Chapter 1289 The Expeditionary Fleet, From Alaska to Kamchatka
"Law! Law!"
In early summer in June, the coast of Alaska is full of colorful life. Light red trees and yellow and white grass flowers bloom on the blue seaside. There are also birds with bright feathers, jumping among the sparse trees, spreading their wings and flying from time to time.
A handsome Jurchen stallion was leading two docile Yakut mares and two lively white foals, eating young grass on the beach and resting leisurely. Especially the handsome stallion, with its bright eyes staring up at the golden-red sunset, as if it was about to fly into the sky and turn into a Pegasus flying across the sea.
"Lord God, what a spiritual horse! This posture of looking up at the sea and reflecting the sunset is really shining and beautiful!..."
Priest Chimel shouted in surprise, like a child weighing one to two hundred pounds. He held a charcoal pencil in his hand, and while looking at the island, the sunset and the horses, he drew quickly on a wide wooden board. Of course, what he drew was not a sketch, but an outline drawn with charcoal. Next, he has to carve out the pattern on the wooden board according to the drawn outline, and finally use various pigments to carefully color it. This is the most traditional painting technique of the plateau tribes. The carved wooden paintings and murals are abstract and simple, but also have a unique plateau charm...
"Hmm...Priest Master's painting..."
Two steps away, the horse breeder Sukeichiro, wearing a golden charm, secretly glanced at the wooden board with a complicated expression on his face. He also went to the temple to worship and saw the lifelike Buddha statues and murals, especially the terrifying eighteen levels of hell, which gave him nightmares for many days. Compared with the paintings of Buddhist monks, the painting level of this god priest is a bit too difficult to understand...
"Ahem... Lord God! When will the big ship filled with whale meat arrive from the east?..."
Sukeichiro is not interested in art, he just wants to eat meat. Thinking of the delicious and filling whale meat, he couldn't help but lick his mouth. He looked to the east, looking at the endless sea, and his heart was full of expectation.
“It’s good to believe in the Lord God! Not only will you be given golden talismans, wives, houses and fields, but even whale meat! Praise the Lord God!”
There is always a huge difference in conditions between the extreme north coast, where there is a freeze period, and the west coast, where navigation is available all year round. The ports in the far north are having a hard time, and every year they have to consider the issues of food, fuel and winter. Their own surplus output is not much, and they must have supplies for rear support in order to expand the size of the settlement and absorb more northern tribes.
Therefore, every spring after the ice thaws, the transport fleet will depart from Whale Harbor and begin sailing to various ports on the far north coast. The fleet will be loaded with pickled whale meat and salt, rich coal and a small amount of metal tools, as well as some supplementary or exchanged tribesmen.
Then, the transport fleet will set off in April and May, following the labor-saving Alaska Warm Current, arriving in turn at the Kamei Fish Port, the Divine Eagle Wing Port, the Divine Gold Stream Port, the Divine Blood Bay Port, and finally the Divine Whale Port at the end. . The fleet would anchor at each port, leaving behind a batch of supplies, especially whale meat and salt. And when we finally arrived at Shenda Whale Port, it was almost July. Due to the limitation of the ship's speed, the fleet did not have time to go west to the Kamidai Port at the beginning of the island chain. It could only let the galleys from the Kamidai Port go to the Great Whale Island to transport supplies to supplement the more difficult Aleutians later. Divine island chain.
As for the transport fleet, it must start its return journey immediately in July, so that it can rush back to the starting point of Whale Harbor before the freeze in November in the south...and then, from November to April, it can still In more than five months, in addition to repairing the ship, I can also visit Northport and Southport on the north coast of the west coast. Whether it is North Port with a population of 2,000 or South Port with a population of 1,000, they are much better than the ports on the far north coast. The cultivated potato fields look so exciting!
As for the far north coast, the largest port, Condor Wings, has only six to seven hundred people. Each port is half farming and half fishing and hunting. The further north you go, the less output you get from farming. You can see the development potential at a glance. Not to mention the nook and cranny of Shenjinxi Harbor, sitting on the Big Golden Mountain of Juneau on a large island, where nothing grows...
"God bless you! Although the winter here is as cold as in Ezo...but there are meat, fish, potatoes, wives, and apprentices to help with the work...It is really much better than the previous days. Oh! I don’t know how other people are doing, are they nourished by me?…"
Thinking of his current life, horse breeder Suichiro couldn't help but smile happily. Last month, after two mares gave birth to foals successfully, the chief priest Chimel was so satisfied that he had been named a "Master of Horse Breeding"!
It is said that this position is higher than that of ordinary samurai, and he is a "noble member of the martial arts family". He also got a noble outfit, with Lao Gao's feather crown on his head and a large feather coat on his body. He looked really majestic! This made him so happy that he no longer hugged his wife while sleeping, but hugged her clothes instead...
"Dad! My son is unfilial and can't go back. I can't help Erlang with his marriage... All I can do is kowtow to you and leave another child for the family on this island far to the east. The descendants will not die... Don't worry! Your daughter-in-law is a good child! She has a strong body and can carry me around on her shoulders..."
The horse breeder, Sukeichiro, stayed where he was. Somehow, he thought of his parents who had worked so hard all their lives, and his brother who wanted to marry the samurai daughter. The head of the Oyizaki clan did make many promises to the sailors who went to sea, including letting his younger brother marry the daughter of a samurai and become a samurai who can hold a sword...
But now the people, horses and property in this boat were intercepted by the Donghai tribe who suddenly appeared, and they have not returned to Ezo land at all. All the wealth that the Uyizaki family had managed to squeeze out was thrown into the sea and completely wiped out... Will the promises they made still count?
"Hey... I don't know what's going on at home in Ezochi now?... But I can't go back..."
The horse breeder, Sukeichiro, tilted his head and looked at the setting sun over the West Sea, falling into the sea little by little. And layers of darkness also appeared from the eastern sky, covering them softly. It was getting dark, and the horse had to go back to the stable to rest. He also had to take a quick nap, and he had to get up to feed the horse at night! …
As the sun sets thousands of miles west, I can see the divine island chain from the great whale island where horses are raised. Shendadi Port is the starting point of the island chain. There are two snow peaks standing outside Shendaoshan Port. Shenxue's home port is surrounded by three islands, and the final Shenda Island is surrounded by vast green grass. The ports on these four island chains can be said to be the most difficult northern strongholds in the kingdom. It snows in spring, fogs in summer, snows in autumn, and violent ice storms in winter. It is the most suitable "extremely cold place" for exile. It is much more severe than Lingnan and Ninggu Pagodas...
Further west, after arriving at Kamchatka Island, the Shenshuangyan Port near the hot spring mountain and the Shenanshan Port at the southernmost tip of Kamchatka are much better! Thousands of the kingdom's reindeer herds, driven by the tribesmen of the Koryak Deer Tribe who have converted to the main god, regularly herd back and forth between the two ports.
"Ouch! Ouch!"
The running herd of deer stopped, and the Samoyed and Alaskan dogs howled and drove the first deer into the enclosed deer pen. Then, the following deer flocked into it. The deer tribe tribesmen who were driving the deer took a long breath and looked at the port under the sunset. There, the three long-sail boats that were originally moored have disappeared. And the camp, which was originally bustling and busy, suddenly lost half of its people...
"O great god of the sea and thunder! The great chief priest and one hundred and fifty strong men set off to the big island in the southern island!..."
"Blessed by the great gods! These are almost half of the warriors in the camp... The chief priest must come back smoothly!..."
"Ancestors, sacred mountains, sacred deer, and the blue sky, please protect the tribe!"