Zhou Sui sighed. “I took a look. Most of it has been destroyed—even quite a lot of the spare timber inside…”
Although Jiang Jin had already expected this, her heart still ached. She cursed Qu Zhao inwardly for wasting such precious materials.
Good timber was not easy to come by. It also had to be air-dried for a long time to ensure it would not warp or crack.
Xie Nanxiao was equally pained. “My lord, I took Xin San and the others to inspect it as well. Restoring the shipyard would be no different from rebuilding it from the ground up.”
Jiang Jin’s tone was firm. “Then rebuild it. We must build ships, and they need to be larger, stronger, and more advanced than before. Have Xin San and the others draw up a plan for the shipyard and submit it to me.”
Xie Nanxiao hesitated. “My lord, rebuilding the shipyard will be easy enough, but shipwrights are difficult to find. Xin San and the others alone won’t be enough.”
Shipwrights were not easy to train. It took several years at the very least—perhaps even a decade.
Jiang Jin thought for a moment. “I’ll ask Daqing. They should have quite a few shipwrights there. Borrowing some of them shouldn’t be a problem.”
She then turned to Mu Ning. “Send a message to Chen Xi in Sizhou and ask whether they can find any shipwrights there. I’m willing to pay them well.”
For one thing, all the shipwrights from the shipyard in Xianglu County had followed them to Sizhou. Those people might not necessarily be put to good use there, since Sizhou already had shipwrights of its own.
Mu Ning acknowledged the order. “Yes.”
Mu Wanbai raised her hand timidly. “My lord, Qu Zhao planted half of the crops in Donghu Commandery. Should we pull them all up and replant them with our own seeds?”
Mu Qing had been busy overseeing the farming in the three villages and around Dancheng, so this time she had sent Mu Wanbai to Donghu Commandery with a group of people.
It was also Mu Wanbai’s first time attending a large meeting without her grandfather accompanying her, and she was somewhat nervous.
Jiang Jin frowned. “Is there still enough time to raise seedlings?”
She had actually made preparations beforehand and had asked Mu Qing to raise more seedlings.
However, transportation in this era was inconvenient. Seedlings could be transferred from the three villages to the farmland near Dancheng, but places such as Heichun and Xianglu were too far away. Seedlings would have to be raised there from scratch.
Mu Wanbai had clearly done her homework. “There’s still enough time. It’s just that pulling up the crops already planted would be somewhat wasteful.”
In the north, only one crop was planted each year. It was already mid-May, but there was still enough time. Planting a little past the season might affect the yield somewhat, but not by much. After all, Jiang Jin’s seeds had been optimized using technology from a later era.
Dong Si smiled. “What’s there to waste? Their seeds can’t compare with ours. Just calculate the difference in yield and you won’t feel bad anymore.”
Jiang Jin nodded. “That’s right. Pull everything up and replant it. However, plant comparatively less rice and wheat in Donghu Commandery, and more potatoes, sweet potatoes, sugar beets, and soybeans.”
“Potatoes in particular can serve as a staple food and have a short growing cycle. With so many more people now, our existing food supplies won’t be enough.”
“And cotton. The north is cold. I hope that this year, not only will the soldiers of the Jinyang Army be able to wear cotton-padded clothes, but the common people will as well.”
“Work out the exact quantities yourself and plant according to the circumstances.”
Mu Wanbai hurriedly nodded. “Understood.”
Jiang Jin continued, “Didn’t I give you corn seeds this year? Plant more of those as well. Dried corn can be stored for a long time, and later it can be ground into cornmeal and so on.”
Mu Wanbai quickly agreed. This was another new crop she had never seen before, so she had been extremely careful, following the instructions Jiang Jin had provided to the letter.
Luo Qingci added, “While there is still water available, I suggest that Donghu Commandery should also prepare water-storage facilities. This year may still bring drought.”
Mu Wanbai hesitated. “Donghu Commandery is vast, and its farmland is scattered. Water-storage projects will be difficult to build. We can only do our best.”
Jiang Jin gave a quiet assent. “Don’t rush. Build them as best you can. If that doesn’t work, we’ll discuss it again. There’s always a solution.”
After discussing these matters, Jiang Jin turned to Guo Li, who was in charge of the construction team. “Have you found any limestone or clay nearby? Donghu Commandery’s development will require large quantities of cement and bricks and tiles.”
Guo Li and Kang Sheng were the two people primarily responsible for construction.
Kang Sheng had been assigned to Shantong County.
In Shantong County, Jiang Jin not only had to build watchtowers and signal posts in the mountains, but also a weapons district and a wharf to facilitate the transportation of weapons in the future.
Apart from these military facilities, the county seat, horse ranch, livestock farm, and other places all had to be rebuilt as well. In short, there was a mountain of work to be done.
Guo Li nodded. “We have, and there’s quite a lot of it.”
He pointed out the locations on the map.
Jiang Jin studied it, then pointed to several spots. “Build facilities at all of these places.”
Transportation was underdeveloped and moving goods was inconvenient. The best approach was to use local materials whenever possible.
Now that all of Donghu Commandery belonged to her, she no longer needed to secretly send soldiers to guard these construction sites.
Whether it was building cement works or brick and tile kilns, none of it was particularly difficult for people whose techniques were already well established.
Luo Qingci studied the map. “Should we build several more pottery kilns as well?”
Now that the population had grown, the pottery produced solely at Gefeng was no longer enough, and transporting it was inconvenient.
Jiang Jin nodded. “Then choose two locations—one near Heichun County and one near Xianglu County. That will make things convenient whether the pottery is for internal use or for sale and transport elsewhere.”
She turned to Xie Nanxiao. “Take some people to Kewan Island and have a look. I want to build a temporary wharf there.”
Xie Nanxiao’s face lit up. “Where on Kewan Island does my lord wish to build it?”
Jiang Jin looked at the map and pointed toward the island’s southwest. “Look around this area and see whether there’s a suitable place for a wharf.”
Xie Nanxiao studied the spot. “Understood.”
Once the wharf on Kewan Island was completed, communication with Sizhou would become much more convenient, and the safety of Chen Xi and the others in Sizhou would be better assured.
Remembering something, Jiang Jin continued, “When you go, take some people experienced in farming with you. I want to plant a particular kind of tree on Kewan Island.”
The meeting lasted for more than an hour before it finally ended.
Dong Si poured Jiang Jin a cup of hot water. “My lord, should we begin the policy of lending money to commoners so they can build houses in the villages?”
Jiang Jin nodded. “Yes. Find out how many people want to borrow money to build houses.”
“Try to consolidate the villages as much as possible. If a village has only a few or a dozen households, merge it with a nearby village whenever possible. That will make management easier.”
Although Jiang Jin had taken control of Donghu Commandery, she had no intention of distributing the fields to individual households until hybrid-rice seeds had been developed.
The seeds were precious. Only through unified management and scientifically coordinated cultivation could they achieve the greatest harvest.
In this era, few commoners had land of their own to begin with. Working her fields was far better than working for aristocratic clans and nobles, and no one would object.
Dong Si accepted the order. “I’ll see to it.”
Yao Ji led his people to Yushu County, which lay southwest of Feng’an County, not too far from Feng’an.
He had been busy recently and had only managed to find the time to come today.
Lu You wore an admiring expression. “The combat strength of your Jinyang Army is truly formidable. Your generals are brave and skilled in battle, and your soldiers are fearless.”
His gaze shifted subtly toward Shuangjiang. This child, who still looked so young, had cleaved a man in half with a single slash.
Yao Ji smiled modestly. “You flatter us. Haha. Our forces aren’t large, and after taking the city, we had to rely on your people to help clear it out. Please forgive us for not being better hosts.”
The division of the cities had already been agreed upon beforehand. Tao County and Zhuangchang County would go to Lu You, while Yushu County would belong to Jiang Jin.
After all, Lu You was the main force behind this siege.
Li Zan said with a smile, “I hear your houses have fire walls and heated brick beds. Is Yushu County planning to rebuild them as well?”
As the two sides came into increasingly frequent contact, Li Zan had also heard about some of the distinctive features of the Jinyang Army.
