Gu Qingcheng still needed some time to obtain the 20 tons of iron required to upgrade her luxury yacht.
Currently, iron production was limited, and any iron obtained would first be used to forge weapons for the village.
As for the yacht's upgrade, it wasn't an immediate necessity. Even without the auto-repair system, the performance of current warships was incomparable to her luxury yacht.
The yacht's speed alone was tens of thousands of miles ahead of them.
Especially since she wouldn't be stationary, waiting to be rammed by other ships or bombarded by their cannons.
Therefore, Gu Qingcheng did not selfishly prioritize the yacht upgrade.
Otherwise, with her current influence and status in Phoenix Village, no one would dare to object if she wanted to claim all the pig iron.
After all, she was the source of all power and sustenance for the village's development.
She was like an engine providing money and food; without her, Phoenix Village wouldn't exist.
As the saying goes, without the skin, where would the hair attach?
Of course, Gu Qingcheng's primary concern for upgrading the yacht was natural disasters, not man-made ones.
Her luxury yacht could definitely evade human threats, but natural disasters were beyond Gu Qingcheng's control.
Thus, upgrading the luxury yacht was ultimately necessary.
However, the current trend of flooding was still manageable, so Gu Qingcheng wasn't in a rush.
That night, she instructed Mi Guo to fetch a box of Pear Blossom White Aged Brew from the ship and let the craftsmen drink their fill.
The miners and craftsmen feasted and drank heartily, very happy.
Following Young Master Gu, they wouldn't go hungry; this was their most direct understanding now.
Even newcomers who had joined the village only one or two months prior knew how fortunate it was to be a resident of Phoenix Village.
In the outside world, with their commoner status, working as miners or general laborers would at best provide them with wild vegetables and thin, watery porridge. How could they possibly have wine and meat to feast on like this?
In terms of having enough to eat, the people of Phoenix Village, having "eaten too much," might even forget that the outside world was still a place where people starved.
Gu Qingcheng, after eating and drinking her fill, returned to the ship to rest.
The conditions in the mountain shelters were simple. After discussing with Da Peng and Xiao Peng, she decided to send another 100 craftsmen to help build comfortable dormitories and a mess hall using the bricks and tiles they would bring.
The dormitories wouldn't be individual houses, but rather large communal rooms. However, a few private suites would also be built to cater to the diverse needs of the craftsmen, for example, so that Xiao Peng's Zi Wei would have a place to stay when visiting.
Besides having enough to eat and drink, being warm and sleeping well were also basic human needs.
Upon hearing that Young Master Gu would address their worries, everyone's spirits soared.
They didn't have to spend money on food, and each month, these craftsmen received wages ranging from ten taels upwards, depending on their trade.
Since food and drink were free, they could save almost all the money they earned. A skilled person could save over 100 taels of silver in a year.
This would be sufficient for marrying a wife or acquiring land in the future.
To meet the needs of these villagers, Gu Qingcheng had already allocated private land for sale in Phoenix Village, allowing those with money to purchase it themselves.
However, she had also established a rule: any land purchased in Phoenix Village would then be leased back to the communal management for unified crop cultivation, with the harvest distributed according to the rent.
Although buying communal land and then leasing it back seemed like a waste of money, the land was still registered in their own name, and owning it privately for marriage or inheritance by descendants was an indescribable feeling.
Therefore, after Gu Qingcheng introduced this system in Phoenix Village, half of the communal land available for sale had already been bought, further reinforcing Gu Qingcheng's realization that the people of the Great Zhou Dynasty's possessiveness over land was no less than that of modern people.
Gu Qingcheng slept very comfortably on the ship. In the morning, she was awakened by the "thump-thump" sound of goods being moved on the ship.
Wang Da Peng was already directing the crew to move the iron ore from the mountain onto the ship early in the morning.
Once all the newly smelted pig iron was loaded onto the ship, Gu Qingcheng and Da Peng set sail and departed.
She was not in a hurry to return to Phoenix Village immediately. Apart from the merchant ship she was traveling on, she had let the other merchant ships return to Phoenix Village to continue their freight business.
Gu Qingcheng and Da Peng discussed their plan to buy a few houses here, one of which would serve as a communal property. In the future, village ministers could stay in the communal courtyard for leisure, entertainment, and recreation, making them feel truly at home.
Upon returning to Chaliao Island, Wang Da Peng brought the intermediary, Old Hu, to help them with recommendations.
As soon as Old Hu saw Da Peng, his eyes lit up with a wide smile.
Wang Da Peng had always been generous, and every time he appeared, good things seemed to happen.
Upon hearing that they intended to buy houses, Old Hu immediately had a lead. He mentioned that there was originally a wealthy landlord named Huang on the island who had built a summer villa there, intended for escaping the heat. After the natural disaster, he had lived there for a period.
Later, Master Huang felt that the place was not suitable for a long stay and wanted to move to the capital, so he entrusted the villa to Old Hu for sale before leaving with his family by boat.
Master Huang had a son in the local area, but he was a concubine's son and not favored by his father. As the ship had limited capacity, he did not board and remained locally, living in one of the smaller side residences.
Gu Qingcheng's interest was piqued when she heard Master Huang was a landlord. Generally, such individuals who could build summer retreats would have good furnishings.
Old Hu happily led them to view Master Huang's grand residence.
Coincidentally, Master Huang's residence was located near the area where Gu Qingcheng planned to establish a freight terminal. If the terminal were built, it would only take about fifteen minutes to walk from Master Huang's residence to the terminal.
Behind the Huang residence was a small hill, and in front was a pond. From a feng shui perspective, with a "support" behind and "wealth water" in front, the feng shui was excellent.
The main residence covered approximately ten mu of land, with several slightly smaller residences beside it, totaling three buildings. These were said to be for Master Huang's younger brothers.
However, they had also packed their belongings and moved to the city with Master Huang.
Gu Qingcheng was very satisfied with the exterior appearance of the houses and immediately decided to buy them.
Master Huang had originally entrusted Old Hu with a price of 5,000 taels of silver. Old Hu said he could negotiate the price with Master Huang's son.
Gu Qingcheng was, of course, willing to save money.
So, Old Hu went to find Master Huang's son, and they negotiated the price through him.
Master Huang's son appeared dispirited and lacked energy, clearly not living a good life.
Master Huang's son was also surprised that someone was willing to buy his family's residence.