Fenghou

Chapter 869 Hope
Standing on a high place, Chen Qing watched indifferently as the militia soldiers piled up and burned the corpses of the little blacks. The soldiers poured kerosene on the corpses. The flames were blazing, and the fire completely engulfed more than [-] corpses. .

Without safety, there will be no living and working in peace. In the matter of fighting for the right to survival, Chen Qing is very clear that he cannot tolerate any kindness of a woman. Only by killing them all can prevent future troubles.

In the afternoon, Commander Yang Tai led [-] people to the big island of Ryukyu on seven large ships.

Chen Qing immediately made a decisive decision and asked the militia soldiers to take the Western Army to the opponent's lair to drive out these little black natives.

When it was almost dawn, billowing black smoke rose from the depths of the forest a hundred miles away. It was because the army had found the opponent's lair and carried out an extermination operation.

In the area where the Han people lived, Chen Qing ordered the soldiers to move all the daily necessities in a cabin to the open space, sort them into categories, and distribute them to the common people.

The entire settlement was like a festival. All the Han people came here, laughing and laughing, full of joy, and lined up in a long line to receive daily necessities.

In the big house on stilts, Chen Qing had a formal conversation with the three elders. He was about to leave soon, and he wanted to clarify some things to the elders.

"I remember you said that there are two small black tribes and one is a small tribe. How far is it from here?"

The leader, Qiao Xi, thought for a while and said, "It's far to the south, hundreds of miles away from us, but there are not many of them, and there are only a hundred or so young and strong. As long as we have armor and weapons, Don't be afraid of them, you can easily eliminate them, don't worry about it, my lord."

Chen Qing nodded, "I will leave the equipment of five hundred soldiers for you, and add another hundred armors and crossbows. The militia must keep training. If the situation is critical, you can still ask for help from Penghu Island. I will send them over there." One thousand garrisons, they exist to protect everyone's safety."

"Then we can rest assured. If we can ensure safety, more and more people will come to live on the island, and our living area will become larger. We can also go deeper along the river. We all know that the land inside is more fertile. "

Chen Qing pondered for a moment and said, "I'm thinking about building the first county town on the big island of Ryukyu within ten years, so when you choose a new settlement, you must consider the needs of building a city in the future."

"We understand what the prince means, and we will definitely consider building a city in the future, but we can only barely maintain food and clothing by farming alone. Can the prince show us a way to get rich?"

Chen Qing smiled slightly: "This is what I said just now. We must consider the needs of building a city. I think that building a city must be next to the seaport. First, you will bring merchant ships, trade and various supplies, but you must have your own specialties. , I have considered two aspects, the first is sugar production, you have to plant a large amount of sugar cane, and then process it into sugar yourself, sugar will become the biggest specialty of Ryukyu Island, and many merchants will come to buy it, and then many people will come to look for it If things are done, people will settle down, and the population will slowly increase like this.”

After a pause, Chen Qing continued: "The second is kapok. I heard from people on Penghu Island that kapok is abundant on the big island of Ryukyu. Is that true?"

Qiao Xi nodded, "That's true. Every autumn, there are kapoks floating in the sky here. We have to go nearby to pick them. There are also merchants who come to collect them, but they can't sell for much money."

"How much do they charge?"

"A catty of wood cotton costs five cents, and it must be peeled clean. The prince also knows that wood cotton is difficult to peel, so it is only women and children who peel it. Men have no time and energy."

Chen Qing shook his head, "This is too much. In the future, I will ask my staff to build a machine for peeling cotton seeds. It is very convenient, and then my army will come to buy it. It costs three hundred yuan a catty of wood cotton, and the wood cotton will become here. The second special product."

The three old men looked at each other, with surprise on their faces. They all had the feeling of seeing the sun behind the clouds. Sugar making and cotton picking, a catty of wood cotton can be sold for three hundred yuan. Sugar can't be seen yet, but cotton picking That's what's in front of you.

"My lord, is it really three hundred Wen a catty? Or two hundred Wen is fine."

Chen Qing smiled slightly: "The three hundred wen must be cleaned up. If you don't peel the seeds, it will be one hundred wen per catty. My subordinates will arrange someone else to peel the seeds in Quanzhou. You choose."

The three old men discussed for a while and said: "There are too many kapok trees in this area. We just don't have enough people to pick them. It's really too late to peel the seeds. We are already very happy with a hundred cash per catty."

Chen Qing nodded, and then instructed: "Don't just focus on kapok, sugar production is the key point. My subordinates will arrange people to deliver sugarcane over, plant small pieces first, and then plant on a large scale after success, and someone will come to teach you How to make sugar, I said it on Penghu Island, I want to attract people to the big island of Ryukyu, so I will take special treatment, first of all, tax exemption, which will not change for decades, and then free distribution of land, so that the people on the island If everyone can live and work in peace and contentment and live a prosperous life, more and more people will come to the island.”

An old man excitedly said: "If this is the case, all the people on Penghu Island will move here."

Chen Qing smiled happily: "If Ryukyu Big Island can make money, they will indeed move here."

"What about the food?" Qiao Xi suddenly thought of this serious problem.

"This needs to be weighed by you. Generally speaking, Quanzhou will provide food and materials. Anyway, you can buy them if you have money. If the land is sufficient and manpower is sufficient, you can grow your own food."

The three nodded. They really need to think carefully about whether they should continue growing food.

In the evening, Yang Tai led the army back to the settlement. More than a thousand indigenous black people were all exterminated. The huge gap in equipment resulted in no casualties in the Song army. Hundreds of animal skins and dozens of catties of gold sand were seized. .

Chen Qing immediately gave half of the gold sand to the local people, and the other half to the soldiers, and everyone was happy for a while.

The army rested for a day on the big island of Ryukyu. The fleet left the big island of Ryukyu and returned to Quanzhou via Penghu Island. All the people came to the shore to see them off. become a reality.

At the door of the cabin on the second floor, Chao Kun bowed at the door, "Is King Yong looking for a humble job?"

Chen Qing nodded, "I need you for something!"

Chao Kun walked into the cabin, and Chen Qing immediately asked Chao Qing to fetch the blueprint he had drawn. He spread the blueprint on the table, and drew a table on the blueprint, inside which were nine round sticks placed side by side.

Chao Kun was stunned, what kind of equipment is this?
Chen Qing pointed to the drawing and explained: "This is a tool I designed, called a cotton gin. It is made of nine copper rods, not made of wood. Wood is easy to loosen. The nine copper rods are closely connected. When one copper rod rotates, the other eight copper rods will also rotate together, so that the kapok will be rolled into the box below, but the kapok seed core will not be rolled in, and will remain on the copper rods, and you can sweep it off with a brush at any time. Do you understand me?"

Chao Kun immediately understood that this was a tool for squeezing out cotton seeds, "I understand, this is a tool for peeling cotton seeds."

Chen Qing nodded with a smile, "The principle is very simple, but the key is fine workmanship, which requires highly skilled craftsmen to make it. I will hand over the blueprint to you. You will build a dozen of them and set up a workshop specially for the big island of Ryukyu. Come to the kapok to peel off the cottonseed."

"Remember the humble job!"

Chen Qing said solemnly again: "In addition, I promised to buy kapok fruit from the big island of Ryukyu at a price of one hundred yuan per catty. You do this, and you have to bring money to buy it. There is no upper limit on the quantity, even if the other party picks ten Tens of thousands of catties, you have to buy them all."

Chao Kun nodded, and silently put away the blueprints. He realized that the prince was really going to spend his money on conquering the Ryukyu Island, and he also felt a heavy responsibility on his shoulders.

(End of this chapter)