Peter Yugovich hurried to the Nerchinsk Fort, and he had just received a supply transport team arriving from Ustuik. .

Ustuk is located at the intersection of the Sukhona River and the Yugo River. It has always been one of the richest trading points in Russia. The thoroughfares leading to the capital Moscow, the White Sea port Arkhangelsk, and the Siberia on the other side of the Ural Mountains all intersect here, which can be regarded as one of the most important trading nodes.

Every summer, the fur from the East (the bag is a high-quality Russian fur unit of measurement, such as mink, which is 40 pieces per bag, just enough to sew a coat) is transported here along the Bochá River and the Vichegeda River for transactions. Then the local merchants pass through the Dvine River. In the UK and Dutch merchants arrive in Arkhangelsk in exchange for Western cloth, weapons, metals, groceries and some luxury goods, and then transported back to Ustuik.

After these goods were sold in the Ustuk market, together with local specialty products and goods from cities along the Volga River, a fleet of hundreds of large trucks and large mules and horses were transported across the Ural Mountains to exchange for a new batch of oriental goods such as fur, tea, silk and other oriental goods.

This kind of trade attracted many people from nearby to participate. For example, many free farmers living along the Dvine River were attracted. Many of them often handed over their family business to their relatives or juniors to take care of them, while they followed the transport team to cross the Ural Mountains to make a living. Some of them settled in new and suitable places and became residents of His Majesty the Tsar's Asian territory; some of them returned to their hometowns empty-handedly like they did when they left; of course, there were also many people with good management (such as Yerofipavlovich Khabarov-Sviatitsky, who made a fortune in Yakutsk, was a rural farmer in Uschik County), who took the goods they obtained in the East to Arkhangelsk, exchanged them for foreign goods there, and then transported them to big cities for sale for profit.

Today, the transportation team that set out from Ustuk and arrived in Nerchinsk after hardships was loaded with a lot of daily necessities and handicrafts, also had about 500 flintlock rifles produced in England, which were not common in goods to the Far East, let alone entrusted to private caravans for transportation.

The caravan led the Khabarov's fellow countryman, and he was also a senior hunter. His family and relatives were all staying in Ustuk County. This is probably the main reason why he received the commission from the Moscow treasury. You should know that many government transport teams rarely transport these advanced equipment. Yugovic remembered that the last batch of national transport teams from Tobolsk only sent some military uniforms, saddles, sabers and leather armor, without a musket or a cannon. This shows that His Majesty the Tsar was extremely worried about the situation in the Far East and could not wait a few months before sending the transport team to set off.

As the highest commander of the entire Yakutsk military governor, Yugovic received this precious flintlock rifle on behalf of the Nerchsk treasury, and ordered the next few months to gradually change the defenses of Nerchsk, and the replaced melee guns were transferred to other fortresses to be preserved as reserved weapons, and once there was something to do, they could be distributed to men in the city.

The caravan leader was naturally irresistible. In fact, as long as someone was willing to accept the signature, the guy took the people below to buy fur and even hunt. Fur beasts (marten, lynx, red fox, black fox, etc.) were produced in the woods around Nerchinsk. The Tungus people often hunted them. It is said that a qualified hunter could bring back ten or even more marten furs a day. It is no wonder that Boyalkov regarded the place where the Tungus people lived as a rich and abundant place.

Peter Yugovic, who was an officer, was not very interested in hunting furs (but everyone who hunted furs would not forget to pay tribute to the governor). In his opinion, the richest areas in Nerchensk and Albazin were actually not high-end furs, but land and population!

According to the records of Pet Pedrovich Golovin, the first governor of Yakutsk, the Daurs who lived in Nerchensk, Albazin and the Jieya River were "people who cultivated land". When the first expedition team arrived in the Shileka River basin in 1643, the Manchus often came to this area to collect tribute from the Daurs and extracted strong men (as the Manchu white-armored warriors and fish-skinned Tatars were the most brave and good at fighting among the Eight Banners soldiers, usually acting as cannon fodder to attack the Ming army formation), and at the same time they also brought silk, tea and other goods, and sometimes some silver was rewarded.

Because of their frequent contact with Manchus, their level of civilization was also high. Poyarkov discovered that the Daurs lived in well-built wooden houses, with homemade paper pasted on the windows (it was actually good at making paper...), and their appearance was no different from that of Manchus, and they all had braids. They lived in their own Uluthri, engaged in agriculture and animal husbandry. The fields around the village were planted with barley, oats, rye, millet, buckwheat, peas, and soybeans in the vegetable garden, and the fruits included apples, pears, walnuts, and oil-reducing. It was indeed very different from other Tungus people's living habits. Tungus people were semi-agricultural and semi-nomadic, all nomadic, fishing and hunting, and some trespassing. Their ethnic habits were very different. It was unscientific for the Russians to classify them as Tungus people in general.

Such a Tungus people who can cultivate land and the areas they live in were naturally highly valued by the Russians. In the early years, one Cossack after another, the Russians in the northeast wanted to obtain a large amount of food production! Therefore, it is understandable how angry they were when they learned that the soldiers on the east coast entered the Jieya River and took the area with a large number of Daurs in their own pockets!

Now, the Daur residents in the Albazin area have long been moved to the rear, and the area has become white. If the people of the East Coast want to gain a foothold, they can only move to immigrate from the outside world. Otherwise, there will be no local food production and it will rely entirely on the outside world to import, which will be too expensive, although they have the transportation capacity.

"Is Nerchinsk's food reserves sufficient?" Yugovic called out his subordinates as soon as he arrived. Nerchinsk's military and political chief Tolbuzin, and he only heard him ask: "The people of the East Coast may continue to send troops and launch an attack on Nerchinsk. We must be prepared for this."

"The Yakutsk treasury borrowed 6,000 putes of rye, and the original reserves of Nerchinsk were enough for us to last for more than a year. Moreover, if we force some cattle and sheep from the Tungus people to make cured meat, we should be able to hold on for a longer time." Alec Shetolbuzin was not worried about the food, but what he was most worried about was the question of whether the ammunition was enough. When he failed in the battle in Albazin, the reason was naturally not that the Russian soldiers were not brave enough and refused to fight to the death, but that their weapons and equipment were too poor and the ammunition was seriously insufficient, so it was natural that the failure was natural. But he also knew that the Governor Yugovic had actually made the best efforts to collect ammunition for him, but the overall reserves were limited, which could only save them and use them. It was impossible for them to squander the ammunition reserves without considering the ammunition reserves at all.

Yugovic nodded after hearing this. Now there is a stable logistics base in Yakutsk, without any enemy threats, so it is common to borrow some food and ammunition to other places. And when it comes to Yakutsk's food, I really have to thank Khabarov, who has returned to the heart of Russia as a nobleman. This guy first developed a farm, ranch and salt farm in Yakutsk, and invested in building a mill and made a fortune. However, he was offended because he could not be a human being.

The first general Golovin (when Golovin first came to Yakutsk to take office, he borrowed three thousand putes from Khabarov due to difficulties, but he "forgot to return it". This guy spread the word everywhere and was obviously ignorant, and later he was cleaned up...), resulting in his family property being taken away and he was imprisoned. However, after two or three generations of hard work, the scale is now quite large. Yakutsk, a cold northern city, has become the richest town in the entire general area.

"The food must be sufficient. Not only Nerchensk, but also some other small fortresses nearby must be maintained at a certain level. Otherwise, once the east coast attacks, you may face a dilemma." Yugovic said: "In addition, the part of the guns assigned to you must be carefully preserved, and the ammunition is also. You know, how difficult it is to snatch hundreds of flintlock rifles from the proud shooting army. You know, the ambitions of the Turks in Ukraine are now beginning to expand rapidly. The traitor of Doroshenko repeatedly led his troops to attack the right bank of the Dnieper River. His Majesty the Tsar was furious and had ordered the dispatch of 20,000 infantry into Ukraine to stabilize the local situation. If necessary, they might even go to war with the Turkish lackeys! The situation is so tense, and we are already lucky to have these new weapons."

"The Turks have not yet been peaceful with the Poles, and they actually want to interfere in the East Ukraine. How could they be so arrogant?" Torbuzin suddenly felt a sense of uneasiness in his heart, and he frowned and said, "And once we are nervous with the Turks and even fall into war, will His Majesty the Tsar change his policies and seek reconciliation with the East Coast people?"

Tolbzin's words were exactly what Yugovic was worried about. In fact, is there really any unresolvable hatred between the East Coast and Russia? It's not true! The Stepanrasin uprising and the current military operations to attack the Yakutsk Military Region are not big deals. As long as the two sides are determined to reconcile, it is not a problem. Considering the importance of Ukraine to the Russian Empire, Yugovic has no confidence that the Tsar will not sacrifice the interests of the Far East and seek a comprehensive reconciliation with the East Coast people in order to restore the trade between the two countries, especially the arms trade, would be embarrassed. Everything that had happened before with the East Coast people would look like a joke at that time. How could this not make people feel nonsense, depressed, wronged, and even angry?

So, when Tolbuzin suddenly talked about this, Yugovic could only remain silent, because he couldn't say how to go in the future. It might be peace, war, or temporary truce between them and the East Coast people, which may be difficult to say. However, at present, without receiving further orders from the Tsar, they still need to prepare for war against the East Coast people, and regaining the Albazin Castle for the time being, and defending Nerchensk and other places is the key.

"I heard that Eastern Ukraine has assembled more than 40,000 Cossacks and planned to fight against Doroshenko's Western Ukrainian Cossacks. God, what a huge armed force this is. If these 40,000 people can be transferred to Nerchensk, I promise that they can wipe out all the people on the East Coast now and fight to the beach in one battle." Tolbuzin was a little discouraged when he said this, because he knew it was impossible, but the news that his country might have a war with the Turks still made him feel a little frustrated.

"Don't be so arrogant, Alexey. In fact, the regular army of the East Coast people is still very strong in combat. The earliest ones wearing blue clothes can compete with the most elite Cossacks, and they are even better than those in yellow clothes. The ones wearing yellow clothes are much worse, but the weapons and equipment and training are also very good, and sometimes they can compete with us. Even those who are stationed in Albazin Castle at this moment (many people don't even have yellow clothes), although their combat skills are not as good as our Cossacks, but good weapons and equipment are enough to make up for everything. We must respect such opponents, otherwise we will suffer a great loss.

"Yugovic first taught Tolbuzin a little, then changed his subject and said, "The war must be prepared well, and the Tungus people must also contact the Tungus people. Pavel (Katannai) has promised me that more than 2,000 Tungus cavalry will be recruited to assist in the war. They will not be deployed in Nerchensk, but the Tungus people in the wild will eat. Once the troops of the East Coast people rushed over, they can cut off their logistics supply lines and completely eliminate them between the forest and grassland. Remember, this is our home court, and you must have confidence that the ships of the East Coast people cannot drive on land."
Chapter completed!