Although the paddle boat was not fast, it was very stable. After a short rest at Guilong Island for half a day, the fleet continued to set off. At noon on the third day, the fleet arrived at Liuqiu Island.
The new county seat is located at the mouth of Zhuoshui River. Zhang Ping spent all his efforts to build this county seat. He recruited 20,000 workers in Quanzhou, Fuzhou and Jianzhou to level the land, dig earth and bake bricks, and cut down trees to build the city.
It took a full year and a half to build this county town with a circumference of fifteen miles and a height of two feet.
In addition, workers also built a wharf, only one mile away from the county seat.
The Quanzhou government moved the Han people scattered throughout Liuqiu Island to the new city to live together. Currently, there are 1,300 households in the county, with a population of about 6,000.
The fleet slowly docked, and the people in the city came out of the city one after another, beating gongs and drums to welcome the arrival of His Royal Highness.
A dozen selected old people presented local soil to Li Ye. Li Ye asked his soldiers to accept the soil, helped the old people up and loudly said: "From now on, I am also a member of Liuqiu County, and my household registration will also be moved to
Liuqiu County and become a county citizen like everyone else."
This sentence made the people cheer like thunder. Thousands of people sang and danced, and surrounded Li Ye into the county town.
Although the county town is not big, it is neatly built with brick and wood structures. It has one main street in the north, south and east, but there are also many small streets, all paved with stone slabs. It rains here a lot, and there are drainage ditches that lead directly to the outside of the city.
The entire county is divided into ten districts, eight districts are residential areas, the ninth district is the garrison district, and the tenth district is the government warehouse area.
There are currently 1,000 troops stationed on Liuqiu Island. Their duty is to defend Liuqiu County from pirates. Pirates have always been the biggest threat to the people of Liuqiu County. Therefore, everyone is willing to live together to resist pirates.
There are not many businesses in the county. There are taverns, brothels and grocery stores, as well as official post offices and reception camps. Currently, Quanzhou Sima Zhao Yun is the temporary county magistrate. Then he handed over the county magistrate's post to Zhang Ji, who then took over.
Became the first official county magistrate of Liuqiu County.
Li Ye took Shen Zhenzhen and Shen Li to the top of the county town. In the distance, there were undulating mountains, covered with endless virgin forests, and on the other side was the vast sea.
"It's really far away from Chang'an!" Shen Zhenzhu sighed softly.
Li Ye smiled faintly, "The Tang Dynasty has a vast territory, but this is far from the end. This is only the starting point of the maritime territory. There are still too many uninhabited lands overseas waiting for us to occupy!"
Li Ye was open-minded at this time. With Liuqiu Island, he could use Liuqiu Island as a springboard to occupy the Luzon Islands in the south, and then use the southern end of Luzon Island as a springboard to occupy many uninhabited Nanyang islands, and finally reach the southern hemisphere.
continent.
"Your Highness, is this the only county town on the entire island?" Shen Li asked with a smile.
Li Ye nodded, "Currently there is only this one, but there will soon be another military city built in the south."
At this time, the sky began to be covered with dark clouds. Li Ye took a look at the sky and said with a smile: "Let's go back! It's going to rain."
As soon as they returned to the county government office, a heavy rain came unexpectedly. The rain was so strong that it quickly washed away the county seat.
In the county government hall, Li Yezheng discussed the development of the county with governor Zhang Ping, Sima Zhao Yun, county magistrate Zhang Ji and others.
Sima Zhaoyun knew the situation best. He said to Li Ye: "Currently, the residents have too little money. There is no supporting industry in the entire county. The residents have no channels to make money. They basically make a living by farming and fishing. In addition,
, the supplies are also relatively small, and it takes several months for a ship to arrive to deliver various daily necessities, and most of them are supplies for the army."
Li Ye glanced at Zhang Ping, who said helplessly: "The main reason is that Quanzhou itself is not rich, and many daily necessities in Quanzhou have to be transported from the south of the Yangtze River. Currently, Liuqiu County relies on the Quanzhou government to support itself, and we are also under great pressure.
.”
Li Ye thought for a while and asked: "Are there any specialties produced here?"
"It is rich in wood and has a large amount of mountain fruits. The local people use the fruits to make wine, which is sold well in Quanzhou."
Li Ye smiled slightly and said: "Look, I have thought of four industries for you right now, the first is fishery, the second is brewing, the third is sugar, and there is also logging. The focus here is sugar."
In addition, I just saw kapok trees as far as the eye can see at the top of the city. Cotton making is another industry. These five industries can support 100,000 people without any problem."
"But to whom?" Zhang Ping asked this sharp question.
"Except for winemaking, these industries are highly overlapped with Quanzhou on the other side of the river, and they cannot be sold in Quanzhou and other Fujian states."
Li Ye nodded, "This problem is easy to solve. The imperial court will soon open a trading house in Jinjiang County, build warehouses, and purchase large quantities of materials. First, it will ensure the output of Liuqiu County, such as dried fish, to supplement the army's dry food.
It's very good, so don't worry about sales, the imperial court will underwrite the sales."
Zhang Ping smiled bitterly and said: "Once the market is solved, population will be a big problem again. With so many big industries, how can a population of several thousand be enough?"
Li Ye smiled slightly and said: "Recruiting the population must be strategic. Don't always think of getting it right in one step. It is unrealistic to drag the whole family to join them. Most families will not consider such a major decision until they are in a desperate situation. They must first
Go to the south of the Yangtze River to recruit laborers and earn five guans a month, including food and accommodation. It is best to recruit landless refugees from the north. There will definitely be a large number of laborers coming. As long as three out of ten people think it is good, they are willing to bring their families.
That would be great.”
"That's too much trouble!"
"Recruiting a population is inherently a very troublesome matter. People are not sheep. Sheep only need to catch the first sheep. Everyone has their own thoughts, and the whole family has different thoughts, let alone hundreds of households or thousands of households. But the key point is that you are here
To do a good job, you must have enough land, and your life must be prosperous and peaceful. This is why I have ordered that Liuqiu Island be exempted from taxes for a hundred years. The imperial court will fully support you. The imperial court will purchase as many supplies as you need. The imperial court will purchase as many supplies as the island needs.
How much should be transported, the school must be guaranteed, and after the old man passes away, the court will ensure that a cemetery is arranged for him in his hometown. In short, we must succeed at all costs."
Several officials were stunned when they heard this. Zhang Ping murmured: "Your Highness, I don't understand this low-level position?"
Li Ye said lightly: "It's very simple. Liuqiu is the model I created. Only when the people of the Tang Dynasty see with their own eyes the happy life overseas, will they be willing to go to more distant overseas countries!"
On the second day after returning from Liuqiu, Li Ye was about to leave. Before leaving, Li Ye said to Zhang Ping: "Next, you have to do two things as soon as possible. The first thing is to go to the south of Liuqiu Island as soon as possible.
Find a good natural harbor, then recruit laborers to build a military city about the same size as Liuqiu County. This needs to be done quickly.
The second thing is to fully cooperate with Wang Zhan in renovating sea-going ships. His paddles are very practical. With them, our Tang Dynasty naval forces can go further overseas."
Zhang Ping scratched his head and said, "Your Highness, the investment in these two items is huge, and Fujian Road alone cannot afford it!"
Li Ye smiled slightly and said: "I know that we have seized a lot of wealth from the extermination of Li Xilie this time. I will allocate 1 million yuan to support the military city plan and the sea ship reconstruction plan."
Zhang Ping was overjoyed and promised: "As long as there is enough money and food, I promise to complete the construction of the city within two years!"
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[I'm not feeling well today, so I only have two chapters, sorry!]