When the construction of the Jiaoyan Line Railway has been officially in full swing, and the company has a headache for the construction costs that soared a lot more than expected, the Blackwater Pioneer Team actually came out with a "moth", asking them to build a railway for them on the Golden Horn Peninsula, which leads directly to Shuangchengzi, and if possible, it is best to "invest" in the dock in Vladivostok, for which the Blackwater Pioneer Team can give them a certain period of terminal franchise.

To be honest, Chen Ke, the captain of the Blackwater Pioneer Team, made this inexplicable request shocked the Southern Railway Company. Xu Xiangdong, vice president of the company, who remained in Shandong to coordinate relations, negotiate loans, and direct the construction of the railway and its annexes, had to arrive at the Golden Horn in October on a ship of the Third Fleet before the port was frozen, and negotiated with Lu Xiaofeng, commissioner of the Ussuri River Regional Administration and garrison commander of the plenipotentiary Chen Ke.

The Southern Railway Company has studied it on the map before, consulted a lot of information, interviewed some personnel, and has a preliminary idea of the prospect of the railway unilaterally requested by the Blackwater Pioneer Team, that is, if it is really done, it will be 100% lost!

Come to think of it, the so-called people on the east coast of the Golden Horn Peninsula (later known as the Muravyov Amur Peninsula) have only been occupied in the last year or two, and it can be said that they have not gained a stable foothold and are all enemies, coupled with the sparse population, and there is no valuable output - that is, some furs, and gold, a good thing that can attract investment, has no shadow - the utilization rate of a railway will be very low. And a low utilization rate naturally means that the company operating the railway will fall into a state of loss, how can this make people agree to invest?

In addition, the port of Vladivostok, which can have a "50-year franchise" in the face of the black water, also believes that the risk is too great and it is not suitable for investment. The reason is also very simple, although this port is defined as the political center, military center, logistics center and commercial center of the Blackwater Pioneer Team in the future, the terminal throughput will be very large, and it will definitely make money if you run the port. But the question is, is this all the Year of the Monkey? The Southern Railway Company only believes in what can be seen in front of it, that is, there are only three or four thousand civilians living in this port city, and most of them are Jurchens who have little spending power, and they can't play anything! If the Southern Railway Company really wants to invest in the port of Vladivostok, it believes that the materials needed for the daily production and life of thousands of local soldiers and civilians can be solved by a few passing ships a year, after all, the local and nearby areas that occupy the most space can find a way to collect a part of it. In this way, it is foreseeable that the port of Vladivostok will not be worth investing much in a short period of time, unless the population of the city is large, the hinterland is vast enough to a certain extent, and the commercial prosperity is possible to a very high level, and these will take time!

If it were an ordinary situation, the Southern Railway Company would have rejected this kind of unobtrusive proposal a long time ago, and it was necessary to point out the problems and "educate" the proposer. However, the identity of the proposer this time is unusual, but Chen Ke, the captain of the Blackwater Pioneer Team, so the problem is more tricky, the future development of the Southern Railway, such as the commercial operation of the affiliated areas, depends on the Heishui a lot, and the relationship cannot be stiffened, so after thinking about it again, Xu Xiangdong, vice president of the Southern Railway, still brought a few henchmen, and hurriedly arrived at the port of Vladivostok while the port was not yet frozen, intending to negotiate with Lu Xiaofeng to dispel their "stupid thoughts".

Today is October 15, 1679, because the garrison commander Lu Xiaofeng and an infantry company have gone north to "patrol hunting" (coercing the natives) and have not yet returned, so Xu Xiangdong patiently stayed in the city and waited.

At this time in Vladivostok, the temperature dropped rapidly, and the warm wind on the sea surface had been pushed back by the strong land wind from the Mongolian Plateau.

Xu Xiangdong questioned the officials in the city, and learned that the total number of more than 12,000 people - 2,500 people had just been sent this year to make up for the loss - the North Korean migrant workers on the east coast did not care, they had their own management officials and supervisors, and these migrant workers were not always fixed, and people from various provinces, counties, and counties were rotated. I don't know if it was the North Korean officials themselves who were corrupt or what, in short, the North Koreans in front of them lacked enough winter clothes, and if no ships from North Korea arrived to distribute winter clothes before the port was completely frozen at the end of next month, these North Koreans would not have to freeze to death or die of illness, but they would also have to go out to work in winter (not rain and snow).

At that time, even if the people on the east coast were reluctant, they had to open the warehouses and distribute the already small amount of warm clothes to the North Korean workers on the construction sites. Of course, these cotton clothes with good texture will definitely not be distributed for free, and the wool will come out of the sheep, and when the time comes, after the basic construction of Vladivostok is completed, then use this as an excuse to let the North Korean migrant workers stay for a while and build other things, and the capital will be returned.

"Needless to say, North Koreans are a very good workforce. They are hard-working, starving, and resilient enough to perform heavy physical work in harsh environments. It is not an exaggeration to say that if these jobs were to be done by workers in Denglai or Ningbo, it might not take long for people to flee one after another. The official who temporarily accompanied the group pointed to the construction site outside the city and said: "With these people, we can free up more energy and engage in more important work, such as training and preparing for war, expanding influence, and so on." In fact, we even hope that these North Korean migrant workers can stay after they finish their work, and we can grant them land for free, because they are so docile and capable, and if there are tens of thousands of North Korean farmers under Vladivostok who farm for us, then we can simply dominate the entire Ussuri River basin, of course, this is just a thought, there are too many factors that hinder this. ”

"The Koreans can't do it, and don't the Japanese either? I've heard in Yantai that your Commander Chen Kechen recruited a large number of Japanese samurai and ronin from Kyushu and Shikoku to come to Heishui through the channels of the Japanese company on the east coast to enrich the local population and the number of security troops. Xu Xiangdong smiled after hearing this, and he walked around the streets of the city in a high-end leather coat, looking at the construction site of the city wall that had just laid a foundation, and asked.

"Half-truths." The accompanying official said helplessly: "There are indeed Japanese recruits, but many of them have been sent to the bases of Beishun, Pinggang and other strongholds in the back, and the number is also very limited, with an average of less than 200 people in one place. These people, to say that they are samurai, is really exalting them, they can only be said to be the descendants of samurai. On weekdays, there are many people who are hungry in Japan's major commercial cities or ports, and many people even sell their ancestral katanas, and they are as depressed as dogs, and their wives and children are also dish-washed. The effect of letting these people go into battle to fight should not be very good, but if it is the kind of Kenting who is half a soldier and half a farmer, the effect is still good, speaking of which, Beishun, Pinggang and other five towns do also need such people, so they sent a thousand people. At present, the number of samurai or ronin who can become qualified soldiers does not exceed two hundred, and some of them have not fought and killed for some years, and are forced to serve as merchant guards or other professions for their livelihood. These people are the main body of the soldiers of the local garrisons in Vladivostok and Shuangchengzi in the future. No, there are about 100 people stationed in the fort that has just been completed in the north, and they can do these tasks by waving their flags and shouting for a company of the 3rd Infantry Regiment. ”

"The Japanese ronin is indeed a way that can be excavated, and I don't know how many such people are crowded in Osaka, Kyoto, and Nagasaki, which is simply a good source of cannon fodder. In the future, when you go to the Jurchen region, you can use these people as the vanguard, so that they and the Jurchens who do not obey discipline can consume each other. In addition, I have heard that the Tohoku feudal clans, led by the Sendai Domain, have good relations with the Japanese companies on the east coast, so I can contact them to see if there is any excess population. Xu Xiangdong said.

"It's true, but to be honest, it's relatively sparsely populated over there, so I'm afraid it's unlikely. Compared to that side, we might as well focus more on the Korean Kingdom, and maybe we will have a big gain. The accompanying officer replied.

"North Korea, hehe. So the biggest bargaining chip you have for us to build a railway is a large number of North Korean workers, right? But I would say, it's not enough, it's not enough! The railway line from Shuangchengzi to Vladivostok is at least more than 100 kilometers, and the places it passes through are sparsely populated, making it difficult to mobilize materials and personnel. Such a railway, there is no one who can't be repaired for three million yuan! Even if you could squeeze the North Korean workers indefinitely and enslave them to build the railroad for free, you wouldn't save much money, because people always have to eat, and transportation costs and losses have to be considered. Coupled with the unpredictable security environment there, why should we believe that you will make it to the end of the railway? Xu Xiangdong said that the Japanese were talking about the railway, and then the topic was brought to this railway. And his answer, not surprisingly, embarrassed the accompanying officials, and they didn't know how to answer, so they could only explain resignedly, and everything would be said after Commissioner Lu Xiaofeng and Commissioner Lu returned.

Xu Xiangdong didn't say anything after hearing this, and walked around the city of Vladivostok with peace of mind. Although he had already vetoed the possibility of building a railway and operating a port in this place, he was idle and took the opportunity to find out about the specific situation in Vladivostok for the future (maybe twenty or thirty years from now...... It is also possible to lay a good foundation for business activities and do a good job of research.

Xu Xiangdong noticed that after about a year of construction, the lighthouse on the East Coast Island (i.e., Russky Island) has been built and the lights have been installed to guide ships to sail at night, but the lighting has not yet been officially lit because it is not necessary.

Another major structure on the island is the seaside fort, which is used to block the narrow waterway between the island and the mainland, which is about a kilometer long. The scale of the fort is huge, and the design will have 32 gun emplacements, and various types of coastal defense cannons, including 32-pounder long-barreled heavy guns, will be installed to form a crossfire with the batteries on the Golden Horn Peninsula on the opposite bank. At present, the fort (the fort on the peninsula on the other side of the river is still in sight) is about halfway through, but the artillery has not yet been procured and shipped from the mainland due to lack of funds, and may not be waited until the fort is fully completed. But in any case, I believe that after a little busy work in the winter, and a big rush after the beginning of spring tomorrow, the fort on the east coast island will be completed by the end of the year, and the 2,000 North Korean migrant workers on the island will finally be able to leave for China -- of course, this is according to the original plan, and it is not known whether the future will change.

The construction progress on the Golden Horn Peninsula is also not slow, and the fort more than 10 kilometers north-west of the main city (that is, the Soviet district of Vladivostok City) is now largely completed with the joint efforts of more than 4,000 Korean migrant workers, and a company of the 3rd Infantry Regiment plus some Japanese ronin have used this as a base to patrol the surrounding area to ensure the safety of the main city in the south. It is reported that at present, North Korean officials are negotiating to take the more than 4,000 people back to their place of departure Gangwon Province, but it seems that they have encountered some difficulties, because the people on the east bank want them to help build an additional road to the main city, and the two sides are still deadlocked, if there is no agreement before the freeze, then it is estimated that there will be no results until next year.

The main urban area (later Lenin district of Vladivostok) was originally concentrated with half of the 12,000 migrant workers. However, because of the heavy task, the current progress is the slower, only the government office, warehouse, and military camp are considered to be completely completed, and there is only a temporary simple wharf on the port side, and the facilities such as forts, city walls, lighthouses, bazaars, hospitals, public baths, and permanent wharves are either limited by the lack of building materials or trapped by the shortage of labor. It is believed that if the Blackwater Pioneer Team is unable to raise another amount of money before the port freezes in the winter and send it to North Korea to pay the arrears of many building materials, there is no doubt that the construction progress next year will still be very unsatisfactory.

Xu Xiangdong, who understood these situations, was also slightly dissatisfied in his heart, your Heishui Pioneer Team still relies on Denglai and Ningbo subsidies every year, and now the funds for building a Vladivostok City are not enough, whether it is in Heishui County or the North Koreans, it is a mess, you still want us to build railways and invest in ports for you, this is a loss of heart, right? The co-authors think we are local tyrants, but you have divided the fields well?