Lin Xie and Zhou Pu, Lin Jingzhong and others stood on the east beach of Prison Island to watch the sunset. The sunset fell on the thicket and the wild grass on the beach.

  The weeds on the east beach grew wildly, almost as tall as half a person. Although they were all withered grasses, they stood upright without falling over. On the other hand, on the muddy beach soaked in water, tender green shoots emerged from the mud.

  Lin Xuan looked at the bright red sunset and knew that it was not easy to have such a situation in just a few months, and for a moment, he felt a mix of emotions.

  On the prison island side, daily prison affairs and labor work of prisoners were handled by Shu Banzhang Sun Geng, armed guard duty was handled by Yang Shi, new recruits for armed guards and naval training were handled by Zhao Hu and Zhou Pu; management of refugees and laborers at the river mouth was handled by Cao Zikang, Lin Jingzhong, Qian Xiaowu and others, inviting Dongyang Township Party to come to the river mouth to build together was taken care of by Zhao Qinmin and Lin Mengde, training of three-masted ships and other boats' workers and sailors were handled by Da Xiao Jia Ye; since the defense force on this side of the river mouth is weak, it has been using secret scouts for surveillance, which was handled by Wu Qi, also known as Crow Old Man.

  Among these people, Yang Shi and Zhao Qinmin are considered to be Gu Wudian's trusted followers. Lin Bian does not have the qualifications to recruit Zhao Qinmin for his own use. The situation at the river mouth also made Gu Wudian very satisfied.

  Lao Gongguan Ge Fu and bamboo craftsman Zhao Zuigui, as well as Ge Sixu, Zhao Shuhan, Wu Yanqing, etc. actually made up for the technical shortcomings of river mouth construction and prison island labor.

  The first batch of strong and able-bodied laborers who were recruited from the refugees had almost all been assigned, forty guards, over forty cart drivers and boatmen, over sixty sailors and boat workers led by Da Xiao E to train at Longjiang Shipyard, over forty apprentices and miscellaneous workers from Jiyun Society, some disabled people from the refugee massacre were also arranged to work as watchmen, guarding the towers, sounding the alarm bell and keeping the lamps lit, as well as watching the gates of the enclosure. Of course, a very small number of lazy or unreliable refugees were ruthlessly driven out.

  Dongyang Prefecture is adjacent to Jiangning, and when the farmers of Dongyang are idle, they will also flood into Jiangning to work as laborers or porters, or go to workshops run by the Dongyang Township Party Committee to find jobs. Because of the guarantee of the Dongyang Township Party Committee, these young men from Dongyang can be distinguished from the stranded migrants on the north bank and allowed to cross the river.

  To avoid the influence of other forces infiltrating from Jiangning, Lin naturally tried to use as many local people as possible who were guaranteed by the Dongyang Township Party. Lin Mengde played a very important role, and most of the laborers on this side of the river were recruited by him using commercial ships under the name of Lin's warehouse along the Shiliang River.

  The riverside invited Dongyang Township to jointly build the party, and Dongyang Township naturally got used to using local children as workers. Although the influx of refugees made labor prices very cheap in Jiangning's suburbs, due to hometown sentiment, whether it was Jicloud Society or other Dongyang Township parties hiring, they would always give higher wages to local children than the local labor price, so that they could make a living in Jiangning and still have some savings to send back home to support their families. It is precisely this kind of hometown sentiment that also makes the township party and local children able to firmly unite as one in a foreign land, forming a powerful force.

  The three-masted thousand-ton ship needs to be trained in Longjiang Lake for half a month, and then it will go to Chaotian Tang for training, so that it can sail freely in bigger waves. After all, when you encounter wind and waves at sea, there won't be time for training again.

  In late March, before the plum rain season arrived, Lin Xie sent three more ships carrying hundreds of stones of grain, seeds, cloth, medicine, iron tools and other goods, as well as 1,000 taels of silver to Changshan Island. Transporting silver also made it convenient for those on Changshan Island to sneak into Songjiang and Chongzhou counties to exchange scarce materials, so they wouldn't have to rely solely on transportation from this side. The fine armor that had been privately stored was not sent in a hurry, as Lin Xie was still worried about encountering pirates or black-hearted bandits on the Yangzi River. With only three to five people escorting each ship, there was no way to fight back if they were robbed. Lin Xie instructed those responsible for transporting the goods that if they encountered robbers while at sea and had nowhere to escape, they could abandon the ships and flee. The grain, iron tools, medicine, cloth, and even silver were not particularly valuable, as they were all easily obtainable items. If someone wanted to steal them, they could just take them. The fine armor, such as the fish-scale armor and sharp steel knives, were things that couldn't be bought with silver, so it was better to wait until the thousand-stone ship could enter the Yangzi River and the military preparations were complete before sending them to Changshan Island.

  Lin Jingzhong looked at the desolate beach and within three to five days, two temporary camps were fenced out with wooden stakes, one large and one small. Between the camps, there was also a leveled-out training ground, and four carts were pulled onto the shallow beach. In his mind, he thought that things would not be difficult once they fell into Lin Xie's hands.

  "Yang Pu has brought Gusi Ming over, how do you plan to deal with him?" Lin Jingzhong asked Lin Lian.

  "Let him go and bother Zhao Qinnan, if he dares to be unruly on this side of the river, you come and tell me." Lin Fu said.

  Gu Sui Ming was the son of Gu Wu Chen's elder brother, and followed Gu Wu Chen to Jiangning. Gu Wu Chen couldn't let him idle around in the city all day, so he had Yang Pu send Gu Sui Ming to the river mouth, where Lin Fu arranged for him to do some work.

  Gu Wu Chen brought the person over, Lin Xuan naturally had to take the person in, and the Ji Yun Society and Yu Dao on this side wouldn't let Gu Si Ming intervene either. They could only hand it over to Zhao Qin Min.

  ********

  By the end of March, the personnel changes in Southeast Asia that had been discussed by everyone for nearly half a year finally came to an end.

  Yue Zhongqiu, the Minister of War who was promoted after the defeat at Chentangyi last year, is also a member of the Chu Party. After the defeat at Chentangyi, he personally went to the Yanshan front line to supervise and direct the military, playing an important role in stabilizing the northern front line. He is also one of the core forces that enabled the Chu Party to gain the trust and reuse of the current emperor. This time, he was reappointed and entrusted by the current emperor as an envoy to govern Dongming, overseeing civil administration, military preparations, and supervision, becoming the new governor of Dongming Prefecture.

  It would make more sense for Yue Zhongqiu to be in charge of the northern defense, as he is more familiar with it. However, due to internal arrangements within the Chu Party, the Yan Mountain defense line is currently a crucial location, and many high-ranking officials and veteran generals are concentrated there. Yue Zhongqiu's experience is still shallow, making it difficult for him to take charge of the Yan-Ji defense. Moreover, even with reinforcements from the southeast, the situation in Yan Mountain is particularly challenging. If Yue Zhongqiu were to suffer a defeat on the Yan Mountain front line, it would undermine the advantage that the Chu Party has worked hard to build up in the court. It's better to let Yue Lengqiu accumulate experience and prestige in Dongming instead.

  Lin felt speechless, at the time when the Wang dynasty was in turmoil, the Chu party's internal affairs were still focused on one faction's power struggle as a top priority. The temporarily stabilized Yan-Ji defense zone seemed to be still fraught with crisis and severe power struggles.

  Li Zhuo, the former Governor of Min, was also honored with the title of Taizi Shaoshi and Jiangning Bingbu Shangshu, and was appointed as the defender of Jiangning. The original defender of Jiangning, Qin Chengbo, was promoted to a higher rank in accordance with custom after Li Zhuo took office and was transferred back to Yanjing for selection.

  In late March to early April, the city of Jiangning regained its rare tranquility, as if every household was holding its breath waiting for Li Zhuo to take office in Jiangning. No one dared to stir up trouble during this time, lest they become the first fire that Li Zhuo would put out upon taking office in Jiangning.

  These days, Lin Xie has been exchanging a large amount of bronze coins from the river mouth for official silver to be sent to Chen/Yuan Liang and Zhang Yu Bo. On the other hand, Ji Yun She needs a large amount of bronze coins to settle wages, with nearly 30,000 catties of bronze coins piled up in the warehouse, and hundreds of catties of bronze coins are scattered out every day for wage settlement.

  Bamboo Hall, the second enclosure is being built intensively and is nearing completion. The third and fourth enclosures have also started building their outer walls. The south gate of the fence wall connecting to the official road of Donghua Gate has quickly started construction, digging drainage ditches, compacting the excavated soil onto the roadbed, and paving with stone and coal cinder. A large number of laborers were recruited, as long as a large amount of silver was scattered, the suburbs of Jiangning City had abundant materials, from the official road of Donghua Gate to the north, the 10-step-wide carriage path could advance 100 steps every day. Lin Xian felt that the speed was not fast enough, and the rainy season would soon arrive, so he started working on paving the road simultaneously from the south of the river mouth fence gate and the middle of the carriage path to the south and north.

  The road construction silver was borne by Jiangning Prefecture, Miling County, Yu Island and the merchants of Hekou. Wang Xueshan and Chen Yuanliang both promptly delivered the first 500 taels of silver, while Dongyang Township Party, although some had not yet confirmed that they would eventually contribute to Hekou, also successively donated 500 taels of silver. The 500 taels of silver contributed by Yu Island were naturally advanced by Jiyun Society.

  For nearly half a month, the turmoil in Jiangning City has almost completely subsided. In the turmoil where the Dongcheng Wei deceived the market children and attacked the river mouth, 32 people who were finally imprisoned in the Jiangdao Prison as the main culprits were released one after another, with more than 20 people released by early April, leaving only nine people still imprisoned in the Jiangdao Prison.

  These chief culprits, Lin Xie was treated to good wine and meat every day, but the wine and meat provided by the prison for these chief culprits were not free. Every time someone was released, the prison had to bear a share of the road silver, which was calculated to be twice as expensive as the wine and meat in the city's large prisons. Compared to the style of the city's large prisons, it was already very restrained, after all, the bulk of the money had to be left for Gu Wu Chen to extort. However, not a single bamboo stick was beaten here, which was also too formalistic. Lin Xie specially instructed Zhang Sun Geng to take charge of this matter personally, and other prison officials were extremely formalistic in clearing the prison afterwards. The order to transfer Liu Xi Lin, the deputy captain of the Yunqi Battalion of Dongyang Prefecture, to Jiangning as the East City Captain was jointly signed by the Jiangning Guard General's Office, Jiangning Prefecture, and Jiangdong Inspection Department at the end of March, but Liu Xi Lin had to wait until the affairs in Dongyang Prefecture were over before he could come to Jiangning to take office.

  On April 12, after nearly twenty days of training on Longjiang Lake, Da Xiao and sixty sailors finally moved the three-masted thousand-ton ship from Longjiang Lake to the river mouth with the help of craftsmen at the Longjiang Shipyard.

  Due to the main mast of the Thousand Stone Ship being as high as ten zhang, while the main bridge hole of the Jiuyong Bridge spanning the Jinjiang River and connecting the Donghua Gate official road was only six zhang above the water surface this season, under the operation of many craftsmen, sailors, and boatmen, it took two hours to lower the cabin and pass through the main bridge hole of the Jiuyong Bridge with a tilt. Thousands of people gathered along the shore to watch this rare grand event.

  Lin tied up at the Jiuyong Bridge and rode his horse on the river embankment to watch the thousand-stone ship pass through the bridge hole. After the ship passed through the bridge hole, it temporarily anchored at the Jiuyong Bridge ferry terminal. Lin invited Zhao Shuhan, Ge Sixu, Ge Fu, Wu Yanqing, Zhao Qinmin, Lin Mengde, Gu Siming and others to board the first large commercial cargo sailboat under the flag of Jiyun Society to watch the grand event.

  The old master ordered the sailors to raise the sails quickly, taking advantage of the strong southeast wind to speed towards Chao Tian Dang.