While Dong Si was busy dealing with Jin Feng, Jiang Jin had already found a water source on the island.
Jiang Jin estimated the distance—it wasn’t far, about five or six li away.
Dongzhi began planning the irrigation route, but there wasn’t much to plan; the water had to be channeled near the dock.
At this point, apart from Xie Nanxiao leading part of the Jinyang Army to scout the surrounding area, no other construction had started. The workers and rowers worked together to dig the channel.
Jiang Jin continued wandering around the stone mountain, looking for a place to store the supplies from her space.
She had brought a lot this time. Besides building materials and daily necessities, she also brought dozens of eight-cow crossbows, originally intended to modify the cargo ship into a warship.
Now that they had a proper warship, the cargo ship would stay as is. The eight-cow crossbows would be installed directly on the warship.
She walked for some time until the sounds of the workers faded away completely. Finally, she discovered a natural cave.
Just as she was about to enter, her nephew stopped her: “Aunt, let me check it out first.”
He really wanted to go “hunting” for meat, but he was worried about his aunt, so he decided to follow her for now. There was still plenty of time.
Jiang Jin smiled: “Alright, stay safe.”
Yun Chengxuan brandished the Fox Heart blade in his hand: “Aunt, don’t worry. No matter what’s in there, even if it’s a stone monster, I’ll chop it apart and spill its guts.”
Jiang Jin: “…Chengxuan, speak more politely, or a lot of people might not like you.”
Yun Chengxuan’s expression turned fierce, but with his handsome face and still some baby fat, he looked more adorable than threatening.
He stabbed the Fox Heart into the ground and said: “If anyone doesn’t like me, I’ll chop them apart and spill their guts.”
Jiang Jin: “…” Never mind, education had failed.
Yun Chengxuan led the way into the cave, which grew larger as they went deeper.
The entrance was less than two meters wide, but after walking a few meters inward, the width expanded to five or six meters, and the depth stretched far ahead.
The deeper they went, the dimmer the light became.
Jiang Jin was just considering whether to bring out some instruments when several dark figures darted out from inside, leaping high at Yun Chengxuan’s head.
Yun Chengxuan reacted faster. He sidestepped slightly to dodge the attack while swinging the Fox Heart horizontally.
With a squelch, one dark figure was cleaved in two.
Three others leapt over his head.
Jiang Jin moved like lightning, striking twice in quick succession. Two dark figures were hit and thudded to the ground.
One dark figure dodged her and tried to flee toward the entrance, but Yun Chengxuan took a big step forward, swung his blade, and the fleeing figure was separated from its body head.
Only then did Jiang Jin see clearly what had attacked them: rabbits?
These rabbits had gray-black fur and were much larger than ordinary rabbits—each likely weighed seven or eight jin.
Yun Chengxuan exclaimed with joy: “Great! They’re bunnies! We can roast bunnies for lunch!”
Jiang Jin examined the rabbit bodies. Aside from being bigger than ordinary rabbits, there was nothing unusual.
She nodded: “Clean them up. This should be close to the end of the cave.”
As she expected, after walking another ten or so meters, they reached the end of the cave.
She adjusted her telescope to night-vision mode, confirmed the cave was safe, and then told Yun Chengxuan to stand guard outside.
Yun Chengxuan somehow found several long vines, tied up the four rabbits—eight halves in total—strung them together, and carried them in his hand.
“Alright, Auntie, hurry up! There are bunnies in the mountains. Let’s go find them later,” she said, then dashed out of the cave excitedly.
Jiang Jin cleaned out the cave once more before stashing away supplies.
On her way back, she deliberately left some traces on the path, making it look like many people had passed through.
Xie Nanxiao saw the rabbit in Yun Chengxuan’s hands and was overjoyed: “Not bad, not bad—our meat supply is sorted now.”
Yun Chengxuan grinned: “Right you are! There must be plenty of bunnies in the mountains. I’ll head out to hunt later.”
Xie Nanxiao felt a bit regretful that he couldn’t join in—there was too much to do on the island right after their arrival.
As expected, Jiang Jin assigned him a task: “About two miles north, there’s a cave where I’ve stocked construction materials and daily necessities in advance. Take some men and bring them here.”
Xie Nanxiao nodded: “As you command, Lord. I’ll arrange the team right away.”
He silently marveled at how formidable his Lord’s private army was—they even surpassed the Dragon Shadow Guard. He wondered what they were called: Phoenix Shadow Guard? Hidden Shadow Guard?
Meanwhile, Kang Sheng had found a suitable spot for building, less than five hundred meters from the beach. It was on higher ground, offering a wider view.
It sat between two rocky hills, whose trees could somewhat block the sea breeze.
Jiang Jin was pleased with his choice: “Excellent. Have them start laying the foundation right away. Bricks and cement will be delivered soon.”
Kang Sheng was stunned: “There are bricks and cement on the island?”
Jiang Jin smiled: “Naturally. I made preparations in advance.”
Kang Sheng was awestruck, yet it seemed expected—his Lord always planned meticulously before acting.
Jiang Jin pointed to the beach: “Have some people gather sand for use. Though this beach is small, I wonder if it’ll be enough.”
Kang Sheng looked it over: “Don’t worry. If it’s not enough, we can dig from the seabed.”
Jiang Jin nodded: “Good, but sea sand contains salt, so it needs to be filtered before use.” Luckily, she wasn’t using steel reinforcement—that would rust. Still, filtering was safer regardless.
On the beach, Wang Liang and Chen Mi had already marked the spot for building a dock.
They stood there, utterly baffled, watching the Dragon Shadow Guards far away as they felled trees with loud thuds.
Though the rocky hills were steep, the guards moved with the agility of apes. No one could quite figure out how they climbed, but they scrambled up in no time.
The island was mostly steep, rocky hills, but trees grew on them. Since the island was uninhabited and untouched by logging, the trees were enormous.
Jiang Jin had brought plenty of pre-dried timber, but good materials never hurt.
What’s more, with the addition of ‘marines,’ the houses and everything else would need expansion.
The extra branches and twigs could be used as firewood.
“The Jinyang Army—this formidable?” Wang Liang muttered numbly.
Chen Mi asked curiously, “Aren’t they called the Dragon Shadow Guard? Is the Dragon Shadow Guard part of the Jinyang Army?”
It took Wang Liang a moment to register his question. He turned to stare at Chen Mi: “You… aren’t you in the Jinyang Army? Why are you asking me?”
Chen Mi: “…”
How could he explain that he was practically a newcomer, just a few days ahead of Wang Liang?
What’s worse, he’d been ‘sold off’ for being ‘out of favor.’ It was a tearful tale—he’d had more shocks in these past few days than in his entire life before.
Jiang Jin returned to the beach to find them staring at the Dragon Shadow Guard from afar. She asked, puzzled: “What’s wrong with you two?”
Wang Liang and the others snapped out of it, grinning sheepishly: “Oh, nothing. Nothing at all.”
Jiang Jin nodded. "Let's take a look at where to build the dock. Preferably a sheltered spot that can accommodate several dozen small boats."
Wang Liang pointed to the right side of the beach. "This area would work—the water is deep enough, and there's a protruding cliff over there. However, we'd need to build a pier about ten zhang long."
Jiang Jin followed his gaze and agreed it was a good location.
Wang Liang hesitated for a moment before asking, "May I ask how you intend to proceed, Lord? Will it all be made of wood?"
Jiang Jin shook his head. "No, I'm planning an iron-and-wood structure. Iron supports, filled with cement, and then paved with wood."
To prevent corrosion, the iron would also be coated with paint.
Wang Liang was stunned. "You have iron, Lord?"
