Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 397 Chaos (VIII)

Just before Mo Ming was officially appointed by Guo Sheng as the Dashun Ninghai Defense Envoy, on April 6 (June 2), Xie Sheng, a powerful student from Dezhou, Lu Shiyan, a retired censor, and Zhao Jiding, a retired servant of the household department, took advantage of Dezhou There was a play outside the city, and when the soldiers and civilians went out to watch, they suddenly closed the city gates, killed Yan Jie, the Dezhou defense envoy of Dashun, Wu Zhengwen and others who stayed in the city, and then hung the banner of "Zhongxing Daming" on the top of the city.

Luo Guoshi, who had already "bleeded heavily" bribed Guo Sheng with 5000 taels of silver, and got the promise of the management of Dezhou, suddenly beat his chest and shouted, "Young-headed boy, spoil my big business."However, realizing that Guo Sheng might counterattack at any time, the main senders, Xiucai Xie Sheng, Li Siliang and others had to win over Luo Guoshi, a powerful local faction, to jointly defend Texas.Luo Guoshi immediately put forward the condition of "taking over military power", which was flatly rejected by Xie Sheng and others, and the two sides fell into a fierce quarrel for a while.

After the quarrel was fruitless, the two parties finally had to compromise with each other and decided to enshrine Zhu Shuaiqin (Lieutenant of Fengguo) as the leader of the alliance.

On the [-]th, the guerrilla Gao Gui rebelled in Tai'an Prefecture, killing dozens of people including Guo Du, the defense envoy of Dashun, and Guo Sheng led the troops to suppress the rebellion.

On the [-]th, upon hearing that Li Zicheng had withdrawn from Beijing, Wei Xuelian, secretary of the Dashun household government and former Ming official, committed suicide in disappointment.On the same day, when Dorgon's brigade arrived at Gongluodian in Jizhou, Wu Sangui reported to Li Zicheng to withdraw to the west, and urgently ordered the kings Baylor to pursue them.

As the news of the Shun army's defeat gradually spread to the northern part of Shandong, the local gentry clamored to kill the officials appointed by Dashun, and there was a huge momentum for a while, but for the time being, they still had little contact with the people on the east coast.At this time, the people on the east coast are also very busy, and have no time to pay attention to more information from afar.When sending a food requisition team led by Xiao Xi to the west coast of North Korea by boat, Mo Ming himself had already arrived at Dabo Port on a merchant ship carrying refugees.

As early as the end of April, Sergeant Johnson, who was in charge of the work of Heishui Port, sent some relatively reliable North Koreans and Ming people to come here by boat.They cut down big trees along the water source near Dabo Port, leveled the land, and built wooden houses, and then set fire to the fertile wasteland on the bank of a river, clearing out a large area of ​​land.

The land in the northwest of Dabo is very fertile. These virgin lands have not been developed for thousands of years. After years of accumulation of fallen leaves of firs, birches and poplars, a thick humus layer has been formed on the ground, and the soil is very rich in nutrients. .These lands are much better than those along the Heishui River. It can be said that if we only talk about agricultural and fishery resources, the value of the southern half of Sakhalin Island is far higher than that of the northern half; of course, if you add coal, oil and gas, etc. If so, it's another matter.All in all, the agricultural potential of this relatively vast mountain plain stretching northward from Dabo to Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk is extremely huge. Even if only one crop can be planted a year due to climate and other reasons, the harvest is likely to be low. How much worse will it be than the harvest of two seasons planted in the Shandong area of ​​Ming Dynasty.

Not to mention the extremely rich aquatic resources and animal resources in the local area.The hundreds of refugees who arrived here earlier cut wood and burned wasteland under the organization of the people from the east bank, and at the same time used fishing nets to catch various fish living in the nearby rivers, mainly some crabs and molluscs.These aquatic products are rich in nutrients and in huge quantities, providing great nutritional supplements to the refugees who came to Dabo in the early days to develop.Among them, some residents even caught several Zheluo salmon weighing hundreds of catties, which made everyone smile.

In addition to these aquatic products, there are also a considerable number of moose and bison living in the mountains near Dabo.The fifty black soldiers who escorted the refugees to pioneer went hunting in batches, and captured some large animals such as moose, bison, and wild boar.In particular, the moose they hunt generally weigh more than eight or nine hundred catties, and the meat yield even reaches 40% when slaughtered. In addition to some offal meat such as intestinal blood and offal, each moose can obtain meat on average 400- 450 catties, its calorific value is equal to the annual output of several acres of wheat.

"In such a good place, there is really no other shortcoming except for the cold." Lieutenant Liu Haiyang, who has just taken Li Yi's place, stood on the pier of Dabo Port, looked at the busy crowd, and said with emotion .On the pier, a large group of refugees were chanting and unloading boxes of supplies from the cabin.These boxes contain tools such as shovels, iron brazing, fishing nets, consumer goods such as cloth, grain, alcohol, tobacco, and weapons, artillery and other materials that can support their pioneering here.

Lieutenant Liu Haiyang arrived in Yantai from Jinshan Port, Australia in March.In addition to bringing a large number of troops and supplies, he also brought several local letters of appointment.In these appointment letters, the Ministry of the Navy has officially transferred Lieutenant Li Yi back to the mainland to serve. It is said that he will serve as the captain of the newly built battleship "National Will"; The commander of the Australian Squadron of the Dispatch Fleet may also serve as the deputy captain of the upcoming Blackwater Pioneering Team, which will be responsible for Australian affairs.It is said that the superior originally arranged for Li Yi to take over this position, but after much consideration, Li Yi decided to return to the local office, so this position fell to An Chu, who also worked hard.As for the newcomer Lieutenant Liu Haiyang, he was appointed as the commander of the Blackwater Temporary Dispatch Fleet, which can be regarded as a great promotion.

"This place is quite good as the rear area. The potential for agriculture and fishery is not small. If all the refugees from Daming are left here to open up wasteland, I am sure that within a few years, the various outputs here will be enough to support them. The Yantai fortress supports more than 10 people." Mo Ming said confidently as she walked on the fertile and soft grass with her hands behind her back.

There are only a few 10 people in later generations on this island, and they make a living by exporting fishery products, timber, coal, and oil and gas. It is a pity that they have not been well developed.At this time, the resident population near Dabo was only a few hundred people, most of whom were Hezhe, Oroqen, Ainu and other aborigines living here. They made a living by fishing and hunting. In good health.

Excluding the Ainu people, these people make a living by fishing, are short in stature, and have poor combat effectiveness; those Hezhe people and Oroqen people who live on hunting are all natural shooters and fighters, and they are the key recruitment of the people on the east coast object.Originally, when the East Coast people sent the first batch of refugees to Dabo to open up land last month, they were worried that these local aborigines would rise up against the rule of the East Coast people—because the East Coast people undoubtedly invaded their land For this reason, Sergeant Johnson also dispatched two hundred fully armed black soldiers from Heishui Port to hold the line in case of accidents.

But what is gratifying is that these aborigines did not show much hostility to the people on the east coast. On the contrary, because the people on the east coast bought animal fat, dried fish, animal skins, etc. Hiring them to work in the pioneer camp made them very excited.In fact, this is also easy to understand. Among these aborigines who live on fishing and hunting, even experienced hunters with good skills cannot guarantee that they will have enough food for every meal, because their civilization level is very low, whether it is fishing The efficiency of hunting is extremely low. Therefore, their living standards have always been poor.

After the arrival of the people from the east coast, not only were these people able to trade useful tools and consumer goods with them at a relatively low price, but at the same time, many aborigines who went to join the army from the people on the east coast made a fortune, and they could also The temptation to eat a full meal is not something these aborigines who are still in the clan society can resist.Therefore, when people from the east bank came here to open up wasteland and hired some of them to work, these people were very happy and eagerly signed up.

In fact, this also shows from the side that the influence of people from the east coast on Sakhalin Island is getting stronger and stronger.For example, more than 200 Hezhe people who originally lived in the mountains near Heishui Port have now all moved to the city of Heishui Port. A small number of them make a living by logging and working, while most of them have become "military households" of the people on the east coast. ", on behalf of the people from the east bank, charged into battle in the Yantai area of ​​​​Shandong.And their children were collected by the people on the east coast, and together with those Ming and North Korean children, they received lectures from the only teacher sent from the mainland in Heishui Port to cultivate their national awareness.

Unlike the local aborigines who still welcome the people from the east coast, the Manchu Qing government and the Japanese Matsumae clan are probably the only local forces that don’t want to see the people from the east coast expand their influence on the island (maybe later) Plus the Russians).Ever since people from the east coast came to the island, the aborigines of Heishui and Dabo haven’t been to the opposite mainland for a long time to pay taxes to the three surnamed deputy generals stationed by the Manchu Qing. Dutong also sent a few officials to Dabo with a group of packers to "excuse the teacher", but they were detained on the spot by the people on the east bank and sent to the Heishui Coal Mine for labor reform. The end was extremely tragic.

As for those Matsumae clans who had already opened shops in Dabo and even exercised their taxation power, they were naturally very upset after seeing the natives overwhelmingly voted for the people on the east coast.But at present, they haven't even managed to get Ezo land, so they are naturally powerless about this, so they can only be secretly angry.

Zhou Dahe, who has been appointed as the supervisor of the Northwest Reclamation Bank's Blackwater Branch, stands beside Mo Ming and Liu Haiyang. He is about to officially open the first financial branch of Donganren in the Far East here, hoping to gradually penetrate through economic means. Win over those aborigines who are still in the clan society, and tie these "savages" firmly to the chariots of the people on the east coast.After living in the Heishui area for more than a year, he is convinced that with such rich resources and fertile land, there is no reason why Sakhalin Island cannot develop.In time, this place will surely become a strong support and backing for people from the East Coast to carry out various actions in Daming.

(End of this chapter)