On November 4, 1649, the Strait of Tatar was so strong and rough that it was extremely dangerous for any smaller ship to sail in such conditions, except for the large sailing ships of the people of the east coast. At this time, there are already some ice cubes on the side of the pier of Blackwater Port because of the river water injecting. In the coming days, as the temperature continues to drop, these broken ice blocks will gradually collide and stick together, eventually forming a solid "earth" that seals the entire harbor tightly.

In order to avoid damage to the hull of the ship by sea ice, a large number of ships that were originally moored in the port during the navigation season have long disappeared, either going south to Rishiri Island and Jeju Island for the winter, or participating in migrant transportation operations. Of course, these idle vessels (mainly medium-sized fishing boats built by the Blackwater Shipyard) now have better places to go: Jiaozhou Fort (in Jiaozhou Bay), Ningbo Fu and Daishan Island, where simple docks have been built.

A sailing ship with a displacement of about 25o tons made a turn and encountered a strong headwind on the side of the Great Southern Cape (Cape Creoleon) near Aniva Bay. While the sailors were hurriedly adjusting the sail booms, Wei Boqiu, who was on the boat, temporarily ordered to dock and prepared to stay here for a while. Although the captain repeatedly told Wei Boqiu that the weather had been abnormal recently, it was impossible to say when it would be full of ice floes outside Dabo Port, and he had to rush back as much as possible; But Wei Boqiu still insisted on staying on the shore, preparing to inspect a small settlement set up by people on the east coast.

This settlement is called Qingquan Village, which is named after a clear and sweet spring in the mountain valley behind. Most of the residents here are from Dongchang Prefecture in Shandong, and they are all officers and soldiers who were dismissed from the servant army during the rectification in the middle of the year, and there are about four or five hundred people, and they have been settled here for several months. They built a village here. Herding sheep and cattle is much better than fighting for life and death in front of you. In addition to Tuntian, they also built a tall lighthouse at the top of the headland together with a construction team sent by Dabo (mainly Qing prisoners).

The lighthouse is made of bricks and cement brought from the port of Blackwater, with a fire pit and a large concave mirror. Being able to shine far away in the dark of night is a great benefit for ships on the east coast passing through the area. As a result, there are both the warm currents of Japan and the cold currents of Okhotsk coming down from the north, and the climatic conditions are complicated, with strong winds and fog. Therefore, ships on the east coast sailing back and forth on the routes of Da Bo, Heishui and Temple Street must be extremely careful, otherwise they may run aground or run aground in the dark night.

However, despite the complicated sea conditions, the climate on the shore is relatively mild. Qingquanzhai is located in the coastal valley of the West Sakhalin Mountains, with continuous mountains on the east and west sides, producing a large number of mountain goods; The flat terrain between the valleys is narrow from north to south. The land is fertile, with an annual precipitation of about 1ooo mm and a minimum temperature of minus 20 degrees in winter, which is suitable for agricultural production activities.

The tonnage of Wei Boqiu's ship was only 25o tons, modeled after the earliest type of ship on the East Coast, the "East Coast Eagle" - with the weak technical strength of the Blackwater Shipyard, building such a ship was already the limit of their current capabilities. After the ship anchored in the offshore water, Wei Boqiu took a group of entourage guards into a number of small boats, and soon landed ashore.

Qingquan Village soon had several horsemen rush out. It was followed by a series of panting foot soldiers, clad in crooked leather armor and spears in their hands. Looks like he's going to come out to fight. However, after seeing the flag of the Republic of China on the east coast of China hanging high on the mast of the ship and Wei Boqiu and others who came ashore, they finally put their minds at ease, and a middle-aged man in the lead rolled down from the horse, knelt down on one knee in front of Wei Boqiu, and said loudly: "Lin Dengwan, the head of Qingquan Township, Dabo County, Xiaguan, and the head of the Qingquan Detachment of the Dabo Garrison, has seen the deputy captain!" I don't know that Vice Captain Wei came today, and he missed the distance. I also look at Lord Wei Haihan. ”

Wei Boqiu snorted and waved his hand to make Lin Dengwan get up. Then he asked about the reclamation of the place. In Wei Boqiu's plan, the southern part of Sakhalin Island and Ezo were the areas to be focused on under the jurisdiction of the Blackwater Pioneer Team in the future. The climate here is not as harsh as in the north, but the land is just as fertile, so it has a high value.

This year, the grain in the four villages of the Amur River, Dabo, and the Nankukhalin Reclamation Bureau, as well as the two prefectures of Denglai in Shandong, have all obtained bumper harvests of different degrees, and the army on the east coast has almost swept away the Changping positions in the four prefectures of Shandong, and most of the grain in the fields has also been harvested, so there is still a lot of grain in the hands of the government of the Heishui Pioneer Team.

Since the grain reserves are at their most abundant in several years, Wei Boqiu naturally had the idea of vigorously opening up the southern part of Sakhalin Island and the Ezo land, and after obtaining Shao Shude's consent, he officially began to implement it in the middle of this year. The first step was to create new settlements on the basis of enriching the population of the existing settlements (mainly the three regional central towns of Kusui, Omarari, and Kushiro). In any case, the people on the east coast now have a firm grip on the sea area, and it seems that this sea control will continue to be held for many years, so it does not matter if the settlements are scattered a little, because there is no foreign enemy at all. In addition, most of the so-called settlers resettled were soldiers from the various anti-Qing "rebel armies" who had been cut off from the front line - most of them were mud legs that had been brought in - so they were not completely powerless to resist.

Originally, there was only one naval meteorological observation post in Qingquan Village, and a few people were stationed to record and observe the climate of the nearby sea during the year. However, after the Dakai plan was launched, Shandong brought a group of soldiers from Ding Mingwu's army who had been laid out here, and appointed one of the leaders, Lin Dengwan, as the head of the township here, and officially began to reclaim land in the mountain valley near the Great Southern Cape. After that, the Shandong front also arranged for some wounded and retired soldiers to be resettled here, probably dozens of people.

"The old man Bao has the most fields in the township now, and his family has 100 acres of land, including 60 acres of cultivated land and 40 acres of mountain forests. People came early, and the land is a good land that doesn't need to be cleaned up, and now the vegetables he planted have grown a stubble, and this year's income is probably a lot. It's like us, who are still eating relief food, and we have to borrow money from Qianzhuang (Northwest Reclamation Bank) to buy seeds, farm tools, livestock, etc., which can't be compared. Hearing Wei Boqiu's inquiry, Lin Dengwan immediately chattered like an old farmer, and his words were full of envy for "Old Man Bao".

"Old Man Bao" is named Paulczynski, a Polish mercenary in his forties, who has experienced countless battles in his life. He fought against the Ottomans, against the Tatars, against the Russians, against the Swedes, and even briefly by the German princes to fight in the Thirty Years' War, and his saga could almost be written about it. I didn't expect to settle in Sakhalin, a place 108,000 miles away, when I was old and ended, and there is nothing more magical than this.

Paulchinsky was accidentally wounded in the battle against Qingzhou City, although he was not missing arms and legs like some of his comrades-in-arms, but his injuries were not light, so he had no choice but to retire, and was arranged by his superiors to settle in the newly established Qingquan Township of Dabo County. Since the name written on the household registration documents submitted by the Shandong side is Bao Erqin (after naturalization, the name of the Han Dynasty was changed uniformly), so everyone else in Qingquan Township called Lao Bao Tou. Because Lao Bao Tou was a "honored citizen," that is, the so-called disabled veteran, in addition to receiving a large amount of severance pay, the government also gave him 50 mu of land (30 mu of cultivated land and 20 mu of mountains and forests) free of charge -- his newly married Shandong daughter-in-law also received 50 mu of land for free -- a few cattle and sheep, as well as some metal farm tools and grain seeds. In addition, the construction team that came to repair the lighthouse also built a set of brick houses on the east bank for his family, which is a treatment that no one else in the township has.

"Lao Baotou planted more vegetables and grains this year, thanks to God's blessing, the growth is not bad. Especially those potatoes and sweet potatoes, the growth is especially good, and I am afraid that one acre of land can not collect hundreds of catties, which is really scary. It's that the cabbage doesn't grow very well, there are too many insects, and the yield is greatly affected; Cucumbers are also worse, the fog is too big at night in summer and autumn, and the acres of cucumbers planted by the old abalone head are attacked by the fog, and the leaves are rusty and dead overnight. Originally, Lao Baotou planned to sell these cucumbers to the migrant ship to make money, but now it seems that they are all in vain. Speaking of this, Lin Dengwan also smiled a little unkindly, it seems that he is also very jealous of the "rich" old Bao Tou in the township on weekdays.

Lin Dengwan's cucumber was attacked by fog, and Wei Boqiu had also heard of it. The reason for this is that this cucumber is actually a Russian-grown cucumber (Muroman cucumber) obtained by the people of the east bank from the hands of the natives of the Amur River, and it is less resistant to fog. The Chinese cucumber, which is called the "Nanban cucumber" by the natives of the Amur River, is much more resistant to fog and is more stout, which is worth growing on a large scale among local farmers.

Wei Boqiu listened to Lin Dengwan's introduction and walked towards the village. As soon as they landed, some people on the shore had already rushed back to the village, so that the people in the township government who stayed behind immediately cleaned up the bear they had just hunted. Qingquanzhai is located in the mountain valley, both sides are full of deep mountains and old forests, the number of brown bears is extremely large, almost a pest, so the township government often organizes musketeers to go into the mountains to hunt bears. At this time, Wei Boqiu also came by coincidence, they had just hunted a bear that had not yet hibernated this morning, and before they could deal with it, Wei Boqiu arrived, which was a blessing. (To be continued)

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