Wind Rises in North America 1625

Chapter 24 "Grass-beating Valley" (Part )
"No, you can't take these things away." Pablo Escute, the owner of the town's blacksmith shop, saw a pirate ordering the dismantling and packing of the blacksmith's furnace, bellows, hammers, anvils, sledgehammers, tongs, molds and other equipment and tools inside. How could he bear it any longer and immediately stepped forward to stop them.

"Gentlemen, I still have twelve pesos here, and I will give them all to you. But I humbly ask you not to take these things. I will not be able to live without all these." As he said, he reached into his crotch and took out a handful of silver pesos and handed it respectfully to the pirate with an oriental face.

"Are you a blacksmith?" Navigation instructor Major Wei Yingbin raised his eyebrows, but did not reach out to take the silver coins. Instead, he looked up and down at the Spaniard with interest.

"Yes, sir," Pablo Escuete bowed, then said earnestly with a sad face, "I run this blacksmith shop. It's been passed down from my father for over thirty years. It's everything I have and my only means of making a living. My wife and my children need it to survive. I beg you not to take it away. I will pray to God for you."

"Okay, I won't take everything from here." After listening to Chen Rui's translation, Wei Yingbin smiled and nodded, saying, "This blacksmith shop will always be yours. You can continue to run it and engage in blacksmithing work in the future. I believe that you will make this blacksmith shop bigger and better in the future!"

After saying this, he waved his hand and asked several townspeople who were packing to continue working. Then he turned to a Spanish sailor and told him to take the blacksmith to the church and send his family to the ship.

Well, the blacksmith shop, along with the equipment and tools inside, still belongs to him, but we have to help him move to a different location.

In the future, under the scientific guidance of ours, which is hundreds of years ahead of our time, this blacksmith shop will surely flourish and become bigger and stronger, and will be a comfort to his deceased father.
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"Instructor Kuang, you don't still want to dismantle that windmill and take it away, do you?" Cadet soldier Han Jian saw navigation instructor Kuang Xu standing in front of a windmill by the stream, showing great interest, and couldn't help but sigh.

"This thing looks simple, but we don't necessarily know how to make it," Kuang Xu said with a smile. "In the future, when we cultivate land in Shixing Fort, we'll need this kind of windmill to irrigate the land. Even if it's not used in agriculture, it can be very useful in handicraft manufacturing, providing the necessary power source."

"This thing is too big to be loaded onto the ship."

"Then tear it into pieces and take it back."

"Instructor Kuang, this windmill is made of wood. It's been tossed around on the boat, and it's bound to fall apart by the time we get to Qiming Island." Han Jian shook his head and said, "Instead of carrying a windmill back, why not ask the townspeople who can make one and just bring it back? That would save a lot of trouble!"

"Wow, you cadet soldiers are really smart!" Kuang Xu patted his shoulder and praised him, "After we finish shipping everything tomorrow or the day after tomorrow, we'll interrogate all the residents of the town and take back those who have some skills."

"Instructor Kuang, should we only tie up those town residents who have some skills?"

"Why, do you have any good suggestions?"

"If we want to develop and expand our strength, obtaining a sufficient population is essential." Han Jian pondered for a moment and said softly, "However, there is a prerequisite here, that is, we must have enough of our own people. Only in this way can we ensure that we have a stable foundation."

"Well, what you want to say is..." Upon hearing this, Kuang Xu couldn't help but look at him deeply.

"What are our own people? They are, of course, our own descendants. Through osmosis, precept, and example, we aim to equip them with modern scientific knowledge and advanced thinking. Even when we grow old or die, they will be able to inherit our path of development and continue along the path we've mapped out. So, should we bring some... some women back? After twenty years or so, they'll quickly grow into a new generation of successors, and we'll be able to better consolidate and strengthen our base."

"Are you thinking about women?"

"Instructor Kuang, we are still young and can wait a little longer. But you can't wait any longer. Look, the captain and the political commissar are already in their thirties, and you, the navigation instructors, are also in your thirties. If you don't have children soon, it will waste a lot of time! The more children we have, the more strength we will have. Don't you agree, Instructor Kuang?"

"Get lost!" Kuang Xu's expression suddenly changed. He kicked Han Jian hard in the waist, knocking him flat on his back. He left in anger. "Hey, what's wrong with Instructor Kuang? ...I'm not wrong, am I?" Han Jian got up from the ground and looked at Kuang Xu walking away, a little confused.

At this point in time, shouldn’t we find a woman, have more children, and provide more human resources for future development?
Could it be that Instructor Kuang doesn't like Spanish horses?

"Before our 'Breaking Waves' left Dalian, Instructor Kuang's wife had just given birth to a son." Cadet Shu Wendong shook his head. "You told him to find a Spanish woman and have a few children. Aren't you just goading him?"

"This is already a fait accompli. What's the point in dwelling on it? ... Even if I come here, I'll still never see my girlfriend again! We have to look forward and have a vision for development. We can't abandon our responsibilities just because we lost our family."

"..." Shu Wendong glared at him angrily after hearing this, "You really deserve a beating for saying that! I want to give you a good kick in the ass!"

"Hey, I'm hiring you!" Han Jian complained dissatisfiedly, "If we get some women back soon, we can have children sooner. If we want to develop, we must increase the population. Besides immigrating from the Ming Dynasty in the future, having children of our own is also urgent! ... Hey, don't you all want a Ming Dynasty woman?"
-
Lieutenant Colonel Luo Zhenhui, captain of the "Polang", climbed up the ladder to the deck, clapped his hands with satisfaction, and then walked towards the command desk.

"We've almost emptied this town, haven't we?"

"We're not going to empty the town! But we're basically packing up everything we need and taking it with us," said cadet Liu Guoqiang, following behind. He pulled out a notebook and said, "Captain, would you like to see it? I made a rough list here, and most of the items listed in advance have been loaded on the ship. However, we couldn't get the military equipment and related tools we wanted. This town is too remote, just a large village, and there are no such machines at all."

"What a pity." Luo Zhenhui took the notebook and flipped through it casually. "How much food did you get?"

"About ten tons of wheat, over fifty tons of corn, over ten tons of sorghum, about ten tons of potatoes, maybe five or six tons of beans and legumes, and about one or two tons of rapeseed and peanuts. All told, we should have around seventy or eighty tons of grain. If there aren't any other major costs, that's enough to feed us for over a year."

"Well, that's good. What about the collection of various crop seeds?"

"We've sorted and packaged all the crop seeds available in town and loaded them onto the ship, including a large amount of vegetable seeds and fruit seedlings. By next summer and autumn, we'll definitely have fresh vegetables to eat. Oh, and to ensure smooth farming next spring, Instructor Wei said he'll bring a few Spanish farmers aboard when we leave."

"In order to weaken the resistance of the kidnapped Spaniards, we can bring their families along and promise to give them generous treatment." Luo Zhenhui thought for a moment and added.

"Oh, if that's the case, I wonder if the houses in Shixing Fort are big enough to live in?"

"It's okay. If there aren't enough houses, we can just squeeze in. When spring comes, we'll build a bunch more cabins to meet the emergency needs. As long as we get through this most difficult time and lay a basic foundation, things will gradually get better in the future."

"That's natural. We not only possess the most advanced scientific knowledge of this era, but also the most forward-looking vision for development. If we were to live worse than the 'natives' of the same period, then we'd have truly wasted our time and space!"

"We must not underestimate humanity in this era, or we'll be slapped in the face by the harsh realities of reality!" Luo Zhenhui said calmly, "At the very least, we can't even produce a single nail right now. Furthermore, with the rapid depletion of modern materials, how much advantage will we have in the future? By then, if we haven't made any progress, we might not even be able to protect ourselves."

(End of this chapter)