The distance from the port to the nearest village was only a dozen miles at most. Therefore, no matter how bad the road was, it was bearable. After some bumps, they arrived at the entrance of the village.
"Arrow towers. The arrow towers have been built. So fast."
As soon as the armored vehicle stopped, Ang Lee looked up and saw two arrow towers standing at the entrance of the village. At this moment, the two arrow towers had been completed, and there were soldiers standing guard at the top of the arrow towers.
"Assistant Minister Li."
The soldier standing in the middle of the road between the arrow towers bowed and saluted.
"You're so fast. When were the two arrow towers built?"
Ang Lee asked.
"They were completed an hour ago."
The soldier replied.
Ang Lee nodded, waved his hand, and said, "Let's go."
After that, he led 50 soldiers into the village, just like a devil entering a village. However, Ang Lee was strictly disciplined and did not do anything bad. Moreover, after a day of familiarization and understanding, the villagers were not so afraid of the soldiers of the Tang dynasty. Some bold children even took the initiative to run to the soldiers of the Tang dynasty to play. However, there was still effective fear in their eyes, which was very cute.
After entering the village, Ang Lee found that only the two arrow towers at the entrance of the village had been completed. The other two were still under construction, and the three arrow towers in the center of the village had not been built yet. It was estimated that it would take another day or two to complete the nine arrow towers.
The villagers were still busy. Yesterday's wages had been paid on time, which made them have a greater trust in the Tang dynasty. This was a good sign. As long as they were trained more, they could ask about the pirates from them. They could even go into the mountains to help search for the remnants of the pirates.
"These villagers work very hard. Since they are paid by the day, they can still work like this. What a group of simple people."
Ang Lee praised them happily.
"Assistant Minister Li, these are rural people. They have little knowledge. They don't know what is lazy or what is procrastination. They are really good at work."
The subordinate said.
Ang Lee said happily, "This is a good thing. The construction of the port requires a lot of labor. As long as the people in the dozens of nearby villages are all willing to work, the construction of the port will be relatively easy."
"That's right, that's right. The work in front of us can be finished in one or two days. Do you want to talk to them first and let them prepare to work at the port?"
The subordinate asked.
Ang Lee shook his head and said, "There's no hurry. Let these villagers finish their work first! One step at a time. "
"Yes, I understand."
This village was not far from the port, so it could be considered a coastal village. It was just that it was far from the sea, but the main food source of this village was still sea fish.
After walking around the village for half a day, Ang Lee smelled a very strong smell of grilled fish and salted fish, which was enough to show that the main food of this village was fish and shellfish.
It was said that those who lived near the mountain lived off the mountain, and those who lived near the sea lived off the sea. This village was so close to the sea, so the food they needed naturally came from the sea.
However, they did not have a boat, nor did they go to the port more than ten miles away. Their food came from the ordinary seaside next to the port, and their method of obtaining sea fish was very primitive. That was, they took a huge fishing net and caught as much as they could. As for building a boat to go deeper into the sea to fish, they probably felt that it was too dangerous, so they did not adopt this good method.
With their primitive methods, they naturally couldn't catch much fish, but it was enough for them to eat. Moreover, this small village wasn't too far from the seaside, and there was a forest behind it. They could also obtain a certain amount of food by hunting. In addition, they could also reclaim a small amount of land, so they could also obtain some harvest.
In short, although this small village looked very poor, it could reach the level of adequate food and clothing, and none of the people would starve.
However, their standard of living was only enough to fill their stomachs. They did not even dare to think about a more exciting and prosperous life, nor could they do it.
Looking at the dilapidated houses in the village, one could guess how poor their standard of living was. Their material life could be barely satisfied, but their spiritual life could not be seen at all. If playing with a slingshot was considered a spiritual life, then it was too pitiful.
Moreover, Ang Lee also learned that many of the people in this village had never left the village in their lives, or had only been to places very close to the village. The things they had seen were only things that could be seen nearby.
Such a poor standard of living had to be changed, and as long as the port more than ten miles away was greatly developed, then the standard of living of this small village would definitely be changed.
If the port kept expanding outwards, this small village would become part of the port city, and the villagers would become city residents.
The construction of the port city required a lot of labor. All the people in the nearby villages had to join in the construction. Even if they were unwilling to leave the village, they could also provide raw materials for the port to support the construction of the port city.
For example, the construction of the port was definitely indispensable for wood, stone, sand, and other materials, and the people in the nearby villages were fully capable of providing these large amounts of materials.
By helping to build the port or providing materials, they could also earn a lot of income, allowing their standard of living to improve to a certain extent. It could be said to be a win-win situation.
Yesterday, the villagers cut down a lot of trees, and these trees were enough to build nine arrow towers, so they did not continue to cut down trees today. Some ran to the beach to catch fish, and some had nothing to do, so they wandered around the village and watched the carpenters work. From time to time, they would lend a hand to help the carpenters improve their efficiency. However, because they were not considered workers, they did not get a share of the wages when they were paid that night.
In this way, whether it was the people who helped or the carpenters who were helped, they were all at a disadvantage. But the villagers here were so simple, they would not deliberately delay time because they were at a disadvantage, and they worked very hard, which made Ang Lee very happy.
Seeing that there were many villagers in the village who had nothing to do, Ang Lee suddenly felt that he should find something for them to do, and at the same time, increase their income.
"The construction of the port will inevitably require a lot of wood. Since there are so many wood resources here, and there are many villagers who have nothing to do, then, why not let them continue to cut down trees? This way, it can also bring them additional income, improve their standard of living, and help us to build the port faster and better. "
Ang Lee opened his mouth and voiced his opinion.
"Assistant Minister Li is right, the village is surrounded by trees, letting them cut down trees and sell them to us is indeed a very good idea. The price has already been discussed, this subordinate will arrange it now."
The subordinate responded and got up to arrange it.
Since the trees were cut down yesterday, the officials of the Tang Dynasty had already known the price of various kinds of trees. This price was formed over many years, and the local villagers knew it in their hearts, so they would not blackmail the officials of the Tang Dynasty.
As long as there was a reasonable price, this business would be easy to do, and neither side would suffer a loss. The villagers earned money by their physical strength, and the officials of the Tang Dynasty gave them money according to the rules. If they cooperated for a long time, there might be a discount.
When the officials of the Tang Dynasty told the villagers that they were buying a large number of trees, the villagers in the village were very happy. Many of the villagers who had nothing to do had long been bored out of their minds. Naturally, they were very happy to be able to make money by taking advantage of the trees everywhere.
In less than the time it took to drink a cup of tea, dozens of villagers picked up the tools at home and went to cut trees together. Because cutting trees was not a job for one person, they had to work together to cut more trees at a faster speed.
Because there would be conflicts of interest when dividing the work, when they were together, they were basically a group of blood relatives. For example, two blood brothers with their two sons, so the six of them formed a cutting group. Because they were blood relatives, they would not care too much about each other, let alone have unnecessary conflicts in the process of cutting trees. Thus, they could ensure the highest efficiency of cutting trees.
Different sizes and types of trees had different prices. Therefore, the villagers who wanted to cut trees naturally wanted to cut the thickest and best type of trees. They would consider the smaller and less good types of trees last. Only in this way could they obtain the most profit per unit of time.
Fortunately, there were all kinds of trees around the village, so they did not need to compete. Different small groups would consciously separate and go to different places to cut trees.
Among them, when each cutting group set out, they would bring a flatbed cart that could be used to transport wood. In this way, the cut trees could be transported back to the village in time and sold to the Tang Dynasty at the set price.
This time, Ang Lee did not follow these cutting groups into the nearby forest. However, more than half of the naughty children in the village followed them, leaving only a small number of naughty children in the village.
Ang Lee did not stay idle in the village. Instead, he visited the villagers one by one. First, he expressed that he was a senior official of the Tang Dynasty and was here to help the villagers. Then, he gave some consolation gifts to the children in the village to show his sincerity.
The so-called consolation gifts were just some sweet fruits, which were not worth much. They were also the children's favorite food. The investment was not big, but the effect was good.
In the later years, when the Japanese pirates invaded the Central Plains, they also adopted the candy strategy. They gave some candy to the children of the Hua Xia so that the children would like them and achieve their purpose of occupation and enslavement. Of course, they failed mercilessly in the end.
The imperial court of the Tang Dynasty represented by Ang Lee would certainly not fail. Ang Lee never worried about this. However, he still had to do what he should do. He had to treat the people better. He had to do a lot of things to let the local people recognize the Tang Dynasty as soon as possible.
The children in the village had never seen candy and did not know how to eat it. Every time this happened, Ang Lee would personally demonstrate or directly peel a candy and stuff it into a child's mouth. As long as it was sweet in the child's mouth, the child would open his mouth and laugh. In this way, other children would know that it was edible and how to eat it.
The purpose of giving small gifts was to get in touch with the villagers. There was an even more important purpose of entering the villagers' homes. That was to see what the villagers had in their homes, how much food they had, what they ate, how hygienic they were, and so on.
Only by entering the houses could he better understand the living conditions of the local people, so that Ang Lee could grasp the overall situation of the local area.
Ang Lee entered six houses in total. Through some understanding, he had a deeper understanding of the general situation of the villagers. From this, he could also infer the general situation of the other nearby villages.
After all, the natural conditions of these villages were similar and they were not too far away from each other. The situation of a village could completely represent the characteristics of the other villages.
"Assistant Minister Li, this village is poorer than the poorest village of the Tang Dynasty. This is a good thing for us to build the port."
His subordinate entered the houses of the villagers and found that the villagers were poorer than he had imagined.
Ang Lee understood what his subordinate meant. The poorer the people were, the more they could work. Because of poverty, they were willing to spend a lot of energy and work to do manual labor. If they were rich, no one would be willing to do manual labor, because it was too hard and unbearable.
When he walked out of the sixth house, the first batch of wood had been shipped back. The officials of the Tang Dynasty were measuring the thickness of the wood, identifying the varieties, and paying a reasonable price. They would not let the villagers suffer a loss, nor would they let the Tang Dynasty pay too much money.
After selling the first batch of wood, the villagers who were logging all showed satisfied smiles. They first went back home, presumably to hide the money. Then, they pushed their carts and continued to log in the nearby forest. The more wood they cut, the more money they could get.
The villagers who were in charge of building the arrow towers were eager to have a try. They found that the income of logging was higher than that of building the arrow towers. After all, their work was not limited to the amount of wood they could cut. The more wood they cut, the more money they could earn. As long as they kept logging, their daily income was at least twice as much as that of building the arrow towers.
These carpenters also wanted to log. Since they could build arrow towers, they naturally knew how to log. However, they had not finished their work yet. If they threw away their work and went to log directly, it was definitely impossible. They had already agreed that they would help the Tang Dynasty soldiers to build all nine arrow towers. As long as the nine arrow towers were not built, they could not do anything else. Otherwise, they would be considered dishonest. For the simple villagers, they would not do anything dishonest. Moreover, the army of the Tang Dynasty was so powerful that they did not dare to do so. If they annoyed the soldiers of the Tang Dynasty, they would be in big trouble.
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