Tibet

Although the paddle boat was not fast, it was very stable. After a short rest at Guilong Island for half a day, the fleet continued to set off. At noon on the third day, the fleet arrived at Liuqiu Island.

The new county town is located at the mouth of Zhuoshui River. Zhang Ping exhausted his energy to build this county town. He recruited 20,000 laborers in Quanzhou, Fuzhou and Jianzhou to level the land, dig soil and burn bricks, cut wood and build the city. It took a full year and a half to build this county town with a circumference of 15 miles and a height of 20 feet.

In addition, the laborers also built a pier, which is only one mile away from the county town.

The Quanzhou government also moved the Han people scattered in various places on Liuqiu Island to the new city for centralized residence. At present, there are 1,300 households and about 6,000 people in the county town.

The fleet slowly docked, and the people in the city went out of the city one after another, beating gongs and drums to welcome the arrival of His Royal Highness the Regent.

A dozen selected elders presented local soil to Li Ye. Li Ye asked his personal soldiers to accept the soil, helped the elders up and said loudly: "From now on, I am also a member of Liuqiu County. My household registration will also be moved to Liuqiu County, and I will become a county citizen like everyone else."

This sentence made the people cheer like thunder. Thousands of people sang and danced, and surrounded Li Ye into the county town.

Although the county town is not big, it is well built. It is all brick and wood structure. There is a main street in the north, south, east and west, but there are many small streets. The ground is paved with stone slabs. It rains a lot here, and there are drainage ditches leading directly to the outside of the city.

The entire county town is divided into ten districts, eight of which are residential areas, the ninth is the garrison area, and the tenth is the government office storage area.

At present, there are 1,000 garrison troops on Liuqiu Island. Their duty is to defend against pirates from invading Liuqiu County. Pirates have always been the biggest threat to the people of Liuqiu County. Therefore, everyone is willing to live together to resist pirates.

There are not many businesses in the county town. There are taverns, brothels and grocery stores, as well as official post stations and reception camps. At present, Quanzhou Sima Zhao Yun is acting as the county magistrate. Then he will hand over the position of county magistrate to Zhang Ji, who will become the first official county magistrate of Liuqiu County.

Li Ye took Shen Zhenzhu and Shen Li to the top of the county town. In the distance, the mountains were undulating, covered with endless primeval forests, and on the other side was the vast sea.

"It's really far away from Chang'an!" Shen Zhenzhu sighed softly.

Li Ye smiled faintly, "The territory of the Tang Dynasty is vast, but this is far from the end. This is just the starting point of the sea. There are too many uninhabited places overseas waiting for us to occupy!"

Li Ye was open-minded at this time. With Liuqiu Island, Liuqiu Island can be used as a springboard to occupy the Luzon Islands in the south, and then the southern end of Luzon Island can be used as a springboard to occupy many uninhabited South Sea islands, and finally reach the continent in the southern hemisphere.

"Your Highness, is this the only county town on the entire island?" Shen Li asked with a smile.

Li Ye nodded, "There is only this one now, but another military city will be built in the south soon."

At this time, the sky began to be overcast. Li Ye looked at the sky and smiled, "Let's go back! It's going to rain."

As soon as they returned to the county government, a rainstorm came unexpectedly. The rain was so heavy that it soon washed the county clean.

In the lobby of the county government, Li Ye was discussing the development of the county with the governor Zhang Ping, Sima Zhao Yun, the county magistrate Zhang Ji and others.

Sima Zhaoyun knew the situation best. He said to Li Ye: "Currently, residents have too little money. The entire county cannot find a supporting industry. Residents have no way to make money. They basically rely on farming and fishing for a living. In addition, there are relatively few supplies. It takes several months for a ship to come to deliver various daily necessities, and most of them are military supplies."

Li Ye glanced at Zhang Ping, and Zhang Ping said helplessly: "The main reason is that Quanzhou itself is not rich. Many daily necessities in Quanzhou also have to be transported from Jiangnan. At present, Liuqiu County is supported by the Quanzhou government, and we are under great pressure."

Li Ye After thinking for a while, he asked, "What special products are produced here?"

"It is rich in wood and a large number of mountain fruits. Local people use fruits to make wine, which sells very well in Quanzhou."

Li Ye smiled and said, "Look, I have thought of four industries for you now. The first is fishery, the second is winemaking, the third is sugar making, and the third is logging. The focus here is sugar making. In addition, I just saw endless kapok trees on the top of the city. Cotton making is another industry. These five industries can support 100,000 people without any problem."

"But who should we sell it to?" Zhang Ping asked this sharp question.

"Except for winemaking, these industries are highly overlapped with Quanzhou on the other side of the river, and they cannot be sold in Quanzhou and other Fujian provinces."

Li Ye nodded, "This problem is easy to solve. The court will soon open a business in Jinjiang County, build a warehouse, and purchase a large amount of materials. First of all, it will ensure the output of Liuqiu County. For example, dried fish is very good for supplementing the army's dry food, so don't worry about the sales. The court will underwrite it."

Zhang Ping smiled bitterly and said, "Once the sales are solved, the population will be a big problem again. With so many large industries, how can thousands of people be enough?"

Li Ye smiled slightly and said, "Recruiting population requires strategy. Don't always think about getting it all done in one go and bringing your family to seek refuge. This is unrealistic. For such a major decision, ordinary families will not consider it unless they are in desperate situations. You should first go to Jiangnan to recruit laborers, earning five strings of money a month, with food and accommodation provided. It is best to recruit landless refugees from the north. There will definitely be a large number of laborers coming. As long as three out of ten people think it is good and they are willing to bring their families, it will be very good."

"That's too troublesome!"

"Recruiting people is a very troublesome thing. People are not sheep. Sheep only need to catch the head sheep. People have their own thoughts. The thoughts of a family are not the same, let alone hundreds or thousands of households. But the key is that you have to do a good job here, have enough land, and live a rich and peaceful life. This is why I ordered the tax exemption of Liuqiu Island for a hundred years. The court will fully support you. The court will purchase as much as there are materials, and the court will deliver as much as the island needs. There are also schools to guarantee. After the elderly die, the court will guarantee to arrange a cemetery for him in his hometown. In short, you must succeed at all costs."

Several officials were stunned. Zhang Ping murmured: "Your Highness, I really don't understand?"

Li Ye said lightly: "It's very simple. Liuqiu is a model I created. Only when the people of the Tang Dynasty see the happy life overseas with their own eyes, will they be willing to go to more distant overseas!"

From Liuqiu The next day after returning, Li Ye was about to leave. Before leaving, Li Ye said to Zhang Ping: "Next, you have to do two things as soon as possible. The first thing is to find a natural harbor in the south of Liuqiu Island as soon as possible, and then recruit workers to build a military city, which is about the same size as Liuqiu County. This must be done quickly.

The second thing is to fully cooperate with Wang Zhan to transform the sea ship. His paddle wheel is very practical. With it, our Tang navy can go to more distant overseas."

Zhang Ping scratched his head, "Your Highness, the investment in these two items is huge, and Fujian Road alone cannot afford it!"

Li Ye smiled slightly and said, "I know that we have seized a lot of wealth in this eradication of Li Xilie. I will allocate one million strings of cash to support the military city plan and the sea ship transformation plan."

Zhang Ping was overjoyed and patted his chest to guarantee: "As long as there is enough money and food, I guarantee that the city will be built within two years!"

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[I am not in good health today, there are only two chapters, please forgive me! 】