After all, the situation is stronger than people, and Barkin and others don't have too good choices. Kill the Cossacks, then don't expect the Russians to give up on you, they have a few hundred Cossacks in Yakutsk, they will roar to raze this small village to the ground, and then quickly rob the vanquished of all their belongings.

Liu Haiyang only waited for half an hour, and then he got a satisfactory answer: this Feiyaka tribe was willing to submit to the rule of the people on the east coast, and paid fifteen catties of gold dust to the people on the east coast as a tax for this year. There is a lot of gold placer in the Amur River valley, and many nearby tribes will pan for gold in some shallow waters, which is one of the reasons why the greedy Russians wanted to conquer it.

Given that the Fiyaka have already paid 480 mink skins and 16 mink jackets in Dabo, Liu Haiyang said that they have already paid their taxes this year. The people of the eastern coast were also ready to take the placer gold, but it was not in vain, and they left the Feyaka people with a lot of iron knives, bows and arrows taken from Jeju Island, in place of the rudimentary bone arrows they had used before.

As for the musket and armor, Liu Haiyang only symbolically gave five pieces each, which can be regarded as a meeting gift. In order to increase their enthusiasm, Liu Haiyang also made it clear to them that they could contact the various tribes living in the upper reaches of the Amur River and some of its tributaries, persuade them to move downstream, and the people on the east bank would give them shelter. For every family brought in, the people of the East Coast sold them a musket or a piece of armor as an incentive. These tribes paid taxes to Bogd Khan (the Manchu emperor) as well as to Tsarist Russia at the same time, and they were already overwhelmed. Every time the Russian tax collectors arrived, they always fled. It's like seeing something horrible.

Case. It's better to go to my Great East Coast Paradise as soon as possible. Everyone supports each other for mutual benefit and common prosperity. From the junction of the Amgun River (Henggon River) and the Amur River downstream to the mouth of the bay, except for a section of the sea mouth full of shallows and changeable currents, most of the sections of the river are wide and deep, and can be navigated by large ships, and the gunboats of the people on the east coast can even cruise here regularly to give them shelter. Moreover, this land is so fertile, and there are three freshwater lakes nearby: Lake Darizin, Lake Oriri, and Lake Chiria. It is definitely a natural place to develop agriculture.

In those days, the Cossacks in the Russian colonial strongholds such as Udiburg, Kiliansk Fort, and Yakutsk Fort did not farm, and most of their food supplies were collected from some nearby indigenous peoples, except for a small number of Russian bankrupt farmers who had migrated from the local area. These aborigines are essentially farming people, and although the level of cultivation is not good, they are better than the fertile land, which produces a lot of oats, rye and other agricultural products every year. Coupled with the occasional fishing, hunting, and grazing activities, the standard of living of these people was quite acceptable before the Russians and Manchurians colonized them.

However, as the Manchurians sent troops to recruit them year after year, the whole village and the land were either killed or captured (to be soldiers). Their population declined rapidly, and many tribes did not regain their population in the late Ming Dynasty after the founding of the state in 49 years. And the walled cities and villages where they lived were destroyed by the Manchurians. After the great withering of the people, the scattered Cossacks who rushed over from Yeniseysk and other places smiled crookedly. Wherever they went, there was little talk of large-scale resistance, and often 70 Cossack cavalry could cross a thousand versts; Poyarkov's expedition of 130 men (less than half of them Cossacks) traversed many rivers, trekked more than 7,000 versts, lasted three years, fought with countless tribes and tribes along the way, and was able to return to Yakutsk safely after the last day.

A few years ago, the Sauronians were able to raise an army of 6,000 against the Manchurians, but now it's hard to get them to make a 1,000 army. There are two reasons for this, one is that the number of people has decreased rapidly after being arrested by the Manchus, and the other is that the tribesmen who originally lived together have scattered all over the place, and it is difficult to gather again. And these scattered tribesmen, because of their weak strength, became the best targets for exploitation by the Cossacks, such as the Balkin tribe. Therefore, it is quite possible for the Balkin tribe to find a way to persuade some of the small scattered tribes in the vicinity to move to settle in the Amgun, Amur and Three Lakes areas, provided that you can shelter them from their safety.

Once they settle down, there is no doubt that every year they will create an unparalleled wealth for the East Coasters. Placer gold, precious furs, horses, deer antlers, ginseng, dried fish, meat and milk, oats, rye, and most importantly, a source of good soldiers, all the people on the east coast had to pay was to teach them some "modern" defenses, and to send gunboats to cruise the Amur River regularly to protect them from exploiting them at will by the greedy Cossacks and the Bogd Khan of Manchuria.

Such a request is not very difficult for the East Coasters. They only need to send a gunboat to the Heilongjiang River every ten days and half a month before the port freezes in October every year, and by the way they have some trade with these tribesmen, and they basically fulfill their obligations in this regard. If possible, they could also send some troops here on a regular basis to deter the already somewhat unscrupulous Russians in the vicinity.

Last year, Mo Ming had already written to the mainland asking for the construction of some river gunboats with shallow draft and fast sailing. This kind of inland river shallow water gunboat technology content is not very large, and the horsepower is only 15-20 horses enough for exploration, escort and various battles in the inland river. When these inland gunboats were brought to the Far East, the Amur River Basin, the Tumen River Basin, the Liao River, the Yalu River, the Han River, and other rivers that were considered a daunting path by the big ships would be conquered by the people on the east bank. The East Bank army would then be able to move further along the river to attack inland towns instead of being confined to the coastal zone. And with this kind of shallow gunboat, the people on the east coast may be able to build some small docks in the Amur River, and they can be stationed here in the future, and the deterrent effect will be greater.

Barkin and others were quite satisfied with the incentives given by Liu Haiyang. And looking at their confident appearance, it is estimated that they can pull many people over this time. These indigenous villages should have some connection with each other, and at this time they were suffering from the Russian conquest, and there were still many people willing to settle in the lower reaches of the Amur River.

Liu Haiyang was accompanied by several engineers from Heishui Port, who were all excellent talents trained on the east coast, and the city walls, urban buildings and launching facilities of Heishui Port were basically designed by them. This time, Liu Haiyang was ordered by Mo Ming to bring them all over and guide these Feiyaka people to build a walled city. Their original stockade was really unruly and had no defenses at all, and it was hoped that under the guidance of these engineers, the Fiyakas would be able to build a decent fort out of wood and rammed earth.

Even if the fortress is made of wood and earth, if scientific methods are used, the walls will definitely not be vulnerable. Historically, the walls of Yaksa were made of wood, but they were covered with a layer of mud to prevent fire, but the Manchus had nothing to do with such a rudimentary fortress.

After arranging all this, Liu Haiyang saw that it was still early and decided to stay in this place for a while. The mountains and rivers here are beautiful and the climate is cool, so you should give yourself a holiday. His family has now taken over to live in Blackwater Harbor, which is also very close to here, and it must be nice to be able to take his family here by boat in the summer.

Some of the retinue, escorted by some soldiers, surveyed the terrain and drew maps in the vicinity, while others each led a small group of soldiers (50 men) to follow the guides of the Barjin tribe and trekked through mountains and rivers to the nearby area to contact some small tribes who had taken refuge in the vicinity to settle in the lower reaches of the Amur River. These soldiers are heavily armed and well-armed, and although their fighting qualities may not be good, they are enough to bluff.

From July 15 to September 20, in just over two months, a total of more than 10 small tribes of various ethnic groups in the vicinity, such as Daur, Oroqen, Fiyaka, Solon, and Buryatia, migrated over. These tribes have as few as twenty or thirty people (one clan) and as many as more than a hundred, and the total number of people is only eight or nine hundred, and they seem to be a group of bitter fellows, with no farm tools, no livestock, and no seeds. Liu Haiyang even doubted that if the people on the east coast didn't take the initiative to contact them, how would they survive this winter? Go and farm the Cossacks? Or did they move to the interior at the behest of the officials of Bogd Khan in Manchuria on the right bank of the Amur River?

Liu Haiyang shook his head, no matter how they lived, the current situation is that the number of aborigines here has reached about 1,200 (plus the Baljin tribe), and there is a possibility that it will continue to increase. With such a large number of surrendered population, it is indeed worth investing a little capital in the East Coast to operate.

On September 20, after allocating 200 men to the Barjin tribe to continue building their Henggon village (officially named), Liu Haiyang took the remaining nearly 700 men and his troops downstream, and he planned to build another winter camp near the mouth of the lower Amur River. At present, the gunboat "Tuna" is still moored outside the estuary, and it is not difficult to build a winter camp for several hundred people.

On 24 September, they were soon down the river and reached the vicinity of the estuary. Located on the north bank of the river, this winter camp is a natural river harbor with a wide and deep river that is convenient for large ships to moor. Liu Haiyang ordered the sailors on the ship to leave almost all the food for the aborigines, and also gave them seventy bows, fifteen muskets, fifteen pairs of armor, a hundred spears, and some cold materials such as cotton clothing, honeycomb coal, charcoal, and spirits.

After laying a stone monument to declare sovereignty and holding a flag-raising ceremony, Liu Haiyang requisitioned 50 hunters from among them to serve as a source of soldiers for the reconnaissance team directly under the 1st Wing Headquarters of the Advance Brigade, which was being formed. After promising them that they would come back with supplies and personnel at the beginning of spring next year, the gunboat Tuna left the mouth of the Amur River under the watchful eyes of the remaining 600 natives and returned to the port of Blackwater with all the personnel. (To be continued......)