and said, "Let's prepare with both hands. While sending a brother to persuade us to surrender, we are preparing to unload the two cannons. We can't delay here for too long, or the weather will turn cold." , freeze the sea water, all of us young and old will not be able to leave, we all have to stay here for the winter!"

Not surprisingly, the Cossacks in the Okhotsk castle rejected the offer to surrender and prepared to hold on to the fortress.

Are you kidding me, we traveled thousands of miles from Europe to this barren Far East region just to make a fortune, to change the fate of ourselves and our family, and hope that one day, we can save up a lot of gold and silver, return home, and buy a manor and become a respected lord.

At the end of the 16th century, in view of the declining fur resources in Europe and Russia, coupled with the huge demand for fur in Western Europe and the stimulation of considerable profits in fur trade, the vast Siberia region had unique fur resources.The Russians then launched a fanatical pursuit of Siberian fur. At the same time, the fur trade became an important way for the Russians to colonize Siberia.

In the vast area from the east of the Ural Mountains to the Chukotka Peninsula, there are a large number of fur animals such as sables, foxes, martens, squirrels, beavers, wolves, and sea otters.It is especially worth mentioning that Siberia is the world-famous origin of sables.

在每年的捕猎季（大概在每年的10月至次年4月），一名优秀猎手能够获得120-250张紫貂皮，而每索罗克紫貂皮的平均售价从20年代的32卢布涨至40年代的57卢布，到如今，更是高达100卢布。

It can be said that the annual fur income of an excellent hunter in Siberia easily exceeds the income of a serf owner who owns hundreds of acres of land.In the 17s and 30s, the Russians obtained nearly 50 sable furs from Siberia, worth tens of millions of rubles.

As for other types of fur, there are countless. According to rough statistics, in the 17th century, Siberia could supply 200 million pieces of squirrel skins, 20 pieces of ermine skins, and 5 pieces of arctic fox skins every year.Fur is the only commodity that can be exported and exchanged for a large amount of gold and silver in poor and backward Tsarist Russia.

The high price of fur touches every nerve of the bottom of society who fantasize about getting rich overnight, as well as some businessmen, Cossacks, fishermen and hunters, and becomes a powerful driving force for them to rush into Siberia.

Fur became a coveted item because of the special meaning it represented, and the fur market continued to flourish throughout Europe.As a luxury, fur has always been a symbol of people's identity and social status.In Russia, His Majesty the Tsar often gave furs as gifts to members of the royal family, meritorious ministers, religious figures or foreign monarchs, in order to maintain the unity of the ruling class and consolidate foreign relations.

In 1653, a Russian businessman once described, "The Hamburg merchants snapped up Russian mink fur and made it into a best-selling German lady's hat, so that the Russians have no mink fur clothing to wear." Although such a description contains exaggeration , but also reflects the love of Siberian fur among Western European consumers.

However, since more than 20 years ago, with the strong rise of the Bohai State in the Amur River Basin and the Ming Dynasty in the Ussuri River Basin, the Russian fur business has suffered a fatal blow.They successively lost many strongholds and camps in vast areas such as the Amur River, the Ussuri River, the Zeya River, and the Shilka River, which made the places where the Russians can obtain fur shrink sharply and greatly reduce.

Faced with the gradual infiltration and expansion of the forces of the Bohai State and the Ming State, which had advantages in numbers and weapons, the Russians were forced to retreat step by step. Not only did they lose a large number of colonized territories, they also lost countless sources of wealth.Compared with 20 years ago, the amount of fur exported from Siberia to Europe and Russia has dropped by more than [-]%, making Russia's finances fall into an extremely difficult moment.

But what is quite surprising is that the number of fur trades in Europe did not affect the entire market because of the reduction in the total amount of fur exported from Russia.

From Ottoman, Persia, and Italy, countless precious sables, foxes, martens, squirrels, beavers, sea otters and other furs poured into the European market, and some were even made into luxurious fur coats, fur hats, and leather skirts. , scarves, cloaks and other ready-to-wear series, which are sold to European princes and nobles and the emerging middle class.

The Russians vaguely learned from different business channels that the country that replaced them as the main fur supplier in Europe was a country located in the southern New World.They may have bought furs from the Ming and Bohai countries from the Far East by sea, and then transported them to Persia and Ottomans, and then sold them to various European countries and regions.

Russia has encountered a strong commercial competitor who is eroding and robbing the Russian fur business.In addition, the Russians have reason to believe that the countries of Bohai and Ming in the Far East must have received funding from this southern New World country.Otherwise, why would the Tatars, who were weak and had extremely backward weapons before, have more firearms with more advanced performance, and beat the Cossacks who had been constantly attacking the city and fleeing.

However, Siberia, which is not rich in production and poor in supplies, is simply not enough to support the intervention of a large-scale Russian regular army, so that those weak Cossack armed forces were defeated one by one by the Tatars, and their forces gradually approached Baikal lake area.

This is an extremely dangerous signal. If you are not careful, the Siberia region that took decades to conquer is very likely to be occupied by the Tatars, and then cut off the fur business that the Russians rely on.

The Governor of Okhotsk, Igor Smolnikov, once learned from the Yakutsk Governor's Mansion a tsar's instruction, requiring all colonial strongholds in Siberia to try their best while obtaining a large amount of fur Maintain the safety of local castles, avoid being breached by the Tatars, and try to support the rule of Tsarist Russia throughout Siberia.

At this time, the Tsar was leading troops to compete with the Ottoman Empire for Ukraine (the First Russo-Turkish War), and was temporarily unable to provide effective support to the Far East.But the Tsar promised that after the end of the war with the Ottoman Empire, a large number of Cossacks and captured Crimeans in Ukraine would be exiled to enrich the local defense.

However, the poor Okhotsk Castle failed to defend this important stronghold on the Pacific coast in accordance with His Majesty's instructions.The attackers outside the city spent several days unloading two artillery pieces, blasting down a fragile Okhotsk city wall, and then entered the castle at the cost of eight casualties.

Dozens of captured Cossacks and Yakuts under Igor Smolnikov, the governor of Okhotsk, were shot and killed on the shore by the enraged victors. thrown into the icy sea.

In the castle, there are more than a thousand furs of various types, thousands of kilograms of oats, dozens of barrels of gunpowder, and more than 400 rubles, all of which have become the trophies of the people of Qi and Ming.

Two days later, the castle was set on fire and completely destroyed, and the victor, with a full harvest, set sail and flew south.