Chapter 1574 Overcoming Difficulties

To get rich, you must chop down trees first, but reality is not a game.

In the game, even if you are bare-handed, you can chop down a big tree by aiming at the tree and hitting it a few times, but it is impossible to achieve in reality. Even if you hold a sharp axe, it will take half a day to chop it down.

In particular, the trees on these islands are probably hundreds of years old, and there are many trees as thick as a man's waist. Two people chopping down two trees a day is already the limit.

What to do?

For the first time, Wang Bao was worried because he had land in his hands. He was anxious.

"I didn't expect it to be so bad. I'd better go home." Tang Xiucai was shaken. He had no choice but to be shaken. There was no way to start.

After staying at the port for two days, someone suggested going back to the treasure island to recruit people, but let's not talk about whether they can recruit people, just the salary of recruiting people is also a big expense.

Although they all got a sum of starting capital for land reclamation, it was only a year's food and drink for each person. If they recruited people, if there was no harvest in a year, they would starve to death next year.

"Tang Xiucai, you are the most learned here. You should not talk about going back home all day long. Can't you think of a solution?" After the life-and-death battle, Wang Bao didn't believe that he would be stuck on a deserted island.

"In fact, there is a solution, but it is not in accordance with etiquette." Tang Xiucai said in embarrassment.

"What etiquette is there in this situation? Tang Xiucai, just tell me."

"It has been two days since everyone arrived. What do you think of the local area?"

"It's hot, there are many mosquitoes at night, and the food goes bad after being prepared for a long time." There is really no pleasant memory.

"These are all, but don't you find that there are many wild people here besides us? When I got up last night, I found that there was movement outside the fence. The night watchman told me that these were wild people."

"I have seen them too. I wanted to talk to them, but they ran away as soon as they saw me approaching. I don't know how they live in the forest."

"I mean to capture these wild people as labor." Tang Xiucai finally told his plan, which is indeed not in accordance with etiquette, and can even be said to be a regression of civilization.

You know, slaves have disappeared in the Central Plains for thousands of years.

However, the others thought it was a good idea. They had labor and didn't have to spend money. These savages couldn't even speak Mandarin anyway, so it was most appropriate to capture them and cut trees.

"The scholar is worthy of being a scholar."

Tang Xiucai knew that the savages on the island would be in trouble if he made such a suggestion.

Wang Bao immediately organized people to capture the savages. As long as there was labor, everything else would be easy.

The savages on the island were still just tribes, and they only used spears, not even bows and arrows. Facing the Ming Dynasty immigrants with hot weapons, they had no power to resist.

Except for the threat of poisonous insects and snakes in the woods, there was no difficulty in the encounter.

But the immigrants finally knew the dangers of the forest. After coming out, their bodies were full of red lumps, and there was almost no intact skin. Some people even got sick, but fortunately they returned to the port in time to survive.

However, they caught more than ten savages the first time, and the result was very good.

Nine male savages and six female savages.

Tang Xiucai suggested: "Don't rush to divide the savages now, gather them together first, and don't rush to open up your own land. We need unity when we first arrive, gather everything, and then distribute it according to everyone's performance when the harvest is good."

It's like a commune.

Everyone agreed, they all knew that they really couldn't disperse their strength now, and they had to unite to open up the land as soon as possible.

So some people were responsible for going out to catch the savages, and some were responsible for watching over the savages to open up the land.

The savages already have a tribe, so they naturally know how to work. Although they can't communicate, they can still understand gestures.

The Ming immigrants told the savages that they would be fed if they worked, and they would be shot if they didn't work, made trouble or ran away.

The savages had no choice but to work, but it was the first time they got such a sharp tool, and they were very curious, and even hurt themselves.

There was nothing they could do about these savages, and they couldn't communicate well, and there would always be errors in gestures. But they could only come little by little.

Tang Xiucai was responsible for daily record work, which was considered a civil servant, but the work points were not small.

Tang Xiucai also adopted an incentive policy for the savages. The more they worked, the more food they would get.

The savages wore simple clothes and had meals on time. Apart from having to work, it seemed that they were no worse than staying in the woods.

At first, the immigrants were worried that the savages would fight back if they got the axe, but they didn't expect the savages to be quite obedient.

That's good, otherwise Wang Bao would have planned to catch two typical people to make an example of them.

More and more savages were caught. Finally, one day someone said that they couldn't catch any more. If they caught more people, there would be more people than immigrants. How would they manage them then?

Although Wang Bao had guns and was not afraid of the savages rebelling, there would be losses if something happened. But now they couldn't afford the slightest turmoil.

"But the speed is still slow." Although there are now fifty savages to open up wasteland, they only cut down twenty trees on average a day, not counting the work of digging tree roots.

"I have an idea." The scholar had another idea: "We can promote two barbarians to manage the barbarians."

"Will it work?" Although the scholar's method was good, it sounded unreliable.

"If we let the barbarians manage the barbarians, will they really be loyal? What if they gang up on us and launch a surprise attack?" Wang Bao said worriedly.

The scholar said: "Based on my observations during this period, I found that several savages work hard and like Ming Dynasty objects very much. They like our food, clothes and tools. So I think these savages can be won over. After promoting them, we can also increase their wages so that they can get more Ming Dynasty objects."

This analysis seems to make sense, but it is still very challenging to explain these issues to the savages who do not speak the language.

However, hard work pays off, so let's promote two first.

The result is indeed very effective. These savages don't know what freedom is. They prefer Ming Dynasty things and clothes to freedom, and envy everything the immigrants have. After knowing that they can use all these as long as they work, they work harder.

Anyway, they work every day, and the immigrants are not Zhou Ba Pi, and they will not let the savages work without rest. They should combine work and rest.

Although the food they are given is actually steamed buns, which immigrants don't like to eat, while the immigrants eat rice and white steamed buns.

Of course, when they came to the deserted island, the immigrants also learned to eat a lot of local fruits like the savages, and of course they also hunted. In addition to the pigs, sheep and cattle shipped from the mainland, hunting was also a source of meat.

Both sides were learning from each other.

Overseas, the immigrants still had their hearts on the mainland. Many people wanted to make money to bring honor to their family and bring their families over. And Tang Xiucai did not forget to read. Although the weather here was very hot and not suitable for reading, he would still read books in the cool morning and evening.

The only hope was the ships that came once every two weeks, which would bring materials and new immigrants, as well as new developments in the Ming Dynasty, and of course letters from home. A letter from home could make all immigrants cry, because seeing the letter from home would tell them about the situation at home. Although it was just a few trivial words, it was the most touching.

The immigrants used their wisdom to overcome difficulties bit by bit and complete the mission of expanding the territory given by the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty.