In the blink of an eye, several days had passed. Grain rice, salt paste, and wine were unloaded from Yoneya's Kan-style ship, and a shipload of Ezo Land products was loaded on in turn, ready for the return voyage.
To speak of Ezo Land at this time, there were not many bulk products it could sell. The potential of marine products was great, but it had not yet been fully developed. As for fine timber, it was laborious to fell, and once shipped to the Kinki region, it was no more competitive than timber from the northeastern provinces. As for rice and beans, even local consumption was still insufficient, and they had to be imported from Honshu.
So on the Kan-style ship for the return journey, there were only some northern specialty furs, marine products, and a little medicinal herbs and tonics. What took up the most of the remaining space was iron sand ore for ballast. It was worth mentioning that Hokkaido was rich in both iron ore and coal, possessing the basic resources for industrialization. The iron ore here was mainly shallow-layer iron sand ore as well, easy to mine and widely scattered.
Near Katsuyama Castle, there was a small surface iron sand mine that could be mined nearby, the ore smelted to forge swords and helmets. As for making complex armor, the castle lacked craftsmen with the required skill, so it could not be made. And whether such great skilled artisans could be brought over would depend on whether Morino Kiyoshi could think of a way.
Ezo Land had not been opened up for long and could not do without supplies and manpower from Honshu. And for all of this, they could not count on the shogun and nobles in Kyoto, but could only rely on familiar