Chapter 144: Section One: New Spring

In the first month of the fourth year of the Tianqi reign, the official approvals from the Ministry of War and Dongjiangzhen arrived. Huang Shi's recommendations for the promotion of a large number of officers under his command were all recognized and formally ratified.

"He Baodao and Yang Zhiyuan are appointed Assistant Guard Commanders of Jinzhou Guard; Zhao Manxiong and Jin Qiude are appointed Vice Guard Commanders of Changshengtun, Jinzhou Guard." From then on, these four men were also military officers of the third rank, lower grade.

Huang Shi then read out their individual assignments: "He Baodao, Training Superintendent of Changsheng Island; Yang Zhiyuan, Main Camp Superintendent of Changsheng Island; Jin Qiude, Signal Superintendent of Changsheng Island; Zhao Manxiong, Seal Superintendent of Changsheng Island." Finally came their Dongjiangzhen appointments from Huang Shi: "You four shall hold the rank of Dongjiang Mobile Corps Commander, with hereditary Dongjiangzhen Banner Officer status."

Huang Shi's Changsheng Island claimed to have six thousand soldiers, already exceeding the quota for a single Regional Commander. Even after verification, there were still two thousand men, equivalent to the direct command of a Vice Regional Commander in other minor military garrisons. Thus, he requested four Mobile Corps Commander postings in one go.

"Your subordinates thank my lord for the promotion." The four men knelt and saluted with heartfelt sincerity. Two years ago, when they set out from Guangning, their forces numbered no more than two hundred, and all four were mere Company Commanders. In such a short span of time, they had all become generals and, in theory, possessed several hundred mu of hereditary land.

"Four generals, please rise," Huang Shi said with a smile as he handed them the official documents.

Wu Mu, who was observing the ceremony, also smiled from the side and said, "I also congratulate the four generals."

In addition, officers like Liu Qingyang, Bao Jiusun, and Li Yunrui also rose in rank accordingly. Deng Ken was still considering the issue of nationality, so he did not get a share of the spoils this time.

Once the ceremonial formalities of rewarding merit were over, Huang Shi began discussing internal administrative affairs with Bao Jiusun, starting with weapon improvements.

"From now on, long spears shall be set at nine chi in length: a seven-and-a-half-chi shaft, plus a one-and-a-half-chi spearhead." Huang Shi personally drew a design sketch of the spearhead. The streamlined blade body had two small flanges at the base to prevent over-penetration, and four blood grooves along the blade converging at the tip. This would make it easier to withdraw and also significantly reduce the weight of the spearhead.

Bao Jiusun examined it and saw no major issues: "How many does my lord need?"

"If we are to make one thousand, how long will it take?"

The shafts were easy; most of the carpenters were idle now. But over half of the metalworkers on the island were busy counterfeiting coins. Each available craftsman could make one spearhead per day. Bao Jiusun calculated and said, "Reporting to my lord, it will take three months."

It seemed a full-scale re-equipment would have to wait: "Then make twenty first, to be completed within three days, and hand them over to Mobile Corps Commander He for testing."

"As ordered, my lord."

If the results were good, they would proceed with mass production and re-equipment. In this era, a spearhead over one chi long had to be forged and grooved by a craftsman's hand; the efficiency was truly rather low.

Changsheng Island had already banned the use of coal for forging blades. By Huang Shi's order, craftsmen had to first make charcoal from wood, then use the charcoal fire to forge weapons. China had long mined coal extensively for use by the Ministry of Works, and this was precisely where the disadvantage lay. The phosphorus in the coal would seep into the ironware, making the blades brittle. The West, having remained backward with manual workshops, was instead able to produce armor and blades with better toughness.

"And farmland. This year we must clear another thirty thousand mu." Changsheng Island had already cleared nearly thirty thousand mu of land, and the final confirmed arable area for the whole island was about eighty thousand mu, with West Island and Zhongdao also having tens of thousands more. However, hampered by a shortage of manpower, they could only clear it slowly.

"This humble officer will do his utmost; my lord may rest assured." Bao Jiusun looked troubled but still agreed without hesitation.

"How many ducks are being raised?"

"Five thousand. We can collect one thousand five hundred eggs daily."

"Raise more."

"Yes."

"And fishing and salt-boiling. There is plenty of fish, over a hundred thousand jin per month, but the salt is far too little."

"My lord sees clearly. The manpower for boiling salt is truly insufficient, and General Yang allocates very little firewood."

The copper coin trade with Japan was progressing more and more smoothly. The coin furnace was now operating day and night to mint copper coins. Kuroshima Yasuo no longer had to wait long before setting out to sea again. Huang Shi estimated that by the end of this year, the profit from the Japan trade could reach five thousand silver taels per month.

Up to this point, Huang Shi had been cautiously reinvesting the profits back into production, so the military and livelihood of Changsheng Island had yet to reap much benefit from it. Moreover, the counterfeiting operation was still far from reaching its marginal effect; the amount invested and the profit growth it brought were still basically in a linear relationship. Liu Qingyang was already envisioning buying another second-hand wreck of a ship, and Captain Kuroshima Yasuo naturally greatly approved, dreaming of promoting himself to Commander of the Kuroshima Fleet.

"If only we could build ships ourselves, that would be wonderful." Every day, as Huang Shi rode on patrol through his territory, he could see new changes. More and more people were flooding into Changsheng Island, new dwellings were being erected everywhere, and this month another baby was born. "But manpower, everything comes down to the problem of manpower..."

The population of Changsheng Island had surpassed the ten-thousand mark, yet there was still a pervasive shortage of manpower. In Huang Shi's conception, the military support an agricultural population could provide to a regime was very low. For instance, in the Opium War of his previous life, many people took pleasure in noting that China at the time accounted for nearly thirty percent of global GDP... Undoubtedly, the output value of four hundred million peasants could dwarf that of five million industrial workers. But the things peasants produced were mostly consumed in daily life and were also very difficult to concentrate and convert into combat power. The war potential a nation could extract from a few million workers was something four hundred million peasants could never match, no matter what.

The Dutchman, Rosencrantz, had also brought a treasure. Huang Shi once again stood before the warehouse hastily built specifically to preserve this treasure. Several soldiers were oiling her under Rosencrantz's direction. The black-hearted Jesuits had exchanged this treasure for a full five hundred taels of silver, claiming it was a favor in light of Huang Shi's help in spreading the faith. That was a whole month's pay for eight hundred soldiers, just to invite her to Changsheng Island.

Now she lay quietly at Huang Shi's feet, her body radiating a soft metallic luster. When Huang Shi crouched down to caress her, the coldness transmitted through his fingertips filled his heart with adoration — her beautiful name was "Hydraulic Boring Machine."