Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 334 The Great Voyage ([-])

"Four months in the freezing period?" An Chu hesitated, "Let me do the math, we'd better take advantage of the southern hemisphere winter monsoon sailing, that is to say, we have to arrive in Australia after April, and then spend a month running to Daming It is the most economical and fastest way to come from the coast. At this time, some ports in the central and southern regions of the Tatar Strait on the west side of Sakhalin Island should have thawed out. Our steam fleet can come here to replenish coal and repair ships , and then go south to the coastal areas of Daming to collect population. The collected population will be transported back to Sakhalin Island for recuperation, the general process is like this? "

"Not bad." Li Yi nodded, and said: "Sakhalin Island is extremely rich in fishery resources. You always know about salmon, right? Animal and plant resources are also very rich. Of course, the food harvest here may not be very good, but it doesn't matter. It is enough to plant two crops of potatoes for a few months a year. And this place will not raise too many people, and when there are more people, it will start to be shipped to Jinshan Port, Australia."

"I still think it's unreliable." An Chu muttered, "In such a cold place, the temperature is more than 20 degrees below zero in winter, and it is very troublesome to get some kang."

"Why are you so picky about a transitional stronghold in the early stage?" Li Yi knocked the map roll in his hand on the back of Anchu's head dissatisfied, and said: "I am the boss here, and I have the final say. This is here in the early stage, and we will be here in the future." After the manpower in East Asia is sufficient, we will find a way to take over a warm-water port like Jeju Island as our immigration transit base off the coast of Daming. If the monkeys are eager to occupy the islands in the East China Sea now, I guess we will wait until next year. When I come here today, I can almost collect the corpses for Mo Dayong and the others. With only 300 of them, I am still worried that they will be wiped out by the local Hezhe and Ainu people when they are thrown on Sakhalin Island—although this is possible Sex isn't great."

The two chatted for a while, until after six o'clock in the afternoon, Sergeant Johnson, who had gone out to collect food and livestock, came back.His men seemed to have fought outside, for which they took hundreds of North Korean prisoners.Except for these captives, they collected a total of more than 3 catties of grain, all of which were brought back by the North Korean captives in a horse-drawn cart.To be honest, Li Yi was really surprised that this group of people could collect so much food. Maybe they still got the food after breaking a certain official warehouse.However, he didn't care too much about the food. There were still quite a lot of sweet potatoes, potatoes, corn, etc. in the cabin, which was enough for everyone to eat for a long time. He ordered the collection of food now purely as a matter of convenience.

Compared with food, he is obviously more concerned about the live poultry he collects now.How can sailors who are away from home not eat meat?But spoiled bacon or bacon was always a turnoff, so live poultry was a favorite of sailors.Well, I have collected two cows, six pigs, a dozen sheep, and fifty chickens, which is not bad, and the brothers can have a good meal.However, the fighting power of the North Korean Li Dynasty army is really scum. One hundred musketeers and three hundred black soldiers can collect food on this Jeju Island, and most of the Li Dynasty troops can only guard in the city. Acting rashly - well, maybe they haven't had time to mobilize the army yet.However, it is an indisputable fact that their combat effectiveness is weak. In a confrontation with a similar number of people, it is often a round of infantry and musket salvos, and then a charge by the black soldiers will defeat them.It's no wonder that the few Japanese pirates in those days were able to disturb the restlessness here!

After severely despising the weak combat effectiveness of Li Chao's army, seeing that it was getting dark, Li Yi simply ordered about 150 captured North Korean prisoners to be brought on board.Then the people on the east bank gave up the wharf they had just occupied during the day, and all returned to the ship, pulled up the anchor chain, raised the sail, and left!

In the early morning of May 1642, 5, the expedition fleet of the East Coast Republic sailing along the coast of Japan finally arrived at the legendary Tatar Strait.The wind on the sea is cold, and the temperature of the sea is also very low, but it is obvious that it has thawed.Li Yi stood at the bow of the boat, looking at the coastline map drawn by the drawing staff, and comparing it with the map he brought.

"This is Holmsk." "This is the Soviet port." "This is Ugregorsk." Li Yi kept muttering these place names in his mouth, and finally, in the afternoon of the next day , The two expedition ships lowered most of their sails one after the other, and docked in the sea off an estuary.After sending out small boats to measure the water depth of the river channel, the two large ships simply drove in and docked at the mouth of the river, and lowered the double anchors at the front and rear.

There are dense poplar and birch forests everywhere on the shore, and the tall and straight figure makes people feel shocked.There are a lot of grasslands and nasty swamps beside the forest, but these are not a problem in the eyes of hardworking east coasters who are good at building.

"The first thing is to set up tents, cut trees, and build houses. Don't you need me to order you? Just do what you did in Gushan Port and Jinshan Port." Li Yi wrapped a woolen coat and wore Riding boots, walking on the soft grass of Sakhalin Island.This island of more than 7 square kilometers was taken away from the Manchus by later Tsarist Russia during the Second Opium War, and later became the largest island in Russia.The island is rich in resources, including timber, coal, oil and gas, and fishery resources. It was once known as the Kuwait of the Far East.And the geographical location is also very important. It is located in the middle of the Sea of ​​Okhotsk and the Sea of ​​Japan. From here, you can use the Kuroshio Current to reach the North American continent. It is really an island with a very important strategic position.

Affected by climate and ocean currents, the north of the island has always been colder than the south, and the harbor has been frozen for a longer period, so most of the island's population lives in the southern half.At this time, the Tsar’s Cossacks had just explored around the Sea of ​​Okhotsk; and Japan’s Matsumae Domain had just sent personnel to inspect the island in an attempt to declare sovereignty; but the nominal owner of the island, the Manchu government, still had nothing to do with it. As far as we know, the Hezhen and Ainu people on the island don't even know what kind of fate awaits them in the next few decades.

"Huh, I'll occupy this place first, and after cutting off the old hair, reach out to the bear's paw here." Li Yi lit a pipe leisurely, and said with a smile: "Now I suddenly thought of a new use for this place, we can Trade here with Japan’s Matsumae clan. Aren’t the Japanese secluded? Well, I don’t believe that the Tokugawa shogunate can effectively govern such a remote Matsumae clan’s Hokkaido territory. These bitter Matsumae clan Japanese can bear It’s amazing to trade with us, we can sell them some cheap and high-quality industrial products in exchange for the gold and silver in their hands, and even people! Hehe, am I smart, Xiaoan?”

"Then you have to go to the south near the port of Korsakov (Dabo). I heard that the Japanese set up a fishing spot there. At the same time, they sent people there to collect taxes from the natives on the island. The aborigines now regard the Japanese as their masters." Second Lieutenant An Chu said angrily.He didn't wear the navy's winter uniform like Li Yi did, but a thick casual leather jacket.The central part of Sakhalin Island, which has just thawed from the frozen world, is cold, and the temperature is only a few degrees Celsius above zero. You really need to pay attention to keeping warm.

"Hey." Li Yi smiled, then changed the subject, and said: "The first priority is to build a wooden house. Oh, by the way, it is also important to wipe the kang, otherwise the winter in a few months will be very difficult. Difficult. Well, all the briquettes and tin stoves on the ship were removed. Twenty boxes of Daqu in Hezhong were also removed, and all the grain seized from the North Koreans was left on the island. Well, I have to go and urge them to work , grandma, bear, the weather is really cold!"

More than 150 North Korean prisoners captured on Jeju Island were cutting down the huge trees at the edge of the forest together with about a hundred Eight Banners warriors.They will build some new houses for themselves near the mouth of the river, and at the same time build a wooden trestle to facilitate the mooring of large ships entering the port.After doing this, their biggest task is to start prospecting in the nearby area, yes, to find coal mines.According to the information obtained by the traveler, Sakhalin Island is extremely rich in coal resources, and there happens to be one near Alexandrovsk.The quality of the coal here is quite good. The Tsarist Russian government was able to mine here purely by hand, so of course the people on the east coast can do the same.The mined coal was washed and piled up on the seashore for resupply by the ships of the East Coast Republic of China who came to dock in the future—and this is actually the reason why the people on the East Coast chose this place as a temporary supply port.

In order to commemorate the rule of this area in Chinese history, Li Yi specially named this port "Heishui Port", which means the Heishui Governor's Mansion established in the Tang Dynasty.After moving a lot of livestock, tools, food and living materials to tents on the shore for temporary storage, the next morning (June 6), the two expedition ships raised their anchors and headed south.There are two hundred fully armed Eight Banners warriors on board. They will plunder all the way along the coast of North Korea, the main purpose is to plunder food and people; if conditions permit, they will even enter the coast of Daming, and pick areas where order has collapsed and defenses are weak Landed ashore and plundered the population.All the plundered population, food, livestock, and even gold and silver will be temporarily transported to the Heishui Port on Sakhalin Island for storage, waiting for the expedition fleet of the East Coast Republic to bring them back to the mainland.

The landing combat personnel consisted of two hundred Eight Banners warriors (60 infantry archers, 120 pikemen, 20 artillerymen) and a musketeer composed of one hundred sailors.Li Yi believes that in the face of the same number of enemies, there will not be too many enemies in East Asia who can defeat them at this time.

(End of this chapter)