New Shun 1730

The person in charge of immigration heard Liu Yu tell the story of how the British colonies made a fortune from tobacco leaves.

But this story is really hard to replicate here.

The beet seeds bought from Europe are still in the improvement stage, and the sugar content is not very high. It is okay to sell locally, but even if it is shipped to Japan, it is more expensive than the sugar sold to Japan from Fujian and Guangdong, and it is not profitable at all.

The entire Vladivostok has almost become a dead end for trade.

As long as the official immigration investment stops, the newly developed planting agriculture here will soon degenerate into a self-sufficient small peasant economy.

For the time being, there is nowhere to sell the grain output, and it can only be digested by the official immigration population to ensure the local logging industry and the supply of oak for the Weihai Shipyard.

In addition to transporting people here, the person in charge of immigration this time has another task.

Organize a group of 500 Shandong people and 100 people with planting experience in Vladivostok to immigrate to Ezo, which is Hokkaido in Japan in the future.

Although the people in charge of immigration were quite puzzled, Liu Yu was the governor of Whale Sea, and these people had to obey his orders, without any room for bargaining.

During the days of waiting for supplies, we had to quickly gather people and follow the expedition ship to Ezo.

The first batch of 600 immigrants had to build houses there, and they had to rely on the grain in the granary of Vladivostok as supplies in the early stage. It might take until next year or the year after to ensure self-sufficiency in food.

In addition to the population, the ship also transported a large number of muskets, which would be distributed once they arrived in Ezo.

First, build a small village with a simple bastion structure. The cost of immigration this time is too high. If there is this money to immigrate to Vladivostok, the scale of these 600 people can be moved about three times.

The superiors gave orders, and the subordinates obeyed.

After a short period of repair and supply, 100 farmers with planting experience at the same latitude recruited from the local official farm boarded the ship together.

Soon after, they arrived at Ezo, where almost no human habitation could be seen. The climate here is quite warm, similar to that of Vladivostok.

A few knowledgeable people looked at the nearby plants and determined that the climate here can fully support the cultivation of cold-resistant rice and wheat.

They chose a river mouth to land, cut down trees, built warehouses, and transported grain here for storage.

"Ying Suo Bo has a hobby of expanding the land. This money is not worth it."

"If you ask me, the Northeast is not yet full of people, but it is really a loss to stuff people here. Cotton, indigo, and tobacco cannot be grown here, only grain can be grown. Even if grain is grown, it cannot be transported and sold to the capital where there is a shortage of grain, because it cannot make money. What is the purpose of this?"

The leading official was very puzzled, and the others did not understand. If it is to ease the contradiction between too many people and too little land, the population of Henan and Shandong should be transported to the Northeast, not to such a place.

As for guarding the border, there is no border to guard here.

It can only grow grain, and it loses money. This grain bypasses Korea and is transported to Weihai, which is much more expensive than buying grain from Siam.

Although he was puzzled, he still had to do this. Fortunately, these people organized immigrants from Vladivostok and the mouth of the Heilongjiang River, and had rich experience in immigration at the same latitude.

After investigating the local soil, it was relatively fertile.

This place is suitable for raising horses, cattle and sheep. Liu Yu told them that the future Jinghai agriculture will not be a small-scale farmer with men farming and women weaving, but a farm agriculture with half farming and animal husbandry.

Relying on large livestock to grow crops, and relying on the feces of large livestock to fertilize the fields.

As for who to sell the grain to after development, this is not what they want to consider. One by one, maybe in seven or eight years, better beet varieties can be cultivated, and more cold-resistant tobacco can also be cultivated, and maybe this place can make money.

But now, they can only be stationed here in the form of military settlements.

Not long after, a grain transport ship arrived from Vladivostok, accompanied by a small boat, and fifty Marines got off the ship.

This is the product of playing a marginal ball, which does not belong to the army that Liu Yu, the governor, cannot touch, but this marginal ball is allowed by the emperor.

The leading officer was a lieutenant. After getting off the ship, he handed over to the person in charge who had built a wooden house and simple defense here, and unloaded four eight-pound cannons from the ship.

The person in charge of reclamation was a little confused. He touched the barrel of the cannon and asked, "What does this mean? Ying Suo Bo doesn't think that the people here need cannons to defend themselves, right? I have also seen the savages here these days. They have longer beards and hair, but they are not much different from those people on Sakhalin Island. They are still using bows and arrows, and the bows and arrows are not very sharp. We have muskets, so what are we afraid of?"

The lieutenant called the person in charge of reclamation to the wooden house and talked about the complicated situation here.

At this time, there is another problem for immigration, that is, there is a Matsumae domain in the south of Hokkaido.

Although they can't control too large an area and the actual control area is also very limited, Japanese merchants are active in Hokkaido.

Using a monopoly system similar to the East India Company, merchants pay a sum of money, and then they can monopolize trade with the Ainu within a certain range, and the rest of the people are not allowed to participate.

This is called the system of asking for the place to bear responsibility, which can be regarded as a trade monopoly system, or a tax farming system in a sense.

The local Ainu people and the Japanese have conflicts, and these muskets and cannons are not used to defend against the Ainu, but to defend against the Matsumae domain.

Before the lieutenant came, he was taught a good lesson.

The strength of the Matsumae domain was not strong, nominally 10,000 koku, but in fact, the Japanese did not grow cold-resistant rice at that time, so this 10,000 koku was false.

The Fukuyama Castle of Matsumae Domain had only 5,000 to 6,000 people at this time. This was not 5,000 to 6,000 households, but 5,000 to 6,000 people.

The war against Japan was still in the strategic confidentiality period, so Liu Yu asked the lieutenant stationed here to be as humble as possible.

If Matsumae Domain was willing to talk, then we could talk.

It was a tax package system, so it didn't matter who it was packaged to. The merchant gave you 400 taels, and I gave you 600 taels, saying that the merchant ship had sunk and we were taking a break here temporarily.

If you don't agree, then we'll hold on here. If the other side comes to attack, we'll drive them away and then talk.

"Ying Suo Bo said that there will be continuous immigration here in the next few years. Your task this year is not to open up more land, but to build a defensive city first with the grain from Vladivostok."

"Next year, there will be more immigrants here, and large-scale reclamation will begin next year. The garrison troops will also increase."

"Once we have established a firm foothold, merchants will come to do business with the Yi people here."

The person in charge of reclamation thought about it and smiled: "This is a big price. The Yi people here can sell deerskin and bear skin, or some mountain products. How much can you make? Three to five thousand taels of silver a year at most. Although mosquitoes are meat no matter how small they are, if there are 300 troops stationed here, the annual salary will be three to five thousand. Is this place worth it?"

The lieutenant shook his head and said: "I don't care whether it is worth it or not? I just obey orders. Ying Suo Bo must have a deep meaning when he spends money. Just do it."

Liu Yu has his own deep meaning for such an arrangement.

The driving force of the first industrial revolution was coal and iron.

And the most suitable coal mine for development in Japan is in Hokkaido. The rest are distributed in Kyushu Island, which is within the control of the Dashun Navy and is within the attack range at any time.

Spending a lot of money to immigrate to Hokkaido is not for making money, but just to lock Japan and form a tight chain to lock any possibility of Japan's development.

In the pre-coal and iron era, large wood was needed for shipbuilding.

Japan does not have teak and cypress, and the local oak in Japan is not suitable for shipbuilding and does not have enough years.

France and Britain have North American oak; the Netherlands has Southeast Asian teak; Spain has Central American wood; Dashun has wood from the Northeast and the sea of ​​whales.

As long as the sea route is blocked in Hokkaido, even if Japan wakes up and wants to build ships, it will not be able to catch up overnight.

In order to build a navy, Liu Yu prepared for many years in advance. The early drying of these woods and the opening of the Vladivostok route have enabled Dashun to have a reserve of raw materials for making dumplings.

As for the possible first industrial revolution, occupying Hokkaido locked up Japan's best open-pit coal mines, making it impossible for him to develop even if he wanted to.

If they want to develop, they must go to war with Dashun, seize the coal mines in Hokkaido and the iron mines in Korea, and have no chance to develop by controlling the resources in the land.

This is a dilemma.

If they don't go to war, they have no resources.

If they go to war, they have no resources, no development, and no victory.

Once the two chains are locked, there will be no chance of being caught up and surpassed for at least a hundred years.

First, encircle the land and grow the food. As long as the hydraulic boring machine in Weihai is done and the steam engine is improved, the Hokkaido region can be used as a heavy industrial base in the Jinghai region, forming a trade circle from the east coast of Korea, northern Japan, Jinghai to the mouth of the Heilongjiang River.

At this time, the garrison and immigration are just to stockpile food for future wars, familiarize themselves with the terrain, and get in touch with the local Ainu people in advance.

When fighting against Japan, the emperor was told that there would be no garrison and no direct jurisdiction, but after the real fight, a place near Nagasaki must be rented, and Hokkaido must also be obtained.

Just like the Western Regions, if we only consider the economic account now, we will definitely lose money.

It is much more expensive to cultivate in such a place without any foundation than in Vladivostok. In Vladivostok, at least there are some local populations at the beginning, and some food can be provided. Starting from scratch here will naturally cost more.

Fortunately, Hokkaido is one of the four major fishing grounds in the world, and it is quite simple to survive if you don't starve to death. But if you want to lay the agricultural foundation for the heavy industrial hub area of ​​the whale sea, the east coast of Korea, and northern Japan in the future, the money you have to invest cannot be based on the standard of not starving to death.

As expected, less than two months after the first batch of immigrants landed, Japanese businessmen doing business here discovered something unusual.

He hurriedly returned to Fukuyama Castle and reported what he encountered to his superiors. The lord of the Matsumae domain, Matsumae Sukehiro, was suddenly at a loss.

According to the system, the Matsumae domain gave these Ezo lands to the retainers for jurisdiction as the retainers' knowledge and practice land.

Hokkaido did not produce grain at this time, and the 10,000 koku of the Matsumae clan was empty, and was basically supported by trade. The Matsumae clan had a keen sense of smell, first siding with Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and then with Tokugawa Ieyasu. They sided accurately, and thus monopolized the Ezo trade.

In theory, only the retainers of the Matsumae clan were allowed to trade with the Ezo people.

However, the retainers were not good at this, so they subcontracted it to merchants.

Now that such a situation has occurred in the jurisdiction of the subcontracted merchants, the Matsumae clan should take care of it, but how to do it has become a problem.