6 September 1727, Boli City.

As soon as the "Beixue No. 6" river gunboat sailed into the port of Boli Harbor, a group of hawkers immediately rushed in, shouting enthusiastically at the officers and men of the Qi Navy who had disembarked one after another, hoping to attract the attention of these military masters from Shangguo and sell their goods.

As we all know, the military masters of the Qi State have a lot of money, and they have always been generous, and throwing a few big sons at will is enough for them to collect most of the day's income for these humble hawkers.

A group of Dongdan soldiers stationed at the dock quickly rushed over and forcibly drove away the hawkers who had gathered around them, so that they would not block the way of the officers and men of the Qi navy.

Boli City is located on the east bank of the confluence of the Heilongjiang River and the Ussuri River, and was the capital of the Bohai Sea at the earliest. In December 1674, in order to knock the disobedient Bohai State, the then Boli City Commander Zakana, with the support of Qi and the Northern Ming Dynasty, took advantage of the time when the Bohai lord Bahai led a large army to attack Liaodong, suddenly announced his independence, established the Eastern Dan State, and took the city as the capital, and took the territory west of the lower reaches of the Heilongjiang River.

It is also embarrassing to say that the Zhenzhou of Dongdan and Beiming (now part of Primorsky Krai and Khabarovsk Krai of Russia) is bounded by Heilongjiang, and the land of Jiangxi is Dongdan, and the land of Jiangdong belongs to Beiming, but its capital Boli is located in a narrow river valley in Jiangdong, and it is less than 20 miles out of the city to the boundary of Beiming.

It can be said that if the army of the Northern Ming Dynasty wants to attack Dongdan, they will have breakfast in the barracks and set off, and it is estimated that it will be less than lunch time to kill the city of Boli. Moreover, with the strong water strength of the Northern Ming Dynasty, a fleet can be sent from the mouth of the Heilongjiang River to Boli City, and the capital can be easily blocked, isolating the rescue of reinforcements from all walks of life.

Dongdan takes Boli as its capital, and it is proper that the Son of Heaven guards the country.

However, fortunately, since the founding of the People's Republic of China, Dongdan has also put itself in a good position, that is, to act as a strategic buffer between the Bohai Sea and the Northern Ming Dynasty, and at the same time as a wedge for the Qi State to be placed in the Heilongjiang River basin to control the strategic points in the Far East. In front of Bohai and Beiming, he is also low and small, very deferential, and does not easily offend the two parties.

The confluence of the two rivers is very advantageous, to the south can be from the Ussuri River or by land to Zhenzhou (now Vladivostok), to the West Sea (today's Benhai), to the east can be from the Heilongjiang River down the river, into the Daming Sea (now the Sea of Okhotsk), to the west can be along the river Shuo, sail to the middle reaches of the Heilongjiang River and the Jingqili River, connecting the hinterland of the Bohai State.

As a transportation hub between the Bohai Sea and the Beiming Dynasty, Boli City was able to make huge profits simply by virtue of its thriving transit trade.

Mink, bearskin, fox skin, ginseng, deer antler, and Dongzhu from Lingbei and Beihai gather here, and manufactured goods and daily necessities from the Northern Ming and Qi countries transit here, and countless immigrants from Korea, Japan, and Han China stop to rest and recuperate, and then go to their own places of desire.

After decades of development, Boli City has 80,000 residents, accounting for nearly 30% of the population of the entire Dongdan Kingdom, and is the largest port in the outer northeast region after Zhenzhou City.

In the past, this was just a wild area, and in the pre-Ming Dynasty, there was also a slave Gandu Division here, with the Jurchens as the garrison, and the rule was carried out. From the perspective of national defense and military, the area belongs to the border wall, and the Ming really have no interest in this, at most it is just a tribute trade of some tribal leaders and chiefs. They traveled thousands of miles to send some fur, ginseng, deer antler velvet and other local products, and the Ming court had to give back a bunch of gifts, anyway, they didn't make any money, only those barbarians happily took the gifts from the Ming Dynasty and rushed back to the deep mountains and old forests to enjoy the edification of the "civilized world".

Later, with the decline of the Ming Dynasty, the Nuer Gandu Division was basically abolished, and the connection with the Central Plains was also reduced, and the trade was intermittent, and it was completely cut off after the rise of the Jurchens. If it weren't for the access of the Jin merchants, the wealthy class of officials and merchants in the Ming Dynasty would probably have enjoyed all kinds of high-grade furs and medicinal materials such as old ginseng.

But now everything has changed.

The Northern Ming extended its influence to the east of the Ussuri River and the Heilongjiang River (downstream), while the Eastern Dan Kingdom continued to expand its space to the northeast along the Heilongjiang River, occupying a vast area east of the Sikhot-Alin Mountains and north of the Wudi River, and the Bohai State was even more so whose western borders were almost touching the Yenisei River Valley.

Under the conquest of several forces, the tribes and aborigines of the entire Lingbei and the outer northeast region were brought under the autonomy of each province and were well organized, and many tribes were organized into households to serve as obedient citizens who paid taxes and undertook military service.

In order to enhance strength, increase national strength and gather people's hearts, several countries, including the Dongdan State, actively promoted the assimilation policy, opened basic Chinese schools, and taught the aborigines to learn Chinese, practice Han customs, and wear Han clothes - although the upper echelons of Dongdan and Bohai are all Jurchens, but there is no decent Jurchen culture, and the Manchu script founded by Nurhachi and Huang Taiji for two generations, few people can write it at all, plus the influence of Qi and Beiming, after the founding of their respective countries, they all implemented sinicization in the country.

Ding Zhuang, who was famous for his bravery in the local tribe, was also conscripted into the army, and these people fought in the army for several years, basically becoming the basic plate of their respective countries. After being discharged, he returned to the tribe, and with the deliberate support of local grassroots officials, he also had a very high right to speak, and the tribal leaders and chiefs also had to be polite, which further consolidated the rule of the grassroots government.

According to the Qi people, advanced production technology and a high level of productivity were necessary to effectively rule over foreign races, or to put it more bluntly, to successfully colonize backward peoples and conquer new territories. Assimilation of alien races can only be achieved if the double crushing of civilization and force is achieved.

Thinking about the vast territory of the Shenzhou Continent in later generations, it took the descendants of Yan and Huang more than 2,000 years to successfully immigrate to all corners of the entire territory. The Three Kingdoms and the Two Jin Dynasty of the Han Dynasty developed the Pearl River Delta, Huguang and Jiangnan, but the intensity was far from enough, and it can only be said to be a warm-up; During the Sui and Tang dynasties, great efforts were made to develop Jiangnan, northern Zhejiang and Jiangxi, drain the local swamp water, reclaim fertile land, and transform the environment, and achieved fruitful results; The Song Dynasty developed two lakes, established cities, and resettled immigrants from the north, and the population of Huguang surged, so that "Huguang is familiar with the world"; On the basis of controlling Yunnan conquered by the Mongol and Yuan dynasties, the Ming Dynasty implemented the policy of changing the land and returning to the river in the southwest, and at the same time immigrated from the hinterland, changed the previous policy of restraint and began to advance towards actual control; Our Qing Dynasty continued to change the land in the southwest, and the wars fought for this were not one or two, killing the local Tusi chiefs that called a head rolling, and also occupied the Mongolian steppe, controlled the Western Regions, and the snow area (including part of Qinghai), and at the same time incorporated Manchuria into actual control; In 1931, there were more than 35 million Chinese in Manchuria, while Japan and Russia had only a few hundred thousand, less than one million, completely determining the local ethnic affiliation; In modern times, large-scale migration from the Western Regions, Qinghai, and snow areas has begun, and the local population structure has undergone fundamental changes. (Note)

If there is no substantial progress in the productive forces, then the development costs in the border areas and the so-called fetters will never be able to be reduced, and if the costs cannot be reduced, then the financial income will be beyond the means and it will be difficult to maintain them for a long time. As in the pre-Ming period, after decades of conquest of Annam, the input and output were seriously disproportionate, and finally they had to give up on their own initiative and let it stand on its own.

Therefore, throughout the more than 2,000 years of history in China, the development and consolidation of the mainland's basic plate is to boil frogs in warm water, take it slowly, invest a little bit at a time, and actually control a small piece, and when the conditions are ripe, cancel the local autonomy (fetters), organize households and people, and thoroughly digest it.

With the support of the Qi State, they had a large number of artillery, muskets, as well as gunboats and galleys that crisscrossed the rivers, supplemented by sharp spears and swords and hard armor, coupled with a civilization that was hundreds of years ahead, which was tantamount to a dimensionality reduction blow to the aborigines who were still in a state of ignorance. This allows the conquerors to skip a lot of foreplay and get straight to the point, without worrying about the feelings of the other party.

Those who go along prosper, and those who go against it die!

All the tribes and barbarians who refused to obey the king were mercilessly attacked by the conquerors, the stubborn were punished with capital punishment to set an example, and the rebels were degraded as slaves, and they could only spend the rest of their lives miserably in the mines, roads, rivers, docks, and plantations.

While trying to suppress and tame the local tribal aborigines, they are vigorously immigrating, constantly recruiting landless, landless, and even bankrupt farmers and refugees from Han China, Korea, and Japan, filling such a large area of fertile land and expanding its own base. Although the climate in the Outer Northeast is cold, it is not impossible to adapt. After living for two generations, it's basically no problem. They were engaged in agriculture and commerce in the local area, some of them opened workshops or worked as craftsmen, plus a small number of soldiers, officials, scribes and their families, basically propping up a new type of society, completely replacing the once ignorant and primitive "savage" way of life.

Today's Boli City, which combines the benefits of the two rivers, gathers popularity from all over the world, and collects goods from all over the world, has become the largest commercial distribution center, fur trading center and shipping center in the Heilongjiang River Basin, and the wealth created every year is much more than the accumulated wealth produced by the local aborigines in the past few hundred years.

As for the original tribal aborigines, they have become "ethnic minorities" and have been reduced to vassals of advanced "civilized races", and under the deterrence of high-pressure force and the influence of highly prosperous material civilization, they have to conform to the "general trend" and passively integrate into it.

The city of Boli is known as the most brilliant pearl on the Heilongjiang River by countless people, and it contributes more than eighty percent of the financial and tax revenue to the entire Dongdan country. Well, so to speak, if Boli City is breached by the enemy, the Dongdan Kingdom will be almost destroyed.

Oh, by the way, there is also a shipyard, a joint venture between Qi, Beiming and Dongdan, which can produce several types of river flats and offshore galleys, as well as carry out necessary repairs and maintenance of various boats, including steam engine sailboats, river steamers, gunboats, etc. The home port of the Heilongjiang Detachment jointly established by the Qi State and the Northern Ming Dynasty was located in Boli, and in addition to guarding this golden waterway, the meaning of deterring the Qin State by force was self-evident.

In the future, the development of Boli City will only be better, there is no doubt about it. This is because the Beiming and Qi states intend to eventually extend the Shuangzi Town (Zhou) Railway to Boli, thereby accelerating the turnover of goods and people between the two places, and also promoting the economic integration of the region.

This is definitely a shot in the arm for the economic development of Boli and even Dongdan, and it is also a strong booster. Railways can bring more people, more goods, more technology, and more capital, which is something that the people in the Outer Northeast have long been familiar with.

As the intersection of the two rivers and the trade distribution center, if there is a railway to Zhenzhou Port, it will theoretically also achieve rapid development, thereby driving the economic and population growth of the entire Dongdan country.

"Where are the people on those boats going to be transported?" Su Zujie, deputy captain of Beixue No. 6 and lieutenant (lieutenant) Renyong, stood on the dock, turned his head to look at three or four flat-bottomed boats, carrying more than 100 people and a large amount of supplies, slowly leaving the dock and heading towards the south, and couldn't help but ask curiously.

"Report to the sir, the Dongdan Kingdom is preparing to establish a military base on the Black Blind Island at the confluence of the two rivers as a peripheral defense support for Boli City." A Navy non-commissioned officer who came to greet him replied.

"Yo, the Dongdan Kingdom has also begun to take precautions and is ready to actively deal with the threat of the Qin State." Su Zujie said with a smile.

From the geographical point of view, the Black Blind Island is the natural barrier and gateway of Boli City, the terrain is dangerous, located at the mouth of the Ussuri River, controlling the main channel of the Heilongjiang River and the Ussuri River, and is the throat of the Black and Ussuri Rivers, and its strategic position is very important.

The island is not an island in the middle of a river, but an alluvial delta with a flat terrain consisting of dozens of broken islands and sandbars, surrounded on three sides by water. Previously, it was nothing more than a barren meadow and woodland, but there were large areas of wetlands with willows, elms, poplars, oaks and pastures, and the rivers were rich in water and grass, and it was a habitat for a variety of wild animals and birds, and no one has settled there.

Now, when the Dongdan State learned that the Qin State had set up strongholds in Hailanpao and Yaksa in the upper reaches of the Heilongjiang River, and immigrated to colonize, it seemed that it intended to strengthen the actual control of the region.

Don't look at the Dongdan and Bohai countries, with their advanced firearms, they have driven the Rakshasa people with few troops to the head, and even beat countless local indigenous and tribal aborigines, forcing them to go out of the mountains and forests, gather villages and villages, and accept them as the people under their rule, not only to pay all kinds of taxes, but also to serve in the military, to drive the king, and continue to conquer new territories and tribes. But if they want to face the Qin State, it will not be enough.

Without him, there is a huge difference in national strength!

Since the advent of the age of firearms, soldiers have become extremely cheap. In the past, it would take years and a huge cost to train an elite soldier, but in the age of firearms, a farmer only needed a few months of training to become a qualified musketeer.

What was the population of the Qin State?

There are hundreds of millions of people!

Can you imagine that as long as the Qin State could provide enough muskets, they would be able to easily organize a firearms force of more than 100,000 or hundreds of thousands, and then flood the sky and drown its enemies.

Decades ago, the Qin State had just unified the Shenzhou Continent, because of the perennial war and the tyrannical rule of the Qing Dynasty, the vast land of Liaodong, with a population of less than 200,000, was not a threat to the newly born Bohai, Dongdan, and Beiming Zhenzhou, but the three countries frequently organized small infiltration troops to penetrate deep into Liaodong, recruit (forcibly abduct) local residents, bring them back to their respective territories, and enrich their own population.

However, as the situation in the territory of Qin gradually returned to calm, relying on its huge population, it continued to immigrate to Shibian, established many military and civilian settlements, and built a large number of fortresses and walls, which not only contained the invasion of Bohai, Dongdan and Beiming, but also radiated their military power to the Songhua River and Nenjiang River basins.

More than 20 years ago, on the basis of the original Alchuka Fort (now Acheng District, Harbin), the Qin State expanded it into a city, immigrated 2,000 households, and renamed it Zhenning.

It is said that at present, there are more than 50,000 residents in this Zhenning City, surrounded by forts and villages, and nearly one million acres of farmland have been cultivated, which has basically achieved grain self-sufficiency, and can effectively support the Qin army to further advance steadily in the north and west.

So far, the Qin State has finally extended its tentacles to Heilongjiang, and the two villages of Hailanpao and Yaksa have begun to show their sharp fangs, which does not terrify the weak Dongdan.

Daqi dad help!

Brother Daming help me!

——

Note: This paragraph is excerpted from "1630 Rise of South America"

(End of chapter)