May 30, 1643, light rain.

Li Yi sat bored in a makeshift wooden house by the dock, watching a group of North Korean men raise sweet potato seedlings under the guidance of several technicians from the local Ministry of Agriculture. After nearly ten days of busyness, the people of the east coast have cleared a considerable amount of wasteland abandoned by the local Ming Dynasty, and are ready to reclaim and plant potatoes, sweet potatoes, corn and other high-yield crops that are not available in the East. These crops are non-picky, adaptable, and have high yields, which are definitely suitable for the current situation.

And next to the camp of the Eight Banners Army in front, about hundreds of nearby displaced people have gathered. The people of the east bank erected a large porridge shack in this area, and then sent cavalry to the near and far areas to spread propaganda to attract the people of the nearby areas to gather here. The cavalry that went out to propagandize was basically a Ming and Korean who were selected from the sailors and could ride horses. There were more than ten of them in total, divided into three groups, one group went east, to Ninghai Prefecture, Weihaiwei, Chengshanwei and other places; One dialed to the south, to Wendeng County, Jinghaiwei and other places; The last group is to the west, to Fushan County, Penglai County, Qixia County and other places.

These East Asian soldiers were not much different from the local people in appearance, and it was much better for them to fool people than to send Europeans and blacks out of the country. Not long after the two provinces of Deng and Lai were ravaged by the Tartars, many tenant farmers who had lost all their possessions gathered in droves to those prefectures and counties that had not been attacked by the Tartars, hoping to find food to keep their families alive in this season of scarcity.

Therefore, when the cavalry of the people on the east coast wandered in the dilapidated and empty countryside, they would often encounter these groups of refugees, ranging from groups of three to five to groups of tens or hundreds on many sides. Every time this happens. After ensuring your own safety. They would always give a portion of their dry food (wheat crackers, salted fish, beef jerky) to the hungry refugees. Then he persuaded these refugees to follow him back to Yantai Fortress on Zhifu Island. Once there, they can work under the East Coast people in exchange for three meals a day for themselves and their families.

Many people who thought it would be difficult to get along with other states and counties left with them on the spot, and a small number of homeless people who tasted the delicious salted fish and beef jerky they provided thought that their living standards might be better if they mixed with them, so they also followed. Of course, there are still a considerable number of refugees, especially those led by elders such as village chiefs and patriarchs, who ignore the persuasion of the East Coasters, especially when they hear that they are from a foreign country, they are even more disdainful and wary, and treat them almost the same as the Tartars. It's a pity. In fact, the latter category of people still accounts for the majority, and they would rather go to the nearby Wendeng County, Dengzhou City, Huang County and other places to try their luck with hunger than go with these suspicious short-haired outsiders.

This made many soldiers from Ming background, most of whom were also exiles, empathize with the suffering of these poor people, and very much hope that they can reach the heavenly east coast on earth to live. Unfortunately, the reality is cruel, and most of the time their enthusiasm is exchanged for doubt, incomprehension and hostile eyes, and even many people suspect that they are fake Tartars who crossed the sea from the Liaohai Sea, and they came to trick them into going to Liaodong to be clothed slaves.

Whenever this happens, everyone can only choose to avoid. Because if you don't leave, maybe people will tie you up as a tartar and send you to the government to exchange money. Anyway, the seeds have been sown in the hearts of these displaced people, and they have already known about the porridge shacks opened by people on the east coast of Zhifu Island. Then when they arrived at Dengzhou City and other places and found that they still couldn't live, they remembered today's events, and at this time they didn't expect all of them, at least some of them chose to come to the East Coast to beg for food, and it would be all worth it.

The porridge shack had been set up outside for nearly a week, and within a week more than 800 refugees from Dengzhou had arrived, most of them tenants, who were busy digging drainage ditches, leveling foundations, reclaiming wasteland, and building wharves under the command of the people from the east coast. Among the refugees are also a small number of craftsmen from artisan households, such as carpenters, blacksmiths, and other craftsmen, and even a very small number of down-and-out scholars and langzhong, who are "special talents" who can be regarded as "special talents" who do not need to participate in those heavy manual labor, but instead engage in some technical work related to their old profession, which can be regarded as a recognition of their ability by the people of the East Coast.

To the delight of all these refugees, these self-proclaimed "East Coasters" were provided with three meals a day! Breakfast, lunch and dinner were given preferential treatment, especially to children who were visibly malnourished, who had daily access to fishy milk and fragrant broth, and even some meat when the East Coasters slaughtered their livestock. This kind of move quickly won the hearts of many people, especially those parents with children, seeing that these "East Coast Yi people" are not like the legendary cannibalism and eating children, but are fair and disciplined - well, except for those Kunlun slaves who look black, they act quite lawfully, and they all suddenly let go of their hearts.

It doesn't matter who they are, as long as they can feed themselves. Especially when they see their children following the butts of those lustful men every day, begging for some candy, jerky and even unheard of canned food from time to time, they really start to accept these people from the bottom of their hearts. Maybe these people aren't as bad as the old men say? They must be different from those Tartars who burn and loot everywhere, right?

Luo Tiansheng came back from Qishan the day before yesterday, and as a reward for his willingness to lead the way, the people on the east coast handed over all the current about 900 Ming people on Zhifu Island to him to manage, and widely publicized his deeds of leading the way among the Ming people, and then gave a large number of rewards in public - this made Luo Tiansheng's face white. Of course, he understood that the people of the East Coast were putting him together in a dignified manner, so that he could cut off the careful thoughts of some of the first rats at both ends as soon as possible, and from then on he would do things for the people of the East Coast. However, the people of the East Coast did not treat him badly, and the East Coast silver dollars, worth hundreds of taels of silver, had been handed over to him the day before yesterday, and there were also a large number of various flower cloths. This made Luo Tiansheng, who had never seen so much property, almost burst his eyes, and he was not so resistant to doing things for the people on the east coast.

Now Luo Tiansheng also has a few helpers around him, and the East Coast people have also confirmed the identities of these helpers, and officially signed a work contract with them, each of whom can receive a salary of two yuan or equivalent grain per month, and Luo Tiansheng's salary has reached five yuan per month, which is an affirmation of his identity as a manager.

"Lord Li, the first batch of bluestone shipped back yesterday has been used up, and this morning Jin Wugui urged me to materialize, threatening that there will be no new stone This foundation will not be postponed. The villain doesn't dare to specialize, so I'm here to ask the adult how to deal with this matter? Luo Tiansheng applied for permission outside Li Yi's office before entering, and then reported what happened to Li Yi.

Kim U-gyu was a Korean-appointed administrator appointed by the East Coast, and he and about a dozen of his men were family members of exiled Korean prisoners on Jeju Island, so they had a deep hatred for the Yi dynasty. Driven by this hatred, it is only natural to turn to the service of the East Coasters who helped them out, and to improve their own status and living conditions by the way. At present, the 1,000 North Koreans here are all under the management of Kim Wugui, and the person sends the large "Chief Kim", which can be regarded as one of the leading figures here, and has a faint competitive relationship with Luo Tiansheng and Luo Section Chief. Luo Tiansheng and his henchmen even slandered Kim Go-gyu as a "golden turtle" to make fun of him secretly.

"The bluestone is gone, just dig it!" Li Yi said impatiently, "There are 1,600 people on the side of Qishan who are demolishing the city and transporting them, and yesterday we sent them another 300 people, 1,900 people are not enough, so continue to send them!" Until that's enough! Anyway, there aren't too many people needed here at the moment, just leave me a thousand strong men and women for reclamation, digging rivers, and repairing reservoirs, and the rest can be sent over. Well, don't move those dozens of children, I'm going to teach them to learn. ”

Luo Tiansheng's eyes rolled when he heard this, and he felt that he could send all those Korean sticks to Qishansuo to do the heavy work of demolishing the city wall, and it was best to kick the eye-catching guy of the golden turtle over with him. As for those Ming people, they can naturally stay in the local area and do relatively easy work such as cultivating fields.

"Yes, my lord, the villain knows what to do." Luo Tiansheng said with a happy face, and after thinking about it, he added one more thing: "Yesterday, someone spread the pilgrimage in the camp...... Well, the Ming court is going to send a large army to clean up us, many fools and fools are gullible, and they are instigated to panic, and last night there were even people who wanted to escape at night......"

"Well, I also know about this, it's the Xiucai who has a bad reading brain that made trouble, right?" Li Yi said casually, "The person has been taken down by me, and he will be assigned to farm on Rishiri Island, and he will set off with us tomorrow." ”

Luo Tiansheng nodded silently when he heard this, and then bowed his head and withdrew from the supervision work under Li Yi's signal.

In the afternoon, Mo Ming and a few entourages rode back from Qishansuo. He has entrusted all the affairs over there to Xiao Xi, the company commander of the 102nd Company, to be in charge, and he himself will return to Zhifu Island to take charge. As for Li Yi, he will leave with several ships currently anchored in the harbor and return to Blackwater Port. After arriving at the port of Heishui, Li Yi will lead the "Breaking Waves" and "Choppers" to carry about 1,500 North Koreans to the port of Jinshan as the first batch of migrants to return this year. (To be continued......)