At dusk, Fanning paced alone on the streets of Wucheng, Wucheng, Yuecheng, and Songcheng, which are the three cities currently built in the North Island, accommodating a total of 10,000 households, of which Wucheng is the largest, with a total of 5,000 households.

Of course, not all of them live in the city, more than 30 natural villages have formed around Wucheng, and 2,000 households have been diverted.

After two years, Fanning once again walked on the streets of Wucheng, the street is very clean, the stone road is very smooth, there is not even a single weed, there are wooden houses on both sides of the house, there are also brick houses, Wucheng does not engage in tiles, the middle street is a commercial street, many shops on both sides are empty, the open shops are almost all service-oriented shops, taverns, teahouses, inns, green buildings, bathhouses, money shops, laundry shops, cleaning shops, tailor shops, carriage and horse shops, urgent foot delivery and so on.

Of course, there are also fire police shops, public security offices, post houses, schools, old people's gardens, Salesian homes and other government institutions.

There are also some brick-and-mortar stores, such as grocery stores, grain stores, wine stores, tea shops, silk shops, butcher shops, bookstores and so on.

The government provides the most basic food and living materials, but in order to live a better life, it must be bought with money, and the money needs to be earned by one's own labor.

Wucheng is a county, the county order is Zhu Qi, that is, Fan Ning's sister-in-law, the county order of Songcheng is Lu Min, Fan Tieniu's son, both of them are Jinshi background, resigned to serve here, Yuecheng's county order is called Zhang Ji, more than 20 years old, born as a person, his father is Fan Ning's former staff Zhang Bo.

In addition to the county order, there is also a supreme management body above, called the Council of Elders, a total of nine people, seven of whom are respected elders recommended by the people, there are three people in Wucheng, two people each in Song Cheng and Yuecheng, these seven people have a term of office of three years, three years for a change, there are two places in the Council of Elders are more special, one from the Fan family, one from the Zhu family, which belongs to the permanent quota, and the Fan and Zhu families have a single veto.

After all, the ownership of Beidao belongs to the Fan family and the Zhu family, and they use this way to exercise their special powers.

Walk to the crossroads, there is a six-story wooden tower next to it, this is the bell tower of Wucheng, it is also the Guanfeng Tower, the highest building in the city, stand on the top of the building and have an unobstructed view of the whole city, the following is the fire alarm shop, find the fire, you can attack at any time.

At this time, a burst of laughter attracted Fanning's attention, and the laughter came from a nearby restaurant, on which a big sign was hung with the words 'Zhao Ji Restaurant'.

Fanning walked in, and the lobby was full of drinking men, talking about something loudly, and more than a dozen Japanese sake girls stood aside and pursed their lips and smiled.

Songcheng and the original Kunzhou encountered the same problem, that is, the labor cost is very expensive, especially in the service industry, the locals are unwilling to do it, and the shops in Kunzhou can only recruit a lot of Japanese girls as partners, Fanning's concubine Aya was once a wine girl in a restaurant, and the same problem is the same here in Beidao, but fortunately, the rules are very strict, and it is okay to laugh a few words, but no one dares to move seriously.

When a wine lady saw Fan Ning coming in, she hurriedly stepped forward, "Welcome officials to the shop." ”

Fanning found a table to sit down and said with a smile: "I just arrived here today, I don't know the situation, you can introduce it." ”

Jiu Ji's Chinese is very good, and she said softly: "If the official just drinks, the store has the cheapest fruit wine, ten cents a dime, and then provides a plate of salted beans for free, if the official wants to eat and drink well, there is a menu here." ”

Jiu Ji handed a piece of paper to Fan Ning, there were more than 20 dishes on it, and there were five or six kinds of wine, the price was twice as expensive as Bianliang in the capital, a pot of sake actually cost 300 yuan, and the price of vegetables was not cheap, mutton was slightly cheaper, but pork was actually the same price as Bianliang.

"That's the price of other restaurants?"

Jiu Ji nodded, "It's all the same, the main thing is that the wine is expensive, and our wine will be shipped from the Great Song Dynasty, and it may be better in the future." ”

"Why?"

"I heard that a winery is being built in Yuecheng, and it will be much cheaper to make wine with local rice, and the guests are looking forward to it!"

Fanning took out a handful of money and said with a smile: "Take a pot of fruit wine, I'll take it back and drink it." ”

.........

Fan Ning returned to his residence with a small bottle of wine, they lived in the noble hotel in the inn, and as soon as they arrived at the door, Fan Zhen'er rushed out and almost bumped into his father.

Fanning grabbed her, "Where are you going to be so late?" ”

"Go to my sister-in-law's house, she asked me to stay with her tonight."

"Let my aunt accompany you."

"No, it's next door."

Fan Zhen'er broke free of her father's hand and ran away, Fan Ning hurriedly followed, and saw her enter the mansion next door, and at the door of the mansion, the little sister Fan Jing beckoned to her.

It turned out that the little sister's house was next door, and Fanning also walked in with a smile.

Fan Jing's mansion is not big, only about five acres, there is no back garden, there is a courtyard in the middle of the back house, and a lot of flowers and plants are planted.

"Daddy, why did you come along?" Fan Zhen'er found her father following behind and stomped her feet in dissatisfaction.

Fanning glared at her, "I'll come to see your sister-in-law, can't I?" ”

Fan Jing hurriedly coaxed her to the room, and smiled at Fan Ning again: "Why didn't the eldest brother bring his mother with him this time?" ”

"Your third sister-in-law is about to give birth, and she can't leave."

Fan Jing's eyes widened, "The third sister-in-law is about to give birth, and you are still coming?" ”

Fanning didn't bother to pay attention to her, looked to both sides and asked, "What about your husband?" ”

"Big brother, I'm here." Zhu Qi walked in through the gate.

"Coming home so late?" Fanning asked with a smile.

"I went to the school just now, and I am now serving as the school and teacher of the county school at the same time, no way, there are a few old gentlemen, but I can only teach one teacher, and the higher county school will not work, I can only come by myself."

"How many students are there in the county school now?"

"There are currently one hundred and twenty-eight people."

"That's a lot, you taught it?"

"Not exactly, there are two teaching assistants, and sometimes Mingli will come to teach the students."

Fan Ning frowned, let Mingli go to class? He remembered the time when the two brothers were doing business in the county school, and if it weren't for him, they would have been expelled from the school long ago.

Fanning couldn't say anything, at least Mingli could teach business.

Zhu Qi invited Fan Ning to his study, and Fan Jing personally fried a pot of tea for her eldest brother, and she suddenly found that her brother had a pot of wine.

"Big brother, are you looking for Aqi to drink?"

"It's not! This is a bottle of wine that I bought by the way to understand the situation at the restaurant, and I want to see what it looks like. ”

Zhu Qi took the wine bottle and looked at it, smelled the taste again, and said with a smile: "This is fruit wine, we use the wild fruits that are abundant here to ferment and brew, the yield is very large, after making wine, the cost is two or three cents a catty, and the restaurant sells it for ten cents and a half catty, which adds up to a lot, in fact, it also makes a lot of money." ”

"I heard that you are going to build a sake brewery to make rice wine?"

"There is indeed this plan, there are also sauce mills, vinegar mills, oil mills, salt drying farms, at least in the firewood, rice, oil, salt, sauce and vinegar tea, in addition to tea, Beidao must slowly become self-sufficient, and the population will become more and more in the future, and it is unrealistic to rely entirely on the Great Song Dynasty."

"Husband, there is food, clothing, housing and transportation!" Fan Jing reminded beside her.

"That's right! There is also a textile workshop, buying cotton from Luzon, we weave our own cotton cloth, and a porcelain kiln, which is being built, and is expected to be officially ignited next month, and now there are many ships, horses are also increasing, and the food problem has been solved, and the dependence on the Great Song Dynasty will gradually decrease in the future. ”

Fan Ning pondered and asked: "Is there a long-term plan, such as what Yuecheng builds, what Songcheng makes, what Wucheng makes, and even what Nandao does, everyone can divide labor and cooperate, and you can't have a county town to catch all the beard and eyebrows, that's unrealistic." ”

"The eldest brother is right, this matter is coordinated by the Council of Elders, and it is indeed done by the division of labor among the three counties."

Fanning nodded and asked, "Is there a coal and iron ore in the North Island?" ”

"Yes! And the iron ore grade is very high, the charcoal is also very rich, but far less than the southern continent, they found that the charcoal buried is very shallow, digging a layer of soil is underneath, there are hundreds of miles in a radius, the quality is also very good, there is no need to dig holes at all, they have 10,000 Japanese laborers, specifically responsible for digging charcoal mines, our next step is to develop the smelting industry, buy the coal of the southern continent, and use our iron ore to smelt pig iron. ”

Fan Ning took a few steps and said to Zhu Qi: "In terms of school education, you are not on the right path, it is enough to read the Analects and Mencius in Mengxue, and when you go to the county school, you should teach students practical things, such as agriculture, smelting, mining, papermaking, shipbuilding, brewing, construction, ceramics and other practical technologies, because students do not have the opportunity to take the imperial examination, we don't need to engage in the Great Song County to learn that set, students want to learn practical technology, you can invite old craftsmen to teach students, I believe that young people are willing to come to school to study, It is also necessary to teach students martial arts, swordsmanship, and archery, so that they can protect their families and defend the country. ”

Zhu Qi was sweating profusely, and hurriedly got up and said, "Big brother, I made a mistake!" ”

"I guess it's not just you who got it wrong, the other two counties are also wrong, and even the Council of Elders is wrong, and when everyone arrives, I'm going to talk about it."

Speaking of this, Fanning said to Zhu Qi again: "This time I brought a person named Adu, he is a native of the Boni country, he can speak Chinese and Nanyang and the indigenous languages of the nearby islands, you will immediately open a course in the county school, that is, students will learn the indigenous languages of the nearby islands, which is very important."

In the future, it is unrealistic to kill all these natives, so we have to reform them, tame them, and become our labor resources, so language communication is the first problem, I talked to him, and tomorrow Adu will start teaching students. ”