Chapter 48: Chapter 48: Building the Fish Pond
Su Li’s castle was situated on a high slope on the north bank where the rivers converged. To reach the dock on the less turbulent east bank, one had to circle the castle from the right side. A steep mountain path descended from the high ground, connecting to this small dock.
By the time Su Li came down from the castle, Hilude had already gathered all the fishermen along with the Minister of the Seal, Lauren, waiting for him by the riverside.
The territory housed quite a few fishermen, a total of 16. Su Li bought 10 fishermen and 10 hunters from the Slave Capture Team’s camp in Marle Castle. Additionally, six were surviving subjects from the territory; the night of blood and fire when the former Lord was defeated saw fishermen rowing away, being the most surviving profession.
Although fishing and hunting are not very stable methods of production, a territory at its initial stages needs the harvest from these activities to sustain itself, which is better than having no income from farming early on.
Under everyone’s gaze, Su Li stepped onto the dock and said in a commanding tone: "Today, all fishing and hunting activities are under my command. Any unauthorized net casting or self-initiated actions will result in 20 lashes!"
Seeing the knights in shining armor gathered around Su Li, the fishermen didn’t dare to voice any objections. Even if they doubted Su Li’s knowledge of fishing and hunting, they quickly responded, "We will definitely follow the Lord’s commands."
After emphasizing the discipline of the action, Su Li turned his head towards the Minister of the Seal, Lauren, and asked, "Do we only have these few boats in our territory?"
Calling them boats was a bit of an exaggeration; they were essentially wooden rafts tied together. Su Li was worried that they might drift apart at the turbulent confluence. Only two actually resembled boats, but they were just small dinghies capable of carrying only two people. They hardly matched Su Li’s impression of a proper fishing boat capable of housing five or six professional fishermen for casting nets and trawling.
Lauren explained, "Yes, Lord. The territory has four rafts and two small fishing boats, all here. The former Lord didn’t emphasize the fishing industry. I’ve heard in some resource-rich shallow waters, if you put stones in a basket and sink it underwater, it would immediately fill with cod. Sadly, our area is not one of those notable fishing grounds. Perhaps our exploration is not extensive enough to have discovered the fishing grounds at Hesse’s foothills."
Could there really be such providential fishing grounds?
Lauren’s words moved Su Li greatly. This area of Hesse’s foothills was very fertile with abundant resources, and it was highly likely that there were such fishing grounds. Finding one could potentially turn the area into a unique "land of fish and rice." Su Li remembered some Northern European countries back in his previous life, whose entire economy was supported by fishing.
However, this wasn’t something to rush. He waved his hand and said, "We’ll search for the fishing ground slowly in the future. Who says we can’t fish without a fishing ground? Have the fishermen organize their nets and wait for my command. I predict a large school of carp and grass carp will be migrating through here soon."
Lauren, being very knowledgeable, was aware that it truly was the season for fish migration. Predicting the exact timing of the fish passing through would make a rich harvest highly probable.
He was just slightly doubtful and asked, "Lord, can you really be certain about the timing of the fish passage? Does the Dawn Church have this capability?"
Su Li had only discussed things with Vandar, the Religious Advisor and Minister of Agriculture, the day before, and Lauren assumed it was Vandar the Druid’s ability.
With confidence, Su Li waved his hand and said, "My Minister of the Seal, just follow my orders, and we will surely have a bountiful catch. What you need to think about now is how to store so much fresh fish."
The authority of the Lord was something Lauren could not resist. Even if Su Li failed to catch a single fish, Lauren could only follow his current orders and provide suggestions and counsel.
Lauren could only continue with Su Li’s topic: "If there really is an abundance of fresh fish, I suggest starting from two aspects. First, we should establish several smokehouses for making smoked fish and meat. If we initially rely on fishing and hunting to transition, we’ll lack fish, venison, and wolf meat. Without a few smokehouses, these fresh meats will be difficult to preserve."
"The other aspect is to quickly establish pastures and fish ponds to raise live fish and animals. Animal husbandry has always been more stable than fishing and hunting, especially as this fertile and extensive land on Hesse’s foothills allows for vast pastures and large fish ponds, making it a paradise for animal husbandry and fishery development."
Su Li nodded with satisfaction; this was the advantage of having a Civil Servant to assist one.
Although he had initially planned to rely on fishing and hunting to support the territory’s development, he hadn’t thought about such minute details. With a Civil Servant to fill in the gaps, the territory’s development could be more stable.
He immediately said, "Let’s start preparing on these two fronts now. Arrange for manpower to undertake both simultaneously: a group to cut wood and build the camp, and another to dig a fish pond and reservoir. The excavation will be two kilometers northeast of where the rivers converge."
Indeed, in any territory’s development, the way to create wealth is to cut down trees first.
The smokehouse’s craftsmanship isn’t difficult. Anyone who’s watched wild survival series would understand—small rooms made of wood and twigs, using prime wood from pine, fruitwood, and hardwood. The smoke produces a faint fruity aroma, adding a unique flavor to the meat products.
This task was not difficult; Lauren immediately dispatched ten serfs to the woods surrounding the outpost to begin logging. Hesse’s foothills were vast and sparsely populated, with woods everywhere. Even around villages, there were abundant trees. Although not as dense as the Blood Pine Forest, groves of hundreds or thousands of trees between villages could easily be found. Serfs could cut them down with axes and saws.
But building a fish pond was no easy task!
Lauren hesitated for a moment and then said to Su Li, "Lord, we don’t have enough serfs left to dig a fish pond. Farming and livestock have already occupied more than a hundred of our manpower."
Su Li thought for a moment and said, "It’s not a big problem. We still have manpower; they just don’t want to do it. Tell those Armed Attendants to dig the fish pond. They can keep a tenth of any minerals they find."
Lauren was slightly surprised and asked, "Will they actually go? These Armed Attendants are very proud; how could they engage in such laborious tasks as digging? Wouldn’t this be considered an insult and affect their morale?"
Su Li smiled calmly, "Relax, just tell them my words, and they’ll definitely swarm in."
Asking them to do labor for the serfs and build water infrastructure would definitely lead to complaints.
But asking them to pan for gold would definitely boost their enthusiasm. In this world, adventurers and gold seekers consist of 60% of these Armed Attendants and colonizers.
They have been following Su Li for so long, and hearing about minerals would definitely make them rush over eagerly, with swords and pickaxes in hand, digging straight down—saving a lot of tools for Su Li.