Chapter 109: The Slave

Liu Qing's work was very efficient. Soon, he sent a stack of drawings to Ye Tao's room. These drawings contained the earliest terrain sketches of Crescent Island, the distribution diagrams of buildings on Crescent Island before this reconstruction and expansion, the current construction drawings and descriptions, as well as drawings marked with some relatively hidden terrain on Crescent Island.

Reading these drawings is a chore for Ye Tao. It is obviously a drawing of a place, but the drawing methods and standards are completely different. Only the drawings recently drawn that marked the current construction situation were made according to the drawing specifications formulated by Ye Tao. It took Ye Tao almost half a night to use the drawing equipment in the toolbox he always carried with him to draw a comprehensive logo that meets his current needs. Then, he compared the comprehensive logo on a bamboo paper as thin as a tracing paper, using the drawing equipment he had always carried with him, and roughly outlined some changes he wanted to make to the current construction plan of Crescent Island.

He reorganized the road construction on Crescent Island and converted some stair-shaped roads into roads with mixed stairs and ramps to facilitate transportation of materials.

The watchtowers built on the original island will be replaced by six-story tower buildings with masonry structures. With cast iron as the frame, a spiral metal escalator in the middle, and an exterior with bricks and cement on the outside, which is very close to the modern sentinel building. On the top is a hexagonal movable platform, which is more than five times larger than the moving space on the original watchtower. The roof covering the tiles and the flat lookout window make the people who are stationed in the lookout more comfortable and can work more for a longer time. The tower will be equipped with a binocular with a bracket - no doubt, this is the latest achievement of the optical department of Ye's Workshop. They can finally grind out lenses with consistent optical characteristics with crystals. The support supporting the binocular can be used for a crossbow machine produced by Ye's Workshop that can hold six ordinary arrows. At the necessary moment, the watchtower can also be used to withstand for a while.

The entire wharf is planned as three areas: trade, combat readiness and port work. Human cranes and winches for roads and loading and unloading are arranged in a targeted manner. In the port area, a short 150-foot-long embankment will be built, extending into the sea, connecting the wharf to a large reef. On that reef, Ye Tao wanted to build a lighthouse and guide ships into the port at night. Mr. Qi's own fleet has long been equipped with light boxes for night contact. I believe this technology, which is not difficult at all, will soon be popularized within the entire Qihai Trading Company.

The shipyard and ordnance workshop are still retained on the other side of the island. Try to stay away from the crowds that may enter and exit the Crescent Island. On the side of the shipyard, Ye Tao set up a barracks that can accommodate about 200 to 300 people.

Ye Tao felt that only after all the plans he had planned could the Crescent Island defense system be more satisfied. This satisfaction was only based on the existing technical level. It turned out that Ye Tao also planned to build a turret on the island, but after thinking about it, the range of weapons such as the Divine Arm Bow and the Bird cannon cannot allow the turret to fully exert its power. As for the artillery... OK. Ye Tao did think about getting a cannon to play, but now he has not produced steel for quality in the forging workshop in Liyang. In any case, Ye Tao is just a guy who designs civilian products, using various knowledge of physics, mathematics, structural mechanics, aerodynamics, ergonomics and other knowledge he knows to design cold weapons, armor, and large-scale ejection weapons. That is another system. Although it may not be impossible, Ye Tao does not have the time and energy to pounce on this aspect now.

However, even according to Ye Tao's current plan, the project budget will be a terrifying number. The stone and wood needed to be used during construction can be used on site from Crescent Island. The cost of transporting good timber from Beiliao is not particularly high, but there is no large amount of materials suitable for burning bricks on the island, nor does it have metal minerals. According to Ye Tao's plan, the cast iron frames to be used in the construction of the watchtower and lighthouse must be cast and shipped from Yicheng. This cost is quite terrible. The sea transportation of large metal components will be a very complicated problem. This part of the cost makes Ye Tao feel that it seems necessary to reconsider it.

Ye Tao, who had been staying up all night, was considering the construction of Crescent Island while eating delicious breakfast. The servants on the island had reported to him the current situation. The prince and the princess had not woken up since they lay down last night. However, the servants and the officers, after all, have been training for many years and are working hard. Even the guys who have experienced serious seasickness have woken up now and are working in an orderly manner. Prepare for the prince and the princess' daily life.

And Qi Zhentao probably drank a little too much yesterday, but he didn't get up. Old Master Qi was there, so there was nothing he could do about it. So Ye Tao, who stayed up all night but was still in good spirits, suddenly became the only person who could speak when he needed to receive important guests.

The important guest came with the cargo ship of the Qihai Trading Company that transported the "Mars bomb". Accompanied by Mohammed, Assad, the senior deacon of the Samir family, brought two armed cargo ships to Crescent Island. Mohammed is now a senior deacon of the Qihai Trading Company. He devoted the achievements of his years of operation: the routes, sales channels, human resources and interpersonal relationships from the Persian region to Yicheng, and half of his working capital was all 1.4 million taels of silver. Mohammed was a pure merchant and did not have any awe of the Samir family, which was powerful in Persia. On the contrary, he considered the problem as a senior deacon of the Qihai Trading Company, thinking about how to scrape some oil and water from the Samir family. In particular, the Samir family did have a request for the Qihai Trading Company.

The members of the Samir family who watched the completion of the Seven Sea Tower were originally thinking that they would immediately reach an agreement with Ye Tao, the builder of the Seven Sea Tower, to be able to build an equally brilliant or even more brilliant building in the Persian region. Unexpectedly, Ye Tao was involved in the battle against Xiling shortly afterwards, and waited for the handling of the matter in Baishi City, and worked in Danyang for a long time in various messy things. It was almost half a year later that they came to Yicheng again. In the past six months, the picture of the Samir family painters drawing the ground bell tower in Yicheng has caused a sensation in the Persian region. Many people are half-believing about the buildings in the picture, but the Samir family and the Persian merchants who are popular are very famous figures. The praise from everyone finally made the Samir family determined to let miraculous buildings appear on the Red Sea.

In the same half year, the first batch of clocks were transported back to the Persian region through the Samir family, and then transmitted to the entire Western world through the Persian region to the entire Western world. While the Western world was still working hard to improve the processing technology of escapements and parts of the clock, the Tissot Watch House had formed a product system with anchor escapements and locust claw escapements as the core. The time-reporting mechanism in the form of music box, mirror paint and gold-drawing silver-drawing surface treatment technology made the entire upper society almost crazy. The clock purchased from Qi Zhentao for 12,000 taels of silver can be shipped to the Western world at least ten times the price. The highest sales price is as high as 100,000 gold Louis, equivalent to 700,000 taels of silver...

Even without the technical problems of the Bell Tower, Assad felt that he should work hard with this Qihai Trading Company and maintain this business.

Although Assad was eager to see Qi Zhentao and Ye Tao, Mohammed also felt that showing the strength of Qihai Trading Company in front of senior deacons of the Samir family would be very conducive to the cooperation in the future. Although the Samir family is a call for wind and rain in the Persian region, their armed merchant ships still need to rely on Qihai Trading Company's relationship. Naturally, they are not worried that they will covet Crescent Island.

Mohammed was very happy to see Ye Tao greeting them on the dock. He jumped off the gangway, immediately met Ye Tao, and held his hand tightly. He reminded him in a voice that only two people could hear: "These guys are very rich, slaughter them hard."

Mohammed's Chinese level is still quite high, even though his pronunciation is a bit strange. Ye Tao squeezed his eyes at meeting, shook hands with Mohammed, and turned around to meet Assad.

"Hello, a distinguished guest," he had a lot of dealings with Mohammed. Ye Tao also knew some of the etiquettes of Persia. He stroked his right hand and bowed slightly, winning the same gift from Assad.

Assad had learned from Mohammed when he was on the boat that this young man was the designer and builder of the bell tower, Dongping, and perhaps the best architect in the entire Middle Earth continent. Mohammed also revealed that Ye Tao was also the author of the beautiful full-size girl jade carving he brought to Persia.

"Your genius can compete with the moon," Assad exclaimed politely.

"Thank you." Ye Tao did not show any joy because of the other party's praise. For him, accepting praise from others has become a daily necessity skill, a skill he has been practicing since a few years ago. "Welcome to Crescent Island. Please come with me. I have prepared tea and snacks for my distinguished guests. The night sailing is tiring, please rest first."

Assad shook his head and said, "We are wandering travelers, and sailing is part of our lives. Let the sailors rest, I am eager to have a good talk with you."

"As you wish, please come with me." Ye Tao did not insist on waiting for a long time before the negotiations began. He had long heard of the purpose of Assad, the representative of the Samir family.

The most suitable meeting for this kind of talk should be the living room of the North Courtyard. However, the North Courtyard is now occupied by Tan Weishi and Tan Weiran and his brothers and sisters, Ye Tao had to lead Assad and his group to Suiguang Hall in the East Courtyard. The East Courtyard is the earliest group of buildings on the entire island. It was built when Mr. Qi gathered pirates and then gradually moved to sea business. It exuded a heroic and strict manner everywhere. After renovation, although the courtyard still has the solemnity of the samurai courtyard, it also added a bit of grace, which was very consistent with Mr. Qi's demeanor.

Sitting down at Assad in Suiguang Hall, Ye Tao naturally noticed the scimitars on the waists of the two black-clothed guards standing behind Assad. Assad's status in the Samir family is not low. Following him to protect him, he is naturally a highly respected master. The quality of the two scimitars is naturally extraordinary. The black shark skin scabbards are decorated with black silver filigree at both ends, and it can be seen that the hilts and patterns on the handguards are also put in a lot of effort.

"Ahmed, remove your knife and let Mr. Ye see it." Assad observed his expression and immediately noticed what Ye Tao looked at.

The guard named Ahmed looked a little gloomy, but he still untied his sword without saying a word, handed it to Ye Tao for the servant standing there.

Ye Tao gently pulled out the scimitar. Ye Tao loved the bitter cold on the island, but what he loved even more was the complex patterns on the blade... Damascus steel. Ye Tao was very clear about this pattern, and he praised it. He stood up with the scimitar and weighed the weight of the knife.

Assad smiled and said, "I have brought gifts to you and Mr. Qi, but I don't know if you like it. Mr. Ye, since you like this knife, please accept it as an extra gift I have prepared for you."

Ye Tao glanced at Ahmed. Ahmed's face looked very ugly. For a guard, a sword is almost as important as his life. Ye Tao pondered for a moment and said, "I do like this sword. Then I will accept it. However, Ahmed's guard still needs a weapon that matches his identity, right?"

Ye Tao signaled to Lu Dan standing behind him. Lu Dan owed his body and walked out of Sui Guangtang, and later held a heavier than the scimitar. But compared with the mountain-cutting swords that the guards of the Princess' Mansion, they came in a lighter and more quickly than the mountain-cutting swords used by the princess's house, and politely held the sword in front of Ahmed.

Seeing Assad nodding, Ahmed took over the knife. As soon as he started, Ahmed felt the difference in the knife from the solid weight. The scabbard is made of steel. At the tip of the knife and close to the guard, there are the patterns of waves stamped as a whole, layered, exquisite and implicit. The middle part of the scabbard is also wrapped in shark skin, but the nitride process of the shark skin seems to be better than the black shark skin on Ahmed's original sword, and the tentacles are warm and elastic. The scabbard is round in shape and cast into a beautiful lotus shape. There is a small protective decoration on the thumb position, which can lock the knife and scabbard together.

Get up. Avoid the knife slipping out of the scabbard when the center of gravity of the knife is overturned when the knife is slid out of the scabbard. The shank is also wrapped with shark skin. At the tail of the knife, it is a stamped snake-eye shape. Ahmed pulled out the safety and pulled out the knife. For the craftsmanship of Damascus steel, only longing for the Damascus steel but not knowing it. Ye Tao naturally could not make that pattern, but purely in terms of sharpness and toughness, this kind of iron ore and some meteorites are refined in the Liyang Forging Site. The material called heavy-quenched steel is not bad at all compared to Damascus steel. It is just that the output is lower.

As an expert in using swords, Ahmed could naturally see the quality of the sword. Although it was not as gorgeous as the decoration on his original sword, the knife was very suitable for his taste. He even put the sword in the sheath, put it on the belt again, bowed slightly to Ye Tao, and retreated behind Assad.

This simple exchange made the atmosphere of the conversation between Assad and Ye Tao more harmonious. Assad smiled and said, "Mr. Ye, you are so kind. Your knife is better than that machete."

"As a craftsman, I can't help but like all kinds of fresh things. The cloud-like patterns on the scimitar deeply attracted me." Ye Tao said with a smile.

"Then I'll show you another thing that might interest you." Assad said and clapped his hands. A servant standing outside the corridor walked into Suikan carefully with a scroll.

Ahmed quickly came up and slowly unfolded the scroll in front of Ye Tao with the servant. The content on the scroll was the city view of Yicheng, mainly composed of the Qihai Tower of Yicheng.

This is probably a detailed painting? Ye Tao looked at this huge picture carefully. In the picture, the Seven Seas Tower was not only beautified, but even deified. The Seven Seas Tower and even the sculptures on it were carved in a slight way. Even the top of the tower was painted high above the clouds, and there were hundreds of lines with clear layers at the size of fingernails, which outlined the sculptures of the King of Heaven on the top of the tower to life. In order to depict the brilliant picture of the Bell Tower and Yicheng, it was estimated that the gold foil was two to three taels alone, and the extremely saturated colors even penetrated into every happy face on the picture...

Ye Tao could see that Assad smiled slightly, stood on the side without any rush. When Ye Tao's attention left the picture bit by bit, Assad said proudly: "Mr. Ye, your genius has created the most beautiful scenery in this city. I hope that the same beautiful scenery can appear in my hometown. This towering bell tower can make our people closer to Allah and listen to Allah's wishes better. On behalf of the Samir family, I sincerely look forward to you to visit Dubai Port. All your requests, as long as we can do, will be met."
Chapter completed!