"Jin" means ferry, and as the name suggests, Wenquanjin is a port with hot springs.
This is the outer port of Iwami Silver Mine. Because Iwami Silver Mine is located deep in the mountains and land transportation is inconvenient, the local officials who managed the silver mine at that time dug a mountain road of more than ten miles to connect the mine with this natural harbor, which served as an export port for silver and an unloading terminal for materials needed for mine operations.
The entire Wenquanjin is actually a long and narrow fjord with long docks on both sides and surrounded by mountains. There is also a large outlying island at the entrance of the fjord. No matter how strong the wind and waves are, they will not affect the ships in the dock. It is indeed geographically blessed.
As the largest silver mine in Japan, Iwami Silver Mine produced up to one million taels of silver per year, and naturally it was repeatedly contested by the surrounding daimyo. The daimyo built a series of castles to defend the silver mine. On the outlying island at the entrance of Onsenzu, there was a Kushiyama Castle built to defend against pirates attacking from the sea.
The headquarters of the Onsenzu Water Police Station was rebuilt from the Kushiyama Castle.
"Utilization" means to demolish the original castle built by the Onsen clan with stones, and then use those stones and cement to build a new bastion.
This bastion takes up almost the entire island. Well, mainly because the island itself is not very big, only a little over 25,000 square meters.
The bastion has three layers, like an irregular multi-layer cake. The highest layer is nearly five meters high and is mainly used to prevent waves.
Because the high stone wall made of rubble concrete stands upright on the reef. After being beaten by the humid sea water for only one year, the stone wall is already covered with thick moss. The moss surface is slippery and has completely eliminated the possibility of climbing from the outside.
On the first floor, there are gun positions on all four sides, as well as parapets to protect the musketeers. There are only four wooden ladders that can be removed at any time between the first and second floors. The second floor also has gun positions and parapets, and the internal warehouse also stores two months of water and military supplies.
Moreover, the square tower divides the first floor into four unconnected areas, severely limiting the scale of the troops that the attackers can deploy.
In this way, if the first floor is unfortunately lost, the coast guard officers and soldiers can retreat to the second floor and hold on for more than two months.
The situation on the third floor was similar, with wooden ladders that could be removed at any time, gun positions and parapets, and a month's worth of water and military supplies stored. The square tower also divided the second floor into four corners, so that the marines who retreated to the third floor could hold out for another month.
There are also strict entrance rules in the bastion. For example, outsiders must disarm before entering the castle, make an appointment in advance, enter without permission, and the number of people cannot exceed three. The gate of the castle is closed before sunset and must not be opened before dawn. After nightfall, all stairs must be guarded. Under no circumstances can any outsider stay overnight, etc...
On the breakwater and pier on the west side of the bastion, there are hotels and prisons specially built to accommodate visitors and captured prisoners.
Such excessive caution was necessary. This was during the Japanese Warring States period, surrounded by fierce enemies, and it was also the gateway to Japan's largest silver mine. The island was so close to the shore that it could even be swum across at low tide. If there was a slight flaw, it would inevitably be attacked by those brutal daimyo, powerful people, bandits, and pirates.
Even seemingly honest farmers may pick up a hoe or a dung fork at any time and transform themselves into "warrior hunters", suddenly baring their fangs and biting down fiercely.
Therefore, the three most important things for the officers and soldiers stationed in this dangerous place are safety, safety, and safety!
The garrison even allowed them to abandon all facilities outside the castle, including warships, and retreat back to the city to hold out and wait for help when necessary.
~~
Therefore, the top priority for Mr. Zhao’s inspection this time was safety.
Standing on the high bastion, looking at the Yamabuki Castle on the Iwami Silver Mine in the distance, Wang Rulong told Zhao Hao that even in the worst situation, such as the castle being besieged, the pigeons being hunted, and the continuous strong winds and huge waves making it impossible to go out to sea, the reinforcement fleet of the garrison area would set out on the tenth day after the communication was cut off and arrive here within half a month.
"So as long as they can hold on for a month, nothing will happen!" Wang Rulong said in a deep voice.
"How about it, do you have confidence?" Zhao Hao asked with a smile Hua Feng, the chief of Wenquanjinshui Police Station who was standing upright beside him.
"Don't worry, sir. We have sworn to defend our castle till the last man standing!" Hua Feng hurriedly replied, "As long as there is still one person who can move, the Japanese will never be able to take our castle!"
"Relax a little," Zhao Hao said with a smile, "Don't make it so tragic."
"Hehe, yes." Hua Feng smiled contemptuously and said, "The little Japanese don't even have a cannon, and they still want to attack my hot spring mountain city? Dream on! I can wear them out even if I try!"
"I told you to speak properly, not to brag!" Jin Ke glared at him, but in fact, this was already the most cautious general under his command. There was no other way, it was too difficult to let these guys from the Qi family army take the Japanese seriously.
"Yes." Hua Feng shrank his neck and whispered, "This is talking nicely..."
"Oh, by the way," Zhao Shizhen, who was following Zhao Hao, asked, "Have you tried out the Thunderbolt Fireballs that were equipped to you?"
"I've used it before, it works great!" Hua Feng praised it highly, "It's definitely a great weapon for defending the city!"
"Oh, what fireball?" Zhao Hao was stunned when he heard it, obviously he had never heard of it before.
"This is a little gadget that my nephew modified based on the "Wujing Zongyao". Since it is an antique, I didn't disturb your uncle." Zhao Shizhen explained.
"Get one and let's take a look." Young Master Zhao was very interested. He had a hunch that the weapon that his nephew liked must not be that simple.
"Yes." Hua Feng quickly ordered his men to go to the ammunition depot to get a few thunderbolt fireballs.
Zhao Hao took it and looked at it. It was indeed not very attractive. The main part was a complete bamboo section, with a piece of bamboo left at one end as a handle. It looked like a bamboo ladle for pouring wine.
The eldest nephew told Zhao Hao that it was filled with four pounds of granular black gunpowder and more than thirty pieces of sharp porcelain fragments. It was actually a big firecracker with added ingredients.
He asked Zhao Hao to hide at a safe distance, then lit the fuse with a fire starter, held it in his hand for two seconds, and then dropped the fireball from the top of the city wall.
With a loud bang, like a bolt from the blue, the bamboo tube exploded in the air before it fell on the reef.
Zhao Hao saw that the powerful impact force blew the broken porcelain pieces and bamboo tube fragments into pieces, flying everywhere, hitting the reefs and walls with a bang!
"Wow, a pre-made fragmentation grenade!" Seeing that the killing range could be about ten feet, Master Zhao couldn't help but cheer.
"Hand grenade, what a good name!" Zhao Shizhen's eyes lit up when he heard it and said, "But it can only have such a large killing range if it explodes right above your head."
"This thing is first-rate for defending a city." He said with some dissatisfaction, "But the problem is that it can't be thrown very far. It's certainly fine for defending a city, but it's useless in field battles and naval battles."
"Well, throwing is the right direction. We can improve it slowly. Even if it is not used on the ship for the time being, we can still equip the Marines." Young Master Zhao gave positive affirmation and ordered one piece of equipment for the fourth person.
"Yes!" Getting affirmation from his uncle was Zhao Shizhen's greatest motivation, and he immediately agreed with great enthusiasm.
~~
Then, Mr. Zhao visited the military supply warehouse.
The island is humid and it is difficult to preserve food for a long time, so the warehouses are located above the second floor, and rice, flour and beans are sealed in large jars. Side dishes are mainly sausages, bacon, bacon, air-dried chicken and duck, dried vegetables, dried kelp, chicken and duck eggs, etc. that are not afraid of mold.
In the armory, gunpowder was wrapped in oil paper and placed in a porcelain jar, which was then stuffed with wood and sealed with yellow mud. The spare guns were also greased inside and out, and then wrapped in oil paper...
In short, no matter what kind of items, the difficulty of preservation is much higher than inland. If you don't know how to keep them properly, within a month or two, you will run out of ammunition and food, and your weapons will be scrapped...
This is all through the continuous discovery of problems, improvement of problems, and the accumulation of experience bit by bit. Only a strictly trained army would pay so much attention to details. The only army that can achieve this level is probably Zhao Hao's Coast Guard. Even the Qi Family Army, limited by the cultural quality of its officers and soldiers, cannot do this.
Even with scientific and strict management, the losses here are ridiculously large. The entire water police department has about a thousand people and thirty ships, and the annual military expenditure is as high as 100,000 taels of silver!
If we didn't have a mine at home, we really wouldn't be able to afford this.
Uh, but, my family really has a mine...
When visiting the silver vault on the third floor of the bastion, Master Zhao saw a whole warehouse full of silver ingots!
These silver ingots were mined and cast from Iwami Ginzan by miners and then transported to Onsenzu. After the officers and soldiers of the Marine Police Department inspected them at the foot of the castle, they were hoisted up with a Popeye crane installed on the third floor and stored in the warehouse.
Every three months, a silver-carrying ship would follow the main fleet to Wenquanjin to clear out the inventory. This cycle repeats over and over again, and it has come five times so far.
"How much silver is this?" Young Master Zhao asked people to tear off the seals of the wooden box, enjoying the visual impact of the white things.
"There are one hundred silver ingots in a box, and one silver ingot weighs fifty taels. There are one hundred boxes in total." Jia Youcai, the police commissioner in charge of the silver vault, replied hurriedly.
"That's five hundred thousand taels." Zhao Hao looked at the silver in the room and couldn't help thinking, I didn't expect that five hundred thousand taels was just that much. This young master extorted several million taels from Old Wang, which was indeed a bit cruel...
"So, five hundred thousand taels of silver can be deposited into the treasury in one quarter?"
"It's about the same as last year. There's been a significant increase this year. There will be two more deliveries from the silver mountain this month, which should be about 100,000 taels." Jia Youcai said.
"Then shouldn't we get 2.4 million taels this year?" Zhao Hao was overjoyed when he heard this. He expected that after adopting the Ming Dynasty's silver refining technology, the output would almost double, that is, 2 million taels per year. He didn't expect it would be even more.
P.S. Sorry, I took a short break over the weekend. I was planning to write a chapter in the evening and post it early, but it took me until now. So the second update will be posted tomorrow...