Although antimalarial drugs have reduced the mortality rate, the god of death still accompanies immigrants in the settlement.
The first casualty of the Kaohsiung Regiment was named Chen Gaoda. He died during the road construction project on December 20. The cause of death was "sudden death."
Obviously, this "sudden death" is not the same as sudden death in the general sense. Afterwards, statistics show that the proportion of "sudden death" among the abnormal deaths of immigrants at that time was the highest. The reason is probably related to the continuous high-intensity workload. At that time, adult immigrants had a daily
The daily food ration standard was 3,500 calories, which was enough to meet the needs of heavy physical labor. However, the diet in 1631 was mainly composed of carbohydrates, with very little protein and fat intake. This was bound to greatly damage their health.
The deceased was buried on a high ground on the west side of the settlement point to ensure that it would not be flooded during the rainy season. The carpenter made a simple coffin for the deceased. Guan Shanyue also specially organized a simple funeral.
"Erect a monument for him." Guan Shanyue said to the carpenter afterwards, "Let's carve one out of wood first. Next year when we have a stonemason, we can replace it with a stone one."
Next, there were deaths every day. Guan Shanyue was already flawlessly concerned about the funeral. He was mentally prepared for the deaths of immigrants, but people died every day, which was somewhat beyond his psychological expectations - after all, this was not a war.
Most of the deceased fell down without warning while working or resting and never got up again. The health workers accompanying the team did not know the specific cause of death at all, so they had to simply record it as "sudden death". There were also accidental casualties, and installation
While building a wooden village wall, the soil at the base of the wall suddenly collapsed, and a nearly five-meter wooden pile fell down, killing two people on the spot and breaking another person's leg.
Then there was another accident where a child drowned while playing by the lake. Although the parents didn't seem too sad, Guan Shanyue still felt guilty - since he was the chief official, he had to be responsible for the people, and he didn't arrange for anyone to take good care of him.
child.
During dinner in the evening, he couldn't help but confide this apology to Li Dongtian. Li Dongtian didn't take it seriously. While roasting a bunch of sparrows on the fire, he said:
"Don't take it to heart. Don't say it's the 17th century. Even in the 21st century, there are a lot of things like this in rural areas. Now, eh, in the old time and space, having fewer children was more valuable. In the past, having more children was nothing.
Just let the family members cry and let it go." Li Dongtian said, fiddling with the fire in the fire pit. Although there was no need to light a fire due to the temperature, it could remove moisture from the house.
Although Guan Shanyue left the countryside when he was in middle school, he still went back once or twice a year, knowing that Li Dongtian was right.
"When I was growing up, there were four or five children drowned in the neighboring villages of my village. There were ponds, canals and puddles everywhere in the countryside. There was no one to look after the children, so there was no guarantee that something would happen somewhere." Li Dongtian said and sighed.
, "I almost drowned once, but luckily a man passing by saw me and picked me up."
"That's what I said, if we can arrange for someone to watch..."
"This child is not young at all - he is ten years old. He is considered a little helper in the countryside. He is not a baby." Li Dongtian said, "There is still a problem with our labor distribution. We have arranged work for them all, so they are very busy.
After wandering around, you won’t think about going to the lake to play in the water.”
"Damn, your solution is worthy of a capitalist."
"Wherever, it's still far behind the Planning Institute. But in the past, in rural areas, children as young as six or seven years old could do the work. When I was in the first grade of elementary school, my mother gave me a sickle and a basket and told me to do it on the way back from school.
I cut the grass for the sheep at home. Then I was playful and the sheep became hungry. My mother scolded me..."
Li Dongtian said with a slight smile on his lips. It seemed that he was recalling the happiness of his boyhood again.
"But there are not many jobs suitable for children now." Guan Shanyue thought for a moment, "That's just cutting grass. It would be great if we could set up a school."
"The school matters are not urgent. Let's fill our stomachs first." Li Dongtian didn't take it seriously. "Let the children get busy first. The cows, sheep and pigs are here. Cutting the grass, feeding pigs, and herding cows and sheep can all be left to us.
They also clean the camp, collect firewood... they can do a lot of work."
Although he has been working outside for many years, he is very familiar with farm work and can talk about it very well. He lists all the things he needs to do now.
"...Don't look at the large number of us, but let's be honest, there is no one left! We will open up land soon, and we have to have the carpentry team quickly make poles to hold hoes and shovels. We can't stop burning grass in circles. After cutting the wood, we quickly circle it and burn it.
It will be much easier to clear the ground for tree roots. There is also a base of natural grass ash, phosphorus and potassium fertilizer. There is no machine to level the land, so we can only rely on manually picking up stones and crushing the soil. This is a tiring job. It is best to build a kiln to burn lime - this thing can
It’s useful, it can be used for painting walls, it can be used for disinfection, it can be used for improving the soil... and we will prepare a few acres of garden land to plant vegetables..."
He talked a lot, but it was all random and unorganized. Guan Shanyue had to interrupt him and asked him to talk about it one by one so that he could record it and make a work plan.
"You said so much that we must start immediately. I am just worried about the mortality rate." He looked at his notebook and sighed.
"The food is too bad." Li Dongtian sneered, "It is said that it is supplied according to the standard of 3,500 kcal a day, but grain and grain are different. No matter how much of this relief ration brick of potato starch is eaten, it will not make any difference."
"It would be nice if we could get some fish. We are not close to the sea. This lake is quite big. I don't know if there are many fish."
"How many wild fish can there be in the lake? It's not cost-effective for you to organize the manpower to catch so many fish." Li Dongtian shook his head repeatedly, "I heard from people in Li Miao Company that deer can often be seen. It's not as good as that.
Organize a team to go hunting and bring back some deer."
When he mentioned this, Guan Shanyue remembered that the "Overview of the Situation in Taiwan" he had read before departure mentioned that Taiwan's deer skins were a bulk export during this period, and the Dutch shipped thousands of deer skins for each trade.
When he first arrived in Kaohsiung, Wei Bachi also gave him some dried deer meat. There must be a lot of deer in stock.
Since there are deer, there are probably a lot of wild boars. If the basic team can catch some game every day, it will be a drop in the bucket and at least it can supplement the immigrants with some protein and fat.
Thanks to the efforts of the immigrants, by December 28, the Niaosong settlement had begun to take shape. Although the houses were not in shape yet, they were enough to shelter the immigrants from wind and rain.
It rained rarely at noon that day. Guan Shanyue ordered a stoppage of work and announced a five-day rest for all immigrants. This was not only to celebrate the New Year of 1632, but also to allow the immigrants to take a rest and take stock of their inventory.
ideas.
On December 31, according to Guan Shanyue's order, the first inventory was conducted, including personnel, livestock and materials.
The result of the personnel count was that there were 781 immigrants in the Niaosong settlement. Compared with the roll call when arriving in Kaohsiung, there were 54 people reduced. Some of them died during the development process, and some were hospitalized due to illness in Kaohsiung.
The arrival resulted in a pure reduction of forty people. The list also recorded twenty-five "injured and injured persons" hospitalized.
For Guan Shanyue and Li Dongtian, it is still "acceptable". In Guan Shanyue's report to Wei Bachi, he mentioned that "the number of injured and sick people is much less than expected." Undoubtedly, antimalarial drugs such as quinine have played a role
important role.
Six buffaloes and six Simendall cattle arrived safely at Birdsong. Also arriving were twelve pigs, ten sheep, twenty ducks, and ten geese. There were also eight dogs, three cats, and a large
Rooster,
Except for the sheep, which are slightly unsuited to the climate here, the other livestock and poultry are not unwell. These livestock and poultry are important means of production for the Kaohsiung United Army. For them, cattle are not only useful for farming, but also responsible for round-trip transportation.
important tasks of materials.
Thirty-day rations for eight hundred people were stored in the warehouse, half of which were relief rations and half of which was brown rice. However, except for hundreds of cans of pickled vegetables and bean paste, there were no other non-staple foods worth mentioning. Consumer goods were shipped.
I bought a lot of food, including wine, brown sugar and tobacco. The harder it was, the more entertainment I had to have.
The basic team went hunting without much harvest, but a few immigrants who were fishermen found a suitable pond nearby and caught a lot of fish with simple fishing rods and fishing nets. However, for the Kaohsiung team, these fish were only
It can be considered a drop in the bucket.
The New Year's Day of 1632 came. Guan Shanyue ordered that on this day no boiling be done, all rice should be cooked. As for "added vegetables", there was no mention of it. A fight occurred due to "drinking" that day. Li Dongtian presided over the first "security interrogation" of the settlement.
", and those who cause drunkenness and cause trouble will be punished with punishments ranging from thirty to twelve canes.
Guan Shanyue's work outline written on January 1, 1632:
"...First of all, we will conduct a reconnaissance and exploration of the Kaohsiung Plain to further investigate the surrounding animal and plant resources, water and soil resources. Find places suitable for farming as a direction for future expansion. For the time being, let's see if it is possible to plant sugar cane and rice.
There is no need to think about growing cotton in this weather. In addition, we should also look at the distribution of the surrounding indigenous tribes and make tentative contacts to see if it is possible to coexist peacefully. If possible, start some trade. After all, they are the indigenous people here.
It is easier to cope with the natural environment here. It is more convenient to obtain resources.
The second is to lead people to further strengthen the surrounding defenses. The current defense measures are relatively crude. Wooden houses have been built, but the overall level of protection for the settlement is not enough. The wooden fence has not yet been completed. We must continue quickly. Gatehouses and towers
It must also be built.
But this involves infrastructure construction. The felled wood has been used up to build houses. If you want to build walls, you can only continue to arrange felling operations. To cut down farther, you need to arrange guards. Local forests
Quite a few, you can cut down more trees, and you can get wood on the one hand, and farmland on the other.