Ang Lee had already decided that for the next six months, he would try his best to choose a different group for the first place every month. This way, all the pirate groups would have the confidence to continue working hard. At the same time, he would clearly tell these captured pirates that more work could offset their crimes. The more work they did, the greater their chances of obtaining absolute freedom in the future.
"No matter which group gets first place next month, it definitely can't be this month's group. At most, we'll let them get second place."
Ang Lee stated his decision.
Chen Long smiled and said, "Assistant Minister Li, I understand. What you mean is to give them some confidence. Let them all believe that as long as they work hard, they will have a chance to get first place. Squeeze out all of their potential. This move is really powerful!"
Ang Lee smiled slyly and said, "When dealing with these guys, you have to use your brain. These guys have done all kinds of bad things. It's not too much to scheme against them. Even if you scheme against them to death, you're still doing the people a favor."
Ang Lee didn't have any pity for these captured pirates. He was currently lacking manpower. The more these guys worked, the sooner the workshop could be completed. Ang Lee also couldn't stay in the Black Dragon Archipelago for a long time. He had to leave in a few months. Naturally, he had to do more before he left. The most important thing was to complete the workshop as soon as possible.
These captive pirates were naturally unaware of Li An's scheme. They had to work hard every day, so how could they have thought of this? In their opinion, there was no need for the officers to deliberately deceive them. There was no need for that.
Sure enough, after the group with the best performance received the benefits, the pirates performed even better this month. Every group of captured pirates worked hard. None of the pirates slacked off. They all knew that working more was good for them. If they deliberately slacked off, they would be punished.
Even the Black Dragon and the old guys under his command all became serious. After all, not only were they last last month, but they also didn't complete the lowest level mission. This made their punishment even more severe. The officers had already said that if they continued like this and couldn't complete the most basic mission every month, then they could wait to spend the rest of their lives in prison!
In order to complete the most basic mission, the Black Dragon and a few of his trusted subordinates had to work hard. They had no other choice. They couldn't escape anyway. Under such circumstances, what choice did they have other than to work hard?
"Look at these guys. They're working harder and harder. If they continue like this, the construction of the fish processing workshop will be completed in two months."
Ang Lee said with satisfaction.
"Assistant Minister Li is right. The soldiers are also working very hard. The preparation of the wood is almost complete. The land has also been leveled. Now we can build the first batch of workshops."
Chen Long said happily.
Ang Lee said with a smile, "Good! Then what are we waiting for? Let's build the first batch of workshops. In addition, the pottery workshop at Tianguang Port should have been completed! "
"Assistant Minister Li, the pottery workshop has been completed. The first batch of pots should be out of the kiln. They should be delivered in a few days."
Chen Long said.
Ang Lee nodded with satisfaction and said, "The most important product of the fish processing workshop is canned fish. These canned fish can be kept for a long time. They can be sold at a good price inland. In the future, canned fish will be the most important industry of this workshop. The more expensive the fish is, the higher the price and the more the profit will be after being canned."
"Shall we go to the pottery workshop to have a look?"
Chen Long asked.
Li An nodded and said, "Okay, then let's go to the pottery workshop and take a look. While we're at it, let's transport the pottery to Black Dragon Island."
After a little preparation, Ang Lee left Black Dragon Island with more than a hundred officers and soldiers and headed for Tianguang Port.
Because the distance was not very far, they arrived at Tianguang Port in a little more than a day. Then they rode to the pottery workshop.
"Not bad! This pottery workshop is quite large. It has so many kilns. "
Ang Lee looked at the large number of kilns in front of him and said with satisfaction.
The pottery workshop had only been built recently. It was indeed very good that it had reached such a large scale in such a short time. At least, Ang Lee was very satisfied.
"Assistant Minister Li, this is because we used hundreds of captured pirates and our officers and soldiers. In addition, we also spent money to hire the nearby people. Only in this way can we build the pottery workshop to such a large scale in such a short time."
Chen Long said.
Ang Lee said with satisfaction, "Not bad. Resources should be used more. The number of captured pirates is not small. There are more than a thousand of them. With so much free labor, it would be a pity if we didn't use it."
Since ancient times, people who had made mistakes had to go to prison. However, locking people in prison was not only a waste of food, it was also very bad for the prisoners' health. This was an unreasonable punishment. The best punishment should be to work. There was nothing more suitable than letting people who should have been in prison work. This way, these criminals could create productive value and not waste food. The more serious the crime, the heavier and dirtier the work.
"Assistant Minister Li, let's go inside and have a look!"
Chen Long said.
Ang Lee nodded and entered the pottery workshop with Chen Long. They saw the craftsmen who were making clay embryos. These craftsmen worked very seriously. Only by working seriously could they make the best and most qualified clay embryos.
There were only a few steps to make a clay pot. First, the raw material had to be mined, which was the clay material. After the clay was obtained, the next step was to add water and mud. After mixing the mud, the next step was to make a mud body. The mud body needed to be dried in a cool place. After drying, it was placed in a kiln to be fired. Then the kiln was opened. It was that simple.
Among all the steps, the step of making clay embryos was the most laborious and time-consuming. At the same time, it was also the most technical step. Digging and mixing mud almost did not require any technical skills. It was something that anyone could do. Drying the clay embryos did not require any technical skills. In general, there was no technical skills other than making clay embryos. Therefore, the recruitment process was very simple. They could recruit a large number of workers and let those who did not understand the technical skills and who were slow to learn to do the non-technical processes. The most difficult part, making clay embryos, was handed over to the craftsmen who were skilled and learned quickly.
The technical content of making clay embryos was not that high. If the requirements for the appearance of the pottery were not high, they could barely make the product after a few days of learning. It was just that the more skilled the craftsmen, the better the quality of the clay embryos and the more beautiful the appearance of the pottery. On the other hand, the clay embryos made by the less skilled craftsmen might be crooked. If the appearance was too crooked, it could not be used and could be regarded as a waste.
Although the faces of the people working were not written, Ang Lee still saw some familiar faces. These people who were responsible for digging and mixing mud were captured pirates. Some of the people who were making clay embryos were captured pirates. Some of the people who were making clay embryos were captured pirates and some were ordinary people. In order to facilitate management, the captured pirates wore the same clothes while the ordinary people wore a variety of clothes. In this way, it was not easy for the captured pirates to escape. After all, the ordinary people working had to leave the workshop every day while the captured pirates could only live in the centralized detention room next to the workshop.
"Assistant Minister Li, there are five hundred craftsmen working in this pottery workshop. Among them, three hundred are captured pirates, and two hundred are commoners recruited from nearby areas. Among them, there are only a dozen or so people who have done this before. With these dozen or so people in charge of guiding us, we should be able to make qualified pots."
One of the captains said.
Li An nodded with satisfaction and said, "Not bad, not bad at all. Let's go and take a look at the newly baked pots."
After that, he walked to the kiln area, ready to see the newly made pots with his own eyes.
Just now, a new batch of pots had been taken out of the kiln and were naturally cooling.
"Assistant Minister Li, these are the pots that just came out of the kiln. They are still hot."
The lieutenant said.
Ang Lee reached out and touched them gently. The pots were still a little hot.
"Assistant Minister Li, most of these craftsmen are novices, so the quality of the pots they make is not very high. The openings of the pots are not flat or round enough."
The lieutenant continued to say.
Li An nodded with a smile. Because the craftsmen were all greenhorns, the quality of the pottery jars they made was not very good. That was to say, the pottery jars were not round enough. Most of the openings of the pottery jars were oval, but the openings of the pottery jars of good quality should be round. Not only were the openings of the pottery jars oval, but many of the lids were oval as well. As a result, the main body of the pottery jars and the lids did not match well. They needed to slowly search for a suitable lid among many lids. If all the craftsmen were very familiar with each other, such a situation would not occur. If all the lids and openings were exactly the same, there would be no need to choose the lids. Any one of them would work.
Ang Lee said with a smile, "It's already very good. Novices need to practice slowly. You can't be too harsh on them. However, you can make the pots like this at the beginning, but if it's still the same after half a year, then it won't work. You have to improve your technical level while producing. After half a year, you have to improve your level to the level where every craftsman can make round openings and lids. All the lids have to be exactly the same, and the openings of the pots have to be exactly the same. At least, you can't see any problems with your eyes."
"Assistant Minister Li, don't worry. I will urge the craftsmen to do a good job."
The lieutenant said.
Ang Lee nodded, picked up a few pots, and carefully observed them. Although there were some problems with the openings of the pots, the main body of the pots was not bad. There were basically no cracks, which showed that the quality of the clay was not bad. The craftsmen who mixed the clay were also very attentive. If the quality of the clay was not good, or if the mixing was not done evenly, the pots that were fired might have cracks. Of course, this would also happen if the temperature was not controlled well.
Because it had been in production for some time, thousands of pots had been made at this time. These pots were all loaded quickly. Ang Lee asked them to be sent to Black Dragon Island immediately. Several warehouses had been built there, so there was no problem to store this batch of pots.
The reserves of clay here were very high. According to the prediction of Ang Lee and his subordinates, the clay here was enough to be mined for thousands of years. According to the current mining progress, it would take at least 1,000 years, which was a conservative estimate. In fact, it might take even longer. With such a large clay mine, they would not have to worry about the problem of raw materials for making pots in the future.
Of course, there were not only clay resources near Tianguang Port, but also forest resources. There were many big trees here, whose trunks could be mined to make wood, and whose small branches and crooked roots could be used as fuel. For example, the fuel used by the pot workshop was the remaining tree roots and twigs after the trees were cut down. The trunks were stored separately to be used for construction.
The team responsible for cutting down trees was a mixed team. There were woodcutters recruited from nearby areas, some soldiers of the Tang dynasty, and some captured pirates. They worked in groups and cut down tall trees at designated locations in Tianguang Port. The construction of Tianguang Port required a lot of wood, which could be used to supply the materials needed for construction, and the by-product was fuel.
Although coal was a better fuel, Li An felt somewhat regretful that he hadn't found any coal veins around Tianguang Harbor. However, he couldn't be blamed for this. Mineral resources couldn't be found everywhere. If they were everywhere, could they still be called resources? At least, they would be worthless.
"The resources around Tianguang Port are still too little. How come there is no coal?"
Ang Lee looked at a craftsman who was holding firewood and said with a sigh.
"Assistant Minister Li, we asked for the land with a radius of 50 kilometers around Tianguang Port. Isn't it a bit too little? It should be 300 to 500 kilometers."
Chen Long said with a smile.
Ang Lee shook his head and said, "The Pyu is not the Tang dynasty. How much land does it have in total? If we take the land with a radius of 500 kilometers, won't the Pyu be swallowed up by the Tang dynasty? Haha! "
"So what if it's swallowed up? It's the Pyu's blessing to be swallowed up by the Tang dynasty. In this way, the Pyu people can proudly tell everyone that they are the people of the Tang dynasty. Hahaha!"
Chen Long said proudly.
Ang Lee nodded with a smile. He thought that Chen Long was right. If the Pyu joined the Tang dynasty as a whole, it would not be bad for the common people. There would only be benefits. However, the Pyu royal family would be very unhappy. Once they joined the Tang dynasty, they would not be able to be local emperors anymore. Their status and position would inevitably be lowered.
"Forget it! The Tang dynasty is expanding too fast. We don't have enough money to spend. Let's take it slow! In the future, the Pyu will belong to the Tang dynasty sooner or later. All the places that the sun shines on will belong to the Tang dynasty. "
Ang Lee said seriously.
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