On May 26, the 11th year of Chongzhen, Li Xiao came to Jeju Island first. Pen, fun, and www.biquge.info

He only rested in Jeju for two days, and then inspected the construction of Jeju Island, and from here, he led the troops and horses of the Jindong Battalion A and B Headquarters to go straight to Ezo Island on 110 warships returning from Taiwan.

And Wu Liang, the former governor of Jeju Island, also went out with Li Xiao. The post of governor of Jeju was taken over by Li Xiao, and now Wu Liang's new official position is the governor of Ezo, and he will fully manage the two boundaries of Ezo Island and Sakhalin Island to the north, but the scope of his jurisdiction is much larger than that of a small Jeju Island.

In Jeju Island and Satsuma, Li Xiao only left the general soldiers and horses of Zhendong Ying to garrison. Now that the surrounding environment is peaceful, the soldiers of General C, who have thousands of soldiers and horses, are enough to ensure the tranquility of the place.

In addition to the soldiers, there were more than 20,000 craftsmen and a large number of building materials. In Li Xiao's plan, this group of craftsmen, after arriving in Ezo, should immediately start building the city on the spot, so that Li Xiao's soldiers can live in peace on this cold and cold Ezo Island before winter comes.

In Li Xiao's previous life, he had a cursory understanding of some information about Ezo.

Ezo Island, originally a Chinese territory, was under the jurisdiction of Liaodong County during the Han Dynasty of China. During the Tang Dynasty, Ezo Island was under the jurisdiction of the Andong Prefecture. In the Ming Dynasty, Ezo Island was under the jurisdiction of the Nurgan Dusi.

Later, after the middle of the Ming Dynasty, due to the abolition of the Nuergan Division, this Ezo Island was stolen by the Matsumae Domain of Japan and occupied the southernmost Hakodate area.

In 1807, the entire island was taken under the control of the shogunate, and it became a Japanese territory from then on.

In modern Japan, this place was renamed Hokkaido in 1869.

With an area of 83,453.57 square kilometers, Ezo Island covers about one-fifth of Japan's land area, making it the second largest island in Japan outside of Honshu, and slightly larger than Sakhalin Island to the north.

On Ezo Island, 60% of the island is mountainous, and 40% is volcanic. Despite its mountainous terrain, Ezo Island is one of the largest granaries in modern Japan, producing the largest amount of wheat, potatoes, and dairy cows, and is one of Japan's most important agricultural and animal husbandry bases.

And this seemingly wild and cold island, in addition to being a natural granary, hides amazing minerals under its silent appearance. In Ishikari and Kushiro alone, the coal reserves amount to more than half of the total amount of minerals in Japan!

In the late Ming Dynasty, when Li Xiao lived, the population of Ezo Island was very small, and with the exception of the Matsumae Domain in the southern Hakodate area, only tens of thousands of Ezo indigenous people settled here, making a living by hunting and fishing. These Ezo natives are the Ainu people in what is now Japan.

This key island, which has choked the maritime access of Northeast Asia, this territory inherited by China since ancient times, such a fertile virgin land, how can it be justified by the obscene and despicable little Japan!

Thinking of this, Li Xiao, who was standing on the bow of the Thang Long, calmly looking at the waves of thousands of miles, secretly swore in his heart, but his face became more and more resolute.

According to Li Xiao's plan, the fleet will go ashore in the Otaru area of Ishikari Bay in Hokkaido, and then build a port here. After the port was built, the whole army continued to go deeper, and a new city was built in Sapporo, the capital of modern Hokkaido, as a place for the whole army to settle down.

At the time of the construction of the city, Li Xiao will send the general soldiers and horses of the Zhendong Battalion to the south to subdue the Songqian Domain, so that it will obediently become a vassal.

Speaking of which, this Matsumae Domain, the lord of the Matsumae Domain, Matsumae Keihiro, is still a rather alternative existence in Japan, because of his weak strength, basically no matter who fights him, this so-called feudal lord immediately raised his hand and surrendered, without the slightest bushido spirit at all. Compared with the fierce and brutal Shimazu family at the southern tip of Japan, it is simply a wreck.

Therefore, Li Xiao was sure that in front of the great soldiers with strong ships and guns, this Matsuzen Keihiro, the speed of surrender, I am afraid that it will be much faster than the current Tokugawa shogunate.

As for the general soldiers and horses of Zhendong Ying, Li Xiao plans to send small teams of soldiers to various Ezo tribes in addition to leaving behind to guard the craftsmen who built the city, and gradually absorb the Ezo people as a new member of the Han nationality by means of coercion and temptation as they do with the indigenous people of Taiwan.

For such a barbarian people who are extremely backward in culture and religion, Li Xiao believes that the culture and etiquette of the Celestial Empire can easily conquer them, so that they can finally lose their national symbols and finally become a member of the Han nationality.

The fleet rode the south wind all the way north, but in eighteen days, Li Xiao's huge fleet arrived at the scheduled landing point, Otaru in Ishikari Bay.

"Look, my lord, there's land ahead."

A pro-soldier pointed to a black line that appeared between the sea and the sky in front of him, Li Xiao sighed, raised the clairvoyant mirror, and looked at the flat land full of primitive coniferous forests that appeared in the clairvoyant mirror in the early morning sun, Li Xiao couldn't help but sigh with emotion.

This land, which has been separated from China for many years, has finally welcomed the army of the Celestial Empire again. Li Xiao swore in his heart that from now on, he would let this fertile soil inherited by China for thousands of years never leave it again.

Soon, the entire fleet approached the shore, and immediately buckled the bulwark, and a large number of soldiers and craftsmen came to the Otaru coast like a raging tide.

The simple military tents, warehouses, and workers' camps were immediately built on the spot, and finally, when dusk came, these simple buildings were completed, and all the soldiers and craftsmen of the army could finally sleep peacefully on land.

Ezo is located in Northeast Asia, the temperature difference between day and night is very large, and now it is in the Xiaoice period, so although it is the height of summer, the temperature at night is still very low, and the wind is cold. The soldiers of the whole army slept wrapped in thick quilts, and at the same time, each camp also chopped wood on the spot to make fires to ward off the cold of the night.

In the middle of the night, when people were quiet, breathing the cold air full of the rich fragrance of coniferous forests, and hearing the crackling sound of the burning firewood, Li Xiao's heart fluctuated, and it was difficult to sleep for a while.

He was thinking carefully about the future of Ezo Island.

Li Xiao planned to build the city in Sapporo, the name of the city he had already thought of, because this place is the extreme east, taking the meaning of sunrise, this newly built city, was named Dongsheng City by Li Xiao.

And because Ezo Island is extremely remote and desolate, and the population is sparse, Li Xiao does not plan to build this Dongsheng City too big, but like Changhua County in Taiwan, it is enough to build a small city with a circumference of eight miles.

However, although the scope of the city to be built should not be too large, measures such as barracks, granaries, forage yards, storage silos, arsenals, horse farms, government offices, outer city walls, city gates, urn cities, corner towers, wells, and moats should all be built to ensure that the city has sufficient defense power and that the inhabitants and soldiers in the city can live conveniently.

Of course, how to plan it will have to be tested on the spot before a decision can be made.

After the construction of Dongsheng City, Li Xiao was able to transport displaced people on a large scale, allowing them to multiply in this fertile land overseas, and have always settled permanently on this land.

Considering that Ezo Island is mostly a fertile soil with volcanic ash accumulation, although due to the cold weather, it may only be planted once a year, but its yield is also quite impressive.

The specific area of developable cultivated land can only be roughly determined after Wu Liang and others have gone to the whole island to explore.

However, Li Xiao believes that a small Satsuma can accommodate 100,000 displaced people, and this larger Ezo Island should not be a problem to accommodate 300,000 displaced people.

With a large population, all kinds of factories can be built, and all kinds of minerals can be mined, and this thousand-year-old island can finally usher in its own golden age.

Once Ezo Island is developed, the next step is to develop Sakhalin Island in the north. Li Xiao believes that after the development of these two islands is completed, they will definitely be able to become his two new huge granaries.

Li Xiao thought about it all night, and it wasn't until dawn that he fell asleep in a daze.

The next day, more than 20,000 craftsmen immediately began to quickly use the bluestone, cement, bricks and other construction materials loaded on the ship to urgently build a simple wharf.

The reason why we need to build the wharf in a hurry is because it is the height of summer, which is the season when typhoons are frequent, and the fleet of sailors scattered on the sea is in urgent need of a stable safe haven, so it is a top priority to build the port first.

According to Li Xiao's plan, when the craftsmen urgently built the wharf, Li Xiao personally led the fleet, took the general soldiers and horses of the Zhendong Yingjia, and marched south, straight to the boundary of Hakodate of the Songzen Domain.

"What! There is a large number of Ming fleets, appearing off the coast of Hakodate?! ”

Matsumae Yoshihiro, the lord of the Matsumae Domain, who was enjoying the scarlet music in the palace, his son Matsumae Michihiro, and the chief retainer Katsuyuki Ichichi, were all surprised when they heard the urgent report from the small surname.

"That's right, the ships are all flying the sun and moon and the double dragon flag, but there is no doubt that they are ships of the Ming Kingdom. The entire Ming fleet was huge, and from a distance, there were hundreds of them. The little surname looked frightened and said hurriedly.

Matsumae Keihiro waved his hand irritably, and the little surname bowed and retreated quickly.

"This, what's going on? Then the Ming fleet, how did it come to the Matsumae Domain? I'm so far away, but I don't know what they're doing here? Matsumae looked uneasy and asked himself a few words repeatedly. The tatami mat he sat on made him writhe back and forth as if it had burned his buttocks.

"Father, could it be that the Ming army is coming to annex my Matsuzen Domain? Why did the Ming army suddenly beat me up and have an idea of the Matsumae Domain? The words of his son Matsumae Michihiro were extremely uneasy.

"Domain lord, the Ming army is coming from afar, and its meaning is unknown, so let's go down and negotiate with the Ming army first, and then make a decision." The retainer Ichichiyuki said with a frown.

"Okay, you go quickly, see why the Ming army is here, pay attention, our domain is weak, and it is a good thing to try to avoid causing a war." Matsumae Keihiro let out a long sigh and said in a low voice.

A victory is also a sigh, and he will go as promised.

Ichijo Katsuyuki came to the harbor of Hakodate, where the Ming fleet had just landed.

When he saw the large fleet, which was dozens of stories high, appearing on the shore like a giant Mac, his mouth opened in horror in an O-shape.

And when he saw these large ships, the huge iron cannons placed on the side of the ship, like monsters with huge black holes and huge mouths, a sense of victory was completely subdued.

Ichijo secretly thought that if these Ming troops with strong ships and guns really want to fight ashore, I am afraid that this small Matsumae Domain will be destroyed suddenly.

Soon, seeing him arrive with a banner, the Ming army knew the identity of his envoy, so he immediately let him come over by boat, and let him lower the soft ladder casually, and let him climb the Ascending Dragon by himself.

When he got on the boat, he was led by Ming soldiers to a spacious room, at this time, the chief general of the Ming army, Li Xiao, the Marquis of the East China Sea, was already sitting in the center of the room, and beside him, Wu Liang, the chief of Ezo, accompanied him.

A victory estimate touched that the young general in front of him must be the main general of the Ming army, so after thinking about it for a while, he knelt on the ground and bowed his head.

"This official is Li Xiao, the Marquis of the East China Sea of the Ming Dynasty, who are you and what are you doing in our army?" Li Xiao's voice sounded majestically and coldly.

Listening to the translator's words, Ichijo Katsuyuki hurriedly replied humbly: "The chief retainer of the Matsuzen Domain, Ichijo Katsuyuki, has seen Lord Li, the general of the Ming Kingdom. I am on the orders of the lord of the domain, and I want to know why your army came to my domain? “

Li Xiao sneered, and then said loudly: "The reason why this general came to your domain is to tell you that this Ezo Island, which was originally the territory of the Ming Dynasty, has now been re-possessed by our army, and the entire Ezo Island has been returned to our Heavenly Empire." It's really hateful for you to wait for a small feudal clan to steal the southern tip of Ezo Island. “

Li Xiao's majestic words frightened Yi Zhi almost with fear.

He lay on the ground, kowtowed like pounding garlic, and said in a loud voice: "Lord Li, you can't say that, this Ezo Island was originally a borderless land, and there are no people, only some Ezo people are scattered on the island, how can it be said to be a bold territory?." My Matsumae Domain also saw that the people of the island did not have an official government and a garrison, so they established a domain in the Hakodate area, but it has been seventy or eighty years now. “

Seeing that Yi Yi Shengzhi still dared to refute, Li Xiao unconsciously became angry in his heart, and he slapped the table and shouted: "Shut up!" This Ezo Island was originally a territory under the jurisdiction of my Ming Nuergan Division, and when you see that my Ming Dynasty does not care for the time being, you dare to annex it, which is really hateful and bold! Ben will advise you to recognize the situation and not block the car with your mantis arm, so as not to die and have nothing. “

Ichijo Katsuyuki listened to Li Xiao's words, his heart was terrified, his face was like ashes, and he muttered: "Lord Li, we are waiting for the small domain, even if we occupy Hakodate because we don't know it, Lord Li must not kill us all." “

Seeing that Yi Shengzhi was quickly frightened, Li Xiao sneered, and his voice softened a little: "Yi Shengzhi, originally, would have wanted to wipe out all of you and others to correct the law of the country." But I thought about it, and if I really killed you like this, I would also be suspected of not teaching and punishing. In this way, I would have been able to let you live, but from now on, your Matsumae clan can only occupy the Hakodate area, and you will not be allowed to enter the north again. And we have to sign a lend-lease agreement with our army, and it is indicated in the agreement that the area around Hakodate is also the territory of the Ming Dynasty, but I am benevolent and generous, so I will allow you to temporarily rent this place as a place to live. “

Ichijo Shengzhi sighed, and he said in a low voice: "Lord Li, your conditions are so harsh, if you reply to my clan lord like this, I am afraid that the lord of the domain will be killed." “

Li Xiao glanced at him, but the expression on his face was completely indifferent, and he said lightly: "No need to say more, you can go back and play truthfully." If the lord of your clan does not agree, then the official will immediately attack the Matsumae Domain, and when the boundary comes, the entire Matsumae Domain, I am afraid that the jade will be burned, and the chickens and dogs will not be left. “