The huge fleet, all the way north, four days later, first reached the Tomari region in the south of Sakhalin. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 ｉｎｆｏ

Li Xiao immediately ordered Wu Liang, the chief of Ezo, to lead 10,000 craftsmen and all nearly 3,000 Japanese laborers to bring all the living and building materials, disembark the ship, and build Sakhalin Nanbao on the spot on a high ground about seven or eight miles from the coast, according to Li Xiao's previous plan.

At the same time, Li Xiao left behind the sentry horses of the Zhendong Battalion, as well as the Manchurian cavalry outpost, to be stationed on the spot to prevent harassment and attacks by barbarians with ill intentions.

Li Xiao himself, with another 10,000 construction craftsmen and more than 5,000 Han migrant laborers, continued to go north to the original Ming Dynasty Nangharwei area to build Sakhalin North Fort.

Considering that the boundary of this bag of Haerwei is only separated from the mouth of the Heilongjiang River by a narrow Tatar Strait, it is very likely that when the Tiger Army builds Sakhalin North Fort, the Qing army will take advantage of the freezing of the sea to attack across the sea, so Li Xiao brought the entire Zhendong Battalion B General soldiers and horses, as well as the Xuanhu heavy cavalry, the Flying Harrier light cavalry, the rampant sentry and other elite troops to go in preparation.

Up to now, the distribution of troops in the entire Jindong Battalion has been as follows: General C soldiers and horses have stayed on Jeju Island and the Satsuma area. The first post was stationed in the Songqian Domain, the second post was left behind in Dongshengcheng, and the second post and the other Manchurian cavalry post were stationed in the Sakhalin Nanbao area under construction. The general soldiers and horses, the Xuanhu heavy cavalry, the flying harriers, and all the 1,000 auxiliaries were all concentrated in the Nangharwei area, and made every effort to ensure that the construction of the northern fort of Sakhalin would not be disturbed.

After all, for the defense of Sakhalin Island, if the northern entrance to Sakhalin Island can be successfully held Sakhalin North Fort, so that the invading Qing army cannot smoothly move south, the key to holding the entire Sakhalin Island is to hold the whole Sakhalin Island.

Two days later, the entire fleet of sailors came to the territory of Nankhaerwe, to this place in the city of Pogibi in modern Russia. Here, it is the narrowest point of the entire Tatar Strait, and on the opposite side of the strait is the original Ming Dynasty Nuergandusi's Har Manwei and Bulu Wuwei.

Li Xiao was convinced that because the strait was the tightest and narrowest here, it should be the place where the Qing army was most likely to cross the sea after the sea froze, so building a fort on the sea in this place was the key to holding the entire Sakhalin Island.

After all the soldiers and civilians disembarked and settled down and set up camp, Li Xiao and a group of officials personally inspected a high ground six miles away from the coast, where the river towers over the sea, and the Nanghar River flows around the entire highland in the north.

Li Xiao has made up his mind and started construction immediately.

Although the weather has become very cold, the entire highland is a scene of construction in full swing.

In order to successfully complete the project before the land was completely frozen, Li Xiao ordered all the construction personnel to work overtime, and the daily construction time, starting from the early hours of the morning, until dark, so as to ensure that the working time every day was nearly six hours.

Correspondingly, Li Xiao gave them a substantial increase in salary to motivate them to work hard. For example, the average construction worker is paid 3 taels a month, and the Han migrant laborers who help with small jobs also reach a salary of 1 tael of silver per month. At the same time, the daily food supply is also very rich and sufficient, and the meals are full of meat and management, so as to ensure the labor intensity of supporting the craftsmen and laborers.

Under the stimulation of money and the vigorous supervision of Li Xiao, there are always more than 15,000 craftsmen and laborers, selflessly and devoting themselves to work, digging foundations, filling bluestones, ramming internal soil, and wrapping brick walls.

With the joint efforts of all the craftsmen, the construction of the Sakhalin North Fort was carried out at a rapid pace, and it was basically completed in less than 40 days.

During this time, although from time to time some bold barbarian tribes came to harass sporadically, steal money and goods, and kill people and seize wealth. It's just that Li Xiao's magnificent soldiers and horses, which numbered nearly 7,000 people, immediately gave these bold barbarians an extremely ferocious head-on blow. In the 40 days from the construction of Sakhalin North Fort to the completion of the whole fort, a total of more than 300 barbarian heads who dared to invade Sakhalin North Fort were cut off by the Tiger Army, and in a conspicuous place outside the city, they formed a shocking Beijing Temple, which greatly deterred the bold and reckless barbarian tribes.

The final Sakhalin North Fort was built in a standard square shape, with a circumference of four li, and the gate was facing west, facing the direction of the Strait of Tatars, so that the sailors could transport goods, and the entire castle was surrounded by water from the Nankhar River, which was poured into the moat, so that it could pass around the city.

In addition, this Sakhalin North Fort is also the same as Dongsheng City, like moats, urn castles, city towers, corner towers, gun emplacements, female walls, pheasant moats, etc., all have been built. The walls of the two castles are also designed to be 15 meters high and 6 meters wide, thus greatly strengthening the castle's defense.

Originally, Li Xiao planned to build this Sakhalin North Fort into a fortress style to increase the castle's defense capacity. However, he and many craftsmen are not familiar with the structure of the fortress, so in order to prevent the tiger from becoming an anti-dog, it is more secure to build a standard Chinese-style castle.

Li Xiao climbed the watchtower of the newly built Sakhalin North Fort, and he looked at the brand-new inner city, where there were all kinds of facilities, such as government offices, barracks, granaries, forage yards, storage warehouses, arsenals, horse farms, and government offices, and he was very happy.

Afterwards, Li Xiao looked at the vast wasteland and the boundless blue ocean outside from a distance, and felt even more excited.

Now that this Sakhalin North Fort has been built, Li Xiaojun has finally gained a firm foothold on Sakhalin Island. And Sakhalin Island, which is twice the size of the island of Taiwan, this fertile land that has unfortunately separated from the motherland in real history, has finally returned to the embrace of China.

After the castle was built, because there were no immigrants coming, in addition to the military departments such as the Security Department and the Supervision Department, Li Xiao decided not to equip the rest of the various official offices for the time being, and Sakhalin North Fort mainly existed as a military fort, and it was not urgent to arrange immigrants to set up an official government.

In fact, for the entire Sakhalin Beibao area, because it was on the front line of the confrontation with the Qing army, Li Xiao did not plan to let the immigrants come for the time being.

In addition to continuing to settle on Ezo Island, the immigrants who arrive after the beginning of spring next year will send another group of immigrants to settle in the area around Sapinanburg.

As for the development of the area near Sakhalin North Fort, Li Xiao intends to slow down a little longer. Li Xiao believes that the current situation is still unstable, and it is more prudent to wait for his next step in the Outer Manchuria region, such as the estuary of the Heilongjiang River, and after establishing a castle, so that the entire Sakhalin Island is no longer in the frontline position, and then settle down.

After the completion of the Sakhalin North Fort, Li Xiao's sailors loaded a large number of grain, grass, ordnance, briquettes, timber and other materials to protect the North Fort of Sakhalin, and they could live in the Sakhalin North Fort for a long time when the heavy snow covered the mountains and the sea froze.

Eight days after the completion of the Sakhalin North Fort, the Sakhalin South Fort to the south was also completed, and Li Xiao finally completed the construction of the two castles before the cold and the ground could not be built.

Subsequently, Li Xiao appointed Wu Zhuang, the commander of the Zhendong Battalion, to personally defend Sakhalin North Fort, and he himself took all the craftsmen and laborers to return to Ezo in the south, and after arriving in Ezo, he put 5,000 Han migrant laborers and nearly 3,000 Japanese laborers back to Dongsheng City. In the end, Li Xiao took his entire fleet and more than 20,000 craftsmen to return south to Shandong before the sea froze and the port was not frozen.

So far, after more than half a year, the entire Ezo Island and Sakhalin Island have been under Li Xiao's control. Li Xiao plans to send large-scale immigrants to these two places after the spring thaws next year, so that the number of immigrants on Ezo Island will reach more than 350,000, and the number of immigrants in the southern part of Sakhalin Island will also reach about 100,000, so that the two newly acquired islands can be successfully developed as soon as possible.

Before Li Xiao left Sakhalin Fort, he had a secret conversation with Wu Zhuang, a general stationed at Sakhalin Fort.

"Wu Zhuang, now that Sakhalin Island has been occupied by our army at the beginning, in your opinion, what should be done to make this barbarian tribe on Sakhalin Island live in peace with our army?" Li Xiao asked him with a smile.

Wu Zhuang's thick brows twitched, and he replied loudly: "Lord Houhou, the last general thinks that our army should carry out severe suppression and crackdown on the barbarians who dare to attack!" If necessary, Ben will personally lead his troops into the mountains and forests to exterminate these daring barbarians, plow the court and sweep the holes, and wipe them all out! ”

After listening to Wu Zhuang's words, Li Xiao shook his head and said, "Wu Zhuang, if you do this, according to this official, I am afraid it will be difficult to work." ”

"Oh, why did you say that, my lordship?"

"Wu Zhuang, let me ask you, in the northern part of Sakhalin Island, there are so many Jurchens and Feiyaka people in the East China Sea, there are tens of thousands of people, and various tribes are scattered and hidden in the dense forests, these places are all inaccessible places, and there is not even a road. And most of these barbarian tribes, most of them have been favored by the Qing court, and they are called ministers and tributes, so it is normal to adopt a hostile attitude towards our army, if you frequently use force and blindly kill people, it will only make these tribes fall more to the side of the Qing court, even if they have to be afraid of the military might of our army, but it is also difficult to be convinced, and it cannot be used by our army, and our army wants to maintain peace and stability here for a long time, but it cannot be obtained. ”

"My lord, this 。。。。。。 , in the next is a martial artist, I really can't think of such a long-term. Wu Zhuang scratched his head and said.

"Wu Zhuang, Ben Hou gives you a word, if you want long-term peace and stability, you must clean up people's hearts." Li Xiao's eyes were deep, and he said slowly: "When our army first came, it was difficult to use means such as education for a while, and it was a safe plan to persuade people with more and better interests than the Qing court. ”

"I beg your Excellency to elaborate."

"In the opinion of this official, now that Sakhalin North Fort has been built, you can first send someone to spread the news and tell the local barbarians, saying that now my Ming Dynasty has built a fort on Sakhalin Island, and this Sakhalin Island is already the land of the Ming Dynasty, so these barbarians are already my subjects of the Ming Dynasty. So they no longer had to pay taxes to the Qing court, as they had done before. And I am lenient, but I can exempt the local natives from taxes for three years. ”

"Good plan, sir! In this way, those native barbarians are people who attach great importance to immediate interests, and compared with these two, the small favors of the Qing court are not worth mentioning. When the natives see that our Ming Dynasty has taken such a good care of them, they will be able to quickly fall to our army. Wu Zhuang's eyes suddenly lit up.

Li Xiao smiled and continued: "Wu Zhuang, this is only a preliminary strategy. The second step is to tell these indigenous barbarians that now that our Ming Dynasty has built Sakhalin North Fort, they can be allowed to come to my Sakhalin North Fort urn city to trade. Use the cigarettes, woolen wool, ironware, sea salt, cloth and other commercial goods produced by our army to exchange their dried animal skins and deer antler velvet and other goods. In this way, on the basis of exempting them from taxes, they can also benefit from the trade. And these natives will definitely form a strong dependence on the excellent goods of our army. ”

"Your Excellency's second plan is also very good. These natives are in dire straits with food and clothing, and all kinds of daily necessities are in short supply. Our army's commercial goods will certainly be welcomed by it. Moreover, those animal skins and deer antler velvet and other items will definitely make a lot of money if they are resold to the mainland. Wu Zhuang smiled happily.

Li Xiao nodded and continued: "After those indigenous barbarians have formed a trade relationship with our army, further temptation and stimulation are needed. If this step was successful, the tribes would have completely severed their ties with the Qing court and turned against them. ”

Hearing Li Xiao say this, Wu Zhuang's face suddenly showed a look of doubt, and he was eager to hear Li Xiao's further explanation.

Li Xiao took a deep breath and said slowly: "Wu Zhuang, this strategy is to spread the news and tell those indigenous barbarians that if anyone hunts the Qing Dynasty Tartars, whether they are dead or alive, as long as they are sent to our army, they can get a large reward." There is a saying that under the heavy reward, there will be brave men, and the official does not believe it, under the lure of such heavy profits, those barbarians will not kill the Qing court officials who come to Sakhalin to collect taxes! ”

Wu Zhuang laughed when he heard this, and said loudly: "My lord's plan can be called a good plan to kill people with a knife!" If those barbarians spontaneously attacked and killed the Qing captives, it would save our army a lot of trouble. In my opinion, if this plan is implemented, those barbarian tribes will completely offend the Qing court, so they have to firmly attach themselves to our army. ”

Li Xiao also laughed, with a smug face. Subsequently, he agreed with Wu Zhuang to agree on the rewards of various types of tartars to be obtained in the future.

After Li Xiao left with the sailor, Wu Zhuang assigned his soldiers to protect the civilian officials of the Supervision Division, and went to the barbarian tribes to preach the various policies of the Ming army.

Sure enough, after hearing that Sakhalin had been occupied by the Ming army and that they had been exempted from taxes for three years, the barbarians were extremely happy. Some indigenous tribes even immediately expressed their allegiance.

Subsequently, various barbarian tribes sent envoys one after another, bringing animal skins, dried meat, deer antlers, antlers and other items from the cottage to Sakhalin North Fort to trade, in exchange for Li Xiao's army woolen wool, ironware, sea salt, cloth and other commercial goods.

Under Li Xiao's two-pronged policy, relations between the LTTE and the local barbarians improved greatly. Next, Wu Zhuang agreed with the barbarian tribes that after this transaction, the last three days of each month would be the time for the Ming army to open to trade, and each tribe could send people to the urn city of Sakhalin North Fort to carry out trade exchange activities.

Time passed quickly day after day, and before you knew it, it was the extremely cold and harsh winter season.

In the middle of the eleventh lunar month of Chongzhen, Sakhalin Island fell heavily for three days in a row, and the weather dropped to more than 20 degrees below zero, and the entire Sakhalin North Fort was covered with thick snow, like an ice and snow castle in a fairy tale.

It's just that Wu Zhuang and other defenders didn't have such leisure to enjoy the snow scene, at this time, he was leading the soldiers to take advantage of the snow to stop, and quickly clear the snow so that the traffic in the fort could be smooth.

At this time, suddenly the soldiers upstairs reported that three barbarian men on horseback had come from afar, and they were marching through the snow to their own Sakhalin North Fort.

When Wu Zhuang heard this, he was very suspicious, now is not the time for trade, why did the barbarian natives come?

He was stunned for a moment, and then hurriedly led a group of guards to the city tower to check.

At this time, the three barbarian men walked closer, and saw from a distance that the Ming army was already watching them on the city wall, so they raised a black thing in their hands and shouted a few words loudly in the direction of the city wall.

"What are these natives shouting?"

Because the distance was still far away, Wu Zhuang couldn't see the items in their hands clearly, so he turned his head and asked a translator who knew the barbarian language next to him.

The interpreter laughed out loud and replied to Wu Zhuang: "Commander Wu, they said that they have beheaded the Qing court envoys who came to their tribe to collect taxes, and they are about to exchange their heads for rewards. ”