The fleet slowly approached the dock and stopped.
The sound of music was heard from the pier. In the two years since the opening of Vladivostok City, this is the first time that the master has come to inspect. Everyone is very nervous, and the preparations are very grand.
Chen Xi opened the sliding door of the balcony and screamed.
This Royal Clipper was transmitted from modern times and has a complete temperature control system. The temperature indoors is twenty-five or six degrees Celsius, and at this time, it is already minus twenty degrees Celsius in the harbor. It has already snowed here.
The wind from the north is biting and cold, blowing on the skin and causing pain like a knife.
Chen Xi quickly closed the door again, and she was horrified to find that the balcony was covered with ice. The swells from the Sea of Japan crashed onto the balcony and the water froze.
"Master, why is it so cold here?" Chen Xi said shivering.
"You have never been to the Northeast, so you don't know how severe the winter here is. But I have been prepared and have prepared special clothes for you to keep out the cold." Yang Fan said.
"Master, shouldn't we wear mink here?" asked the little girl. She had been to Mongolia in winter before, where it was extremely cold at 20 to 30 degrees below zero. She wears mink all over.
I have to say that mink fur is really effective in keeping out the cold, but it’s too expensive. Otter skins from the Northeast are also quite good. Good mink and otter skins, the fluffy hair is like needles, stretching out one by one. Shining with oily light.
These precious skins do not even touch water or snow. If you fall on it, it will slide down.
I love fur so much, and this time I have the chance to wear it. It's not that cold in Guan Nei, but it's actually a bit warm wearing mink. It's just right here, neither hot nor cold and very comfortable.
"Well, wearing fur is very warm, but it's too heavy. I've prepared down jackets for you, which are light and warm." Yang Fan asked Xu Xiu to bring thermal underwear and down jackets.
"Hey! These clothes are so light." Xiao Niangpi said in surprise after putting on her clothes.
These down jackets are filled with the finest materials. The best stuffing for down jackets is goose down, which includes white goose down and gray goose down. These are all white goose down. Ladies are mysophobic and like pure white things.
Yang Fan has no shortage of geese and ducks, there are plenty of them.
"And these snow boots, they are light and warm, and will not slip on the ice. The road here is full of ice, so it is easy to fall." Yang Fan took out a pair of snow boots from the box, squatted down and leathered them with his own hands. Put it on.
The little girl's face was red, sitting on the chair, squinting her eyes happily, enjoying the master's favor. Men in this era are all chauvinistic, and few are as gentle as Yang Fan. Yang Fan would sometimes draw their eyebrows, and they would be happy all day long.
"Wear your masks, the wind is very strong."
Yang Fan took the ladies out of the cabin and went directly down to the dock through the door opened on the middle level on the side. As soon as I came out, the cold wind blew and it felt so cold.
Li Huaishu immediately stepped forward, stood at attention, saluted, and shouted loudly: "Commander of the Vladivostok Base, Governor of the Suifen River Basin, Li Huaishu reports to the master. Please give me instructions."
Yang Fan patted him on the shoulder with a smile. Li Huaishu was a member of the old family who followed him in the early days. Now they have all taken on independent leadership positions. Li Huaishu has reached the rank of colonel.
"Commander of the Japan Sea Fleet, Chen Zuwang, reports to the master for instructions." Chen Zuwang is now also the person in charge of the Vladivostok fleet. Also holds the rank of Navy Captain. Although he became a monk halfway and joined the family later, his technical level is highly valued by Yang Fan, and now he can be regarded as entering the inner circle.
"Okay, everyone is exempt from the courtesy." Yang Fan said with a smile.
"Thank you, Sir" all the military officers and administrative officials shouted loudly.
At this time, a four-wheeled carriage should have arrived to take the master and his wife to where they were staying. But the roads here are covered with snow, and from the dock, it looks like they are all wooden houses made of logs. The roof was covered with thick snow.
The snow in this era was much heavier than in later generations. During this period, the forest coverage rate is high and the soil and water conservation is good. In winter, heavy snow can accumulate one or two meters thick, requiring continuous snow clearing.
Yang Fan looked around and knew that it was impossible for a carriage to travel on this kind of road environment. Because there has not yet been time to build roads with hardened surfaces. Even after it was repaired, snow had to be swept away constantly. The snow on the road was crushed by cars and turned into ice.
This small seaport town only has a few hundred wooden houses built. Some are barracks, some are residences, and many are warehouses. A simple wall was built outside using logs. Watchtowers were also built, trenches were dug and barbed wire fences were installed outside.
There are wild beasts everywhere here in this day and age. If the place is not carefully arranged, hungry black bears may run in in the middle of the night and kill several of them.
"Come on, let's walk to the hotel. It just so happens that I am also doing some activities. I have been on the boat during this period. When I suddenly landed on the shore, I felt a little land-sick. Haha." Yang Fan said jokingly.
"Although you can't get a carriage here, sir, we have prepared this for you and your ladies." Li Huaishu waved his hand and turned out from behind a wooden house a group of dogs with their tongues hanging out and panting loudly. Behind them they towed a light wagon carriage on a sledge.
"Wow! Such handsome dogs." Xiao Niangpi and the others were immediately attracted by these sled dogs.
Yang Fan took a closer look and saw that they were actually a group of Erha.
Yang Fan was also convinced. Where did Li Huaishu get it? Isn't this thing only close to the Arctic Circle?
"Sir, it's inconvenient for horses to use here in winter. The snow is too thick and wheels can't move. Last winter, tribes from Kamchatka came to Shuangchengzi and exchanged furs, sand gold and Dongzhu for our cotton coats, grain, salt and iron. Pot. They came here on a dog sled."
Yang Fan smiled and said: "Did you trade with them? Kamchatka people are warlike. How did you become friends with them?"
In later generations, even the Russians, known as the "fighting people", feared them and regarded them as warlike people.
As early as the Zhenguan period of the Tang Dynasty, there were historical records that called the country located to the north of the Beihai the "Flowing Ghost Country". This ancient "ghost country" is actually the current Kamchatka Peninsula.
At that time, the aboriginal people living here were called Koryak people. They lived on reindeer, fishing and hunting, and had a long-term relationship with the Tang Dynasty in exchange of envoys.
"We had a ship that ran aground on the Kamchatka Peninsula while exploring the coast. They initially planned to attack us, but our muskets had a farther range than their bows and arrows. After dozens of people died, they surrounded us and refused to retreat. Later we Send someone to negotiate with them.”
"Our cotton coats, refined salt, and iron pots were all things they had never seen before, or were scarce. They offered to exchange them with us. That's how the two parties got to know each other. In winter, they would drive their dogs to The sleigh has come to Shuangchengzi to trade with us."
Yang Fan nodded. Although the people here are barbarians, the Sable Road has been open for more than two thousand years. They are still friendly to businessmen. The tribes here protect merchants. Instead of robbing. Because they know that only merchants can bring them the materials they need but cannot produce on their own.
Only when everyone maintains the smooth flow of trade routes can merchants come to their own tribe. If every tribe robs merchants, the trade routes will be cut off. If you rob a caravan here, you will be attacked by angry tribes around you.
"We have too many products here. These savages are so excited that they don't even want to leave. They are willing to stay and work for us. I finally persuaded them to leave. Since last year, I have been trading this kind of dogs with them. , and now there are more than a thousand of them.”
Yang Fan looked at the group of dogs. About twenty of them could only pull a carriage with a sled. More than 1,000 dogs can pull more than 50 dogs. But this also solves the traffic problem in winter.
"Get in the car, let's go to the hotel to stay first, and tomorrow we will go to Shuangchengzi, the central stronghold of the Suifen River Basin." Yang Fan said with a smile.
It's also very cold here. As long as you stand in the snow without moving, your feet will feel frozen in a short period of time. His feet were a little numb.
In such an extremely cold place, the secret to survival is to keep moving and never stop. Otherwise you will get frostbite.
If the ladies were granted amnesty, they would no longer be able to bear the cold. After all, I just came from the tropics and I’m still not used to it.
They immediately got into the carriage. There is a small stove here, and the briquettes are burning vigorously. However, there is no burning sensation at all, which shows how cold it is here.
Vladivostok is no longer the center of Yang Fan's colony. In the entire Suifen River Basin, more than 20,000 households and a population of over 100,000 have immigrated. It formed Shuangchengzi, a walled city and ten towns.
The ruling center here is the Shuangcheng sub-city. Recently, more than 10,000 Japanese people have been deported here. The population increased further.
