Wind Rises in North America 1625

Chapter 97 The Urgent Issue of Reproduction

On a slope about five kilometers north of Shixing Fort, a new wooden fort had taken shape and was named Guangfeng Fort (now the town of Saanich north of Victoria Harbour).

Three rows of brick and tile houses and six rows of wooden houses stand in the shape of a triangle in the center of the village. The corresponding drainage ditches and drinking water sedimentation tanks have also been completed, which can meet the needs of more than 100 residents in the village.

A rough wooden fence surrounded the wooden village, preventing wild wolves and grizzly bears in the surrounding woods from easily climbing over and endangering the safety of the residents inside.

On the north side of the wooden village, there is a low hill where dozens of young and strong native Indians are wielding pickaxes and iron drills to dig for ore.

At the foot of the hill, chicken buses were loaded with the selected ore and quickly transported to the ironworks in the wooden village.

After these ores are sorted, they will be crushed by stone mills and temporarily stored in the yard nearby.

Ten days later, when the quantity is large enough, the small blast furnace in the wooden village will light the fire and start refining the iron.

Not far from the ironworks, a charcoal kiln was emitting billowing smoke and flames, roasting piles of neatly chopped firewood into charcoal for the ironworks.

Li Liang stopped beside the woodpile in front of the kiln, staring at several chimneys that were constantly smoking. He was lost in thought, not knowing what he was thinking.

"Hey, Captain Li, what are you looking at?" Han Jian walked over from behind, waved his hand in front of Li Liang's eyes, and asked with a smile.

"Captain Li?" Li Liang laughed bitterly. "Why does that title sound so awkward?... It makes me sound like a village headman, a traitor serving the Japs!"

"Well, there are only about a hundred people in Guangfeng Fort. According to the rural regulations of the Ming Dynasty at that time, it's almost considered a large fort." Han Jian continued jokingly, "The decision-making committee appointed you as the person in charge here, so it seems correct for me to call you the chief of the fort."

"Are you jealous of me? Or are you planning to flatter me?"

"Of course I'll flatter you!" Han Jian immediately imitated the ancient etiquette and bowed to him. "In the military academy, you were the captain of the cadet squad. Not long after arriving here, you attended the decision-making committee as a cadet representative. Now that we've opened a branch base, you've become the head of civil affairs here. I think that when we establish a country and a system, you will definitely have a position leading a ministry. Tell me, how can we not rush to curry your favor now?"

"Get lost!" Li Liang cursed with a smile. "I was forced to take on this position because I was caught by the decision-making committee. I'm here to take charge of development temporarily. Hey, you're not really jealous of my position, are you?"

"That's not the case!" Han Jian smiled and shook his head. "Just wait and see. As the number of immigrants increases, we'll all be able to take on the position of fort chief. Even when the population reaches tens of millions, we might even be able to get the job of governor. Being a high-ranking official in a frontier region, with the power of life and death over the people under his jurisdiction, that's truly impressive!"

Li Liang smiled and said nothing, but continued to look at the charcoal kiln.

"This kiln can definitely produce charcoal faster than the iron ore can accumulate," Han Jian said. "On average, we can produce at least one to two tons of charcoal every day, which is definitely enough to meet the needs of the ironworks. With such a small ironworks, we don't use much charcoal in a day. In the winter, there might even be enough to keep us warm."

"Hey, what do you think? Can we transport the heat from the charcoal kiln into the residential houses in winter? Well, just like the heating in later generations, to keep the room heated." Li Liang asked tentatively.

"Oh, then you have to build a boiler first, and then a lot of iron pipes and radiators." Han Jian couldn't help but laugh when he heard it. "By the way, do we have the production capacity for this now?"

"That's true!" Li Liang shook his head. "I just think it would be a waste if we don't make use of the charcoal kiln, which is still burning in the winter."

"During this period, if you want to produce some industrial products, doesn't it mean you have to waste a lot of raw materials and materials? ... What's the pity? To put it bluntly, which of the few industries we have launched is not a high-energy-consuming industry? Just look at this charcoal kiln, the paper mill in Shixing Fort, and the brick and tile kiln. If they were put into the future, they would definitely not pass environmental protection standards and would be forced to close down!"

"Oh, environmental protection..." Li Liang laughed when he was told that. "I guess even after we complete the Industrial Revolution, we may not be able to turn around and do environmental protection. First pollute, then clean up. Development is the most important thing."

"That's right! Tell me, we don't have anything right now, so why should we care about high energy consumption and environmental pollution? Hey, why are we talking so much about these unfounded things?" Han Jian changed the subject. "I have a question for you. You have to give us a clear answer and give us your opinion." "What is it?"

"Marrying a wife and having children is a big deal!"

"Not really?" Li Liang looked at him in surprise. "If I remember correctly, you're only about 24 now. In our time, we wouldn't even think about getting married and having children!"

"That's nonsense! Haven't we suddenly jumped back to the 17th century?" Han Jian said, "What was the marriage age for men and women during this period? Fourteen or fifteen, um, sixteen or seventeen at the most. If you were twenty-four like me, you'd be a bachelor!"

"You...you...want to get married?" Li Liang looked at him in disbelief. "Now...at this time?"

"We'll all get married and have children sooner or later," Han Jian said disapprovingly. "Not just me, but our entire group needs to get married and have children sooner rather than later, and have more children. In this colonial era, great powers compete not only for industrial strength but also for population. If we continue to cling to the marriage system of later generations, population growth will inevitably be extremely slow."

"Think about it. If you get married and have children at 17 or 18, you'll have a new generation in less than 20 years, and at least five generations in a hundred years. But if you wait until your 20s to consider marriage and childbearing, then over the course of a hundred years, you'll have lost a whole generation! Population is always the most important resource and an absolute productive force."

"So, you plan to set an example by getting married first and then having children?"

"If I don't go to hell, who will?"

"Those twenty or so Ming women were so young! ... How could you have the heart to do that?" Li Liang looked at him strangely. "In our time, the eugenics propaganda we received clearly told us that the optimal childbearing age for women was 22-29. Most of those Ming girls were only or years old. It can be said that they hadn't fully developed yet. How could they get married and have children?"

"Tsk! We're living in the 17th century now, so we shouldn't constantly apply theories from later generations to our current situation." Han Jian shook his head and said, "Looking back at thousands of years of Chinese history, across all dynasties, men and women have generally been marrying and having children at very early ages."

“…” Li Liang stared at him blankly, unable to speak for a long time.

For any normal man, marrying a young girl is unacceptable both psychologically and physically (of course, this does not apply to pedophiles).

However, Han Jian was not wrong. During this period, early marriage and early childbearing were common phenomena, both in the East and the West.

"At this time, if a girl reaches the age of 18 and is still unmarried, she will be considered an old maid." Han Jian said slowly.

"Beast!" Li Liang spat.

"Animal?" Han Jian was amused upon hearing this. "We're just adapting to local customs and adapting to the times. Don't forget, population is of paramount strategic importance to us. Besides increasing immigration, shouldn't we quickly have children to enrich our human resources? There are still so many unowned lands in this world, waiting for us to conquer, occupy, and fill them."

"Without a sufficient population, everything is in vain! Think of the glorious past of the British Empire, occupying over 2400 million square kilometers of land and becoming the empire on which the sun never sets. But what was the end? In the end, it was forced to retreat to the British Isles and become just another power."

"Of course, in addition to their own strategic mistakes and declining economic strength, another important factor was their small population and limited base. They were unable to fully control their vast colonial territories and could only exercise indirect control. Ultimately, they were unable to suppress the powerful centrifugal force of their colonies, leading to their collapse and disintegration."

"Our goal, even if we can't take over the entire North American continent, is to at least capture key core territories. How many people would be needed to fill that? Not to mention, we'd have to find a way to occupy strategic locations, key islands, and resource-rich areas in various regions of the world, which would require a massive population."

"So, shouldn't we have a sense of crisis? If that's the case, why don't we get married and have children quickly to create more people!"

(End of this chapter)