The Amur River in late October is already getting colder, especially in this year, and it is even colder.

The steam-engined sailing ship "Fenshui" had just returned from upstream, and they picked up more than 200 Shandan people on the north bank of the river, and by the way sent them a considerable amount of hay, grain, cotton clothing, honeycomb coal, spirits, and other materials. Only half of the hundreds of Henan soldiers assigned to Henggon Village last year survived, and nearly 400 emaciated Henanese died on the banks of the Amur River due to heavy labor, harsh climate, and unaccustomed water and soil. It's hard for outsiders to adapt to the climate here!

In fact, if the climate of the Dabo region is milder than that of the Amur River, the mortality rate of the residents who settled here in the first year is about 15%-20% if they survive the winter. Of course, if you survive the first year, then you will basically get used to the climate here, and with the deepening of the Dabo development process and the vigorous construction of masonry huts with fireplaces and fire pits, the mortality rate of residents has plummeted, and even some newborn children can adapt to the place very well.

Compared to Da Bo, the mortality rate of the first year of settlement in the colder climate of Blackwater Port is quite low. This is mainly due to the improvement of urban facilities and the advanced housing system of residents, which can effectively ensure the winter life of residents. The coal mines outside the city continue to deliver fuel to the city, transported by pack horses in the summer and from the river by sleds in the winter, in short, 24 hours a day, in preparation for the arrival of the peak coal use season after the beginning of spring.

To be honest, the coal produced by the Heishui Coal Mine is extremely high-quality hard coal, which is a very ideal thermal coal. If there is no coal mine. It could be argued that most of the ships of the Blackwater Temporary Task Force on the East Coast - mainly those sailing ships - will become furnishings. There is simply no way to effectively shoulder the burden of transporting migrants. And this. It is also the reason why the people of the East Coast chose the port of Blackwater as the core city of the Far East, a city born of coal.

Quarries, lumber yards, and coal mines outside the city continue to operate in winter. In those days, the Russians in Siberia had to work their fields and prepare hay for their livestock for the winter in other seasons, so they had only time to come out in the winter to earn some cash income through mining, many of which were gold, logging and tanning leather, so that they would have enough cash to pay to the wolf-like tax collectors after the beginning of spring. Many of them work outdoors, even in the freezing cold of minus 30 or 40 degrees. Later generations such as Bervi and Chekhov (who was exiled to Sakhalin) used their own personal experiences and guò literature to tell the history of the difficult development of Russian peasants in Siberia and the Far East.

The inhabitants of Sakhalin work in winter. The same is true of Temple Street and Henggon Village on the banks of the Amur River. For example, at this time, on the wharf of Temple Street, a large number of Shandan women were lined up, using the soda ash transported by the people from the east coast to start tanning leather. The leather is mainly sheep skin, occasionally mixed with a small amount of mink, fox skin, wolf skin, bear skin and other precious furs. In the early autumn of this year, a group of wild sheep were caught in the barren meadow north of Temple Street, numbering about 3,000 wild sheep. After a painstaking hunt, the Shandan hunters succeeded in capturing most of the wild sheep, and after curing about half of them with precious salt, also brought by the people from the east coast, the remaining wild sheep were kept in a centralized manner as reserve food.

Nowadays, all kinds of furs, cured meats, and animal fats are sold to the lords of the East Coast. It has become an important income for the residents of Henggon Village and Temple Street. The old men of the East Coast sold skinning knives, salt and soda ash on credit to the bitter Daurs, Oroqins, and Buryats, and then let them pay for them with tanned leather, salted meat, and animal fat. If there is a surplus of goods sold. Then the people of the East Coast will also buy some leather shoes, cotton clothes, spirits, tobacco, cane sugar, and the like, in order to recover the cash they may have left.

Of course, if you want to "get rich quick", then you have to fight for the East Coasters. Don't you see those warriors who have returned from going out to fight, which one is not bulging in the waist and rich in wealth? Sweet cane sugar, spicy tobacco, strong liquor, warm cotton clothes, which is not just to buy it, not only to eat, wear and enjoy it, but even the family members have been stained a lot. Therefore, under such a demonstration effect, more and more Shandan people tend to join the army to fight, and eventually it gradually becomes a popular trend.

This time, the "Fenshui" steam engine sailing ship went to Henggon Village in the upstream area to pick up more than 200 sturdy young men, who were the new batch of Shandan people who had joined the army. They will gather the more than 300 people they had gathered at Temple Street and then go to the pier on Rishiri Island to wait for the boat to transport them away. Yes, you read that right, they didn't go to Jeju or Yantai, but to the East Coast mainland. They will take a boat to Australia with the ordinary migrants, and then wait for the ship to transport them back to the East Coast.

In view of the deteriorating relations with the Spaniards, Peng Zhicheng's letter to Mo Ming also asked Mo Ming to recruit some soldiers who could adapt to the cold fighting environment, so that in case of war with the Spaniards, the East Coasters could gain a foothold in the cold southern part of Chile, and then attack the Spanish colonists in Chile together with the Araucan guerrillas. As a naturally hardy Shandan person, it is natural that he is an excellent candidate tailored to this action. Their hunger and cold-tolerant nature, simplicity and loyalty, coupled with their untouched wildness and excellent wilderness survival and ambush skills, will definitely make a lasting impression on the Spaniards in south-central Chile.

In contrast to the reluctance of the Ming people to leave their homeland, these less civilized Shandan people felt little nostalgic and expressed optimism about starting a new adventure in the distant New World. For them, as long as there is money to take, meat to eat, wine to drink, warm clothes to wear, and women to sleep in, then there is no doubt that there is heaven there. It doesn't matter what New World or Old World they are in, they only care about their own lives.

Henggon Village and Temple Street were siphoned off nearly 600 strong, and if it was in the past, it would definitely hurt the vitality of any large tribe. However, in today's growing population of both places, this is not a big problem. In just one year from last year to this year, more than 2,000 outsiders have come to the two walled cities, including more than 1,200 people who have defected to Temple Street and more than 800 people who have gone to Henggon Village, making the population of the two places reach about 3,000 respectively.

Coupled with the fact that this year, the people on the east bank sent more than 1,000 soldiers of the Qing army's Green Battalion who had been captured in Jiangbei to the Amur River valley, and at the same time sent 7 or 800 young women from Jeju Island to this place, so it is certain that the population of this fertile black land has exploded. A few months ago, with the approval of Mo Ming, the leader of the Blackwater Pioneer Team, the third place of restraint for the people on the east bank of the Amur River - Jiangdongzhai near the later Russian Malinskoye was officially established. In addition to more than 1,000 Qing troops and more than 700 Korean women, there were more than 100 wounded and retired soldiers from the front team, as well as more than 400 Shandan people who defected from nearby.

The more than 2,500 settlers have now built winter camps and a makeshift wooden dock, and with the food, hay and livestock brought in by the people from the east coast, they will be able to survive the winter. In addition, after the river freezes in winter, they can get in touch with Henggon Village and Temple Street downstream through guò sleds, and even if there is a slight shortage of supplies or cold materials, they can also borrow some from these two places temporarily. Although these two "old settlements" are still not completely self-sufficient in grain this year, the shortfall is not large, and if we count the large number of salmon, wild sheep and other animals caught in autumn, then there is still a certain surplus of grain, and there is no problem at all in supporting the new settlement of Jiangdongzhai.

Constantly moving into the Amur River valley to the Ming people, and at the same time conscripting local Shandan Qingzhuang to fight on the mainland and even on the east coast, Mo Mingmo Marshal has made it clear what he thinks about this land, which is to greatly change the rhythm of the population composition here! With the fertile land of the Amur River Basin, even in the current cold climate, only one season of rye or oats can be grown a year, and the grain harvest will never be bad. In addition, there are very rich fishery resources and animal resources here, and if the population density is not particularly large, there is no reason why it will not survive. The Russians can survive in colder places than this, so even if the people on the east coast are inferior to each other in terms of adaptability, they will eventually be able to put down roots here over time. After accumulating a certain amount of population and materials, it will be able to provide a rear supply base for the eastern-bank army going south, so that the Qing army in the Ningguta area will not be at peace from now on.

The mayor of Temple Street, appointed by the people of the east coast, soon sent more than 300 able-bodied men to the steamship of the people of the east coast, and then carried a batch of hundreds of various furs on the ship, saying that they were going to Rishiri Island to register their transactions. After a brief farewell to their families, these fearless Shandan newcomers sat quietly on the deck of the "Fenshui", looking at the back of the fading town, looking forward to their next good life.

After carefully avoiding two ice floes, the "Split" raised its sails and then drove faster and faster under the influence of a strong northwesterly wind. Soon, the four big characters "Glory of Being a Soldier" painted with lime water on the wooden lighthouse on the temple street pier in the distance became smaller and smaller, gradually becoming a string of small dots and then disappearing from everyone's field of vision. (To be continued......)