Chapter Fifty-Nine: Ten Thousand Feet of High Platforms Raise the Ground

Ah Mao pushed the car and ran quickly on the sand road, and Fang Youcai, who was following him, laughed and scolded, but he couldn't help but step up.

It has been a month since Da Lang left on the "Zhiyuan", and in this month, the Zhiyuan came twice, each time bringing a large number of craftsmen and tools. These craftsmen were recruited by Hu Fulang from several neighboring state capitals, and they came here because they were greedy for big rewards. By November of the ninth year of Jiading in the Great Song Dynasty, there were already 317 craftsmen from the Great Song Dynasty.

Although the weather has passed the late autumn, the freshwater climate is still warm like spring, and the mountains are full of green leaves, and these new craftsmen are very happy to find that they can live here wearing only a single coat. According to Zhao and Ju's arrangement, 317 craftsmen were divided into 15 groups, each group was headed by a young man, and then a year-old craftsman was the deputy of the group. The progress and quality of each group are the standard of daily settlement and payment, so these craftsmen work very hard.

The most important thing is, of course, the cooperation of the righteous boys, at first, these craftsmen were quite disdainful of the hairless righteous boys, but later found that they could not only write and calculate, but also work with their own hands, and that disdain immediately turned into admiration - for these craftsmen who could not read a basket of big characters, those who could write and count were extremely learned people, and such learned people mixed with them all day long, which really frightened them.

They also privately inquired about the details of these righteous boys, but the righteous boys were extremely tight-mouthed, only saying that a certain frustrated family in Lin'an City was tired of the ups and downs of the Huan Sea, so they lived in seclusion overseas. As for who this big man was, the Yixue boy and Fang Youcai were silent, and the craftsmen didn't dare to ask more.

In their minds, it is certainly a great high-ranking official to have such a large number of ships and invite coastal forces to help them, and in recent years, Prime Minister Shi Miyuan has abused his power, and there are many loyal and upright officials in the DPRK and China, and it is not impossible for one or two to emmigrate overseas.

In addition to these craftsmen, the young men and women of the Amao tribe are now also working with the Song people, giving them some rice wine, silk, salted meat, and rice every day, in addition to giving them food and drink. These pay were almost nothing compared to the work they did, and not only the seventy or eighty men and women of the Amao tribe, but also more than a hundred people from the other two neighboring tribes came to help, and they could only sell some strength and do some work of carrying and digging.

On the one hand, they did not allow those craftsmen to molest the native women and bully the native people, and on the other hand, they also paid attention to keeping a distance from the native people, except when they were working, the tools were never handed over to the native people. Because they kept an eye on it very closely, during this time, although the Song people and the natives also had small disputes, they were quickly quelled. Those natives are simple, afraid of the Song people's bows and crossbows, and greedy for the Song people's clothing and food, as long as they are not deceived and have no way to retreat, they will naturally not take the initiative to find trouble.

"Da Lang's plan is not the bearing of a small village cottage, looking at the appearance, Da Lang wants to build a city here!" Fang Youcai thought as he walked.

If they only built a village in this Tamsui, the wooden houses that were built at the beginning would be enough to live in, but Zhao and Ju asked them to open up more places. Thinking of this, Fang Youcai couldn't help but be a little excited, this is the far overseas of the Tiangao Emperor, if Da Lang builds a city here, wouldn't he be able to mix with a rich man if he has wealth.

Da Lang's rewards have always been generous, and if he does his best to do things for him, he will definitely not be small.

In addition to opening up more flat land, Zhao and Ju also asked them to build a huge kiln dedicated to burning bricks, and the kiln was ready to build three kilns, because the green bricks brought in were limited, and now there is only one. Unlike ordinary brick kilns, this brick kiln, which Dalang called the "Bagua Kiln" (Note 1), was built in 10 days by five young men who were educated by Yixue and more than a dozen old kiln workers who were hired by Dalang, using dozens of labors. Those old potters were also very curious about this kiln, and they didn't know where this recipe came from, so the kiln was built, so they couldn't wait to prepare firewood to open the kiln. Tamsui here, there is a lack of everything, but there is no shortage of firewood, according to the arrangement of the five righteous boys, these days there are people watching from the kiln from time to time, constantly adding firewood to add fire, to this day, it is finally the day of the kiln.

Fang Youcai was the last to rush to the kiln, because this was the first kiln brick in Tamsui, and everyone who had nothing to do gathered over. The natives didn't understand what was happening, but when they saw the Song people surrounding, they followed here. Fang Youcai will not drive them away, if the bricks come out, they are all excellent laborers.

An old potter pressed the kiln door with his hand, guessing the heat, and felt that it was almost there, so he nodded and said, "Let's open!" ”

Immediately someone knocked the potter open with a hammer and a pickaxe, and only then did he dig out a small edge, and the hot air that rose from the ground inside scorched the man's eyebrows, and he screamed and retreated. Fang Youcai was startled at first, but when he found that he was not injured, he relieved his heart, and after scolding the daredevil, he ordered the rest of the people to continue.

This is a kiln of red bricks, when the Great Song Dynasty, there are very few red bricks, and generally burn out of green bricks, therefore, those kiln workers are amazed, they are all experts, these days and crawl in the kiln, it is easy to estimate that this kind of "gossip kiln" is more and faster than the old-fashioned brick kiln, but the firewood and manpower consumed are also great. If you have a heart to live, you want to build a brick kiln after returning to the Great Song Dynasty.

There are more than 5,000 bricks in this kiln for the first time, and if it is full, it is not a problem for a kiln to produce 20,000 or 30,000 pieces. Fang Youcai took a breath, Da Lang was going to build three kilns, could it be that he wanted to use this to build the city wall?

The bricks were still hot, so they were loaded onto pallet trucks and dragged to another brick kiln, where two potters and men began to build a second brick kiln. The other three took turns to be on duty at the kiln where they were built, continuing to burn bricks. With ready-made molds and the patient teaching of Yixue teenagers, those native women quickly learned to make mud bricks, although they are not very familiar with it, but it is not a problem to make more than 3,000 mud bricks a day. The bricks are dried in the sun and covered with wooden planks to prevent them from dripping if it rains. After it is air-dried, it is sent to the kiln and fired into red bricks.

After the three kilns were built, the bricks from the kilns were sent to the wharf, where yellow mud was used as a bond, and a platform was built on the wharf, replacing some of the parts that were originally built with wooden planks.

At this time, the "Zhiyuan" came to Tamsui again, along with the second seagoing ship "Jingyuan" newly built by the Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau.

Thirty righteous teenagers came with the ship, Li Yunrui, Chen Ren, Chen Zicheng, etc., they wanted to replace the original righteous teenagers here, Ming, Zhao and Ju's reason was that they missed them, but in fact, this was a means to control these teenagers. The Zhiyuan and Jingyuan are planned to anchor in Tamsui for five days, one is to unload the goods, and the other is to give these young people time to hand over and get acquainted.

Fifteen oxen and twelve households arrived in the same boat. Fang Youcai was shocked when he saw these villagers, only one of these villagers was familiar to him, and the rest were unknown, he couldn't help but take Zhao Ziyue's hand and complain with the boat: "Zi said, how did Da Lang let outsiders come to the island, outsiders are not tight, if people know that there is such a big place on this island, they all come to seize it, what should it be?" ”

"You are faithful." Zhao Ziyue said to him with a smile: "What you think, how can Da Lang not think of it?" Zhao En's family is in charge of these eleven households, we can't always use the boat to transport rice and noodles, we have to grow grain in freshwater. Did Da Lang burn the wasteland you burned last time? ”

"Burned, burned!" Fang Youcai hurriedly said: "It's a big area, there are thousands of acres." ”

"Your old man has become more and more reliable over the years, this is a letter from Da Lang to you." Hearing Fang Youcai say this, Zhao Ziyue smiled and praised it, and handed over another letter.

Fang Youcai took the letter, looked at the three words "Fang Guanshi" on the envelope and smiled, he recognized these three words, he had been with the righteous boy all these years, no matter how stupid he was, he could recognize hundreds of words. However, it was still a little difficult to read Zhao Youju's letters, so he opened the letter and handed it to Zhao Zi and said: "You know a few words I know, so read them to me." ”

Zhao Zi said that he did not shirk, and spread out the letter and read it to Fang Youcai. Zhao and Ju had to have some concerns and greetings in their letters, asking Fang Youcai to be careful of moisture, and often asked Qiu Shuang to take his pulse. Then talking about the arrangement of the villagers, the Zhao En family from Yuzhang Villa is the leader of these households, and they have also been promoted to deacons, and they want Fang Youcai to build houses for their twelve families with bricks first.

"Zhao Enzi doesn't need to say it, the old people in the family, those who are recruited ......" Fang Youcai was still a little uneasy, and asked quietly: "Is it reliable?" ”

Zhao and Ju's family originally only had Zhao Xi's one-room servant, but after arriving at Yuzhang Villa, they successively accepted more than ten more families to take refuge, and several of them were originally his domestic servants, and later had to be released because of the middle of the family. Zhao En's family is one of them, the husband and wife of this family are both sincere, Fang Youcai remembered his impression of them in the past, and suddenly thought that the two sons of Zhao En's family seemed to be eleven years old, and the younger was six years old, but they did not move with them.

Those who moved in were all young and strong, and none of them were old or weak.

Fang Youcai is not a stupid person, so he naturally guessed that nine out of ten of these old and weak children of the Zhuang Hakka family were placed in Yuzhang Villa or Hanging Island, not only did he not feel that this was a suspicion, but he thought that it was safe.

"These eleven households are all recruited by the shopkeeper Hu and me from Huainan, not a family, signed a deed of sale, and they all missed returning to their hometowns." Zhao Ziyue said in a low voice: "In the future, there will be people coming one after another, you prepare in advance, if Zhao En can't manage it, I will have to trouble you to help you." ”

"That's nature!" Fang Youcai patted his chest and said: "We have money to do things, you can rest assured." ”

In terms of office, above the ordinary village servants in Yuzhang Villa are deacons, above the deacons are stewards, and above stewards are stewards.

"Da Lang has another sentence, which was not written in the letter, but he wants me to convey it to you." Zhao Zi said with a smile: "This fresh water is good, and there will be at least a thousand acres with your surname Fang in the future." ”

This is what Fang Youcai likes to hear the most, although he devoted himself to Zhao and Ju's family and signed a contract of sale, but as the family's savings increased day by day, and his children also had jobs, he inevitably missed it a little. Zhao Heju promised him thousands of acres of fertile land, and he would be a rich man if he was put in Liangzhejiang, and obviously intended to allow him to stand on his own feet in the future. Fang Youcai nodded desperately, only hating that Zhao Heju was not in front of him, and he couldn't directly express his gratitude to him: "Steward Zhao rest assured, Da Lang has a wealth and kindness to us, if it weren't for Da Lang, I am still a poor carpenter who is hungry and full, although I am a rough man, but I also know how to repay the favor, and I will definitely not miss Da Lang's orders." ”

"Keep it tight, the craftsmen who are working here now, you can also think of recruiting them, so that it is best for them to move their families to Tamsui." Zhao Zi said again: "What Da Lang explained in the letter, you have to remember it." ”

"Speaking of this, there happens to be something to ask the housekeeper to return to Dalang." Fang Youcai pointed to the village built in the distance, "We have two craftsmen here, and they asked me a few days ago if they could also open up some wasteland, and they want to move here." ”

"Don't let them open up the wasteland, otherwise where will they have the heart to do things for our family?" Zhao Ziyue categorically vetoed it, but after thinking about it, he said: "I am in charge of this matter, this fresh water is in exchange for our family from the hands of the natives, if they want to settle down, they can be our tenants, and the rent is only charged one cent." ”

"This ...... Is it all right? Fang Youcai was stunned when he heard it, and the rent interest was one cent, which was one out of ten, and he cultivated in fresh water, and he didn't have to worry about the imperial grain and national taxes, which was almost no different from giving it away to the tenants for nothing. With the power that Zhao and Ju gave to Zhao Ziyue, he did such a master.

"Appropriate, naturally appropriate!" After all, Zhao Zi said that he had been with Yixue for four or five years, and he was a deep and thoughtful person on weekdays, thinking about things more than having wealth: "The fields are our family's, when we send them to cultivate, don't we have the final say?" In this way, we are not afraid that they will only miss the big things of our family by thinking about farming, and these small rents will let them see the sweetness. What our family lacks now is not land, but people! ”

"Zi said that he was right!" Fang Youcai secretly admired, and only hated that he didn't have a second daughter, otherwise if he married Zhao Zi, he would definitely get Da Lang's trust in the future. He figured it out, this Tamsui sky is far away from the emperor, and Da Lang is the master of all this, but it takes a lot of manpower to open this place.

"Da Lang praised you last time when he came back from Tamsui, saying that you were right to dig a canal." Zhao Ziyue patted Fang Youcai lightly: "I have been in the future for a few months, and I haven't seen what the village you built looks like, so take me to see what the canal praised by Da Lang is." ”

The two walked towards the village while talking, Ah Mao is now Fang Youcai's follower, he is also wearing an old Song person's clothes, learning the appearance of the Song people, and following behind the two of them with a sway. Zhao Zi said that he smiled dumbly when he saw it, he remembered an idiom "Mu monkey and crown", Ah Mao's current expression is almost the same as that monkey.

Note 1: It has the advantages of continuous production, high output, various fuels can be used, and low construction costs, but compared with modern kilns such as tunnel kilns and roller kilns, its degree of mechanization is low, the working environment is poor, and the labor intensity is high.