Time has arrived in mid-February of 1636, and annoying rainy days will come uninvited every six or seven days, or even two or three days, once again covering the moist earth in an endless curtain of rain.

After more than ten days of investigation, nearly 1,000 people in Jianye City and Heishan Fort were diagnosed, and two people were diagnosed, both of whom were immigrants from Heishan Fort. They were isolated in a temporary wooden house outside Heishan Fort, waiting.

Your own destiny. Either die slowly inside, or walk out of the cabin with a pockmarked face.

But what is disappointing is that they all died in the end. At the same time, three of the isolated indigenous people also died one after another, and all the people in close contact became sick. Not only that, the guards drove the indigenous people to produce twenty more

Many suspected infections and contacts were all isolated in another temporary wooden house.

The cowpox vaccination experiment carried out by Peng Laogui, Ding Chuangen and several indigenous people is still under observation, and it will take some time to be successful.

While the two places in Hanzhou were nervously investigating and quarantining smallpox patients, "Polang 1" returned to Jianye City from Batavia with more than 70 immigrants.

In addition to bringing back immigrants, Dong Fengshan also brought back news that surprised and troubled Jianye City. More than a thousand immigrants were stranded in Batavia, and Cao Xiong and the others bought two large ships from the Dutch.

. Then, when they return from Daming, there will be six ships carrying immigrants, excluding Zhou Yingping's lucky ship. Conservative estimates suggest that they will bring back more than 1,400 to 1,500 immigrants.

"Then it seems we don't have enough housing?" Yu Fukun murmured.

"Not only the house, but also the food is not enough!" Qi Tian said.

By then, the population of Hanzhou will reach more than 2,000 people, plus 700 to 800 natives, more than 100 pirate captives, and livestock such as mules, horses, cattle, and pigs, and the daily consumption of grains will be three to four tons, which is enough in a month.

About 120 tons. Moreover, you need to maintain food reserves for at least three to five months.

"Send both ships out to pull people and food!" Yu Fukun quickly made a decision, "Otherwise, Batavia will definitely not be able to squeeze so many people... Don't run away then, that's it.

What a big loss!”

"Okay!" Qitian agreed: "Just in time, a new paddle boat was built at the shipyard. We have two small boats for fishing, which can barely sustain our meat consumption... This batch of newly arrived immigrants will be quarantined for ten years.

In about a day or so, they will all be replenished to two construction teams."

"You don't need additional manpower for the iron and steel smelting at Black Mountain Fort?" Yu Fukun asked in surprise.

A new 10-cubic iron-smelting blast furnace has been erected in Heishanbao, and is also under construction as a follow-up steel-making blast furnace. A while ago, Qi Tian also said that he would add more manpower to the mine to increase the supply of ore.

"Wait a little longer!" Qi Tian said helplessly: "Smallpox is not yet under control. If more people pass by and become infected, it will be a disaster!"

"Then be careful!" Yu Fukun nodded prudently. He experienced the plague when he was young, and all the people in the village died. The government blocked all access to the epidemic area to control the epidemic within the established range. Wait until March and Fourth

After the epidemic is over in a few months, people will be sent into the affected area to completely burn and clean up the corpses and utensils.

If smallpox spreads among these thousands of people in Hanzhou, it is estimated that all the surrounding people, including the indigenous people, will be wiped out.

"Uncle Kun, you will supervise the construction of houses here in Jianye City. Just let the construction team follow our early city planning. At that time, I will let a few young people who have done planning work at your command...

They should all know where to build housing and where to build vacant commercial blocks."

"I am taking my people and plan to build another settlement next to Black Mountain Castle...all the city walls should be temporarily suspended. I think we can handle another group of pirates!" There are nearly a thousand of them now, and most of them are

He is young and strong, and he can pull out four to five hundred people at will. Moreover, Black Mountain Fort can forge various weapons, as well as field artillery from 4 to 8 pounds. It is really difficult to have hundreds of pirates.

Keep it in mind.

The planning of Jianye City is relatively large, with an urban area of ​​about 0.5 square kilometers. The city wall design is based on the current European mainstream castle-bastion shape, with a height of 3.5 to 4 meters, and is built with large city bricks and strips of stone. Today

, of the entire city wall, only a section near the dock was built, and the length was less than 400 meters.

Now, in order to welcome the arrival of a large number of immigrants in the next few months, several brick kilns are bound to stop the production of city wall bricks and switch to mass production of bricks for house construction. Considering that the production speed of the wheel kiln near Heishan Fort is much higher than

There are two adobe brick kilns here in Jianye City. Therefore, Qi Tiancai plans to build a new residential area in Heishanbao. At the same time, he will also use a small amount of construction waste, gravel, broken bricks, slag, etc. to strengthen the paving surface of the road as much as possible.

to improve transportation intensity.

At present, there are 12 horses, 15 mules, 17 donkeys, and more than 30 transportation vehicles in Hanzhou and Hanzhou. The transportation capacity has been greatly improved. The only limitation is the road surface caused by rainy days.

The mud has softened, making it impossible for heavy vehicles to pass.

In addition, another consideration for increasing the construction of the Heishanbao residential area is that this place is more than ten kilometers away from the sea and is not prone to sudden attacks by foreign enemies. Who said they don't have powerful coastal defense guns yet?

There is no defense against the sea.

"Do we need to build a fence?" On a flat land more than 500 meters away from Heishan Fort, a construction team of more than 200 people gathered. Under the command of many young people with some construction planning, they were busy building houses.

Foundation treatment work. Looking at the unobstructed meadow outside, Qi Yuanshan asked Qi Tian if defensive facilities were needed.

"No need for the time being!" Qi Tian thought for a while and said: "First build the houses around the planned camp and build an extra parapet on the roof. When the time comes, the houses can be connected with wooden fences, so that they can be used as

Temporary defense facilities.”

There are still more than two months until the end of the wet season. Building more houses can avoid the plight of the immigrants who arrive one after another from wind and rain. Although those wooden houses can be lived in, the continuous rain has made the houses relatively humid. And at the beginning

When the wooden house was built, the wood was not dried. After being soaked in rainwater, the moisture became even heavier.

To live and work in peace and contentment, you must first live in peace and contentment, otherwise how can you make those Ming immigrants who traveled thousands of miles to Hanzhou feel at ease.

According to the plan, except for some of the more than a thousand immigrants stranded in Batavia who will be resettled in Jianye City, most will be assigned to Black Mountain Fort. They will clean up nearby fields and plan to reclaim 8,000 acres of farmland in the early stage.

Come out. During the off-season, we will gradually improve the bend of the Panxi River that overflows after flowing through the Black Valley.

The river bend has been silted for hundreds of years, with dead branches, leaves, and animal carcasses deposited in large quantities. If it could be cleared out, it would be a fertile field.

"Uncle." When Qi Tian and Qi Yuanshan returned to Jianye City in the evening, he met his second brother's wife, Zheng Hualian, in the public cafeteria.

"Second sister-in-law." Qi Tian stopped and looked at this sister-in-law, who was not yet eighteen years old, with a calm face that looked slightly panicked.

"Second Aunt!" Qi Yuanshan respectfully called this woman who was not much older than him.

"Uncle, when Dajiang left Jianye City, he asked me to help you make a set of summer clothes. I have made them a few days ago. You... come and pick them up later, okay?" Zheng Hualian said in a low voice.

"We all have clothes to wear, so how can we bother Second Sister-in-law?" Qi Tian looked at the second sister-in-law who was too young and felt quite embarrassed. At her age, in future generations, she would probably still be a middle school student.

However, in this era, it is normal for women to marry at the age of sixteen or seventeen, and it is also common for women to marry at the age of thirteen or fourteen. Qitian will not criticize this so-called "early marriage" phenomenon too much, but there is an inexplicable feeling in his heart.

I feel sorry for those young brides.

"Why bother?" Zheng Hualian smiled and said, "Your second brother and third brother are sailing to Ming Dynasty. In Jianye City, you are the only two close relatives with you. Moreover, when Dajiang left, he asked me... to take care of you more.

Two people.”

Qi Tian was stunned, saying, I am such an old person, do I still need others to take care of me?

"Second sister-in-law, have you had dinner?"

"I just had dinner with a few companions, and now I'm going back to the house to clean up the courtyard." After staying in Jianye City for more than ten days, Qi Dajiang quickly cut down some tree trunks and branches, and divided the three rooms where he lived.

We surrounded a courtyard and came out.

Zheng Hualian is extremely satisfied with her husband and this small family. Although she will go to the garment workshop to work with other women, it will be quite hard. The working time lasts for six hours (twelve hours), and she has contributed nearly a thousand to Hanzhou.

Many people make all kinds of clothes. But she and all the other women feel that they are living in paradise. There are no endless taxes, no oppression by landlords and evil gentry, and no hunger that never ends.

Recently, they heard that more than a thousand immigrants would arrive one after another, which made their work easy for a while and suddenly became busy again.

"Second sister-in-law, it's time to get off work. Let's take a rest early. Don't make other odds and ends, or you'll tire yourself out." Qi Tian couldn't help but remind her not to work so hard. After finishing her work in the garment workshop, she went to

Busy with chores at home.

"It doesn't matter." Zheng Hualian smiled again, "The work in the workshop is extremely light work. Compared with the busy life in Daming's house before, it is much easier... At least, I can have enough to eat. Uncle, I

I want to ask you something."

"Second sister-in-law, please speak."

"When Dajiang left, he mentioned that Daming would help me find my family. Can he... be found? Will he bring them to Hanzhou?... I'm worried that my parents and two younger brothers will have such trouble.

10 taels of silver won't last that long..."

Zheng Hualian was from Qingyuan County, Guangdong. She was bought to Guangdong by Yazi, and then recruited to Hanzhou by Cao Xiong.

However, Qi Dajiang and others' voyage to the Ming Dynasty was mainly to collect people, and they may not go deep into the inland to find a family to buy a daughter.
Chapter completed!