Ang Lee could clearly see that the carpenters who were in charge of building the arrow towers were working much faster. Some of them even forcefully dragged their children who were playing nearby over to help them. This way, the speed of their work could be increased by another level.
In short, under the stimulation of huge benefits, these carpenters' enthusiasm and ability were maximized. There were definitely some who worked 50% faster.
However, this made things difficult for the children who were playing. They were playing well when they were suddenly called to do manual labor. They did not want to work, so they naturally chose to resist. However, resistance would not have any effect. In exchange for resistance, they would be scolded and whipped.
These rough old men from the countryside were not careless when it came to work. Similarly, they were not careless when it came to beating the children. They were especially heavy-handed as if the children were not their own.
Seeing these children being beaten to such a state, Ang Lee suspected that the children in this village were not biological children. They were all the children of the old man next door. Otherwise, why would they beat them so ruthlessly?
The children were too pitiful. After being beaten and scolded, not only could they not voice out their opinions, but they also had to continue listening to the opinions of the elders who beat them and help them work.
"These are all pitiful children!"
Ang Lee shook his head and sighed.
These children were the pearls of their parents' palms in the future. They were the flowers of the motherland. No one could bear to beat them. Their parents could not wait to hold them in their palms and keep them in their mouths.
In this era, the children in this place were too pitiful. However, Ang Lee could not do anything about it. This was because the folklore here had already been formed. It was not possible to change it. How could the thoughts of the people be changed so easily? Even in the economically developed future, there were still serious cases of domestic violence and children being beaten and scolded in many rural areas.
"It is the father's fault if he does not teach them well. The father beats the children because he loves them. Assistant Minister Li, why should you feel sad for them?"
His subordinate was also old-fashioned. He did not think that the villagers were wrong to beat the children. After all, the children were disobedient first. They deserved to be beaten.
Ang Lee didn't want to argue with his subordinates about this topic. People from different eras wouldn't have the same ideas. Moreover, they were his subordinates. Once he got angry, they wouldn't say anything, but they wouldn't agree with Ang Lee's new era ideas.
At dusk, a large amount of wood had been piled up in the village, which was cut down by the villagers and sold to the Tang dynasty.
There was a certain danger in logging at night, but in order to make more money, these villagers were not afraid of the danger. After they returned home, they had a simple meal and took half a cart of firewood to the forest. It seemed that they would not stop until midnight.
The carpenter villagers who were in charge of building the arrow tower could not sit still when they saw the logging villagers working so hard. They returned home to finish their meal and left with braziers and firewood. They were prepared to work through the night to complete the arrow tower as soon as possible.
Seeing the villagers working so hard, Ang Lee was overjoyed. With these hardworking villagers, he didn't have to worry about the lack of manpower to build the port.
He had to leave the village before dark and return to the station at the port. After all, the barracks in the village were too simple and not suitable for a high-ranking official like Ang Lee to live in.
As for the large amount of wood piled up in the village, he could only wait for the soldiers to come and carry it tomorrow. These villagers were busy making money, so there was no need to bother them. Otherwise, if the transportation fee was not as high as the income from logging, they would not be willing to do it. In addition, the Tang dynasty had so many soldiers and horses, so there were enough carriages and manpower. The distance was only a dozen miles, so it could be transported by large carts or motorized carriages, which would be more efficient.
Because he was not in a hurry to go back, Ang Lee chose to ride back. In this way, he could better enjoy the scenery along the way and even check the terrain to design the expansion plan of the port.
The village carpenters worked so hard, which gave Ang Lee reason to believe that the nine arrow towers might be completed by tomorrow, and he would definitely go to inspect them again tomorrow.
Ang Lee's energy was limited, so it was impossible for him to pay attention to too many aspects. For example, among the 30 surrounding villages, Ang Lee could only take care of one village in person. The rest of the villages could only rely on the 100 Tang Army soldiers stationed there. In addition, in several important villages, more mobile search troops were stationed to reinforce the places where there were abnormal situations.
When he returned to the port, Li An once again saw the wounded soldiers. At the same time, he also saw the five captive pirates.
"What's going on?"
Ang Lee asked.
"Assistant Minister Li, a group of 30 pirates wanted to go to the village to look for food. They fought fiercely with our soldiers and horses. Three of them were shot and killed by our soldiers, and the rest fled. After that, our soldiers sent 50 people to pursue them and captured five pirates who were injured by arrows. The remaining 20 or so pirates all fled and disappeared. The three injured pirates from our army are all here."
His subordinate replied.
Ang Lee comforted the three soldiers who were injured by arrows and asked them to go back and have a good rest. Then he waved his hand and ordered his subordinates to take the five captives into the temporary prison.
"More than 30 pirates survived, but more than 20 of them escaped. Can't you catch up with them?"
Ang Lee was a little angry.
His subordinate said, "Assistant Minister Li, these pirates have been in the mountains all year round and are more familiar with the terrain than us. They are not equipped with armor and are all light, so they run faster than rabbits. We really can't catch up with them. Moreover, they even have a way to get rid of dogs. It's useless to have dogs."
"Oh, these pirates are so powerful. It's amazing! Even dogs can't catch up with them. "
Ang Lee could not believe it.
His subordinate thought for a moment and said, "Assistant Minister Li, these pirates seem to have used a special method. They sprayed pepper on the leaves of the trees they passed by. After the dogs smelled the pepper, their noses failed and they could no longer smell the pirates."
"Not bad! These guys are really smart. They can come up with such a good idea. It seems that I have underestimated them. "
Ang Lee said.
"Assistant Minister Li, don't worry. The pirates took the initiative to look for food in the villages, which is enough to show that their food reserves are running out. Our army has taken control of all the villages. Large quantities of food will never be transported out of these villages. The pirates will soon starve to death in the mountains if they don't get supplies for a long time."
His subordinate comforted him.
Ang Lee felt that the time had come. He said, "Immediately issue a bounty. As long as the villagers can provide information about the pirates, the Tang dynasty will reward them handsomely."
At this moment, the nearby villages already belonged to the Tang dynasty. They were no longer the people of Western India, but the people of the Tang Empire. They had the responsibility and obligation to help the Tang dynasty wipe out the remaining pirates. Moreover, they could also get a lot of rewards and benefits.
Ang Lee believed that as long as the bounty was posted, the villagers in the nearby villages would definitely provide the information they knew for the reward.
After all, the Tang dynasty's army had performed very well in the past two days. They paid the villagers for their work. After establishing an image of integrity, the local villagers had already trusted the Tang dynasty's army. In addition, they were all simple people, and they really felt that it was wrong to rob merchants as pirates.
At this moment, Anzhu Province had not yet been recognized by the imperial court. However, it would happen sooner or later. What Ang Lee needed to do now was to build Anzhu Province as soon as possible.
The capital of Anzhu Province was naturally Anzhu City. This city was located at the port, so it could be regarded as a port city.
The port city was different from the inland cities. The inland cities had four walls, but the port city had three walls. The port side was close to the sea. Such a city had a huge advantage. It could be used as a hub for trade on land, and at the same time, it could also be used as a hub for trade on the sea.
The pressure of defense was naturally greater. Not only did it have to defend the city from the enemies on land, but it also had to defend against the threats from the sea.
Fortunately, the Tang Empire was extremely powerful. As long as a few cannons were set up on the city wall and a few more cannons were set up on the lighthouse in the port, the threats from both the sea and the land would be eliminated.
When Western India controlled this place, they only built a few buildings and did not build the port city wall. Therefore, it was easily captured by the pirates. When the pirates ran this place, they also did not build the city wall. There were only some houses. More than half of these houses were destroyed by the Tang Army's cannons.
After the Tang Army was stationed, they rebuilt the buildings in the port and prioritized the construction of the lighthouse according to Ang Lee's request. As for the city wall, there were not so many materials for the time being. Moreover, Ang Lee had not figured out the location of the city wall. Therefore, Anzhu City did not have a city wall. It had never been built.
However, in the era of the Tang Dynasty, a city could not be built without a city wall. If so, its defensive ability would be greatly reduced. Although the Tang Dynasty had invented cannons, other countries did not have cannons. Therefore, it was still necessary to build a city wall.
Even the pirates of later generations built a large number of turrets after learning that the guerrillas of Hua Xia did not have cannons to achieve the goal of occupying and controlling the city.
Therefore, no matter what, the city wall had to be built. Ang Lee was also in the process of inspecting the city wall recently to determine the location of the city wall.
If the area of the city wall was too small, the number of houses and streets that could be accommodated in the city would be too few. If the area of the city was too large, the pressure of defending the city wall would be great. Moreover, in the case of a small population, there was no need to build such a large city wall. It would look very deserted.
As for how to build the city wall, Ang Lee had to seriously consider it. He could not be careless or sloppy. After all, this place would be the dual hub of the Tang Dynasty on land and sea in the future. Its geographical location was much more important than Leo.
There was a large piece of land near the northwest. It was the most suitable place to build a railway station. For safety and convenience, the railway station was undoubtedly the most suitable place to be built in the city. Therefore, the city wall must be an extension of the flat land in the northwest.
Ang Lee still had a lot of time to think about the city wall. There was no need to be too anxious. The most urgent thing at the moment was the problem of building materials. No matter what kind of construction it was, it could not be separated from building materials. Wood, broken stones, sand, and cement were all very important.
At present, there were many trees around the harbor. The problem of wood was relatively easy to solve. There were also many stones in the mountains. As long as the villagers nearby were responsible for supplying them, the problem would not be big.
Sand seemed to be everywhere, especially the beach by the sea. There was too much sand there. However, the sand used for construction could not be used from the sea.
Because the sand in the sea contained salt, the salt would corrode the steel bars in the concrete, making the steel bars smaller and smaller, thus losing their important supporting role.
In addition, after the steel bars rusted, the surrounding concrete would swell and crack. In serious cases, the concrete on the surface would even fall off.
In short, for the safety of construction, the sand could not be used from the sea. It had to be salvaged from the river.
Fortunately, there was a river passing through the harbor itself, and there were many tributaries of the river. In places where the water flow was relatively gentle, there was a lot of sand, which could be used to build buildings.
As long as a certain price was paid, the people in the nearby villages would definitely be willing to dredge the sand. This way, the continuous supply of sand could well meet the needs of the construction of the harbor.
But in the construction of buildings, the most important material was cement. This was the most important. Without cement, all modern buildings could not be built.
The production of cement required lime veins. In the vicinity of the harbor, Ang Lee's subordinates had not found a lime mine. Therefore, the desire to produce cement locally could not be realized for the time being.
Fortunately, there was a cement production workshop in Anshi state thousands of miles away. It was possible to send more transport ships to transport cement resources. Using large ships for transportation, the unit cost of cement would not be high.
Moreover, before Ang Lee arrived at the harbor, he had already transported several ships of cement. Otherwise, the lighthouse in the harbor could not be built at all.
Of course, in order to better reduce the cost of construction, it was also very necessary to find a local lime mine. It could never be given up. After all, the construction of the harbor in the future would be very large, and the demand for construction materials would not be ordinary. It was impossible to rely on foreign aid alone.
Steel bars were not available locally, nor in Anshi state. However, in the farther area of Malacca, merchants had begun to make and sell steel bars. These merchants had sharp eyes. They knew that the imperial court of the Tang dynasty wanted to carry out large-scale construction overseas, so steel bars were indispensable. As long as they made steel bars from iron ore ingots, they would not have to worry about sales.
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