After completing the task assigned by Zhang, Zhao Hao set off for Jeonra Island.

Soon after we went out to sea, we met Jin Ke who came with three Wuwei ships to escort us, and we arrived in Xingang City early this morning.

The fleet was anchored at the half-built dock in Xingang. Tang Youde, Zhu Jue, Pu Chengxing and others had been looking forward to it and warmly welcomed the young master to come for inspection.

The journey was smooth and Zhao Hao had a good rest. He walked down the wooden gangway in high spirits to the sound of music with a strong smell of kimchi. After greeting everyone, he did not take a rest and enthusiastically inspected the first city he built overseas.

He told Tang Youde that New Port City was a model city. In the future, the group would build many cities overseas, and they would learn from the experience and lessons of New Port City. Therefore, they had to build this city with a strict mindset of establishing standards to set an example for those who came later.

For this reason, he also asked Old Tang to consider erecting a bronze statue of him in the square in front of the city hall in the future.

"Then we have to lose weight." Fatty Tang smiled brightly when he heard this, and patted his belly and said, "Otherwise, we will be wasted copper."

"Hahaha, it's okay, it's hollow." Zhao Hao laughed, clothes are not as good as new and people are not as good as old, he just likes Fatty Tang.

"Ah, young master is really cunning." Tang Youde couldn't help but smile bitterly: "You should lose some weight, you'll look better if you're thinner."

"Why don't you just ask the sculptor to carve you a little thinner?" Zhu Jue smiled. The two of them were old acquaintances at Xishan Company, and now that they have become partners, they are naturally more familiar with each other.

"Hey, that's a good idea." Tang Youde was delighted when he heard this and said, "Then we have to make him look more handsome."

"Okay, don't think too far ahead." Zhao Hao stood on the dock and looked at the progress of the project. He was afraid that it would not be completed by the end of the year. "Hurry up and build the dock first, so that we can welcome guests."

"Oh, young master, we can't be impatient about this." Tang Youde frowned and said, "Temra Island has strong winds and big waves, and Gapa Island to the south is too small and has no shielding effect at all. Lao Niu said that we must build a long breakwater outside the dock to block the invasion of waves and ensure that the harbor has enough water depth. Oh, and a stable water surface, so that various ships can berth, load and unload goods, and enter and leave the port. These basic functions."

Lao Niu is Niu Yiqun, the elder Niu. He is the vice chairman of Chongkai Company and he is the one who led the team to come to Tamra Island for construction. The Sansha Wharf of the Sand Ship Gang was built by Lao Niu. He also led people to repair the seawall for a winter, so he has rich experience in this area.

Therefore, Niu Yiqun was in charge of the construction of the docks at the two construction sites on the island, Xingang City and Tamra Garrison. Unfortunately, Lao Niu went to the east yesterday, so I didn't see him today.

"It's not easy to build a breakwater," Tang Youde said. "You have to take advantage of low tide to put down a wooden cage, and then fill it with stones. Nail several layers of wood outside the cage, and then pile sandbags on the outside of the wooden cage to make it waterproof. Then drain the water in the cofferdam, and then you can start laying concrete. The cofferdam can't be built very large, so you can only build it step by step and slowly move it towards the sea."

"Fortunately, there is a long reef outside the harbor, parallel to the shore, which can serve as the foundation of the cofferdam. Otherwise, this work would be impossible to do." Zhu Jue smiled and continued, "I think the young master chose to open a port here because he saw that this place could take advantage of the geographical advantages, right?"

"Haha, I have considered this." Young Master Zhao nodded without any guilt. After all, he had been on a yacht here in his previous life and was deeply impressed by this port at the southernmost tip of Jeju Island.

I think it's called Musup Port or something like that? But it doesn't matter, anyway, I won't call it by this half-Chinese and half-foreign name anymore.

The port here in later generations was built on the existing reef with a wide breakwater. The inner side of the breakwater also served as a dock, so that the entire harbor could accommodate ships, providing hundreds of berths.

If a few more piers are built in the harbor at a later stage, thousands of ships can be easily moored at the same time, which is enough for a prosperous commercial city.

And a few hundred meters to the south, there is another natural harbor next to it, which can be used for future expansion. However, Zhao Hao estimated that it would not be needed for decades.

But in the long run, it is better to have it than not to have it. Zhao Hao chose to rent it permanently because he saw the huge potential here.

~~

The wharf is a long-term project and cannot be rushed.

Besides, they were still at war with Japan, so they could not start trade with Japan within the year, so Mr. Zhao did not urge them. He left the dock surrounded by the crowd.

After the guards withdrew, Che Zhuzi and others quickly waved the "spirit injection stick" and drove the Japanese husband to carry sandbags to the dock.

"Hurry up, the tide is going out! If you dawdle any longer you won't get to eat lunch!"

"Speed ​​up, you lazy bastard!"

The shouts of the Lee Dynasty supervisors resounded throughout the dock. Although they looked a bit disgusting, how could the captured Japanese laborers have any enthusiasm for work? It was only by their yelling, punching and kicking that the progress was ensured.

Fatty Tang naturally would not let Young Master Zhao see such a discordant scene, and he had already taken him to the New Port Fort construction site, 500 meters away from the pier.

At this time, the sun was high in the sky, and the construction site was bustling with activity, with workers busy on the high scaffolding. The workers hired by the Li Dynasty pushed carts of cement, sand and other building materials from the material preparation yard next to the dock with wheelbarrows, and then hoisted them onto the scaffolding with pulleys for the craftsmen of the Celestial Empire to use.

Fatty Tang brought a wicker safety helmet, but Zhao Hao shook his head. What's so good about a big construction site? It's so dirty.

But Mr. Zhao had his own opinion: "It's just a prototype now, what's so good about it? We can see the outline if we go to a higher place."

Fatty Tang knew Young Master Zhao's temper too well, so he immediately asked someone to prepare a car and take Young Master Zhao to the long wall on the north side.

It's called a wall, but it's actually similar to the border wall built by the Ming Dynasty in Liaodong. And it's taller and stronger... After all, it's a rough stone concrete wall with a width of 2.3 meters at the bottom and 1.4 meters at the top. In the foreseeable future, no one except the power of heaven and earth can harm it.

There are large watchtowers every hundred meters on the wall, and gun positions are reserved, so that this place can be armed at any time and become the first line of defense against enemy invasion.

Zhao Hao climbed up a watchtower and looked at the New Port Fort construction site from above. The outline of an octagon was clearly visible.

As I just said, Mr. Zhao wants to use this place as a model and testing ground for many overseas cities in the future, so he has invested a lot of effort in it.

This "New Port Fort" was designed by him personally, combining the advantages of the Ming Dynasty's walled houses and Western bastions. In terms of being prepared for danger in times of peace, no one in the Ming Dynasty was more cautious than Master Zhao.

From the bird's-eye view, there is a large square enclosure in the middle of the octagon. The eight corner protrusions change the enclosure from a convex polygon to a concave polygon. This improvement makes it so that no matter where the enemy attacks the New Port Fort, they will be exposed to multi-faceted fire. With a main structure made of concrete, complete firing holes and gun positions, and a surrounding moat, the island of Jeju Island in the 16th century was absolutely impregnable.

The goal Zhao Hao set for Xingang Fort was to withstand the brutal siege of tens of thousands of enemy troops for a year without falling in the event of external aid being cut off.

Although it seems that Mr. Zhao is just being too cautious. How could the Li Dynasty attack Xingang City? Those Japanese pirates and Portuguese people don't have the strength to attack.

But Zhao Hao firmly believed that his caution was not unnecessary, because he knew very well that he was at the end of a peaceful era, and the earth-shattering 17th century was about to come.

By then, the world of Ming Dynasty would be in chaos, the mountains and rivers would be in ruins, and the European powers and pirates on the sea would be a hundred times stronger than they are today. If Xingang City, isolated overseas, did not have this self-defense capability, it would only become someone else's delicacy.

In fact, we don't have to look that far ahead. In just 20 years, 300,000 Japanese troops will invade Korea. If we can foresee this, everyone will have to prepare in advance, right?

Zhao Hao’s plan was that if his attack on Japan failed to achieve the desired results, he would fortify the entire Xingang City instead of just building a castle.

There was no way to tell these things to the people below in advance. He could only keep them in his heart and proceed step by step at his own pace.

~~

Of course, Newport Fort is not just a military building, it is also the administrative and commercial warehousing center of the entire Newport City.

A series of core institutions and important buildings, including the future City Hall, Tamra Chamber of Commerce, Arbitration Court, Prison, Arsenal, Bank, Police Station, Valuables Warehouse, etc., will all be located here.

Fortunately, Xingangbao is large enough. The square enclosure alone has a total of 375 acres of land. The eight corners of the land add up to about 300 acres. It is as big as four Dajing County towns and one-third larger than Jeju Mucheng.

It is no exaggeration to call it a new port city.

But Mr. Zhao adhered to the principle of doing things in a high-profile manner and becoming famous in a low-key manner, and insisted that it was not a city but a fort, so Xingang City became Xingang Fort.

In fact, this kind of nominal demotion or alienation is everywhere in Zhao Hao's system. After all, no one believes more than him in the ancestral precepts of Emperor Taizu: "Build high walls, store up grain, and delay claiming the throne."

For example, his army was called the Security Team, and was only recently upgraded to the Police Force. Xingang is not called Xingang County or Xingang Prefecture, but Xingang City.

In later times, a city was a large administrative unit, but in this era, it only meant a market, such as the East and West Markets in Luoyang during the Tang Dynasty. For example, Zengtou City, which Chao Tianwang attacked, was a trade distribution center outside the county. It also had the same meaning in this dynasty.

So, the mayor Tang Youde may sound like a very high-ranking official to people in later generations, but to people of this dynasty, he was just a village chief.

Therefore, Fatty Tang was reluctant to come at first. He was the financial director of Xishan Company, and he was in contact with the dignitaries in Beijing. He was very proud of his life. But Master Zhao suddenly exiled him to the isolated Jeonra Island to be a small village chief. Fatty Tang naturally cried.

P.S. There are so many things going on before the holidays, so I will only update twice. I will definitely update three times tomorrow.