Great Song Super Scholar

Chapter 316
Although Kunnan Bay is not an ice-free port, due to the influence of the Kuroshio Current, Kunnan Bay freezes for only two months, from mid-November to mid-January of the following year.

However, the newly built Kunbei Bay is an ice-free port. It is for this reason that the state government of Kunzhou will be placed in the newly built Han County.

Han County started construction in June last year. A total of 1 people participated in the construction of the second and third batches of newly recruited Japanese laborers. Affected by the heavy snowfall, the Japanese laborers rested for a month and a half. Eighteen thousand Japanese laborers started to build roads and build cities again.

In the early spring of February, accompanied by several officials, Fan Ning came to inspect the construction progress of Han County. Since the second batch of [-] immigrants arrived in Kunzhou in August last year, the housing in Tang County suddenly became tense. , so that two families shared a wooden house.

In addition, the situation of single soldiers marrying Japanese girls continued to appear. So far, there have been 250 young couples who also need housing resettlement. Therefore, the progress of Han County's city construction is very important.

"I don't want an approximate time. I want an exact time. When will the county be able to be populated?" Fan Ning asked Cao Shi with a sullen face and some dissatisfaction.

Cao Shi hurriedly negotiated with a craftsman. Now that there is enough bricks to burn, there is no need to use all the manpower to build the city. Some laborers can be diverted to build houses and roads in the city. The two nervously calculated the construction period.

Cao Shi said to Fan Ning: "I will report to the envoy, we guarantee that we can move in before the end of April."

Fan Ning nodded, and the road was completed at the end of April, which is a good time.

"Then a written military order must be issued, and I will be guaranteed to complete the project by the end of April. There will be rewards for completion, and fines for failure!"

"This subordinate is willing to issue a military order!"

Fan Ning immediately left the busy city construction site and came to the pier. There was only a temporary pier built here. The official pier would not start construction until the county town was completed, but there was a tall observation tower on the pier, enough to It is five feet high and made of blue bricks, which is very strong and can withstand the impact of strong winds and huge waves.

This tall tower is not only an observation tower, but also a lighthouse, and also a pigeon letter tower.

The construction of the Pigeon Tower is also a request of the imperial court. In order to strengthen the control of the overseas states, the imperial court carried out a series of reforms last May. In the military supervision system, each overseas state has a military supervisor who is responsible to the Privy Council.

The second is to establish a communication system, mainly using carrier pigeons to send letters, and setting up transfer points along the way. For this reason, Fan Ning specially negotiated with the Japanese court and bought two small islands in the north for cargo ships to rest and pigeon letters. transit.

In addition to the pigeon letter transfer stations in Danzhou and the Yangtze River Estuary, six pigeon letter stations have been set up from Kunzhou to Yangzhou, and a letter can be sent from Kunzhou to Yangzhou within seven days.

The official in charge of communication construction is Zhao Wen, who is also a Jinshi in the same discipline as Fan Ning. In order to become a regular, he voluntarily applied to come to Kunzhou to serve as a counselor of the Overseas Economics Office.

Hearing that Fan Ning was coming, he hurried down from the tower, bowed and saluted, "Please refer to the envoy for the humble position!"

"Let me take a look at the progress!"

Zhao Wen accompanied Fan Ning up the tower through the stairs inside the tower. As Zhao Wen walked, he introduced: "Now the pigeon communication between Han County and Tang County has been opened. Every morning and afternoon, a carrier pigeon flies to the tower. The communication to Dasong has not yet been opened, mainly because the pigeon towers on the two islands are still under construction, and the pigeons also need training."

Fan Ning walked up the tower, and saw that the room at the top was about [-] square meters, and there were eight viewing ports. The viewing ports were also places for pigeons to fly in. There was an iron combustion tube above the room. It will light the fire oil and become a lighthouse to guide ships into the port.

Fanning looked to the south from the viewing port, and saw a vast expanse of waves, and the two black lines in the distance were the headlands of the bay.

"How's the progress on the two islands?" Fanning asked over his shoulder.

"Beizhi just came back from inspection yesterday, and it's almost repaired. If Danzhou and the Yangtze River Estuary are also repaired, and the training of homing pigeons is added, then we will be able to fully communicate by the end of April."

It's the end of April again. It seems that many important nodes will be completed by the end of April.

"Is there any difficulty now?"

"There is no difficulty, but I have a suggestion."

"Say, what's your suggestion?"

Zhao Wen pondered for a while and said: "There are long-term communication soldiers stationed on both islands. Considering the lowly position, can the two islands be opened up as supply points at the same time to store fresh water, supplies, etc., so that there will be more people stationed on the islands. , I am worried about the safety of the two of you."

The two islands bought by Kunzhou are not large or small, each more than ten square kilometers. One is located near the Noto Peninsula in Japan, and the other is located in the Oki Islands. The island is densely forested, has fresh water, and A natural harbor where large ships can be docked,
Fan Ning said with a smile: "The purchase of the island is not just for communication transfer. As early as when we explored Kunzhou, we decided to set up a transfer station halfway. Don’t worry about that.”

Zhao Wen was overjoyed, "The humble job can be relieved!"

Leaving Han County, Fan Ning took two entourages and a dozen soldiers to the third pasture about eighty miles away from Han County. This pasture is located in Youyun Grassland and covers an area of ​​four thousand square kilometers. Raise 10,000+ horses.

In addition to the horse breeding shed established by the Qun Musi, the Cao family also established a pasture here. Through various channels, the Cao family obtained dozens of high-quality stallions and more than 1000 mares. A medium-sized ranch was established last summer and fall.

At this time, the ice and snow in Kunzhou had just begun to melt, and green grass had appeared on the ground. Herds of elk had been starving for the whole winter. Only then ran away in panic.

Kunzhou was originally dominated by deer, and there were hundreds of thousands of deer of various kinds. But since the Song army came to the island, the deer herd has become the largest source of meat for the Song army, and it has been reduced by half in just two years.

There is no way around this. The size of the Kunzhou pasture is still far behind that of the Mobei prairie. The size of the pasture is limited. In order to raise as many horses as possible, we can only reduce the deer herds to compete for pasture.

At this time, a follower pointed to the distance and shouted: "Master, look!"

Fan Ning looked back and saw a large group of horses running towards this side in the distance. They quickly backed away to get out of the way of the group of horses. After a while, the group of horses galloped past, followed by dozens of shepherds on horseback and a dozen horses. collie.

"Mr. Fan!"

One of them saw Fanning, waved his hand, and urged the horse to gallop over.

Fan Ning recognized this person. He was Cao Gang, a son of the Cao family, and Cao Shi's elder brother. He was currently in charge of the preparation and operation of the Cao family ranch.

Fan Ning went up to meet him, and the two of them saw the ceremony, so they pulled up their horses and drove together.

Fanning asked with a smile, "How many horses are these?"

"[-] horses, all of our belongings, just returned from the eastern racecourse."

"Have you got a pregnant horse?"

"Yes, more than 300 horses are pregnant, and there may be more. You must know that the pregnancy of mares cannot be seen in the early stage."

"Have the horses adapted to this place? More than 1000 horses died in the northern racecourse last year. It was a tragedy."

Cao Gang nodded with a smile, "We were lucky, only about [-] horses died, most of them fell ill during transportation, and the other horses were more used to this place. The old owner is very happy and plans to bring another [-] horses over this year. , and strive for three years to increase the pasture to [-] horses."

Fan Ning nodded, "You still have to exchange stallions with Qun Musi, you can't just use your own stallions, Qun Musi already has two thousand foals, you still have to work hard."

"Thank you Fan Shijun for your suggestion. In fact, I have already negotiated with Yang Dujian. The stallion will be exchanged in a few days. In addition"

Seeing that he seemed to have something to say, Fan Ning smiled and said, "If you have anything to say, just speak up, Brother Cao."

Cao Gang said in a low voice: "The old patriarch sent a letter last autumn, and the Cao family also wanted to participate in the prospecting. I wonder if the envoy can approve it?"

Last year, Fan Ning approved a prospecting application in the name of Zhu Yuanfu, and Mingren and Mingli made a fortune from mining gold mines.

But last fall, the Overseas Economic and Strategy Office set up a mine supervisor and began to send people to search for gold and silver mines in Kunzhou. So far, three gold fields and two large silver mines have been found. Once the laborers build roads and cities, they will switch to mining. come up.

Fan Ning pondered for a while and said: "To be honest, the imperial court has always strictly controlled the gold, silver and copper mines. In the past, Kunzhou was not included, but since this year, the imperial court has listed the four overseas states as strict control areas. I only approve it. It’s useless, now we must get approval from the imperial court, if the Cao family only wants to explore sulfur mines, I can approve it, but gold, silver and copper mines may not work, the Cao family has to go to the imperial court to have a chance.”

Cao Gang also knew about these regulations, he was just lucky, and asked Fan Ning if he could give special approval, and it really didn't work.

He couldn't help sighing: "The Zhu family is lucky to be ahead. It would have been better if we had come half a year earlier."

Fan Ning smiled and said: "The Zhu family's prospecting right has also been reduced to one year, and it will end in May this year, and the application is useless. Their minefields will be taken back in May, and there is not much time left for them. "

(End of this chapter)