This river was called the Nineteen Rivers because it had a total of nineteen bends.
Other than the source, the narrowest part of the river was a few kilometers wide, and the widest part was hundreds of kilometers wide.
After walking west along the Nineteen Rivers for a day, they finally arrived at their first destination. The canning factory, the hydraulic forging workshop, the blast furnace, the new cement factory, and the glass factory were all in this area.
After all, this place was rich in hydraulic resources.
Moreover, three days after disembarking from the boat, they would then head north for another four to five days to reach the Protectorate of the Northeast, and three days south to reach the Protectorate of the Southeast. If they continued to follow the river, they would eventually pass through the Chen Nation and enter the sea.
Apart from having to be careful of all kinds of strange things in the water, this was a good place.
If they could open a North-South Canal in the future, they would be able to reach Lan City or even further north. If they were to head south, they would be able to reach the southern region. Then, this place would really be amazing.
Looking at the map, this plan was completely achievable.
The premise was that Dayao's maps, which were miles away from the real world, were reliable.
In eight to ten years, this place might be like the Pudong New District. At worst, it would be like the Xiong 'an New District.
Before they arrived at the canning factory, they could see some people fishing along the riverbank.
Their fishing method was very unique.
A group of people squatted at the edge of the water dozens of meters apart. They cut their fingers and stuck them into the water while holding a barbed spear in their other hand.
Every once in a while, someone could be seen retracting his hand at lightning speed and stabbing the spear into the water. When the spear was pulled back, a big fish that weighed dozens of kilograms could be seen struggling on it.
The next step was easy. First, they tore off a piece of meat from the fish, put it into the water, and waited with the spear.
Along the way, Ren Baqian saw at least thousands of people doing this. From time to time, he could even see a crocodile being stabbed into the water with a spear. The aquatic resources in this river were too rich. With such a simple and crude method, one person could catch at least a few hundred kilograms of fish in a day.
After a large number of large carnivorous fish were killed in one place, large carnivorous fish from other places would quickly fill up the gap.
After countless years of accumulation, this river seemed to contain endless resources.
Ren Baqian and the empress stood by the river and watched for a while. The two figures stood side by side while the others waited at a distance.
"This is the treasury," Ren Baqian said as he pointed at the rippling river in front of him. It was a pity that Dayao had not made good use of it.
The food produced by this river alone could feed hundreds of thousands of people without any pressure.
This was mainly because the people of Dayao didn't like to eat fish because of the fish bones. To the people of Dayao who were used to eating meat, it was a very troublesome matter.
However, using the pressure cooker to make canned food was a good choice.
When the production increased, it could be put on the market.
"In the future, we can open up two canals to connect the north and south. Regardless of whether it's transportation or traveling, we can save a lot of manpower and material resources," Ren Baqian told the empress about his fantasies. As for the manpower to open the canal, it was naturally the Yun Nation.
At present, he had already found several new jobs for the people of the Yun Nation.
Including building roads, opening canals, and mining …
"Let's not talk about the treasure vault first. From what I know, the new barracks have a lot of resentment towards you," the empress said as she looked at the river.
"Why?" Ren Baqian was puzzled. He did not have any dealings with the new barracks.
"They have already been eating fish for two months. They joined the army to eat meat, not to eat fish …" The empress felt that it was a little funny. There were two batches of 40,000 new recruits in the new barracks. If one had to choose one person that they hated the most, it would definitely be Ren Baqian.
Just because of one of his ideas, they had been eating fish for two months.
They could still accept eating fish occasionally, but now, they had to eat these things every day. It was imaginable how heavy their resentment was. At present, the new barracks could be said to be full of complaints.
Ren Baqian spread his hands. This was something that couldn't be helped. After all, Dayao wasn't rich in food. It was already good enough to have something to eat. Those refugees who were affected by the war in the north were still eating grass.
Those refugees who were affected by the war in the north returned to their villages to see their fields that were in a complete mess.
The livestock farming in the north was slightly worse than the livestock farming in the south. Most of the time, they would sell the vegetables produced in the fields at the market to supplement part of their meat.
And those crops that were planted in the fields were destroyed. They could only dig wild vegetables and a small amount of meat to barely fill their stomachs.
Even though they wouldn't starve to death, they wouldn't be full either.
In their words, they were eating grass.
However, it was still better than eating soil.
It would take at least a few months for them to recover to their pre-war state.
Next, the group of people first arrived at the canning factory.
The so-called canning factory wasn't big. It only had a few big sheds and a thousand people.
There were piles of firewood everywhere in the courtyard and a large amount of waste from the fish.
From afar, one could see the smoke rising from the canning factory. It seemed that the fire was going on 24/7. The fish caught from the river were stewed and stuffed into glass jars that were as tall as a person. Then, the jars were covered with animal skins and sent to the new barracks that was half a day's journey away.
And when they got closer, they could smell an extremely strong fishy smell.
A few hundred meters away from the high-temperature cooking area was the place where the waste from the fish was stored. A large number of fly-like creatures were in this area. When people walked around, they would be startled by a dense black mass.
Seeing such a situation, Ren Baqian's eyebrows knitted together.
Dirty, messy, and poor! It made people nauseous.
Could the food made in this way be eaten?
"Is this how you make food for the recruits to eat?" Ren Baqian frowned and questioned the person in charge of the canning factory who came to welcome them.
That person looked at the empress and then at Ren Baqian with a strange look on his face. "Yes!"
"Are you willing to eat it?" Ren Baqian asked.
"I eat this every day!" That person still didn't know what Ren Baqian was trying to say.
Ren Baqian looked at that person's innocent face and was so angry that he didn't know what to say.
"This is for the mouth. Can't the food be cleaner? Let's not talk about being dustless, at least make it cleaner, "Ren Baqian said bitterly.
"Sir, we will do as you say." That person finally reacted.
Even though he felt that Ren Baqian was making a big fuss over a minor issue.
The people of this era had a completely different standard of hygiene from modern people.
Just like how Third Brother wiped his butt with his left hand and ate with his right hand, most people in this country couldn't accept it.
Ren Baqian and the others stayed here for three days. Ren Baqian formulated a complete set of hygiene rules, including that everyone had to wash their hands before touching the ingredients, that the fish waste had to be dragged far away to be disposed of every day, and that they had to use vines to weave curtains around the sheds to prevent flies from entering.
Although the things that Ren Baqian had requested weren't done when he left, he was already prepared to come back and take a look.
After all, this was the first food processing factory in Dayao. It was necessary to set up hygiene rules and everything would be handled according to them in the future.
Next, everyone went to the hydraulic forging workshop. There was a row of wooden waterwheels by the river. As the waterwheel rotated, the bearings drove two giant hammers up and down, repeatedly smashing the iron plates below.
The loud noise made it difficult for people to hear even if they shouted at a close distance.
"Your Majesty, this thing is too convenient. The blacksmiths can only swing a hammer that weighs 15 kilograms for an hour at most before they have to rest. This thing can be used 24 hours a day, driving two hammers that weigh 50 kilograms to strike continuously. One waterwheel is equivalent to nearly 100 people, "the official from the Ministry of Works who was in charge of the hydraulic forging workshop couldn't hide his joy as he said.
There were a total of six such waterwheels here, and they were still in the process of being built.
To them, this kind of hydraulic forging was a pioneering work, and its effect was enough to inspire people.
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