Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 2100 Northeast Asian Iron Barrel

On June 1690, 6, Ezoji Island, it was sunny after the rain.

With the careful support of two Japanese warriors, Bai Yutang, who was over fifty years old, walked on the country road with deep feet and shallow feet.As he walked, he looked at the farmland by the road and the green spring wheat, and his heart was filled with joy.

This is a better land than South Africa!It was colder, but without the drought that plagued South Africa.Well, maybe the soil fertility is a little lacking and needs to be improved a lot, but it's not a big problem, just take your time.In short, this piece of land full of hope is boundless—well, it is limited to the east of the volcanoes—it is rich in forests, coal resources, and animal resources. The pioneers who go hunting in the mountains will never return empty-handed .Not to mention, the coastal waters are the largest fishing ground in the world, the Qiandao Islands fishing ground. People living here, except for the colder weather, really have nothing wrong with it, and it can even be said that they are relatively rich.

That is to say, there is not enough population on the east coast to immigrate.If there is enough population, with their technical height and management level, Ezoji Island should be developed soon.Even though food production may not be very high at first, after a generation, when those poor soils are improved, they will soon taste the fruits of a good harvest.Before that, they could still maintain a relatively decent standard of living through grazing, hunting and fishing.

Many people living here say that if they are determined to develop this place well, they can export a large amount of grain and meat every year, so why bother to be slaughtered by the North Koreans and the Dutch?They earn a lot of white money every year by selling grain, especially the Kingdom of Korea. Without the money that flows in every year as start-up capital, the large-scale renovation of Seoul (the capital has been renamed from Hanyang City) in the Kingdom of Korea has no chance. How to start it?Without this money, even if the consultants on the east bank repeatedly urged them, they probably wouldn't be able to spend enough money to repair several major traffic roads across the country, right?Without this money, how can they purchase equipment from the East Coast and hire technicians from the East Coast to expand the production of pig iron?Without this money, how could they afford to equip several beautiful sailing warships?North Koreans are mean, mean and narrow-minded. No matter how much money you give them, they will not appreciate you much. Whenever they have the opportunity, they will make small moves. In recent years, there have been quite a few moves to secretly eat and expand in Hamgyong-do.Therefore, it is useless to give them money, it is better to keep it for your own people.

Bai Yutang also supported this statement.As the new deputy director of the Heishui Management Committee and the general manager of the East Coast Japan Company, Bai has always wanted to make a good career in the Far East and add a lot of color to his record book.Therefore, just one month after taking office, he couldn't wait to take a ship transporting timber to Shandong and arrived at Yuanbo Port on Rishiri Island.

On this beautiful island, Bai Yutang stayed for more than half a month.During this period of time, he carefully learned about the annual output of spring wheat, potatoes, corn and other food crops on the island.Of course, the above is not the highlight, the highlight is to understand the hunting industry on the island!

Rishiri Island, together with the adjacent Rebun Island, has a long history of development by people on the east coast, almost dating back to the time when Marshal Mo first founded this colony.In that long time ago, out of various considerations, people on the east coast threw many moose, wild boars, robes, cattle, sheep and other animals to these two islands, and let them breed, treating them as a natural pasture (for For animals, it is a natural prison), and what is fancy is its closed characteristics, as well as the fact that the temperature is relatively high in the deep warm current, and the port does not move all year round.

Now, Rishiri Island and Rebun Island have begun to provide a stable base for a large amount of meat every year.There are already more than five meat processing factories in Yuanbo Port. They import pottery vessels from Shandong or North Korea, and then process them into various canned food and sell them back, making a lot of money.In addition, there are food processing factories, seafood processing factories, wineries and other enterprises on the island. It is really surprising that there are so many industrial facilities on a small island-this is not counting the number of industrial facilities on the island. As for the ship repair factory, Yuanbo Port is one of the wintering bases for ships under the Heishui Management Committee, and has complete ship maintenance and maintenance capabilities.

Bai Yutang expressed his appreciation for the work of the officials and people on the island, and believed that Rishiri Island has made an indelible contribution to the development and growth of Heishui.Although time has passed and many regions have developed one after another, the contribution made by Rishiri Island should not be forgotten, and the Finance Department of the Management Committee will make some representations in this regard.

Undoubtedly, Bai Yutang's words will arouse warm welcome from everyone on Rishiri Island.Over the past decade or so, with the development of Wakkanai (later Wakkanai City, Hokkaido, which means "cold river" in Ainu language), Soya (later Zongya County Sarufu Village), Fufu (fufu Town), Tianyan (Later Tianyan County Tianyan Town), Subetsu (later Subetsu Town), Donbetsu (later Donbetsu Town, Ainu language "river flowing out of the swamp") the establishment of six settlements and reclamation villages, black The funds and personnel of the Water Management Committee are also more and more inclined to the above-mentioned areas, so that Rishiri Island does not receive enough investment, and many personnel have gone to the shore to live, and there is a lot of grievance from top to bottom.

Therefore, Bai Yutang's promise to increase investment in Rishiri Island will boost morale.Although some people doubted whether the new deputy director could make the decision and attract investment for them, at least he spoke beautifully, didn't he?You know, over the years, those officials above are not even willing to coax them to Rishiri Island, but this master is at least willing to coax them, so be content.

After Bai Yutang stayed in Yuanbo Port, he took a regular flight (an old 72-ton steamer) between the two places to inspect Wakkanai Port on the opposite shore.These will be the areas he will be in charge of in the future, and he must take a good walk and take a look—the two deputy directors of the Blackwater Management Committee, one of whom is also the commissioner of the Sakhalin District Administrative Office, in charge of Sakhalin Main Island, and the other is also the East Coast Japan Company The general manager is in charge of Ezo, the Thousand Islands, the Kamchatka Peninsula and other places - the development is good, it is his political achievements, and it is also the capital that he can be promoted in the future.

Bai Yutang knew that because of the influence of his father Bai Siwen, his official career hadn't gone very smoothly over the years.There are people of the same generation as him, who are on the Central Executive Committee, but there are many people of the younger generation who are on the same level as him. This is simply embarrassing.This time, he was promoted from the position of the commissioner of the Central District Administrative Office of South Africa to the deputy director of the Blackwater Management Committee. This step was not easy, and he cherished it very much.He is only in his 50s, and he still has a chance to go up. Even if he can't get into the Central Executive Committee, it is good to be a high-ranking official.

And it's not impossible. Isn't the person sitting under his immediate boss Lan Fei's buttocks a high-ranking official?Lan Fei is a soldier, and it is impossible to stay in this position for a long time, so as long as he does a good job and has outstanding grades, and finally takes a step forward, it is not impossible to become the director of the management committee.Therefore, Bai Yutang's heart is still full of flames. He wants to reverse the unfavorable situation that his father Bai Siwen has suffered since then, and lay a good foundation for his offspring.And these, now it depends on how well he does in the position of deputy director of the Black Water Management Committee!

"How many people are there in Wakkanai Township now? The farmland is well maintained." Bai Yutang asked happily.

"Including a child who was born two days ago, there are now 2670 people in Wakkanai Township, all of whom have official household registration, and those who stay temporarily are not included." The head of the township immediately replied.

The six townships of Wakkanai and Soya were established ten years ago, and the latest one was two years ago. Together, there are about [-] land reclamation farmers, all of whom are immigrants from mainland China.In order to gather these tens of thousands of immigrants, the Heishui Management Committee (including the former Heishui Pioneering Team) has really struggled: free land distribution is a must, and enough settlement funds are also given to farmers to build houses. At times, they had to give priority to providing cheap building materials. In short, they promised a lot of conditions (of course, they were all fulfilled in the end), and then these immigrants were recruited to settle in the wasteland and develop the place.

Of course, the Blackwater Management Committee did not only attract these 1 people, in fact, the number was far more than that.In the northeastern part of Ezoji Island, the East Coast people added some additional settlements in addition to the original three places of Kushiro, Akkeshi, and Nemuro. Shibetsu Town, Shibetsu County), Kawakami Township (later Kawakami County Disciple Town), Shari Township (later Abashiri City), Tokachi Township (later Urahoro Town, Tokachi County), five settlements also resettled tens of thousands of people .

In addition, the two settlements in the Thousand Islands, such as Therup Township on Iturup Island, Dayang Township on Paramush Island, Heixiazi Township, a whaling resort on the Kamchatka Peninsula, and the new prisoner exile Reindeer Township (near the small village of Ossola on the Kamchatka Peninsula in later generations) and so on, more or less allocated some population, although not many, but mosquitoes are still meat no matter how small, and they also accounted for a certain share. This is a fact.

According to statistics and estimates, there are currently more than 7 people on Ezoji Island (including Rishiri, Rebun, Okushiri and other islands), the Thousand Islands, and the Kamchatka Peninsula. This is all the property that Bai Yutang will manage in the future. Economically, "these assets" are mainly based on agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry and fishery, and occasionally there are some construction industries, forestry industries, food processing and mining industries, which produce grain, seafood, wood, meat, fur, pearls, gold, Sulfur and various whale products, although the climate is relatively cold, the living standards of the residents are actually not low.Take Heixiazi Port (the later city of Petropavlovsk, Kamchatka) on the Kamchatka Peninsula as an example. There are warm currents passing by near this port, and there are geothermal hot springs around the city. In fact, the temperature is not low, and the port is still an ice-free port. ——Of course it’s not a ice-free port in the strict sense. It’s just that the bay is not frozen and ships can berthed, so they won’t go south for the winter. There are still a lot of ice floes outside the bay. The age of sails will affect navigation—the nearby fishery resources are very rich , the output of salmon, crab, cod, squid, etc. is extremely high, and there are special processing plants in the urban area, which process all kinds of seafood day and night.In addition, dozens of whaling ships are moored in this port all year round, and almost every week there are full-loaded whaling ships to sell products.Coupled with the branch of the Northeast Asia Squadron of the Navy and the large-scale ship repair factory, the permanent population of Heixiazi Port has reached 6000 to [-], which is more than many cities on Ezoji Island. And the people's life is relatively rich, except for a little lonely, there is almost nothing to complain about.

Bai Yutang planned to take a boat after inspecting Ezodi Island, go north along the Qiandao Islands, and finally arrive at Hei-Xiaozi Port.As a senior cadre on the east coast, he certainly understands what the string of colonies in Ezo - Sakhalin Island - Kuril Islands - Kamchatka Peninsula means!It can be said that as long as the Blackwater Management Committee firmly controls this area and manages it properly, then as long as Japan and North Korea are involved, this iron barrel-like mainland blockade will be completed.The Sea of ​​Okhotsk has become an inland sea for people on the east coast, and the Sea of ​​Whales (Sea of ​​Japan) is basically their own economic circle. If Taiwan Island, the Ryukyu Islands, and even the Philippine Islands are counted, this iron barrel blockade will be even stronger , almost encircling China and Russia, the two land powers.

People on the east coast have always spared no effort to contain land powers!

(End of this chapter)