Struggle in the Steam Age

Orchid Iron Hoof's proposal to export mercenaries to Lawrence's side was almost rejected by Lawrence, although even ordinary tauren were no less than human trainee-level fighters as long as they were adults. But in this era when gunpowder weapons and firearms have become popular, the value of these combat powers equivalent to low-level transcendents has been greatly reduced.

So Lawrence said that in addition to the non-discriminatory call-up order, the tauren do not need to pay additional armed forces as a price. But he agreed that those tauren who are willing to work can come here directly to work.

After all, there is not much food shortage on the plains now, and after the discovery of small coal and iron mines, although the reserves of those mines are insufficient, there is no way to develop the steel industry and build factories, but there is no problem at all in making some simple farm tools and production tools.

In addition, one of the islands on Lawrence's previous visit happened to be a salt-producing island. As long as he has food in his hands, he can get a lot of cheap salt from that island. And as long as a few cabins are transported over, those people under his command can feed for a whole year.

So the materials in Lawrence's hands are enough to meet the needs of some people. On the other hand, due to the large-scale construction, there is a shortage of manpower everywhere on the entire plain. The people in charge who were sent to various places expressed to Lawrence that they hoped to find some reliable foreign labor to help.

Therefore, it is a good thing for both parties that the tauren come out to work. At least Lawrence felt that if some tauren were willing to come out to help, he could put the lighthouse construction task scheduled for next year in this year.

"Your suggestion is indeed a good one. I will tell everyone when I go back." Lanhua Iron Hoof also saw the benefits of this proposal. "The days of the busiest livestock calving are long gone anyway, and those herds only need a few people to watch them. If you exclude those who have no way to leave, I think we can get 500 to 700 people out."

In Lanhua's view, the busiest season is now over. Many people in the tauren tribe in the hilly area are free. Although they can also hunt and gather, they can't actually make up for their consumption at all. That is to say, those sufficient manpower at this stage are purely consuming materials.

So let the extra people come out to work, not to mention how much they can earn, just letting the humans take care of the food can make the Tauren breathe a sigh of relief. So according to Lanhua's judgment, as long as this news is passed back to the tribe, the tribe will be happy to send enough people to work.

Then the two sides discussed the safety of the journey from the entrance of the plain to the hilly area where the Tauren are located. Fortunately, due to the existence of the river, the planned road does not need to pass through the jungle directly like orchids. Instead, it can make full use of the river on the edge of the plain.

In other words, they only need to take a steamboat and travel upriver for more than 40 kilometers, and then trek less than 5 kilometers in the jungle to reach the hilly area. Although the road as a whole seems a bit far away, considering that there is no danger in the river, this road is much faster than going directly through the jungle, and it is also safer.

So two days later, Lawrence bid farewell to the tauren named Orchid on the pier. She is now preparing to return home with samples of various merchandise and a makeshift negotiating team.

After all, the negotiation between Lawrence and her was just a simple contact negotiation. Although the Tauren Orchid, a trainee shaman, can explain the attitude of some Tauren, it is absolutely impossible to sign any temporary agreement on behalf of the Tauren. Therefore, Lawrence sent a small team into the hilly area this time to negotiate with the real leader of the tauren.

Coming to this port today is not just to see off the tauren, but also to receive ships. As a result of the same previous visit, two offshore sailboats were acquired from a neighbor at an extremely low price.

The island is very lucky to be located near the waterway, so there are more ships coming and going. Therefore, the island also relies on its unique geographical advantages to provide supply services for passing ships, and at the same time provide a certain level of repair services for ships that are damaged on the way.

These two 150-ton sloops were the ships that were going to be repaired on the island before, but after getting the repair quotation, their original owners felt that they had been used for about ten years and it was not worthwhile to spend so much money to repair them. So I simply gave up the boat and threw it on the slipway, and then used another boat to transport the crew and the supplies on board.

For the lord of that island, he also seemed very helpless when faced with these two ships, because for his island, there are enough ships now, and it doesn't make much sense to have two more ships. And these two boats have no use for him other than occupying two berths to waste space.

According to the original plan, the two ships would be dismantled directly on the berth in a short period of time. The useful stuff will be recycled, and the rest like wood will be burned as firewood.

But Lawrence was very interested in the two ships that seemed to be of good quality. After all, the island in his hand was not small, and the main settlements were concentrated on the coastline. For him, it is obviously not enough to rely on the few boats on hand for communication on the island if he wants to maintain the connection on the island.

So in this situation where one wanted to sell and the other wanted to buy, the two parties hit it off and completed the transaction. The price offered by the island owner out of a friendly gesture to the new neighbor was equivalent to the price of the overhaul of the two ships. , and is willing to send the two ships to the wharf on New Shall Island for delivery free of charge.

So when they came here this time, they sent a total of three ships. In addition to the two new ships that were delivered, there was one that came to Lawrence to purchase supplies. Although the food for the first season has not yet come down, Lawrence and the others have already launched the first product in the territory: grilled dried fish.

Because as soon as he arrived on the island, Lawrence discovered a certain seabird gathering place, and then judged that there might be fishing grounds around. So after settling down, the Enterprise followed Lawrence's order to search for the fishing ground after patrolling and training. What Lawrence didn't expect was that the fishing ground was not hidden. The Enterprise had found that large-scale fishing ground during its first offshore training.

Later, Lawrence learned about this fishing ground by asking the old immigrants and aborigines on the island. Unfortunately, because of the local hot and humid climate, there is no way to preserve the catch for a long time. The fishy smell after salt is not acceptable to ordinary people, and there are basically not many sales except for eating it by yourself.

So they only drive boats or even canoes to catch some of them to supplement protein intake, and the market is very narrow.

Now, because of the steam engine and biogas, the caught fish can be sterilized by the high-temperature steam generated by the steam engine after they are moved ashore, and then the high-temperature sterilized fish can be sterilized by using biogas as fuel in the baking room. All kinds of seafood are turned into various dry products.

As for canning, Lawrence also thought about it. After all, canning can be regarded as a milestone invention for food preservation. It's a pity that for this small island that needs to import canning materials, if you want to make cans yourself, the containers must be imported from outside the island, and the cost is a bit too high.

Therefore, after repeated thinking and investigation, Lawrence made a decision: use the island's sufficient fuel and cheap spices that can be bought from surrounding islands to make various dried seafood that is acceptable to everyone, and then use it as a kind of seafood on the island. new product.