Yantai seemed much more lively after the spring. Half of the 16 immigrant transport ships began to berth in Yantai Port, preparing to take a large number of immigrants stranded here to Australia. These immigrants were taken away by the East Coast Army when the two prefectures of Qingzhou and Yanzhou voluntarily retreated last year. The number was about 7,000 to 8,000, of which the proportion of handicraftsmen was quite high - and this was also the important requirement put forward by the local people in the East Coast.

As these immigrant ships arrived, there were piles of supplies: more than 6,000 barrels (this is the most easily damaged part of the musket), forty-five cannons (there are no artillery mounts, and they are planned to be rebuilt on site at the Jeju Island Workshop), more than 20 mechanical equipment (with certain spare parts), one thousand sets of armor and some other daily luxury goods.

With the strengthening of self-sufficiency in the Far East, the local weapons and equipment are now less and less. The Yangma Island Workshop under the Blackwater Development Team currently has nitrogen-made gunpowder. The Jeju Island Workshop also uses rich raw materials (rafts) to make leather armor, bows and arrows, and can also simply repair guns, artillery, armor and logistics vehicles. The enhancement of these capabilities has greatly alleviated the local transportation pressure, allowing transport ships to carry more cotton coats, wine, dyed leather goods, high-quality metal utensils, tobacco, sugar, cocoa, soap and other daily consumer goods, which can also subsidize transportation costs.

Nowadays, the economy of the Heishui region has really improved and improved under the rectification of the East Coast people. Last year, Shao Shude farmed on territories effectively controlled by the East Coast people such as Yantai, Ninghaizhou, Dengzhou, Weihaiwei, etc., and harvested more than 8,000 tons of corn, sweet potatoes, potatoes, wheat and other grains throughout the year. In addition, the Amur River areas have now produced about 2,500 tons of grains, which have basically achieved self-sufficiency; mature territories such as Heishui Port, Dabo Port, Lishiri Island, Nankuye Reclamation Bureau, and Jeju Island... Even if the 9,400 tons of grain obtained from trade with North Korea, Japan and the Netherlands (most of which are from North Korea, the forced purchase price is 2,800 yuan, silver and one stone), the grain self-sufficiency rate of the East Coast people has reached more than 80%.

From these figures, it can be clearly seen that the annual grain shortage in Heishui area is about 10,000 tons. Last year, this grain was entirely relied on the 5,000 tons of rice stock (technology transfer fee) transported by the Dutch, as well as the grain harvested by the East Coast army in the four prefectures and dozens of counties in Laizhou, Qingzhou, Jinan and Yanzhou. In addition, the plan to "suppress the powerful and equalize the fields" led by Shao Shude was also fully launched in Dengzhou Prefecture. Since it was a raw land, almost all soybeans or alfalfa were planted in the first year. But it was these soybeans and alfalfa that strongly supplemented the gap in livestock feed and edible oil in the east coast, and strongly supported the front-line operations.

The development of land is steadily, and the people on the east coast have also made great progress in using the extremely rich maritime granary of the Kuril Island Fisheries. The number of medium-sized fishing boats built by the Blackwater Shipyard using Sakhalin Fish Scale Pine and oak trees (full load displacement is about 150 tons, which is the largest ship that the Blackwater Shipyard can currently manufacture. Canvas, ropes, mesh, anchor chains, skins, etc. need to be imported from the local area) has continued to rise to 38.

These fishing boats take advantage of three major fishing floods a year: the saury (autumn) fishing floods migrating from the Kuril Islands to the eastern coast of Japan, the Far East sardine fishing camps that migrate from north to south, and the largest annual fishing floods that broke out in Sakhalin, the Kuril Islands, and the Amur River Basin - the salmon fishing flood. In addition to some miscellaneous fish caught, a total of 3,297 tons of sea fish were caught throughout the year. You should know that these are cold-water fish with rich fat content. Unlike those freshwater fish and warm-water fish with extremely low calories, the heat they can provide is comparable to the grains and even more than that. This is also one of the important alternatives to reducing the grain consumption of military and civilians on the East Coast.

I believe that with the deepening of sailor training and the increase in the number of fishing boats, the annual fish production this year is almost no surprise. Last year, the army on the east coast fought in Shandong. A large number of ships were drawn to transport military supplies, which greatly affected fishery production. It is still unknown how the war this year, but in the eyes of Shao Shude and others, it will not be larger than last year, so the fishery output this year should hit a record high.

The caught fish are processed on site at Heishui Port and then stored in underground ice cellars as strategic reserve materials. Sometimes, under the instruction of superiors, the local government of Heishui Port will specially clear out a batch of last year's inventory after the spring, and sell it publicly on the market to recover part of the currency. In addition, a considerable number of fish are sent to the canned factory in Dabo Port for deep processing. With the help of technical experts invited by local experts, this small-scale factory has specially developed several field military canned foods, such as canned snapper mushrooms, braised salmon, canned snow crab meat, etc. In addition to supplying the army, the products produced by this factory are also sold in the market in small quantities. Most of the buyers are residents of Dabo, Heishui and other places. Occasionally, some Japanese people come to buy these canned fish and canned meat, which is the first factory in the Heishui area to meet the needs of the people, and the benefits are quite good.

In addition to fishing products, the military and civilians who supplement animal proteins for the Blackwater area are all free-range animals on Rishiri Island, Liwen Island and Okuri Island. These islands are lush with vegetation but small area, which is a natural prison for these free-range animals. In the past few years, people on the East Coast released a large number of cattle, sheep, moose, reindeer and roe deer on the island every year. After several years of breeding, the population has now increased significantly, with 1,435 roe deer, 4,218 cattle, more than 12,800 sheep, more than 300 moose, and 769 reindeer. According to the hunting plan, it can provide approximately hundreds of tons of carnivore for the Blackwater Development Team every year.

On Jeju Island, after receiving the North Korean heritage, people on the East Coast began to make great efforts in recent years. After a few years of sharp decline in the number of North Korean ponies and donkeys and mules on the Hannashan Ranch, it has achieved a recovery growth for two consecutive years since 1947. The large amount of leather, horns, beef tendons and other products produced stably every year also provides sufficient raw materials for the weapons production workshops on the island, effectively ensuring the military supply of the front-line servants.

The above are the property that Mo Ming and Damao were captured at that time. After he left office, Wei Boqiu also tried his best to expand it, which led to the long-term development of economic production in the Heishui area. After Shao Shude, the captain of the new development team, took office, Wei Boqiu received further support. The development of new territories such as the Amur River Basin, eastern Hokkaido and Nankuye Reclamation Bureau was carried out in such a context.

In order to invite the army to buy morale, Shao Shude not only distributed the land to the servants and soldiers in Dengzhou, but also allocated a large number of disabled soldiers to the fertile river valleys in the Nankuye Reclamation Bureau, and also allocated houses, livestock and daughters-in-law to them. These people will become the backbone of the East Coast people to control this new territory.

In short, after experiencing the rapid advance of the Mo era, the Heishui region has begun to enter the rest and recuperation of the Shao era or the Wei era. Although the front line is still fighting continuously, the Heishui Port, Dabo Port, and Nankuye Reclamation Bureau in the rear. Together with more than 70,000 temporary residents (immigrants to be transported), they created a large amount of wealth with their hard-working hands and tenacious will, which strongly supported the combat consumption of the front line.

Shao Shude went to Jeju Island and Busan after the Yantai Port was thawed in mid-February, and then went to Rishiri Island to discuss economic work with Wei Boqiu. After doing this, he hurriedly returned to Yantai by boat and began another important task of the year - the construction plan for the Jiaozhou Bay area bastion and simple port.

In fact, this plan was launched one after another in 1648. At that time, the army on the east coast was galloping across Shandong and advancing rapidly. At the suggestion of Mo Ming, the newly appointed Shao Shude captured a large number of civilians, demolished the broken Jiaozhou City, and began to find a deep-water coast in the bay to build a fortress. The scale of this fortress is slightly larger than Yantai, and the brick and stone cement structure is used to protect the safety of the wharf.

After all, the Liaohai Sea will be frozen for about one or two months every winter. At this time, the transport ships of the Navy on the East Coast will not be able to be dispatched, which greatly affects the supply of the troops' logistics supplies. Therefore, building a new dock on the Yellow Coast coast, which does not freeze in winter has become a new policy that Shao Shude is focusing on implementing.

Since the beginning of 1948, building materials companies such as brick kiln factories, lime factories and cement factories in Heishui Port began to deduct a considerable portion of the monthly production plan and then load and ship to Jiaozhou Bay for local construction of bastions and docks. After entering 1949 years, Shao Shude was a little dissatisfied with the progress of the construction of the bastion and docks, so he decided to increase investment here, that is, to call more building materials (the insufficient part was demolished by the Jiaozhou city walls and recruited civilians to go to the beach to quarry), and to invest more manpower, in order to complete the construction of the bastion and docks by the end of this year.

At that time, the 2,000 officers and soldiers of the newly formed fourth brigade of the fourth brigade will enter this strong fortress on the Yellow Coast coast together with some artillery soldiers, firmly controlling the waist of the Shandong Peninsula. At present, the fourth brigade's troops have just been recruited and are still in Yantai for training. Shao Shude himself is very concerned about this unit. He even went to Dabo Port to inspect the recruited Shandan and Japanese soldiers. He also conducted a detailed investigation of the Ming army and the military men who were drawn from the military team to ensure that no soldiers were mixed into the army. During the training in Yantai, he took the time to find every officer to ask about their well-being and understand their thoughts and dynamics so that he could have a clear idea.

After doing this complete set, the officers and soldiers of the fourth brigade of the Stand Up Team provided a very fast combat power and their morale remained quite high. Shao Shude thought that after finishing the Yantai Spring Planting, if the front-line battlefield situation was good, he would lead the 2,000 officers and soldiers of the Fourth brigade to personally conquer Jinan Prefecture and Dongchang Prefecture, allowing these men to accumulate some combat experience and also give themselves a sense of presence. (To be continued...)

Chapter 9: A stable growth economy:
Chapter completed!