Chapter 48, Building a Town

"Go to sea?" the two looked at each other, and Zhang Chu said, "Then we will also go to sea with you." Liu Shan also nodded. Since Li Shucheng chose to go to sea when the time comes, then they will also go to sea. They also understood that going to the mountains to escape the war was similar to going to sea, and that it might be better to go to sea.

"If you are willing, then what we have to do now is to find an island and build it first. Li Shucheng said.

"Liu Shan and I went to sea to find it. Zhang Chu said.

"I already have a goal for the island. Li Shucheng said, "That is Yizhou, the Yizhou that Wu and Sui sent people to during the Three Kingdoms period, and the big island Ryukyu Island that we saw when we went to the South Seas." This island is not far to the east of Fujian Road, and we can go to sea from Quanzhou Port or Fuzhou Port to see it. "Ryukyu Island has been known for a long time, but there are many people there, cruel by nature, and undeveloped, so no one wants to go there. But it is precisely because no one wants to go that Li Shucheng will want to go here.

"Hey, there's a piece of land over there, isn't that the Ryukyu Island we're looking for?" Liu Shan said, pointing to a blue-black spot in the distance.

"It should be there. Li Shucheng said.

"It's so close to the mainland, and no one pays attention. Liu Shanxi said. Nowadays, sea navigation is close to the coast, and it is too dangerous to stay away from the land, so the island is generally not visible, and it will only be found when the wind and waves deviate from the course.

After approaching the island, he sailed along the coast for a while, and saw a river that flowed into the sea, which Li Shucheng estimated was the Tamsui River.

"Follow the river and take a look. Li Shucheng said. Their boat is not a big boat, but a flat-bottomed boat, so there is no fear of bottoming out when entering the river.

The boat went upstream, flanked on either side by large flat fields overgrown with weeds. "Such a good place, how good it is to open it out and farm!" Zhang Chu sighed.

"The problem is that people here don't know how to farm. Li Shucheng said with a smile, "They are still tribal survival, the cultural and medical skills are very backward, the population is not large, just hunting in the mountains is more than enough to eat, why bother farming?"

The boat stopped, and several people watched for a while, and Li Shucheng decided: "It's here." We built a town here, farmed and farmed, and slowly started it. ”

After determining the place where the town was built, several people did not think about visiting the local indigenous tribe and went back directly. Visiting the local indigenous tribes? I don't know the language, how can I visit? It's pretty much the same.

Back in Huating, Zhang Chu and Liu Shan began to recruit people, first of all, guards, there are indigenous tribes over there, of course they need guards. The second is craftsmen, who burn bricks and tiles, build city walls, build houses, and make iron. The last thing is to recruit farmers.

In addition to transporting the convoy, the first four ships were transporting rice, meat, and salt.

"Well, the place is here. Li Shucheng said to the guards, "First clear out a place to build a grass shed, and now at the beginning, you can only build a grass shed." Half of them guarded the patrol, and half of them cut grass and cut trees to build sheds. ”

It's only about 200 miles from the Fujian Road, and it doesn't take long for boats to go back and forth, and soon the craftsmen arrive, and then build kilns, fire bricks, and dig the foundations of the city walls.

The people were in full swing, and when the natives first came, the walls were half a man high. There is little prey in the meadows here, and the natives live deep in the woods and rarely come. They found people here, because they saw smoke coming from the fire for cooking and from the kiln. However, at that time, it was found that Li Shucheng's tribe was not large, and the investigators found that there were not only many people here, but also many people had weapons in their hands, and none of the people patrolling and guarding had a knife or a bow on their bodies. Knowing that the people from this side are strong, even if they want to deal with it, they have to invite other tribes to attack together, which is why it has dragged on for so long. If they delay a little longer, the walls will be built!

Before the natives came out of the forest, Liu Shan found out, and with a sharp whistle, the people who were mowing the grass outside quickly ran in from the reserved city gate, and then the guards turned the horses sideways and put on the thick planks.

"What's going on?" asked Li Shucheng as he went up to the tower.

Liu Shan put down the monoculars, pointed in the direction of the woods and said, "There are a lot of natives over there, and it seems that they are not good. "The monoculars were made by Li Shucheng, and the materials were copper and crystal, because there was no suitable glass. The glass Da Song Dynasty already has it, and it came in through the Silk Road on the other side of the desert, and it was made into a finished product such as a wine jug, and the price was extremely expensive. Li Shucheng didn't want to waste time burning glass by himself, after all, although Li Shucheng knew how the glass came from, he had never done it before, and it was not easy to burn the glass. So when making monoculars to give the fleet out to sea, crystals were used.

Li Shucheng looked over and saw that some of the natives had already come out of the forest, and there were still people coming out of it. They were wrapped in animal skins and had tattoos on their faces, looking like ghosts. The weapons on the body are also poor, there are bows and arrows, but the arrows are not metal. In addition, there are wooden sticks and stone axes, and only a few people have iron tools, Li Shucheng can see that it is a knife, it seems that they should have robbed it.

The grass on the flat land of hundreds of meters outside the city wall has long been cut, and the trees on the mountain have also been cut down a lot, although not to mention smooth, but there are only some small trees that are not mature, and even the trunks of the larger ones have been cut down for firewood.

"Three bed crossbows, aim at the foot of the mountain and shoot a round. The natives haven't descended the mountain yet, Li Shucheng ordered. At this time, you can't just watch, the two sides don't understand the language, and you have to give them a little warning.

There was a "buzz" sound, and three huge arrows flew out and shot towards the foot of the mountain. One of the arrows was shot on the way to transport the trees, and most of them were intercepted into the earth, and only a foot long shaft remained, and the other two went straight into the earth.

Seeing this, the natives on the opposite side froze for a moment, and then they started to stir up and scream.

One of the fur-clad men rolled his eyes and said to the patriarch of his tribe: "Chief, these people on the other side are from the same place as me, and they have very powerful weapons, and you can see those bows and arrows, which shoot farther than ours, and their knives, all of which you have hanging. I don't think we'd better clash with them, or we'll kill a lot of people. "His name is Cai He, and it is said that he is of the same clan as Cai Jing, Cai Bian and others, and only because of the fall of his family road, he will go to sea, and when he went to the island to hide from the wind and waves, he was caught and stayed in the tribe.

"And what now?" asked the patriarch. The person in front of him was captured by him, and he was originally going to be killed, but seeing that this person could make weapons, he also kept him by his side, and with him in the past few years, the tribe has developed very well. And he quickly learned the tribal language, and the patriarch listened to him.

"I'm going to talk to them. Cai He said. He didn't just want to talk, he wanted to ask where these people came from, he didn't want to stay in the tribe for the rest of his life. Especially if the other party actually has a bed crossbow in his hand, even if he is not an official army, it is also a big force, and it is easy to save him.

The patriarch also knew that they would suffer in the fight, so he discussed it with the patriarchs of other tribes and agreed to Cai He's suggestion.

"Heroes on the other side, where did you come from?" Cai He asked loudly as he walked forward alone.

"Why does it sound like Hokkien?" Liu Shan said. They had only been to Fujian Road, but they couldn't understand the Hokkien dialect.

"Who can speak Hokkien? Li Shucheng raised his voice and asked the craftsmen below.

Soon a man in his forties went up to the tower, and Li Shucheng asked, "What did he shout just now?"

"He asked us where we were from. The craftsman replied. Although Li Shucheng is the leader here, he treats people kindly, and the craftsmen are not afraid of him.

Sure enough, it was Fujianese, and Li Shucheng said: "You tell him that we came from Fujian Road and built a town here." ”

The craftsman said according to Li Shucheng's words, and Cai He was very excited when he heard it. It's been six or seven years, and when you finally see people of the same clan hearing the familiar local sound, can you not be excited?

Seeing the situation here, and Cai He's message, the patriarchs of several tribes were finally relieved. If there is a fight, these four or five hundred people from several tribes will not know how many will be able to run back.

And Li Shucheng also showed his own strength, jumping from the tower more than three zhang high, and standing on the city wall over a distance of more than two zhang, the whole process was like a feather. Li Shucheng's jump, in the eyes of the natives, is simply a god descending from heaven, and many people kneel down to worship.

Then it's simple, make a delicious meal and send it out to the natives to eat, and then send a lot of clay pots of rice, meat and salt, especially salt, the natives themselves have no salt, they all drink animal blood to get salt, and they know the preciousness of salt from the mouth of the Cai River, and the natives are excited.

"Cai He, you will be our liaison with these tribes in the future. Li Shucheng said, "They can hunt to exchange things with us, and they can also collect herbs and even wild fruits to exchange with us." In addition, these indigenous people can also come out to farm. ”

"They should be reluctant to come out to farm. Cai He said.

"Those old people and children who are weak and can't go hunting, in fact, it's good to come out and farm. Li Shucheng said, "Some people can't survive in the forest, but they can live better when they come out to farm." Now there will be no fighting, we are not in a hurry, we can change them slowly. ”

Boatloads of supplies were brought over, and the construction of the town was also very fast, the city wall was built, and the houses inside were also built one by one, and the middle building was the town government, and Zhang Chu became the mayor of the town and managed the town. Liu Shan is the deputy mayor of the town, protecting the town, and the guards are not called guards, but arrest fast.

The nearby tribes have been doing well recently, and they have changed from the town to clay pots, iron pots, rice, and salt, and have learned to cook rice and stir-fry vegetables, and their lives are getting better and better.

The natives were doing well, cattle and horses were also brought over, and the town began to plough the land, divert water, and reclaim paddy fields.

The cost of building a new town is very large, and Li Shucheng has spent more than 20,000 taels of silver so far. However, the town has already been built, and there will be no major costs in the future, and if the salt works are built, and then iron ore is found to smelt iron, then it will be self-sufficient.