Our neighborhood has been transported again.

Chapter 356 Large-scale Island Development

"Can't we even use pure ghost gold?"

“Yes, but the cost would be too high. It’s like using gold to forge weapons; the cost is too high and it’s not worth it,” Li Yue said. “If the entire arrow is made of ghost gold, it would be fine if it could be recycled, but if it can’t, it’s just a disposable item.”

"It's okay, let's make two first. We don't need them normally, but we need them in critical moments."

Li Yue seemed to understand, "I'll have two arrows made of pure ghost gold later."

Li Yue and the other craftsmen pushed the crossbow cart back to the armory. On the way back, he turned his head and saw three fish-man craftsmen following behind Li Tieshan in the open space next to him.

"Brother Yue, should we bring a few murlocs over too? I heard these murloc craftsmen are quite skilled with their hands."

Li Yue was somewhat tempted, but after much deliberation, he shook his head.

"Forget it, there's no need. Besides, we don't understand merfolk language and can't communicate."

“We can hire someone from outside. I know someone who understands murloc language. He learned it quite quickly and can now communicate with murlocs. Why don’t we hire him?” suggested a round-faced, buzz-cut craftsman.

Li Yue frowned, then suddenly turned around and stared at him: "What do you mean by this?"

The craftsman gave an awkward laugh, "It's nothing."

Li Yue sternly rebuked, "I have always emphasized that I do not use back channels or cultivate relationships here. Don't forget the rules!"

Upon hearing this, the craftsman's face turned pale instantly. He was somewhat annoyed to be reprimanded in front of so many people by a young man so much younger than him. He subconsciously retorted, "How is this considered getting in through connections? The merman craftsman is quite capable. Hiring him will make everyone's work efficiency higher. That's what everyone thinks too."

"Is that what you all think?" Li Yue looked at the others around him.

The surroundings immediately fell silent.

The other craftsmen all lowered their heads, pretending to be busy.

Li Yue glanced around, then his gaze returned to Wang Hao. "Engineer Wang, there's a spot available for an exchange in the armor workshop. Pack your things and head over there tomorrow."

Wang Hao's legs went weak, and he almost lost his balance. He clearly hadn't expected Li Yue to be so ruthless. The armor makers were treated worse than the machine gunners, and most importantly, the work was much more strenuous. So he hurriedly begged for mercy: "Brother Yue, I really didn't mean anything by it, I just wanted to have more help..."

Li Yue was too lazy to listen to his explanation. "Do you think we can't do it? Why are you in such a hurry to send the fishmen? They've lived in the sea since they were little and have never seen a crossbow before."

Seeing that Li Yue was determined to make him leave, Wang Hao became anxious. "Li Yue! I've worked here for so long, what gives you the right to make me leave with just a word! You're a dictator! I'm going to report you to the chairman!"

Li Yue glanced at him but ignored him.

Wang Hao froze for a few seconds, then glared back fiercely, finally stomped his foot, turned around, and left angrily.

Silence fell over the surroundings.

Everyone has heard that Li Yue has been following the chairman for a long time, so Wang Hao will probably have to swallow this bitter pill.

Li Yue remained silent for a while before speaking: "You all know how I've treated you. The benefits at Shenji Workshop are something I fought hard for. Whether to hire more people or expand the business is a decision only the chairman can make. Nobody should try to get involved in these areas. Doing our jobs well is the most important thing."

In the blink of an eye, several days have passed.

The development of the surrounding islands within the community is gradually getting on track.

Every day, large quantities of seafood are transported back to the island by boat.

Meanwhile, two new large ships were launched into the sea one after another.

With the increase in the number of ships, the movement of people and the transportation of goods between the surrounding islands have become more frequent.

On the sea, ships sailed like pens, tracing routes across the water. Besides the large ships, many smaller boats were also visible in the nearby waters.

Most of these small boats are designed for three people, which is not a large number, but it is just right for them to navigate near the coast. Some people row, while others fish, and they cooperate with each other.

"Chairman, after deducting losses and wages, today's net income is twelve tons of seafood."

"Hmm, seafood spoils easily if it's not processed. Everyone, let's work overtime and process today's seafood. Do we have enough salt?"

Jia Liangcai said, "The salt production in our village is not keeping up with the demand."

Qin Ziwen couldn't help but feel distressed upon hearing this. Damn it, there were already four salt wells in the community, and his own salt well had reached level 3, yet the salt production was still insufficient!
"It's alright, this is the sea, we can just get salt from the sea."

Jia Liangcai pondered for a moment, then said, "Steaming salt in salt fields is time-consuming and labor-intensive, and results cannot be obtained in a short period of time. If we want to produce salt in a short period of time, we can only use the boiling method, but the boiling method consumes a lot of fuel."

"There are many trees on the island, go and cut them down."

Jia Liangcai sent people down to spread the word, explaining in detail the method of boiling to make salt, and promising to exchange grain or goods for finished sea salt.

As soon as the news came out, the once quiet neighborhood gradually came alive, like water surface tossed with pebbles.

Soon, the residents of the community began to take action.

Some people use old bed sheets and boiled fine sand as filters to filter seawater repeatedly. Then, they put the filtered seawater into a pot, putting all kinds of soup pots, stew pots, and iron pots to good use.

Continue steaming over medium-high heat, stirring constantly with a spoon to prevent the bottom of the pot from sticking and burning.

After a while, a ring of murky salt frost formed on the inside of the pot, and fine crystals floated on the water's surface.

Carefully scrape off the moist crystals with a spatula and spread them onto a baking tray, iron pan, or even a clean tile.

Once it has air-dried or been placed near a fire to evaporate the last of the moisture with the residual heat, the coarse sea salt is ready.

It might be a bit bitter to eat, but it's perfect for marinating seafood.

"So this is how you preserve food." Lorne squatted down in the open space next to him, carefully observing the workers wearing gloves and using coarse salt to marinate seafood.

When it lived on the seabed, the fish-men could only keep their prey for a maximum of five days. After that, the meat would rot and smell bad.

Lorne was amazed by the ways humans preserve food.

They extract the essence of the ocean from the sea and use it to preserve food. They say that salted fish prepared in this way can be stored for one or two years.

If the merfolk could also master this method of food storage, they might no longer be troubled by food.

The longer Lorne was in contact with humans, the more he felt that their civilization contained something that fascinated him.

"Will it taste better this way?" a young fish-man asked curiously, pointing at the pickled fish.

“No, but it will keep longer.” Lorne shook his head.

It thought for a moment, stood up, walked over to Liu San who was busy at work, and slowly said in broken Chinese:

"Can...I help?"

Liu San, who was pickling salted fish, looked up and gave a simple smile. "Of course."

(End of this chapter)