Before the earth-shaking changes in Longyou were known by the imperial court, Li Zicheng obtained an extremely important message in Ningyuan County: there was a medium-sized iron ore mine in Guangwu Mountain, twenty miles west of Ningyuan County, which had been mined by the government, but as Longyou experienced various wars, the miners fled and were now in a state of shutdown, but there were people secretly mining nearby.

As a last resort, Ning Yuanzhi County asked Li Zicheng if he wanted to seal the iron ore.

Sealed? Li Zixiang is the funniest joke in the world.

The Mandate of Heaven's demand for copper and iron, but to the point of desire, Li Zicheng did not hesitate to send two of the seven hundred households, the cavalry of the Maili cadres, although he opened up Haomen County, and also harvested Tian Fen by the way, connecting Kadang City with the Triangle City, but his main purpose was to reach the Hongshi Cliff Copper Mine at the foot of Daban Mountain.

For the sake of pig iron, he returned to the furnace of nearly 200 iron carts in Ganzhou, and repeatedly made profits to Xining businessmen Mu Qingshan and Jin Yixin, and now he encountered iron ore in Guangwu Mountain, how could he be willing to seal it and let these good ores lie underground and waste them in vain?

Li Zicheng couldn't wait for a slap in the face, and sent this blind county into the eighteenth layer of hell, fortunately he sent the message in time, if it is delayed for a while, then wait for the oil pot!

Li Zicheng immediately stopped the pace of Lanzhou, and took his own soldiers, under the personal guidance of the magistrate who had made up for his merits, and traveled twenty miles west along the Guangwu River to the foot of Guangwu Mountain.

At this time, Guangwu Mountain, almost completely covered by grass and trees, lush and green, but in the southern foothills, it is exposed a mess of stones, there are two acres of size, in the place less than half a mile away from the foot of the mountain, there is still an abandoned castle, the castle is not big, the circumference is only two miles, and the city wall is only one zhang and five feet.

Seeing that Li Zicheng's gaze fell on the castle for a long time, the magistrate hurriedly stepped forward and said: "Dadudu, this was originally Guangwu Fort, and there was a thousand soldiers stationed, but since the thieves came, the soldiers in the fort, fled and surrendered, Guangwu Fort was abandoned, although General Cao wiped out the thieves, but Guangwu Fort never recovered, and now it has become like this......"

Li Zicheng glanced around, but he didn't see the iron-making equipment, and frowned: "What about the blast furnace for iron-making?" Why didn't you see it? ”

"Blast furnace?" The magistrate was stunned for a moment, and then bowed down and said: "Go back to the governor, because the county government is temporarily unable to mine, so ...... Therefore, the subordinates transported the blast furnace back to the city, and it is still in the county office! ”

The blast furnace is still there, so it will be much simpler to reopen the mine, Li Zicheng suddenly thought of a question, and said: "Lord Zhixian, what is dug out of the ground is iron ore, and the people do not have a blast furnace, how to smelt pig iron?" If they can't smelt raw iron, what's the use of them stealing ore? ”

"Back to the Metropolitan Governor, according to the craftsmen, the ore of Guangwu Mountain has a very high content of pig iron, so the people can also practice pig iron with simple methods, but the quality of pig iron is not comparable to the official kiln, and it is mostly shoddy!"

It turns out that in this Longyou, there can be such an iron-rich mine, Li Zicheng suppressed the excitement in his heart, he explained to the county, half a day, do not send the iron-making craftsmen and iron-making equipment, to Guangwu Fort, and at the same time let the soldiers immediately start to clean up the thatched houses in the fort and set aside a few rooms for living.

The fort wall also needs to be repaired, but there are too few soldiers, and it is difficult to get together manpower for a while, however, Guangwu Fort has lost its military defensive role, and it is no longer important whether there is a fort wall or not, the key is the houses in the fort, which should be cleared out as soon as possible.

The soldiers started to tidy up the thatched hut in the fort, as long as the wall mud was still there, it could be repaired quickly, but if the wall mud collapsed, it would not be repaired at all for a while, so it was simply pushed to rebuild.

Li Zijian is at the head of the wall, his eyes are still inseparable from Guangwu Mountain, most of the mountains are hidden by grass and trees, is it really a coveted iron-rich mine? Zhixian said that this is a medium-sized iron mine, how much does it produce?

There will be no answers to these questions for the time being, and they can only be left to the craftsmen to explain.

However, to mine iron ore, a large number of miners are also needed, which requires the assistance of the magistrate of Ningyuan County.

Li Zicheng's eyes unconsciously cast on Guangwu Mountain, the iron ore here, is tantamount to sending charcoal in the snow, compared with the Eastern Expedition to Longyou, the significance of Guangwu Mountain in the Heavenly Mandate Army, no less than the entire Longyou, Longyou will provide more food and soldiers for the Heavenly Mandate Army, and Guangwu Mountain provides for the Heavenly Mandate Army, is a sharp weapon to deal with the imperial army - Xining rifle!

"Governor, how can there be so many soldiers and horses in front of the mountain?"

The words of the soldiers suddenly interrupted Li Zicheng's contemplation, he raised his eyes and looked into the distance, and sure enough, there was a group of cavalry, because the distance was too far to see it really, and he could only see a long line on the mountain path.

The soldiers suddenly became nervous, stopped what they were doing, picked up the waist knives that were thrown on the ground, and the gunners had already begun to reload their bullets.

Could it be that there are still soldiers and horses of the imperial court here? Why didn't you see Zhou Bin's report? Li Zicheng was shocked in his heart, but his face did not change color at all, pondered for a moment, and felt that something was wrong, since the Mandate of Heaven army entered Longyou, he had fought many times with the army of Longyou, and he had never heard that there were cavalry of the imperial court in Longyou.

He waved his hand so that the soldiers did not need to be nervous, but his mind was spinning rapidly, and he had no idea for a while.

Closer, closer and closer, the soldiers in the distance are magnifying little by little.

A pro-soldier suddenly said in a loud voice: "The Metropolitan Governor, Li Qianhu, is Li Qianhu's person!" ”

Li Qianhu? Li Guo? Li Zicheng measured, Li Guo has taken Taozhou Wei, it has been a few days, calculate the time, and he is almost coming back, but he doesn't take the avenue, how can he walk through this valley?

After a while, Li Zicheng had already seen clearly, on the front banner, there was a vague "Li" word in the front, who was it if it wasn't Li Guo?

The soldiers had already put down the swords and guns in their hands, and their expressions were also relaxed, and meeting their own people here was tantamount to spending candles and gold in the cave house, and they went to clean up the thatched hut by themselves.

Li Zicheng was very happy, so he took two personal soldiers and went to meet Li Guo.

After a while, I heard a rapid sound of horses' hooves, and before entering the fort, Li Guo's voice came: "The governor of the capital is busy with official business, how did he come to this barren mountains and mountains?" ”

Li Zicheng smiled and didn't answer, and when Li Guo entered the fort, Fang said: "Double happiness, how is Taozhou, didn't you encounter any trouble?" ”

"No, no, Longyou is already rotten, Taozhou is no exception, although Cao Wenzhao combed Longyou through, but he is also powerless to return to the sky," Li Guofei jumped off the horse, bowed, and then got up, "The Metropolitan Governor came to such a barren mountain, is there gold here?" ”

"You're right," Li Zicheng laughed and said, "Although it is not gold, it is more important than gold!" ”

"The Governor ......"

Li Zicheng said with a smile: "Double happiness, what is the Heavenly Mandate Army lacking the most now?" ”

"The most lacking?" Li Guo suddenly realized, shook his hands excitedly, and said: "Pig iron, Dadu Governor, is it possible that iron ore is produced here?" ”

"It seems that in this battle of Double Happiness, Taozhou Wei did not put too much pressure on him, and his mind was not confused," Li Zicheng turned to the direction of Guangwu Mountain, pointed with his hand, and said: "Under these lush trees, there are iron ore, and the pig iron of the Xining Army finally does not have to be subject to the imperial court!" ”

"Is it really iron ore?" Li Guo followed the direction of his finger and saw that there was a large area of bare earth and stone in the lush grass and trees, and he already understood most of it in his heart, "Dadudu, the iron ore here has been excavated?" Confirmed by the craftsmen? ”

"This was originally an iron mine, but it was gradually abandoned because of the bandits," Li Zicheng did not hide the joy in his heart, "Half a day later, the craftsmen will bring the blast furnace to Guangwu Mountain to stay permanently, the iron mine should be put into production as soon as possible, and the demand for pig iron by the Mandate of Heaven Army has reached the point of hunger and thirst, and it cannot be delayed for a moment." ”

Li Guo was about to reply, when a cavalryman came from outside the fort, he turned over and dismounted, and fell to his knees, "Knock on the governor, knock on the lord!" ”

"What's the matter?" Li Guo was spared, and immediately frowned, with obvious displeasure on his face.

"Back to my lord, the brothers all came to the outside of the fort, and the subordinates asked the lord, are the brothers stationed outside the fort, or are they camping in the fort? And these prisoners of war ......"

"Prisoners of war?" Li Zicheng's heart moved, digging iron ore, it can be said that everything is ready, but there is a lack of miners, how can this Li Guo be like a roundworm in his stomach? He hurriedly looked at Li Guo and said, "Double happiness, how many Taozhou soldiers have been captured this time?" ”

"Except for those who were slightly injured, there are at least a thousand people," Li Guoshang didn't know Li Zicheng's plan, and took the opportunity to say: "Governor, do these prisoners of war want to be escorted to Qingshui County?" ”

"No, escort here, it's the most appropriate," Li Zicheng's face was already smiling, more than a thousand prisoners of war, more than enough to open a mine, the people of various prefectures and counties, when the land is redistributed, they will sow winter wheat, grain production must not be delayed, these prisoners of war, but they are in a hurry, "Double happiness, Guangwu Fort is too small, let the brothers camp outside the fort first, prisoners of war, let them rest first, and I will summon them when I return!" ”

"Yes, Grand Duke!" Li Guo agreed, turned around and asked the herald to hurry up and give the order.

Li Zicheng waited for the camp outside the fort to finish, only then followed Li Guo, out of Guangwu Fort, more than 1,000 prisoners of war, clothes close to ragged, under the care of the first thousand soldiers, long lost the meaning of being a sergeant, even the eyes looked dull, and there was not much fear.

When the soldiers of the Heavenly Mandate Army saw Li Zicheng and Li Guo, they all kowtowed and saluted, "Knock to see the Grand Duke!" Knock on your lord! ”

Li Zicheng waved his hand and asked the soldiers to get up, but he stared at the prisoners of war, and the prisoners of war saw the soldiers of the Heavenly Mandate Army around them bowing, and knew that the officials of the Heavenly Mandate Army were coming, but they just turned their heads to look, and then continued their sluggishness and numbness, as if they had been imprisoned and abused for decades, and had long forgotten the warmth and coldness of the world.

Li Zicheng sneered in his heart, how can such a soldier go into battle against the enemy? Even if it weren't for the Heavenly Mandate Army's eastward expedition to Longyou, they were only consuming the food of the imperial court in vain, and it seemed that it would take a lot of effort to make them qualified miners.

He turned his hands behind his back, glanced at the prisoners of war, then looked away, and said coldly: "You have become prisoners of war of the Heavenly Mandate Army, and now I ask you a word, do you want to die, do you want to live?" ”