1635 Han style rises again

Chapter 67 Initial Industrial and Agricultural Construction
July [-]th, sunny and light wind.

To be on the safe side, the firing time of the first small earthen kiln for firing bricks was extended for another day, and the flame of the earthen kiln was slowly extinguished this morning.After cooling down until the afternoon, Qi Tian brought Cao Xiong and others together to the earthen kiln, ready to open the kiln to fetch bricks.

This is the first industrial product in the Jianye City base, and it will witness the first step towards laying the foundation for this start-up base.

Of course, this first industrial product may also be a failed industrial product.

"Take it out!" Qi Tian said to his third brother Qi Dalu in a soft voice while being excited but also a little uneasy.

"Okay!" Qi Dalu was very excited. He rushed to the entrance of the small kiln, bowed down, and stretched out his hands to pull out the bricks from the kiln.

"Oops! I'm scalded to death!" Qi Dalu exclaimed, shaking his hands, took a few steps back, and then kept crying out in pain, apparently scalded by the bricks that were still warm.

"Pick it out with an iron hook!" Qi Tian looked at the third brother's hands, only a few blisters were burnt, nothing serious.

At the entrance of the small clay kiln, several people used iron hooks to pull out the fired bricks one by one.

Dark red bricks indicate that the temperature was slightly insufficient during firing.The block is formed, the stone is not broken when struck, and the hardness is acceptable.Qi Tian is like a material quality inspector on a construction site, observing and beating more than ten adobe bricks one by one to test their firing quality.

It's okay, Qi Tian straightened up and looked at the 200 yuan brick on the ground with satisfaction.More than 240 bricks went into the kiln, and only more than 80.00 finished products were qualified, with a pass rate of just over [-]%, and the loss was a little bit larger.

For the first batch of bricks, Qi Tian planned to mix some stones and build a cement kiln. He didn't ask for a high output, as long as he could produce about one ton per day.When the large brick kiln for firing bricks is built and enough bricks are produced, a formal cement kiln will be built.

Well, another problem came again, they didn't have enough manpower to mine the limestone, and they didn't have machines to sort and crush it.If it is all handled manually, the efficiency will be so low that it will crash.

Next, everyone looked at the other dozen or so small clay kilns that were still firing.Under the command of Gouzi, more than a dozen teenagers kept picking up firewood, and then threw it into the fire inlet of the clay kiln.At the same time, it is necessary to observe the smoke exhaust from the flue and the temperature of the kiln to ensure that the temperature in the kiln is high enough.

"In the next few days, bricks will be produced from these kilns one after another, and then a larger brick kiln will be built. ... Well, tens of thousands of bricks can be fired at one time. At that time, we can start building formal brick houses!" Qi Tian said with confidence.

"Not bad, not bad!" After Cao Xiong saw it, he nodded again and again, "In two days, we will leave here and go to Batavia. At that time, there will be a shortage of more than 200 people in the camp, will it be What's the problem?"

According to the original plan, two days later, Cao Xiong will sail to Batavia with five ships.One is to establish contact with the Dutch East India Company, replace the extinct Liuxiang Group, and become the agent of the interests of the Dutch in the Daming Sea.The second is to purchase materials based on the results of negotiations with the Dutch.

In the next few days, everyone will discuss a detailed purchase list one after another, and fill the five large ships as much as possible.At the same time, see if you can recruit some handicraft and agricultural technicians in Batavia.

"The sudden loss of more than 200 people will definitely affect the construction of the camp!" Qi Tian sighed, "However, if you don't buy more supplies and come back, our follow-up development will be impossible to talk about. However, before you leave, We need to carry out a full-staff farmland development. Otherwise, when you bring back all kinds of grain and vegetable seeds from Batavia, we will not have enough fields to sow."

Considering that the land near Jianye City is slightly barren, as well as the seasons, temperature, and wild environment are very different from other places.Qi Tian listened to the advice of the old farmers of the Ming Dynasty, reclaimed more land, built more experimental fields, selected different crop seeds, and planted them in patches.When the farmland is harvested next year, you will know which crops are suitable for the growing environment here.

A while ago, all labor in the camp was concentrated on the construction of living facilities (building wooden houses) and industrial facilities (a row of small earthen kilns).As for agricultural facilities, very little manpower is invested, and only some old and weak women and children are allowed to burn wasteland and clear the fields.In a week's time, the farmland sorted out was less than [-] mu.

To feed all the more than 650 people in Jianye City, at least two thousand acres of farmland must be cultivated.If the initial planting of food crops is considered, the yield per mu must not be high.That means that they must rely on expanding the planting area in exchange for an increase in total grain output.

"That's fine! In the past two days, except for a small number of people to burn bricks and guard, everyone else will go to reclaim the farmland!" Cao Xiong waved his hand after hearing Qi Tian's introduction about farmland construction, "We will occupy the farmland by ourselves." There is no reason to go hungry after losing the land!... Try to get more than [-] mu of land."

On the second day, more than [-] people were scattered around the field, using hoes, axes, picks, hooks, spears...all the tools that can be used for digging, felling trees, and clearing weeds and bushes were used.A group of pirates with knives and guns, together with a group of Ming people from Luzon, happily started farmland construction.

Zhou Yingping looked at the blood blisters in his hand, wanting to cry but no tears.Although they are descendants of concubines, they have no worries about food and clothing, and they have never farmed or planted land!

Who would have thought that when they came to Nanyang and Sulu, they first signed a joint venture document with a group of pirates in a daze, and then they were coerced into attacking Boni.Although he made a little money from the war, he was coerced to this remote continent again.

Yes, the pirates gave him another 5000 taels of silver for running errands, which can be regarded as an extremely generous reward.After waiting for almost ten days in boredom, I finally unloaded all the supplies on the ship, and I was about to leave this ghostly place where no one was inhabited.

But last night, a leader of the pirates went to the ship to find him, and said that he would borrow more than 30 sailors and buddies from his ship for two days to open up wasteland and farm.

Borrow it, just borrow it, anyway, they want to give money to the hired workers.However, after hearing that their big boss would also personally participate in land reclamation, Zhou Yingping said something polite and said something that he regretted the most: "If your department lacks manpower, Zhou can also help."

In the end, the leader surnamed Hu ended the sentence in one gulp, "Since shopkeeper Zhou has a heart, let's come with the guys on the boat tomorrow morning!"

Zhou Yingping was astonished and was about to prepare some words to prevaricate, when the other party said again: "My Master Cao just wants to discuss trade with you. Since you are coming tomorrow, my Master Cao doesn't have to go on a special boat to find you. is you."

"Shopkeeper Zhou, have you never been in the field?" Qi Tian walked over with a smile.It turned out that on the bare head, a few inches of short hair had grown. Although it still looked a little weird to others, it looked very energetic.

Zhou Yingping no longer has the slightest intention to underestimate this boy.From the planning to the construction of the entire camp, from a wild forest to the present, it is said that it was all done by this young man.

If Qi Tian only knows a little common sense of maritime trade, then it can be said that he knows the inside story of maritime trade because he traveled around the world with pirates and contacted several maritime merchants who sold stolen goods with them.

However, this young man actually knows how to build, organize, and plan. The knowledge he has mastered is beyond the reach of ordinary people.

In this era, especially in the Ming Dynasty, the status of scholars has been the highest for thousands of years.Every scholar will be respected by the world and treated preferentially by the king, not to mention a businessman.

However, the good days of scholars are numbered.Just wait for Jiashen to change, and scholars will be knocked out of the dust.

"I'm so ashamed!" Zhou Yingping arched his hands towards Qi Tian, ​​"I can't lift my shoulders or lift my hands, I just run around all day long for some broken silver!"

"Treasurer Zhou is really humble!" Qi Tian said with a smile: "I'm afraid that the small amount of silver that you have spent all day running around would not be able to obtain in a few lifetimes!"

"...Huh?" Zhou Yingping smiled awkwardly, "Hehe..., thanks to Master Cao's appreciation, thank you for your love, young master!"

"Treasurer Zhou, you are so polite!... You deserve all of this. In the next month or so, shopkeeper Zhou will have to go back and forth again."

"Grandpa Cao is grand, Mr. Zhou is acting like a dog and horse, so what's the hard work!"

This time, Zhou Yingping and Cao Xiong's four big ships will go to Batavia to sell some treasures of the Boni royal family, and then, after getting the money, they will buy all kinds of materials and transport them back to the Jianye City camp.

"On that day in Sulu, I once told shopkeeper Zhou that Shen Wansan built Zhouzhuang to collect goods and sell them all over the world, so that he became rich in the world. Today, Batavia of the Dutch has gradually become the largest goods collection and trading center in Southeast Asia. This move, He is well versed in Shen Wansan's philosophy."

"Young master is right! Batavia brings together all kinds of goods from Ming Dynasty and Southeast Asia, almost covering everything. This Westerner has not only gained business profits, but also gained a lot of wealth. The Dutchman, There are ways!"

The Dutch not only have some knowledge, they can colonize the whole world and establish maritime hegemony with only a small country of Quer.

"Do you want to learn from Shen Wansan or the Dutch and build a collection and trading center?" Qi Tian's words were full of temptation of wealth,

(End of this chapter)