Chapter 26

January 31, 1632. Sunny.

It was already the second day after the war, and a grand funeral was being held at the national cemetery. The bodies of seven soldiers who fell in battle the previous day were to be buried here. Not only were all the members of the Executive Committee present, but many soldiers and civilians had also come of their own accord.

The soldiers came to see their fallen comrades off for the last time. Although they hadn't known each other for long, they had fought and faced death together, so it was only right to come and pay their respects. The civilians came to see the soldiers who had defended them for the last time.

Ye Yongxing and Reverend Francis appeared again. After the entire ceremony was completed, all the members of the Executive Committee walked around the graves once, and the funeral was officially over.

The enemy fleet had set sail the previous night, probably guessing what had happened. With the threat gone, life would return to normal. The first thing the Executive Committee needed to do was to fulfill the promises made before the war.

Currently, the armed forces of the Executive Committee included: the newly formed First Infantry Battalion, the First Independent Field Artillery Company, the Coastal Artillery, and 40 Cossack serfs, totaling more than 570 people. About half of them were from the穿越众 (穿越众 refers to the group of people who have traveled through time), while the rest were immigrants from various countries, mainly from the first and second batches, with the majority being Swiss and Finnish.

The Executive Committee conducted a statistical review based on the roster. At this time, 290 soldiers (including 6 who had fallen in battle) needed to be formally granted the status of free citizens. Additionally, the families of the 6 fallen immigrant soldiers would also be granted the status of free citizens according to policy. In total, 297 people would be granted the status of free citizens.

With the status of free citizens, they would no longer be indentured servants of the East Shore Company and would receive a substantial monthly salary. Although this increased the financial expenditure, the Executive Committee was now financially well-off and didn't mind the small amount.

In addition, the monetary rewards promised before the war also needed to be distributed. The Ministry of Finance estimated that due to some people's "reckless promises," the amount of money was as high as several thousand rials. However, to maintain the credibility of the穿越众, the Executive Committee decided to distribute the money in full. Moreover, since there were no specific regulations before the war, the soldiers' war spoils would not be required to be turned in this time. In the future, however, hiding war spoils would definitely not be allowed, and specific rules would need to be established.

Furthermore, the Executive Committee had long been troubled by the various British, French, Spanish, and Venetian gold and silver coins. Taking advantage of this opportunity, the finance commissioner Tangyuan suggested minting their own coins. In fact, this was not the first time the idea had been proposed. The穿越众 had long been fed up with the strange Spanish cross silver coins. The Ministry of Finance had already submitted an application last year, even designing the styles and patterns. However, at that time, the Executive Committee did not have enough gold and silver coins to consider minting their own currency. Now, the穿越众 had a stock of more than 1.7 million rials in various gold and silver coins, making it the right time to mint their own currency. Moreover, minting coins was also a profitable business.

The Ministry of Finance's proposal was to mint copper, silver, and gold coins simultaneously, with a total of 7 denominations, using a decimal system, i.e., 1 yuan = 10 jiao. Specifically, the denominations were: 1 jiao and 2 jiao copper coins; 1 yuan, 2 yuan, and 5 yuan silver coins; 50 yuan and 100 yuan gold coins. Of course, the latter two denominations would rarely be encountered in daily life.

The front of the copper coins had the denomination "1 jiao" or "2 jiao" in the center, with "First Mint" and the year of minting along the bottom edge. The back featured a "grassland, cattle" pattern and an Arabic numeral "1" or "2." The 1 jiao copper coin weighed 39 grams, and the 2 jiao copper coin weighed 78 grams.

The silver and copper coins were similar in design. Taking the 1 yuan coin as an example, the front still had the denomination "1 yuan" and the mint and year of minting, with additional decorative patterns. The back featured a wave and sailboat pattern and an Arabic numeral "1." The 1 yuan silver coin was made of a silver-copper alloy, weighing 30 grams, with 90% silver content. By extension, the 2 yuan silver coin weighed 60 grams, and the 5 yuan silver coin weighed 150 grams.

The last type was the gold coin, which was to be minted in small quantities. It was made of a gold-silver alloy with 92% gold content. The front was similar to the copper and silver coins, and the back featured a panda and bamboo pattern with an Arabic numeral "50" or "100." The 50 yuan gold coin weighed 94 grams, and the 100 yuan gold coin weighed 188 grams. For smaller denominations used in daily life, such as "fen," the Ministry of Finance decided to mint simple copper, lead, and tin alloy coins.

After unifying the currency, the total value of the various gold and silver coins in the hands of the Executive Committee was approximately 200,000 rials.

The location for the mint was chosen on the north bank of the Big Fish River, near the military camp. The molds and forging hammers for minting would be provided by the steel plant, which was not a complicated task. Once the equipment was in place, minting could begin in a few days.

After resolving the most pressing issue, the next matter was the military.

The enemy had retreated, and with the current population under the control of the Executive Committee (1,978 people), maintaining such a large army was no longer appropriate. Therefore, a certain scale of demobilization was necessary. Moreover, the Executive Committee was still relatively short on human resources, with various departments constantly complaining about a lack of manpower. Keeping more than 500 able-bodied men in the army was simply unreasonable.

Thus, reducing the army's size was inevitable, but which units to cut was a matter of careful consideration. Peng Zhicheng and Wang Qian, who usually got along well, were now at each other's throats, arguing in front of the other committee members.

The core issue was whether to reduce the number of coastal artillery personnel or the personnel of the newly formed First Infantry Battalion. Peng Zhicheng argued that the total number of personnel in the three naval artillery positions was 240, which was unacceptable, and proposed reducing it to 150. Wang Qian strongly disagreed, saying that the current personnel were already stretched thin to serve the 32 guns across the three artillery positions, and there were no surplus personnel. Moreover, this was to prepare for future shipbuilding and artillery training. Therefore, he suggested disbanding one of the three companies of the First Infantry Battalion, disbanding the Cossack cavalry, and appropriately reducing the personnel of the First Independent Field Artillery Company.

The two argued fiercely, neither willing to back down. Finally, Ma Qianzhu stepped in to mediate, and both sides made some concessions. The naval coastal artillery personnel were reduced by 75, leaving 165. The First Infantry Battalion's First Company remained at full strength, while the Second and Third Companies each had two platoons reduced. The First Independent Field Artillery Company's structure remained unchanged. The temporary cavalry unit was disbanded, retaining only a reconnaissance squad of 5 people with 2 horses, under the direct command of the First Infantry Battalion headquarters. In this way, the army was reduced by 99 people, leaving 236, and the total reduction in the army and navy was 174 people, leaving 401.

As a supplementary measure, regular military drills for ordinary citizens were also put on the agenda, pending specific proposals from the army and navy for discussion and implementation.

This battle also resulted in 198 prisoners of war: 68 French, 108 Dutch, and 22 English. These were all uninjured prisoners, while the wounded were being given their last rites by the inexperienced police under the Internal Affairs Commissioner Jiao Tang.

These prisoners were now a significant resource in the hands of the Executive Committee. The limestone quarry, cement kiln, brick kiln, construction team, and even the farm all wanted people to work. Since it was too troublesome to distribute them, it was decided to send all the prisoners to the limestone quarry for mining, with the quarry allocating some personnel to other departments as needed.

With these external threats resolved, the Executive Committee could finally resume economic construction, which had been on hold for a while.

First was the construction of Dingshanyuan Fort. Before the war, Dingshanyuan Fort had already built a city wall and moat about 600 meters long, with complete factory and living facilities inside. Before the war, the Executive Committee decided to reduce the personnel, and most of the people at Dingshanyuan Fort were withdrawn, leaving only a 30-person team to guard it. Now that the war was over, the fishing operations at Dingshanyuan Fort needed to be quickly resumed, and the fish processing plant had to start production immediately.

After this war, the Executive Committee realized the limitations of the current living and production areas. While the residential and factory areas were within the city, the farmland, pastures, and water sources were outside the city and not far from the coastline, making them vulnerable to enemy attacks.

This time, the French and Dutch only had a few ships and about 300 people, and the穿越众, with their advanced equipment, dared to fight outside the city. But if the Spanish or Portuguese mobilized dozens of ships and thousands of people, everyone would have to retreat into the city and become turtles. At that point, the enemy could destroy the farmland, steal livestock, and cut off the water supply, leading to the demise of the穿越众.

Therefore, the Executive Committee decided not to put all their eggs in one basket. Dingshanyuan Fort was located about ten kilometers from the coastline and had rich fishing and salt resources. The transportation was also convenient, taking less than half a day by boat, and it could be quickly reinforced in case of an emergency. The穿越众 had already conducted preliminary development and established a solid base, making it the ideal choice for a sub-base.

In summary, the Executive Committee decided to develop the area around Dingshanyuan Fort, not only restoring the original personnel but also increasing the number of people to establish more settlements around Dingshanyuan Fort.

Of course, the Executive Committee did not forget the attack by the Charuyan people that occurred six months ago. Although these indigenous people had not been seen near Dingshanyuan Fort for a long time, they could not be taken lightly. If the large-scale immigration and settlement activities of the穿越众 triggered their sensitive nerves, leading to conflict and casualties, it would be a disaster.

After much deliberation, the Executive Committee finally made the difficult decision to move the headquarters, Second Company, and Third Company of the newly formed First Infantry Battalion to Dingshanyuan Fort. They would conduct a security operation in the northern and eastern regions of Dingshanyuan Fort to create conditions for future immigration and settlement. The operation was to be completed within one month, by March 1, 1632, with the goal of eliminating or driving away the Charuyan tribes.

On February 2, 1632, the newly formed Dingshanyuan Fort security detachment set out by boat in the morning light.

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