The vitality of these tortoises is actually quite tenacious and relatively easy to feed. In addition, Marlin took a tropical route, and it was not hot all the way, so two tortoises should not have died.

However, two of the Galapagos tortoises were too timid, and the boat swayed from side to side as it sailed through the sea. This environment is too different from the land where the Galapagos tortoises usually live, which caused panic among the two tortoises. So, the two dead Galapagos tortoises were actually scared to death. After all, it is indeed scary to come from a calm land to a rocking ship, oh no, a scared turtle......

The remaining 13 Galapagos tortoises are not in good spirits, after all, they are not well adapted to the bumpy life at sea, and it would be good to be able to persevere.

Therefore, when he arrived at Keelung Peace Island, the first thing Marin did was to have all 13 Galapagos tortoises taken off the boat for repair. Yes, carry off the boat. Because, it's too slow to let the tortoise run on its own. Therefore, it is better to let people carry it and walk faster.

In addition, the war horses brought by Marin were also taken off the ship for repair. These war horses are more adapted to the life on the ship, because they are all specially left after selection to adapt to the life on the ship. Although it is not a powerful horse, it is tall and strong, and it looks more bluffing. In fact, this typical European war horse, although it has great strength and runs fast, has poor endurance. Generally, when the knight is in a hurry, he doesn't ride much. Otherwise, the horse's physical strength will be consumed too soon, and it will not be used when it is necessary to fight. It is said that in the 19th century, because of the shortage of horses and the lack of war horses, many cavalry often led the horses when marching, for fear that they would tire the horses if they rode for too long. Only horses with good endurance, such as Mongolian horses and Arabian horses, can be ridden for a long time, but they also need to rest often. Like the Mongol cavalry, which marched across the Eurasian continent and traveled thousands of miles at every turn, it was necessary to have two horses per person, or even three horses per person.

Of course, Marin didn't come thousands of miles to send warmth to Daming. The reason why he chose this kind of high-headed horse is to bluff people, especially those literati. Those literati who don't understand horses like to ride tall horses the most. For example, the champion of the Ming Dynasty likes to ride a high-headed horse and parade through the streets to praise officials. If you ride a short southern horse, it's a shame to parade through the streets. Therefore, the European high-headed Malaysia brought by Marin is definitely a popular weapon for scribes.

……

Marin, the master, came, and Kong Tai, as the local steward, naturally came to greet him in person. However, when Marin had just landed on the island of peace, Conté was not on the island. Upon inquiry, it turned out that Kong Tai was supervising the construction of the city on the main island of Taiwan Island, on the other side of the southern shore of Heping Island......

At the beginning, after Kong Tai arrived in Keelung for the second time, with the help of Liu Laogen, he fooled several Pingpu aborigines near Keelung, and bought a piece of land on the other side of Heping Island at a small price.

After that, Kong Tai had people build a small bunker on the land on the other side of the river, and arranged for the people to go to the shore to plant sweet potatoes as a source of food for the island.

On the other side of Heping Island, on the southern shore of Keelung Bay, several square kilometers of coastal land have been exchanged by Kong Tai. Kongtai sent people to reclaim 500 acres of land here and plant sweet potatoes. The yield of sweet potatoes per mu is more than 1,000 catties (without pinching flowers), and two stubbles have been harvested, with a total output of more than one million catties. Now, on the edge of Majiapu, Kong Tai has specially built a warehouse to store sweet potatoes.

Moreover, in order to facilitate the cultivation of land, Kong Tai also sent people to quietly buy ten ploughing cattle from Hujian Meizhou Island through smuggling boats.

Although the cultivated cattle are treasures in Daming and are not easy to sell, they can't stand Kong Taiken's high price!

In Daming, the price of a ploughing cow is only six or seven taels of silver, which is very cheap. In order to buy a ploughing cattle, Kong Tai sold 20 taels of silver a head, which was three times the normal price. Driven by huge profits, Hu Jian's smugglers naturally helped to get 10 ploughing cattle.

You know, these smugglers are the masters who want money and don't want their lives. Although the cattle were all registered with the government, it was difficult to buy them through normal channels, but these daring smugglers directly hired outlaws to steal the cattle, and they were stunned to steal 10 of them, and sent them to Kong Tai overnight. Stealing cattle was a serious crime in the Ming Dynasty and was punishable by exile. However, the smugglers, after offering each outlaw a reward of 2 taels of silver for a cow, soon got enough of 10 cows. But as soon as it changed hands, they sold it for 20 taels......

……

At first, Kong Tai planned to wait for Marin's fleet to come over before building a city on the southern shore of Keelung Bay. For this reason, Conte specially asked America, who had returned to China, to bring back the news and asked Marindo to bring some cement over. And Marin did bring a lot of cement with him this time.

It's just that after a long time, Kong Tai found that the Pingpu indigenous people near the southern shore of Keelung Bay seemed to be relatively mild and not barbaric and vicious. So, he changed his plan and sent people to build the city in advance.

In addition, his men mined a lot of stone on the island of peace, which could be used to lay the foundation for the city wall. Later, more and more stone was mined, and it was enough to build the city wall. So, Conté immediately sent people to take advantage of the slack to build the city wall on land.

In order to solve the problem of insufficient stones, Kongtai also hired local Pingpu people to help mine stones. In addition, he built several earthen kilns to burn bricks to make up for the lack of stone. As for the fuel for burning bricks, there is a lot of wood nearby...... Later, when the production of bricks outnumbered the stones, Conté had the craftsmen build the stones on the outside of the walls to make them stronger. On the inside of the city wall, bricks are mainly used......

When Marin arrived, Kong Tai was overseeing the construction of the city wall on the southern shore of Keelung Bay. At this time, this small city with an area of one square kilometer was basically completed on all four walls. It's just that the city gate has not yet been completed, and there are no buildings in the city, it is just a pure super compound......

What made Ma Lin laugh and cry was that Kong Tai actually organized the indigenous young adults from many villages of the nearby Pingpu tribe through Liu Laogen and the young translators in Jilong Village to help them build the city wall. Otherwise, the progress is not so fast.

It is estimated that five or six hundred young people from many nearby villages were hired by Kong Tai to help build the city wall. Of course, they did not know how to work as bricklayers, and mainly placed the masonry in the designated position under the command of the masons sent by the North Sea State. The last technical work is still done by craftsmen from Beihai Province. However, most of the physical work was done by these indigenous young people, and the masons of the North Sea Country did not actually use much physical energy. In construction, the transportation of bricks and stones is the main physical work.

According to Containe's adjutant, Contai hired these natives for a very low salary, with only enough sweet potatoes for rice, occasionally some venison and fish, and then a small packet of salt every ten days......

In this way, the local indigenous young man sold himself to Kong Tai as a migrant worker......

In fact, it is not difficult to understand that in the eyes of the people of Beihai Country, salt may not be a precious thing. After all, Marin is a large salt producer, and Beihai will never be short of salt. However, in the eyes of the indigenous people of the Pingpu tribe on Taiwan Island, salt is a very precious thing. Ten days to give a small bag of salt (less than half a catty) is definitely a very good reward. What's more, working on the construction site, Kong Tai is in charge of food. Sweet potato rice is sweeter, much better than what the local aborigines usually eat. And, from time to time, venison soup is also served. And the venison was brought by the nearest hunter with bows and arrows purchased from Conté, and was exchanged for salt with Conté. And Kong Tai, when he and his subordinates still had enough to eat, also used it to cook broth to entertain those indigenous young people. What's more, salt is put in the soup......

Moreover, Kong Tai has a fishing team under him, and he goes out to sea to fish from time to time. Therefore, indigenous migrant workers can often drink fish soup...... This is definitely a fairy-like day for the Pingpu indigenous people who are still in a semi-primitive society. Therefore, Kong Tai, the black-hearted contractor, oppressed them so much, and they were willing to do it. After all, the food here is much better than what they used to be. The mere fact that there was salt in the food was something they had never been able to do so often......