Wind Rises in North America 1625

Chapter 297 Jianchang
February 1635, 2, the Year of Yi Hai, New Year.

Beiying Island, Jianchang Fort (now Otaru City, Hokkaido).

The biting cold wind, carrying fine snow particles, swirled outside the village wall built of rough wood.

A layer of crystal ice formed on the newly cut wooden fence, emitting a cold light in the twilight.

In the newly built fortress, more than 40 wooden houses are scattered around, with thick thatch and snow covering the roofs. From a distance, they look like snow-white mushrooms.

In the open space in the center of the village, a red pine tree with its bark peeled off was buried deep in the frozen soil, with a faded red cloth tied to the top, fluttering in the wind.

This is a custom brought by some Guangdong immigrants from their hometown - setting up New Year banners to pray for good weather and good harvests in the coming year and to protect the family's safety.

Shouts came from the public canteen at the east end of the village. More than a hundred men gathered around a few iron pots, chatting lively.

In the largest iron pot, a thick soup made from deer bones was boiling, with milky white foam. Cut potatoes were floating in the hot soup. As the boiling soup churned, a rich meaty aroma floated in the air.

On a makeshift pinewood rack nearby, dozens of freshly thawed herrings were hung. They had been gutted and cleaned, with tiny ice crystals still clinging to their gills.

"In our Sanshui, it's time to eat rice cakes..." Chen Laosi squatted by the campfire, his calloused fingers deftly turning the grilled fish.

Amid the crackling sound of burning pine resin, the fish skin gradually turned golden, and the oil dripped into the fire, stirring up bursts of salty and fragrant smoke.

"Shh!" The young man squatting nearby swallowed hard, his Adam's apple rolling, his eyes fixed on the grilled fish on the flames. "It's New Year's meat, who still wants to eat rice cakes! Look at these herrings from Beiying Island, they're so fat and juicy, hundreds of times more delicious than rice cakes!"

"Whether we eat meat or rice cakes, it's good enough to be alive!" Another man used a wooden stick to dig out a few potatoes from the campfire. They were so hot that he tossed them back and forth between his hands. While blowing hard on them to cool down, he peeled off the black potato skin to reveal the golden flesh inside, and then took a bite.

"For us, being able to eat a hot meal is a blessing from our ancestors. In the Tartars' place, we were so hungry that we even rummaged through their manure buckets! Hehe..."

Before he could finish his words, he bit into the potato and gasped because of the burn.

The golden flesh stuck to his palate, causing him to stamp his feet and gasp in pain, like a lynx whose tail was stepped on.

Everyone burst into laughter when they saw this, and one mischievous ghost even imitated his distorted expression.

"You damn starving ghost, you're reincarnated!"

However, he didn't expect to burn his mouth. He wanted to spit it out, but he couldn't bear to do so. He kept blowing the cool air into his mouth. He looked extremely embarrassed, which made others laugh.

"Is the grilled fish ready?" After laughing, the young man turned his gaze to the grilled fish and threw a pine torch into the fire. The firelight illuminated his frozen and cracked ears, making them red.

"What's the matter? Can't you resist the gluttony in your stomach?" Chen Laosi asked with a smile.

"I wanted to send some over there for you to try..." the young man said, turning to look at a brick building over there. "We have delicious food and drinks here, but you might not even have a hot meal over there. We can live such a good life, isn't it all thanks to you, my Lord?"

"If you ask me, among all of us, Xiao Yi is the smartest!" The man, who had just finished eating a potato, touched his mouth, leaving a few black marks on his face, and said sarcastically, "Look, this flattery is more delicious than grilled fish! He's rushing to curry favor with the master. If he catches his eye, he might even rise to prominence."

"Lu Laitou, you're such a heartless person." Upon hearing this, the young man's face flushed crimson and he glared at him angrily. "Think about who has given you everything you enjoy now! ... Humph, you deserve to be enslaved by the Tartars and bullied by the military leaders of Dongjiang Town! The death of your entire family is what you deserve!"

"You little bastard, I'll fuck your ancestors!" The man called Lu Lai Tou got angry immediately after hearing that. He stood up and picked up a wooden stick, ready to teach the other person a lesson.

Xiao Yi was not to be outdone. He pulled out a piece of sparking wood from the campfire and prepared to fight.

For a moment, the warm New Year scene suddenly turned into a fight with sticks, causing a group of people to become noisy and excited.

"What are you doing? Rebellion?!" Suddenly, a loud shout was heard, and a strong guard tightly grasped the scabbard in his right hand, staring at everyone coldly with sinister eyes.

"..."

The fierce quarrel suddenly stopped. Everyone looked at him in fear, and Nie Nie didn't dare to say a word.

"Put it down!" Zhang Dashan raised the scabbard and hit Lu Laitou's shoulder hard, knocking the stick in his hand to the ground. Then he turned his head and stared at the young man named Xiao Yi.

"Bang..." Xiao Yi hurriedly threw the fire stick in his hand, but unexpectedly it fell into the iron pot, splashing the boiling broth all over the floor.

"What's going on here?"

In the dead silence, the door of the command post creaked open.

Wei Zhonglong walked over wearing a sable fur coat, the light and shadow of the torch dancing on his angular face.

The crowd automatically made way for each other, and several women hid in the crowd in fear.

Several guards followed closely behind him, holding muskets.

"Sir, they want to have a private fight." Zhang Dashan kicked and beat the two perpetrators and dragged them out, ordering them to kneel down.

"It's New Year's Day, instead of drinking and eating meat, why are you planning to have a fight to liven up the atmosphere?" Wei Zhonglong smiled and waved his hand, signaling the guards to help up the two perpetrators who were kneeling and apologizing.

"Sir, I know my crime..." Seeing several fully armed guards staring at him with unfriendly expressions, Lu Lai Tou's calves trembled and he begged for mercy in a trembling voice.

"When did you immigrate here?" Wei Zhonglong asked gently. "Your Excellency, I was sent here from Lushun last September."

"Oh, you were once a Liao people?"

"Your Excellency, I am a Liao people, a remnant of Liaodong who was not taken away by heaven and not spared by earth..."

"I suppose you've suffered a lot in Liaodong?"

"My Lord, I am fortunate to have God's blessing, so I can still survive." Lu Laitou seemed to be touched by something, and a sad look appeared on his face. "To survive in Liaodong, you have to endure more than just hardship..."

"How dare you!" Zhang Dashan shouted, raising his scabbard to strike. "Answer the master's question! What are you complaining about? ... Is it my fault that you're begging for your life in Liaodong?"

"Dashan!" Wei Zhonglong waved his hand to stop his beating, then turned to look at Lu Laitou and said kindly, "Don't be afraid. Under my rule, everyone in Xinhua will still have to endure hardships, but they won't have to beg for survival like before."

"...I thank you for sparing my life!" Seeing that he had a kind attitude and was not at all as ferocious and brutal as those generals in Dongjiang Town, Lu Laitou felt relieved and knelt down, kowtowed to him several times.

"Alright, alright, everyone, don't be so formal. Let's liven up the New Year atmosphere." Wei Zhonglong helped him up. "Hurry up and bring the grilled fish over so I can taste it. If you grill it any longer, it will get burnt!"

"Hey..., sir, please try it!" Upon hearing this, Chen Laosi immediately and attentively handed over a herring that was roasted to a crispy outside and tender inside.

"Dashan, go to the warehouse and bring over a few jars of wine so everyone can have some fun and warm themselves up."

Zhang Dashan glanced at the excited crowd, then whispered to the two guards to go to the warehouse to move the wine. He then took a few steps forward and loyally stood behind Wei Zhonglong, holding a knife.

"Your name is Lu Laitou?" Wei Zhonglong glanced at the prominent birthmark on the man's forehead and spoke to him while chewing on grilled fish. "Tell me about your experience in Liaodong. What kind of situation was it that was so harsh that neither heaven nor earth could take it back?"

"Sir..." When asked this, Lu Laitou's face suddenly turned sad, and the rough man actually shed tears. "Sir, I am still alive today, it must be that the King of Hell forgot to cross my name in the Book of Life and Death!"

"...I was captured by the Jiannu along with my parents in the first year of the Tianqi reign (1620), the year Liaoyang fell. I was only nine years old at the time and served as a farmhand under Shi San Tartar (also known as Ezhen Shi Tingzhu of the Han army). Alas, I was nothing more than a slave. Year-round, I toiled day and night, and if I didn't do my job well, I'd be whipped and beaten with sticks."

"As for hunger, that was a common occurrence. In winter, the snow fell heavily and it was freezing cold. We had no warm clothes and could only cling to animals for warmth. I lived with the Tartars for less than three years before my father and mother were tortured to death by them. I also had a sister who was abused by them and ended up being sent to an unknown place."

"With the Tartars, we Han slaves toiled for a year, yet in the end, we had nothing to eat. Starving, we could only secretly fill our stomachs with the grass and beans the animals ate. ... But if the Tartars found out, we would be beaten half to death. In their eyes, we Han people are worse than animals!"

"In the fifth year of the Chongzhen reign (1632), twenty or so Han slaves on our farm could no longer bear the consequences. Taking advantage of the night, we seized the bondservants who were in charge and fled towards the sea. At dawn, the Tartars came chasing us on horseback. Along the way, we were hacked with swords, stabbed with spears, and trampled by horses. More than a dozen of us died at the hands of the Tartars."

"It's my good fortune that I was able to escape to Gaizhou thanks to my quick legs and feet, and come under the jurisdiction of General Huang. At that time, I had only one belief: if I could escape back to the Ming Dynasty, I would be willing to die..."

"Are there many people like you who escape?"

"Your Excellency, if there's even a sliver of opportunity, who wouldn't want to escape?" Lu Laitou said excitedly, "There's absolutely no way for us Han people to survive with the Tartars. Even if we don't get killed right away, working on the farm will only delay our death by a few days."

"After the Battle of Dalinghe, many of the captured Ming soldiers fled. They really couldn't survive!"

"Didn't the Jiannu army recruit many of the Ming surrendered soldiers as Han army servants?"

"They're called Han troops, but in reality, they're just a bunch of slave soldiers treated slightly better than us Han slaves," Lu Laitou said disdainfully. "The truly trusted and valued Han troops are those who defected to the Ming during the reign of Lao Nu (Nurhaci). Their status is second only to the Zhen Tatars, they have their own subordinates, and they've even been rewarded with farms."

"For example, the Tartar Shi San, whom we served, not only married the daughter of a Tartar noble, but also enjoyed wine and feasts with the real Tartars, and was treated with great respect. As for those Ming Dynasty soldiers who later surrendered, they were not treated so well. Especially General Zu (Zu Dashou), who pretended to surrender and then fled back to the Ming Dynasty, which further angered the Tartars and made them distrustful of the surrendered Ming Dynasty officers and soldiers."

"Oh..." Wei Zhonglong nodded, then asked, "Did you come into contact with the wild Jurchen Tartars while you were with the Jiannu?"

"Savage Jurchen Tartars?" Lu Laitou looked at him blankly. "Aren't Tartars all... like wild beasts?"

"Hehe..." Wei Zhonglong was speechless. "Well, the wild Jurchen Tartars are from... the raw Jurchens further north and east. They're completely different from the so-called First Prince, Fourth Prince, and the like. They're much more wild and unruly."

"Wild Tartars..." Lu Laitou scratched his head vigorously and said in embarrassment, "Sir, when I was with the Tartars, I really couldn't tell which were the wild Tartars and which were the domesticated Tartars."

"Haha..." Wei Zhonglong was amused by him. He waved his hand and signaled him to go and drink and have fun with other immigrants.

After accompanying the immigrants to eat a few bites of grilled fish and drink a bowl of broth, he got up and left with a few guards.

If he were here, the immigrants would probably not dare to eat and drink freely, which would only annoy them.

"Sir, do you want to ask about the Haidong Jurchens?" Zhang Dashan followed beside him and asked in a low voice.

"Yes, I'm thinking of sending an exploration ship westward to Donghai Woji (During the Ming Dynasty, the area east of the Ussuri River to the sea was called Donghai Woji) when the weather warms up. There must be many wild Jurchen tribes there. If we occupy that area and recruit all the wild Jurchens here, it would be like cutting off the source of the Jiannu's power."

"Ah!..." Zhang Dashan was stunned. "Sir, our Beiying Island currently has only about 20,000 people. We haven't even completely filled up this large island. Why do we have to go to some place in the East China Sea to occupy land?"

"You know shit!" Wei Zhonglong rolled his eyes at him and continued walking forward. "Those who don't plan for eternity aren't qualified to plan for the present; those who don't plan for the overall situation aren't qualified to plan for a region. In this colonial era of territorial grabbing, if you don't plan ahead and seize a position, you'll regret it for eternity."

"Well, at least we can't leave endless regrets for future generations. ... I wonder if the Russians are here now?"

As the night deepened, someone among the crowd gathered in the village began to sing the "New Year's Tune" from their hometown.

The singing was intermittent, mixed with the sound of waves crashing on the shore in the distance, revealing a sense of homesickness.
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(End of this chapter)