Chapter 562 Liuqiu (3)

On the carriage back.

Bai Yulou was flipping through the investigation reports of various villages.

Shan Wanjing, who helped organize these things, felt the unevenness of the world for the first time. For her, the poor and dirty countryside was an unimaginable other world.

"Is it strange? 99% of the people in this world are living a similar life. You just got a good pregnancy."

Shan Wanjing asked in puzzlement, "Why are they so poor?"

"Do you know how much land rent the Dongming faction charges? It's 40%, which is already relatively small. One mu of land can only harvest one stone and a half of rice a year under the condition of good weather, and a young and strong can only cultivate 50 mu at most. ..."

"And for a person to have enough food and clothing, he needs to consume at least 6 shi of rice every year, that is to say, he needs to plant at least 7 mu of land. In fact, due to the impact of energy and natural disasters, farmers need to plant at least 30 mu of land to barely have enough food and clothing."

Shan Wanjing, who knows how to count, quickly calculated the farmers' income for a year.

A secretary at the side explained: "We have calculated the ratio between the labor energy of the farmers and the land area. Even if it is rough farming, it can only take care of 30 Sui mu of cultivated land. If it is intensive farming, it can only take care of 10 Sui mu. Farmers too bitter."

Shan Meixian, who had been silent all this time, snorted coldly:

"Hmph! Your method will not work at all. How can the mu catty tax maintain the money and food of the court and the army? Will the peasants be forced to confiscate food? Moreover, those aristocratic families and powerful landlords will not obediently hand over the land."

Bai Yulou calmly replied: "Madam, is my cannon good?"

Uh... Shan Meixian thought of the terrible weapons possessed by the Human Revolutionary League. Obviously, she had heard the implication of Bai Yulou's words, that is to use force to solve the problem.

Thinking of the future where the Central Plains will shed blood like rivers, Shan Meixian fell silent. After a while, she sighed:

"Why bother? With your strong ships and sharp guns, if you choose to be a gentle landlord, you will be able to rule the world in a few years. Why do you choose the most difficult path?"

"Hahaha..." Bai Yulou raised his head to the sky and screamed:

"Who owns the world? This world is the world of the common people. The people of the Li people live in me, and it is not my wish to be named a marquis and worship the prime minister. I would like to kill the Qing Emperor for the common people, and only ask the world to change to a new sky."

The people of the Li people gave birth to me,

It is not my wish to be named a Marquis and worship a Prime Minister;

Willing to kill Qingdi for the common people,

Just ask for a new day in the world.

Shan Meixian chanted this poem softly, looking at the man in front of her with extremely complicated eyes.

But for a young girl like Shan Wanjing, she feels that this poem is very domineering, with an indescribable aura. .

This kind of poetry is a proper anti-poetry in this era.

Unknowingly, the carriage arrived near Danshui City, but instead of entering the city, it turned northward and came to the former Dongming Sect's ironworks.

After all, the environment of the ironworks is very harsh. During the process of burning charcoal and smelting iron ore, a lot of smoke and dust will be generated. Naturally, the Dongming faction will not place the ironworks in the city, but build a small earthen city .

Tamsui City is about 3 kilometers away from the ironworks.

When he came to the ironworks, Bai Yulou saw the engineers who were transforming the ironworks. The technicians from Zhoushan Iron and Steel Works and the building materials company had preliminarily integrated 2,000 employees in the ironworks.

"General Bai, welcome to Danshui Iron and Steel Plant for inspection." Hu Dali, the factory manager, greeted him with a smile.

Bai Yulou looked at the scene: "Comrade Hu! How is the situation now?"

"We are building three small blast furnaces, and we have already built a cement kiln. Using the iron-making slag left over from before, we are going to burn a batch of cement for local construction." Hu Dali replied.

Grain worm

Bai Yulou ordered: "Pay attention to the health of the engineers and soldiers, especially the dust hazard. In addition, you are going to prepare an extra blast furnace and a coke oven. By the way, do you have the design drawing of the coke oven?"

Hu Dali nodded: "Minister Long has already prepared. Among the next batch of materials, there will be a batch of coke oven parts. I will prepare refractory bricks and furnace body here."

"That's good."

Hu Dali hesitated for a moment: "General Bai, does Daliu Qiuzhen have coal?"

Bai Yulou nodded: "Don't worry, the Black Clothes Guard has already explored, and I will take people there to mine in a few days."

"Then I don't worry, the iron and steel factory is entrusted to me. In about one and a half months, the construction of the three small blast furnaces, the windmill building, the stamping machine and the crucible area can be completed."

Bai Yulou saw that the 6 tons of cement transported from Zhoushan Building Materials Company were all used here, and still felt that the current cement was not enough.

In the construction of infrastructure, cement is as important as steel.

Liuqiu Island is often prone to typhoon weather, and wooden houses are unreliable. Without strong enough houses and warehouses, a typhoon may destroy it after a few years of hard work.

For the manufacture of cement, the conditions are now sufficient. After all, coal also plays a vital role in cement refining.

Coal is the core fuel in the early stage of the industrial age. For cutting down trees and burning charcoal, it can only be used in the short term. If charcoal is used for a long time, especially on a large scale, it will lead to rapid deterioration of the local ecology.

And the heat of charcoal is not as good as that of coke.

After returning from the steel factory, Bai Yulou checked the recent situation, and took the time to contact Zheng Sen of Hu Douzhou by telegram.

Before I knew it, another week had passed.

Zheng Sen took 15 transport ships and escorted 2,000 refugees and 400 engineers to Tamsui City.

Seeing a desolate Tamsui City, Zheng Sen felt as if he was born in another world. Whether he was born in the Pirate Universe or in the history of the Three-Body Universe, the surname of the country had an inextricable relationship with this island.

"Revisiting the old place, things change and people change."

Bai Yulou ran over excitedly: "Haha, don't be emotional, I'll leave a lot of things in Tamsui City to you."

"Are you going to explore Keelung?" Zheng Sen seemed to have seen the other party's plan.

Bai Yulou shrugged: "The coal problem must be resolved as soon as possible. Burning wood all day is too troublesome."

"I know you can't be idle, go!" Zheng Sen shook his head with a dumbfounded smile.

The two handed over the work, and early the next morning, Bai Yulou took three Mengchong boats, 150 soldiers, plus the secretary, and Shanmei's mother and daughter as life assistants and research objects, to Keelung. and go.

Keelung is on the northeast coast of Daliuqiu, while Tamsui City is on the northwest coast of Daliuqiu, the distance between the two is not far.

It's just that there is some headwind now, and the coastline is sailing northeastward, bypassing Fuguijiao, and the whole journey is about 53 kilometers.

Even along the way, in order to explore the hydrological conditions along the coast, the exploration fleet slowed down, and still arrived at the coast near Keelung at about 3:30 in the afternoon.

Of course, Keelung at this time is just a desolate virgin forest and coast.

On a coast that is suitable as an anchorage, Baiyulou ordered to drop anchor, and planned to land here tomorrow after spending the night here.

According to intelligence, there is only a small tribe of more than 300 natives near Keelung. With the heavily armed soldiers, Bai Yulou and others don't need to worry too much.

In the north of Da Liuqiu, the largest tribe is the high mountain tribe near Emerald Lake, with a population of about 2,000.

In fact, it is difficult for their primitive fishing and hunting tribes to grow in population. The natural elimination rate and food supply rate have blocked their development.