On October 20, 1643, heavy snow fell in the sky over the port of Heise, and according to the Koreans who stayed here last year, the snow was already relatively late this year, and the first snow fell in early October last year.

As the temperature plummeted, the black soldiers, who had often gone out to hunt, gave up their hobbies and hid in their houses one by one to make the winter. If they were not assigned to the duty task, they would never go out, and one by one they hid on the warm earthen kang with the North Korean women assigned to them doing what they loved, they were really afraid of the cold climate here.

The wheel kiln located on the bank of the Heishui River has been completely completed a few days ago, the workers piled up a large number of dead branches and leaves into it, and then ignited the kiln body for several days, and the day before yesterday some technicians from the local support came to accept it, and the result was qualified, the kiln can be produced. However, considering the cold weather now, this year's round of kilns may not have much chance to be used, and the workers are currently taking out a considerable part of the clay from the vicinity of the Heishui River in the last few days, striving to fire a batch of bricks before freezing.

The small earthen kilns in the city have been running tenaciously these days, and the supply of 60,000 or 70,000 bricks for the city wall or two or three hundred thousand standard bricks per month has never been interrupted. Most of the bricks were loaded onto ships and transported to the southern port of Yantai, where they were used to build a fortress. Due to the shortage of building materials and the lack of enough manpower and materials to dig the rocks, there are now only a few brick buildings in the city of Blackwater, namely the government hall, the arsenal, the dock warehouse – and of course, an underground ice cellar. Among them, given the sheer size of the planned dock warehouse. Only a small part of it has been built. It is used to store various materials such as commodities, grain, and tools transported from the country.

The size of the government office is not large. At present, there are only seven or eight rooms on two floors, and there is a small attic with a spire above. The outside of the wall is plastered with a layer of lime, which looks miserable and white, and the building with a large spire resembles the usual style of the Russians, especially the curved wall design in the center of the government hall, which is very different from the horizontal and vertical architectural style of the East Coast people, and looks somewhat exotic.

Each room has a fireplace, so that the room is warm. It is very comfortable on a cold winter day. The various high-level technicians who had come from the local support were fortunate enough to live with Mo Ming in the "most luxurious" building in Blackwater Harbor so far, and due to the limited number of rooms, they usually needed several people to squeeze into a room, except for Lola. Out of some unknown consideration, this brilliant ship designer was assigned a separate room with a relatively spacious and rather well-decorated room, right next door to someone.

At this time, although it was snowing heavily, the temperature was not low enough to work, so most of these technicians were still busy in their respective construction sites or factories, so the entire government hall seemed empty. Especially in the hall downstairs, except for a soldier who was adding charcoal to the fireplace. There were no more superfluous people, and Mo Ming even had to pour wine for the guests who came from afar.

"Imamura-kun. It's too late. Mo Ming smiled and poured a cup of Xiangshan dry red for Yoshinosuke Imamura, who was sitting in front of him, and then said: "After saying goodbye to Dabo back then, we all thought that you had no interest in doing business with us, and Li Yi regretted it for a while. It's just that I didn't expect us to meet today, so Imamura-kun must have good news when he came this time? ”

Kojiro, who was sitting on the side, faithfully took on the job of translation.

"The clan was busy with war a while ago, and I didn't have time to take care of anything else. In addition, many of the elders of the clan also disagreed with the trade between you and us, so it took a long time to persuade them. Imamura Yoshinosuke bowed slightly, and said with some apologies: "The day before yesterday, after careful consideration, the feudal lord decided to agree to trade with you, but it must still be done in the name of Shandan trade. In addition, the trading place is also located in Da Bo Port, so as not to cause unnecessary trouble, you can have doubts? ”

"It doesn't matter to us what form of trade it is, we just care about whether the trade can be carried out normally." Mo Ming smiled, "It doesn't matter if the trading location is set in Dabo, we will open a business hall in Dabo, and you can come to trade at any time." However, what kind of payment method are you going to use? ”

"We will pay for the goods in gold, please rest assured." Yoshinosuke Imamura looked into Mo Ming's eyes and said without hesitation: "Of course, if you need to change it, or use things for things, we can also consider it at our discretion, and there is no problem with this." ”

"I think it's better to change all or part of the payment into kind, for example, if we need to buy some sulfur, grain and other materials from you, will you find it a little difficult? In addition, if you can recruit some samurai who are struggling to make a living for us in the domain or in Japan, we will also give us a considerable introduction fee, which can be deducted from the purchase price. Mo Ming continued to ask.

In fact, this is the focus of his attention, it is naturally good to trade with the Japanese and recover a pile of gold and silver, but if a considerable part of this gold and silver can be exchanged for sulfur, grain and other materials urgently needed in the Heishui region, or if some Japanese samurai can be recruited to serve as cannon fodder, it will be quite cost-effective. Of these, sulfur is estimated to be less of a problem, and the price will be relatively cheaper. But there are some problems with food, because obviously, there is not much food in Japan, especially the Matsumae Domain, which is located in a bitter cold land, and its own grain may have to be purchased from other domains, so how can there be excess grain to sell to outsiders?

As for recruiting some Japanese samurai, it shouldn't be difficult, but the number will certainly not be too much. Japan had been at peace for several years, and the unemployed samurai either went abroad to earn a living, such as for the Dutch, Portuguese, and British as mercenaries in the East Indies; Either they have been engaged in other industries and completely abandoned their old professions. Therefore, asking the Matsumae clan to help recruit some wild samurai to serve as cannon fodder cannot be hoped for, and can only be used as some supplements.

Sure enough, I saw Yoshinosuke Imamura speak after groaning. He had apparently thought about these issues beforehand, and had more or less the authorization of some feudal lords, so he quickly replied, "There is no problem with the sulfur, we can sell it in large quantities." But food is difficult and we ourselves are nervous, so I'm really sorry. But we'll do our best to help you figure out how to get some money from other daimyos, but the price can be a bit high, so please forgive me. As for your suggestion that we need to recruit a large number of samurai from our country, I can only tell you the truth, first, that there are not too many of them, and second, that many of them are no longer samurai, or the descendants of samurai, and they may have some skills, but they are not noble samurai after all. I do not wish to deceive Your Excellency on this point, as it would damage the credibility of the domain. But I can assure them that with a little training, they are still qualified sergeants, after all, most of them were trained in their early years. ”

"Imamura-kun is really a straightforward person, and I like to be friends with straightforward people." Mo Ming said with a smile, "Please worry a lot about the problem of food, we will give Imamura-kun and your clan a reasonable price, please rest assured." As for these samurai or samurai descendants you mentioned, we also recruit them together, and it doesn't hurt to bring them with them, and they are well paid. After three years of service, we will divide the land among them, a house for each person, a cow, 30 acres of land, and a generous retirement payment. If they die in battle, their families will also receive a generous pension, and their children will be raised by the state, and they will be given priority to recruit into the army, the government, or factories, so that everyone can kill the enemy without worry. ”

"Oh, such generous conditions?" Yoshinosuke Imamura was also a little moved. If the people of the East Coast can really fulfill these conditions, then many poor and down-to-earth samurai may also have to vote for their families. These people are not very afraid of death in order for their families to live better, all they lack is a bid worthy of their lives.

Mo Ming nodded and said, "There are also some officers and soldiers in our army who were born as Japanese wild samurai, and Imamura can ask them." We, the people of the East Coast, never lie and do what we say, and ask Imamura-kun to inform him widely when he returns. ”

"I'll think about it." Yoshinosuke Imamura said, "So, let's discuss the types, prices, and quantities of the products you can offer......

The two sides then held lengthy negotiations, and it was not until the afternoon that a preliminary agreement was finally reached. The terms of the agreement were roughly as follows: The Matsumae clan demanded that the people of the east coast sell them a range of combat equipment at preferential prices, ranging from artillery, plate armor, and flintlock rifles, to cowhide ammunition packs, machine-made sabers, leather armor, hand-thrown bombs, and even cotton coats, military boots, liquor, and barbed wire. The price and quantity are mutually agreed upon by the two parties once a year in Dabo, and the place of transaction is also set up in the commercial hall of the East Coast people in Dabo.

At the same time, the Matsumae Domain was to sell large quantities of sulfur, some grain and seafood, herbs, Ainu slaves captured in the war, and other materials to the people on the east coast; In addition, they will do their best to help the Toshiki people recruit some samurai from the Matsumae Domain and even in Japan, and the Toshiki people will give a certain referral fee for this. The Matsumae Domain will make up for the above shortfall with a gold payment.

After the discussion, everyone breathed a sigh of relief. Naturally, the Matsumae Domain was full of ambition and prepared to launch a larger offensive against the Ainu in Ezo; And the people on the east coast also got some strategic materials that they urgently needed, such as sulfur, grain, herbs, etc., and they were all happy.

I don't know how big this business will be, how long it will last, what the shogunate's attitude will be towards it, and whether it will ask the Matsumae Domain to ban this trade, but this will be a matter for later. It is a lump sum that can be done in front of him, and when the time comes, it is a big deal to transfer more benefits and let the Matsumae clan go to the shogunate by himself, and it should not be a big problem. (To be continued......)