In addition to the fact that the residential areas in the interior are in full swing, the personnel of the Military Police Department have also arrived at the planned location and started to build the Iron Furnace Harbor outpost. （.）

Due to various objective reasons, the shore defense battery plan of Tielu Port was not approved in the end, and the Executive Committee believed that the military threat posed by the Wanzhou area north of Tielu Port was very limited, so the original heavy military deployment was changed to a lookout post to be deployed to replace firepower strikes with early warning. After conducting an on-the-spot investigation in the early stage, the Military Police Department selected a commanding heights on Yalong Ridge, south of the entrance of the Iron Furnace Port, to establish a lookout post.

Although the altitude here is only more than 100 meters above sea level, it is not easy to transport a large number of building materials from the shore, for this purpose the military police department transferred 50 laborers, plus a platoon of militiamen, to open the road and carry at the same time, and it took a whole day to transport all kinds of materials and building materials for the construction of the post to the predetermined place. After the post is built, a squad of militia will be stationed here for a long time, mainly to monitor the sea area in the north, east and south, to prevent other forces from sneaking up on the iron furnace port from the sea, and if necessary, to give early warning to the residential areas and production areas located inland, and its role is basically the same as the post on the Yulin corner of Shengli Port.

Thanks to the proper planning in advance, the colonization was carried out very quickly, and by sunset the laborers responsible for building the settlements had cleared a large area of the foundation and erected the capitals of several boat-shaped houses. According to the calculations of the Ministry of Shipping, 80% of the building materials and supplies have been delivered, and the next day the first batch of new immigrants selected in advance can be gradually transported to this side.

According to the arrangement of the Executive Committee, the administrative planning of Tielu Port will be divided into two communes, the south commune, because there are relatively few nearby tidal flat areas, so the main industry will be to grow saline-alkali tolerant crops, mountain crops and fishery, and the north commune will make full use of the large area along the tidal flats, with salt as the main industry.

The Executive Committee has decided to set up a separate Salt Industry Department in the establishment of the Ministry of Industry, and the Shengli Port Salt Farm, the Tielu Port Salt Farm under construction, and even the Yinggehai Salt Farm, which is still under planning, will be managed by the newly established Salt Industry Department in the future. All salt export operations will also be spun off from the current commerce and trade department and handed over to the Salt Industry Division. As for the person in charge of this newly established unit, it was handed over to Anxi, who has the most professional qualifications and nearly half a year of experience in the operation of salt farms. However, the relevant appointment order has not yet been announced, and the Executive Committee will not announce the appointment decision until the Iron Furnace Harbor colony is put into normal operation.

Luo Shengdong and his friends made another shipment the next day, then said goodbye to Tao Donglai and went north with the fleet. This time, the executive committee paid him 5,000 catties of salt, which was less than 100 yuan for the production cost of the group, and it was completely cost-effective to hire seven or eight boats for nearly two days. But for the salt dealer Luo Shengdong, the 5,000 catties of salt sold to Qiongzhou Mansion will get a gross profit of 1,000 taels of silver, in addition to the consumption of these days and the dividends distributed to his subordinates, Luo Shengdong can at least carry half of the silver into his pocket, and it will be a lot of income. Both sides take what they need and are very satisfied with this way of cooperation.

However, Luo Shengdong temporarily had one more task to go to the capital city of Qiongzhou this time. After listening to Tao Donglai's words, Luo Shengdong's mind slowly opened. Whether you can be promoted to the top is of course very important, but if you can move the future husband to the position of Yazhou Zhizhou next year, I believe that it will be more beneficial to yourself.

Although the Haihan people are not very interested in the land of Phoenix Town at present, according to their development speed, the place of Shengli Port will definitely not be able to accommodate them, and sooner or later they will expand outward, so that sooner or later, the power of the Haihan people will develop to Phoenix, Tianya, and even Nanshan Town, which is next to Yazhou. Instead of giving all the benefits to these officials who are about to step down now, it is better to keep them in the future and transfer all these benefits to the old man in charge of Yazhou, anyway, the old man has an only daughter under his knees, and the benefits of this old man are not his own benefits?

Of course, although Luo Shengdong's abacus is very good, he first has to think of helping the old man to the top position, this time he went to Qiongzhou Mansion not only to sell salt, but also to take over Yazhou for the old man to explore the way. Tao Donglai has made it clear that he will support, Luo Shengdong naturally understands that this kind of "support" means more than just verbal support, the Haihan people have always been very generous in giving gifts to officials in Yazhou, Luo Shengdong thinks that as long as he finds the right way, then the Haihan people will also be happy to use money offensive to help him push his father-in-law to the throne.

As for what kind of benefits the Haihan people will ask for from their side after this matter is completed, Luo Shengdong is no longer willing to think about it. Anyway, his head should have been cut off and hung on the Yazhou City Gate half a year ago, and now that it is still growing on his neck, it means that he has taken the right path so far, and he will continue to go down in the future. There is nothing wrong with cooperating with the Haihan people to get promoted and make a fortune.

On October 20, three 400-material Daguang ships slowly sailed into Shengli Harbor. These three ships came from Guangzhou, one of which is a second-hand ship newly acquired by the Guangzhou Office, and counting the one that has arrived at Shengli Port before, there are already two large ships that can be used as the main transportation force in the next Vietnamese immigration operation.

The other two ships are the sea ships of "Fu Ruifeng", and the person in charge of the trade sent by Li Jifeng to Shengli Port this time is still an old friend of the group, Li Nai, the third young master of the Li family. However, this time, the old steward He Qiang did not visit with him, and it is said that he was sent to other places to deal with other affairs.

Li Nai's visit brought many materials purchased by the Guangzhou Office, such as cloth, tung oil, leather, copper ingots, tin, sulfur, etc., as well as more than 50 craftsmen of various types recently recruited and hired by the Guangzhou Office, more than 30 orphans received by the Charity Hall, more than 30 sailors and crew members, and nearly 100 poor people who voluntarily migrated to try their luck in Shengli Port.

In addition, Li Nai's trip also brought a lot of materials and manpower, which were not used to trade with the crossing group, but to fulfill the cooperation agreement reached between the two sides in August, and began to set up a business inn in the Shengli Port area, build a hotel and a special industry that the majority of single young men have been waiting for for a long time.

Of course, as an executive committee that attaches great importance to health and epidemic prevention, it is natural that Li Nai will not lightly let Li Nai bring these people ashore. Those who intend to live in Shengli Port for a long time must undergo the necessary quarantine and quarantine observation measures in accordance with the existing system, especially those young women who are clearly coming to work in special industries, and must undergo a comprehensive medical examination before they can be allowed to land.

Li Nai did not understand the harsh measures taken by the Executive Committee and the Port Management Committee, and specially found Tao Donglai and asked to release the people on the ship as much as possible, after all, he had been wandering at sea for a week, and some women who were not in good health had almost half a life left, and Li Nai did not want the people who had traveled thousands of miles from Guangzhou to be carried directly into the coffin before they had done anything.

However, the executive committee has not let go of this, and there is still a relatively big controversy about cooperating with "Fu Ruifeng" to engage in commercial development, especially the feminist elements led by Ruisha, who have always opposed the opening of places like "**" in the Shengli Port area. If there is any mess in these places, then the few people who approved this matter in the first place will be condemned to this black cauldron. Therefore, the executive committee also secretly issued a death order to the medical department, which must eliminate the source of infection in the early stage, and maintain strict monitoring and random inspection at any time in the later stage, so that there can be no scandal because of the health situation.

In order to comfort Li Nai, Tao Donglai pulled him to the planned commercial area and showed him the land belonging to "Fu Ruifeng". At present, the foundation here has been basically leveled, all the trees and roots have been cleaned up, and all kinds of bamboo and wood building materials needed to build houses have been prepared in accordance with the original requirements of "Fu Ruifeng", and all of them are stacked in the nearby open space. Just wait for the construction team to enter the site, and the construction can start immediately.

Li Nai saw that the preparations had been very complete, so he let go of his previous unhappiness and said to Tao Donglai: "Mr. Tao, according to your original request, I specially sent people to Shengli Port a period of time in advance to accept the epidemic prevention inspection you said, but now these women are not allowed to set foot on the shore, will this be too much?"

Tao Donglai looked around and saw that Luo Wudan, who had been circling around before, was gone, and then he breathed a sigh of relief and said: "Mr. Li, the last time you came to Shengli Port, you should have also learned that we are very cautious about the existence of this kind of place, and for us, any scandal caused by this kind of place can be a good reason to close it, especially in terms of hygiene." If any Haihan people are infected with some strange diseases that cannot be seen in it, then not only will they have to close their doors, but it is likely that even your 'Fu Ruifeng' will be listed as an undesirable object. ”

Li Nai said disapprehantly: "These women are carefully selected, and they have already asked someone to do an examination when they were in Guangzhou. ”

Tao Donglai still insisted: "For the sake of future cooperation, it is always right to be cautious. I promise that by tomorrow at the latest, they will be allowed to disembark and disembark. ”

What Tao Donglai did not say was that even if these people were able to set foot on the land of Shengli Harbor, they would be sent directly to quarantine shelters, where they would stay for at least seven to ten days and undergo another comprehensive inspection before they were granted local residence permits. However, there is no need to explain these things to Li Nai in detail, he will be dissatisfied with the previous arrangement, and what he cares about is not the future and fate of these people, but how much weight his face has in the Haihan people. And Tao Donglai's patient explanation has made him feel the respect of the Haihan people, which is enough.

In addition to these, the most important purpose of Li Nai's visit was to discuss with the Executive Committee on further expanding the scale of trade. After Li Nai returned to Guangzhou in August, he was immediately sent by Li Jifeng to Huizhou, Chaozhou and Shaozhou to promote the illicit salt trade. Li Nai spent nearly a month traveling to the state capitals, meeting with some local merchants and officials, and successfully reached several intentional cooperation agreements to provide cheap sources of goods in the future by "Fu Ruifeng", and these merchants and even officials are responsible for the local distribution channels.

The business of selling illicit salt is a capital offense for ordinary people, but for powerful people, it is a shortcut to wealth. The cooperation objects that Li Nai talked about in these states are as little as 35,000 catties of salt per month, and as much as 10,000 catties, and there are even some people who propose to cooperate with "Fu Ruifeng" to sell illicit salt to Ganzhou, Jiangxi, and Chenzhou, Huguang, which are farther away. Li Nai's second brother, Li Luo, has also achieved similar promotion results in Zhaoqing, Gaozhou, and Leizhou. Although there is no news about the promotion activities of the boss of the Li family in Fujian for the time being, according to the situation in Guangdong, the situation in Fujian will not be much worse.

In this way, the salt trade volume between "Fu Ruifeng" and the crossing group has risen rapidly from 10,000 catties per month to 50,000 catties, and then to the current 120,000 catties, and there will continue to rise in the near future, but the supply required by "Fu Ruifeng" now has a small problem for the current production capacity, and it will take a while to alleviate this situation.

Of course, in addition to table salt, Haihan glass products, which have formed a popular trend in Guangzhou's cultural circles, are also in the list of products for promotional activities. However, due to the current supply of the group to the mainland is extremely limited, only barely able to meet the market needs of Guangzhou and the surrounding neighboring areas, so these glass products are trafficked to areas a little farther away from Guangzhou, the price has begun to rise sharply, such as Chaozhou, which is more than 800 miles away from Guangzhou, a set of colored carved glass stationery produced by Haihan, the price has been fried to thousands of taels of silver, and it has been in a state of price for a long time。

And only Li Nai went to Huizhou, Chaozhou, Shaozhou three places, the market demand for glass stationery has far exceeded the current production capacity of the group, Li Nai said that as long as the group can provide sufficient supply, "Fu Ruifeng" can even appropriately increase the purchase price.

As for the matches and soaps recently launched in Guangzhou, because the current output is too small, and the supply to Guangzhou is still insufficient, so they have not been promoted to other places at all.

In addition to these civilian commodities, 500 Type 27 arquebuses and 20 guns of two calibers of different sizes have also been fed back from buyers in Fujian. The second arms order from the mainland has already surpassed the first one, and it is clear that the quality and practical utility of these arms have been recognized by the users.

Although before Li Nai's arrival, the Executive Committee had actually learned about the content of the trade order that would be brought by the "Fu Ruifeng" through the radio station of the Guò Office in Guangzhou, but hearing Li Nai say it in person still made the Executive Committee feel the joy of success again.

At the request of Tao Donglai and others, Li Nai also gave a brief explanation of this. Last time, after the first batch of arms ordered by "Fu Ruifeng" from Shengli Port was transported back to Guangzhou, it did not get off the ship at all, and after replenishing at the wharf, it went straight to Fujian. In the end, "Fu Ruifeng" quietly sold this batch of arms to Xu Xinsu's party in the name of a middleman in accordance with the instructions of the crossing group.

At this time, the forces of Xu Xinsu's side had gradually gained the upper hand in the naval battle, and even some of the trade routes had been blocked by the pirate ships of the "Eighteen Zhi". Not only that, the "Eighteen Zhi" began to organize manpower to attack a number of land targets along the coast of Quanzhou Prefecture from the middle of the year, which exerted great pressure on Xu Xinsu. At this time, the batch of muskets and artillery shipped from Guangzhou was simply a relief in the snow for Xu Xinsu, and there was no dispute about the price at all, and the other party directly accepted all the orders.

Although most of Xu Xinsu's subordinates were pirates, and only in the last year or two did they take off their original skins and put on the uniforms of the Ming army, many of these people can handle firearms, which is much better than the peasant army in North Vietnam. Therefore, although the crossing group did not provide any technical support for this batch of firearms sold, Xu Xinsu's side still put the new weapons into battlefield application in a very short time.

It has to be said that the use of new weapons is very effective, in a land offensive and defensive battle that broke out in the center and left, Xu Xinsu, who used firearms, easily defeated more than 2,000 attacking pirates, and afterwards was known as "more than 1,000 pirates". Compared to this remarkable record, his own battle losses in this battle were almost negligible.

Of course, "Eighteen Zhi" is not without firearms and equipment, but they didn't expect that Xu Xinsu, who had been buried in the beating, would suddenly have such strong firepower. Half a month later, the "Eighteen Zhi" again organized an attack on the center and left, and was equipped with a considerable number of muskets and a variety of heavy weapons such as tiger squat cannons and Franc machine guns, but unexpectedly this time they were still defeated by the opponent, and even those men who used firearms suffered heavy casualties, whether it was the range of weapons, the lethality or the speed of loading and firing, the firearms in the hands of the "Eighteen Zhi" could not compete with the opponent.

This does not mean that the "Eighteen Zhi" has no way to take the opponent at all, Zheng Zhilong still has a lot of authentic Hongyi cannons bought from the Dutch earlier, and their caliber, power, and range are above the Haihan artillery. However, this kind of cannon weighs two or three thousand catties, and its mobility is almost zero, so it is only suitable for use as a defensive weapon.