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Speaking of which, Li Hui actually didn't know about the Denglai gold mine before, but he came from later generations and knew the terrifying gold reserves in the Denglai area. Only the two counties of Ye County (Laizhou Zhisuo) and Zhaoyuan, the cumulative proven reserves (including those that have been mined) in later generations exceeded 4,000 tons of gold, of which the Linglong gold mine in Zhaoyuan alone has mined hundreds of tons of gold in history, and there are at least hundreds of tons of gold recoverable reserves when Li Hui crosses.

Therefore, when he learned that such a gold mine with abundant reserves was actually losing money year after year, Li Hui immediately became suspicious, and Li Zongdai's problems such as the incompatibility of imported machinery could only fool Lao Li, but he could not deceive Li Hui from the information age at all.

Because Li Hui remembered that during the Anti-Japanese War in history, the people of Zhaoyuan "stolen" 130,000 taels of gold under the nose of the Japanese army in just six and a half years from the end of 1938 to the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, and handed over to the party organization, which was an average of 20,000 taels of gold per year. Even if the current Zhaoyuan Gold Mine is in poor condition, it is still much better than that time, how can it fall into a loss situation for a long time?

So, after making his first business with Beiyang and having enough funds, Li Hui immediately recruited a Level 1 agent with "science and technology expertise" to infiltrate the Zhaoyuan Linglong Gold Mine to investigate the matter.

As a result, the agent found that although Li Zongdai's report to Lao Li was true, this guy used Lao Li's layman to exaggerate various expenses, not only embezzled all the profits, but also hacked more than 500,000 taels of silver.

According to the agent's estimate, even if everything is business as usual, the actual annual production capacity of Zhaoyuan Gold Mine will be at least 5,000 taels (at this time, there are less than 3,000 employees), and if the management can be improved, the machinery can be replaced, and the miners can be recruited, the Linglong Gold Mine alone can produce more than 50,000 taels of gold per year, and if the investment is expanded, its potential for increasing production is even more bottomless.

In comparison, the potential of the Pingdu gold mine is much smaller, but if it can be taken over, it will also have a lot of benefits

Li Hui was afraid that he would not have enough insurance, so he recruited a level 1 technician with "mining and metallurgical expertise" to Zhaoyuan to confirm it, and the result was that not only was what the agent said correct, but the technician also accidentally discovered a silver mine in Zhaoyuan

Although it is estimated to be a medium-sized mine with total reserves of no more than 1,000 tons, it is superior to the shallow burial and high grade, and the key is that it is a separate silver mine rather than an associated mine (if this premise is limited, the Zhaoyuan silver mine is actually the second largest silver mine in China). As a result, the cost of both investment and production is unusually low.

At this moment, Li Hui couldn't sit still anymore, and quickly found an opportunity to express his willingness to take over the matter to Li Hongzhang, and issued a military order on the spot

Speaking of which, even if Lao Li is a layman, it is not easy to hide from him for so many years, Li Zongdai secretly hid the black gold and silver, and even his original family wealth, and at the same time desperately pretended to be poor, falsely claiming that he had invested all his family property in the gold mine and was already bankrupt (Note 1), he was originally a huge rich man in Guangdong, and the loss of "bankrupt family" was naturally not trivial, and Lao Li was naturally embarrassed to worry about the loss of more than 500,000 taels of silver with him.

But Li Hui is different, he is going to take over the gold mine, in case this kid is really as "honest" as rumored within the Huai department, and truthfully reports the business situation after taking over, Li Zongdai's disguise will inevitably be exposed.

In desperation, although he knew that there would be the same risks in doing so, Li Zongdai still took the risk of finding someone to give Li Hui 50,000 taels of silver, and instructed Li Hui to say, "The worse the previous performance, the more you can reflect your ability, Lord Li!" I hope he will be able to raise his noble hand

With the thinking of people in the officialdom, this is very reasonable, and Li Hui attributed the sharp increase in performance to the reforms he carried out after taking over, which can undoubtedly greatly enhance his achievements.

Even Yan Fu thought that Li Hui was going to do this, and thought that Li Hui took the silver ticket to show himself to show his trust, but what he didn't expect was that he just wanted to say that he would definitely keep his mouth shut about this matter, when he saw Li Hui smile coldly and said, "I have already reported this matter to Lord Zhongtang, and Li Zongdai will probably have to take off a layer of skin if he doesn't die now."

"I can't imagine that although he is not very respectful, he still has a loyalty to Li Hefei." , Yan Fu immediately had such a thought, but he was immediately shattered by Li Hui's next words, only to see him "snort" and say in a sarcastic tone, "Just 50,000 taels of silver, and you want to buy me too?" It's better to sacrifice this old thief and make Lord Nakado trust me even more, and maybe there will be hope for a bigger plan to be implemented at that time."

"Yes, with Dongyang's ability, I'm afraid it won't be too difficult to earn millions of taels of silver, so why should I collect these 50,000 taels of stolen silver and defile my hands?" , Yan Fu suddenly heard this, and he admired Li Hui more and more, but he was a little disappreciative of the latter's view that he hoped to win Li Hongzhang's greater trust, "Being honest and selfless can make Li Hongzhang trust you?" Dongyang is still too young, and Li Hefei himself is not a clean official! ”

Who knew that Li Hui seemed to have guessed Yan Fu's thoughts, and smiled confidently, "Li Hefei himself is not a clean official, but it doesn't mean that he likes to be corrupt by his subordinates, after all, the embezzlement is all his old Li's silver!" If I am an authentic bureaucrat and there is hope that he will be separated from him in the future and set up his own door, in order to strengthen his control over me, perhaps he will want me to be corrupt, and he will have the control in his hands, and it will be easier for him to control it. But I can only do things, not be an official, and without his support, I can't gain a foothold in the officialdom at all, so it is naturally better to be honest than corrupt! And since Li Hongzhang knows that I am such a person, the best way to reward me is naturally to support my plan, at least partially."

Sure enough, as Li Hui expected, more than one million taels of silver were forced out from Li Zongdai (in fact, there are more than that, this is only the part that was handed over.) Li Hongzhang's attitude towards Li Hui changed further, and he soon summoned him to Tianjin to talk to him about the No. 2 plan, which had been rejected before

Note 1: This is what is written in the historical records, but if it is true that the family went bankrupt before the First Sino-Japanese War, how did this guy and his descendants maintain the Zhaoyuan Gold Mine, which has been "losing money" for nearly half a century? And he is bankrupt, and he has been occupying a long-term loss-making money-losing mine and will not let go, Zhaoyuan Gold Mine is not unwanted, at least foreigners know the value of this gold mine, but they can only choose to cooperate with the Li family and cannot squeeze it out, which is even more strange, so for this person's historical evaluation, the author does not believe it at all

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