This was a baptism for every officer and soldier present, allowing them to fully understand the meaning of the eight bright red characters "Discipline, Responsibility, Sacrifice, and Dedication" on the police academy playground.

Zhao Hao also changed into a police uniform and saluted solemnly to the officers and soldiers of the Zhenyuan Island Water Police Station. After getting off the boat, he shook hands with one hundred officers and soldiers, including the Li Dynasty auxiliary police, one by one. This was a treatment that no other officers and soldiers of the Water Police Station had ever received before.

Then, he stood in front of the Boro and gave a powerful speech to the one hundred soldiers.

"What am I here for? I'm here to report to you all. Our test fleet set sail from Chengshan Port on the third day of this month. It took twenty days and a total of three thousand miles to successfully complete all test subjects. Now, I am proud to announce on Zhenyuan Island, four thousand miles away from the Jiangnan Shipyard, that the three new warships have passed the inspection and are allowed to enter service!"

The coast guard officers and soldiers of Zhenyuan Island clapped their hands with tears in their eyes.

The moist sea breeze from the Tsugaru Strait made the flag of the garrison area on the top of the bastion, which read "The sun and the moon shine together on the East China Sea", flutter in the wind.

Master Zhao's sonorous and powerful voice echoed in the ears of the soldiers.

"This means that by this time next year, our shipyard will be able to use the oak produced in Ainu Island to build our main battleships! We can finally have warships that can compete with the European powers! This is the significance of your garrison here! It is because of your protection that we have the conditions to build a fleet that dominates the seven seas!"

Warm applause broke out again, and many officers and soldiers secretly wiped away tears. These were tears of relief, even though they had volunteered to come to Zhenyuan Island. To encourage them, the garrison also stipulated that one year of service here would count as two years of police service, and the points earned would be doubled, and the maximum period of guarding the island would not exceed two years before rotation.

But no one expected that life here would be so hard. Standing on the lonely island, all you can see is sea water, not a single outsider.

However, the officers and soldiers were extremely nervous and did not dare to relax their patrols day and night, fearing that if they slacked off, the pirates from the Tsugaru Strait would come to the island... With just these few people, even if they had a bastion to defend, could they hold out until reinforcements arrived? It was uncertain!

In difficult times, finding the meaning of doing things is the most meaningful thing. This can greatly increase their threshold of endurance and even turn pain into strength.

"Here, I solemnly promise you that when the first battleship is put into service in the future, all of you will board the ship and write a glorious chapter in history on the most powerful battleship in the garrison area!" Young Master Zhao continued with deep affection: "When you look back on this difficult period, you will definitely thank it for its gift to you, because it has made you a stronger warrior!"

The police officers puffed out their chests with pride, and were deeply inspired...

"I can also tell you in advance that Ainu Island has more than just wood. It also has abundant silver mines, coal and other resources; vast expanses of fertile land; excellent horse farms; and a livestock base that can provide the entire garrison area and even the people of Jiangnan with sufficient meat, milk and leather! In a word, this fertile land is the driving force behind our Jiangnan Group's take-off! We must firmly grasp it in our hands!"

Zhao Hao waved his right hand vigorously, and the sonorous and powerful sound aroused the fighting spirit of all the coast guard officers and soldiers, who shouted in unison:

"Defend the Strait and Ainu Island to the death!"

Even the auxiliary police of the Li Dynasty started shouting, and their voices were louder than those of the Ming Dynasty police.

Che Zhuzi was one of them. There was a thick red bar on his brown helmet, indicating his identity as an auxiliary police officer.

Although the ranks of auxiliary police officers are not the same as those of regular police officers, all the auxiliary police officers of the Lee Dynasty are under his supervision on a daily basis, which is considered to be a considerable power. It is precisely because of his indoctrination day after day that these auxiliary police officers of the Lee Dynasty are so fanatical.

Of course, Che Zhuzi had his own selfish motives. He was originally a supervisor in the Xingang City Labor Reform Team. Later, the garrison came to the city to recruit auxiliary police, and specifically recruited the untouchables of the Li Dynasty. People like him who have served the city for two years, performed well, and have management experience can directly become overseas employees of the group and completely get rid of their untouchable status. He signed up without hesitation.

When he graduated from the garrison training team and was assigned to serve on the most remote Zhenyuan Island for three years, he would be directly transferred to become a full-time employee.

Becoming a formal employee of Jiangnan Group is Che Zhuzi's biggest dream in life. Because formal employees can become Ming citizens and let their children enjoy the best education in the Celestial Empire!

Che Zhuzi knew that these three years would be very difficult, but for the sake of his two sons' car games and car sex, he still resolutely signed up to come to Zhenyuan Island.

After being exiled on the island for so long, he could not help but have wild thoughts, wondering if he had been deceived, forgotten, or would he die on this island in his lifetime?

But today, after seeing Master Zhao coming to express his condolences with his own eyes and hearing Master Zhao's speech with his own ears, Che Zhuzi no longer had any doubts that her dream of the Ming Dynasty would definitely come true!

~~

After the speech, the police officers began to carry the gifts to the shore. Mr. Zhao visited the bastion and the police dormitory and went through the prescribed steps again...

After lunch break, it is usual time for interviews.

The guy who came to see him this time was short and stocky, with thick messy hair, a beard, a straight nose and deep eyes. Zhao Hao saw that he was wearing a vest made of birch bark, which was even carved and dyed. He was wearing a bear skin around his lower body, barefoot, and hugging his hairy legs.

In short, he was covered in hair and his age was hard to tell, but the jewel necklace around his neck and the impressive grass crown on his head indicated his extraordinary status.

Kim Hee-sun, vice president of the Tamra Chamber of Commerce, who served as the interpreter, spoke a few words to the man first. The man then talked to Zhao Hao for a while, then put his hands in front of his forehead and bowed.

Mr. Zhao didn't understand what was being said because it wasn't Japanese. If it was Japanese, he would understand a little, such as "Yametie" and "Yiku Yiku"...

Jin Xishan then introduced with a smile on his face: "Sir, this is Hashita, the chief of the Eastern Ainu people. He is sending you his most sincere greetings."

"You can speak Ainu?" Zhao Hao said with a smile, "Say hello to him too. By the way, don't they dislike being called 'Ainu'? Let's just call them 'Utali'."

"I am studying hard just to make it easier for you to collect wood." Jin Xishan smiled flatteringly and then translated to Hasheta.

Hearing that the other party called him "Utali", Hasheta's thickly bearded face showed a look of surprise. He bowed to Zhao Hao repeatedly, obviously very happy.

In fact, "Ainu" means "people" in the Ainu language, and "Utali" means "partner". No one wants to be called a person, so it is more pleasant to call him/her "partner".

"He said he didn't expect the young master to know so much about their culture." Jin Xishan translated.

"No, no, just a little bit." Mr. Zhao said modestly. In fact, he was not modest, because he only knew two Ainu people, Nakolulu and Limululu...

After the guards served tea, the two sides started talking at cross purposes with Kim Hee-sun's translation.

Through Jin Xishan's explanation, Mr. Zhao roughly understood that the Ainu people on the island were divided into three parts: the east, the west and the north. The northern part hid in the deep mountains and old forests, basically isolated from the outside world, and could be ignored. As for the original Ainu people in the south, because of the invasion of the Japanese, some died and some fled, and the rest became the slaves of the Japanese samurai.

Therefore, the Ainu people who maintained contact with the outside world and became slightly more civilized were divided into the Eastern and Western parts. The attitudes of these two parts towards the Japanese were very different. The Ainu people in the West were dovish, and under the Japanese's gentle tactics, they enjoyed the benefits brought by trade and were about to forget the hatred of the past.

The hawks in the east, the people of Hashita, still maintained their hostility towards the Japanese, attacking the Japanese who left the city and even attacking their residences. Naturally, they became the main targets of the Japanese attack, and were also subject to a trade embargo, making their livelihood increasingly difficult. Many people could not stand the endless war, poverty and hunger, and fled to the west.

So Hasheta had a hard time. Seeing the size of the tribe getting smaller and smaller, he was almost in despair.

At this time, the timber merchants of the Tamra Chamber of Commerce appeared. With the help of the powerful merchants from Sakai City, they were able to cross the Tsugaru Strait and land in a place called Shinko in the southeast corner of Ainu Island.

Zhao Hao thought this place was really unlucky...

The timber merchants brought the materials that Hashita urgently needed. Ainu Island was covered with virgin forests at that time, and the least valuable thing was timber. The two sides naturally hit it off. So for more than a year, the ships of the Tamra Chamber of Commerce kept going back and forth across the Tsugaru Strait, exchanging food, cotton cloth, ironware, salt and other daily necessities for shiploads of century-old oaks and transporting them back to Tamra.

The Japanese leader of Ainu Island, the Kakizaki clan, had long been dissatisfied with these Tamra merchant ships. But they were still subject to the Andō clan of Dewa Province on Honshu, on the southern shore of the Tsugaru Strait.

The Andō clan was in a very difficult situation in the war-torn Dewa Province, and relied heavily on trade with merchants in Sakai City to supply the urgently needed strategic materials. Therefore, under the pressure of the Andō clan, the Kakizaki clan could only hold their noses and endure it.

As time went by, Hasheta also realized the power of these timber merchants and began to try to buy weapons and armor from them, especially the "iron cannon" used by the Japanese. The Tamra merchants were very embarrassed and said that these were controlled materials and could only be sold to you with the consent of our master.

From that day on, Hasheta became obsessed and kept asking when he could meet their young master. So Young Master Zhao took this rare opportunity to honor him with a meeting.

Therefore, before they could say a few words, Hasheta started again with the same old tune, hoping to buy weapons and armor, especially firearms, and he was willing to pay any price.

"As for weapons, of course we have them." Young Master Zhao took a sip of tea and said, "But we have to figure out, who are you planning to fight against with all these weapons?"

"Avenge our parents and grandfather, and drive the Japanese off the island!" Hashita shouted with bloodshot eyes, "The Ainu people will never be slaves!"

ps. Here is the second update. Mr. Zhao will be back tomorrow. No more tonight.