The sea breeze blows across more than a thousand miles, from the bright red altar in the mountains in the south to the white ice fields in the deer in the north. The cold and hoarse prayer voice of the old grandmother had long since dissipated in the biting wind. And when the sea breeze fell, I came to a newly frozen seaside river, and landed on the five-mast ocean-covering ship, but I heard another pious and hoarse plea.
"O God of Paddy Fields who eliminates evil! Please have mercy on your humble servant and remove the bad luck of the dead from me... O Guanyin in white who saves suffering! Please save me from this miserable voyage. Come on!...Ah! Little Jin Shanshu kowtows to the gods!..."
The icy sea breeze froze the earth and the North Sea, and also froze the repaired and dilapidated ocean shelter boats in the small rivers that entered the sea. Shipwright Jin Shanshu was wrapped in a blood-stained deerskin robe, kneeling on the cold deck, and kowtowed several times to the two wooden tablets of gods carved by himself. He murmured to himself, praying for good luck to "Shui Tian Fu", the shaman god in the Korean countryside, and praying to Guanyin Bodhisattva, who rescued people in distress, to return alive.
During this era, Goryeo Buddhism, which was flourishing for a time, had withdrawn from the court under the pressure of the Lee Dynasty. The monks of various sects fled into the mountains and forests, barely maintaining the inheritance of their mantles, but they put down their once aloof attitude and became closer to ordinary villagers. In the North Korean countryside, various shamanistic beliefs have continued and become more and more prosperous with the hardship of the people at the bottom.
As for the Korean Confucianism occupying the court at this time, only the second-class "Yangban" and "Zhongren" gentlemen are qualified to bow their heads and worship! Whether it is Confucius, the "King of Wenxuan", Cui Zhiyuan, the "Marquis of Wenchang", or Xue Cong, the "Hongru Marquis", they have nothing to do with the last second-class "ordinary people" and "Bai Ding", let alone the inhuman " Untouchable”.
"Please! Paddy Goddess! Don't let the terrible man-eating barbarians catch up again! ... Please! Guanyin Bodhisattva! Let me survive the winter alive and go back alive! ... I don't want to die here, being The devil will eat it!…"
Shipwright Jin Shanshu kowtowed repeatedly and cried until he had snot and tears. Then, all these snot and tears froze on his wrinkled and blood-stained robe, freezing into strips of ice.
The northern side of the Kamchatka Peninsula in November is already colder than the coldest time in Katsuyamakan! Not to mention Kim Sun-soo’s former hometown, Gyeongsangnam-do, and the warm Sakai Port where he has lived for a long time.
As a skilled shipwright, his life after being kidnapped to the Kingdom of China, although not luxurious, could at least be considered well-off. And it wasn't until two years ago that he was ordered by the temple to board a sea ship and wander in the extremely cold North Sea... He didn't really know what it meant to be on tenterhooks, what it meant to be sleepless at night, and what it meant to sleep next to the Tenth King of Hell!
"Hey! Mizuta Goddess! ...Last year's voyage to the Tokai Mountains and Ezo tribes was pretty good... This year when I came to the north of the North Sea, I encountered the snowy fields and deer. That's the real food. Life, the Rakshasa evil ghost!... Not to mention the big waves that can swallow up ships, and the cold that freezes your ears off... Woo hoo! O Bodhisattva who saves the suffering! Please save me!..."
Thinking of the sudden attack on everyone not long ago, and the fellow sailors who were captured by Lu Yi in the snowfield, the shipwright Jin Shanshu felt sad and cried even more sadly. I heard that these deer barbarians in the north can eat humans alive! And once eaten by them, wouldn't it mean that they would fall into the realm of animals and not be able to stand up again in the next life? …
O Bodhisattva! The dangers and difficulties of this year's journey to the far north were beyond his worst imagination!
In the early spring of April this year, as soon as the ice floes melted, the ocean-covering ship carried thirty crew members, sufficient food and cargo, and headed north from the Katsuyamakan of the Uyizaki clan. Half of them are samurai, guides and apprentice sailors of the Oyizaki clan, and the other half are monks, shipwrights and skilled sailors of the great businessman Morino Kiyoshi. Naturally, Jin Shanshu is also a member of Morino Kiyoshi, and he is the most professional technician, a shipwright who can repair ocean-going ships!
The ocean-covering boat first went north along the Katai Peninsula and traded with the surrounding Ezo tribes, but the harvest was very little. Then, in mid-May, the ocean-covering ship arrived on the opposite side of the Huatai Peninsula, and completed the deal agreed with last year with a Shantao tribe, in exchange for a real Jurchen horse that could be used for breeding!
After switching to the big white Jurchen horse, the captain and captain of the ship, Murakami Jidong, was overjoyed and opened two jars of rice wine, and everyone in the chartered fleet celebrated! That night, while drinking rice wine and blushing, he rarely called Masumi Watanabe "Jun".
"Watanabe-kun! With this strong white-haired stallion, even if I can't exchange for any outstanding fox or mink furs on the next voyage north, I can finally give the family owner a "lucky life" Already!…”
"Oh! Blessed by the great Bodhisattva Hachiman! This big white-haired horse is as tall as a person at the shoulders!... Why not call it 'Gao Baiyun', or 'Big White Deer Hair'?..."
Watanabe Masumi, a monk soldier, looked at the tall Jurchen horse with stern eyes. He wanted to get on it with saliva and ride on it with all his strength. Unfortunately, Murakami Kidomi just grinned and handed over the big Jurchen horse to Sukeichiro, the head of the horse team who specializes in raising horses. Then, with a serious look on his face, he said to Masumi Watanabe seriously.
"Watanabe-kun, witness the Buddha! Samurai Yinuo, we agreed... This big Jurchen horse is dedicated to the master of the family, Mr. Nobuguang! As for the name and how to arrange it, it is naturally up to Mr. Nobuguang to decide! …”
"Uh, okay! Samurai Yinuo! ... We have also agreed that we must go to the far north ice field and exchange for truly excellent fox and mink furs so that I can give an explanation to the temple!"
"Well... let's continue going north! I was also entrusted by the family leader to find the placer gold in the hands of the people in the far north..."
In late May, the ocean-covering boat sailed through the northernmost tip of the Huatai Peninsula and truly entered the extremely cold North Sea. Along the coast, they searched for small nomadic tribes for safer barter trade.
In early June, they exchanged two female Yakut snow horses from a nomadic mountain Tatar Sakha people. The shoulder height of this kind of snow horse is about 1.3 meters. Although it is not as high as the Jurchen horse, which is more than 1.5 meters, it is far better than the Kyushu horse of the Warring States, which is over 1 meter.
The biggest use of exchanging these two horses, apart from future breeding, is to allow the warriors on the ship to travel deeper into the snowfields of the north to find those nomadic extreme northern tribes! ….
Then came a full five months of searching and trading from June to October. The Zheyang ship stopped and went, turning from north to east, circling the coast of the Extreme North Sea, making a half circle of three thousand miles. Most of the time, the ocean-covering ship docked at a river mouth on the far north coast, and then allowed the samurai of the Oyezaki clan to land and search for the Ewen tribe around the river.
The nomadic tribes in the North would always herd their herds from around one river to another. In fact, the grazing and migration routes of various tribes have rules to follow. Whether you are grazing cattle, sheep or deer, the lush water grassland along the river is always the most precious, and it is also a must-stop place!
For the Heguo Zheyang boats going north, as long as they spend some time, they can always encounter the migrating Ewen people and horses around the river. However, the Ewen people were not a small tribe, and there were too few Chinese warriors on the ocean-covering ships. The food, wine, salt, and ironware they carried were very eye-catching. They also need to spend more time, avoid tribes that look very big at first glance, and try to only trade with small tribes with dozens of people.
In this way, searching and searching intermittently, many high-quality furs were traded on the ocean-going ships. There were many types of furs, including reindeer skins, bear skins, wolf skins, fox skins and mink skins... and the most precious among them was naturally as pure as snow. The arctic fox fur and the gorgeous purple mink fur are simply peerless treasures that can make the ladies of Kyoto fall in love!
"Blessed by Hachiman Bodhisattva! Aha! Although the waves and fog on this voyage to the Far North Sea are dangerous, it is not as dangerous as the legend says! ...On the contrary, once these precious furs are transported back to Kyoto, they will be... Huge profits of dozens or hundreds of times!…”
"Well...the furs of these horses are indeed good...but there is no placer gold!..."
"Aha! Murakami-kun, we can actually return! If we return now, with the speed of the ocean boat, we will definitely be able to return to Ezo before the freeze in November!..."
In exchange for the precious furs, the monk soldier Watanabe Masumi was satisfied and had the idea of returning. By this time, Murakami Jidong was a little reluctant. Before leaving, the owner of the family carefully warned him to look for placer gold for trading, but there was still no sign of it! …
"Buddha bless you! Watanabe-kun, let's go further east and circle the far north coast! I heard from the local tribes that the northeastern part is the reindeer deer department, which occupies an extremely vast snowfield, and there are many legendary sacred mountains... They I must have the best and better furs in my hands... maybe even more precious placer gold!..."
"...Okay! Murakami-kun, then I will accompany you on this journey again!...However, we have to agree in advance that when we reach the peninsula on the east coast of the Far North Sea, we will return at full speed. I heard that the winter here can be Frozen ice and stone, if you can't spend the winter here, you won't have a good life..."
At Murakami Jitong's insistence, the ocean-covering ship continued eastward along the Far North Sea and arrived at the snowy coast occupied by the Kamchatka tribe. October arrived in the blink of an eye, and they encountered many scattered deer one after another, and saw the spectacular herds of deer migrating on the snowy fields. Compared with the Ewen people's horse tribe, the deer tribe's tribe has a significantly smaller population. Most of them consist of dozens or hundreds of people, making transactions safer!
Perhaps because they rarely trade with the outside world, these deer have many fine furs in their hands. Although the population is smaller, their Arctic fox and sable furs, both in quantity and quality, exceed those of the Ewen people's horses!
Watanabe Masumi, the monk warrior, held the exquisite and warm top-quality fur and marveled excitedly. Murakami Jidong, the ship's owner, also received two small bags of placer gold. Although it was only two or three kilograms or about 40 taels, it was not a small amount. At least it was enough to deliver to the owner of the family.
You must know that in the Warring Kingdom at this time, according to the Koshu gold price in Kanto, 1 tael of gold was worth approximately 4 guan of copper coins, and 40 taels was equivalent to 160 guan. The approximate price of rice in Guandong is 0.7 guan per shi. These two small bags of placer gold are 228 shi of rice, and they are real net income that is not subject to loss by merchants. As for the lower-level warriors with a fiefdom of 50 shi, what they can really get is 40% of the land income, which is 20 shi of rice a year...
To put it simply, these 40 taels of gold are at least the annual salary of ten lower-level warriors! The two bottles of wine used in exchange for 40 taels of gold were less than 400 wen, which was a "mere" 400 times huge profit!
"Buddha bless you! These ignorant deer tribes have tamed so many reindeer, wandering in the endless snow fields, herding deer and hunting wild beasts. They don't seem to know the value of fur and placer gold at all. All they need is a pot to warm themselves. Rice wine and a bag of coarse salt for curing meat can be exchanged for a bundle of furs and a small bag of placer gold!…”
"Blessed by the great Bodhisattva Hachiman! Aha! Such a deal is really a blessing, a big blessing! ... But it's strange that they don't like our iron axes, and they actually think they are not as useful as the stone axes in their hands? Rice wine is very popular. , I’m willing to give up as much fur as I can for this hot drink!…”
"Well, Buddha witnessed it! ...These tribes in the snowy plains are really too simple, and even a little silly!"
"Aha! Bodhisattva's blessing! Hiccup!...Since the tribe on Ezo Island is called Ezo, then these tribes in the far north snowfields might as well be called Luyi! Like those big deer with long antlers, silly Luyi! belch!…"
"Luyi? Okay! It's really a blessing from the Buddha!... When I return to Shengshan Pavilion, I will definitely report back to the family master! The Luyi trade in the far north can be done, it can really be done!..."
The first snow in October fell on the gray earth, gradually covering everything. Murakami Kitichi and Watanabe Masumi sat side by side on the bow of the boat, opened a jar of collected sake, raised their glasses and drank together in the sea breeze. They lamented the difficulties and rewards of this extreme northern voyage, and also lamented the simplicity and stupidity of the Kamchatka tribe.
However, they were in high spirits at that time, thinking about their achievements after returning to Shengshan Hall. But they never expected that for the sake of the wine that flowed out of the ocean ship, and to survive the bitter cold winter...the more "simple" Chukotka hunters had already driven reindeer and big dog sleds, and traveled from the extreme starry night The snowfields in the north go south!
And these "simple" tent hunters didn't bring any cumbersome fur goods. They just grabbed the compound bows in their hands, brought bags of bone arrows, and prepared to use more "silly" methods to obtain the drinks they desperately needed to save their lives in winter! …
So, in the middle of October, when the snow reached the top of the feet, the anchored ocean-covering ships and the people in the fleet who landed to fetch water were finally caught up by the hunters who had been following them for a long time. It was an unprepared early morning when a group of twenty Chukchi hunters appeared at the end of the snowfield in the northwest. Facing the rising sun in the east, they immediately saw the five-masted ship docked on the coast!
Then, Buddha witnessed! The groups of howling huskies, the rapidly approaching sleds, and the Chukotka hunters wearing winged leather armor and fierce archery became an unforgettable nightmare for everyone on board! …
