Building a solid foundation

"The Bamboo Flower Gang recruits refugees to reclaim deserted islands and build Xiangkou. The young and strong will be paid 20 cash and three kilograms of rice per day. The old and weak, women and children will be paid ten cash and two kilograms of rice per day. Each family will be given priority. If you want to come, hurry up."

After the Jiangyin branch of the Zhuhua Gang settled down for a while, the newly appointed internal affairs chief Xiangxiang arranged for sixty or seventy more articulate gang members to set up refugee camps in the county and surrounding areas.

With Hu Douzhou's conditions, he did not lie or lie, he went straight to the point to recruit the refugees and recruit them as workers.

In troubled times, it is very difficult to live. Who cares what they do for a living.

After the Zhuhua Gang's recruitment notice was posted, a steady stream of refugees gathered, and then Chu Liang arranged for people to be sent to Hu Douzhou one by one.

After being divided into groups, according to their specialties, some were responsible for reclaiming wasteland, some were responsible for fishing in the river, and some were responsible for building houses. Anyway, there was nothing in Hu Douzhou now, and there was a lot of work to be done.

After having access to the Zhuhua Gang, one of the "Eight Gangs and Ten Factions" in the world, to sell stolen goods and purchase goods, Xingrong, who was waiting eagerly in Zhenhai Navy, quickly sent someone to find Chu Li, the head of the internal affairs department, Xiangxiang, to discuss business routes.

, the issue of write-offs.

After some trading, Xingrong quickly exchanged the inedible and inwearable gold and silver treasures and various stolen goods in his hand for merchant ships and fishing boats, fishing rods, fishing nets, food and meat, cattle, seeds and agricultural tools.

And everything else Hu Douzhou needs urgently right now.

This is naturally a huge expense. Just to ensure the farmland and transportation on the island, 300 war horses, 800 mules and horses, and 1,600 head were purchased from the Pegasus Ranch near Jingling County.

The plowing cattle cost Chu Tianxiu fifty thousand taels of silver.

If Chu Tianxiu had not made a huge profit after capturing Dajianghui, he would not have been able to afford such a huge expense.

Although most of the camps on the shore are still wooden houses, which are still very simple, there are already several rows of tile-roofed houses under construction. It will take three to five months at most, and all the houses here will be replaced.

Become rows of red brick houses.

On the water near Hu Douzhou, there are hundreds of fishing boats, and fishermen are almost everywhere, happily casting their nets to catch fish, catching one boat after another.

But because it was more wild, it was a hundred times more laborious to manage than Hu Douzhou. Even though Chu Tianxiu was already short of manpower, he had to send Chu Zhi and Chu Qian under him as the island masters.

, to govern those two places, and by the way, Wang Ye, the original high-ranking member of the Jiangyin branch of the Zhuhua Gang, and Han Nuo, the "Bagua Sword", were sent out and given to them as deputies respectively.

According to the plan, the first phase of farming will cultivate approximately 150,000 acres of basic farmland, which will be completed by the end of the month. After sowing, raising seedlings, and topdressing, the first batch of autumn harvest should be available in five months.

Today's Hu Douzhou is still in its infancy, but from everyone's perspective, it has a prosperous atmosphere. Especially now that the world is in chaos and refugees are everywhere, such a paradise is even more valuable.

Compared to Hu Douzhou, which is occupied by gangs, these two large islands are more deserted. There are only some savages and pirates on them, so it is not difficult to occupy them.

Although this island is rich in products and extremely rich, after all, it is just a small island that is thirty-five miles from north to south and eighty miles from east to west, with a total area of ​​only about one million acres, and the area is only a slightly larger county.

In addition, after several attempts, Chu Tianxiu also used merchant ships to transport refugees to Yongdong (Zhoushan Islands) not far from Hudouzhou, and to Yizhou (Taiwan) further away.

They have established strongholds with approximately five to six hundred people.

Chu Tianxiu vaguely remembered that the Zhoushan Islands in later generations had the title of "the best fishery in the world", and that there was Jinguashi, the largest gold mine in Asia, near a small mountain town in the northeastern corner of Taiwan, so he asked them to choose a place to build a fish farm and a gold mine.

, as the basis for development.

With the joint efforts of more than ten thousand refugee farmers and more than 2,600 cattle, more than 50,000 acres of new land were cultivated in just six days.

But the bearing capacity of this Hudou Island is ultimately limited.

However, because he chose to occupy these two places for future considerations, he did not make too many demands on Chu Zhi and Chu Qian. He just gave them money and let them perform on their own.

However, after sowing silver worth "10,000 taels" and making mountains of wealth, the effect is very significant.

For a moment, it was as if a spring rain spread on a long-desired wasteland, causing the seeds in the wasteland to take root and sprout instantly, creating a vibrant scene.

Even if all the land on the island is utilized, it will not be able to accommodate too many people. Therefore, according to Chu Tianxiu's plan, the island will continue to have refugees migrating in the next three years, but the population will never exceed ten.

Ten thousand, this will be used as a red line to ensure the import and export of food, so as to prevent this fertile land from being overwhelmed by excessive population.

There are some things that cannot be said clearly, but it is completely true that the refugees who were moved to Hu Douzhou were not randomly selected, but "elites" who were carefully selected from the refugees.

”, only those who have some ability can do it.

These fish will not only meet the needs of Hu Douzhou, but will also be sold to Jiangyin County in large quantities, so much so that the price of fish in Jiangyin County has plummeted by several points.

…

Otherwise, if all the refugees are moved here in one go, then based on the current situation in Jiangnan, there will be not to mention 40,000 to 50,000 refugees, even 4 to 50,000 refugees.

After the food supply on the island is basically satisfied, the second crop of rice can be quickly planted and harvested again. And by that time, the cultivated land on Hu Douzhou should also be reclaimed, and eventually about 400,000 acres of land can be obtained.

field.

On Hu Douzhou today, in addition to the 2,000 town navy and 1,500 Dajianghui prisoners, there are now more than 20,000 refugees, engaged in various jobs, making this place finally full of human atmosphere.

.

On the land behind the camp, large tracts of land have been reclaimed, so much so that Chu Tianxiu could not see the edges of the new fields at a glance.

After Chu Tianxiu finally got some free time and stepped into Hu Douzhou again, he found that the place had changed a lot.

Hu Douzhou is located at the mouth of the Yangtze River, with fresh water on both sides. Therefore, if you plant farmland here, as long as you dig ditches, there will be no water shortage problem. Therefore, if you have enough farm tools and cattle, it is really possible to cultivate farmland.

Not a big problem.

For him, these two islands can serve as important nodes for Chu Tianxiu's future maritime trade and maritime strategy. Going eastward along Zhoushan, he can contact Goguryeo and Japan, and going southward along Taiwan, he can spy on the Philippines and Indonesia. They are all extremely important.

maritime strategic hub.

Today's Central Plains Continent is still in chaos, and it has not yet reached the time for Chu Tianxiu to show his strength.

Comparatively speaking, for maritime forces to conquer the wild lands of North Asia and the large and small islands of Southeast Asia, they only need to wipe out some indigenous people and native countries, which will undoubtedly be much easier.

Chu Tianxiu calculated this account very clearly.
Chapter completed!