Daming pirates

Heping Island at the mouth of Jilong Bay was a busy scene. When Yu Xiaotian arrived here, there were many small and large boats going back and forth between the island and the shore, transporting various materials back and forth.

A temporary dock was built on the east side of Heping Island specifically for unloading goods. Many people were busy on the island, shouting slogans, unloading some building materials from the ship, and then using ox carts to It was transported to the fort under construction and handed over to the craftsmen for use.

There was even a road specially built for this purpose on the island. The road was paved with gravel and some slag, and was compacted with stone mills, which made it much easier to transport materials.

Some masons simply quarried stones on the island and used them directly for the construction of forts to reduce transportation costs.

In order to make the logs harvested on land strong and durable and not easy to rot, they are roasted on a fire before being transported. First, the moisture in the wood can be forced out, making it less likely to be damaged after use. , deformation occurs, the second is that it can be baked at high temperature to burn some borers, insect eggs or termites in the wood to prevent them from causing trouble in the fort in the future, and the other is to form a carbonized layer on the surface to make it less likely to happen again. rot.

After all, there are too many rainy days in the Jilong Bay area of ​​Taiwan Island, and the air here is also very humid. If these preparations are not made in advance, it will not take long after the fort is completed.

However, in order to make the fort stronger and last longer, the main weighing structure here is mostly constructed of stone, reducing the use of wood and making it more durable.

When Yu Xiaotian led his fleet to arrive here, the fort here had already begun to take shape. A hexagonal polygonal fort had been erected and was initially entering the final stage.

Yu Xiaotian didn't wait for the boat to reach a stable position, and quickly jumped from the boat to the trestle. He didn't talk nonsense to the black head who rushed to greet him, and said directly: "Let's go and see how the fort is built first. Got it!"

Heitou had long been accustomed to Yu Xiaotian's style of doing things. He waved his hand to his men to start unloading the ship, and arranged for the food and accommodation of the new immigrants. In addition, more than 200 Chen Jiu's men brought by Yu Xiaotian also found a place to go first. Set them up and put people under supervision to prevent them from causing trouble.

The personal guards, led by Liu Wang, protected Yu Xiaotian and let Heitou lead the way towards the fort.

"How are you doing here these days? Has anything big happened?" Yu Xiaotian asked Heitou as he strode towards the fort.

Heitou immediately replied: "Nothing big happened, but a month ago, a group of thieves passed by here, trying to make a fortune and steal some people from our place!

But they were discovered early by us. Before they could take action, I led my men to kill them. I killed a dozen of them and captured a dozen, and the remaining twenty ran as fast as I could. I wasn't caught!

I sent these twenty-odd prisoners to collect stones and cut wood! They don’t even know who we are, so they dare to come here to cause trouble! Hehe!

In addition, during this period of time, when I sent a boat out to patrol, I encountered a few merchant ships. I made two tickets, robbed two ships, and got a batch of things. I first stored them in the village in Wanzi, and then I went back home. You can take it away when you arrive.

By the way, five days ago, a group of local natives also ran out of the mountains and forests and tried to steal things from our camp. I took poor precautions and almost let them succeed!

They killed six of us peasants and robbed a woman who was cooking, but we also killed a dozen of them and arrested seven or eight of them! Please punish them, sir!"

Yu Xiaotian listened while walking and nodded: "You are indeed a little careless! But it won't be the same next time. Generally speaking, you did a good job! Those who deserve the award should still be rewarded! But when dealing with natives, remember, no one will offend me.

, I don’t offend anyone. Since this tribe dares to provoke us, we cannot spare them!

This time I have brought you thirty more soldiers, and twenty new flintlock muskets to strengthen your defense here.

The more than 200 men under Chen Jiu will be used as coolies first. Whoever does well will be promoted to foreman. After a year, if they perform well, they can be liberated from their status as prisoners of war and transferred to the reserve camp.

Training! You can then join the ship to work, or you can enter the war barracks to work!

Those who perform particularly well can be directly transferred to become our personnel, but if any of them want to cause trouble here, you know how to deal with it! You should not be merciful, you must not be merciful, let them understand the truth, follow me

Come on, those who obey will get meat, and those who don’t obey will get a slap in the face! Those who cause trouble are seeking death!

After these people are given to you, find the tribe that attacked our camp and use thunder to make them understand that they can be friends with us, but if they want to be our enemies, we will destroy them!"

Heitou repeatedly claimed that he had written down Yu Xiaotian's instructions, and accompanied Yu Xiaotian while talking and walking, and soon arrived at the construction site of the fort.

After getting closer, Yu Xiaotian found that the scale of the fort was slightly smaller than he thought, but there was no problem in accommodating fifty to one hundred guards. The height had now reached two feet, but there was no sign of it being topped out.

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Most of the main body of the wall is made of staggered stones quarried on site. The joints of the stones are bonded with lime mixed with yellow mud commonly used by craftsmen.

Yu Xiaotian reached out and touched the joints between the stones. Some of the joints were well made and the gaps were very small. However, many of the stone joints had larger gaps and looked rough in workmanship. Yu Xiaotian was somewhat disappointed with this.

At this time, the foreman who was in charge of building the fort here heard the sound and rushed over. He saw Yu Xiaotian observing the stone joints of the fort, so he quickly said with a smile: "Let me tell you, the master, the joints are indeed a bit rough! It's okay!"

I hope you’ll forgive me! It’s just that among those of us who came here, we really didn’t have very good masons. The stones we cut out were of different sizes and we didn’t have time to polish them. We had to use them in order to rush the work, so the joints were not smooth.

It’s easy to make, but it can only be filled with gray sand, but don’t worry, sir, there’s no problem with this wall! It’s solid!”

Yu Xiaotian didn't worry too much about this matter, because he knew very well who was sent here. There were no masons, but they were all masons who did rough work. Most of the stones were mined with ordinary materials.

If a civilian man can quarry stone, it is considered a good thing.

Moreover, the construction period he required was also short. The craftsmen here were limited, so they could only make do with these irregularly shaped stones to build the walls. Being able to do this was already a great effort.

What's more, the fort he wants now can't be too high, as long as it has enough defensive power. He has never thought about turning this fort into a high-quality project. He has neither time nor energy.

It’s like you don’t have any spare money to spend on aesthetics.

So he nodded to agree with the foreman's statement and began to observe the fort carefully.

The fort covers an area of ​​about one acre, which is about a thousand square meters. The structure is indeed the bastion-like structure he wanted. It is a combination of stone and wood, with a small amount of plaster used in some places.

In terms of shape, this fort has a bit of a combination of Chinese and Western features. It has some characteristics of Western architecture and Chinese architecture. Who made him conceive of such a bastion fort? The craftsmen have never seen one truly built in Western countries.

bastion, so they could only use their imagination to build this fort.

Therefore, the appearance of the fort built seemed a bit nondescript, which made Yu Xiaotian a little disappointed. However, he did not dwell too much on this aspect. At the moment, he was pursuing pragmatism, as long as it was usable and beautiful.

It's secondary, so he didn't even ask craftsmen to do the necessary decorations, so as to save a waste of time.

Therefore, this fort looks rustic, with a bluish-gray color overall, and the carbonized and blackened wood in some places is exposed, making it even more ugly.

Yu Xiaotian walked into the fort. There were many people working on the fort. When they saw the foreman carefully accompanying Yu Xiaotian into the fort, they all quickly stopped what they were doing and paid tribute to Yu Xiaotian.

"Don't be too polite, hurry up and work! The weather is too hot, finish early and rest early! Blackhead!" Yu Xiaotian said while waving his hands.

"My subordinate is here!"

"How are the food and accommodation arrangements for the craftsmen?" Yu Xiaotian asked Heitou.

Heitou quickly lowered his head and replied: "I don't dare to neglect, try to make better arrangements. I can let Liu Jiangtou himself say this!"

The foreman quickly said with a smile: "Thank you, boss, for your concern. The black leader is really good to the little ones. He feeds the little ones every day and gives them enough water. The work sheds are also prepared, so that the big guys have a place to sleep and can still sleep."

Go to the sea and take a bath! I also give the little ones meat every now and then. This life is more nourishing than when the little ones were on land!"

Yu Xiaotian nodded and said: "You are tired, so naturally you should do this! If you are dissatisfied with anything, just tell me, and I will try my best to help you as long as I can!"

Blackhead, these craftsmen do all physical work, so they must be fed well, and they must eat and drink cleanly, and they must not get sick from this, otherwise I will not spare you!"

"My subordinates obey! You must remember the instructions of the master!" Blackhead nodded in agreement.

Liu Jiangtou quickly bowed to thank Yu Xiaotian again.

Yu Xiaotian stopped talking nonsense and let Liu Jiangtou take him around the inside of the fort to see the structural layout of the fort.

The internal design of this fort was basically based on his ideas. A large water cellar was excavated on the bottom floor to store water, which could ensure that about a hundred people could stay here for two months without a lack of fresh water.

, and this water cellar is also built with a special channel for collecting rainwater. Usually, the water cellar can be filled up by rainfall alone, and there is no need to go to the shore to transport fresh water. Once the water cellar is full, it can be directly

If it is drained away, there will be no situation where the Seventh Army will be flooded.

Yu Xiaotian greatly praised this design. This saves a lot of manpower and material resources, and also saves a lot of time in transporting fresh water. If this place is besieged, it will be close to the rainfall.

It is basically impossible to have a water outage, which ensures the need for fresh water for the personnel inside the fort. It is a very good design.