After taking Dongshan Island, Zheng Chenggong's control area suddenly expanded from more than 100 square kilometers to nearly 400 square kilometers. Although, from the peak of the Ming Dynasty, even compared to the time when the Liao Dynasty did not rise about the eighteen provinces of the Han Dynasty plus the land area of the Liaodong Prefecture, such a small place is only afraid that it will not even be a dime, but at least if these lands are recovered, the strength of this army will be one point stronger, and the strength of the Qing court will naturally be one point weaker. It's just a matter of how much or too little, things are always good.

As a civil official, although Chen Kai has a specialization in the art industry, he does not need to manage the government and feed the people, but how to spend this part of the capital to make greater value, he is not without tricks, even if it is only something that the ordnance workshop can involve.

A few days later, as Chen Kai's proposal for gunpowder production was quickly approved by Zheng Chenggong, the entire Nanao Island and Dongshan Island immediately jumped up.

Chen Kai's article clearly states that the manufacture of gunpowder mainly lies in the material. The three materials needed for black powder, charcoal, are easy to obtain, and they are nothing more than logging in the mountains and destroying vegetation, which is scolded by environmentalists. The trouble is actually sulfur and saltpeter, these two things are not produced on the two islands controlled by Zheng Chenggong now, and under normal circumstances, they can only be obtained by sea trade, which is undoubtedly not continuing to increase Zheng Chenggong's financial pressure.

However, with Chen Kai's provisions, saltpeter, the heaviest raw material in black powder, can appropriately reduce the purchase amount, and just continue to purchase sulfur according to the old scale. In fact, if it weren't for Chen Kai, there was really no way to determine how effective his method would be, and he even considered whether to let Zheng Chenggong completely stop the purchase of saltpeter.

"Remember, the money is calculated according to the saltpeter dug up, it's like this, and this kind of can, it's not just a random dig up a clod of soil and come to the government to ask for a reward."

Zheng Chenggong's current control area is two islands, and there are always seabirds living on rocky cliffs on the islands, where guano accumulates, and saltpeter is most likely to be produced. In addition, there are many caves on the islands, and the caves are mostly inhabited by bats, which are also prone to saltpeter.

In later generations, these natural aids made some countries instantly rich, and even became the economic pillars of those countries. Chen Kai's next policy is to buy these naturally occurring saltpeters from the people of the two islands through administrative means, but because these things are only one-time and do not conform to Chen Kai's ideas about sustainable development, they can only be the next policy. As for the best policy, it is the pile of manure and nitrate that the British once used.

There are eleven towns on the two islands controlled by Zheng Chenggong, and most of the manure in the villages is turned into manure, but there are always people in the towns who are not engaged in agriculture. In addition, toilets, pigsties and other places will also produce nitrate, and it is also possible to take it back for purification. Of course, what is more important is that Zheng Chenggong now has nearly 4,000 troops under his command, as well as many recruits who are about to enter the camp.

The inside of Nanao City has been destroyed by Chen Kai's expansion of the weapons workshop, probably because Zheng Chenggong and Hong Xu did not intend for Chen Kai to make the entire Nanao City stinky and smoky, so they simply approved a piece of land outside the city to be used to pile up dung and nitrate. In order to prevent the people from stealing manure to use as fertilizer, it is always necessary to build fences and rainproof sheds, but it is the most disgusting errand to be sent here to be on duty.

Chen Kai has a way, Zheng Chenggong has money and power, once the two reach an agreement, the two islands of Nanao and Dongshan can be implemented at the fastest speed.

All this, if we want to see results, we need more time. Chen Kai is not in a hurry, his main work is still in the weapons workshop, the production of weapons is particularly important, whether it is cold weapons, or firearms, it requires great energy, not to mention the development of new products.

A few days later, the site of the dung pile was still being built, and the work of the armory workshop did not stop. Chen Kai, on the other hand, rarely enjoyed his first vacation in this era.

"There have been single holidays, and there seems to have been monthly holidays, but this only takes one day off in half a year, it turns out that Zheng Chenggong is the biggest stinky capitalist."

He woke up lazy, but he only slept for more than half an hour than usual, and he asked Chen Ding to go out to play in the morning, which was also the first time he left the town government specifically for tourism and visits after coming to this era. The rest of the days are "9 to 5 in the morning", or "5 to 5 in the morning" work trips.

Chen Ding, Chen Kai has chatted with him many times these days. As a man, he never showed his Confucian talent at all, and he only talked about work, experience, some anecdotes and the current situation. Occasionally, Chen Kai quoted scriptures, and he was able to pick them up immediately, which can be called a very happy conversation. More importantly, Chen Kai can directly feel the feelings of worrying about the country and the people in this person, and he is even more appreciative of the sinister situation that Huaxia is facing again, and the determination to work hard to avoid the disaster of the late Song Dynasty again.

The friendship between Chen Kai and Chen Ding is getting deeper and deeper, but that Ye Yiyun was originally pulled up by Chen Ding, but he always put on the stinky shelf of "I am a Jinshi", at first Chen Kai was still in his hands, and then he didn't bother to take care of him, just polite, more to talk to Chen Ding. Gradually, Ye Yiyun stopped coming.

Zheng Chenggong has already arranged jobs for Chen Ding and others, and Chen Ding temporarily serves as the interim teacher of South Australia, probably the minister of education and the principal of the only public school on the island. In this way, Ye Yiyun is even more responsible for the administrative affairs of Nanao Island, but there is no county here, it only belongs to Zhao'an and Raoping counties, and Ye Yiyun is only responsible for administration as Hong Xu's deputy.

The administrative division of Nanao Island is embarrassing, which has caused Ye Yiyun and Chen Ding to not go up or down, but compared to them, Zheng Chenggong's appointment is a little abnormal.

Chen Kai did not have much intersection with Shen Kai's ability, but he heard that he believed in the principle of "not a good look, but a good doctor", and his medical attainments are not shallow, and he is also benevolent, and he will be more kind in the township, otherwise a few months ago in Quanzhou, a large number of people would not have risen up to resist the Qing Dynasty with his words, and thousands of Ding Zhuang would not have left his hometown with Zheng Chenggong with his family because of his words.

is such a charismatic character, Zheng Chenggong will consult him whenever he has a decision, and even call him Shen Zhongcheng without a name, but he does not arrange any position with real power, just as a senior counselor.

Through history, Chen Kai can probably figure out the way out. It's not that Zheng Chenggong is jealous of his ability, but that he simply lacks enough trust in those scholars who used to be officials in the Southern Ming Dynasty - not for character, but for the ability to deal with practice, even to the point where they are afraid that they will spoil state affairs like they did in Hongguang, Longwu and other dynasties.

When Hongguang was established, Zheng Chenggong once criticized his teacher Qian Qianyi in person, saying: "If you do it, you will go if you can't do it; Yes, I can use it. Is this greedy position, and whitewashing the evil of the earth in vain? ”

Translated from this, it probably means that Qian Qianyi and others are vulgar, greedy for authority, and whitewash the peace. In addition, Zheng Chenggong once said that the imperial court at that time was "a monarch who is not a king of rebellion, and there are many mediocre ministers", and when he later lived in Xiamen and other places with many remnants of officials with rich administrative experience, almost all the main civil officials under his command were almost all those who had not been officials before, and most of them were only talented people, and some were even military officers acting as civilians, all of which could not be more clear.

However, I have to say that Chen Kai has been dating Shen Yanqi several times, and his person is gentle and elegant, which also makes him feel like a spring breeze. Being a friend is an excellent object, and this time, Chen Kai also invited him, but Shen Yanqi had indeed made an appointment with others to appreciate the article earlier, so he couldn't go along.

This time, what Chen Kai and others are going to go to is the tomb of the soul of Lu Xiufu, the prime minister of the Southern Song Dynasty. This soul tomb is located at the Qingjingkou of Nanao Island, out of the east gate of Nanao City, all the way to the east, just at the foot of Qingao Mountain. For the national hero, one of the three heroes of the late Song Dynasty, Chen Kai has long admired him, but he was busy with official business, and he was not able to make the trip until today.

Chen Kai had breakfast, and Chen Ding also came as promised, and also brought his son, a boy who looked to be twelve or thirteen years old. Don't look at his youth, when he saw Chen Kai, he was commensurate with his uncle, and he had his father's calm style between his gestures. It's just that he looks too old, and he doesn't look like a young man should be lively at all.

"Brother Xian, this is Inuzi Yonghua."

"Yonghua, good name......"

Chen Kai almost subconsciously complimented him, but as soon as the words came out, the depths of his divine consciousness were like a lightning bolt piercing the sky, and he was shocked.

Wait, this young man, he is, Chen Yonghua!