Dominate the Country

The temperature in Heilongjiang is still cold in February.

This river, which used to be the northernmost river in China, is now ‘not what it used to be’. The location of Heilongjiang is thousands of miles away from the top of China's northern border. At this time, the Kamchatka Peninsula and Xiangzhou [Alaska] are extremely cold.

A long line of ice trucks travels across the thick ice in Heilongjiang. This is the main mode of transportation in the northern border in winter.

It evolved from the horse-drawn sleigh - the horse-drawn ice cart.

Equipped with barbed horseshoes for Mongolian horses that are small in size and have slightly lower pulling power, only two horses can pull up three to four thousand kilograms of things on flat ice and run very fast. Therefore, Heilongjiang is not only the main transportation line across the outer northeast during the navigation period of half a year, but also plays an extraordinary role during the ice period of the other half of the year.

A specially built ice truck can carry a squad of soldiers, the military equipment they need for combat, and the rations and fodder for the horses. Together with the replacement horses, it can be easily transported to hundreds of places in one day. inside and outside. Soldiers and military supplies can be transported to where they want to be transported in the fastest, most convenient and most cost-effective way in the cold winter.

To be honest, it's not much more troublesome than during the navigation period.

This convoy had just returned from the upper reaches. They picked up two teams of National Defense Forces at a station on the north bank. The latter needed to take turns. Of course, when they ran over, they also sent new garrison soldiers to the station, along with a considerable amount of fodder, food, cotton clothes, coal, spirits and other supplies.

But at the same time, he also brought back some not-so-good information. Only half of the hundreds of Russian prisoners and Eight Banners labor reform prisoners who were assigned there last summer survived. This winter was no colder than in previous years, and Chen Han also gave them enough food. However, the heavy labor and bitter cold climate caused nearly 300 "thin" Russian and bannermen labor camp prisoners to die on the banks of Heilongjiang.

In fact, as long as you compare the climate of Sakhalin Island, which is not warm at all compared to the Heilongjiang River, the approximate mortality rate of Russian prisoners of war and bannermen reform-through-labor prisoners there in the first year is only about 10%-15%, this can be seen that the leadership People are important.

Of course, the fact that the living environment of Sakhalin prisoners through labor is superior to that in the outer Northeast is also an undeniable factor.

But those Russians and bannermen will die if they die. The only reason to blame is that they have a weak foundation, and this cannot be used as an excuse for the person in charge of the labor camp, otherwise it will cause internal conflicts.

Although the 50% mortality rate far exceeds the legitimate mortality rate in labor camps, the outer Northeast is completely different from the mainland. There is no "legitimate mortality rate" in the Outer Northeast. The climate here is very different from that in the mainland. Therefore, even if the labor camp has expired after one winter, it is not evidence of crime.

In the outer Northeast, where the climate is bitter and cold, the management of labor camps has also become extensive. Here, the person in charge of the labor camp is the real master!

Of course, if you survive the first year, then you have basically adapted to the 'rhythm of life' here. In addition, the conditions at each labor site are definitely getting better year by year, and there is no guarantee that you will be second. Next winter, there will be a medical room. The mortality rate of reform-through-labor prisoners will plummet!

In a word, the better the living conditions are, the urban facilities are complete, and the living conditions are guaranteed, the lower the mortality rate will be.

Because the latter can effectively protect the lives of immigrants and labor reform prisoners in the cold winter.

When the National Defense Forces first entered Heilongjiang, not only immigrants froze to death, but also garrison soldiers froze to death. Therefore, winter life in this place is inseparable from coal and wood. In the summer, it relies on packhorses and boats for transportation, and in the winter, it relies on sleds and river ice trucks. Everything is for survival.

Immigrants who came here from the mainland, without going through three to five years of suffering, really don't want to take a step out of the village in winter. Winter here is really cat winter. Whenever residents go out, they must wear clothes as thick as bears.

The outer Northeast is rich in forest resources, with lumber mills everywhere, as well as quarries, coal mines and the like. The main forces in these mines are Russian prisoners of war and Eight Banners labor reform prisoners. At the same time, these places will not stop even in winter.

Old men in Europe should be very familiar with working in winter, and the same is almost true for Russians in Siberia. They have to work on their farmland in other seasons and prepare hay for their livestock for the winter. Therefore, they can only have time to earn some cash income in winter. The main channel is mining - there are many gold mines in Siberia, as well as logging. They can also do business, hunt and tan leather, so that they can have enough cash to pay the tax collectors who are like wolves and tigers after the spring.

A lot of this is outdoor work, and you still have to work even in the freezing temperatures of minus 30 to 40 degrees. In the original plane of time and space, there were many exiled Russian writers who, based on their own personal experiences, told the story of the difficult development history of Russian serfs in Siberia and the Far East through literary works.

Of course, this 'law of life' has also been learned by immigrants from the mainland and some aborigines early on.

For example, in ports near the sea, such as Vladivostok, many people are taking the time to start tanning leather with alkali. The leather is mainly wild sheepskin, occasionally mixed with a small amount of precious furs such as tiger skin, mink skin, fox skin, wolf skin, bear skin, deer skin, etc.

These are the people who work for the fur companies.

The Russians were cleared from East and West Siberia, and all the fur resources here became Chinese. Although China's "hunter army" maintained a certain data line after expanding to a certain extent, it is obvious that after 10 to 20 years of development, a complete industrial chain has been formed in Outer Northeast.

There are hunters hunting on the first line, and there are fur and wild goods purchasing stations on the second line. The fur shipped from the purchasing stations is sent to the affiliated enterprises below for urgent processing, and then the tanned fur is directly sent to the sales department of the fur company.

Among them, the furs with excellent quality are selected, and the rest of the furs enter the market in large quantities.

To be honest, a considerable number of fur companies active in Outer Northeast now have their own clothing companies, and the rest have close cooperation with domestic garment companies.

Like in the beginning, it was purely buying furs, and the benefits were exploited too much.

Nowadays, selling various furs, pickled meats, animal fats, and wild mountain products to the fur company's receiving stations has become an important income for residents in the Outer Northeast in winter. The fur company bosses sold sharp skinning knives, gunpowder, arrows, medicines, salt and soda on credit to local residents, especially the Daur, Oroqen and Buryats who had a hunting tradition, and then asked them to use tanned leather, pickled bacon, animal fat and wild mountain products to pay off the debts. If there is a surplus of goods sold, the fur company people will strongly recommend them to buy some small things such as leather/cotton shoes, leather/cotton clothes, strong liquor, tobacco, sugar, etc., to recover as much of the remaining cash on hand as possible.

Of course, if you want to get rich quickly, "serving as a soldier and fighting" for the fur company is definitely the best choice.

The immigrants in Outer Northeast all regard the "expedition team" as an army, and the expedition teams of fur companies or mining companies are indeed dangerous. But where there is danger, there is gain. Haven't you seen those warriors who returned from the "conquest" outside, which one of them is not bulging with money and rich?

The banknotes in their hands were piled up. They no longer ate large pieces of cane sugar, but milk candy and chocolate that tasted better. They no longer smoked pipes, but packs of cigarettes. They no longer drank sweet potato cakes, but strong liquor that was stronger and less intoxicating. They no longer wore cotton-padded clothes and trousers, but light and warm leather clothes and trousers. If they saw something good, they would buy it immediately. Not only did they enjoy it, but their families also became rich.

However, in recent years, there have been many examples of people getting rich by joining the expedition team, and rumors of the expedition team being wiped out have been heard from time to time.

East and West Siberia are too big.

Fortunately, the remnants of the Eight Banners have been almost eliminated in recent years, and the bandits who were once prosperous have disappeared without a trace, otherwise the expedition team would be in greater danger.

However, the maps left by the old Russians cannot be fully trusted. Whether it is the cabinet or the Grand Governor's Office, people have to go through them. This is the biggest reason why expedition teams are popular. Many fur companies and mining companies are supported by the cabinet and the Grand Governor's Office.

Moreover, Xiangzhou has been occupied by Chen Han for so many years, and many places have been explored. Chen Han's sights have extended to the inland areas of Canada. This requires an expedition team to take the lead, and the enemies that the expedition team said they would face were not only the rare local indigenous people, but also the British on the other side of the continent.

Although Europeans could not survive in the inland areas of Canada for a long time, they sent out expedition teams many years ago and drew many maps.

If China officially enters the inland areas of Canada, it is really possible to install with the British. It is hard to say whether it will be a friendly encounter or a hail of bullets.

Chinese people are very homesick, even if it is a "home" that has just migrated for more than ten years, it is still a "home". In contrast, the indigenous people here are more yearning for money. They don't have much nostalgia for their hometown in Outer Northeast China. After all, they are going out to "work" instead of immigrating.

Yes, many natives of Outer Northeast were recruited by the National Defense Force.

These people were able to go because they had all gone through rigorous examinations. Not only were they able to withstand the cold, but they also had survival skills in the wild, and many of them were excellent hunters in the tribe.

For them, even if they had nothing, they could live in the snowy and frozen mountains and forests for three, five, seven, or eight days.

The National Defense Force and the local government of Outer Northeast had to work hard to find more than 200 such people.

Yes, there were only more than 200 people in total. Many of them were gold medal hunters of the fur company.

More than 200 people seemed a lot, but at most there were only a dozen expedition teams. For these people, the threat of the expedition team was not much higher than being a hunter in East and West Siberia. Isn't it the same to make money everywhere?

As long as they have money in their hands, they can live in a warm house, wear warm clothes, live a good life with no worries about food and drink, and have wine and meat every meal. They can also use the money to find women, or even sell him a white woman. Such a life is undoubtedly heaven. They don't care whether they are in the New World or the Old World, or how far away they are. They only care about their own lives and the actual benefits that fall into their hands.