Of course, modern shipbuilding is inseparable from steel, so it is not strange that Zhao Yu knew in his previous life that there are steel mills in Hainan, and steel mills must be inseparable from iron ore, as far as he knows, the quality of iron ore in Hainan is still very good. But the specific situation is not much understood, only know that there are Shilu iron ore and Tiandu iron ore in Hainan, and only God knows where it is.

The army's weapons and equipment should be updated, and the development of agriculture is inseparable from iron, and Zhao Yu has always been troubled by this, and now the iron-producing land of the Great Song Dynasty has basically fallen, and it is only a high price to collect some goods in Guangzhou, and it is impossible to purchase such a large scale in the future. Most of this hard-won iron was quickly consumed in large-scale construction and weapons manufacturing after arriving in Qiongzhou, and he thought that only by achieving local self-sufficiency could he solve this problem.

However, Zhao Yu found that no one in Manqiongzhou knew that there was iron ore here, and prospecting in modern times requires large-scale geological surveys that can last for years or even decades to figure out the location of a mineral deposit. At this moment, it is tantamount to a fool's dream to let yourself be a person who lacks professionals, time, and equipment to find iron ore immediately, and it is far from quenching your thirst!

It is said that 'there are always more ways than difficulties', but Zhao Yu thinks that the methods are all forced, and he is now forced by this unfortunate era to become a strategist, meteorologist, ship expert, weapons expert, plus medical expert, and he is developing into a military strategist. At this time, he thought of the method of prospecting for minerals in the name, but the name of the place has changed for thousands of years, I don't know how many times, that is, Qiongzhou has changed its name several times, so this method is also very slim, but it is better than waiting.

At the beginning of the relocation of the marshal's mansion to Qiong, Zhao Yu sent the five departments of the bureau to enter with the army to carry out civil investigation and economic intelligence collection, and he handed them the task of finding these two place names, because the place names in Qiongzhou are mostly from the mouth of slang, so they require that whether they have similar pronunciation or similar meanings, they are counted. This search lasted for several months, and there was finally a similar Dutian Ridge before, but the two words were still reversed, but the people from the Secretariat also reported that there was a nearby place called Tielupo where someone was secretly smelting iron.

Connecting these seemingly unrelated events, Zhao Yu concluded that the iron furnace slope was the iron mine he was looking for. Even though the Great Song Dynasty implemented a monopoly on salt and iron, and private iron smelting was not allowed, Hainan was full of 'no man's land', who would choose to go to a place far away from the town? Unless all these guys who make iron without permission are fools. The only explanation is that there is iron ore there, which they mine and smelt on the spot, and then ship the finished product out and sell it privately, so that they don't have to worry about transporting it back and forth......

"Your Highness, you have found a place!" was saying that Ni Liang was back, but there was one more person.

"What, you killed someone?" Zhao Hao saw that there was blood on the knife Ni Liang was carrying, and asked with a frown.

"Oh, Your Highness, we walked along the road, and when we met this kid, we asked where the iron furnace slope was, but I didn't expect him to call someone to kill us, and I cut a few of them, caught one, and the rest of them fled!" Ni Liang pointed at the humanity he brought back with a knife.

"Take it down, ask them well, where are they from, what are they doing, how many people are there?" Zhao Yu nodded and said.

It didn't take long to ask clearly, these people are privately mining and smelting iron, but they have been working here for several lifetimes, at the beginning their ancestors accidentally found iron ore here, that is, their family picked up some ore to open a furnace to make iron for their own use, but soon found out that this is a business for money, so they gathered the clansmen to do it together. Later, the ore on the surface was gone, and they had money in their hands, but they still did not want to give up the business, so they began to collude with pirates to kidnap people to extract ore for them, and then handed over the finished products to pirates to smuggle everywhere.

Because the Shuaifu army has recently been stationed in the Geeyang Army to clean up pirates and fight smuggling, they have temporarily stopped, leaving only a dozen thugs here to guard the mine. Seeing that Ni Liang inquired about things here, he thought that there were peers who came to grab the land, so of course he would not show mercy. However, they were not Ni Liang's opponents, but they were killed and wounded several people, and they were captured.

"Let's go, take him to lead the way, let's go and see!" Zhao Yu listened, his butt didn't hurt anymore, and he jumped up and shouted.

"Your Highness, it's dangerous, there are still escaped bandits there!" Ni Liang shook his head like a rattle.

"Hmph, there are only more than ten of them, and there are more than 20 of you, all of whom are selected elites, if you can't protect this king, it's better to wipe your neck!" Zhao Hao snorted coldly and said.

"Your Highness, you ......"

"Sir, this king is the commander of an army, if you are afraid of these little thieves who are not in the climate, how will you go into battle and command thousands of troops and horses in the future!" Ying Jie Yan was about to persuade him, but he was interrupted by Zhao Yu.

Everyone also knew that it might be dangerous to go, but His Highness's words made them unable to refute, so they could only rely on His Highness, so Zheng Yong led four or five guards to search in front, and assigned four guards with bows to guard on both sides, and the rest of the people guarded them tightly in the middle, never giving His Highness a chance to take the lead. That's it, everyone is searching and moving forward. After walking slowly for half an hour, when they finally arrived at the place, Zhao Hao pondered that someone had already scared away when they saw them menacing.

"How many laborers do you have here?" Entering the mine, the first thing that catches his eye is a row of thatched huts made of bamboo and wood, Zhao Hao smelled a smell of sour rot when he walked in, and the ground was covered with thatch, but it was already empty. He turned his face and asked the captive who had been beaten with a blue nose and a swollen face.

"Little ...... Little boy, there are more than 100 people in the entire mine at the most! No matter how stupid the captives are, they can see that these people of unknown origin are headed by the children in front of them, and they may not know that His Highness is a god, so they can only answer with the most honorable title they know.

"Well, but it's pretty much the same! What about the man? Zhao Yu looked at a grass hut that could sleep thirty people, and a row of houses was almost the number he said.

"Now the wind is tight, and everyone has been sent to Zhuangzi by the owner!" The captive replied.

"How much ore can you dig in a day?" Walking through the grass shed and walking only 100 meters, it is an open-pit mine excavated on the hillside, Zhao Yu was pleased for a while This is an open-pit mine, and it is much easier to mine, he asked again.

"If you don't stop day and night, you can dig out 10,000 catties!" The captive said with a finger.

"Why is there only that?" Zhao Yu said in surprise.

"Master, don't you know, this iron stone is abnormally hard, and it has to be crushed when it is mined, so you still have to use a whip to dig out so much." The captives really thought they were mine robbers, and said with a grin. But what he said is not bad, these people just robbed it, or did they rob it openly...... (To be continued.) )