In fact, there is nothing big about it, Ma Zhong is not only a good leader in combat, but also has a very good ability to govern the place.

After all, it is the governor of the Han Dynasty who has truly subdued all the Han and Yi in history.

But in the current situation, Ma Zhong is already a little anxious and incomprehensible.

All parts of Nanzhong are either developing minerals or engaging in plantations, or there is a large iron ore area in the neighboring Yueshan County that can be used to settle displaced people for production.

It's just his own county, and he didn't get any benefits.

Ma Zhong himself is not in a hurry, he just needs to do his job well, persuade the farmers, stabilize the people, and appease the Yi people, then this Taishou of Qiqi County is already very competent to do himself.

But the big families in the county don't do it.

At the same time, one of the six counties in Nanzhong, you look at how Li Taishou, Meng Taishou, Wang Taishou, and Lu Taishou brought the "people" of Nanzhong to make a fortune together, you look at you Ma Taishou, we can't be sorry for the fathers and villagers of Qiqi County? !

Ma Zhong wondered when he heard this, when will you wealthy families be able to represent the people?!

But so be it. There is no way, these years, the magistrate wants to govern the place, and he can't leave the cooperation of these wealthy families, and Ma Zhong doesn't want to offend these wealthy families too much.

The wealthy families of Qiqi County, in this copper mine share distribution, did not take much advantage, who let them have no money, two no one, if there is still a bit of carboniferous ore in the territory can be used to practice copper ore, and there is a little kinship with the major families, they may not be qualified to participate in the distribution of copper mines.

And Zhang Xi planted in Nanzhong Lane, because the place of Qiqi County is not suitable for planting sugarcane, and these wealthy families of Qiqi County still have not reaped any benefits.

The most annoying thing is that the six counties in Nanzhong and the other five counties have found a little mineral deposit, but in Qiqi County, except for charcoal, there is nothing of value in fart.

It's not that the families of Qiqi County are not satisfied with the coal minerals, but this thing, in this era, is very narrow, basically used to smelt iron or copper, and because of the limitations of smelting technology in this era, coal is not irreplaceable when smelting metal.

To put it simply, even if the family vigorously develops carboniferous, it is also controlled by others, and in today's words, it can only be a downstream supplier, how can there be such a thing as copper ore.

This made the families and heroes of Qiqi County dissatisfied.

And in these years, if the family is dissatisfied, the local security will be unstable, and if the local law and order is unstable, Ma Zhong will be very uncomfortable.

Qiqi County has just finished the war, and Ma Zhong doesn't want to be idle and always suppress the rebellion, so the people can't stand it, so Ma Zhong has to gather these families and ask clearly, what do you idiots want to do?!

The families replied, "We just want to get rich."

When Ma Zhong heard this, he said that there was nothing I could do about it. What's the situation in our county, you local snakes should know best, you have nothing, how to get rich?!

But the families said that in the past, except for Jianning County, which place in Nanzhong was not a barren land. But now?!

Now in Nanzhong, who doesn't know that the two people in the Governor's Mansion are the living gods of wealth.

If you really can't find a way to make a fortune, just ask our governor who heard that the county guard is the governor's henchman, and this position of the governor is also recommended by the governor, so let the governor help think of a way to find a way to make a fortune for the people of the county.

Ma Zhong thought about it, this is not unreasonable.

It's not that Ma Zhong thinks that he is already Zhang Xi's henchman, but Ma Zhong still has this self-knowledge.

Zhang Xi's real henchman, in fact, everyone knows that it is that Zhang Wei.

Don't look at Zhang Wei, it seems that he didn't get any rewards after this battle of Nanzhong, but everyone knows that as long as he follows Zhang Xi, Zhang Wei's future achievements will definitely be above everyone.

He Ma Zhong may have been in the position of Taishou in his life, but it is not impossible for Zhang Wei to lead the party in the future, and even enter the prime minister.

Ma Zhong didn't take himself too seriously, but Ma Zhong also felt that he was valued by Zhang Xi, and he was promoted from a county order to Taishou, and he had some friendship with Zhang Xi.

And asking Zhang Xi for advice is not for himself, but for the sake of Qiqi County, for the stability of Qiqi County and the lives of the people.

I don't have enough talent to find a way out for the development of Qiqi County, but if it is Zhang Xi, maybe I can really find a road suitable for the development of Qiqi County?!

Therefore, when Zhang Xi inspected Qiqi County, after Ma Zhong reported his work, he solemnly asked Zhang Xi to find a development path suitable for the local situation in Qiqi County.

After Zhang Xi listened, he also frowned. The geographical location of Qiqi County is the area of Guizhou in later generations, and this place, even if it is more than a thousand years later, it is not a prosperous place.

There are mineral resources, and there are indeed a lot of mineral resources in Guizhou, and some resources are still the first in the country in later generations.

For example, mercury ore and barite mine, Guizhou's reserves are the first in the country.

Even the second and third minerals in the country have a lot of minerals, what manganese ore, antimony ore, rare earth ore, bauxite, magnesium ore, phosphate ore have a saying, these minerals are very valuable minerals in modern times.

But. It is now the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty.

No one wants these minerals, and there is no use for them.

If Zhang Xi wants to make use of these minerals, then probably Zhang Xi must first engage in an industrial revolution, popularize science education, and vigorously develop science and technology, otherwise what use can these things be? !

Even if it is phosphate rock that can be used as fertilizer, with the current technology, Zhang Xi can't make good use of it, and he can't crush the phosphate rock and bury it in the soil as fertilizer, right?!

After thinking about it, Zhang Xi still feels that the minerals that can be used in Qiqi County in this era are still coal mines.

But it's not ordinary coal, but processed coke or anthracite, and these two things happen to be available in Qiqi County.

Coke is a good thing, it is an important consumable for steelmaking.

Coke is a thing, in fact, it is not difficult to refine, people who can make charcoal will make coke, it is really not possible to dig a pit in the ground, ignite the coal and bury it, you can also get part of the coke, but there is no such high conversion rate as industrial coking in later generations, and it is easy to have defective products.

But the problem is that since coke has been made, Zhang Xi thought of large-scale steelmaking, but Zhang Xi really doesn't know what the structure of the blast furnace and converter is, and he doesn't know how to use coke to make steel, which is the most important problem restricting Zhangxi's large-scale steelmaking.

Well, but coke is still a good thing, you can do it.

As for anthracite, it is also a good thing, and a large part of the coal in Qiqi County is anthracite. Anthracite is essentially a coal with low sulfur content, and if it is used to make wrought iron, it can reduce the brittleness of wrought iron, and in this era, this kind of wrought iron can already be called "steel".

The famous Liupanshui Coal Mine in later generations is a good coke coal site, and the Zhina Coal Mine is an anthracite coal producing area.

Moreover, Guizhou's coal mines have another advantage, that is, they are shallow and easy to develop.

Now that a large number of copper mines have been discovered in the south, and there is a large iron ore area in Yueshan County, the demand for coal mines will definitely rise, so it should be a good choice to organize the families of Qiqi County to mine coal mines with the people, and make coke and anthracite to sell to those Shuzhong families to smelt copper ore.

But if you do this, it's still the same old problem - the initiative is not in the hands of the Qiqi County family.

Even if you make steel, the role of coke is irreplaceable.

But copper smelting, its practical charcoal is also okay, although your coal is good, but people don't have to use it.

In the final analysis, the best way to make the coal in Qiqi County valuable is to make steel, especially coke steelmaking technology, and large-scale steelmaking, which is the real way out for coal mines.

But. Steel, Zhang Xi also wants it, but he really can't get it.

The only thing Zhang Xi can do now is to teach Ma Zhong the technology of refining coke, and then ask the iron mining area on Ma Yan's side to purchase coke as much as possible, study the use of coke, and see if he can use the wisdom of the working people to make steel in the real sense.

If you can really find the right steelmaking technology, it will not only make Liu Bei Group profitable, but also digest the coal mines in Qiqi County, which can be regarded as a way to make a fortune in Qiqi County.

Of course, this road to wealth is actually more aimed at the wealthy families, and Zhang Xi still suggested to Ma Zhong to do a good job in agricultural production.

What ordinary people really care about is that they can eat enough, and until they can really eat, they will not think about digging coal to get rich.

This is very important, and it can't be led astray by the wealthy families of Qiqi County.

Ma Zhong nodded yes.

To be honest, Ma Zhong is already very satisfied.

There are a lot of charcoal in the vicinity of Zhilan in Qiqi County, and it is easy to mine, even if Zhang Xi doesn't say it, those families should not let it go.

But in any case, with this coke technology, it can be regarded as an explanation for those families.

In the past, the most important thing that the families thought of was mining coal and selling it to the families with a share of copper mines in Nanzhong to smelt copper, and now Zhang Xi provides a method for making coke, which is already very good.

Subsequently, Ma Zhong did not care about these anymore, and accompanied Zhang Xi to inspect the agricultural infrastructure near the county administration.

After all, this is where the people's food and clothing are.

As for Zhang Xi, it is also the first time to see why there are coal mines in Guizhou in ancient times, and it is still considered that the arable area of the place is too small to be "poor mountains and bad waters", and there are mountains everywhere, and these mountains are mainly rocks, and the soil layer is very shallow, so it cannot be used to develop fruit tree plantations.

Zhang Xi looked at the mountains of stones, sighed, and said to Ma Zhong, if you really want to increase the income of the people, then organize the people to learn the skills of stonemasons and make these stones into sculptures, maybe the families in Shu are willing to buy them.

This is a half-joking statement, even Song Huizong, who likes strange mountains and rivers, has no idea of getting a birthday gang in Guizhou.

But this half-joking suggestion still ushered in a wry smile from Ma Zhong.

Ma Zhong didn't explain the reason first, but drew his matching sword, walked to a stone on the side of the mountain road, and slashed it with a strong swing.

Then Zhang Xi was surprised to find that the stone was split in half?!

No, what kind of sword are you?!

(End of chapter)