"The people of the Ministry of Security are not doing well" After listening to Qiao Zhiya's gossip, Gu Kai couldn't help but count it down: "It's been half a year from March to now, why haven't the fugitives in that case been arrested, is it because they don't pay enough attention to the affairs of Danzhou?"

Qiao Zhiya responded: "The Ministry of Security can't be blamed for this, but they have deployed a lot of people in Danzhou." "Yan * Qing * Shou * Fa Danzhou was originally a person named Wang Baisuo who was in charge of this part, and later Hao Wanqing transferred Lin Nan and Li Qingyang to Danzhou for this case, you know these two people?"

Gu Kai nodded, these two people had been in and out of Victory Fort for a while before, and he knew it. Lin Nan is Hao Wanqing's right-hand man, and Li Qingyang, a former Jinyi Guard officer, also applied to join the Haihan naturalization last year, and both of them are well-known figures in the Ministry of Security.

Qiao Zhiya continued: "In addition to them, Zhang Qianzhi, the apprentice brought by Minister He, is also in Danzhou, and the case can be solved in March, and Zhang Qianzhi is said to have made a great contribution."

Qiao Zhiya said that these people can be regarded as elite soldiers of the Ministry of Security, and even if Gu Kai doesn't deal with the Ministry of Security much, he knows the existence of these people. However, this made him even more puzzled: "Since Hao Wanqing has transferred so many good players to the past, why hasn't he dealt with things cleanly?"

"The main reason was that I couldn't catch the main culprit at that time, and later it is said that I escaped into the mountains. Qiongbei is not as good as Qiongnan, many Li Miao cottages do not have much contact with the outside world, and the Ministry of Security wants to go into the mountains to search and arrest also has many practical difficulties. Qiao Zhiya sighed: "As far as the manpower of the Ministry of Security is concerned, it can only be deployed in the city, and it will definitely not work without the cooperation of the military." ”

Gu Kai didn't say such layman's words as "then make a report and let the military cooperate", to carry out a large-scale mountain search in northern Qiongbei, it would require at least thousands of troops, and it is estimated that the entire militia stationed in northern Qiongbei would be thrown into it, and the military would definitely not agree to this kind of reckless means. The field establishment of the Ministry of Security is often only a dozen or twenty people in a state, and this configuration in Danzhou is already considered to be exceeded, but it is useless to scatter such a little manpower into the mountains, but it will increase its own danger, and the Li Miao cottage in Haihan is not as much as in Qiongnan, and the attitude of the mountain people towards the Han people may not be friendly.

Gu Kai could only shake his head helplessly and said: "I hope this matter will be solved quickly, but there are many projects in Danzhou, and I don't know if these foreign businessmen who inspected in Danzhou a few days ago will be affected." ”

The delegation organized by the Ministry of Commerce was divided into two groups, one of which settled in Sanya, mainly to inspect some new industrial products launched by the Ministry of Commerce, and to discuss cooperation intentions in trade, finance and infrastructure. Another group of visitors to Qiongzhou and Danzhou took the large-scale collective farm projects planned by the local area as the object of inspection, and took a look at the area to be developed designated by the Haihan Management Committee.

Qiao Zhiya said with a smile: "You can rest assured about this, the group of people from Danzhou arrived yesterday, I chatted with these people at the reception banquet, their interest is great, who doesn't want to rush to do it."

After the purge of the "Liaoyuan Action" and the special treatment for more than half a year, many landlords and gentry who were unwilling to cooperate with Haihan were swept away from the local area in various ways, both openly and covertly, so as to clear out a large area of cultivated land to realize Haihan's collective farm development model. In the future, in addition to food crops, these lands will also have sizable cash crop plantations, which are also part of the interest of foreign investors.

Spice crops, oil crops, hemp crops, and rubber trees that can produce rubber, the mulberry trees necessary for the development of sericulture industry in Qiongzhou Island, are all cash crops that will be planted on a large scale in northern Qiongbei and Qiongzhong. The market for these types of cash crops has always been good, and the investment prospects are also very good. The plantation parks invested by "Qionglianfa" in the early stage of Qiongnan have basically entered the stage of profitability, which has also established more confidence among the investors who have joined in the future.

For Haihan, who has already controlled the power of Qiongzhou Island, what can be provided in this transaction is the venue and technology, strictly speaking, the capital is not too lacking, and the reason why it is necessary to introduce external investors is mainly due to the lack of labor and future sales channels.

In addition to the financial investment, businessmen from Daming and other places often send a large number of laborers to these places, on the one hand, to speed up the development progress, on the other hand, they can also learn some Haihan planting technology and management experience, of course, these people live in the local area for a few years, whether they are willing to move back to the place where they came, that is not necessarily.

After a period of time, these places begin to have output, then the businesses involved in the early investment and construction can get the corresponding priority sales rights, and these sought-after goods can be shipped to Daming, Annan and other domestic mainland areas for sale, and obtain high returns. And these channels do not need Haihan to spend energy to set up one by one, and investors will naturally try to improve this link that is closely related to their interests.

Haihan people have advanced technology in their hands, have a clear land, have a stable external environment and a reliable business reputation, whether they are looking for high returns or long-term stable income, almost all of them can find suitable business projects in the area under Haihan Holdings. Although the merchants who went to Danzhou to visit the group had also heard about the assassin's assassination of Lord Zhizhou, after they went to the local area to see it, they naturally knew that it was not the Daming government that was in charge of the local government, but the Danzhou Management Committee under the Haihan Executive Committee.

The businessmen didn't care too much about anything like national righteousness, not to mention that Haihan didn't openly raise the flag to rebel at this time. Moreover, the reputation of the Haihan people has long been spread through the commercial and trade activities of Guò in recent years, and they have never had any bad deeds in trading or cooperative operations. Therefore, although the situation in Danzhou does not seem to be very peaceful recently, it still has not affected the investment enthusiasm of merchants.

The same is true of the group of merchants from Sanya, who showed no signs of fatigue after nearly three days at sea, and after disembarking from the ship, they shouted that they wanted to visit what the Ministry of Commerce had previously claimed as "the longest freight track on Qiongzhou Island".

Gu Kai had to come out and play a round: "Everyone, everyone has been tired all the way, today we will take a temporary rest here in Changhua County, and tomorrow we will organize everyone to take a train to the Shilu mining area located forty miles east of Changhua County with another delegation that arrived in advance." Director Qiao of the Changhua Management Committee has prepared a sumptuous reception banquet for you, please follow the instructions of the staff and take the carriage to the county seat in turn. ”

That night, Qiao Zhiya held a banquet in Changhua County to entertain the visiting group, and the local magistrates, generals, and other magistrates also came forward to accompany them. When the businessmen saw that Haihan had managed the situation here so well, they were naturally relieved about the investment prospects here.

The next morning, after having breakfast in the county, the delegation came to the railway station outside the county under the guidance of the staff. After the merger of the two groups of visitors, there were more than 40 people, in addition to the attendants and attendants, so Qiao Zhiya arranged in advance a passenger carriage specially used to load distinguished passengers.

Many of these businessmen were riding the legendary "Haihan Train" for the first time, and they were all thrilled with the novelty of touching and looking at it. And now the passenger carriage is no longer like the situation when Shengli Port to Tiandugang was just opened to traffic, with a decent roof window, and the window is still a palm-sized plate glass inlay, so that the merchants shouted luxury, just the glass window installed in this carriage can be sold for at least one or two thousand taels of silver in the Ming Dynasty. The seats in the carriage are fixed to the floor, made of hardwood, and the outer layer is made of cowhide and palm cushions, which is relatively comfortable to sit on. Several buckets of ice made of saltpeter were also placed in the compartment to lower the temperature inside the car.

Of course, the other wagons pulled by the same locomotive as the visiting group were far from such good conditions, and the passengers could only sit on benches that did not even have backrests in the carriage and sway all the way to the stones, and only the roof covered with bamboo mats was able to protect them from the wind and rain, and the retinue of domestic servants and the like could only be temporarily restrained on this kind of wagon. In addition to loading labor tools and daily necessities transported to the mining area, there are also hundreds of miners who are going to work in Shilu. However, these miners are different from the coolies who dig stones in the pits, and they are basically the foremen of each mining site and the technicians in charge of mining technology, so that they can take the train between Changhua and Shilu. The real coolie miners basically live in the local area of Shilu for a long time, and it is difficult for them to have the opportunity to get out of the mining area.

With two whistles, the steam locomotive began to slowly accelerate forward, pulling a wagon out of the platform and toward the east. Someone in the group soon noticed a large building south of the tracks: "May I ask Mr. Gu, what is the reason for the chimneys in this place?"

Gu Kai explained: "This is the production base of ironmaking and steelmaking that we have built, and it will be officially opened and put into operation in two days, and we will hold a ribbon-cutting ceremony at that time, and invite all the bosses present to come to watch the ceremony, and I hope everyone can enjoy their faces."

People with a heart have noticed the keyword, this salt and iron has always been a national monopoly project, it is no secret that the Haihan people opened a salt field in Qiongnan to make private salt, and some people have heard that there is an iron mine in operation in Tiandu, the inland of Sanya, but the Haihan people have made such a big formation in Changhua, and they dare to open it to so many outsiders, it seems that they have not taken Daming seriously.

A wise man has already asked, "The mine of Shilu should be iron ore."

Gu Kai did not hide this, and nodded in response: "Not only iron ore, but also copper ore." The coal ships you saw yesterday at Changhua Port are all coming from the Black Earth Port of Annam, and the coal they bring will be made into coke in Changhua, which will then be used to make iron and steel. I can say a big thing to you here, after the Changhua plant is put into operation, the output of steel will soon exceed that of the entire Liangguang region."

Of course, the merchants did not naturally think that they were only going to make agricultural tools, kitchen knives, iron pots, and the like, and that the steel would also be used to build such high-speed roads with railroad tracks, huge iron ships docked at Shengli Harbor, and countless armor, as well as the famous Haihan rifles and artillery. Everyone can think of this truth, but no one will say it on such an occasion.

"The speed of this train is comparable to that of a galloping horse, but it is far more stable than riding a horse, which is really good, but this track has to be laid for such a long time, and the cost must be a lot of money" The person who asked was a merchant from Fujian, and it was also the first time in his life to take a train, and he was excited and tried to inquire about the value of this thing.

"This question can be answered by Director Qiao, when this railway was built, Director Qiao was the person in charge. Gu Kai gave this question to Qiao Zhiya very interestingly.

Qiao Zhiya nodded and responded: "The cost is indeed not low. As you can imagine, there were no roads in the area where this track currently passes. We first had to carve a road in the wilderness, lay gravel and sleepers on it, and then erect this iron track, which was much more difficult to construct than ordinary roads. In addition, this track is very heavy, about twenty or thirty pounds per foot, and a track is dozens of feet long, and the manpower required to lay the track is extremely large. If you have experience in engineering construction, you will be able to roughly calculate the consumption. ”

The questioning man couldn't help but sigh: "Just this fine iron for building railroad tracks, it will cost tens of thousands of catties to build this mile, which is really terrifying, and only the financial resources of your state can afford such a huge project." ”

Qiao Zhiya smiled and didn't answer his praise. In fact, when Haihan built this railway, he also faced many difficulties, in addition to the loss of a large number of labor, the pig iron used in these dozens of miles of railroad tracks is indeed a large amount. For this reason, the Executive Committee had to coordinate in the middle, postpone a large number of arms orders, and free up pig iron production capacity to supply the railroad rails. Two years before the Haihan military industry