Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 338 The Great Voyage ([-])

At this time, the wharf of Heishui Port was still busy. More than a thousand captured North Koreans were hard at work building the entire city under the supervision of Eight Banners warriors.Li Yi and others had just wandered around Dabo for a week, and when they came back, a simple wooden trestle bridge had been built at the mouth of the Heishui River, which could already accommodate two ships at the same time.At this time, the expedition ship "Chop Wave" was docking quietly on one side of the trestle bridge, and some ship repairmen were repairing the leaking ship planks with the assistance of sailors. side.

The port has begun to take shape, but this is still not enough in Li Yi's view.First of all, not to mention that this port still lacks a ship repair shop and a large cargo storage and transportation center, there are still many shortages in terms of berths and waterways.

The estuary of the Heishui River needs to be dredged in the future. Currently, there are really few deep-water berths over 6 meters, and there are only a few. If a large fleet of ships from the east bank enters the port in the future, it may be troublesome.But to be honest, the condition of Heishui Port is relatively good among the many ports on Sakhalin Island.One is because it is an estuary port, which is convenient for ships to avoid the big waves in the Tatar Strait; the other is because there are dense tall fir, birch, and poplar forests all over the coast, which is convenient for shelter from the wind; The freezing period is short every year.Therefore, in general, Heishui Port is indeed a rare and excellent port in this area.

Of course, no matter how good this port is, it is still a frozen port.There are still three or four months of each year when the port is frozen. Although the ice is not very thick, it is not something that the wooden ships currently owned by the East Coast Republic can break through.Therefore, it is also necessary to find a warm-water port in the nearby waters for the fleet on the east coast that can spend the winter.Due to the strong westerly winds that prevail in the surrounding area in winter, the port also needs to be protected from wind.After thinking about it, Li Yi found that only Rishiri Island in the sea on the west side of Ezo Land in the south is relatively good nearby.

The island is small in size, but there is a volcano in the center, so the altitude is higher, which weakens the wind blowing from the sea and provides a good shelter for ships.Moreover, the island has abundant rainfall, lush vegetation, and is deeply affected by the Japanese warm current. Therefore, the entire island is not frozen all year round, and it is an ideal winter warm water base for fleets.Li Yi plans to go there for a field trip when he returns. It is estimated that there are only sporadic Ainu fishermen living on Rishiri Island.If it is really suitable there, then there will be a wintering place for the east coast fleet.

With the assistance of sailors, more than 70 aborigines recruited during the Dabo trip went down to the shore one by one.The sheepskin hats, field gray woolen coats and suede boots of cooked cowhide on their bodies made the dozens of Hezhe people on the shore who were supervising the work of the North Koreans extremely jealous.After inquiring about the whole story in the local dialect, more than 40 Hezhe hunters expressed their willingness to join the troops of the East Coasters and go to sea with them.These people live on the ice and eat snow on weekdays, and their lives are not easy, but they have all developed good skills and steel-like will. Now that they hear that they can easily make a lot of money, they are all very willing.As long as the people on the east coast pay their relatives a settling fee that is negligible to the people on the east coast, they are willing to follow the people on the east coast to go out to sea and venture into the unknown life.

Li Yi naturally appreciated and agreed to this. After reorganizing them, he suddenly found that his newly recruited troops had exceeded 120 people, which could play a little role.After a little thought, Li Yi named this unit the No. 2 Squadron of the Standing Squad, and submitted a report to the military department and the executive committee for approval.Australia's Gushan Port and Jinshan Port are isolated overseas and have weak defenses, but they are also indispensable and important nodes on the Eastern route for people on the east coast.

In Li Yi's plan, a considerable part of the more than [-] North Koreans currently in Heishui Port will also be transported to these two places in Australia to settle and open up wasteland, providing sufficient supply for the east coast fleet. supplies, so that everything has to be transshipped from the mainland or the New China region.

"Today is already July 7st, and we have just completed a wharf trestle, two warehouses, 1 living wooden houses, a dining hall, a bathhouse, and two firewood houses. At least two watchtowers will be built next. , Live in 80-100 wooden houses. If you have enough time, it is best to build a wooden fence around the wall, anyway, the task is very heavy." Li Yi put his hands in his trouser pockets and wandered around the planned urban area.

There are some protruding tree roots, tree stumps and other things on the ground, because just over a month ago, this place was either a forest full of towering trees or a muddy swamp. Thanks to the efforts of the North Koreans, it has become the first stronghold of the East Coast people in the Far East.

"How to solve the food here?" An Chu suddenly asked, "It can't be all about looting, right? I don't know if the land here is suitable for farming."

"Planting land?" Li Yi looked up at Siye. There are huge forests nearby, and continuous mountains in the distance. The mountains are also covered with dense forests. "On this condition, how to farm land? Well, okay Well, it might not be difficult to reclaim a little bit of wasteland. Although the climate here is cold, the soil is still fertile. If one crop is planted a year, the harvest should not be bad, but we may not have the manpower for the time being. Instead of doing this , In fact, I think it’s better to go fishing. You know, the nearby Hokkaido fishing ground is one of the three famous fishing grounds in the world. It’s the fishing boat, yes, it’s the one that was snatched from the North Koreans. I think the hull is quite new and in good condition, and it’s just right for fishing.”

"That's the only way to go." An Chu nodded and said, "The fish you catch can be salted first. The climate here is cold, so it should be preserved for a long time. By the way, the salmon here is very famous. In the morning Mo Dayong and the others caught a lot in the river, and it’s time for lunch, let’s go, let’s try something new together. We also stewed the harvested mountain products together, it’s probably delicious.”

It was already 11:30 noon, and a group of North Koreans on shifts were already squatting outside the public cafeteria to eat.Their lunch is roasted sweet potatoes shipped here from the New China region. The sweet sweet potatoes are a delicacy in the eyes of these North Koreans who are full and hungry all the year round.They ate sweet potatoes while sipping fish soup. Although they had worked all morning, their faces were full of satisfaction.

When they were in North Korea, they also worked hard every day, but in the end they still couldn't get their fill.Now being captured by these ferocious pirates to this unknown place, the daily workload may not be much higher than before, but he can eat enough food, and there are still three meals a day!God, what is the concept of three meals a day?In North Korea, that is the treatment that only the nobles can have!

"The physical condition of these North Koreans is much better than those Ming people." Li Yi suddenly sighed, "Sure enough, I would rather be a dog of peace than a person in a troubled world! It has only been raised for a month, and many of them are basically It has reached the sea standard."

Mo Dayong brought lunch to the two officers in a doggy manner. Stewed beef with radish, deep-fried pork chops, steamed salmon and some wild game looked quite rich.He put the tableware for Li Yi and An Chu and said with a smile: "These people are really good. They can do hard work when they first came here. It can be seen that the living conditions on weekdays are acceptable. Sir, you can bring more If people go away, there won’t be much work here after winter, and it’s not worthwhile to keep some people here and waste food.”

"Well." Li Yi said vaguely while chewing and eating the delicacy served: "I will take 500 people away to relieve your pressure. Then I will leave you 30 tons of grain, plus the last robbed The small 200 catties of grain that came here have not been moved, and they are all left to you, which adds up to almost 1000 tons. If you take some time to catch some fish, it should not be a problem to feed your less than [-] people for a year. Of course, if you have Time to clear out some land, and then rush to plant a crop of potatoes and sweet potatoes, although the first year's harvest must be terrible, but it's better than nothing. Well, that way, the food will be more abundant."

"Yes, sir." Mo Dayong quickly responded, "I will organize people to reclaim a field in the afternoon and plant a crop of potatoes, which should be harvested before the snow falls."

Li Yi nodded and didn't speak again.

On July 7, both the "Broken Wave" and "Chop Wave" had been refurbished, and the condition of the ships had reached the best in recent days.Today is the day of departure, and five hundred selected North Korean men and women are anxiously escorted onto the boat. Their destination will be the two strongholds of the East Coasters in Australia.After they left, the remaining 3 North Koreans will continue to stay in Heishui Port for construction. They will be supervised by more than 260 Eight Banners warriors and 50 crew members who Li Yi specially stayed here.All affairs of Heishui Port will be presided over by Sergeant Johnson, with Mo Dayong as his deputy.

Li Yi tried his best to keep all the unnecessary things in the cabins of the two ships locally, such as a large amount of weapons and ammunition, such as some consumer goods, such as fifty tons of food.From the last departure from Tacheng until today, the 600 tons of clean coal loaded by the two ships have consumed less than 310 tons. After estimating the fuel required for the return journey, Li Yi boldly left about [-] tons here Burn coal as a reserve.

After everything was settled, the two expedition ships hoisted their sails, loaded with 120 North Korean men and women and 2 officers and soldiers of the No. [-] Squadron of the Volunteer Squadron, left Heishui Port, and headed south.

(End of this chapter)