How the negotiations on the Manila side went, for Li Tianyang at this time, was a little beyond the reach of the whip, but he believed in the strength in his hands, even if the negotiations jumped, he and the Nanyang Chamber of Commerce he formed would have enough strength to seize this gold mine and at least half of the territory of the Luzon Islands from the Spaniards.

Of course, in this way, the channels of foreign trade of the Hongmen will also be affected, at least there will be a confrontation between them and the Spaniards, and trade between them will also be interrupted.

However, compared to what Li Tianyang obtained, this loss is nothing, just the founder and leader of the Nanyang Chamber of Commerce, Li Tianyang is also willing to suspend trade with the Spaniards in exchange for a short period of time, not to mention a part of the shares of the Medan gold vein.

The thousands of rubber tree species planted in Jingpu Town, after more than a year, can finally survive and grow, less than 1,000, which may have something to do with the local climate, these less than 1,000 rubber saplings are also different from local trees, growing slowly, not to mention, and some malnutrition, always looking dying, so that Wu Chao in Jingpu can break their hearts.

However, the rubber tree eventually grew, and did not die, which is good news for Hongmen.

An important news came from the R&D Institute, after their improvement, the second-generation steam engine has been officially developed, with the help of rubber, a product with excellent sealing performance and elasticity, the energy conversion rate of the second-generation steam engine is also much higher.

At this time, the newly manufactured steam engine has been experimentally used in ore crushing and mining excavation, from the perspective of its use effect, although it is still more convenient than the gear transmission system that does not use water conservancy, but its convenience without geographical restrictions, so that it has a greater prospect.

Li Tianyang has been paying attention to the research and development of the steam engine, when the second generation of the steam engine was manufactured and tried in the actual work, he also took time to go to Bengang County to visit the improved steam engine, and finally returned to Keelung Town with a little disappointment.

The size of the steam engine is still a difficult hurdle that cannot be overcome, from the first generation of the steam engine has the size of a one-in-one house, to the second generation of the steam engine is still the size of most of the house, and the weight correspondingly has more than several tons, coupled with its relatively large potential to improve the energy conversion rate, Li Tianyang wants to use it in shipping and land transportation in the short term, I am afraid that it will not be possible.

Of course, Li Tianyang is mentally prepared that a high-rise building is not built in a day, it takes countless days and nights of hard research and development to move forward towards the goal step by step.

The steam engine disappointed Li Tianyang, but another good news made Li Tianyang secretly couldn't help but be relieved, after the Musket Manufacturing Bureau moved to Bengang, near the Bengang Creek Dam, which has a sufficient water supply, the manufacture of muskets is developing rapidly.

A new generation of drilling machine, driven by the water conservancy and gear transmission technology, the original mature craftsman can only create a qualified barrel a day, but now the use of machinery can drill dozens of guns a day.

The rifling technology of the barrel has also progressed, and the technology of pulling a complete rifling in the barrel of the thickness of the adult's little finger has finally broken through the obstacles and successfully developed it after the members of the Hongmen R&D Institute have worked hard day and night.

With the abundant pig iron resources from the Shilu mines, the new generation of flintlock muskets were improved to be able to quickly add a one-foot-long bayonet in close combat, and quickly convert the musket into a long spear.

Usually, this bayonet can be used as a dagger for self-defense, and the three-edged fork design is very convenient for Hongtang soldiers to defend themselves, and the wound is not easy to stop bleeding, and the lethality is not worse than those professional cold weapons.

However, because of this, the use of gunpowder in Hongmen increased exponentially, but fortunately, a sulfur mine with good reserves and easy to mine was found on Datun Mountain, and the saltpeter collection field that Hongmen never stopped, so that its gunpowder production could barely meet the consumption of Hongmen.

When Li Tianyang was dealing with all kinds of trivial matters in Keelung Town, at the beginning of the fifth year of Chongzhen, there was good news from the Manila Castle in Luzon, and the Nanyang Chamber of Commerce and the Spaniards had completed negotiations and reached a mutually acceptable contract.

The Nanyang Chamber of Commerce, which Hongmen spent a lot of effort to form, and the huge scale of the fleet to exert pressure and show their muscles this time, in exchange for the Spanish governor Salamanca, hesitated again and again, and after countless private discussions with his staff and officials, he finally resisted the desire to monopolize the gold mines, and turned to fierce negotiations with Lu Jiajie and them.

Gold is a good thing, it can make people reveal their ugliest side, and for the arrogant and greedy Spaniards, it can make them stop the arrogant thoughts in their hearts, and all the preparations Li Tianyang has made before are worth it.

As the leader of the Spaniards who had been in the Luzon colony for several years, he knew very well that the biggest opponent of the Spaniards in the Far East was none other than the Ming people, who were pulling a strong team to demonstrate against them at this moment.

Not to mention anything else, just the tens of thousands of Ming people living in the outer city of Manila Castle, if they suddenly rioted, it would be a catastrophe for the Spaniards.

At this moment, if a compromise is reached with the so-called Nanyang Chamber of Commerce of the Ming people, then it means that the strength of the Ming people in the Luzon Islands will be stronger in the future, and a united Ming merchant team will be a considerable threat to the rule of the Spaniards in the Luzon Islands.

However, the governor of Salamanca had to give in, and the Ming people mastered the specific location of the huge gold resources in the Luzon Islands, even if the Spaniards knew that there were gold mines in the Luzon Islands at this time, but with the geographical exploration technology of the time at that time, if they wanted to find a vein buried in the stones, it was not only technology, but more luck.

At the same time, behind the Nanyang Chamber of Commerce, there is also a Hongmen that the governor of Salamanca regards as a strong opponent, as a Western European, Salamanca has always been confident in the strong strength of their Westerners in the ocean, but in the Luzon Islands for so many years, he also has to admit that the Hongmen in the South China Sea is also a rival that cannot be underestimated.

The team that can defeat the fleet of the coachmen at sea is a powerful opponent with a few brushes, and although Hongmen only acted as an intermediary this time, in fact, they drove the "Jiaolong-style" warship to Manila, so they naturally saved some thoughts to let Salamanca and them see the Hongmen warship.

If you really believe what Hongmen said, saying that this time the Nanyang Chamber of Commerce came to negotiate with their Spaniards, and it has nothing to do with their Hongmen, then he Salamanca is not worthy of sitting in the position of governor.

(End of chapter)