Wind Rises in North America 1625

Chapter 412 Black Soil and Passion
On August 24, 1639, at 3 p.m., the "Yuanwang-8" and "Yuanwang-4" sailed into Saiei Port (now Ishikari Port) one after the other, and a busy scene came into view.

Two transport ships are being loaded with grain. With the lifting of the booms, baskets of freshly dug potatoes and dry sand (used to prevent moisture during potato transport) are being carried onto the deck.

These potatoes are all plump, their skin still carrying the unique black soil scent of Beiying Island, and they gleam with a pale yellow sheen in the afternoon sunlight.

"This batch of grain needs to be transported to the Liaohai Colonization Area before it freezes, otherwise the stranded immigrants there will run out of food!" The dockworker stood by the ship, holding a cargo list in his hand, urging the workers to speed up the unloading.

This year, Beiying Island has enjoyed favorable weather conditions, with neither severe drought nor floods. In addition, the success of the many cold-resistant crops cultivated since four years ago has made the entire colonization area expected to have a rare bumper harvest.

The potato production in the Shinkawa region (Ishikari River Plain) alone reached 40,000 tons, which was theoretically enough to feed 25,000 people for a year (in cases where Ireland was extremely dependent on potatoes in history).

The total potato production on Beiying Island is expected to exceed 80,000 tons.

In just over half a month, grain crops planted in various regions will gradually mature and be harvested, at which time the scale of grain production will be an astonishing figure.

As early as two years ago, with the continuous growth of local grain production, Beiying Island stopped importing grain from outside on a large scale, except for a small amount of rice, thus greatly reducing the outflow of silver.

Last year, Beiying Island began supplying small quantities of grain to the Liaohai Colonization Area and Dongjiang Town.

In the blink of an eye, ten years have passed.

Ten years ago, the island was a desolate and barren place, with only a few Ainu tribes fishing, hunting, and gathering berries and tubers.

Today, Beiying Island has become Xinhua's most important granary and immigration transit base in Northeast Asia.

Ten years ago, when the first immigrants set foot on Beiying Island, they were greeted by a long, cold winter, barren land, and meager agricultural output.

Now, the scale of farmland on Hokkaido Island has expanded from the initial tens of acres to 1.9 million acres (in later years, the scale of cultivated land in Hokkaido exceeded 17.8 million acres), and it is increasing at a rate of 10%-15% per year. The grain output is not only enough to feed the island's 150,000 people (including some Ainu people), but also can be transported out in large quantities to support the development and construction of other colonization areas.

Besides potatoes, Beiying Island also widely cultivates cold-resistant crops such as barley, rye, and oats. Moreover, through continuous experimentation by many experienced farmers, corn and wheat adapted to the cold climate have been successfully cultivated.

In the experimental fields near the coast (now Kushiro City), agricultural officials were also trying to cultivate and improve soybeans introduced from Hebei Province, hoping to further enrich the local crop varieties.

"Ten years ago, we ate dried fish with wild tubers. Now, we have flatbread every meal, and we can even eat stewed potatoes." Some elderly immigrants said with smiles as they sat in the fields, their wrinkles smoothing out. "We never dared to dream of such a life back in the Ming Dynasty!"

The development and progress of agriculture, along with the increasing population, also spurred the emergence of industry on Beiying Island.

In the coal mining areas of Aoling (now Kushiro-cho, 12 kilometers northeast of Kushiro City) and Kuroishi (now Bibai City), thousands of miners are wielding pickaxes to chisel black chunks of coal from the veins.

Although the coal mines here are not as large as those in Xinzhou, they are sufficient to supply the daily life and basic industrial needs of Beiying Island, and can even supply some coal to the Haidong Colonization Area.

"This coke burns without smoke, much better than charcoal!" A blacksmith's apprentice pushed a wheelbarrow, pouring freshly delivered coal into the furnace. Flames shot up instantly, illuminating the craftsman's face.

Meanwhile, in the gold mines of Guide (now Wenbie City), gold panners were using wooden pans to sift placer gold from the stream.

Although the gold production here was not as high as that of the Jinsha River in the mainland, it provided a considerable amount of financial support for the Beiying Colonization Area, which was used to promote various livelihood affairs and immigration work in the region.

Besides coal and gold mines, the basic industries and handicrafts of Beiying Island are also thriving.

At the shipyard by the sea, craftsmen are busy building small and medium-sized galleys and flat-bottomed riverboats.

These ships were used not only for short- and medium-distance transport of goods within the colonization area, but also for the transfer of immigrants and maritime colonization.

Meanwhile, in the whale oil workshops in Linhai and Kaipingbao (now Hakodate City), workers were pouring the refined whale oil into wooden barrels.

This whale oil was not only a fine source of lighting oil, but it could also be made into candles and lubricants, which were exported to Japan, Korea, and the Ming Dynasty.

Each coastal town, relying on its abundant fishery resources, processes and pickles tens of thousands of tons of fish annually, which not only supplies the local population of over 100,000 immigrants but is also sold in large quantities to Japan and North Korea.

The continuous strengthening of the industrial and agricultural base on Beiying Island provided Xinhua with a solid backing for its colonization efforts in the region.

"Without the food and fish from Beiying Island, the development of the three colonization zones—Sakhalin Island, Haidong, and Heishui—would be impossible!"

Besides supplying food, Beiying Island was also Xinhua's largest transit point for immigrants.

Every year, 12,000 to 15,000 immigrants from Liaodong, Shandong, Korea, and Japan of the Ming Dynasty would stay here briefly before being taken back to Xinzhou by special immigrant ships.

Militarily, the several Xinhua armed ships based on Beiying Island have already posed a strong deterrent to Korea and the Qing Dynasty.

"Although our Beiying Island colony appears quite powerful on paper, it's still a bit too far-fetched to reach distant Luzon!"

In the government office located on the east side of Yongtai Castle (present-day Sapporo), the two bigwigs in charge of the entire northern colony area—Qi Yongze and Wei Zhonglong—were arguing heatedly about the intelligence they had just received regarding Luzon.

In April, in order to eliminate potential threats to their rule and alleviate their financial crisis that was on the verge of bankruptcy (the Spanish owed Chinese merchants a large amount of debt through credit sales, roughly estimated at 180-200 million pesos), the Spanish colonial authorities in the Philippines launched a "Great Purge" against the Chinese.

In just ten days, more than 10,000 Chinese people near Manila were massacred, regardless of age or gender, and even infants in swaddling clothes were brutally murdered.

When the Chinese who had managed to escape Luzon and returned to Guangdong and Fujian lamented the atrocities committed by the Spanish, it did not attract much attention from the Ming Dynasty court and the public.

After receiving a letter of appeal from Chinese merchants in Luzon, Fujian Governor Shen Youlong refused to take any substantive action, citing the reason that "it is not advisable to easily provoke border conflicts due to overseas provocations."

Emperor Chongzhen was already troubled by the Qing invaders' rampage in the north. Upon receiving this news, he only issued an order: "Luzon is far overseas. It is not advisable to send troops on a long expedition to defend against the barbarians."

As for Zheng Zhilong, the "manager" of the Ming Dynasty's sea area, he took the opportunity to gather Fujian and Guangdong merchants, using the pretext of providing maritime protection to expand his own power, further monopolize maritime trade, and attempt to become the de facto "maritime protector of Chinese merchants".

As for deploying warships to militarily deter the Spanish in order to protect the tens of thousands of Chinese residing in Luzon, no local government or civil organization took any action. Just when everyone thought that this incident of Westerners massacring Chinese would be ignored by the world like the incident in the 31st year of the Wanli reign (1603), and would eventually be silently buried in the dust of history.

Unexpectedly, upon hearing the news, Zhong Minghui, the plenipotentiary representative of Xinhua to the Ming Dynasty and the head of the Liaohai Colonization Area, disregarded the opposition of many subordinates and organized more than ten armed immigrant ships in early June, leading two hundred Liaohai self-defense troops and four hundred armed soldiers to Luzon.

Xinhua people want to save tens of thousands of Han Chinese in Luzon from suffering!

In late June, the Xinhua Fleet arrived at Manila Bay and, after overwhelming the number of Spanish armed merchant ships, launched a major attack on the port.

However, the Spanish built the Santiago Fortress at the strategic estuary of the Pasig River, which was heavily armed with cannons, making it difficult to break in unless a considerable price was paid.

As for the coastlines on both sides of the port, the Spanish also had a strong defense. On the left was the San Diego Battery, which was equipped with 8-10 18-pounder coastal defense guns, and on the right was the San Gabriel Battery, which was equipped with 6 12-pounder long-barreled guns and 2 18-pounder coastal defense guns.

The Xinhua Fleet attempted two attacks, but both were met with strong counterattacks from the Spanish, resulting in varying degrees of damage to several ships, which were forced to retreat beyond the range of the gun emplacements.

After several days of fruitless siege, several Chinese in Luzon familiar with Spanish defenses suggested that they could bypass the heavily fortified port of Manila and attack the Cavite shipyard on the southwest side, from where they could achieve a breakthrough.

This most important Spanish shipbuilding base in the East is surrounded by water on three sides, with a low wall built on the side closest to the land. It is home to more than 100 Spanish soldiers and has deployed more than 10 light and heavy artillery pieces.

However, there are no defensive gun emplacements on the side facing the sea, only a few small patrol boats. Once the fleet reaches the shipbuilding base, it can directly bombard the dock and then launch a landing from the rear.

Therefore, after leaving several armed merchant ships to continue monitoring Manila Port, the Xinhua Fleet turned to Cavite. In just one day, it broke through the Spanish defenses, and more than 500 armed soldiers landed and took control of the shipyard, capturing hundreds of shipbuilding craftsmen.

Knowing they were outmatched, the Spanish soldiers stationed there all fled back to Manila.

After the Spanish massacre, Chinese people who had fled to various places flocked to Cavite to gather.

In just over ten days, more than 10,000 people fled here.

After reorganizing these surviving Luzon Chinese, the new Chinese community assembled a force of three thousand men and marched in a mighty army towards Manila.

Although most of the troops lacked proper weapons, carrying either a farm tool or a sharpened wooden stick, driven by a desire for revenge, they followed the Xinhua people's ranks with fervent patriotism and unwavering resolve.

The Spanish garrison in the Philippines consisted mainly of a small number of soldiers from mainland Spain and troops dispatched from the Spanish American colonies, supplemented by a small number of indigenous auxiliary troops.

截止1638年底，马尼拉城防部队约有380-400名士兵，摩鹿加群岛驻有480-500人，其他地区约500-700人。

However, the actual combat strength of the Spanish army was similar to that of the Ming Dynasty's official army, but due to long-term arrears in pay (average arrears of 2.5-3.5 years) and troop reductions due to disease, it was only 60%-70% of the number on paper.

That is, the total strength of the Spanish forces (regular troops) was approximately between 950 and 1100, while the garrison in Manila numbered around 400.

Even with the addition of temporarily recruited Pampangas (indigenous servants), Japanese ronin, Chinese who had defected (mainly Chinese believers who had joined the Catholic Church), as well as Spanish residents and missionaries, the garrison strength of Manila would not exceed 1,500 men.

However, the fortification and powerful firepower of Manila far exceeded the expectations of the new Chinese, who suffered a humiliating defeat at the city's gates.

The army launched a fierce attack for several days, but failed to budge the Spanish defenders in the slightest. Instead, more than a hundred soldiers were killed or wounded.

Seeing that they could not capture the city in a short time, the Xinhua Army then adopted a long-term siege strategy, stationing its troops under the city walls, preparing to wait until the Spanish ran out of ammunition and food and surrendered the city.

In order to ensure the complete capture of Luzon and the annihilation of the Spanish army, Li Zhishang, the commander-in-chief of the Xinhua Army and commander of the Liaohai Fleet, sent a liaison ship back to the Ming Dynasty to request Zhong Minghui, who was stationed on Lantau Island, to dispatch more armed soldiers and food supplies.

After receiving the letter, Zhong Minghui dispatched two groups of messengers to Fujian and Beiying respectively.

The former, using the promise of dividing Luzon and seizing Spain's accumulated wealth as bait, attempted to persuade Zheng Zhilong to join forces and conquer Luzon together.

The latter naturally wanted the increasingly powerful Northern Ying Colony to provide full support, to seek justice for the tens of thousands of massacred Chinese, and to help Xinhua acquire the strategic territory of the Philippines.

Upon receiving the letter seeking help, Qi Yongze and Wei Zhonglong immediately had a serious disagreement.

It should be noted that the instructions given to these colony leaders by the local decision-making committee were to unconditionally cooperate with the local authorities in completing the annual migration and transfer work. In addition, they were to weaken the Qing forces as much as possible, and if there were any spare capacity, to prevent or delay the Qing forces' attack on the Ming Dynasty and avoid causing fatal damage to the Ming Dynasty.

While completing the two main tasks mentioned above, appropriate expansion and development of surrounding areas are permitted to consolidate and strengthen one's own strength.

Therefore, whether it was the Liaohai Colonization Area building a series of immigrant transfer points in the Bohai Sea, and its unremitting support and assistance to Liaonan Town and Dongjiang Town, or the Beiying Colonization Area extending its influence to Beiqin Lake (Xingkai Lake) and Heilongjiang to attack the Qing invaders, all of these were carried out around the two main tasks mentioned above.

But Zhong Minghui, after giving a brief warning, before Qi and Wei could react, recklessly mobilized more than ten armed immigrant ships to head south and launch a brazen attack on the Spanish Philippines.

What is this called?
They were organized but lacked discipline, completely disregarded the overall situation of the new immigrants, and even provoked a war with Spain.

However, Qi Yongze agreed with Zhong Minghui's actions, believing that they could not sit idly by or stand idly by while Spain was massacring Chinese people. He was prepared to respond to Zhong's request and organize a group of ships and personnel to go to Luzon to provide support and overthrow Spanish rule in the Philippines.

The regrets of China from hundreds of years ago must eventually be avenged.

Wei Zhonglong, however, held the opposite view, believing that the main task of the Beiying colonization area should be to destabilize the situation in Korea and stabilize the order of the Outer Northeast colonization.

Ajige's army of over 10,000 Eight Banner troops swept across both banks of the Han River, forcing the Xinhua-Dongjiang Allied Forces to quickly withdraw from Seoul. They also routed Gwanghaegun, who was just preparing to expand his power, forcing him to flee back to Kangryeong County in a sorry state. There, he closed the gates and held out, making it seem as if the newly unrest in Joseon was about to be quelled immediately.

Under these circumstances, the Northern Expeditionary Area should take advantage of its maritime superiority and send small forces to continue harassing the east and west coasts of Korea, preventing its domestic situation from stabilizing and turning Korea into a huge burden for the Qing Dynasty.

Meanwhile, news from Yongmingbao (present-day Vladivostok) and Bolibao (present-day Khabarovsk) in the Outer Northeast region indicated that the Qing forces had taken notice of Xinhua's colonization activities in the aforementioned two locations and were very likely to launch military operations in the next two years to eliminate Xinhua's colonization strongholds one by one.

Therefore, in order to counter the threat from the Qing invaders, Beiying Island should immediately mobilize corresponding manpower and resources to support the aforementioned two places and strengthen their defenses.

If we invest our limited resources and energy in Luzon, wouldn't that be disregarding the fundamental interests of the northern islands?
If tens of thousands of Chinese in Luzon need to be saved, then should tens of millions of people in northern China under the Ming Dynasty also be saved?
Should we save the hundreds of millions of people across the entire Chinese continent?
(End of this chapter)