Generally speaking, the people of the eastern coast now operate Sakhalin and its surrounding areas (Rishiri Island, Rebun Island, and Setoki Island) as a large rear. Not to mention the nearly 10,000 acres of farmland in Heishui, Dabo and Yuanbo, and now the infrastructure such as freight terminals, fishery docks, and winter docks are also in full swing. As the core city of the local city, from the end of last year until now, brick and tile wheel kilns, wood drying kilns, wood processing plants, ship repair/shipyards and other projects have been put into operation, if you include the nearby mountains of Heishui coal mine and two quarries, a fully functional primary industrial city began to show its prototype.

It is said that the ship repair station of the people on the east coast in Heishui Port has been created for two years, and now it is relatively abundant; Coupled with the fact that a small wood drying kiln was built here in the first half of this year, which is now officially in operation, local shipbuilding is officially on the agenda. Shortly after the port thawed in April, Rosenberg, the head of the shipyard, obtained permission from Mo Ming to test build small fishing boats locally.

There are 10 technical personnel of various types transferred from the local area in the shipyard, including a chief engineer (Rosenberg), a designer (Lola), two professional technicians, two senior craftsmen, and four skilled craftsmen. After absorbing some Ming and Korean shipbuilders, and recruiting some half-sized apprentices, they finally set up a frame that should be used in shipbuilding/shipyards. As a result, after the wood drying kiln, which is closely related to shipbuilding, was also built and successfully commissioned, they were finally able to build ships at this time.

This fishing boat full of crabs is the first product of the factory, a small sloop fishing boat of about 150 tons. Due to the low technical content of this small fishing boat of more than 100 tons, the construction started in April. They made three in one go. Earlier this month, the first ship was built and launched for sea trials. It was the fishing boat that had just docked in front of me.

The boat was equipped with 20 sailors and fishermen. Using a medium-sized trawl net woven with twine, they caught crabs and cod along the waters around Sakhalin, and the harvest was very rich. If there's one thing that's wrong, it's that the nets are broken too often. In fact, this is mainly a matter of material, and the twine is like that, do you still expect to have fishing nets made of modern nylon? If the problem of fishing net material cannot be solved, then it can only be repaired and replaced frequently, and it seems that the next step is to purchase more such materials from the Japanese side.

As for the materials for shipbuilding, there are more on Sakhalin. Not to mention the farthest place. On the hills near the port of Blackwater, there are patches of deciduous forests and coniferous forests, and the main tree species are birch, aspen, fir, ichthyosis pine, oak and so on. Among them, birch and aspen are not suitable for shipbuilding, and can only be used to build wooden houses, furniture, wooden barrels, etc.; However, the extremely large number of fir and oak forests can be used for shipbuilding, and these two kinds of trees are easy to process and corrosion-resistant, so there is no problem at all in using them to build fishing boats. Even those oak trees are not impossible to use to build warships, this tree belongs to the same family as the oak trees planted in large quantities on the east coast and the oak trees in Europe and North America, and the texture is similar, making it a very ideal ship material.

The people on the east coast also set up a logging camp next to the coal mine in the mountains. Xing Damu, the former county magistrate of Wendeng County, Ninghai Prefecture, was in charge of the former Dashun Dengzhou Prefecture. Xing Damu was the one who warned the people on the east coast that the Laiyang squires wanted to raise troops to march eastward, and in history, this person was killed by the Laiyang gentry and landlords less than a month after he took office. The locals "buried it next to the east road of Xiangyan Temple", and "there are still people sweeping the grave on the Cold Food Festival a hundred years later", which shows that he is not a cruel person, at least he did not harm the local people in the last month, and may have done some good deeds.

Fearing that the people on the east bank of Yantai Fort would raise troops to retaliate, this Laiyang gentry army hesitated for a long time at the edge of the county, but still did not dare to attack it. After Mo Ming learned about this incident, he immediately ordered Xing Damu, who was nominally under his control, to bring money and food and his entourage to evacuate Wendeng in order to shrink the battle line. After Xing Damu arrived in Yantai, Mo Ming arranged for him to be here in Heishui Port. When he first arrived here, Xing Damu was still a little uncomfortable, but when he realized that King Chuang had been defeated and who had the final say on Denglai's side, he quickly turned the corner, took a group of entourage to cut his hair short, changed into the "work clothes" of the people on the east bank, and served as the director of the logging camp and the timber processing factory by the Heishui River below the mountain.

Xing Da was born as a carpenter, and his skills were originally passable, but he had been fighting and killing for so many years, but his skills were a little wasted. After taking over the logging camp and timber processing plant, he learned how to install and use woodworking machinery such as hydraulic saws with two technicians from the East Coast. The three of them later recruited more than 20 carpenters among the immigrants, as well as many more apprentices, and then put the lumber processing plant up and running. It was also thanks to this wood processing plant, which used simple hydraulic processing machinery, that the East Coast was able to obtain a steady stream of various types of wood, barrels, crates, wagons, shields, and other much-needed equipment.

The remaining two ships will be completed by the middle of this month. At that time, they will sail with another North Korean fishing boat to the waters near the island to catch the abundant abundance of humpback salmon. The other ships will sail in batches to various salmon migration routes, such as the Heilongjiang estuary, the Tumen estuary, and the Bolonay River, to ensure that more fish can be caught to replenish the dwindling food resources on hand.

As of yesterday, the people on the east coast had less than 500 tons of grain in their hands, and this still added more than 6,000 stone of grain that had recently been captured from North Korea and 5,000 stone of grain that had been demanded from Guo Sheng. In addition to the fact that the population under his rule (plus the nearly 1,000 women captured from North Korea) has reached more than 46,000 people, another more important reason is that the 7,000 acres of farmland sown in Heishui and Dabo have consumed a total of about 7,800 tons of potatoes.

In order to save food, starting in late May, Mo Ming ordered the Ming immigrants who refused to get a haircut to be reduced from three meals to two, and reduced or even stopped their already small supply of fish and meat. At the same time, he also let all kinds of ships under his jurisdiction go to sea to fish as soon as they have time. However, now the 500 tons of grain reserves are already very pitiful, and they may not be enough for everyone to last for 20 days. The first batch of grain will not be harvested until around August 20, and there is a 20-day window in between, which is not so easy to get through.

Fortunately, it is not without good news. Starting in the middle of the month, the annual salmon season is approaching, and with the gradual completion of boats, equipment and nets this year, the harvest should far exceed last year's. With these fish and meat, plus nearly 2,200 livestock of various types in hand, we can almost survive the first grain harvest. The 2,000 acres of potatoes in Heishui Port are in their second year this year, and with the selection of seeds, it is conservatively estimated that more than 800 tons can be harvested; In late August, about four or five thousand acres of sweet potatoes and corn outside Yantai Fortress can also be harvested, which can almost harvest more than 1,200 tons; In September, the 5,000 acres of potatoes reclaimed by Dabo can be harvested; In mid-October, 2,500 acres of spring wheat on Rishiri Island can be harvested.

In this way, the grain was revitalized all at once. And if the grain harvest at Yantai Fortress goes well, maybe they will have time to plant another crop of potatoes, and the harvest will be almost at the end of November. However, at that time, if nothing else, Yantai was already snowing heavily, and it was still said whether the potatoes would freeze or not; Moreover, in the second half of the year, the Qing army is likely to come over to attack the city in a big way, and once the farmland outside the city is destroyed, the gains outweigh the losses, so it is better not to risk the planting, so as not to waste precious grain.

From October, as the wind direction in the northern hemisphere changes, migrants will be loaded onto ships and shipped to Australia, and the rate of food consumption will be greatly reduced. In order to increase the intake of animal protein for the displaced people, so as to enhance their physique and better adapt to the life of the voyage, in addition to distributing nearly 900 pack horses to various cultivated fields and leaving 500 war horses in Yantai Fortress for later use, they also sent more than 800 cattle and sheep in their hands to Rebun Island next to Rishiri Island by boat.

Rebun Island covers an area of more than 80 square kilometers and has a moderate climate, high forest coverage, and plenty of grassland, so food is abundant. In addition, the island is located in the warm current of Japan, the temperature is not so cold, the port is not frozen in winter, and the temperature in the coldest month does not exceed minus 20 degrees. Therefore, there is no need to send people to stay behind to take care of these livestock for the winter, so that they can reproduce on their own, and when the population is large enough, it can organize people to come to hunt, which is very cost-effective. Moreover, not only cattle and sheep, but also a considerable number of reindeer were purchased from the natives of Sakhalin, and all the live moose, roe deer, and other animals they caught were sent to the island to reproduce on their own.

This island is small in size, but rich in food, and it is a natural pasture given by God to the people of the East Coast. Since April, 352 cattle, 508 sheep, 241 reindeer, 305 roe deer, 72 moose and 8 wild boars have been released to the island. With the abundant food sources in this area, the absence of predators, and the regular patrols of the East Coast Fleet, which put an end to poaching by outsiders, it is believed that the population of these released animals will increase dramatically after years of free reproduction, and then the East Coast people will have a stable source of meat. (To be continued......)