As soon as the holiday ended, Geng Jingzhong began to continue to inspect the barracks. After the training of the bandits, the atmosphere of the entire barracks was very different from the past, and the fierce spirit came from within, and at a glance it was clear that these were elite soldiers who had seen blood.

"Yu Shizi, the leader Wang Shiyu asks to see." Geng Jingzhong was checking the report on the bandit suppression in front of the case in the hall, and suddenly the guard Yang Jian came in to report.

"Call him in!"

"The last general has seen the son." Wang Shiyu clasped his fists and saluted.

"Is there anything wrong with Counselor Wang?"

Wang Shiyu looked at the surrounding guards: "This ---"

Geng Jingzhong looked at him and looked at several guards, and instantly understood that Wang Shiyu had something important to report: "Oh, just say something, these are my cronies and entourage." ”

"That's the case, some time ago, the last general led the troops to exterminate the two biggest bandits in Zhangzhou in the area of Longyan, Zhangzhou Prefecture, and discovered a heavy secret."

"Oh, there is also a heavy secret, what can make Wang Shenling so solemn." Geng Jingzhong was really curious.

"Shizi, these two groups of bandits are different, they occupy the two cottages of Qifeng Mountain and Dingfeng Mountain, but they almost don't rob the passing merchants, so the outside world doesn't know that they are bandits. There is gold near the two mountains, and it is a big gold mine! They captured the nearby people who secretly mined and made gold! Although the last general captured the cottage, the loss was not small. Wang Shenling couldn't help but bow his head when he thought of the broken brother.

"Really?" Geng Jingzhong was really shocked, and it was really a secret. In his memory, he only remembered the gold panning in the Kanto region after watching so many TV series and novels in his previous life, what old gold hook gold mine, Jiapigou gold mine, Fuyuan gold mine or something. I didn't expect that there are gold mines here in Fujian! This is not to blame him, the Celestial Empire never writes this information in the books, at most, it is to mention what metal deposits are contained in such and such a place, list a bunch of types, and don't test these in the exam, who remembers!

"Then, you are the one who suffered the most losses and seized the most gold this time?" Geng Jingzhong suddenly remembered the battle report he had just read.

"Hui Shizi, yes! When the last general led the troops to attack, he did not expect that the number of bandits inside was twice as many as in the intelligence, and he was not afraid of death in battle, and he broke through the cottage only to learn that half of the bandits were hiding in the gold mine to supervise the people to open the mine. All the gold obtained from the cottage has been transported back to the barracks, but the last general left two battalions of soldiers to guard the two cottages, and the people who mined the gold mines were not released. ”

"Hahaha, you're doing a very good job, what's wrong." Geng Jingzhong laughed happily, he was really happy. "How come I've never heard of gold mines in Fujian before?"

"Yu Shizi, after interrogation, I learned that there was gold production here during the Song Dynasty, but then the seedlings disappeared nearby, and the gold mine was abandoned.

"I see, but it just happened to be cheaper for us, and God is helping us." Geng Jingzhong slapped his palms and said happily.

"Shizi, opening a mine without permission is a capital crime! Are we ---," Ah Hu turned his head to the side and leaned closer to Geng Jingzhong.

"Can the court control us? It's just an approval, and the prefect of Zhangzhou just sent someone to talk to him. However, it needs to be covered up, and it is enough to say that the gold mine is a copper mine. Geng Jingzhong didn't care about this, the imperial court had little influence in Fujian, and this was still the territory of his Jingnan Palace. Although he is not as blatant as Wu Sangui is to smelt iron and boil salt, cast copper and make money, but it is still possible to secretly use gentle means.

"Wang Shiyu listens to orders!"

"The last general!" Wang Shiyu immediately clenched his fists and received the order.

"Order you to lead your headquarters to garrison Zhangzhou, surround those two mines, and not allow anyone to enter or leave."

"The last general commands!" After receiving the order, Wang Shiyu turned around and prepared to go back and set off with the whole army.

"Wait," Geng Jingzhong immediately shouted, "In addition, bring the more than 5,000 prisoners in the prison and escort them to Zhangzhou to open mines; That's a lot of free labor! ”

Geng Jingzhong had no idea what kind of huge fortune he had obtained, Longyan, Fujian, the Purple Mountain in Shanghang County, only began to be mined in 1993, first underground, and a few years later it became open-pit mining, mining is low-cost, and the ore quality is very high! Identified as the largest gold mine in the country!

In the following 2001 years, the Ministry of Land and Resources issued the "Geological Exploration Report on Gold Mines in the Northwest Section of the Purple Mountain Copper and Gold Mining Area in Shanghang County, Fujian Province" and confirmed that the gold metal resources of Zijin Mountain reached 305 tons and the copper metal resources were more than 3 million tons. Converted to the current unit of measurement, there are more than 8 million taels of gold. In later generations, the Purple Mountain Gold Mine mined up to 40 tons of gold a year, even if the mining efficiency is not as high as that in later generations, so many people, it is still possible to mine five or six tons a year, which is one million or hundreds of thousands of taels of silver, this is an income that cannot be beaten, do not worry about losing money. Not only that, but this mine can also refine more brass, and copper metal is now money! It can be made into copper ware, or it can be directly melted into copper coins. Now, with this gold, brass, there are many things that can't be started before.

Longyan, also known as 'western Fujian', has become Longyan City in later generations, and is a prefecture-level city. It is located in the middle reaches of the Tingjiang River, and the terrain is inclined from northeast to southwest. Western Fujian is the birthplace of the three most important rivers in Fujian Province - the Min River, the Jiulong River and the Ting River. It is also the birthplace of Hakka and one of the gathering places of Hakka people.

Geng Jingzhong was still curious about the gold mine, so he came to Zhangzhou Mansion again, but it was Longyan County, Zhangzhou Prefecture. Geng Jingzhong personally led the guards down to the mine to watch the miners mine gold. Reward the masters who know how to find gold seedlings and the craftsmen who can smelt, and encourage them to mine more gold mines.

These days, Geng Jingzhong has collected almost all the exploration and prospecting personnel in Fujian, looking for minerals everywhere in Longyan, and stepping on every inch of land here. According to what has been learned before, one mineral deposit does not appear in one place alone, and there must be many other deposits nearby. Sure enough, with the efforts of many prospectors, several iron mines and copper mines have been discovered, and they are rich in mineral deposits, all of which are full of rich ores!

This made Geng Jingzhong happy, in his eyes, gold is valuable, but what he lacks more is iron! To build swords, guns, swords, halberds, muskets and artillery, a large amount of fine iron is used, which is related to the development of the strength of the army.

So he immediately ordered the recruitment of men to open the mines and smelt iron; Fortunately, it is in Fujian, if Henan, Shandong and other places cannot recruit so many people. Fujian's arable land is too small, the land output is too small, and a large number of people have nothing to do.

With the current reputation of Jingnan Palace, more than 10,000 'unemployed vagrants' have been recruited in Zhangzhou Mansion alone, which has made these mines start quickly.

In the next few months, Geng Jingzhong stayed in Longyan, planning to build a new town, and after the construction was carried out, he was ready to move the weapons workshop in Fuzhou. Iron ore is abundant here, and the smelted refined iron can be directly sent to the workshop to be made into weapons, including the musket that Geng Jingzhong values the most. Moreover, Geng Jingzhong also has another consideration, the people he sent to the West are also coming back soon, presumably there must be a lot of craftsmen accompanying him, this place and Yuegang belong to the same Zhangzhou Mansion, the two are not far apart, these people can quickly come here to start working after they arrive.

"Shizi, drink saliva, this weather is really hot to death!" Next to him, Ah Hu handed over the kettle and said to Geng Jingzhong.

Geng Jingzhong picked up the kettle and took a big sip, "Comfortable!" Let's go around again, and when these houses are all built, we can rest! Looking at a large number of new buildings in front of him, Geng Jingzhong is still very satisfied, the entire town here has been re-planned and re-expanded by Geng Jingzhong, the original dilapidated town is no longer there, replaced by a combination of Chinese and Western characteristics, a new town. The people who lived here would be mainly workers in the gold, copper, and iron mines, craftsmen in the armory workshops, and workers and missionaries from the West, and the street fronts would of course be reserved for the merchants to set up shops. He named the new town he designed and built as the starting point, which means that it is a new starting point for his career!

It is estimated that the total population of this town will definitely not be less than 50,000 in the future, and such a large town has exceeded the average county seat, and you must know that Fuzhou, the largest city in Fujian, has only a population of more than 200,000 at this time. This is also a big investment by Geng Jingzhong, after the town is built, a large population, wealthy people will inevitably produce huge consumption, and these will attract a large number of businessmen, so that the streets, houses, and land here are valuable!

You don't see that many real estate predators in later generations are building new shopping malls and dense residential areas everywhere, and at the same time making huge sums of money to become the richest group of people in the Celestial Empire, there is no one. Therefore, Geng Jingzhong put great passion into this cause, and after a few months of construction, most of the place has been completed.