While Cheng Jingming was exploring Central America, Li Quan's trading fleet had successfully returned to Manila.
This time they not only brought back silver and goods, but also brought back a group of animals, the ones with greater economic value being turkeys and alpacas.
Turkey is a very meaty thing, and chicken legs and wings taste good. But it is big, grows fast, and is a real meat-producing machine. In China in the 17th century, it could provide more for ordinary people.
meat.
After returning to China this time, only one year later, Li Quan discovered new changes.
From Luzon to Taiwan, and then from Taiwan to the southeast coast, the number of Japanese in major ports has increased significantly.
Especially Japanese women are found in brothels all over the port.
When supplying supplies in Fuzhou, Li Quan couldn't help but ask: "How come there are so many Japanese people suddenly added?"
The port supply dealer laughed and said: "The Japanese shogunate organized them to send women to China to earn money for their skin. Many Japanese ronin also went to sea and walked around the streets carrying knives all day long. When they saw rich people, they would kneel down and beg for work.
These Japanese ronin are quite easy to work with, they are cheap and obedient. Unfortunately, they don’t know anything else, they can only look after homes and homes. There are also maritime merchants who recruit them as crew members and as bodyguards in India."
"The Japanese imperial court organized women to work as prostitutes overseas?" Li Quan was quite surprised and thought this operation was too sexy.
Many Japanese women went to sea in the past, but they were all recruited by the colonists, and at most local lords were involved. This time the shogunate personally went to sea, which indeed exceeded the lower limit.
The cause was the Meiretsu Fire a few years ago, which destroyed two-thirds of Edo Castle. There were more than 500 daimyo residences, more than 700 hatamoto residences, countless samurai residences, more than 300 temples, and more than 400 temples.
A market with a population of more than 100,000 people was burned down by this fire.
Edo Castle, with a population of nearly one million, has seen its population drop by one-eighth, leaving countless homeless people.
The city has been undergoing reconstruction for several years, but it has not yet been completed, and the streets are full of homeless people.
The Japanese shogunate was in financial difficulty, and the national treasury was already empty. Even the Iwami Ginzan, which was banned from mining, was forced to reopen, and the exploitation of the common people increased.
At this time, facing China's occupation of Tsushima Island, the Japanese shogunate could only talk.
In the face of the increasingly serious smuggling, the old Chinese in the shogunate are completely at ease. Since they can't stop it, let's join in. The old and Chinese whose territories are far away from the coast all share the smuggling profits through their power. One by one, they say it's really sweet, and then they start to move.
The wrong idea is to transfer excess labor to China.
So just this year, the shogunate teamed up with local lords to export young girls to China on a large scale. Some of them were shipped to Chinese ports to work as prostitutes, and the shogunate and the daimyo divided the money for their skin and flesh. Some of them were shipped to China's overseas territories and sold to single Chinese immigrants there.
As a factor of social instability, ronin is also being exported to China. There are particularly many ronin from Edo. Because of the fire a few years ago, all the houses of ronin in Edo were burned down. There are no houses and lack of jobs. There are more than 100,000 ronin.
Begging with a knife may cause riots at any time.
When Edo Castle was rebuilt a few years ago, these ronin could still do odd jobs and only needed to take care of the food. Now that most of the buildings have been repaired, there is no chance of moving bricks to the lake entrance. The ronin's unemployment has become more and more serious, so they might as well just leave it to China.
.
The Chief Secretaries of Fujian and Zhejiang successively issued decrees, no longer allowing Japanese ronin to disembark. Japanese ronin who have already disembarked have a three-month deadline to find a job, and those with an employer can apply for temporary documents. After three months, if they still cannot find an employer,
Either send them back to Japan, or disperse the immigrants and go to Siberia.
Li Quan's fleet passed by Ningbo and found that the situation was even more obvious here because Ningbo Port is the closest to Japan.
Wealthy families in Ningbo often take Japanese ronin with them when they go out.
Moreover, they also customized equipment for Japanese ronin. They used bamboo pieces to imitate the Japanese Nanman armor. After putting on the armor and stomach, the ronin transformed into a Japanese general. It seemed particularly bluffing, but in fact, those armor and stomach had no protective power.
What we want is this effect. When we go out with a group of "Japanese generals", the Chinese rich will feel that Beier has face.
They also had a specific title: Japanese General Slave.
Referred to as "Japanese General Nu" or "Japanese General".
In addition, Japanese girls with good looks were also bought by wealthy families to keep concubines and maidservants. They were called Toyo-hime and Fuso-hime. Following the trend of Orchid, Fuso-hime became popular again.
Some human traffickers have returned to their old business, specializing in buying young orchids and fusang princesses, and training these women from abroad according to Yangzhou thin horse training standards. Over the past few years, the profits have been tens or hundreds of times.
The trend of Japanese generals and Fusangji is spreading from Fujian and Zhejiang provinces to Jiangsu and Guangdong.
Local officials went to court one after another, requesting the imperial court to set control standards. Of course, local officials have responded, but some policies require the cooperation of the central government, such as sending Japanese ronin to Siberia.
An official ship arrived at the Shanghai Post Station. The Shanghai Post Station staff received the official document and immediately sent it to the county government.
The rest of the official documents will be transferred to sea ships and sent to other coastal ports.
The content of the official document from the imperial court is as follows:
First, these Japanese ronin can come ashore if they have a Chinese trading company or private employment contract. However, the term of the employment contract must be more than three years.
Second, Japanese ronin after landing must apply for temporary documents and must take a Chinese name.
Third, if the Japanese ronin who have landed have no employer, they will be managed centrally. Most of them will be sent to Xuzhou for registration, and a small number will be sent to Chengdu for registration.
Fourth, the ronin registered in Xuzhou will be sent to the Andong Protectorate next year. The ronin registered in Chengdu will be sent to the Kangzang area next year. These ronin will be resettled in the countryside, and each village will receive a maximum of 10 ronin.
In the Heilongjiang and Kangzang areas, the imperial court first established post stations and then developed Han villages and towns around the post stations.
This policy is equivalent to placing ten Japanese immigrants around each inn. In a remote and cold place, ronin cannot cause trouble, and they must have Chinese names. Over time, they will be assimilated into Han people.
It not only solves the problem of wanderers along the coast, but also enriches the population on the frontier.
Especially in the outer Xing'anling area, the Han people were unwilling to go there, and the number of exiled prisoners was not enough. These wanderers were considered waste.
…
Luzhou (Yakutsk).
Zhang Tingxun has been staying here forever. He has been promoted to the general manager of Luzhou, and he has seized the military and political power.
In theory, his jurisdiction is larger than the entire Fujian Province.
But what can really be managed is the one-third of an acre in Luzhou City.
The soldiers rotated through defense changes every year, and the number increased to 80. Many soldiers married aboriginal wives. After the change of defense, their wives and children stayed in Luzhou until they could come back for reunion next time they changed defense. They were usually taken care of by their comrades.
There were also few prisoners allocated here. Over the past few years, there were only six of them, and they all married indigenous wives one after another.
Counting minor children and indigenous wives, Zhang Tingxun had a total of more than 200 men.
Women's dystocia and infant mortality are very common in cold Luzhou, and military doctors can only lower the data slightly. Zhang Tingxun's indigenous wife gave birth to a son and a daughter, and the daughter died at the age of six months.
In addition, several nearby indigenous tribes often fight over pasture.
Zhang Tingxun is responsible for mediating. The root cause of tribal wars is that the population is increasing but there is not enough pasture to allocate. To put it bluntly, it is the conflict between man and land. In this case, the excess population can be relocated to Luzhou, where fishing and farming are the main activities.
It can accommodate more people.
The number of indigenous people directly governed by Zhang Tingxun has increased to 150, and they all live near Luzhou City.
Next year, 10 Japanese Ronin immigrants will be allocated.
At the same time, the surrounding tribes also began to learn farming techniques. They exchanged ivory, fur and other goods for agricultural tools and seeds from the Han people, and crops such as potatoes and barley began to be promoted, which greatly improved the lives of the indigenous tribes.
The soldiers and supply teams who came to change defenses last year brought troops to Zhang Tingxun.
He must lead his army westward along the Lena River, march 1,300 miles, and capture the Cossack stronghold there (Olyok Minsk).
This year, the river had just thawed, and Zhang Tingxun led his army to set off.
Because of the war, the soldiers who were on rotation last year did not leave. Zhang Tingxun had a hundred regular troops under his command. Several nearby tribes, as well as the indigenous people of Luzhou City, selected 200 people as auxiliary soldiers and civilian husbands.
They took a boat all the way to the west, casting nets for fishing along the way.
This bastard Khabarov is of great use. Not only does he teach everyone how to grow food in the frozen soil, but he also teaches the Han people how to make Cossack ships. There are also Han craftsmen in Luzhou. Based on the Cossack ships, they are improved with Han shipbuilding technology, which is very suitable.
Sailing in the far north.
The most important thing is that this thing can be disassembled. After landing, you can carry it and run, and reassemble it when you encounter a river. It is extremely practical in sparsely populated Siberia. The heavy mast can be thrown at any time, and you can cut one before launching it into the water.
This improved Cossack ship was called a "deer ship".
A large deer boat that can accommodate thirty people.
A small deer boat that can accommodate seven or eight people.
The indigenous auxiliary soldiers who accompanied the army all rode birch bark boats, which are traditional Siberian indigenous ships.
There were more than a hundred ships, large and small, heading towards Orek-Minsk in a mighty manner.
The ultra-long distance of 1,300 miles can be reached in a month, and you can stop to rest along the way and cast a net to catch fish to increase supplies.
"Hey!"
Once again, when the net is cast out, there is always something to be gained.
Inaccessible Siberia is very rich in fish resources. The prerequisite is to have excellent fishing nets. The local indigenous people lack net-making materials, so the fishing methods are very primitive. The hemp rope fishing nets brought by the Han people are hot commodities for the indigenous people and can
Bring them rich fish catch.
On the shore, two hundred indigenous auxiliary soldiers took out traditional dipping sauces and began to slaughter fresh fish and eat raw fish.
As for the Han soldiers, they cooked fish soup honestly.
As long as they can eat cooked food and drink boiled water, soldiers are prohibited from eating raw food and drinking boiled water. This order is written into the Datong Military Code, and exceptions can only be made under extreme conditions.
The Lena River has been renamed Lujiang.
Zhang Tingxun looked at the sparkling river, and his thoughts had already drifted to Nanjing. After this battle, he should be promoted and transferred. He had to go back to Nanjing first to see that his mother and first wife were still waiting for him.
Siberia is indeed very difficult, but as long as you work for a few years, you can be promoted quickly. Especially those who are stationed for a long time without changing defenses. Once they are transferred, they will be promoted 100%, which makes more and more soldiers willing to stay permanently.
