Although Kunnan Bay is not an unfreezing port, due to the influence of the black tide, Kunnan Bay has a short freezing time, only two months, from mid-November to mid-January of the following year.

The newly built Kunbei Bay is not frozen. It is precisely for this reason that the Kunzhou Prefecture will be placed in the newly built Han County.

Construction started in Han County in June last year. A total of 12,000 Japanese workers were recruited, and a total of 12,000 people participated in the construction. Affected by the heavy snow, Japanese workers rested for a month and a half. Starting from the tenth day of January, 18,000 Japanese workers began to build roads and build cities again.

In early spring of February, Fan Ning, accompanied by several officials, came to inspect the progress of the construction of the city in Han County. As the second batch of 1,000 immigrants arrived in Kunzhou in August last year, the residences in Tang County suddenly became tense, and the two families shared a wooden house.

In addition, single soldiers marry Japanese girls constantly appear. There are 250 young couples who also need house resettlement, so the progress of building a city in Han County is very important.

"I don't want to have an approximate time. When will the county town be able to live in?" Fan Ning asked Cao Shi with a calm face and a little dissatisfied.

Cao Shi quickly discussed with a craftsman that it was enough to burn bricks now, and there was no need to use all manpower to build the city. Some workers could be diverted to build houses and roads in the city. The two of them nervously calculated the construction period.

Cao Shi said to Fan Ning: "Your instructor, we promise to be able to check in before the end of April."

Fanning nodded. The road was completed at the end of April, and this time was very good.

"Then I will issue a written military order to guarantee me that the completion will be completed by the end of April, and there will be a prize for completion, and I will be punished if I fail to complete it!"

"I am willing to issue a military order!"

Fan Ning immediately left the busy construction site and came to the dock where only a temporary dock was built. The official dock had to be completed before starting construction after the county was completed. However, there was a high viewing tower on the dock, which was five meters high and was made of blue bricks. It was very strong and could resist the impact of strong winds and waves.

This tall tower is both a viewing tower, a lighthouse, and a pigeon tower.

The construction of the Gexin Tower was also a requirement of the court. In order to strengthen control over overseas states, the court carried out a series of reforms in May last year. First, the Overseas Political Consultative Office was set up in Jiangdu County, Yangzhou, with direct jurisdiction of Zhizhengtang, and secondly, the establishment of a military supervision system. All overseas states set up a military supervisor and were responsible to the Privy Council.

The second is to establish a communication system, mainly using carrier pigeons to deliver letters and set up transit points along the way. For this reason, Fanning specially negotiated with the Japanese court and bought two small islands in the north as cargo ships for respite and pigeon letter transfers.

In addition, the Gexin Transfer Stations in Danzhou and the Yangtze River Estuary were set up, and six Gexin Stations were set up from Kunzhou to Yangzhou. One letter could be sent from Kunzhou to Yangzhou within seven days.

The official in charge of communications construction is Zhao Wen, who is also a Jinshi with Fan Ning. In order to become a regular, he took the initiative to apply to Kunzhou and serve as a counselor of the Overseas Political Consultative Office.

When he heard Fanning arrived, he hurriedly ran down from the tower and bowed and said, "I am not aware of the envoy!"

"I'll see the progress!"

Zhao Wen accompanied Fan Ning to walk up the tower through the stairs inside the tower. Zhao Wen walked and introduced: "Now the flying pigeon communication between Han and Tang counties has been opened. There is a carrier pigeon flying in the morning and afternoon each. However, the communication to Dasong has not been opened yet. The main reason is that the pigeon towers on the two islands are still under construction, and the carrier pigeons also need training."

Fanning walked up the tower and saw that the room at the top was about twenty square meters, with eight gazebos. The gazebos were also a place for carrier pigeons to fly in. There was also an iron burning cylinder above the room. In special circumstances, tincture oil would be ignited and became a lighthouse to guide ships into the port.

Fanning looked south at the lookout, and saw a huge wave, and two black lines were the headlands of the bay.

"How is the progress on the two islands?" Fanning asked back.

"Beizhi just returned from inspection yesterday and has been repaired. If Danzhou and the Yangtze River Estuary are also repaired, plus the training of carrier pigeons, we will be able to communicate fully by the end of April."

It's another end of April. It seems that many important nodes will be completed at the end of April.

“Is there any difficulty now?”

"There is no difficulty, but I have a suggestion."

"What advice do you say?"

Zhao Wen pondered for a moment and said, "There are long-term communication soldiers on both islands. I consider whether the two islands can be opened as supply points at the same time to store fresh water, supplies, etc., so that there will be more people stationed on the island. I am worried about the safety of the two."

The two islands bought in Kunzhou are both large and small, both of which are more than ten square kilometers. One is located near the Nodon Peninsula in Japan, and the other is located among the Oki Islands. The island is densely covered with forests, with tamasu and natural ports, and can be docked with large ships.

Fan Ning smiled and said, "Buying islands is not just for communication transfers. As early as when we were exploring Kunzhou, we decided to set up a transit station halfway. These two islands are for transit and supply, and there will be a small number of troops in the future. There is no need to worry about safety."

Zhao Wen was overjoyed, "Then you can rest assured to be humble!"

After leaving Han County, Fan Ning brought two entourages and more than a dozen soldiers to the third ranch about 80 miles away from Han County. This ranch is located in the Youyun Grassland, covering an area of ​​4,000 square kilometers and can raise more than 100,000 war horses.

In addition to the establishment of horse-raising greenhouses here, the Cao family also established a ranch here. The Cao family has obtained dozens of high-quality stallions through various channels, plus more than a thousand mares transported, and established a medium-sized ranch in the summer and autumn of last year.

At this time, the ice and snow in Kunzhou had just begun to melt, and green grass had appeared on the ground. Groups of elks were hungry for a winter. They ignored the snow and water and desperately ate the tender grass on the ground. They did not run away in panic until people approached.

Kunzhou was originally the world of deer, with hundreds of thousands of deer heads. However, since the Song army came to the island, the deer herds have become the largest source of meat for the Song army, and it has been reduced by half in just two years.

There is no way to do this. The scale of Kunzhou ranch is still far inferior to the Mobei grassland. The scale of the pasture is limited. In order to raise as many horses as possible, it can only reduce the number of deer fighting for grass.

At this time, a follower pointed to the distance and shouted: "Sir, look!"

Fanning looked back and saw a large group of horses running towards this place in the distance. They quickly retreated and moved away from the group of horses. After a moment, the group of horses ran by, followed by dozens of horse-riding shepherds and more than a dozen shepherds riding horses.

"Envoy Fan!"

One of them saw Fan Ning, waved his hand and urged his horse to come over.

Fan Ning recognized this person as Cao Gang, a son of the Cao family, and also Cao Shi's clan brother. He is currently responsible for the construction and operation of the Cao family ranch.

Fan Ning went up to meet him, and when the two saw the greeting, they rode their horses and drove along.

Fanning asked with a smile: "How many horses are these?"

"One thousand and two hundred horses are all our belongings. We just returned from the Eastern Racecourse."

"But there is a pregnant horse?"

"There are more than 300 pregnant women, and maybe there are more. You should know that the mare's pregnancy is not visible in the early stages."

"Does the horses adapt to this side? More than a thousand horses died in the northern horse farm the previous year, and it was very tragic at that time."

Cao Gang nodded with a smile, "We are lucky, only twenty of them died, most of whom fell ill during transportation, and the other horses are quite adaptable to this side. The owner of the hometown is very happy and is planning to transport another two thousand horses this year, and strive for three years to increase the ranch to 5,000 horses."

Fanning nodded, "You still have to exchange stallions with the Triples Division. You can't just use your own stallions. The Triples Division already has two thousand foals, so you still have to work hard."

"Thank you Fan Jun's suggestion. In fact, I have already negotiated with Yang Dujian and will exchange stallions in a few days, and in addition."

Seeing that he seemed to have something to say, Fan Ning smiled and said, "If you have anything to say, Brother Cao just say it bluntly."

Cao Gang whispered: "The head of my hometown sent someone to send a letter last fall. The Cao family also wanted to participate in the mining exploration. I wonder if the envoy can approve it?"

Fan Ning approved a prospecting application last year in Zhu Yuanfu's name, and Mingren and Mingli made a fortune by digging out gold mines.

But last fall, the Overseas Economic and Economic Affairs Office established a mining supervisor and began to send people to search for gold and silver mines in Kunzhou. Three gold fields and two large silver mines have been found. Once the labor construction roads and city construction are over, it will be transferred to mining.

Fan Ning pondered for a moment and said, "To be honest, the court has always strictly controlled gold, silver and copper mines. In the past, Kunzhou was not included, but starting this year, the court has listed all four overseas prefectures as strictly controlled areas. It is useless to just approve it. Now it must be approved by the court. If the Cao family just wants to explore the sulfur mine, I will just approve it, but gold, silver and copper mines may not work. The Cao family has to go to the court to have a chance."

Cao Gang also knew these regulations. He was just lucky and asked Fan Ning if he could specifically approve them. As expected, it still didn't work.

He couldn't help but sigh and said, "The Zhu family is lucky and they are ahead. If we had arrived half a year earlier."

Fan Ning smiled and said, "The Zhu family's prospecting rights have been reduced to one year. It is no use to apply until May this year. Their mine fields will be collected in May, and there is not much time left for them."

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Chapter completed!