Haisheng Mingdi

Chapter 795
Shaotian six years, October.

The North Sea (Sea of ​​Okhotsk) is known as the icehouse of the Pacific Ocean. It starts to freeze in October, and the sea surface freezes for up to seven months.

The wind was fierce.

Wang Chaoxiang stood on the deck of the Pioneer, clutching the cable tightly, and refused the captain's persuasion to enter the cabin.

"How far is it?"

"Coming!"

It was the first time for the fleet to sail in the North Sea north of the Heilongjiang Estuary. They were not familiar with the hydrology of the channel and dared not sail too close to the shore for fear of hitting a reef or hitting the bottom.

The wind is high and the waves are rough, the sea breeze is wet and cold, and there is fog.

Wang Chaoxiang was secretly anxious. They stayed in Nuergan Yongning City for a few more days, and they were delayed in meeting the leaders of various tribes. They even met envoys from several tribes asking for help. Rakshasa invaded the tribes on the north bank of the Heilongjiang Estuary.

Qijinhala of the Qileer tribe lives in the Hengu River (the Xinggun River and the Amgon River flow into Heilongjiang near Nuergan), and Qijinhala lives on the banks of the Duga River, a tributary of the upper reaches of the Hengu River. The Zhiluocha people invaded from the north, raided their Kazha, robbed their furs, robbed their wives and daughters, and kidnapped Harada, approaching them to pay the mink fur in kind.

Qijinhala is one of the twelve surnames of Qileer. The Qileer part is distributed in the Hengu River Basin. The Feiyaka people at the mouth of the Heilongjiang River call them Leigu, and the Ewenki, Manhui, and Oroqen people call them Negidar.

They belong to the Oroqen part of the branch, organized by the blood of the surname, each surname is a hala, forming twelve hala, each hala has a small number of people, with the family as the unit, one or several families gather together Together, it is for one Kashan.

It is said that before the Tartars recruited the Qileer tribe, registered households for them, and asked them to receive one mink per household. Five hundred households lived in 48 villages, and the Manchu Qing divided them into the children of Gong Diao's servants and the rest of the white people.

Qijinhara has a surname of chief, four township chiefs, five children, 55 whites, 65 households, about 260 people, mainly hunting, and living in eight Kashans.

There are only a few households or a dozen households.

The Raksha people invaded, and these Qileer people who were hunting, hunting and fishing were defeated. Some were forced to pay taxes in kind, some were forced to surrender, and some fled along the river in a panic, seeking help from the south.

The Prime Minister of the Dynasty and the others have been to Nurgan three times this year, and they have contacted the Feiyaka and Qileer tribes here, awarded officials and rewarded them, and traded.

Because the Shaotian court does not levy tax in kind for the time being, and the things brought to the market are of high quality and low price, all the ministries welcome the return of Daming, and even the registered household registrations are more than those reported to the Qing court, except for a few who are still unwilling to contact , There are more than 1000 households with twelve surnames contacted.

According to the information collected by the Prime Minister from the local people, the Qileer people actually have eighteen surnames, and they have a total of about [-] households.

Originally, the Prime Minister of the Dynasty planned to take a rest in Yongning City and then went to Okhotsk immediately, but because of the Qiler's request for help, he decided to enter the Henko River first to destroy the Raksha devils who were going south.

The leader of Qileer Gehala heard that Daming was willing to send troops to help fight off the invading Raksha devils, and immediately led the way. The dispatch of troops went smoothly.

They sailed directly into the Hengu River in a clipper boat, and changed to sailing speedboats when they reached the upper tributary. Led by the head of Qijin, they came to Dugajingashan in the dark at night. As a base for them to plunder the surrounding villages of Chiller, they even gave it a Rakshasa name, Duki.

Zhao Chaoxiang and the others took a small boat to the river, docked quietly, and then surrounded Dugazingashan. Many pioneer marines who were veterans of the imperial camp quickly climbed over the village fence and touched in. , Before the Raksha devil could react, he touched several tents and killed several people in a row.

Those invading devils hugged the Qileer women and fell asleep after venting. Unexpectedly, the devils on duty outside were quietly dealt with by the old imperial soldiers.

When a devil woke up and sounded the alarm while rolling around, the Prime Minister of the Dynasty had already rushed into the Zhazhai with a flintlock pistol and led the brigade.

The gunfire sounded.

The fire was bright.

The battle ended soon, and at the end of the count, it was found that there were not many Cossack robbers. They were an expedition team of 18 people who came from Fort Okhotsk along the coastline. They were ordered to go to Nurgan to scout the situation. The Ka people heard that the emperor's army had arrived at the mouth of the river, and it was very strong.

These men came down the coast, looting as they went.

Their muskets and scimitars were all the way to the dozens of Qileer families, but when they encountered the pioneering fleet of the Prime Minister of the Dynasty, they were caught off guard.

Thirteen were killed directly, leaving five alive.

The Prime Minister of the Dynasty directly had the thumbs of the hands and feet of the five living beings chopped off, and then had them castrated. The doctors in the fleet were very capable, and the work was done quickly and well. Although the five were extremely weak, they were won't die.

After the interrogation was clear, only 18 people came, and the prime minister of the dynasty returned to the army smoothly.

The heads of all surnames and townships in Qileer admired the Ming army very much. They found their wives and daughters, and even took back the plundered furs, reindeer, dogs, and dried fish and meat. As a token of gratitude, I will give half of the money back to the Ming army.

The Prime Minister of the Dynasty received a few skins symbolically, eighteen surnames, a total of 72 villages, each village received a piece of skin, a bag of dried fish, and some deer fur.

When they were leaving, all surnames heard that they were going to fight the Raksha devils in Okhotsk, and they all volunteered to sign up. The Prime Minister of the Dynasty was unwilling to take them with him. One of the disciples followed, which was also to let them see the world, and the surname chiefs and village chiefs also followed, and there were a hundred people gathered at once.

After winning the battle, they returned to Yongning City along the river, and it took a lot longer than the original plan. At this time, the weather was already cold, and the temperature of the North Sea dropped sharply, and it was about to freeze.

Some people advised the Chancellor to wait until next year before going to conquer Okhotsk, but the Chancellor knew very well that once the ice freezes, the North Sea will be frozen for at least half a year, and he can't wait.

Moreover, judging from the information obtained during the interrogation, the pioneering fleet has come to Yongning three times this year, and the Raksha devils in Okhotsk have also known it. Not only have they strengthened their defenses, they have also sent people to Yakutsk for help, At the same time, they recruited strong men from the surrounding tribes who surrendered to them to assist in the city defense, and sent people south to investigate.

If you don't go all out to pull out Fort Okhotsk now, then next year will be half a year later. At that time, it is estimated that not only the strength of the troops but also the equipment will be stronger.

"Take Fort Okhotsk, we will spend the winter there, and next year we will follow the path of the Raksha devils, and we will go on an expedition to Yakutsk and take him down!"

The Prime Minister of the Dynasty attacked with a firm attitude. Just in case, he made all-out preparations, not only allowing Hezhe, Fei Yaka, Oroqen, Ewenki, Daur, Qileer and other ministries to take the initiative to join the conscripts, but also selected 800 people to join the conscripts. , and purchased a large amount of supplies in Yongning City, tents, food, dried fish, dried meat, etc., plus a lot of fur.

Everything was ready, and almost the entire pioneer fleet was dispatched.

They sailed into the North Sea and marched towards Fort Okhotsk. After the castle was captured, most of them would be stationed there for the winter, and some tribal alliance troops could return by land.

The tribal people were amazed all the way in what they saw as a gigantic and fast flying clipper boat.

They also saw whales.

Many tribes in the Heilongjiang area are also good at fishing. There is a big fish in Heilongjiang and other rivers, which can be one or two feet long and weigh two to three thousand catties. Rifuchen, commonly known as Sha Lazi, and Jurchens as Qili Fuchen.

It is not easy to catch such a fish weighing one or two thousand catties in big rivers such as Heilongjiang or Wusuli River, but they saw that when the pioneering fleet was on their way, they actually caught a giant whale by the way.

The whale hunting speedboat was released, and the crew took the whaling harpoon, chased it with a net, shot the whale with a crossbow gun, then hunted it, and finally divided it.

In their eyes, these are like miracles.

Several whaling speedboats, each with six men on board, chased the whales with oars and shouted slogans, and then threw harpoons. root.

The giant whale dives in pain, and the small boat is not only dragged away, but also in danger of being brought into the bottom of the sea. This will test the eyesight of the whaling fighters. If they give up cutting the rope too early, the whale will be lost. If the judgment is wrong and the hadrons are not cut off in time, the whale will pull them into the bottom of the sea, and the boat will sink.

The pioneer's whaling fighters were steady and ruthless, and the whale finally surfaced. They gathered around and took spears to end it. They also had to prevent the tail from slapping the whale before it died.

When the crew on the whaling boat cheered, the tribal people on the big ship couldn't help cheering and admiring, especially those brave men who boasted that they could hunt three thousand catties of sturgeon in the Heilongjiang River before. I am very impressed.

The whale, which is as huge as a small mountain boat, floats on the surface of the sea. The small boat drags the whale to the side of the big ship and fixes it with iron chains. The scaffold made of narrow wood is lowered from the boat, and the crew cuts the whale with a huge shovel.

The whale is cut open, divided, and the pieces of blubber, meat, are hoisted onto the boat with hooks.

Those sailors cutting up whales are like cutting cattle, blubber, baleen, whale teeth, and whale oil.

Nothing is wasted.

At this time, the North Sea is cold, and the whale can be kept for a longer time.

The ship even began to refine whale oil, which is a good thing. It can be sold at a high price when it is transported back to the port, and whale teeth and baleen are all treasures that can be sold at a good price.

Whale meat is also good food.

Those sturgeon hunters, seeing the whaling warriors on the pioneering fleet, cast their heads in admiration, and shouted to learn from them.

As far as Wang Chaoxiang is concerned, since his pioneering fleet mainly runs the route from Vladivostok to Yongning Port, and occasionally returns to Lushun, Fengtian, and Qingdao Ports to rest and resupply, there are abundant whale resources on the route, especially where Vladivostok is located. Sea, it is natural to recruit some experienced whaling crew members. If you catch one during the voyage, you will earn extra money, and a whale can also be used as food.

After catching whales, sailing next, eating whale meat every day, fried, stewed, roasted, the taste is a little dry, but there is nothing to dislike if you can talk about meat at sea, not to mention that the North Sea is getting colder every day, and you can eat some whale oil by the way. It has a good effect of keeping out the cold.

"Dudumei, it's here!"

The watchman on the mast shouted loudly to the deck.

Qudumei, the ancestor of the Ewenki people, is known as a person who lives in the mountains and forests. He raises deer and breeds dogs. He uses Chana skis to travel between the mountains and snowy areas, and lives in a birch bark house. Today, he is also called the Sauron tribe.

The prime minister of the dynasty named Okhotsk Fort, the stronghold established by the Raksha people on the North Sea coast, as Qudumei Port, in order to declare China's sovereignty over this place since ancient times.

(End of this chapter)