Chapter 2354

Although the Tsugaru Strait is just a not too wide gap between Honshu Island and Hokkaido on the map, after the fleet arrived in this area, it seemed that they immediately entered a completely different world, under the constant rain day and night.

Under the influence of the sleet, the temperature dropped sharply. During the day, the temperature was already below zero, and at night it was even seven or eight degrees lower. The sailors on duty on the deck had to face the biting sea breeze, so the body temperature was still high.

It will be lower.

Fortunately, Wang Tom was prepared for such a situation before setting off. In addition to shortening the sailors' duty time and speeding up the frequency of defense changes, the winter uniforms distributed to the sailors were also prepared for this trip, and they all have relatively strong capabilities.

Ability to withstand cold.

Leather boots, cotton trousers, leather jacket, cotton hat, gloves, and an oilcloth raincoat are the standard equipment for sailors at this time, which reduces the exposed part of the body to a minimum. Although such clothing will make

People become bloated and inconvenient, but at least they can be guaranteed not to get frostbite in the current low temperature environment.

As a military observer, Shen Xueyi enjoyed the same treatment as Officer Haihan, so he also received a set of personal equipment like this. He looked at these clothes carefully, and the quality seemed to be better than what he had prepared himself. And such cold clothing, every fleet member

Everyone has his own set, so you can imagine how much it costs to buy these things. This also gave Shen Xueyi a more intuitive understanding of Haihan's wealth.

The current location of the fleet is more than 1,500 miles away from the easternmost coast of North Korea, separated by the entire Sea of ​​Japan. However, the latitude of the Tsugaru Strait is actually almost the same as that of Pyongan Road and Hamgyong Road in northern North Korea, so

For Shen Xueyi, the climate here is similar to that in the north of the country, but it is still within the scope of adaptability.

However, compared with the cold-resistant equipment of the Haihan Army's individual soldiers, the Korean army stationed on the northern border is too shabby. If they had the same quality of cold-resistant equipment, Shen Xueyi felt that the northern border would not be casually used by the Qing army.

Breaking through. With nothing to do on the ship, Shen Xueyi asked Wang Tom about the procurement status of these equipment to see if his country's army could gradually change into such a complete set of warm-weather clothing.

"Most of these winter equipment are ordered from Ming merchants in Shandong. A set of individual equipment costs about twenty taels of silver. However, this money is spent to ensure that the troops still have the due combat effectiveness during this season.

We think it is still a good deal. If your country is interested in purchasing these equipment, we will be happy to help match them." Wang Tom explained to Shen Xueyi frankly.

A considerable number of the Haihan Army stationed in the north are from the south, where the climate is warm, and it is difficult for them to adapt to the low temperature seasons in high latitudes. Therefore, the Haihan Army has spent a lot of thought and energy in recent years to provide cold protection and warmth for the soldiers.

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Most of the cotton, cotton cloth, cattle and sheepskin, etc. used by the Haihan Army to keep out the cold were produced in North and Central China. In order to save labor, the Haihan Army simply outsourced the production of quilts through Ming merchants.

Directly purchase finished products. Since the Haihan Army has high requirements for military supplies, the purchase price of these equipment will naturally not be too low. Not to mention North Korea, even the Ming Dynasty has few troops that can reach such equipment levels.

When Shen Xueyi heard the price, he secretly backed down. He knew that given his family's financial situation, it would be impossible to promote this practice in the military in the short term. At most, he could only distribute these equipment to officers at all levels.

But just distributing such equipment to officers will not effectively improve the combat effectiveness of the troops. Shen Xueyi can only secretly lament that if you have money, you can travel all over the world, but without money, it is difficult to move forward. Such combat effectiveness requires a large amount of wealth to transform, and your country

It is indeed impossible to imitate.

Shen Xueyi had no choice but to thank Tom Wang for his offer to help with the matchmaking, and said that he would have to apply to the court after returning to China and wait until he had a clue.

Hokkaido Island is the second largest island in the Japanese archipelago, second only to Honshu Island in area. However, Hokkaido at this time was not completely under Japanese rule. Hokkaido during this period was also called Ezo Land by Japan, which means

A place where barbarians live. The indigenous people on the island are the Ainu, who make a living by fishing and hunting and are not good at farming, so they are regarded as barbarians by Japan. The Ainu are a mixed race of Mongoloid and Europa.

The appearance characteristics are obviously different from those of East Asians, but they have some typical characteristics of Europeans.

Although the Japanese have continued to carry out colonial activities in southern Hokkaido since the Muromachi period, they have been attacked by the indigenous people and the scale of the colonization is very limited. It was not until the end of the 16th century, that is, a few decades ago, that Matsumae Keihiro settled in Hokkaido.

Matsumae Castle was built on the coast at the southern end, and with the support of the shogunate, the southern area was established as the Matsumae Domain. This initially achieved the shogunate's actual control over the southern part of Hokkaido and monopolized the trade between Japan and the Ainu tribe.

In the current era, Matsumae Castle basically symbolizes the northernmost area under the control of the Japanese shogunate. Further north all the way to Sakhalin Island, most of the areas are controlled by the Ainu tribe.

From a certain perspective, Matsumae Castle can be regarded as the dividing point between the civilized world and the wild world. Now that he has arrived at this place, Wang Tom doesn't want to miss it and plans to stop by and take a look at this coastal castle.

If we look at the location of Songqian City according to Haihan's criteria for choosing a colonial port, it is unqualified in any case. There is neither a natural harbor nor a plain area suitable for agricultural farming. In Wang Tom's view

The reason why the Matsumae family chose to build the city here is probably just because it was close to Honshu Island.

There is no harbor here, so it is naturally difficult to build large seaports and develop maritime trade on a large scale. Without plains, local agricultural products are not enough to support more immigrants to settle here. Matsumae Castle faces the Tsugaru Strait to the south, and is adjacent to the hundreds of miles of rivers to the north.

There is basically no space suitable for urban development around the mountains, and there are no high-value products. We rely on barter transactions with the Ainu tribe in the north to support our finances. In addition, this place is a few kilometers away from the most prosperous areas in Japan.

Every city has a flight distance of more than two thousand miles, and it would be damned if it could develop.

More than ten miles away from the coastline, Wang Tom used his telescope to see Matsumae Castle standing on the gentle slope of the coast. This is a typical Japanese castle, a multi-story fortress built on a stone base.

Judging from its shape, it is quite similar to the Hirado Castle that Wang Tom saw on Hirado Island before.

However, Hirado Castle was destroyed by fire a long time ago. The feudal lord, the Matsuura clan, never rebuilt Hirado Castle in order to show peace. Therefore, when the Kaihan Army attacked Hirado, only the ruins of the foundation were left. But this one

Matsumae Castle relatively completely reflects the style of a Japanese castle.

After getting closer, it is not difficult to find that Matsumae Castle is very close to the coastline. If artillery is deployed on the city wall on the sea side, it can basically be used as a coastal defense fort. When we first attacked Hirado Port,

At that time, fortifications such as forts were built on the local coast.

However, the artillery of the Hirado Domain was first provided by Europeans. Later, after gradually mastering the manufacturing technology, it also produced some of its own. However, it is difficult to say whether a place as remote as Hokkaido can obtain such large-scale weapons as Western-style artillery.

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Judging from the field of vision of Songqian Castle, I believe that the arrival of the Haihan Fleet should have been discovered. Wang Tom is still not sure whether the owner here is willing to receive outside visitors, but it has probably aroused the other party's vigilance, so he did not show off rashly.

Approaching the coast where Matsumae Castle is located in a menacing manner, they first sent an expedition-class warship to the coast to explore a suitable place for the fleet to anchor.

Shiro Amakusa once again took on the task of envoy, taking a small boat to land a few miles away from Matsumae Castle, and tried to contact local officials.

This time, he did not return without success like Sado Island. Instead, he brought back good news. The lord of Matsumae Domain, Matsumae Kimihiro, was willing to meet with Tom Wang in Matsumae Castle. Of course, Amakusa Shiro's purpose of coming to the other party was just to meet him.

To carry out trade activities locally, not even a single word was mentioned about the true purpose of this fleet.

Although it was risky to go ashore and enter Matsumae Castle to visit the local feudal lord, Wang Tom decided to go there himself. He believed that this place was very far away from the political center of Japan, and he may not have understood the conflicts between Haihan and the Hirado clan in the first half of the year.

During the war, there shouldn't be too much hostility towards Haihan. And with such a huge fleet waiting on the beach, the other side shouldn't act rashly.

Of course, out of caution, Wang Tom still brought weapons after a long time. He installed two USP45 automatic pistols in the holsters on the left and right ribs, and asked all the accompanying guards to use revolvers made in Sanya.

Such short weapons can be hidden in clothing and will not be as conspicuous as rifles.

Before setting off, Wang Tom politely asked Shen Xueyi if he was willing to go with him. Unexpectedly, Shen Xueyi immediately agreed without hesitation: "I have been on the ship for so many days, and I just want to go ashore for some activities. As long as the general doesn't find it troublesome,

That’s fine.”

Since it was an official visit, there was no need to avoid taboos. Wang Tom asked the flagship to anchor one mile away from the coast, and then took Amakusa Shiro, Shen Xueyi, and a dozen guards in two small boats to arrive at the dock south of Matsumae Castle.

.At this time, Matsumae Gongguang had sent several retainers to wait on the shore. After greeting Wang Tom, he invited him to sit on the prepared sedan and go to Matsumae Castle.

This Japanese-style sedan is called a cage. Only nobles can ride it in Japan. However, the space of this thing is very small. It is like a box. You cannot sit in it as comfortably as a Chinese-style sedan. You can only sit cross-legged or hug your legs.

It's inside. And the sedan relies on a wooden pole at the top, so the stability is not ideal.

If Wang Tom was left to make his own choice, he would definitely rather walk to Songqian Castle than take this carriage that seems to have extremely poor comfort. Anyway, the distance is not far, and it only takes a few minutes to walk there. But

Amakusa Shiro reminded him that this was a very high courtesy in Japan and it was best not to refuse, so he had no choice but to bite the bullet and get into the cage. But with his tall figure, after getting in, he was already

I can't sit up straight, so I need to bend my waist slightly to prevent my head from hitting the top of the cage.

Two laborers, one behind the other, used their strength at the same time to lift up the cage, and then everyone gathered around and headed towards Matsumae Castle not far away.

When we get closer, we can see that Matsumae Castle is actually quite large in scale. There are defensive trenches built around the castle, which may also be used as a moat in the rainy season. There are many lower castles around the tall castle.

Surrounded by short buildings, these buildings are all built on a stone base more than ten feet thick. There are only a few gaps on the outward side, which can also function as a city wall in times of war.

However, what reassured everyone in Haihan was that it could be confirmed that there were no fortifications such as forts and crenels on the side facing the sea. It seems that Matsumae Castle does not have heavy weapons such as Western artillery, so naturally it cannot threaten the anchorage.

The Haihan Fleet on the nearby sea.

After the group entered Songqian Castle, they stopped at an open space in front of the castle. Wang Tom got out of the cage, thinking that the distance was not far away. If he had to ride this thing to walk ten or eight miles, it would be terrible.

It's really uncomfortable. These Japanese nobles really don't know how to enjoy it. They have to find a way to sell the box carriages made in Haihan here.

The retainers of the Matsumae clan led Tom Wang and his entourage through a wooden door and arrived at a rather straight courtyard. Then they asked Tom Wang's accompanying guards to stay in the courtyard, and Tom Wang went in on his own to meet with the feudal lord.

Wang Tom immediately expressed that he would bring two people in with him, one being Amakusa Shiro as the translator, and Shen Xueyi as his personal attendant. The retainers could not make up their minds, so they went in again to ask for permission, and then agreed to Wang Tom's request.

The Lord of the Matsumae Domain, Matsumae Kimihiro, was a middle-aged man. Wang Tom noticed that his face had obvious burn marks and he had difficulty speaking. There was a young man sitting on his knees next to him, with a vaguely similar appearance. He should be

His descendants and family members.

Amakusa Shiro translated what the other party said to Wang Tom. It turned out that Matsumae Kohiro was injured in a fire last year. The burns on his body have not healed, and his physical condition has been greatly affected. He has difficulty moving, so he cannot go out to meet him.

Wang Tom can understand. The young man next to him is his second son Matsuda Ujihiro, who will also be the successor to the position of Lord of Matsumae Domain.

Seeing that the other party did not show any hostility, Wang Tom took the initiative to explain his purpose of visit to him, saying that he was here to visit on behalf of the Haihan Kingdom and was willing to establish long-term trade relations with the Matsumae Domain.

As expected, Matsumae Kohiro didn't know much about the situation in the outside world, so he asked where Kaihan Kingdom was located, how far it was from Matsumae Domain, and what special products it had.
Chapter completed!