Late Ming sea owl

Chapter 159 Construction Department

When Lin Hai and Zhu Niang returned home, Wang Minzheng had already arranged for the kitchen to prepare dinner. When the host came back, he quickly ordered the tables and chairs to be spread out and the food to be prepared.

This former clerk and eunuch is now Lin Hai's steward of the inner court. He has also been promoted step by step from the eunuch who served people, and he is very handy at this job.

What's more, Wang Minzheng was also good at calligraphy, and Lin Hai also used him to help him copy "A Dream of Red Mansions", write government orders, and write letters on his behalf, so he was somewhat similar to the right handwriting of the Japanese nobles under Lin Hai.

Due to the difficult conditions in fresh water and the worrying sanitary conditions, Lin Hai did not bring his half-year-old son to Dongfan, but stayed in Zhoushan to be raised by Shi Wusi. Qizai has not come yet, so here At present, there are only him, his wife and a few old ladies.

After dinner, Lin Hai reviewed the gains and losses of the day with Zhu Niang as usual. In fact, he mainly took this opportunity to help Zhu Niang grow up quickly, just like he taught Wu Lang how to be a king.

It wasn't until Haishi that the two of them took a bath, changed clothes, and went to bed.

"Madam, you smell so good." Lin Hai's hands were moving around in the croaker tent.

Since coming to Tamsui from Zhoushan, he feels that his energy is more vigorous than before. As expected, the saying is true, power is the best stimulant.

"Come here, the incense is obviously lit in the room." Zhu Niang was already a little tired, so she grabbed Lin Hai's hand and gently threw it away.

The room was indeed lit with incense, which was mosquito-repellent incense made from dried duckweed and realgar. In order to improve the smell, rosemary, lavender, rose, mint and other spices were added to it.

In Tamsui, this is a mosquito coil that only a few upper class people can afford.

In addition, the sachets they wear on daily basis are also different from ordinary people. They contain mosquito repellent made from orange, frankincense, clove, liquidambar resin, aristolochia root, etc.

"Hey...who is bragging that he is full of energy? It has only been a few hours, but his true form has been revealed."

"You want to use provoking methods again so that others won't be fooled." Zhu Niang chuckled and said, "I won't serve you tonight. What can you do?"

"That's it..." Lin Hai said calmly, "Then I'll think about it, maybe it's time to take a concubine. Should I have a three-bedroom or a five-bedroom apartment first?"

"You still have three bedrooms and five bedrooms, why don't you go to heaven?" Zhu Niang turned over and sat on her back, "Don't move, I'm going to show you how powerful you are tonight."

After two cups of tea, the pouring of candles turned into a smooth process, and Zhu Niang was already defeated and defeated.

Lin Hai firmly grasped one core and two basic points, and spurred his horse: "Let's see if you still dare to show off. Who let whom know how powerful you are?"

……

In Guandu City, Lun Shi held a volume of "The Complete Book of Agricultural Affairs" in his hand and was reading it under the whale oil lamp.

He does not yet have a specific position under Lin Hai. He is currently mainly responsible for trade with the indigenous people and summarizing the material needs of Guandu and Wanhua so that Zheng Tingqiu can go to Fujian to purchase.

The supplies needed for Guandu can be divided into three parts, one is sailor logistics, the other is Zhoushan camp logistics, and the third is commodities used for trading with Wulang.

About a month ago, a set of books appeared in the supply list reported by Wanhua, the "Agricultural Policy Complete Book" published during the Wanli period.Lun No. [-] knew that this must be what Lin Hai wanted, so he asked Zheng Tingqiu to buy an extra set, and he studied it without sleep or food every day when he was free.

Now, he has almost finished reading this 50-volume agricultural book with a total of more than [-] words.

It was already the end of the year when Viper arrived at Guandu, and Lun Shiyi was still reading at night by candlelight. Hearing that Viper was coming, he quickly put down his book and came out.

"Brother Xiao, what brought you here? Come in and sit down." Lun Yi's popularity has always been good, and he got along well with the sailors on the Bowang.

"Haha, of course it's a good wind. But this wind is not sending me, Xiao, but your brother Lun to great heights." Viper is also a smart person. He knows that Lun No. [-] is the first person to follow Lin Hai. He usually follows Lin Hai. I always pay attention to making friends with him.

Lun Diyi was shocked when he heard this: "Brother Xiao, what do you mean by this?"

Viper chuckled and said, "Brother, you are about to be promoted. Don't forget to treat me, Viper, to a drink."

The next day, Lun first got up early and took a boat upstream at dawn. It was still Chenshi when he arrived at Wanhua.

Lin Hai and Zhu Niang got up a little late today, and it was not until Sichu that they met him in the study.

"First, how is the situation in Wulang recently?" Lin Hai did not talk about the construction department, but asked about the indigenous people.

"It's good. Now he is addicted to catching slave workers. He leads his troops to the mountains every day." Lun Diyi said with a smile, "But the Atayal villages have moved to distant places, and the slave workers he has captured are getting more and more." Come less and less.”

The Atayal people mentioned by Lun Di are probably the most widely distributed indigenous people in Dongpan. They occupy the entire Xueshan Mountains and the northern end of the Central Mountains.

Unlike the so-called Pingpu ethnic group such as the Basai and Leilang people, the Atayal people were classified as Gaoshan ethnic groups in later generations.They are a patriarchal society. They do not speak the same language as the Basai people, and their customs are also very different. In addition, they live in the mountains, so it is difficult to be included in the royal order of the Iron Kingdom.

In view of this, Lin Hai acquiesced to Wu Lang's practice of capturing Atayal people as slaves. After all, he had a high demand for cheap slave labor.

Nowadays, the village communities under Wu Lang's rule have basically stopped agricultural production. Everyone relies on trade with Lin Hai for food, and they are fuller than before.

There are currently more than 1 people in the Iron Country. The men are busy hunting deer and digging for sulfur every day, while the women are busy picking up shells and bird droppings at the beach.

These are popular commodities here in Linhai, among which the shells are used to burn lime and the seaguano is used to make fertilizer.

Of course, the most popular ones were the slave workers captured by Wu Lang and his army. After all, for Lin Hai, nothing was a more precious resource than people.

After hearing what Lun Yi said, Lin Hai said: "In that case, we might as well let Wulang stop going into the mountains to catch slaves. After a year and a half, the Atayal people will naturally move back."

Lun Diyi asked doubtfully: "These barbarians in the mountains have been beaten and frightened. Do they still dare to come back?"

"I'm sure. People heal their scars and forget the pain. Besides, wherever there are people, there is struggle. Although the snow-capped mountains are big, they can only accommodate so many people." "Understood, can we let people go next? Will the Kingdom of Iron continue to expand?" Lun first asked again.

As early as more than two months ago, Wulang had brought all the villages of the Basai and Leilang people under his control. Since then, he has repeatedly proposed to continue to expand, but was strictly prohibited by Lin Hai.

In addition to the Tamsui River coast and the Taipei Basin ceded to Lin Hai, as well as the Keelung Port occupied by the Spanish, the current territory of the Iron Country is approximately equal to the Taipei Metropolitan Area in later generations, that is, Taipei City, New Taipei City and Keelung City. To continue The only way to expand is to the south.

There are three indigenous ethnic groups bordering the Kingdom of Iron in the south. Except for the Atayal people in the middle, who are of the Gaoshan ethnic group, the Daukas on the west coast and the Kavalan people on the east coast are both Pingpu ethnic groups and have the potential to be incorporated into the royal order.

However, the Daokas tribe has a vast territory and a sparse population. Although they occupied Taoyuan, Hsinchu, Miaoli and other places in later generations, they only had a total of [-] villages and a total population of about [-].

This area is dominated by terraces and hills, and lacks irrigation from large rivers. The soil is very poor and is not suitable for agricultural production at all.In terms of minerals, apart from Miaoli's oil, there was nothing that caught Lin Hai's fancy.

Yilan, where the Kavalan people are located, is a very good agricultural area, but it is located on the east side of the Central Mountains and there is no reliable land transportation between it and the territory of Wulang. The only way to conquer the large Kavalan people is from March on the sea.

Lin Hai believes that no matter which direction he expands at the moment, the gains outweigh the losses. After all, the population under his jurisdiction is too small, and even the existing land and mineral resources of the Iron Kingdom are difficult to digest.

Rather than letting Wu Lang carry out a large-scale mobilization expedition, it would be better to let his people hunt deer and mine for themselves.After Tamsui's population increases, it won't be too late to allow the Kingdom of Iron to continue expanding.

"No, the Kingdom of Iron cannot expand for the time being." Lin Hai said resolutely, "If Wulang has a surplus of manpower, we might as well find something for him to do."

Lun Diyi heard this and said, "What else will they do besides hunting deer?"

"There are so many things they can do." Lin Hai said with a smile, "There are two main things I want them to do right now, one is to collect volcanic ash, and the other is to fish. Tell Wu Lang, we can collect as much of these two things as we have. Give them a fair price."

"Fishing?" Lun Di asked in surprise, "Aren't we not allowed to eat fish?"

"The sea fish I'm talking about is not river fish. Sea fish are edible." Lin Hai continued, "Do you know Shihu? Find a few Fujian fishermen who can build this thing and teach this technology to the Basai people."

The so-called Shihu, also called cofferdam, is to build a small bay with stones on the seaside and use the tidal range to fish. While fishing, you can also harvest a large number of shellfish, which is a relatively labor-saving fishing method.

This thing sounds simple, but in fact there are many ways to do it.To build an efficient stone Hu, one needs to consider the topography, wind direction and current of the intertidal zone, and carefully design the Hu embankments, Hu gates and Hu houses. Naturally, the Dongfan natives do not have this ability.

Shihu fishing is the most developed in Fujian because the average tidal range in Fujian is as high as four or five meters, but it is also abundant in Guangdong.Lun No. [-] was born as a Dan citizen in Shali Tou Village, so he naturally knew something about it.

After hearing Lin Hai's words, Lun Di nodded repeatedly. Currently, there is a lot of lime needed for freshwater epidemic prevention, and it mainly relies on imports from Fujian. The shells provided by the natives are better than nothing.

But it would be a big difference if Shihu could be built along the coast of Dongfan. In addition, except for the early construction of Shihu, subsequent fishing could be left to the elderly, weak, women and children, which would not consume much physical labor.

Lun Yi then asked: "Then what do we need volcanic ash for?"

"You've got the point right." Lin Hai smiled, "Do you know why I called you here this time?"

Lun Yi shook his head and expressed his ignorance. He had learned from Viper that a new department was to be established, but he didn't know what it would do specifically. Hearing that Lin Hai finally got to the point, he couldn't help but feel a little nervous.

"The Tamsui Civil Affairs Council is going to establish a new department, called the Construction Department, and you will be the director." Lin Hai stopped talking nonsense and simply got to the point, "This department has three main responsibilities, one is mining, and the other is industry. production, and the third is engineering construction.”

"Yes, brother!" Lun Yi was ecstatic when he heard this. He was the first to follow Lin Hai and knew the weight of these three responsibilities.

Moreover, he clearly remembered that when Lin Hai asked him to stay in Jinbaoli Society that day, he specifically emphasized to him that there were many mines in Dongfan.

"Brother, what mine should we open first?"

“Start with the lime mine.”

For fresh water, lime is the second largest imported material after food. However, there are actually lime mines everywhere in the Taipei metropolitan area, many of which are easy to mine.

"Lime mine?" Lun Yi was a little disappointed when he heard this. He remembered that Lin Hai said that there was a gold mine near the chicken coop.

"Yes, the lime imported from Fujian can only meet the needs of epidemic prevention, which is far from enough. We will build many projects in the future, all of which are inseparable from lime. The volcanic ash I just mentioned is also used for this. Mixing lime and sand with volcanic ash can produce volcanic ash cement. I don't know the specific ratio. You need to arrange for someone to explore it."

"Pozzolana cement? What is this for?"

"A mortar that can harden quickly. I will tell you the details later." Lin Hai continued, "In addition, we also need to bake bricks. I have a new brick kiln technology here that can work continuously. And Just like pozzolan cement, I don’t know much about some of the technical details, so I need to arrange for some brick-burning and porcelain-burning workers to explore it.”

What Lin Hai is talking about is the ring kiln of later generations. The biggest advantage is that the fired bricks can be taken out without turning off the flame. This not only greatly improves production efficiency, but also saves a lot of fuel.

"Okay, brother." Lun Yi felt a little frustrated. He didn't expect that Lin Hai only asked him to do jobs like masonry. It was better to let him be in charge of agriculture.

Fortunately, he was still studying "The Complete Book of Agricultural Affairs" day and night, and it seemed that it was completely useless.

"Don't underestimate this work. We live in wooden houses now. This is of course beneficial, but the problem is that we are afraid of typhoons and are prone to fire. At present, even household registration and land records are stored in wooden houses. And there's wood that's drying in the shade, which is really dangerous."

Hearing this, Lun Yi became more energetic again: "Brother, the house you live in now is too shabby. I will build you a magnificent house first."

"This is indeed necessary. Even I live in such a shabby place, what hope do the new immigrants have?" Lin Hai said with a smile, "Not only me, but also core people like you should live in good houses, and The barracks for the soldiers of the Zhoushan Camp and the classrooms for the volunteers must all be brick buildings."

"In addition, we also need to build fortresses and forts. Don't forget that Tamsui is surrounded by wolves now, and we must have strong enough defense capabilities."

　"During the Dragon Boat Festival, collect duckweed and dry it in the shade, add realgar to make paper and wrap it with incense, and burn it to get rid of mosquitoes." - From "Rough Talk on Things" suspected to be written by Su Dongpo.

　　In addition, the advanced formula of mosquito repellent sachets comes from "Ren Zhai Zhi Zhi Fang Lun" by Yang Shiying of the Southern Song Dynasty, in which frankincense and cloves are precious spices from overseas. Frankincense is produced in North Africa and the Middle East, while cloves are only found in Dena in the Molucca Islands. A few small islands such as Tidore and Tidore are produced.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)