Chapter 118 Yang Zhen is in the Northeast

Winter in the north goes a little late.

This is especially the case here in Yang Zhen.

Yang Zhen has spent a long winter here.

This is a river port near the mouth of the Heilongjiang River.

They built a lot of wooden houses near the port. But of the more than 100 people who followed Yang Zhen to the north, three of them still froze to death. There is no way around it.

However, now the people under Yang Zhen's command are not less, but more and better. The reason is simple.

Ever since humans left the African continent, they have survived in most parts of the planet except Antarctica. The environment in the Outer Northeast is certainly fierce. But not to the point where it is completely impossible for people to live.

It's just that winter makes it more difficult for these people to survive, looking for food in the ice and snow to survive. Make these people more aggressive. Before Yang Zhen came, he brought a lot of food, not only just in case, but also hard currency here. The most sought-after item.

Yang Zhen's materials were naturally discovered by these savages. An attack was launched on Yang Zhen's situation.

Of course, under the equipment of the Ming soldiers, these people did not gain any benefits.

However, Yang Zhen was not moved by a little victory, he knew very well what he was here to do. He didn't come here to kill a few savages. It's about doing things, doing business, the best fur suppliers for these people.

So instead of punishing these people, Yang Zhen exchanged food for their furs.

Soon, Yang Zhen's temporary mooring place. A place that doesn't even have a serious name has become a well-known trading center. There was a large gathering of people. A small town was formed. Exchange of goods.

And the price of fur is very, very low. Just one thing. You can understand how low it is, the price of fur is calculated according to weight. That is, it is generally three times the weight of grain for fur. You know, the fur that can be left behind by these people. It's all good skin.

After all, these are the people who make a living from fishing and hunting. Fur is not only the source of their clothes, but also a by-product of their lives.

They eat their prey and have a lot of fur left. A lot of ordinary fur, they don't care. Let them keep. It's all good skin. For example, the snow fox skin that is as white as snow, such as the tiger skin that does not have a knife edge on it, and so on.

Of course, these people are not stupid.

I don't know the price of these furs.

Although these furs are here, they are naturally not as good as those in the Central Plains, and the price is simply not easy. But it's not something that food can be exchanged for. It's just that they have too little food in stockpiles.

In the cold of winter, the extra fur is of no use at all, but food can save lives.

The price is understandable.

The grain brought by Yang Zhen was probably only more than 1,000 stones. In Liaodong, there are about three hundred taels of silver. Grain prices are slightly more expensive in the north. But it changed the fur of a whole boatload.

Although Yang Zhen also saw that these people's methods of fur processing were far inferior to those of the Central Plains craftsmen. But the quality of these furs themselves is too good. After reprocessing, this boatload of fur was at least thousands of taels, if not 10,000 taels.

Especially some treasures. Yang Zhen didn't know how to estimate it.

On the one hand, Yang Zhen was in Nanyang before, and he was not too familiar with the price of fur, and on the other hand, it was because the fur was too good. It's so good that it's priceless. It depends on what price you sell.

In addition, the goods brought by Yang Zhencong, whether it is light tools, knives and guns. and so on. It was also exchanged for something other than fur, such as golden sand, for example, pearls. Jewel. There are also some precious medicinal herbs and so on.

In short, Yang Zhen didn't know how much profit he had, ten times his strength. No, at least a dozen times.

And Yang Zhen also earned a lot of people.

Some lost the tribe in the winter. The tribes in the mountains and forests are not the big tribes in the grasslands. There are only two or three hundred people in one tribe. Even less, it is not uncommon for an entire tribe to die in extreme weather.

It is difficult for people who have lost their tribe to survive in the mountains and forests, and these people usually defect to the new tribe. Or be taken into slavery by other tribes. In the eyes of these people, the caravan led by Yang Zhen is actually a tribe.

And then there's the slave.

The entire Outer Northeast region, in the eyes of the Chinese, is a bitter cold and barren land. But in the eyes of these people, it is their home. Nature has its own survival system. Even because of the war between the Yuan court and the Ming Dynasty, many Han people fled here.

This is the power that Yang Zhen can use.

Yang Zhen recruited dozens of people. Prepare to build a stronghold here. Leave people on guard. Although there are only a few dozen people. But Yang Zhen is not worried about their safety either. On the one hand, they had weapons, well-established fortifications, and the people here, although of good personal qualities. But the understanding of war is still too shallow.

On the other hand, it is the tribes here that kill each other. There are even some feuds, but instead they will not attack the merchants.

Because the more remote the place, the more you understand the benefits of the caravan. Even when the Mongols marched and fought, they did not kill the caravans. These tribes also inherited this style.

And Yang Zhen is going back at this moment.

He went north last year and set up three strongholds along the coastline, and this was the last one, and even when he came here, the Heilongjiang River had already begun to freeze. Taking advantage of the last period of time, wooden houses were built, which can be regarded as allowing most people to survive the winter safely.

He went back to inspect the other two strongholds, and at the same time wanted to go back to Liaodong to buy goods.

And prepare to go up this river in the future to see where it goes. At least at this moment, Yang Zhen doesn't know that this river is connected to the Songhua River.

It didn't take long to go down the river from the Heilongjiang River into the sea, and the ships tossed and turned in the sea breeze, and in a short time, they saw the east coast. This is the island of Khugu, that is, the later Sakhalin Island.

Yang Zhen's other stronghold is here.

At this time, the ecological environment of Sakhalin Island, as well as the human environment, was not much different from the estuary of the Heilongjiang River. It's just the same. There are not many people in Yang Zhen's stronghold here, but two or three hundred. A considerable number of them are still Japanese people.

Fortunately, it is far away from the dispute between Japan and the Ming Dynasty. In other words, the war there is only a war between countries, and it does not have much to do with each specific person.

In that environment, everyone fought for their own situation. Now, out of that environment, there are few people who are willing to fight to the end for the emperor.

The harvest here is also full.

In this way, the fleet loaded with a large number of boats and fur slowly went south, passing by Sado Island on the way, but I saw Sado Island from a distance, and thick smoke billowed up, which seemed to be a coordinate between the sea and the sky. A lighthouse.

Yang Zhen muttered secretly in his heart, he could see it from such a distance. I don't know what these people are doing on the island? Or a volcanic eruption, or a fire.

However, Yang Zhen just put this matter down after a while.

Because he had been warned before he came, no matter what the circumstances, he was not allowed to approach Sado Island, which was garrisoned by troops with a large number of guards, and many others. There are more than 10,000 Han Chinese on Sado Island.

It can be said that it is the place with the highest density of Han people in a radius of hundreds of miles.

But what to do on Sado Island? These are all military secrets and must not be interrogated. Yang Zhen didn't mean to ask, he passed Sado Island, and soon came to his first stronghold, which already had a name.

It's called Xuanyang.

Because this is the focus of business, as soon as he arrived, Yang Zhen hung up the signboard of Xuanyang Society. The local natives did not understand the meaning, so it became the place name. Later, there were more people who called, so they followed.

And at this moment, Xuanyang has become a small stronghold because of ugliness. It's a small town.

Built near the sea, there is a natural harbor, and there are about more than 10,000 people. Naturally, some of them were sailors who followed Yang Zhen, and there were also Japanese people. The rest were the Jurchen tribes who came from all over the country to do business, and even the Mongols who came from afar.

Although they are all in the northeast, they are not the same as the bitter cold land in the Heilongjiang estuary area. There are not even big tribes over there, because there are too many people, they can't afford to raise them, so they have to separate tribes. But here it is completely different.