Late Ming Dynasty: The Counterattack Begins with Sea Pirates

Liu Qingjiang first selected 400 people from the 700, and then spoke to the people he had chosen.

"From now on, you will follow me. If you learn well, I will take you to find that old official and beat him to a pulp."

After hearing this, it became clear what they were up to.

"Then...then will we still fish and farm?"

Liu Qingjiang smiled and said, "Farming? You should train hard. Someone will farm the land. In short, if you follow me, you won't go hungry. If you train well, you'll have meat to eat."

Everyone was stunned when they heard that they could eat meat.

These days, it's good enough to have food to eat. First they said we could eat our fill, and now they say we can eat meat. But during the Lunar New Year, there might not even be enough meat in the bowl to go around.

Seeing that the crowd didn't quite believe it.

"Now that you're here, you're all under the master's command. Show your loyalty now, and maybe the master will be pleased and there will be meat in your dinner tonight."

Upon hearing this, the seven hundred or so men all turned to look at Chi Honghai, and, mimicking Liu Qingjiang's tone, knelt down and called him "Master."

Chi Honghai raised his eyebrows high and gestured for everyone to stand up, telling Liu Qingjiang to talk to Ai Si about this later.

Actually, it's fine not to say anything.

The food in this village is quite good; meat is a common dish, though not plentiful, but not so rare that you have to count the days until you see it.

For those who are skilled in martial arts, who expend a lot of physical energy every day, meat is naturally an essential supplement.

He first had Liu Qingjiang lead the four hundred people back to the village, so that they could reunite with their families and follow Ai Si's arrangements.

Then turn around and face the remaining three hundred people.

"There isn't enough room for us right now, so the men will have to squeeze in. You guys should go up the mountain with them to cut down trees and build houses."

"Master...building a house?" the servant asked in confusion.

"What's wrong? You want to live separately from your wife and children?"

After saying that, Chi Honghai flicked his hand, and the people below took the last bit away.

Seeing that they were about to leave, the twelve craftsmen followed them.

"Hey, hey, hey, where are you going? Did I tell you to move?"

"Master...Master...we..."

"What are you afraid of? You're technically skilled people, do you think I'd mistreat you? Come with me."

After saying that, Chi Honghai turned around and went down the deck, leading the twelve special talents toward the village.

Along the way, every islander he encountered greeted him warmly and asked, "Greetings, sir."

Judging from their expressions, these people didn't seem to fear or be afraid of the pirate captain, but rather showed him genuine respect.

When they arrived at the workshop with the workers, they saw carpenters and blacksmiths scraping wood and forging iron.

"Master..." Everyone greeted Chi Honghai upon his arrival.

The old man raised his hand, stopping their formalities.

"These people behind me are all workers. I brought them here because I have something new to tell you."

"Master, what are your orders?"

Chi Honghai didn't rush to say what he was thinking. After glancing at the few remaining split bamboos around him and roughly guessing the progress of the construction on the mountain, he first asked the craftsmen about the materials being used on the mountain.

"Sir, the brothers on the mountain have almost finished setting up. According to them, they have also taught the farmers on the mountain how to use the water."

"Okay, thank you for your help the other day. However, the work ahead is indeed going to be challenging."

The craftsmen in the shed looked at each other, wondering what kind of strange sound Master Chi would produce this time.

Turning around, Master Chi first beckoned the twelve people behind him to his side.

"Why are you so reserved? Look at them, they're just like you, they're all workers, and they're quite energetic."

The twelve people managed very strained smiles.

After making the joke, Master Chi first gave instructions to the stonemason.

"These past two days, I've had the trouble of the three of you to polish a few more discs, each weighing about twenty pounds. Drill a hole in the middle and use some good-tough wood to string the two stone discs together at both ends. Then polish a few smaller ones, weighing about ten pounds in total from both ends, and keep them to this length."

As he spoke, he gestured to the craftsmen the lengths of the two famous designs.

"Sir...is this the stone lock you're talking about?"

"Yes, yes, it's a stone lock, it's a stone lock. Make more these days, make twenty or thirty sets, is that alright?"

Having just arrived in this esteemed place, I'm still unsure of my own character. Let alone twenty or thirty sets, even if you add another zero to the end, I'd still grit my teeth and agree.

"No problem... sir... it's just a matter of time..."

"Hey, do as much as you can. I won't set a time limit for you, but think carefully. Don't drag out the deadline with me. They all know what not working means here."

The three nodded nervously.

Then, Master Chi asked the blacksmith, "How much iron is left on the island?"

"Reporting to you, sir, there aren't many left. We'll make another twenty or thirty weapons, and that should be about all we have."

If there's no iron, that's easy to say; with silver in hand, there's no fear of not being able to buy it.

However, Mr. Chi's mindset has changed after these months of hard work and experience.

After witnessing the methods of the British, Zheng Zhilong, and even Chen Qian.

He deeply realized how correct the words of a great man were.

"Self-reliance leads to abundance."

If you can do it yourself and solve it yourself, do so as much as possible. If you can't solve it in a short time, then use money to find a solution.

Asking for help, no matter what you're asking for, is useless.

If you want to stand tall, you need to have enough guns and cannons.

"Since there's not much iron left on this island, and we won't have enough to make weapons in the near future, why don't you take some men up the mountain to see if there are any iron mines we can mine?"

As he spoke, he glanced at several blacksmiths.

One of them cautiously stepped forward.

"Sir, if I may be so bold as to ask, why don't we just go and buy some iron?"

"Of course you can buy it, but what if the seller won't sell to you?"

The blacksmith was sensible and knew what Master Chi was thinking, so he didn't press the matter further: "Iron has been circulating among the people since the founding of the Ming Dynasty, so why wouldn't you sell it to us?"

After giving the instructions, the tasks for the six blacksmiths were assigned.

As for the remaining ten carpenters, Chi Honghai divided them into two groups.

Five people of average skill level form a group, specifically responsible for the daily carpentry work on the island. Each person also mentors three apprentices, providing them with attentive, hands-on instruction. Every so often, Chi Honghai will randomly check the apprentices' skill levels. Those who perform well receive extra rewards, while those who perform poorly are naturally punished accordingly.

But he didn't specify what the punishment would be.

This mentorship model applies not only to the five carpenters, but also to the blacksmiths and stonemasons, except that each of them only needs to mentor two apprentices.

As for the last five carpenters who were more skilled, Chi Honghai assigned them a daring task.

It is considered bold because, among these people, although their carpentry skills are outstanding.

However, this thing is just too time-consuming, too energy-consuming, and too expensive.

Most importantly, no one has ever done something this big before.