The exploration team found as many as six large and small mineral deposits along the northeast coast, four of which are small mineral deposits, at least from the surrounding area, no extended veins have been found, and the remaining two mineral deposits have a certain mining value.

Among them, one of the mineral deposits that seems to be rich in reserves is the iron ore vein that Hongmen attaches great importance to today, but the location of this ore vein is a little awkward, and it is actually in a hilly area about fifty miles south of Liaoyang.

There are many hills in this hilly area, according to the name of the local Ren, there are large and small lonely mountains, Dong'an Mountain, Gongchangling and other hill names, and even the hat helmet mountain where Hongtang was stationed before is also in the extension of this hill.

The reason why the ore veins in this mountain range have mining value is that the exploration team not only found the existence of iron ore in the hilly area of Gongchangling, but also found iron ore veins and other extensions in several surrounding hills, and even in the hat helmet mountain, you can see the unique ore color of the iron ore.

Although the Qing people were trying to learn the Chinese culture, they did not pay enough attention to the talents who explored the mineral veins, and they were more accustomed to looting and plundering the wealth of other peoples by force, but they ignored the wealth of their own land.

Sitting on Baoshan without knowing it, in the end it was the foreign invaders of Hongmen who were cheaper, and after discovering this vein, Wu Jie and the others quickly reported it to Li Tianyang on Dayuan Island. Immediately, Li Tianyang convened the Nanyang Chamber of Commerce, Bengang Alliance and other peripheral organizations, and while dividing the interests after the war, he began to sell these few mineral veins that had just been explored and had not had time to be developed.

The amount of iron ore required by Hongmen has increased day by day in recent years, and now the output of a single Shilu deposit is far from meeting the needs of Hongmen and the peripheral forces of Hongmen.

The output of Shilu mineral deposits can now produce more than 100,000 catties of pig iron a year, but for Hongmen, which has a great dependence on steel resources in all walks of life, the output of more than 100,000 catties of pig iron in this area restricts the development of the entire Hongmen.

Muskets, artillery, but the production of all hot weapons, are inseparable from the pig iron, and the newborn ships, trains, is a giant beast that consumes steel resources, just the steam engine that each train and ship is equipped with, almost needs tens of thousands of catties of fine steel.

Although the output of the Shilu Mine is also surging, don't forget that the Sun family, the owner of the Shilu Mine, is now a big family in the county because of the support of Hongmen, but this pig iron resource is a state-owned resource after all.

The expansion of the mine has fallen into a bottleneck, and the mining field, which already has a scale of nearly 10,000 people, has long become a private mine that the officials of Zhanzhou Prefecture know well, but because the Sun family is in place, and behind them is the Admiral Li Tianyang of Hongmen, who has great power in the Nanyang area, everyone has turned a blind eye.

However, with the large-scale mobilization of troops by Hongmen to the north, it was almost a clear banner to launch a duel with the Qing people outside the Northeast Pass, allowing them to go from the dark to the light.

In the past, Hongmen's Taoguang was obscure, so that the Ming government did not know about Li Tianyang's remote position and the maritime power above the South Sea. But now Hongmen and other armies have been able to fight with the powerful Qing Dynasty army, and even gained a foothold in the territory of the Qing people, repelling the army of the Qing people's counterattack, and now even if they want to hide in the shadows, it is impossible.

Fortunately, although the main force of the Hongtang army is now going north to challenge the Qing people, the banner played by the Hongtang army is still the banner of Dongjiang Town, and it has not torn its face with the Ming Dynasty.

Even Li Tianyang has already thought of a countermeasure, that is, simply let Shang Kexi and Wu Jie put on a posture of breaking with Li Tianyang's Penghu Sailor and set up another door, which may also make Hongmen Qixintang and Nanyang Chamber of Commerce These business organizations will not be targeted by the Ming Dynasty.

Of course, these are only long-term plans, the actual operation depends on how the Ming Dynasty government and Emperor Chongzhen think, anyway, the Hongmen base camp is overseas, even if it really falls out with the Ming Dynasty, with the current Ming Dynasty is worried about internal troubles, and there is no strong sailor, what can they do with Hongmen?

However, this should be prepared, and it also needs to be done in advance, even according to the reaction of the Ming Dynasty court expected by Li Tianyang, they will not tear their faces with Hongmen on the surface, but secretly for Hongmen Qixintang, Nanyang Chamber of Commerce and other targets, it is inevitable.

And the existence of a huge supply of materials for Hongmen like the Shilu Mine, maybe the Ming Court would not care about it before, and no one would investigate it deeply, but with the Ming Court's covert monitoring and prevention attitude towards Hongmen, its exposure is inevitable.

At that time, the Ming government will inevitably prevent the Shilu Mine from continuing to provide Hongmen with a steady stream of iron ore resources, and it is more likely that this abundant iron ore mine will be nationalized. At that time, Hongmen will be in an embarrassing situation, with advanced technology, but no excellent resources to produce, for Hongmen's blood, extremely uncomfortable.

Therefore, for the sake of the future, Li Tianyang and the others also need to find a rich iron ore field on their own territory as soon as possible, and start mining quickly, so as to avoid continuing to provide pig iron materials for themselves before the Ming Dynasty court notices and cuts off the supply of Shilu mine.

Of course, Hongmen also has another way to go, that is, simply take Qiongzhou into their own hands and become their own territory.

This is not a whimsical thing, on the side of the Ming Dynasty government, there are almost no sailors who can compete with the Hongmen Hongtang fleet, and even if there are still so many broken sailors, they are not the opponents of the Hongtang sailors.

According to the distance between the straits between the two places in Qiongzhou, which is at least dozens of miles away, Hongtang only needs to defeat the local garrison of Qiongzhou at the beginning, and release a fleet of Hongtang sailors to cruise between the straits, which is enough to clamp down on the Ming Dynasty to reinforce the army of Qiongzhou.

Not to mention, today's Ming court, more attention is still in the north, and the court wants to fight back to the Shuntianfu Jingshi from top to bottom, that is, they have the spare strength to build a water division out, I am afraid that they will think twice.

It's just that in this way, it means that Hongmen will completely tear up the face with the Ming Dynasty, and when the Ming Dynasty government comes to close the country and block the maritime trade that Hongmen depends on for a living, it will also make Hongmen suffer heavy losses.

This lose-lose approach is something Li Tianyang is unwilling to do.

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