According to the plan, the 350 volunteer immigrants brought by Lawrence this time were divided into seven teams of 50 people each. Then they united with the local jackals and their vassal races and built seven settlements.
For convenience of transportation and defense, five of these settlements are located along the coast, and the other two settlements are located on the banks of the largest river in the land.
It's just that the construction of these settlements was accompanied by bloodshed and casualties from the beginning, because there are a large number of creatures distributed in the vast jungles, and these creatures are not very friendly to all invaders.
Compared with New Saul Island, which also has a tropical rainforest climate, the density and danger of life in this area are much higher than that there.
The reason for this phenomenon is that this area is located on land and is not as isolated as an island, so it naturally has stronger biodiversity.
The simplest example is that there are no venomous snakes on New Saul Island, and there are only a few types of mosquitoes. Therefore, the chance of encountering snakes and insects during development is very small.
But this territory is not like this at all. Even though everyone has made various preparations in advance, more than 1/3 of the people still encountered problems during the construction process due to attacks by various poisonous or disease-carrying creatures.
Fortunately, Lawrence and the others had enough manpower and were well prepared in terms of medical logistics. So except for two people who unfortunately died, everyone else recovered.
Nola's contribution must be mentioned here. If she hadn't mobilized a lot of resources and prepared a lot of holy water and magic, then the number of deaths would not have been just that little.
In addition to those annoying poisonous animals and plants, some local wild races also brought them huge troubles.
After realizing that the teams that Lawrence waved were not passing by, but intended to stay and not leave, a large number of kobolds organized and took turns attacking the fortified settlements.
Different from the common goblins before, this group of reptile monsters that may have dragon blood are obviously higher in civilization level and are naturally good at mining.
Therefore, compared with those goblins who go into battle with sticks and stones, this group of kobolds who can process metal and make a series of special weapons such as javelins, crossbows, short swords, axes, etc. are more dangerous in terms of danger.
More dangerous.
Fortunately, probably because of the lack of iron ore in the area, the weapons used by this group of kobolds are all made of bronze. And with their bodies, only elite warriors or leaders can carry armor made of bronze.
But this does not mean that their combat effectiveness is low. For human pioneers, the traps set by the kobolds in the jungle, the javelins thrown and the poisoned arrows shot are all very deadly.
Although this level of armed kobolds alone cannot take down armed settlements, they can inflict a devastating blow on undefended plantations.
"No wonder this area is considered a dangerous wilderness." After returning to the small town where the landing site was formed, Lawrence subconsciously sighed while looking at the records of which settlements were attacked.
"There is no way. Not only do kobolds have a strong sense of territory, but they also refuse to negotiate. So our only option if we want to gain a foothold in this area is to kill all the kobold lairs in the area."
Saphiel looked at another record and said, "Actually, our situation is very good now. Although the surrounding kobolds believe in the evil dragon goddess, the goddess often does not care about these dirty dog heads in her eyes.
people."
After listening to Lawrence and Saphire's discussion, Nora suddenly appeared from beside them and said.
"So we now have an absolute advantage in the fight in the supernatural realm. At least after setting up everyone's temporary church, we can have early warning of those attacks."
"It would be nice if we could have early warning." Lawrence nodded. This kind of early warning is very important, especially when facing the occasional harassment from these monsters, as it can prevent everyone from being too tired.
In fact, according to statistical data, many times the core reason why people give up colonization is not that they cannot defeat the enemies, but that the enemy's harassment tactics prevent them from normal life and production, and finally give up the colony due to long-term losses.
"But our plan may need to be changed. At least the initial plantation development plan must be postponed a little." Nora shrugged helplessly.
"Because for me now, the further away from New Saul Island, the more troublesome it is to project various powers. The situation of maintaining various shrines and churches across the ocean is already the limit. It is difficult to continue
Expand your power to the plantations, which are vast and sparsely populated."
After all, a shrine cannot be made of stone or wood and then be effective. It must also become the core of faith to some extent.
Therefore, under the condition of limiting the population, the facilities of this type possessed by a region are limited.
For example, the number and level of intelligent creatures in the series of settlements built by Lawrence and others can only maintain the existence of one such facility and maintain the safety of the residential area.
"Then what should we do here next?" Saphire looked at Nora and asked curiously. "If we can't build a plantation to recruit people, then how can we recruit more people in this area."
There is a very contradictory point here, because from the facts just now, we can see a problem, that is, if we cannot recruit enough manpower, it will be difficult to let the facilities related to the gods control a larger area.
But from another point of view, the current too small warning range allows everyone to control the space that is too small, and it cannot support more manpower.
"We can do something else. After all, there are only a few settlements under our control now. In addition to those tropical cash crop plantations that are universal in the entire region, these places can actually carry out some other industries."
"Are you talking about fishery or aquaculture?" After briefly thinking about the location of the land, Lawrence suddenly thought of a possibility. "I remember that we seemed to have studied this aspect before."
"It's mainly aquaculture, because the water in this area is relatively shallow and there aren't many ferocious creatures. It's just suitable for cultivating some aquatic creatures."
Nora nodded. "Of course, it is different from raising fish over there. The shallow sea area here is more suitable for raising some edible algae or molluscs such as shells."
"In addition, because this area is close to the center of the coastline on the west coast of Yanzhou, there is both fresh water and food. Therefore, it can be used as a very good supply point."
"But the problem is that big ships can't get by here at all." After hearing what Nora said, Lawrence raised a question of his own.
“If we don’t have a good dock, how can we attract merchant ships or passenger ships and other ocean-going ships from the outside world?”
"This is actually quite easy to solve, because those jackals discovered that there is a natural harbor more than sixty kilometers to the north." Nora said.
"It's just that that place is currently occupied by a certain dragon monster, so I plan to go over and talk to that monster after everyone has settled in."
In this world, there is a distinction between intelligent races and non-intelligent races. But extraordinary power sometimes breaks this distinction.
This is especially true for dragon monsters. The blood of dragons often allows them to have an IQ that is no less than that of humans. That's why Nora said that she hopes to let the extraordinary creature leave the bay it occupies through peaceful means.