"Hey yo~ Hey yo~ I can't pull out the radish~ I can't pull it out, grandpa, come on, come on and pull out the radish~"
"Bah~"
Opened the wrong way.
"Heyyo~Heyyo~"
At the edge of the primeval forest near the bend of the Tamsui River, a group of men were strutting their arms, shouting slogans, and felling wood with large saws made by the Miyun Iron Works.
"It's about to fall~ It's about to fall, get out of the way~"
"Boom~"
Following a slight shaking of the earth, a large tree with a diameter of two feet fell directly, and the men cutting wood on the side immediately showed smiles.
The primeval forests here in Ryukyu are dense, and the trees are very tall, and there are also various precious and high-quality trees among them. Now that the city is to be built, these firewoods are naturally indispensable in the early stage.
“The quality of the ironware from Miyun Iron Factory cannot be said at all, it’s superb~”
Someone looked at the ironware in their hands and saw the four characters of Miyun Iron Factory branded on it. The ironware produced by Miyun Iron Factory was of good quality and cheap. The most important thing was that there were a variety of styles that everyone had never seen before.
For example, the saw in front of you is specially designed for felling. It has handles on both ends. When felling, the two sides push and pull each other. The felling is very labor-saving. A big tree can be easily knocked down in a few strokes.
"Isn't that right? This is Mr. Liu's property. Mr. Liu has always been the most honest in his work and will never lie to us."
Someone nodded and said.
"Work, work~"
The leader smiled and motioned for everyone to continue logging.
In a gentle place not far away, many advance team members have used their sickles, axes, saws and other tools to level a piece of land, and all the weeds, trees, etc. on the land have been cleared.
"This piece of land is very good. The terrain is very flat. There is a river on it that can divert water for tap water. You can dig drainage ditches below to build an underground drainage system. In addition, it is close to the river bend, which can be used here.
Come and see the pier and port, which can be used to berth ships in the future.”
Li Yuanshan held a map in his hand. This was a map of the surrounding terrain that he had spent time drawing in the past few days. After choosing and choosing, he finally selected the place where the city would be built, which is the flat land under his feet.
Dong Mu on the side also had a map in his hand, which was exactly the same as Li Yuanshan's, but he couldn't understand the content on it at all. What was the scale, longitude and latitude, and the lines on the map? This was too different from the maps he had seen before.
So much difference.
However, he still pretended to understand and listened. After all, he was the captain of the advance team. Even though he had been ordered before coming, and he listened to Li Yuanshan in terms of building the city, he still had to show his presence to some extent.
.
In addition to him, there was a beardless father-in-law beside him, Eunuch Zhang. He was the supervisor sent by Emperor Hongzhi. He also looked at the map in front of him with dark eyes. He also couldn't understand the things on it, but
He also pretended to understand.
"Captain Dong, Eunuch Zhang, if there are no problems, we will build the city here?"
Li Yuanshan asked the two of them with a smile.
"Our family has no objection. We can build a city anywhere. We just need to build houses as soon as possible. Living in tents every day is really uncomfortable."
Eunuch Zhang said at the top of his lungs, he was a eunuch in the palace, and he had no right to speak in the palace. He thought he could live a good life this time, but who knew he would be sent to a wild place like Ryukyu Island?
It’s hard time.
He lives in a tent every day, but he doesn't dare to go out at night because the mosquitoes outside are too strong. It's extremely hot here during the day, which makes him, a eunuch who has lost his life, very uncomfortable.
"I think this place is also very good. It can be attacked when advancing and defended when retreating. It is very suitable for building a city."
Dong Mu pretended to be very serious and said this to show his presence.
After spending a long time with Li Yuanshan and the others, he felt that he didn't seem to understand anything, but Li Yuanshan and the others seemed to know everything. They could not only sail, fire cannons, but also draw maps, and even build cities. They were still idiots.
?
I feel that compared to them, I am just a mud-legged, bumpkin who doesn't understand anything, which is hard to accept.
"Since both of you have no objections, we will officially start construction."
Li Yuanshan smiled and nodded.
"We have too few manpower now. Team Dong, can we go to Fujian to recruit some manpower? This place is just across the water from Fujian, so it is very convenient to go back and forth."
"In addition, we need buffaloes to reclaim land, and we can just go to Fujian to buy some buffaloes."
After thinking for a while, Li Yuanshan spoke out some of the difficulties at hand.
It is definitely not an easy task to build a city on a deserted land, especially with only the two thousand people in front of you. If you want to speed up the progress, you must have more manpower.
Before coming, Liu Jin had already made it clear to Dong Mu and Li Yuanshan that they could recruit manpower, purchase materials, etc. from Fujian to build the city.
Of course, Liu Jin has also made two preparations. In the north, he has also arranged for people to go to Henan, Shandong, Beizhili, and Shanxi to recruit people, and they will be shipped to Ryukyu in batches.
Fujian is very close to Ryukyu, separated by a strait, making travel very convenient. Quanzhou in Fujian has been an important point on the Maritime Silk Road since ancient times. It has mature ports and supporting industries, and even shipbuilding in Quanzhou.
The industry was very prosperous in the Song Dynasty, Yuan Dynasty, and early Ming Dynasty.
Zheng He's treasure ships on his voyages to the West were basically manufactured in Quanzhou. From this, it can be seen that Fujian's shipbuilding industry is actually quite developed. However, the Ming Dynasty later closed the country and the shipbuilding industry in Quanzhou was also prosperous for hundreds of years.
It suddenly turned off.
"Okay, okay, Eunuch Zhang and I will go to Fujian to recruit some people and buy some buffalo~"
When Dong Mu heard Li Yuanshan's words, his eyes suddenly lit up. In fact, he was already prepared to mention this matter even if Li Yuanshan didn't mention it.
There was nothing here in Ryukyu and there were so many mosquitoes that he didn't want to stay there for a long time. Now he could take this opportunity to go to Fujian for a walk.
"Yes, yes, Captain Li, you are knowledgeable and talented. We cannot do without you in building a city. The two of us don't know how to build a city, so there is no use staying here. We might as well go to Fujian and recruit people."
When Eunuch Zhang heard this, he nodded quickly. He liked this job. Anyway, as long as he didn't stay here, it would be fine. As for supervising the army, is it necessary to supervise the army?
It was far away from the capital, and there was no war. He had already made up his mind to pay attention to whatever army he needed to supervise. After going to Fujian, he found an excuse to stay there, waiting to come back when he could go back.
"Okay, then I'll trouble you to take a trip!"
Of course Li Yuanshan knew why they agreed so readily. Even if they left, he could just go about his business without asking for their opinions on everything.
Soon, the advance team was divided into two parts. Dong Mu and Eunuch Zhang took some people to drive a boat to Quanzhou, Fujian, preparing to recruit more people and purchase various supplies, while Li Yuanshan began to bring
The remaining people began to build the city vigorously here.
Level the land, plan the layout of the city, dig underground drainage systems, build tap water systems, use wood to build simple outer fences, and build forts...
There are so many things to do, and they need to be arranged one by one, but these are not a problem for the people in the advance team.
Among the advance team were a large number of backbones that Liu Jin had drawn from his industries. These people used to be mud-legged people, and they were engaged in various fields such as carpentry, masonry, farming, blacksmithing, military households, etc.
Yes, but without exception they all come from poor families.
People who come from poor backgrounds are very hardworking and hardworking, so they are naturally good at work.
After joining the industry under Liu Jin, he began to learn all kinds of things, including literacy and management. He was also hard-working and willing to work, so he was able to become the backbone.
With these people, plus these students who graduated from Tianjin Maritime Academy, Li Yuanshan arranged things, and everything was arranged in an orderly manner.
Those who dig trenches are responsible for digging trenches, those who cut trees are responsible for felling trees, those who build tap water are responsible for building tap water, and those who reclaim the land are responsible for reclaiming the land. Everything is arranged very properly without any confusion.
Under the arrangement and leadership of these people, the project progressed very smoothly.
"After this water pipe is connected, the tap water will be completed~"
In just three days, the water supply project was completed.
On the Danjiang River upstream of the city, the advance team members dug trenches to divert water, built ponds with cement, and then used water pipes produced by the Miyun Iron Works to complete the tap water supply.
"The water pipe is connected and we can start draining the water!"
When the water pipe was taken over, someone ran to the fort high up and shouted in semaphore to the running water pool high upstream. Soon, the people at the running water pool also spoke back in semaphore.
"Open the gate~"
Following Li Yuanshan's order, Zhang Lun turned on the faucet, and water immediately flowed out of the faucet.
Although this is not the first time for everyone to see tap water, here in Tianjin and in Tianjin New Town, tap water is almost everywhere. Everyone has seen it when training at Tianjin Maritime Academy.
But now everyone finally understands what this tap water is. I used to think that this tap water is incredible. You only need to turn on the switch and the water will come by itself. It is very magical and incredible.
Now that everyone has built this tap water by themselves, they immediately understand that it is actually quite simple. It is nothing more than building a few large pools on top and connecting them with pipes. There is nothing fancy, but it is indeed convenient.
