At the end of September 1788, Su Chonga, who came from Ningguta prisoner war camp, stood on the deck of the Thor, looking at the continent that was constantly moving away, and his heart became increasingly sad and sad.

As a Manchu who has never seen the sea and can't swim, Su Chong'a felt that he had given me this life, and he might never go back to Chenyang. His old surname was "Cai Hala", and his ancestors were Han people and lived in Chenyang for generations. Since the late Ming Dynasty and later Jin occupied Chenyang, and in the era of Huang Taiji, they changed the Manchu surname from the Chai surname.

In August, according to the order of the Civil Affairs Department of Beihai Town, some prisoners of war in the Eight Banners were selected from the Qing army captives in Ningguta and sent to Heishi Town, Kuye Island for labor. Since Beihai Town is currently in short supply of manpower and limited escorts and guards, the first batch of people was only 500.

As soon as the news came out, some people in the Qing army prisoners were immediately panicked. Many people wondered why the treatment was different from the previous General Fu and his men. Last time, the Qing army prisoners had basically never done any hard work except digging a ditch in the cold weather. They were stuck in the cellar for a winter, and there was no heavy work except to call each day. Although they had average food, it was said that there was Xiao Quting.

Now it’s our turn. Look, what’s the day? Not only do you want to move stones, cut trees and dig soil every day, but you’re not living well. Why do you want to send us to work as a coolie on a deserted island?

Joke! The previous batch had to be exchanged for money. And it was winter at that time, so it was not enough to ask these people to go out to cut wood. So at that time, Zhao Xin directly deducted the food rations, maintained the minimum food supply standard, and could not starve to death.

Now this group of prisoners in Beihai Town is not going to be released. The Ministry of Civil Affairs intends to make these people become permanent residents of Kuye Island after the expiration of their hard labor.

The place of Heishi Town is actually the location of Alessandrovsk in later generations. Ding Guofeng had visited this place once before, and later the Civil Affairs Bureau sent a group of people to plan the site selection. At that time, according to Meiergua, there was an ancient city ruins there, named Yitongcheng. Later, he went back to Beihai Town to search for information and found out that it was the former site of the ancient city of the Jin Dynasty. Since there was an old site, it was just right to use it, so the Ministry of Civil Affairs chose the site of the southwest of Kuye Island here.

The Thor first arrived at Dabo Town, the southernmost tip of Kuye Island, unloaded some of the supplies, stayed overnight before setting off again, heading north along the strait between the northeastern continent and Kuye Island.

This strait was called the "Tatar Strait" in later generations, and the islanders called it the "Makumiya Strait". In fact, since the Yuan Dynasty, it was collectively called the "Whale Sea" in the classics of the Central Dynasty.

Earl La Peruz, who was visiting Beihai Town, sailed north from here, and he hoped to find a passage between the Sea of ​​Japan and the Sea of ​​Okhotsk from here.

However, because Jiang Tenglin, the Chang of Dabo Town, was foolish and did not tell them the truth, the French walked northward, and found that the shallower the strait; basically, every time they walked northward, the water depth decreased by 2 meters. When they reached a position with a depth of only 20 meters, they would never dare to walk again. In fact, the shallowest part of the Tatar Strait was only seven meters, let alone the French, the ship in Beihai Town could not pass.

As the seabed gradually increased, the water flow in the strait was almost still, which made the French mistakenly think that this was not a strait, but a bay. So on the map they drew, Kuye Island was painted into a peninsula. After that, the French had to turn around and return to Dabo Town, and under the guidance of Jiang Tenglin, they went north along the coast of Kuye Island on the east side of Kuye Island to Okhotsk.

When they passed by Oha Town, the French saw the rolling black smoke from the oil refinery on the shore from the ship. The French, who were unknown, wanted to land on ashore for inspection, but were rejected by Zhang Bo. Count La Peruz thought of the shore defense artillery he had seen in Dabo Town (the 75mm artillery produced by Beihai Town, with a range of 6,500 meters), which gave up the idea of ​​forcibly landing.

On the Tatar Strait in winter, whales sprayed water columns, and the spectacular scene of swimming attracted many Qing army prisoners of war. They came to the deck and pointed and marveled.

However, the happiness on the surface cannot cover up the depression in their hearts. In fact, the farther the Thunder God is from the continent, the more desperate these people will be. If they hadn't been in groups of five people, and their feet were strung together in a string, maybe some guy who couldn't think of it would jump into the sea to commit suicide.

Thor stopped on the sea one kilometer from Blackstone Town. On the sea not far from the shore, several reefs stood suddenly. At this time, the sea was filled with mist, and the three largest reefs were like black steel forks in the hands of the demons. This scene made the Qing army prisoners on the ship feel in hell, and a young prisoner even started to cry.

The sailor on the deck laughed and said, "Coward, what's the scary thing? Tell you, the oysters here are so fat, you can easily pick up those with long arms on the beach. When you come here, you don't lack meat all year round."

Su Chong'a wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes, thinking that the weather was so cold, and she could pick up sea goods barefoots, so she wouldn't get sick if she was freezing.

Taking advantage of the time to put down the barge, the prisoners lined up on the deck under the orders of the soldiers. The barges on Thor were not big, and there were twenty people to sit at a time. In addition to the prisoners, there were still a lot of supplies to be transported to the shore. When the last ship of supplies arrived at the beach, it was already dark.

The captives spent their first night in a tent surrounding a bonfire. In addition to the owls screaming, they could also hear the howling of wolves.

When they were woken up by the whistle the next morning, they walked out of the tent tremblingly and finished the name signing, and then started to have breakfast. Su Chong'a was drinking the hot knot noodles porridge while looking at this strange place.

Their camping place is more than four miles away from the former site of Yitong City, but as the first settlers to come here, Su Chong'a and his men's labor must start here.

This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content later! The location of the camp site has been sent by the Ministry of Civil Affairs to inspect it in advance. It was selected on an open space only one mile away from the coast. It is about the size of a football field, and the surrounding area is marked with wooden poles more than one meter high.

These Qing army prisoners had been building roads from Ningguta to Furdan City in the past few months, so they were very familiar with how to use various tools produced in Beihai Town. The team of five hundred people was divided into ten teams, each team was guarded by a squad of the Beihai Army.

The job of Su Chong'a's team was to go to the lower reaches of the Yi River to log wood. After the group came here with tools, he first dug a shovel of soil with a shovel, bent down and grabbed a handful and rubbed it twice. The light brown soil was clingy and slippery in his hands, and there were a lot of gravel.

A man in his thirties beside him came over, grabbed a handful of soil and looked at it, "This land is too bad, so I'm afraid I won't be able to grow crops."

Su Chonga asked curiously: "Has planted the land?"

The man said, "Why haven't you planted it before? My family is from Liaoyang. Before he became a soldier, he has been picking up crops with me and Ama. If you want to grow grains, you have to drain them first, and then you have to turn them deep. You can't sow the seeds until the next year."

Su Chong'a never planted land. His family has always served as soldiers to eat food since their ancestors. Tenants were cooking the dozens of acres of land at home.

While working, the two of them chatted for a few words to pass the time. During the conversation, Su Chong'a learned that the other party was named Chen Yingqi, who was under the Han army's Inlaid Blue Banner. During the Tiancong period, Chen Yingqi's ancestors were captured from Pyongyang due to war and settled down from then on. Their group was called "Cen Hala" in the old Manchu surname. His great-grandfather was the deputy general of Yonggu, Shaanxi, and also attacked a "Chatred Captain".

The prisoners worked on their work, and the Northern Navy, who was jailing them, were not idle either. The battalion commander led the team asked a few soldiers with good shooting skills to hunt in the forest, and occasionally a gunshot could be heard. At noon, they actually shot two deer, which made the group of prisoners overjoyed.

The Ministry of Civil Affairs set a three-year labor service for these prisoners. After the expiration of the period, they could stay in the local area to settle down, or go to 50 acres of arable land in the southern part of Kuye Island. At that time, if the Northern Navy conquered the entire Northeast, they could still take over their families. With such hope, the prisoners would be much more active in their work.

For Kuye Island, the Ministry of Civil Affairs has comprehensive considerations for the development here. That is, the north is mainly oil and animal husbandry, the south is mainly planting, and the central region can only be coal and forestry.

Apart from forestry and coal, Blackstone Town has no agricultural prospects at all. The main reason is that it is limited by the natural conditions of the Yitong River and the Adamji Valley, and the sides are sandwiched by mountains, so there are too few areas for reclaiming. As for the development of the coastal direction, don't be too much trouble.

In another time and space history, due to the barren land in the local area, many people left within a few years after the farmers who came here in Tsarist Russia reclaimed land and built farms in the 19th century. The reason is simple, but the crops cannot be planted at all, and even potatoes are not enough to eat.

Therefore, Heishi Town is just right as a labor base for the Qing army prisoners. When their labor period expires, they will be assigned to the plains east of Dabo Town to farm or to raise livestock in the north. At that time, some refugees from the pass and naturalized people from the island country will be mixed with, and the entire Kuye Island will be occupied.

As for the southern part of Kuye Island, although the plains are wide open, there are also many swamps. It will definitely take a lot of effort to transform it into an agricultural area.

If the swamp area wants to be converted into a suitable field for cultivation, it is necessary to use mechanical ditches and ridges to drain water, which will increase the temperature, increase the temperature difference, and strengthen the activity of gas-friendly microorganisms; then through fertilization, reduce organic matter, change the pH value, and make the land "lose the swamp and turn into soil".

Even in modern times, it is no exaggeration to say that it will be at least ten years to improve a swamp area and make it a high-yield arable land.

This is not something that a modern person can turn into a good land in a blink of an eye with a wave of his hand or a command.

Don’t always talk about potatoes and sweet potatoes. Whether it is Chinese or foreign farmers, when they come to a strange land and find that the crops as staple food are not well harvested, they will be eager to leave the place. If farmers cannot keep them, agriculture cannot develop, and emerging immigrant towns will be difficult to develop.

In agricultural society, farmers' stubborn attitude towards staple food is often unimaginable to modern people. Even if you tell him that the yield of potatoes per a thousand times is useless. In his life since he was a child, that thing is not something to eat as staple food!

Even Europeans were very resistant to potatoes in the early days. One was that they were not familiar with the way potatoes grew, and the other was that they were not mentioned in the Bible.

That is, European countries are small and food is extremely scarce, so it is relatively easy for leaders to change their lifestyle through their own power and influence. If you change to East Asian countries, would you try it?

The islanders have until today treated dumplings or ramen as rice. It can be seen that rice as a staple food has been deeply engraved into their genes. Similarly, Chinese people have never heard of anyone who wants to eat potatoes or sweet potatoes when they are hungry. They are things that change their tastes occasionally when they are tired of eating staple food. The grains as staple food have long been imprinted into the bones of Chinese people.

With the handy tools and sufficient food, the captive team's work at the landing site in Blackstone Town is progressing quite well. However, for Su Chong'a and others, the labor in Blackstone Town is really hard!

Their logging area is mainly in the lower reaches of the Yiwei River. The river channel here is 20 to 30 meters wide. The low-lying areas on both sides are covered with towering trees, fir, larch, alder, and willow trees are densely packed with muddy swamps around it. In addition to the tall trees, huge semi-decaying trees often lie horizontally and vertically on the ground in the woodland, which all need to be cleaned up. Some of these trees fall due to aging, while others are overturned by storms. There are often mounds of moss next to the roots of the fallen trees, and pits and deep ditches beside the mounds.

While the prisoners were logging, they also had to mow grass everywhere and tied bundles to fill the swamps and deep ditches. In this way, they could transport the cut wood out of the forest.

After three or four days of doing such a job, the captives were exhausted. They were all listless and gloomy. They got off work and got into the tent and fell asleep.

By the end of the first week, they had dug a septic tank with a side length of 20 meters and a depth of three meters, built a temporary toilet; they cleared out four open spaces the size of basketball courts, and surrounded them with cut wooden stakes to resist wild animals; two woodcuts had also been built, and they were currently used as warehouses; in addition, under the guidance of North Navy soldiers, a T-shaped dock that extended about three meters high to the sea had begun to take shape.

In the second week, Thor sent another thousand prisoners of war and a batch of supplies. The manpower increased tripled, and the construction progress of the entire camp also increased faster.

As snowflakes began to fall in Heishi Town, Qing army prisoners, including Su Chong'a and Chen Yingqi, knew that time was getting tighter. Even in the camp at night, the lights were brightly lit. The prisoners worked until eleven or two o'clock in the evening to get into the tent to rest, and got up to work the next morning.
Chapter completed!