Outside, the snow was falling even harder, and it was even more penetrating into the collars of people's clothes under the blowing of the fierce northwest winds. Yoshinosuke Imamura and some of his retinue boarded a low Japanese ship, and after bidding farewell to Mo Ming and the others, they set sail south and returned to Ezo.

In the harbor where the Japanese ships departed, three sail carriers were also working intensively to load supplies, and dock workers braved the goose-feather snow to carry barrels of frozen meat onto the ships. Most of the meat is from cattle raised by them, and a small part is wild boars, moose and other large animals. The people of the East Coast cherish these hard-won animal meat supplements very much, and both the internal organs and blood are properly preserved, and they resolutely do not waste a little nutrition.

Although the Yantai fortress has sent more than 3,000 Ming refugees to the rear in two batches, with the arrival of winter, the number of displaced people who lack food and clothing there is still increasing, and according to the latest report, the number of refugees stranded in the Zhifu Island area has reached a staggering 5,500. At present, Xiao Xi, the commander of the 102nd Company of the Army, who is temporarily in charge of the affairs there, has issued a warning to the Heishui Port side, and they are seriously short of both food reserves and cold materials, and they urgently need support from this side. Although they have reclaimed a large area of wasteland near the Dagu Jiahe River this year and practiced intercropping of sweet potatoes and corn, when they harvested the land a while ago, they found that the yield was too low, and only about 350 tons of grain were harvested on less than 2,000 mu of land.

This yield is even worse than that of the supposedly barren Xinhua region, which is a great disappointment. After the grain was harvested, Xiao Xi took stock of the grain he had on hand. The findings included hundreds of tons of grain previously shipped from mainland China and large quantities of looted North Korean grain. So far, there are less than 450 tons of grain stored in the Yantai fortress. Such a little food is really not much for the five or six thousand people of Yantai Fortress today. That's enough for them to last for about three months.

And this three-month conclusion is based on the fact that the current population will no longer continue to increase. But the fact is that the population of Yantai Fortress has been increasing, there is no doubt about that. The soldiers watched a large number of refugees who were helping the old and the young to come to the Yantai fortress to beg for food, but they did not stop these poor people without receiving new orders, but still took them into the Zhifu Island area behind the fortress according to the instructions of their superiors.

Therefore, as the freezing period of Bohai Bay is approaching, Xiao Xi can only urgently ask for help from Heishui Port and ask for a batch of grain to come over. But the problem is that Mo Ming's own food is not enough. At present, there are about 1,400 tons of potatoes, 100 tons of wheat, and about 700 tons of salted fish in both the port of Kurosui and Rishiri Island. In addition, there are some moose and wild boars that are currently being slaughtered on a large scale, but the number is relatively small, and the total is only thirty or forty tons. At present, there are nearly 5,000 people in Blackwater Port and about 500 people on Rishiri Island, and the food consumption of these people is not a small amount. It is important to know that Blackwater Port and Rishiri Island can only grow one crop a year, and the next grain harvest will not be until July or August at the earliest, and there is still more than half a year in between when everyone can only rely on the previous grain stockpile.

However, the only advantage of Blackwater is that about 2,500 people will soon be sent south to the port of Golden Mountain in Australia, which will greatly reduce local food consumption. Therefore. After careful consideration, Mo Ming decided to take advantage of the fact that it was not frozen to mobilize 700 tons of potatoes, 400 tons of salted fish and some newly slaughtered meat from Heishui Port to Yantai Port.

In addition to these grains. Several ships also loaded a lot of coal gangue and peat removed from the coal washing plant, which were used as heating fuel for winter and transported to Yantai Port. As for the cold materials that Xiao Xi said, I'm sorry, there really isn't any! There were so many supplies that I needed to carry when I came from the mainland, and the winter coats in the cabin were already limited, and they had already been distributed, so there was really no superfluity. After everything was done, Mo Ming and more than 100 newly recruited natives of Sakhalin Island also boarded the armed transport ship "Merchant", and together with the "Baobab" and the brick-laden "Fubo", they headed for Yantai Port in the south.

On October 24, 1643, under the strong northwest wind, it took them just over three days to arrive at the wharf of Zhifu Island in the port of Yantai in the North Yellow Sea, and at this time Yantai was also raining cold sleet, which seemed to welcome them in its own special way. A group of North Korean sticks in cotton coats, led by Kim Woo-gyu, immediately ran out of the warm shack and began to unload the goods in a hurry.

When the buckets of fish were unloaded, the North Korean dock workers couldn't help but let out a burst of cheers, even though the "vicious" East Coasters were at their side. It is no secret that there is a shortage of food in the camp, especially when the number of refugees from the Ming Kingdom is still increasing day by day. At this time, a large amount of food was sent to them from the rear, and there was even a lot of fish and meat, which made everyone not greedy.

The milk produced by the cows and horses in the camp was given to the officials, women and children, and some of the meat of the animals that were occasionally slaughtered also entered the stomachs of these people, and they could only drink some soup made from bones. It's a lot better than life in North Korea, but who doesn't want to eat meat? Now that such a huge amount of fish and meat has been transported, it is impossible for everyone to share some profits.

Sending Jin Wugui, who came over to offer a courteous pat, Mo Ming walked on the muddy road in high riding boots, shook hands with Xiao Xi who came to greet him, and then said: "Hurry up and unload the goods, and then store these grains well." After the fleet unloads the cargo, it will leave and return to the port of Yuanbo on Rishiri Island for the winter, and the port of Heishui will also have to transport 2,500 people to the port of Jinshan in Australia before the sea freezes the port. This ghost weather is so cold, who knows when the port will freeze. ”

Xiao Xi nodded, then carefully admonished Jin Wugui, and then said to Mo Ming: "I heard that our fishing industry has a bumper harvest this year, Ha Luha, brother, I can also get your light and get some salmon to taste." I heard that this fish is very rich in fat and is very nutritious, so I don't feel hungry when I eat it, and I have the strength, so I have to try it. ”

"Some of the food you eat, I'm about to vomit." Mo Ming smiled bitterly and said, "Salmon, saury, Far Eastern sardines, mackerel, and squid are all available, and you will eat them until you are sick to your stomach." Well, there are a few boxes over there for them to be careful, they contain glass cans, and inside the cans are salmon caviar, which I specially left for you. ”

"Hey, thank you very much." Xiao Xi was overjoyed when he heard this, "Do you want to stay here next, or go to Rishiri Island or Blackwater Port?" ”

"Just stay here." Mo Ming tightened the alpaca coat on his body, and then said: "The Blackwater Port side is already on the right track, I entrusted everything to Sergeant Johnson, he has been managing there for a year, and nothing has gone wrong, so let's continue to manage it." Rishiri Island is currently under the management of Li Yi, but he will next take three sailing ships to carry 2,500 Ming people south to the port of Jinshan in Australia, which is basically managed by a small number of sailors who remain behind. ”

Of the 3,000 refugees sent from here to Blackwater Port a while ago, except for 2,500 who will go to Australia by boat, the remaining about 500 people remain in Blackwater Port. This is mainly because their health is too poor, and letting them sail to Australia at this time is simply sending them to death, so Mo Ming simply let them stay in Blackwater Port, but it is obvious that a considerable number of them will still not survive and die in this harsh winter.

"Now that the weather is getting colder, and there will be heavy snow in the future, the number of displaced people should be smaller. However, after the beginning of spring, it will be troublesome, at that time it is the time when the field is green and yellow, and it should be a high probability event that a large number of displaced people will occur in Deng, Lai, and Qingdao, and we must be prepared for a surge in displaced people. Mo Ming walked into the only brick and stone house in the fortress, sat by the fireplace, and said while roasting the fire: "Therefore, our current food storage is still not enough, and we have to find a way." ”

Xiao Xi, who entered the house after him, naturally understood what Mo Ming meant by "finding a way", but the bad winter weather in the Dengzhou area could stop people from any ambitions. At this time, the danger of the labor expedition is quite large, and if it is not done well, it will cause a large-scale attrition due to bad weather.

"I'm not going to go far." Mo Ming glanced at him and said, "Just go around the neighborhood." Fushan County, Ninghai Prefecture, Wendeng County, and Pingdu Prefecture, rest assured, you will go to the countryside to fight grass valleys, and you will not touch the fortified cities. Of course, there are no fortified cities in the area. In short, I just took some soldiers to smash a few rural gentry's Zhuangzi and grab some grain to come back. These gentlemen are all rich and unkind dogs, who have their own warehouses full of grain, but they hoard and sell them at high prices, without considering the lives of ordinary people. Of course, even if they lower the price, those bankrupt homeless people still can't afford it, in short, this world is rotten now, and I can't care so much, just loot these gentry under my nose. ”

"Why don't you buy from them?" Xiao Xi couldn't help but ask. Although Zhilu said that these gentlemen would be tartars in the future, he still didn't want to stiffen the relationship.

"One is that we don't have money to buy it now, and there are a lot of goods, but they don't want them. Besides, I don't like them either, and that's the point. Lao Tzu sees that they are not pleasing to the eye, so he wants to be angry with them. Mo Ming said categorically. (To be continued......)