Although the sapphire mines in Weixian County contain huge wealth, it is not so easy to mine them. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info And it is precisely because his wealth is too huge that Liu Fan cannot be reckless in exposing it to the sun.

Liu Fan still understands the reason of his guilt, the huge income of refined salt has already caused the court to be very angry, if the news of Weixian's gem mine is broken now, Liu Fan can't imagine what kind of outrageous actions those greedy civil officials will make. Therefore, Liu Fan feels that it is best not to be known about secretly mining.

In order to keep the sapphire mine secret, Liu Fan ordered Song Cheng to lead the 6,000 Broken Captives of Laizhou to the mining sites near Weixian and Changyi, and set them up as a military restricted area, and Liu Fan would gradually move the nearby people away for a period of time in the future, so as to ensure that the news would not be leaked in a short time.

In addition to the huge financial resources of gem mines, there is another point in Weixian that Liu Fan values very much. Weixian County since ancient times for the capital of Donglai, the famous city of Beihai, is an important hub of the ancient road of Jingdong, businessmen gather, material distribution, can be called the throat of Jiaodong, the industrial and commercial town, the military stronghold, the economy is prosperous here, the handicraft industry is very developed, the handicraft industry of Weixian County in addition to the cloth industry, copper jewelry industry, embroidery industry, etc., the most characteristic is the antique bronze and inlaid silver lacquerware two kinds of craft products. The prosperous handicraft industry has cultivated a large number of handicraftsmen for Weixian, and also promoted the prosperity of Weixian.

Since the Portuguese reached a trade cooperation, most of Shandong's exports are salt, cloth, porcelain, tea and other bulk goods, although these goods are quite profitable, but in the trade with the Europeans, these goods do not account for too much cheap, because these things are too common. Not only Shandong, but also the coastal cities in the south of the Yangtze River are more and better. Liu Fan from the future is even the importance of a characteristic brand, so Liu Fan wants to develop Weixian County and build it into a fist brand in Shandong. Seize a place in the future maritime trade.

For these two reasons, Weixian can be said to have a very important position in Liu Fan's heart, and in Liu Fan's expectation, Shihe and Weixian will become the most important center of gravity in Jiaozhou and Laizhou in the future. With these two sources of wealth providing Liu Fan with a steady stream of wealth, then Liu Fan can have enough financial resources to develop his own power and expand his strength.

Time flies, and unconsciously Liu Fan has been coming to Laizhou for more than half a month, and Liu Fan has been busy with Laizhou's land reform and Weixian County's rectification and planning for more than half a month. Originally, Liu Fan thought that he was going to stay in Laizhou for the Spring Festival, but just when Liu Fan was about to take Zhang Yao and others to Laizhou, a news suddenly came back from Jiaozhou that made Liu Fan have to dispel this idea. Because Fan Liang's fleet is back.

Not only did Fan Liang come back, but he also came back with Zheng Zhilong's envoy. According to the news from the Military Intelligence Department, the person who led the team to Jiaozhou this time was Zheng Zhilong's fifth brother Zheng Zhibao. This Zheng Zhibao is not only Zheng Zhilong's younger brother, but also one of the famous "Eighteen Zhi". He has a very high status in the Zheng Group, and Zheng Zhilong's ability to send him here this time shows that he attaches great importance to this matter.

Since everyone is here, of course Liu Fan, as the owner of Jiaozhou, can't avoid it. So Liu Fan instructed Zhang Yupeng and Song Cheng to stay in Laizhou, and after taking the town for him, he returned to Shihe City with his own army.

On the twenty-fifth day of the lunar month, there were only less than five days before the traditional Spring Festival of the Han nationality, and Liu Fan also returned to Shihe City with his personal army on this day.

"How long has it been since the Zheng family's people came?" Less than half an hour after returning to Shihe, Liu Fan beckoned Fan Liang to the study and asked with a solemn face

Fan Liang's heart sank when he saw Liu Fan's face, and he hurriedly replied, "Zheng Zhibao and the others have been coming to Shihe for more than three days, and the Zheng family's mission has been living in the post house in Shihe for the past few days, waiting for the overseer to meet. Overseer, do you want to send them a word to tell them you're back? ”

"No need!" Liu Fan waved his hand and said, "Before the matter is clear, the governor doesn't want to see them for the time being." By the way, have you done everything that you handed over to you when you went to Fujian this time? ”

Fan Liang's face changed when he heard this, and he said with shame on his face: "The humble position bears the heavy trust of the adult, and the three things you explained have not been completed!" ”

"Huh?" Liu Fan glanced at Fan Liang in surprise and said, "Isn't Zheng Zhibao here?" How can you say that nothing has been done? At least you did a good job of the Zheng family! ”

Fan Liang hurriedly shook his head and said, "Overseer, in fact, things are not what you think. This time I went to Fuzhou, although I met Zheng Zhilong, Zheng Zhilong disdained the conditions we offered, and did not agree to any of them. He also said that it is not impossible for us in Jiaozhou to form a fleet to do business, but we must follow the rules of the Zheng family. ”

"Humph!" Liu Fan scolded with an ugly face, "What a Zheng Zhilong is so arrogant, but he is just a ** born who sells ass, and he actually rode on Lao Tzu's head!" Fan Liang, what is Zheng Zhibao doing this time? Coming to demonstrate to us? ”

"Not really!" Fan Liang hurriedly explained, "Overseer, although Zheng Zhilong's attitude is arrogant and abnormal, the Zheng Group is not his own decision. After arriving in Anping, after investigation, it was found that in addition to Zheng Zhilong, there were several large and small leaders of the Zheng family's fleet, Zheng Xing, Zheng Ming, Yang Geng, Chen Hui, and Zheng Cai, all of whom were extremely powerful leaders. Although these people are subordinate to Zheng Zhilong on the surface, they are actually intrigued and filthy with each other in private! So after learning about this situation, he bought off Zheng Zhilong's subordinate Yang Tiansheng, and under Yang Tiansheng's persuasion, Zheng Zhilong finally changed his mind. ”

"Yang Tiansheng?" Liu Fan was puzzled, "Who is this Yang Tiansheng, why does he have such great ability to persuade Zheng Zhilong?" ”

Hearing Liu Fan's inquiry, Fan Liang hurriedly replied, "Overseer, this Yang Tiansheng is also one of the Eighteen Zhi. In the early years, when Yan Siqi, the boss of Eighteen Zhi, was still alive, Yang Tiansheng was one of Yan Siqi's most relied on subordinates. After Yan Siqi died violently in Da Liuqiu, the rest of the people wanted to snatch the position of the leader. If you talk about seniority, after Yan Siqi's death, it will not be Zheng Zhilong's turn to take over. He was the youngest, only twenty-two years old at the time. Legend has it that on the day of Yan Siqi's burial, everyone wanted to take over, and there was no dispute, Yan Siqi's old brother Yang Tiansheng came up with a way to insert a sword in Yan Siqi's grave, and the brothers took turns to worship, and whoever jumped out of the sword when worshipping was Yan Siqi's successor. As a result, when it was Zheng Zhilong's turn to worship, he suddenly saw a cold light flash, and the sword erupted. So Zheng Zhilong took over. According to the humble speculation, this matter must be a bureau set up by Yang Tiansheng and Zheng Zhilong, the purpose of which is to let Zheng Zhilong inherit the position of leader. With Yang Tiansheng's qualifications, it is not surprising that he can persuade Zheng Zhilong! (To be continued.) )