Fresh water is the lifeblood of mankind. Starfish Island lacks such a lifeline.

So even though it has been run by three generations for decades, it is still lifeless.

Anyone who lives on the island doesn't want to have such a lifeline?

Unfortunately, after three generations of searching and searching almost every corner of the island, nothing was found.

Nearly ten days ago, before leaving the island, Hou Yao said that he had discovered a water source, right in the middle of the highest rock wall.

Then he asked everyone to do the diversion canal project, and everyone was very excited at the time.

But once he left, the enthusiasm slowly dissipated.

The main reason is that everyone is talking behind his back,

Not to mention whether the water source behind the rock wall is real or fake, even if it is real, how to lead the water out?

The rock wall is not flat, and ordinary people cannot stand on it.

Even if someone can barely get a foothold, how can he penetrate the rock wall? With a chisel? Then he has to wait until the Year of the Ox and the Moon of the Horse?

For the residents of the island, this is simply an impossible task.

After the first two days of excitement, the passion disappeared. After calming down, the islanders thought this thing was ridiculous.

Even if the canal diversion project is completed, it will not be possible to produce water, and it will only be a waste of hardship.

Therefore, there are many people who are passive and slack in their work.

As a result, after Hou Yao returned to the island, he found that there was almost no progress in the project.

After understanding the reason, Hou Yao felt that the islanders were not to blame. What could a bunch of illiterate people expect them to do?

It's just that I forgot to tell you when I left.

Now that the rumors have become established, it will be difficult to clarify them.

Just spread rumors and avoid them and break your legs.

So Hou Yao could only make gunpowder first, find a way to blow up the water source first, and then call on everyone to build aqueducts.

Although doing this will increase the difficulty of the project a lot, it's not his job to do it anyway.

The raw materials for gunpowder have been prepared, all that needs to be done is to master the specific ratio.

Fortunately, he also had a rough idea of ​​the ratio, and it only took him a few days to come up with the recipe for black gunpowder.

Then I made two explosive barrels, and the rest was how to install the explosive barrels on the rock wall.

Because the wind on the rock wall was too strong, there was no way to light a fire on the rock wall. We had to light the fire in advance and then take the bucket down.

It's like making two dynamite barrels that are timed to explode.

But in this way, the requirements for people pulling ropes on the top of the cliff are quite high.

First of all, it requires sufficient arm strength, and secondly, it requires extremely high precision and eyesight to be able to quickly and accurately put people down and then pull them up.

Apart from Yu Xiuer, the only person on the island who can possess these three abilities at the same time is Zhou Tiesheng.

Hou Yao found Zhou Tiesheng. After being humiliated last time, he had become quite decadent.

After explaining his intention, Zhou Tiesheng vowed:

"If you can really open up the water source, my life, Zhou Tiesheng's, will be yours."

Hou Yao snorted and then held his tongue:

"Do you have two lives? Your current life is mine."

Zhou Tiesheng looked embarrassed and cursed in his heart:

You foul-mouthed scholar, can't you give me a fucking lesson?

Hou Yao took Yu Xiuer's hand and turned around to go out. Zhou Tiesheng hesitated but followed.

Face and other things are nothing compared to benefits.

In fact, there is another reason why Zhou Tiesheng was so easily persuaded by Hou Yao.

The one-eyed dragon has already sold out all the supplies stolen from the Haima Gang.

Due to the new year, this batch of goods sold much better than he expected.

It actually reached eight thousand taels, especially the price of glass beads, which is really gratifying.

The price of a glass bead can be as high as twenty taels. This is simply a money grab.

After the one-eyed dragon came back, he didn't completely listen to Hou Yao's words.

However, I only kept one thousand taels, and the remaining money was divided by one hundred taels to each gang.

The rest were replaced with cloth, grain, farm tools and other daily necessities that were in short supply on the island, and distributed.

Zhou Tiesheng received one hundred taels, and his family received cloth, grain, farm tools and other items.

It can be said that this has been the most fruitful year since I came to the island.

With these real benefits in hand, the previous unhappiness has long been forgotten.

Pirates are not scholars, so they don't care about face.

With Zhou Tiesheng joining, Hou Yao breathed a sigh of relief.

In fact, he was really afraid that this guy would be petty and vindictive. Fortunately, none of this happened.

…

The golden sunshine awakened the long-sleeping sea, and the sparkling sea surface shone like gold under the sunlight.

Hundreds of young and old on the deserted beach of Starfish Island turned a blind eye to this beautiful scenery, but all focused their attention on the highest rock wall on the island.

There is hope for the entire island, but at this time most people don't believe that this hope really exists.

So everyone who comes here is just looking at a joke.

"They've been up there for two hours. What on earth are they doing up there?"

"The scholar said he could summon thunder and split rock walls."

"How could it be true? He is not a Taoist priest. I heard that only Taoist priests know the art of thunder."

"Eighth Master, you are well-informed. Why don't you tell us whether Xiucai can open the rock wall?"

Ba Ye is over ninety years old and is the oldest surviving pirate on the island. He is also the only surviving pirate among the first batch of people who came to the island:

"There is still a way. Gunpowder can produce the power of thunder, but the formula of gunpowder is in the hands of the imperial court.

It is difficult for us ordinary people to own it, so I don’t know if the scholar is talking about gunpowder.”

"Isn't gunpowder used to make firecrackers? What's in that thing?"

"Hey, please be quiet, look, they are going down."

Sure enough, everyone looked up and saw two figures slowly descending along the rope.

Two explosive barrels, Hou Yao brought one himself, and Liu Ergou brought one.

Zhou Tiesheng and Yu Xiuer stood on the top of the cliff and pulled the rope hard to lower them down.

Since Hou Yao and Liu Ergou each held explosive barrels in their arms, it was almost impossible to climb.

They could only rely on the two people on the rock wall to put them down.

"Pull... pull... a little to the left,... pull, pass, put... put."

Hou Yao roared with all his strength, and remotely commanded Yu Xiuer and Zhou Tiesheng on the top of the cliff to pull him and Liu Ergou to the appropriate position:

"Okay...here we are, hold on tight and don't let the rope swing."

Having seen the pit dug in advance, Hou Yao hurriedly asked Liu Ergou to fix the explosive barrel:

"Ergou, hurry up, put the explosive barrel over here, we have to go up quickly."

Liu Ergou handed over the explosive barrel unhurriedly, making Hou Yao so angry that he wanted to punch him in the face.

But at this moment, he wanted to slap himself twice,

Because I wanted to show off before, I deliberately avoided other people on the island when making black powder.

Only Yu Xiuer had seen the power of black powder, but she had only seen the power of black powder the size of a fingernail.

They are no different from ordinary fireworks.

She even thought that Hou Yao was a little whimsical, and wanted to blow up the rock wall with a large firecracker.

Little did he know that it was the most powerful black powder,

It is an artifact that can be used to make artillery and muskets. It is regarded as a secret weapon by Daxia Kingdom as a national treasure.

Since the three of them didn't know what the barrel contained, they couldn't take Hou Yao's advice to heart at all.

So when I started working, I started taking my time.

Hou Yao was as anxious as an ant on a hot pot. He couldn't urge the three of them, so he could only act anxiously.
To be continued...