Warring States Survival Guide

Chapter 227 The Happy Era
The Ainu people are what later generations referred to as the Ezo.

The Ainu people were originally scattered throughout the Japanese archipelago and were true indigenous inhabitants. However, this is no longer the case. They have been driven all the way from Kyushu to Ezo by the "Yamato" (Japanese people). The "Sei-i" in "Sei-i Taishogun," the highest rank of Japanese samurai, refers to the Ainu people, these unfortunate "barbarians."

Now the Ainu people have fled into the icy and snowy Ezo Island, but the "Wazu" have not let them go. They have already established villages and "monomimi" (trading stations) on Ezo Island. However, because the Japanese are not well adapted to the icy and snowy environment and the technology of this era is too weak, the villages and trading stations are basically crammed into the Matsumae area in the southwest corner of Ezo Island, and they are not able to penetrate into the interior of Ezo Island for the time being.

The current rulers here should be the Ando family, but only in name. The actual rulers are the Kakizaki family—the former Ezo daikan (military governors) of the Ando family. They are currently semi-independent, and it will be nearly twenty years before the Kakizaki family officially sheds their daikan status when the monkey launches the Oshu land survey.

Later, because the Kakizaki family traversed the entire Japanese peninsula and actively participated in the invasion of Korea launched by the Japanese, they gained the Japanese's approval and obtained the "Lord of Ezo Island" seal, officially gaining control over Ezo Island.

During the Tokugawa Shogunate era, the Kakizaki family became the only feudal lord without a tael (a unit of rice measure) of income.

After being blocked by the southern navy and unable to go to the north side of Honshu Island, Haruno led his fleet eastward, spending a day crossing the entire strait to reach Ezo Island.

Upon arrival, Haruno had no intention of dealing with the Kakizaki family. He found a piece of wasteland to land on his own and, with the help of the manpower and supplies on the Wanjin merchant ship, began to build a small landing point.

Some people were spying on him, but no one stopped him. Currently, Ezo Island is mostly unclaimed land, and anyone can come. The most important thing is to be able to communicate with the Ainu people. Or rather, to communicate with the various tribes on the island—"Ainu" is the name given to them by modern people. They don't actually have a unified ethnic name and are still in the process of tribalization. In fact, the word "Ainu" in the Ainu language means "people".

If you insist on translating the Ainu language into Chinese, it means "everyone," which at first glance sounds like a hapless video website.

To communicate with the various Ainu tribes, further develop trade, and even abduct them in large numbers, it is necessary to first make friends with them, and the person in Wanjin who is best at making friends is Aman.

After the small and rudimentary landing site was built, Yuanye went ashore and took a look around. He then turned to Aman and said, "I'm leaving this place to you."

Aman certainly didn't want to take on this awful mission. It was only autumn and it was already getting cold here. She knew she definitely wouldn't like the climate, but Yuanye had earnestly begged her, saying it was very important and that she was indispensable. She had no choice but to look at the small camp with disdain and mutter, "Fine, but let's make this clear first: as soon as I make contact with those savages, I'm going back to Xinwanjin. I'm a big shot now, and I can't stay in this place that even dung beetles would avoid—I can't even watch a play here, I'd be bored to death."

"You also need to understand their culture and beliefs, and learn their language." Yuanye ignored her nonsense and earnestly instructed, "You should also be friendly to them, try to befriend them, and if you have the opportunity, go deep into the interior through the locals to find more Ainu tribes, especially those that are struggling to survive."

"I know, I know, I understand. It won't be long before I figure out the situation here, and I'll try my best to lure them to Xinwanjin." Aman knew that Yuanye had his eye on the Ainu people's population again, so he waved his hand, too lazy to listen to any of this, and instead gave him a push, "Leave this to me, you can go back!"

She might have complained about the task, but she didn't think it was difficult. It was just learning a new language and making friends with some savages. She felt confident she could handle it, since that was her specialty.

Yuanye did not stay any longer. In addition to the dozen or so "survivors" that Aman brought with her, he left her half of the inner guard, as well as a large number of cannons, early-fired cannons, ironware, cloth and a small amount of gold as resources for her to reclaim the land. Then he led the fleet back to port.

Ezo Island is too far from Wanjin, separated by half of Japan. He is temporarily unable to send a large number of troops there, so Aman and his hundred-plus men will have to rely on themselves for the time being.

They built their own camps, conducted their own trade, communicated with the Ainu people, and even completed their own missions.

Ezo Island is certainly a great place in modern times, a famous granary and livestock area of ​​Japan, and excellent for tourism and sightseeing. But back then, it was a completely wild place, with even large packs of wolves roaming around.

Based on historical records—and this is just speculation, as there isn't much relevant historical material—after the various Ainu tribes gradually fled to Ezo Island, the population declined for a long time instead of increasing. The main reason was the harsh natural conditions: knee-deep snow and frequent appearances of bears, wolves, and wild boars made life very difficult for these gathering and hunting tribes, resulting in a long period of food scarcity.

During this period, many tribes were likely unable to adapt to the new environment and perished completely.

Therefore, Haruno felt that since the Ainu people were having a hard time surviving on Ezo Island, they should move to another place. The Japanese did not welcome them, but the people of Wanjin did. When the territory of Wanjin expanded, these Ainu tribes could move to Wanjin and live there. He was willing to grant them Wanjin citizenship as well.

In this way, they will not be completely wiped out in the long river of history, and they can also help him establish a new country.

Hopefully, everything goes smoothly!

...The "trade expedition" has come to a successful conclusion. The Wanjin merchant ships should be lightly armed, travel in groups, and guard against small groups of pirates before they can sail freely on the south side of Honshu Island. Before the crew even returned to the new Wanjin Port, the crew was disbanded, allowing the Wanjin lord and the newly promoted traders to act freely and do their own business.

Led by the "Chita", the Wanjin Navy spent nearly a month leisurely returning to Chidori Island, a small island diagonally opposite the new Wanjin Port, the Wanjin Navy's base and the "Chita's" home port, while supplementing hydrological data along the way.

Of course, a grand welcoming ceremony was still necessary upon their triumphant return. Endo Chiyo, Maejima Juichiro, Izumi Heiji, and others had already made preparations. After a day of rest, the Haruno and Wanzu naval forces officially transferred to the Guanchuan ship and entered the port.

On that day, the streets of Xinwanjin were deserted as everyone crowded onto the pier to cheer and welcome the newcomers. This boosted morale and everyone was overjoyed.

Everyone benefited from this "sales expedition." In the past three months, all the workshops in Wanjin have been operating at full capacity, and the expansion of production has been further accelerated, to the point that it is almost impossible to find workers. The excess profits brought by the continuous acquisition of new markets have made wage increases a common phenomenon.

The number of workshops has also increased. With a positive market outlook, even the most conservative people have become bolder and have started to start their own businesses. They have opened workshops based on their skills in order to live a wealthy life. Everyone is in a hurry, afraid of falling behind and missing this good opportunity, or their good days will be over.

In just over three months and a little over a hundred days, the number of private workshops registered in Xinwanjin has surged from more than 300 to more than 1,100, and the number is still increasing. Moreover, due to the limited land in Xinwanjin and the rising labor costs, many people have left this number one city on the Chita Peninsula and moved south to other cities.

Land there is cheaper, and labor and raw material prices are also lower. The only problem is that the infrastructure, such as docks, ports, and roads, is not as good as Xinwanjin City. But that doesn't matter. It can be built. After all, Xinwanjin City was also a wasteland a few years ago. Most of the people in Wanjin have worked in labor teams and everyone is good at digging holes, repairing roads, and building houses. Building a few more big cities is not a problem.

As industry and commerce flourished, life began to improve for agricultural workers. Not to mention that many adult men were lured into workshops and started earning wages, the sudden rise in the prices of various raw materials also gave these agricultural families, who had just escaped natural disasters, a much-needed respite. At least they no longer had to rely on relief grains and disaster subsidies from the fields, and they had money to spend and buy household items.

Money brings happiness. If we look at the data, the happiness level of Wanjin residents has increased by at least 33% in this wave, and the upward trend has not stopped. The power of the active industry and commerce is still evident.

If everything produced can be sold, that's a happy era.

Wanjin has now entered a happy era.

The people of Wanjin were celebrating wildly in the port area and at the docks... It took them a while to disperse naturally. At present, the new Wanjin is entering a period of large-scale production. After all, so many new orders have been signed, and the customers are still fighting with each other. They all need them urgently. It is only because Haruno is highly respected as the first generation of Wanjin that so many people would drop their work to welcome him.

The crowd dispersed happily, but Haruno was unable to go home and rest properly. First, he went to the parliament building to hold an awards ceremony to formally commend the meritorious personnel of this expedition. Then, he was invited by Speaker Izumi Heiji to appreciate the proposals put forward by the members of parliament during this period.

Most of them hoped that the parliament would urge the Wanjin internal affairs system to fund the expansion of the shipyard, and requested that the Yuanye expand the Wanjin navy.

This is a beautiful misunderstanding. During the Battle of Izu, a large number of civilians from Katsu also participated in the battle. These people later rushed back to pick up their goods and took the opportunity to boast, claiming that "Lord Nohara risked his life to protect the Katsu merchant ships, fighting alone and being surrounded. It was these righteous people of Katsu who rose up, broke through the encirclement, and rescued Lord Nohara. They also defeated the enemy and pursued them for more than 300 miles."

The news stunned everyone in Wanjin. Everyone was terrified, not daring to imagine what would happen if Haruno killed Wanjin. As a result, within two days, all sorts of random proposals were submitted. Countless people demanded that Endo Chiyo and others quickly fund the shipyard and drastically improve the strength of the Wanjin navy, so that such a thing could not be allowed to happen a second time. The people of Wanjin believed that Haruno was still brave, but they felt that he did not need to be so brave and that it was better for him to live well.

At the same time, the conscription work in Wanjin suddenly improved. A large number of disaster victims who had benefited from the natural disasters of the previous two years heard rumors that he was about to be beaten to death at sea, and they voluntarily joined the Wanjin Navy. They didn't care whether they could catch up with him to rescue him. They just wanted to join the army first, since serving in the army in Wanjin was a good job, so it was a win-win situation.

Yuan Ye was very pleased after reading these proposals.

Now, behind the Wanjin councilor are ordinary people from all walks of life. These people are just hearing rumors and they get anxious because they think he is in danger. Even if they are afraid of losing their good life or Wanjin suddenly falling apart, it is still quite touching.

In a sense, this is what the people want!

This is what he wanted; things here are starting to change from other places.

It's getting more and more different.

(End of this chapter)