As time passed, the year 4341 soon came to an end.
Since Roland had left Highland City, he had spent nearly a year on Rising Light Island.
After a year of development, Rising Light Island had long since shed its former desolation.
Under Martin's planning, the island was neat and orderly, with wide, straight streets and well-arranged houses.
More than two thousand mu of farmland had been spread across Rising Light Island. After the year's first harvest, James had reclaimed more wasteland. However, the nearly one thousand additional mu of farmland were unevenly distributed and not as convenient as the eastern plains. Still, as the amount of farmland increased, the island's slaves were filled with hope, and their hearts gradually settled.
At the same time, three days before Dawn Day, a major project on Rising Light Island was successfully completed.
The shipbuilding workshop beside the docks had undergone more than two months of intensive construction and been replaced by a small shipyard more than ten times its former size.
This was a project Roland had personally supported with all his strength after Plunder Month ended. He had spent nearly a thousand gold coins to build the shipyard.
The newly established shipyard could now produce Single-masted Merchant Ships quite efficiently. With the dozen or so skilled slave craftsmen Roland had bought from Highland City, it took less than two months to build a Single-masted Merchant Ship.
However, Rising Light Island had no timber suitable for building Single-masted Merchant Ships, so Roland could only purchase it from Highland City and transport it all the way back to the island. This more than doubled the cost of building each ship, bringing it to four hundred gold coins.
For only a little more than that, he could have directly bought a completed Single-masted Merchant