Sea of ​​Japan.

Tabai was lying in the hammock, like a pool of meat that had not been removed from bones. His face turned pale, his eyes were red, and he was retching from time to time. This old soldier from the Jurchen tribe from the East China Sea fought for his whole life. He never thought that he would panic when facing the turbulent sea. He already regretted following Li Mingxun to sea.

"Hey, whale, whale!"

A huge sound rang out from the deck, mixed with the cheers of the Jurchen warriors. Tabai heard the sound, but he didn't understand the meaning of the Han vocabulary. Soon, a young warrior ran over and shouted: "Mafa, what a big fish, what a big fish, a big fish, a fish as big as a boat!"

Tabai struggled to stand up, glared at his grandson, and shouted, "What nonsense, how could there be a fish as big as a boat?"

The warrior didn't explain and pulled Tabai to the upper deck. Tabai looked closely and found that a huge sea beast was advancing alongside the Bald Eagle. The round head looked extremely huge. If it hadn't seen it slam the tail on the sea from time to time, Tabai would almost think it was a reef.

"There are really fish as big as a boat." Tabai murmured to himself. The whale in front of him was only slightly shorter than the Bald Eagle, but it was extremely fat and thick. Every time he waved his fins and swayed his body, it would cause big waves.

Li Mingxun walked over with a smile and said to Tabai and the dozen leaders who went out to sea together: "Yes, this is a whale, the biggest life in the world."

"What are you going to do? Are you going to worship it as a god?" asked a young leader. Without waiting for Li Mingxun to answer, the leader said, "Can I use whales as my tribal totem?"

Lee Mingxun smiled slightly and said, "This is your freedom. I don't want to interfere, but I will not regard it as a god, but I want to hunt this whale. I can't imagine that you will eat delicious whale meat when you don't think about it."

As soon as he finished speaking, Tabai sat on the deck, pointed at the whale in the distance and shouted: "It's bad, it's angry, it's angry!"

Everyone looked in the sound and a huge umbrella-shaped water column gushed out from the round hole above the whale's head and fell down. A rainbow formed on the sea surface. It was really powerful with the whale's low roar. No wonder these natives who had never seen the world were so scared. Li Mingxun helped Tabai up and said, "No, this is just the whale breathing. It needs to breathe like us."

As he said that, Li Mingxun took a few deep breaths, and the leaders were confused. However, seeing that Li Mingxun looked ordinary, it was hard to say anything else. At this time, a crew member over 50 years old came over. This experienced old sea dog was from Guangdong. When he was young, he went to Nanyang as a sailor. Later, he joined the British East India Company and followed David to many places. Of course, he is now a formal employee of the trading company.

"Do it, kill this whale, each person will have two taels of silver!" said Li Mingxun.

The crew grinned, and with his orders, the sailors became busy, and the two boats were put down, while he personally manipulated the crossbows at the bow, which were removed from the Golden Oak, with a two-meter-long whaling fork on it, with a sharp barbing that looked extremely sharp. This whaling fork could shoot hundreds of meters, enough to penetrate the whale's leather and grease and hang its bones.

Bang!

The whale fork shot out. After a strong vibration, the whale fork with a rope shot on the back of the whale exposed on the water. Then two more shot out and all hit.

A few red spots appeared on the dark blue back of the whale, and then there was a roaring sound that shook the earth and then pierced under the water. The huge waves slapped across the bald eagle's side and splashed everyone. The violent drag caused the bow of the man to fall suddenly, causing the people on the boat to fall in disgust.

The whale dragged the pulley and rotated rapidly, while the captain loudly conveyed orders, constantly changing the course and degree of the Bald Eagle, consuming the whale's physical strength with the weight of the ship. Soon, the whale, which had been suffocating for a long time, jumped out of the water, and the two small boats immediately leaned forward. The sailors on it kept throwing spear guns, attacking the huge waves and the sky full of water. The sailors who manipulated the small boat carefully avoided the ropes and the whale's tail and slid around the whale.

The whale was in pain and struggled to sneak below the sea surface, but could not get rid of the iron lock on the Bald Eagle. When it couldn't help but float up, it encountered another attack. This cycle continued. With the consumption of physical strength and the loss of blood, the whale's resistance became weaker and weaker, and eventually could not withstand the siege and died on the sea surface.

"I actually killed whales." Tabai widened his eyes, held the rope tightly with his hands, and murmured in disbelief.

"Able to hunt such a huge sea beast must be a powerful warrior, which is enough to compete with Batulu, a hunter of black bears and tigers. Lord Li, you are really a great person, otherwise there wouldn't be so many warriors following you." The young leader said in great admiration.

A group of leaders also surrounded Li Mingxun and congratulated him. Tabai glanced at the tall figure and suddenly realized that the reason why Li Mingxun invited his group to board the boat to watch whaling was to show his strength and better conquer the East China Sea Jurchen tribe.

"It's time to make a decision." Tabai told himself in his heart that he knew that it was a risky thing to make a decision before Li Mingxun and the Qing Dynasty decided to win or lose, but it was clearer that if the situation was clear, there would be no more benefits.

Two days later.

The Bald Eagle moored to a bay on Sakhalin Island. The reason I chose this is because sailors saw countless seals living on the shore in the bay on the sea, and Li Mingxun also fell in love with this bay. It is very close to the world's largest fishing ground, the Hokkaido Fishery, and is surrounded by whales and seals. The water in the bay is very deep and can shelter from the wind. The wood on the island can be used to repair ships. More importantly, Sambar has discovered that there is an iron ore here, or an iron ore with an iron content of more than half.

Li Mingxun sat comfortably under the shed, drinking wine and watching the busy sailors around him. In Northeast Asia, there is land and resources. Whether it is Sakhalin Island or the Hokkaido in the south, they are all places where they achieve hegemony. The indigenous people in this area are either primitively backward or weak, and can fully display their ambitions.

Not long after, Tabai walked into the shed and looked up inside and saw the dark and thin face. He knew that Tabai became like this not only because of seasickness, but more because of his inner struggle during this period of time. The pair of scattered eyes on his face told Li Mingxun that this man had made a choice.

"Please sit down at Tabailing. There are roasted whale meat and lobster porridge here. You can try it." Li Mingxun smiled and said, the chef brought up a crab the size of a basin. It was the famous Hokkaido king crab in later generations. Li Mingxun placed it in front of him without hesitation and started to eat it in big mouthful.

Tabai did not move the food with all colors, fragrance and flavor on the table, and only raised a piece of unscalded whale meat and took a bite carefully. Even now, he could not believe that the meat of the huge sea beast had fallen into his mouth. However, this scene was seen by Li Mingxun. Li Mingxun gave a few instructions to the cook, and the cook placed a plate of sauce in front of Tabai.

"It is recommended that you cut it into slices and dip it in this sauce. This is how the Japanese eat it." Li Mingxun smiled.

Tabai was tasteless. He thought for a long time before asking, "Mr. Li, you should take us to sea to hunt whales not just to shock and show your strength."

"The whale meat tastes good, right?" Li Mingxun pointed to the fragrant piece of meat and asked with a smile.

Tabai was slightly stunned, not knowing what to say. After finishing the meal, Li Mingxun led Tabai to the shore. The sailors there had dragged the slaughtered whales to the shore. The shore was covered with blood red, cut into pieces of whale meat, whale skins, and a large pot of sets, whale oil was being boiled inside. The solid whale oil was milky white and very beautiful.

"See, this is whale oil, which can be made as fuel. The whale skin is the best leather, and the meat of a whale can be eaten by hundreds of people for a winter. These are the best deals." Li Mingxun said with a smile.

Tabai followed Li Mingxun and carefully looked at everything around him. After listening to Li Mingxun's words, he lowered his head and asked, "Mr. Li, is there anything I can let me serve you?"

Li Mingxun looked back at Tabai, laughed, and took out a three-foot-long plate-shaped object from the pile of debris. The mane on it was cleaned up, but there were still residues. Li Mingxun handed it to Tabai and said, "This is a whale, what do you think it can be used for?"

Tabai didn't know what the whale bale was, so he folded the thin piece, and it was extremely tough and elastic. He suddenly widened his eyes and asked, "Bow! This whale bale can be used to make bows!"

It is no wonder that Tabai is so excited. In the countless years of fighting between the Jurchens in the East China Sea and the Jianzhou tribes, the various members of the East China Sea have been the targets of conquering and oppression. It is not that the Jurchens in the East China Sea lack courage, but lagging behind in terms of productivity, organizational capabilities and technology. Among them, the Jurchens in the East China Sea not only lack sufficient iron, but also lacking powerful bows.

All the Jurchen tribes practice bows and arrows, especially the East China tribes that lack material resources. If a child of four or five years old cannot shoot squirrels with soft bows and small preys such as pheasants, they may starve to death. However, the bows of all the East China tribes cannot be compared with those of the East China tribes, North Korea and other enemies. The reason is that the important raw material for making bows - buffalo horns.

Tabai excitedly held the whale baleen and picked up another whale bone. It was extremely hard and it was also a good material for making bow arms. He sighed: "Mr. Li, this whale is full of treasures."

Li Mingxun nodded slightly, Tabai's eyes narrowed, and said with a smile: "Mr. Li, our tribe can cooperate with you."

"Haha, Tabailing, you are thinking too much. I should have introduced to you that ordnance manufacturing is a core industry and can only be controlled by me. After satisfying the equipment of my army, we will export to the relative and inner vassals in turn, so you don't have to worry about these whale baleen and whale bones." Li Mingxun said with a smile.

Tabai's face changed slightly, and he thought for a while and said, "Sir, Bahai met you the first time, and Anlin fought side by side with you. If these resources were exported, they would probably have been snatched away by them. It would be really unfair to us."

Li Mingxun shook his head: "My choice has never been influenced by relatives and distantness. I only look at which tribe has made great contributions to me. Bahai helped me guard Vladivostok, and Anlin attacked Pulu Township for me. These are all real military achievements. You did not seize these opportunities, but these two people not only fought for me, but also supported me in other aspects. For example, the newly built logging farm in Pulu Township provided me with nearly 300 large trees in just two months. The open-pit coal mines of the Anlin tribe were also invested in mining, and the barbarians they conquered were sold to me. You can do these, but you don't."

Tabai's face immediately became gloomy. He didn't want to participate in what Li Mingxun said, but he didn't want to take the team too early. The tribes of Bahai and Anlin provided Li Mingxun with resources such as big wood, coal, etc., which could not only exchange for various materials, but also obtain some special benefits from Zhou. For example, mining and logging require a large amount of iron tools. These iron tools can be used for mining and logging, but they can also be made into iron arrows after smelting.

"In the past, a villain didn't know Mount Tai, but now he fully understands it. I hope he can become an ally of your inner vassal." Tabai lowered his value and said with a look down.

Li Mingxun nodded slightly and asked, "Tabai, you are very conscious of the current affairs. Since you are willing to accept the agreement of the inner vassal state, you will also receive treatment from the inner vassal state from now on. If you are willing to migrate your tribe from the left bank of Heilongjiang to this port, I am willing to support you in building a pickled fish workshop."

Tabai frowned slightly. Just as hesitated, the young warrior who had been following him said in his ear: "Mafa, salt!"
Chapter completed!