The area where Vladivostok is located is named the Heilongjiang Peninsula, and the bays bordering it on the east, south and west sides are named Ussuri Bay, Daming Bay and Heilongjiang Bay respectively.

Last year, Huang Yongshu visited the area to explore the port area in detail, and finally decided to build a port of Vladivostok on the shore of a small bay shaped like a cow's horn at the tip of the peninsula.

The small bay named Golden Horn is inserted inland from southwest to northeast, with a total length of 7 kilometers, the entrance of the bay is about 2 kilometers wide, the water depth is 20~30 meters, the width of the bay is less than 1 kilometer, and the water depth is 10~20 meters. The terrain on both sides of the bay is dominated by plains and hills, and further north is the steeply rising inland highlands.

Since the bay is surrounded by low mountains and hills, it is possible to defend the entire port with just a few forts, and the establishment of a port city here is indeed an easy and difficult place to attack. Therefore, when the fleet arrived, the officials immediately agreed with Huang Yongshu's choice of the address to build the port.

Most advantageously, at the entrance to the southern tip of the Golden Horn, there is also a small island about 18 kilometers long and 13 kilometers wide as a barrier. The island has a rugged coastline with plenty of bays for boats. The highest mountain in the middle of the island is less than 300 meters above the sea, and the terrain can be described as flat.

As long as this island is occupied, the enemy coming from the sea will not be able to directly attack the port in the Golden Horn. And when the enemy attacked Vladivostok from the interior, there was still a place to retreat.

Both the shores of the Golden Horn and the small island at the mouth of the bay have a lot of wood and stone needed to build a city and a port. The only obstacle that could prevent the Ming fleet from establishing a port was the lack of manpower.

When the fleet went north, it also carried 1,500 sergeants, 200 craftsmen, and 300 people, and when it stopped at Mokowei, it hired 247 Jurchen young men.

Although it seems to be a large number of people, it is still a drop in the bucket to build a port city to anchor the Grand Fleet. And whether it is the low mountains and hills along the Golden Horn or the small island at the mouth of the bay, this rarely visited secret place is still a world of wild animals at the moment.

The most common animal here is the elk, followed by the black bear. The former is a good source of food, but the latter is a hindrance to the cutting down of trees.

As a result, the containment of the local large animals soon became a top priority. For this kind of hunting work, the well-equipped Ming soldiers quickly lost to the hired Jurchens.

After obtaining the better Ming weapons, these Jurchens were as easy as walking in their own homes in these dense forests. The animals that a Jurchen man hunted in one day were worth the harvest of five Ming soldiers.

As a result, these Jurchen laborers, who were originally hired to cut down trees and build houses, soon became the main force of hunting. Most of the work of cutting down trees to build houses falls on the soldiers.

Both sides are satisfied with such a distribution of labor. Soldiers generally show fear of hunting large animals deep into the forests that cover the sky. This primeval forest is full of unexpected dangers. Only those Jurchens who grew up in the forest were able to avoid these dangers as if they were foreseen, and did not lose their way.

These Jurchens preferred to participate in hunting rather than logging and building houses. After all, in their tradition, a man's coming of age begins with the hunt of a beast alone.

Hunting in the forest has become a part of their lives, as natural as dressing and eating. And the weapons that these Ming people equipped the hunters with were much better than the weapons they made themselves. Hunting some animals in exchange for these weapons couldn't be more than welcome for them.

For the Ming officials who were responsible for establishing Vladivostok, these Jurchens were indeed too simple and honest, as long as these Jurchens were equipped with some weapons, they could continuously obtain all kinds of prey, which not only allowed the fleet to obtain a lot of meat, but also a lot of fur. And all they paid was a little salt and food.

While the Jurchens were cleaning up the large animals along the Golden Horn, Edmond Dantès also surveyed the area around the peninsula.

He soon discovered that in addition to being an excellent port, it was also rich in natural resources.

Not to mention the forests and fauna of the interior, there are countless colonies of seals in the coastal area of Daming Bay in the south of the peninsula alone. Seal fur is soft and comfortable, and it is not wet when exposed to water, but it is one of the finest furs.

The abundance of sea cucumbers and various fish in the coastal area makes the area a paradise for birds.

In Edmond Dantès's opinion, this place is one of the best fishing grounds, if not a port.

As the Ming built a port in Vladivostok, some small Jurchen tribes in the vicinity also arrived, bringing ginseng and furs to trade with the fleet.

Whether it was Zhao Chengdong or other Ming officials, after seeing the Jurchens' ability in the jungle, they naturally paid more attention to it, and Chongzhen's order to ask them to encompass the local natives as much as possible.

With these local Jurchens as eyes and ears, then what is going on in the vicinity for more than 100 miles, and the Ming army stationed in Vladivostok can be known for the first time.

By the time Edmond Dantès, along with six other ships, followed Xu Linhu north to explore Sakhalin Island and the mouth of the Heilongjiang River, the number of small tribes that had come from nearby to trade with the Ming had reached six.

The squadron headed north on 2 May and found an indigenous tribe in a bay along the north-eastern coastal coast on 5 May. After trading some materials with them, the fleet also got a general idea of the geography of the place.

After a day's stay here, the detachment hired several guides from the local tribe and then split into two fleets again.

Edmond Dantès followed Xu Linhu and three other ships to the east and headed for the south of Sakhalin. The other three ships, led by Mao Kexi, continued to explore the estuary of the Heilongjiang River and the lower reaches of the Heilongjiang River.

From the northeastern coastal area to Sakhalin Island, three or five whales can be seen swimming in groups, and they also saw hundreds of beluga whales during the voyage.

Although these beautiful creatures of the sea are much smaller than ordinary whales, they sing and dance in the water in groups, and their melodious songs can be heard dozens of miles away, and the spectacle is magnificent and magnificent, even experienced sailors like Edmond Dantès.

The last time he saw such a beautiful scenery was when he traveled to the northernmost bay in North America to trade furs with the local Indians. As for the Chinese sailors who accompanied the ship, they were even more shocked, thinking that they had met the sea god.

However, from the indigenous guides on the boat, they did learn that every year in April and May, a large number of beluga whales go to Heilongjiang in the north. There, the local indigenous tribes hunt beluga whales at the shore during the season.

As the fleet continued eastward, through the strait between Sakhalin and Fuso, and into the bay south of Sakhalin, it was a fertile place infested with whales and various sea beasts.

Although the indigenous tribes of Sakhalin were similar in customs to those of Fuso, the tribes of the island were renamed the Feyaka by order of Chongzhen, in order to distinguish them from the Ainu people on Fuso.

The central and southern parts of Sakhalin are mostly mountainous and forested, and although meat resources are abundant, there is a lack of food and medicinal materials. The climate is cool and humid, but it is more comfortable than on the mainland.

Summers on the island are cool, but they are too humid to grow mosquitoes. As a result, the population of the southern part of Sakhalin has grown slowly, and the population of the tribes in the south is only a few thousand.

These Fiyakas are mild-tempered and easy to deal with. Since the Yuan Dynasty, they have begun to pay tribute and submit to the Central Plains Dynasty, and have always been close to the Central Plains Dynasty and alienated from the close Japan State.

After the rise of the Jurchens, only 200 people crossed the sea to make thousands of natives in the south of the island submit, not necessarily not because these tribes thought that the Central Plains Dynasty was the result of a change of dynasty.

Last year, Xu Linhu arrived here by boat, and the tribes on the island learned that the original Ming had not been replaced by the Jurchens.

When Xu Linhu left, the various tribes in the south of Sakhalin had already gathered to discuss who they should be loyal to if the Ming continued to send people this year.

Although the tribes of Sakhalin had already submitted to the Later Jin, the Later Jin's rule over the region was not stable, and they did not include the southern tribes into the Jurchen tribes.

It's just that the mink is set to pay tribute to the year, and the local tribal leader is the surname chief and the township chief to rule it. Even because of the Houjin wars for many years, the officials who inspected the frontier were often in a faction for several years, and the southern part of Sakhalin Island was difficult to reach by land, and no Houjin officials had come for three or four years.

The subordinate relationship between the local tribes and the Houjin was still maintained by the annual tribute mink.

Although it was nominally a tribute, this was just a matter of the Later Jin following the example of the Ming State and using trade to win the hearts of the people on the frontiers. Compared with the Ming Dynasty, Houjin is just a small country with scarce materials. But compared with these frontier peoples, the Houjin is undoubtedly a behemoth.

Later, Jin also relied on this tributary trade, and became a two-way dealer between the Ming merchants and the border peoples, in order to accumulate national strength.

At first, the Fiyaka people did not want to choose between the Later Jin and the Ming Dynasty, because they felt that the land was far away and the war between the Ming and the Later Jin had nothing to do with them.

With their current strength, they can defend the southern part of Sakhalin from any country. All they needed was to maintain trade relations with the Central Plains Dynasty.

However, when Xu Linhu came to visit again with a boat, these tribal leaders were immediately shocked by the large ships and forces possessed by the Ming people, especially the flames and loud cannons on the ships, which made them even more afraid.

Compared with the post-200 gold-armored soldiers who came in small boats, these Ming people can transport hundreds of soldiers on a single ship.

Coupled with the large amount of supplies brought by the fleet, the various tribes on the island exchanged much-needed supplies. The tribes that were originally close to the Ming Dynasty now appear to be closer to the Ming Dynasty, and those tribes that were close to the Houjin also gave up their claims and chose to surrender to the Ming Dynasty again.

With the support of these local tribes, Xu Linhu chose an address on the northern coast of the southern bay to build a port, which also served as the seat of the Sakhalin town guard.