Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 2405 Thousand Islands

The Thousand Islands in October was already a bit cold, and the sea conditions were harsh, making navigation very dangerous, but Bai Yutang still insisted on coming to Iturup Island.

The entire Kuril Islands, including Ituru Island, has been classified as one county, that is, Qiandao County, which has jurisdiction over Ituru Town, Dayang Township, and Guohou Township (located near Nankurilsk in later generations), with a population of about 8000. The fishery is the lifeline of the economy.

Qiandao County is the eighth county under the jurisdiction of Heishui Management Committee.In front of it, in addition to the five prefectures of Sakhalin Island, there are also Wakkanai and Kushiro prefectures that have not been established for a long time.Among them, Wakkanai County has jurisdiction over Wakkanai Township, Zonggu Township, Dunbie Township, Fufu Township, Tianyan Township, Subie Township and Yuanbo Township, a total of seven townships with a total of about [-] permanent residents.The most developed area in the county is not Wakkanai Town, the county seat, but the former naval winter base Rishiri Island Yuanbo Port.The agriculture on the island is relatively developed, and at the same time, a large number of livestock are raised on a free-range basis, which played a huge role in the early days of Heishui Fan.However, with the development of other places, the status of Yuanbo Port has been seriously challenged after the passage of time. For example, the navy now prefers Jiaozhou Port for winter. It has a large population, a developed economy, and good infrastructure, which is much better than Rishiri Island.But even so, the accumulation of the past is still there, enough to make Yuanbo Port the most developed place in Wakkanai Prefecture.

Compared with Wakkanai Prefecture, Kushiro Prefecture is much more developed. After all, this is the first place where the people from the east coast colonized Ezodi Island.Kushiro Town, which has a complete shipyard (Kushiro Shipyard) and a large coal mine (Kushiro Coal Mine), has a population of more than 1, and is considered a large city in the entire Black Water Management Committee area—well, in fact, Black Water There are not many cities—agriculture and light industry are very developed. The plains in the northern part of the county have been transformed by the people on the east coast for many years, and a large number of chemical products have been added. Now it is finally time to harvest. The local wheat production has hit new highs year after year. The number of cattle and sheep has also reached new highs, and it has become an important agricultural and animal husbandry production area in Heishui.

Bai Yutang, director of the Heishui Management Committee, also often runs here.Half of the year is spent in Kushiro, Wakkanai, or in Dabo across the sea. Heishui County, the regional capital and an old industrial strong county, can spend half of the year there to handle official business. It can be seen that the current black water pipe Changes in the development of the committee.

This time, Bai Yutang came to Qiandao County to participate in the founding ceremony of the county.Although there are only three towns in this county, its geographical location is still very important. The island chain-like terrain is destined to have a very important position here. Any ship that wants to enter and leave the Sea of ​​Okhotsk cannot bypass the Kuril Islands, so this is the Navy's first An important gateway to the Northeast Asia Squadron of the Three Fleets.

Compared with military value, the Thousand Islands has a more important value, and that is the economic value of sitting on the world's largest fishing ground.You know, in the past, the Hokkaido fishing grounds have always been called the Thousand Islands fishing grounds.The cold and warm currents meet here, giving birth to world-class fishery resources here. Cod, salmon, sardines, and saury are the mainstays. Crabs, shrimps, cephalopods, and whales are also very rich in resources. This is the wealth bestowed on the Thousand Islands by God. , making people envious.Later generations of the Japanese lost the South Thousand Islands, and basically lost more than half of their fishery resources. Thinking about how much loss this is, it is not an exaggeration to say that it is heartbreaking.Hokkaido's fishery resources are far inferior to those of the Thousand Islands!

Qiandao County has a population of 8000, most of whom are exiled prisoners and their descendants.Most of them live around the city and make a living mainly from fishing and handicrafts.In other words, there are only cities in Qiandao County, and there are some suburbs, but the countryside no longer exists, and the population is mainly concentrated.There are only a few fishermen and hunters in the countryside, who make a living by hunting high-value animals such as bears, foxes, minks, seals, and sea lions for fur. There are basically no farmers who grow agricultural products.The agricultural products such as grains and fruits needed for the life of the entire archipelago are all imported from Dabo and Kushiro. Anyway, they have enough commodities to exchange.

Of course, we should also see that although Qiandao County is rich in resources and the people are relatively affluent, the bulk of the fishery wealth is not in their hands.Because of the small local market and the lack of necessary industrial facilities, the seafood caught here will basically be transported to Dabo or Kushiro for processing, and then sold to other places. They can only earn a small part of the profits of the entire industrial chain. It's a pity.In recent years, it is said that some people have come to invest and open seafood processing factories. They intend to hire a large number of North Korean workers to solve the bottleneck of labor shortage.However, after the Heishui Management Committee vigorously cracked down on illegal migrant workers, these people quickly died down and went to invest in other places. The residents of Qiandao County still cannot keep most of the profits in their own hands.

After Bai Yutang arrived, the local people had expectations for him, thinking that he might build some factories for Qiandao County.But they were quickly disappointed, and he had no other moves other than emphasizing the importance of rooting in the Thousand Islands over and over again.The only gift is probably a financial subsidy of 15 yuan in French currency, but this is not sent directly to individuals, but to cooperate with the Bank of Taiwan to build a number of modern family villas, completely local standards, using the latest technology, ultra-low sell it to local people to improve their living conditions.

In the future, it is said that water supply facilities, a decent hospital (located in Thethu Township), three complete primary schools, and a middle school will be built, all of which will also focus on improving the modern life of local residents.People on the East Coast have always attached great importance to education, and Bai Yutang's promise somewhat calmed the hearts of the local residents.

By the way, Heixiazi Port and Reindeer Township, which are even more remote than the Thousand Islands, will also set up counties. The two divide the Kamchatka Peninsula roughly at 57 degrees north latitude. The south is called South Kamchatka County, which governs Heixiazi Town. It has a population of about 57 (mostly descendants of exiled Qing army captives). It is a small naval base and a whaling center, and the port is not frozen all year round.North of 2000 degrees north latitude is called North Kamchatka County, which governs Reindeer Town, with a population of only [-]. The climate is harsh, sparsely populated, and there is almost nothing. Even the flight to the south is only once a year, which is very pitiful.

After the establishment of these two counties, the number of counties under the jurisdiction of the Heishui Management Committee reached ten.It sounds like a lot, but counting the conquered natives, the total population is only 27 to 50. The land of 20 square kilometers is the size of several provinces in mainland China, but there are only more than 30 people living there. It is hard to say how sparsely populated the land is.What is even more worrying is that the population growth rate of the Heishui Management Committee has been low for many years, and it is still facing the problem of population loss.I believe that if there were no people from the east coast who exiled thousands of Qing army captives like "ruthless", and took advantage of the earthquake in Tancheng, Shandong to immigrate, they would only have to rely on their natural reproduction to reach the [-] million people in the year of the monkey. scale?

"Director Bai, I heard that Japan is now in a state of anger and resentment due to economic reforms. Except for the shogunate government which has a slight surplus because it monopolizes the trade of Chinese goods, most of the feudal lords have experienced a sharp drop in income, and the number of bankrupt samurai and farmers has increased sharply. We Can we also take this opportunity to recruit some people?" At the dinner held by the Zezhuo county government, the deputy county magistrate in charge of agriculture and population asked through Jiu Jin.

They have actually been planning this matter for a long time, and contacted some Japanese intermediaries.But a while ago, the management committee vigorously cracked down on North Koreans working illegally and expelled a large number of them. Therefore, they were a little uncertain about the policy of the higher authorities, so they suspended this work.But the temptation of the population is too great, and they still haven't given up their efforts in this area, so today they took the opportunity to ask the director of the management committee.

"You can go to Japan to recruit, but the number of people should be controlled at a certain ratio. The Japanese are relatively easy to assimilate, and they are willing to actively integrate into the mainstream cultural circle, so you can recruit some appropriately." Bai Yutang said with a smile: "But North Korea As for people, we must strictly guard against death. These people like to cling together, are stubborn and backward, and often live together, resisting the assimilation of the main ethnic group. Compared with them, it takes much less effort to assimilate the Japanese. Moreover, Japan is now Carrying out major reforms and opening up the market in the future is a high probability event, as our neighbor of the Heishui Management Committee, if we don’t occupy this market, it’s rare to wait for others to occupy it?”

"Yes, yes, what Director Bai said is true." All the officials present nodded and said, "Japan has a population of 3000 to [-] million, a lot of precious metals, and a shortage of all commodities. It is indeed a huge and lucrative market. , Shunguo and so on. There are some Japanese immigrants who can take the lead in doing business and get more profits."

"That's right! As long as the government of the shogunate insists on reforming, the market will definitely not be small. This is a golden opportunity for our Black Water Management Committee, and we must seize it."

"It must! Japan's food production is increasing year after year. We can also try to import grain from there, and then export seafood, wood, and leather. It is a very complementary economy."

In fact, as the officials said, the Heishui Management Committee is still the place with the strongest technical strength and the most complete range of heavy industries in the five Far Eastern feudal domains.Whether the Japanese bought ships, steel, machinery, weapons, chemicals, or anything else, the Blackwater Management Committee could supply them quickly.Considering that the industrial production capacity of the entire management committee area has grown sluggishly over the years, many businesses have been taken away by Denglai, Ningshao and even North Korea. Skilled craftsmen and senior technicians are also facing great pressure to lose, so an open The importance of the Japanese market to the Blackwater Management Committee is self-evident.Maybe, this is the key opportunity for them to reverse the decline and get back on track. They must not relax.

"The Japanese market is there, and we won't run away with long legs. But we can't ignore other markets because of such a market." Bai Yutang said: "I heard that Russians came to collect furs in Yayang Bay. It’s a very good trade channel. We can’t let the Manchurian and Mongolian side focus on the front. We also have to find a way to deal with the Russians. This is just one of my suggestions. In addition, it’s too passive to wait for the Dutch to come to Nanyang. , we also have to take the initiative to go to the Dutch to hold product promotion meetings and put out our advertisements. Well, India also needs to work harder. The future is bright, but can we realize this bright future? It still depends on your efforts."

(End of this chapter)