The Hokkaido region of the Wa Kingdom is very close to Sakhalin Island, and the narrowest point of the Soya Strait, which separates it, is less than 100 li (42 km) from north to south, making it easy for the Wakoku people to sail through.

In 1295, the second patriarch of the Nichiren sect of Japan, the Venerable Master Nichichi, went to Sakhalin to preach and established a base of the Nichiren sect on the island.

In 1485, the local Ainu chief of Sakhalin presented Takeda Nobuhiro with a bronze bird.

In 1593, Toyotomi Hideyoshi sent his general, Matsumae Keihiro, to capture all Ezo (Ainu) lands, including the southernmost tip of Ainu-controlled Sakhalin.

The small village in front of it was under the jurisdiction of the Matsumae Domain of Ezo Province of the Wajin, whose current lord was Matsumae Komihiro, who succeeded to the family governor in 1617 and became the lord of the domain, which was once a feudal domain of Tsugaru County (now Matsumae-gun, Hokkaido) in Toshima Province during the Edo period. The residence is Matsumae Fukuyama Castle.

The Japanese settlement was only a small village, and the Japanese coveted the territory of the mainland, but they did not want Sakhalin Island, which was rich in materials.

It's so cold!

The summer is short, the winter is as long as half a year, and the lowest temperature in the northern region is -40 degrees Celsius, which is unbearable cold, so the villagers of this village are essentially Ainu people who submit to the Japanese people, and there are not many Japanese people.

There they obtained some provisions, water, furs, and beasts, and gave the natives salt and food utensils, and it was useless to take gold and silver, and they could not use it at all.

The fleet turned east and found a pre-booked cove at the eastern sharp corner at the southern tip of Sakhalin (there were two sharp corners, the Japanese were located at the western sharp corner), where there was a river channel that would allow the sixth-rank cruisers to approach the shore.

The Marines landed, and then the fellow workers carried supplies ashore.

They immediately got up in a big way, and planned to set up a base called "Sakhalin No. 1" there, and sent a team of 100 people to stay there for a long time.

Yan Changwu met with Ye Bojie, a captain officer of the garrison, and instructed him in person: "I named this place Sakhalin Island, it has been our territory since ancient times, and you have guarded it for me!" ”

"Since ancient times" is really a very useful term, and when labor and management have enough strength, it will be carried forward, and those Jurchens and Japanese people will be swept away!

Ye Bojie is a northerner from the former Ning Yuan Army who transferred to Taiwan Wei, his family members are all in Taiwan, and he doesn't have to worry about Yan Changwu's loyalty, he saluted and replied loudly: "People are on the ground!" ”

"Good!"

Sakhalin No. 1 was built unambiguously, they built a fortress with a fort, watchtowers, dormitories, playgrounds, warehouses, docks, etc., and even prepared a plant greenhouse! The dormitories and forts were made of double walls with underfloor heating, thick leather winter clothing, and plenty of firewood and food to enable the soldiers left behind to survive the terrible winter of Sakhalin.

They erected a boundary monument, affirming that the area was named "Sakhalin Island" and the place was "Far Village", indicating that it was a distant place, and the arrivals included Yan Changwu, the overseer of the Southeast Prefecture, and the deputy chiefs of staff, Gan Hui, Storm, etc.

After the construction was in progress, they left behind a small dhow and two dinghys, and left the distant village in formation to officially start the whaling business.

The stronghold of the distant village is far overseas, and there is no need to worry about the Houjin army, they can't come so far, although there are only a hundred people, but they are armed to the teeth, and they are afraid that they may not be able to defeat this fortress even if they have to use thousands of people!

The establishment of the remote village stronghold is to receive the endless stream of whaling fleets in the future, and Yan Changwu officially determined: From now on, all officers in the Southeast Fleet who need to obtain the captain's qualification certificate will hunt a whale!

Commanding a warship and going on a long voyage is one of the "subjects" in the captain's certificate, and the new "subject" is hunting a whale.

Of course, the captain of the research only commands a warship to kill, it is everyone who assists and works together, and the captain can personally get off the boat to kill, or let others kill, the main purpose is to complete the hunt of a whale.

Everyone understands that "examination" must be more and more difficult, just like everyone's car test, the previous manual test, scored by the examiner, relatively easy to test, and so on to improve to the electronic test, the computer score is ruthless.

Considering the good or bad luck, the fleet needs a captain, and if you don't encounter a whale, this captain can't be a captain, and that's not okay.

The Southeast Fleet is in great need of a captain, so after completing all the subjects of the captain's certificate, but not killing the whale, you can still obtain the captain's qualification certificate and board the ship to command the operation.

However, the Blue Captain Certificate of the Captain who killed the whale will have a beautiful golden whale logo called the Golden Whale Certificate, which is a reward for the captain's salary increased by 5%!

The whales killed cannot be killed near Taiwan, either go down to the South Seas (not opened for the time being), or go north to the distant village to kill.

In his opinion, killing whales can greatly exercise a captain's skill level, and it is necessary to see blood, so that the army can see more blood.

But we can't fight naval battles every day, and now pirates have a tendency to become honest (that is, you have so many cruisers running at sea, who is not afraid?). If you can't kill people, then kill whales!

In addition to cultivating the martial spirit, killing whales also has economic benefits, their sailing expenses are military expenses, half of the income goes to the army, and the other half is shared by the officers and soldiers on the ship! (Yan Dashao's move attracted opposition from CEO Chen Xinji, who was afraid that the officers who had worked so hard to train would not be the captain of the ship and would become the captain of the whaling ship...... ）

……

The wind and waves in this sea area continue to impact, the sea is turbulent, the wind and rain clouds are unpredictable, the long surge, the big waves are often more than ten meters high, it is a dangerous place where the sky is sunny for three days, the sea is quiet for three days, and it is a violent wind and waves all year round.

On deck, the crew put on water suits, and several observers held binoculars, carefully searching the movement of the sea in the distance, hoping to spot the water jet.

It's very good, half a day after sailing, some crew members shouted: "I saw the water jet!" ”

The officers' binoculars swept together in the direction they were pointing, and they found a thick and low column of water!

Squirt and squirt!

"Great!" Yan Changwu exclaimed, lucky, I have to say that no one has come to this area to hunt whales before, and the Japanese people can't come so far, so there are many, so it is naturally easy to see.

He immediately took over the command and directed the battleship towards the position of the water jet.

This is necessary, when the water spray is discovered, the captain of the ship will have his own command, and in the presence of witnesses, including representatives of the military department and junior officers, they will sign the certificate of whale killing, indicating that the captain has independently completed the subject test of directing whale killing.

Sailing a sailboat to a target is by no means an easy task, unlike the motor of a power ship that can move forward bravely, it requires the ability of the officers and men on board to use the wind to control the course in the chase, and the wind direction is unpredictable!

It requires the ability of the captain (captain navigator) to see the wind and steer the rudder, and also needs the reaction of other officers and men, and there is no sloppiness in the slightest.

Fortunately, Yan Changwu listened to the advice of the chief adviser Storm, even if he was the commander-in-chief, he would still be the captain, and perform the duties of the captain according to the normal value of a captain, so that his control ability could be exercised, so that the battleship could continue to shorten the distance with the whale under his command.