At present, my foundation is not stable and I have not even confiscated the island of Koh Samui. I would like to keep a low profile and have not considered it for the time being.
Zhan Junru saw the large amount of rice and flour supplies in the other tent, but she didn't ask about it while she was sleeping.
Tang Wen knew that she was curious, so she was following the rules by not asking. This was also Tang Wen's test for her.
The next morning, Tang Wen gave Li Quan 8,000 taels of silver and asked Zhang Kui to accompany him to the bank in Yanling County to exchange for gold ingots.
After that, the first task assigned to Zhan Dongwen was to build two toilets and several bathrooms, separated by men and women.
Fortunately, there were two carpenters, a mason, and a stonemason among this group of people.
There were a lot of dry and fallen wood on the mountain. Tang Ling provided them with sharp axes, saws, etc. Zhan Dongwen arranged for people to work like a responsible housekeeper.
Below, accompanied by Zhan Dongwen, the two of them inspected Sumui Lake.
"Dong Wen, what do you think we should do next?" Tang Wen asked as he walked.
"Of course we should gather all the people on Samui Island and then show the government land deeds.
Let them know that this island belongs to you and is not an unclaimed land.
We can rent the land to them, but we have to collect rent.
This island is so big, if we can attract disaster victims to farm, we can earn a lot of income a year," Zhan Dongwen said.
"They originally didn't want to rent, but we want to rent now. You see, until now, no one has come to us. Why is that?" Tang Wen said.
"Then he definitely doesn't want to pay the rent." Zhan Dongwen said.
"So, you have to eat your meal one bite at a time.
Don't call them all in at once. When the time comes, there will be many of them and we will be in a passive position.
We want to swallow them up piece by piece, but our strength is not enough yet, and we still have to find ways to recruit more people to strengthen ourselves.
Otherwise, it will happen like the last time I went to collect rent and almost couldn't come back." Tang Wen said.
"We're recruiting people. There will be more people by then. We haven't collected any rent yet. What are we going to eat and wear?" Zhan Dongwen frowned and said.
"I will find a way to provide food, clothing, shelter, and your current task is to secretly send some people down to get to know them.
I wonder if there is someone here organizing a confrontation with us since no one has shown his face until now.
Also, the descendants of Butler Jiang who were left behind have not appeared, so there are many problems." Tang Wen said.
"Okay, I'll arrange for a few people to sneak into them and spy on them first." Zhan Dongwen nodded.
"Our first step is to find a way to recruit people and get all the fields back.
The second step is to build the road, fill in all the potholes on the road, and widen the roadbed.
The third step is here." Tang Wen pointed forward.
"Isn't that a place that was destroyed by pirates and collapsed? What can we do?" Zhan Dongwen asked puzzledly.
Because the dam originally built by the ancestors of the Tang family by Wolong Lake collapsed due to something.
After the lake water leaked, only about a mile of lake water remained, and most of the lake bed was exposed.
It is now overgrown with weeds and is almost turning into a forest.
"There used to be a simple embankment here, which was probably built by my Tang family ancestors.
That’s why Wolong Lake appeared.
Our third step is to rebuild the dam so that the water flowing down from the mountain can be stored and the lake re-formed." Tang Wen pointed to the collapsed area and said.
"Building a dam requires a lot of manpower and a lot of money.
Although there is only about a mile of water left at the bottom of the lake, it is enough for us to use. It is useless to repair it, so why waste money on it?
It is better to use money to build a house, at least let us settle down first, which will also require a lot of money." Zhan Dongwen shook his head.
"Haha, you don't understand, this lake is so useful.
You see, the fields on Koh Samui are all under the lake and around it.
We not only need to build the dam, but also build the dam higher than before to make the lake larger.
When the time comes, trenches can be dug to divert water to the rice fields for irrigation.
You see, the harvest in the land they planted was so low due to drought that they probably couldn't even fill their stomachs.
Why are you still willing to pay rent?
Therefore, water is the most important.
By then, when the fields are fertile, there is water, and the harvest is in, they will naturally be willing to pay rent.
Otherwise, we will force them to pay the rent.
One is to arouse conflicts, and they will fight us desperately to survive.
Secondly, if they can't fight, they will flee Koh Samui.
Then, what would you do with a deserted island without people?" Tang Wen said with a smile.
"Sir, you are so thoughtful, but this is too difficult to do. How much money will it cost?" Zhan Dongwen said with admiration.
"I told you don't worry about the money, I will find a way.
Moreover, starting from tomorrow, we will start serving porridge.
At that time, we will attract those victims who are not full and are about to starve to death.
In this way, as long as I give them food to eat, they will definitely join my Tang family.
We gradually disintegrate their troops. At that time, our people will be more and more, and their people will be less and less.
At that time, when our men and horses exceed theirs, we can consider taking back all the fields." Tang Wen said.
"What a great idea, I'll arrange for them to do it." Zhan Dongwen nodded excitedly.
At this time, Sun Ping came and said that when they went to the mountain to saw wood, they found a hole in the mountain behind the house.
It seemed that it was dug out by someone. Tang and Wen hurried to the back.
It was discovered that Sun Ping and the others had cleared away the thatch trees and revealed a cave entrance.
"This hole was originally covered with vines, weeds and trees, but Li Si discovered it after he accidentally fell in.
When we saw it, we found that it was actually blocked with stones.
So I was very curious, so I pried it open and went in, and found that there was actually a hole inside." Sun Ping said.
"Li Si, tell me what's going on?" Tang Ling asked.
“There is still soil above this hole, and there are weeds, trees and vines growing on it.
I was surprised, as if I wanted to hide the hole.
However, we didn't find anything when we went in.
It's just some scattered stones, were they used to hide treasures?" Li Si said.
"Go in and have a look." Tang Wen nodded, and several people lit torches and entered the cave.
I found that the cave was not small enough, three carriages could walk side by side, and it was about 1.5 feet high.
It was obviously dug manually, and there was no passage after going about a mile deep.
However, at the end of the tunnel is a huge cave, which is more than twenty feet high and about three miles wide.
Tang Wen illuminated these rocks with a torch, then picked up the scattered stones in the ground and observed them.
Suddenly I knew what I was doing, so I picked up a few stones and returned to my tent.
Call Zhan Dongwen in, and then shine a strong flashlight on the stones.
"Huh? How come it's flashing?" Zhan Dongwen looked at it and opened his mouth in surprise.
Tang Wen picked up the ax and split the stone, and then took a look at the cross section.
Zhan Dongwen even opened his mouth and said, because there seemed to be many little stars twinkling.
"Dong Wen, look at it, does it look like this?" Tang Wen took out a silver coin and handed it to him, "Compare it carefully, and then use this flashlight to shine."
"It's almost the same. It's just that there is no silver ingot. Is there any silver in it?" Zhan Dongwen asked.
"This is a silver mine. Someone is secretly digging into my Tang family's silver mine. However, when I dig to the end, it is estimated that the silver content is too little, or that it was abandoned after mining was completed." Tang Wen said.
"Who did this? If they were digging before, wouldn't there be many slaves in the Tang family? How could they dig secretly? If they were caught, they would be dead," Zhan Dongwen said.
"Yes, no matter how they dig, they will definitely be discovered by the Tang family. That's why the houses of the Tang family were burned down and turned into ruins." Tang Wen said with a cold face.
"Man-made?" Zhan Dongwen was so surprised that he opened his mouth.
"No wonder Butler Jiang hasn't sent anyone back to report to the Tang family for so many years." Tang Wen hummed.
"You are saying that it was Jiang Chang who did it, and his purpose was to steal the Tang family's silver mine?" Zhan Dongwen said.
"He is the most suspicious, and, you see, if there are pirates involved here, he did it in collusion with the pirates.
The pirates came out to rob and kill, scaring away the people on the island.
Once the people leave, they can openly dig up silver mines." Tang Wen said.
"Damn it! You are worse than an animal." Zhan Dongwen cursed.
At one o'clock in the afternoon, Li Quan and Zhang Kui returned from Yanling City and handed the 800 taels of gold they had exchanged to Tang Wen.
In fact, for people in Dachu, except for making gold into jewelry, it is not convenient to use it in daily life.
Because it's so expensive that you can't find it even if you go shopping for a meal.