When Li Miao and his entourage came to Chengzikou Port, there was no lively welcome scene in the port, only the guards were heavily guarded, and Chengzikou Port was rarely solemn. One hundred and fifty elite guards were placed under martial law along the road.

Fifty of them are guards on duty, and one hundred are permanent mobile escorts. The leader of these 100 mobile escort forces is Ding Chunsheng, that is, Qiusheng's brother. As the commander of the mobile team, he usually trains to deal with emergencies.

Now, the guards of Lingshan Island are not subordinate to each other, but only accept Li Miao's dispatch, and all the guards' families also live on Lingshan Island, which is also Li Miao's way to let the guards take care of themselves and protect Lingshan Island with peace of mind.

Ding Chunsheng's parents still live in Li Miao's hometown, if even Ding Chunsheng can't be trusted, then there are not many people Li Miao can trust. Besides, Li Miao buys people's hearts, using interests, and common interests are the most secure relationship.

Ding Qiusheng followed behind Li Miao and saw his brother from a distance, who was already extraordinary. But compared with Ding Qiusheng, it is still a lot worse. But Ding Qiusheng felt that the combat power of these guards was still quite amazing.

Qiusheng felt that she could deal with three or five at most. But if she leaves, they won't be able to keep her. Qiusheng began to gradually understand why Childe was keeping a low profile.

No matter how strong an individual's force is, when he sees a well-trained army, he can only avoid its edge. Although it is also possible to escape, the son dragged his family with him. If you can run, the monk can't run the temple.

Qiusheng didn't know that an elite guard like this was the most elite soldier in the army, and it was not as good. This is Li Miao's elite.

Li Miao now has to spend more than 100,000 taels of silver just to raise this batch of elites a year. It is impossible for these guards to stay on Lingshan Island forever, but there is no place for them for the time being.

These guards are all fully armed, and in the era of cold weapons, Li Miao feels that the equipment of his guards is definitely the super level of this world. The Ordnance Research Institute on Lingshan Island is far ahead of its time.

The Ordnance Research Institute is only a branch of the Lingshan Island Research Institute, which mainly studies smelting, shipbuilding, new agricultural tools, and even the development of gunpowder.

The institute concentrates a large number of skilled craftsmen, and has the advanced technology that Li Miao obtained from the library of the Hanlin Academy. Coupled with some of Li Miao's experience in later generations, in just one year, various technologies have made breakthroughs.

In particular, smelting and shipbuilding technology was far ahead of its time, and as for the study of gunpowder, there was not much progress. Li Miao also has some understanding of gunpowder, but the power of gunpowder in this world is limited.

Not as powerful as a bow and arrow. And it doesn't work from time to time. Extremely poor stability. It often results in huge losses of people and property. The Great Zheng Dynasty simply gave up the study of gunpowder.

Li Miao himself is also very contradictory, after all, he is an enlightened person, and he knows that gunpowder hurts the heavens and harmony, if he can break through the power of gunpowder, his strength will definitely be greatly improved.

At the same time, Li Miao's luck will also be seriously weakened. At that time, he may lose more than he gains, and once the gunpowder technology breaks through, it will be a huge threat to him. Therefore, Li Miao's development of gunpowder was kept in absolute secrecy.

If he is not threatened by gunpowder, he insists on never actively using gunpowder weapons. Now Li Miao's large and small sea ships are all equipped with gun mount bases, but no artillery is installed.

At present, even if it is installed on large and small sea ships, it is not very useful, and the power of gunpowder itself is limited, and the stability is not high. Li Miao mostly thinks about it for the future.

He was still worried that those Western countries, once they mastered advanced navigation technology, if their gunpowder power broke through. It will pose a huge threat to the Great Zheng Dynasty.

If Li Miao doesn't respond, he can only wait to be bullied by the Western powers. This is also the original intention of his development of maritime transportation.

It was around this time that Western countries took advantage of navigation and gunpowder to begin their process of plundering the whole world.

How could Li Miao not do something in advance, although he couldn't speak in the Great Zheng Dynasty now, he believed that he would become a giant in the Great Zheng Dynasty sooner or later.

Coming to the State Guest House, after the group settled down, Li Miao and Wang Yonggui started a long conversation after more than a year of absence.

Wang Yonggui first reported on the promotion of seeds in Qingzhou for more than a year, in short, the situation is good, Qingzhou area is basically fully rolled out, Laixi County and Pingdu County due to geographical reasons, the promotion is not enough. Traffic becomes the biggest obstacle.

High-quality seeds in the north are also well promoted in Rizhao and Yantai areas in coastal areas. Maritime transport has promoted the promotion of high-quality seeds in the northern part of the coastal area, which is also expected by Li Miao.

In Li Miao's view, as long as the high-quality seeds are promoted, it doesn't matter if it is in Qingzhou or other regions, he will be lucky enough to obtain it.

Now Qingzhou Shipyard can build ten double-sail small sea boats every year. At present, two have been sold, and now the Li family has seven small sea boats with double sails. Coupled with the fact that this three-sailing ship is about to be put into use, the guard manpower is beginning to be insufficient.

After all, Li Miao asked for the use of guards he trusted, and now the double-sailed small sea ship needs sixty sailors and guards, and the three-sail sea ship needs three hundred sailors and guards, and all of a sudden the sailors and guards provided by Li Miao's industry began to be tight.

You can only choose to sell small sea boats with two sails. Li Miao had no choice, and then bought the Grange to train the guards, but the impact was still too great, so he could only find a way from the south.

Northern escort, with the exception of the coastal areas. The key to the inland guards is not to get on the sea vessels. It's basically a landlubber. At present, the grange in the coastal area must be purchased in small quantities.

Li Miao's Qingzhou Port shipyard produces double-sailed small sea boats in short supply. The cost of a small sea ship is 150,000 taels of silver, and it sells for 300,000 taels of silver. You can't buy it at all. As a result, it has also led to the rapid development of the shipbuilding industry in the surrounding coastal areas.

This is also what Li Miao is willing to see. After all, it's not enough to do it alone. Is the flame high when everyone gathers firewood, and who can threaten him with his skills and strength. It can also develop maritime power more covertly.

"Proprietor, now our Qingzhou Farm Tools Factory is terrible, and the agricultural tools produced have been in short supply since the second half of last year." Wang Yonggui is also rarely excited.

"We don't have to be too public, we can contact other agricultural tool factories in other places to cooperate. Rough embryo supplied by us. Li Miao also nodded.

The promotion of advanced agricultural tools also has a bonus of luck. With advanced smelting technology, it is difficult for agricultural tools to be advanced.

At present, the rough embryo used by Qingzhou Farm Tool Factory to make agricultural tools is not much worse than the fine iron used in the manufacture of weapons in the world. The manufactured farm implements are durable. At the same time, it also greatly reduces the labor intensity of farmers.

For this reason, Li Miao also gained a wave of luck. The luck obtained is incomparable with the promotion of seeds, but no matter how small the mosquito is, it is still meat. Besides, even if there is no luck, Li Miao will do it, and Li Miao is still willing to do something for the poor farmers.

The Sanfan ship is about to be launched, and will be the first to conduct a trial voyage lasting more than half a month, and if all goes well, the Sanfan ship will carry out the first sea trade to Goryeo this summer. At present, the Southern Bureau is preparing sea trade materials.

This sea trade is not only to make money, but also to train soldiers, to test the waters of the great ocean era, if it succeeds, the silver will definitely not be less, and Li Miao will not be too much silver, after all, there are more and more people in his hands. Strength is also inseparable from silver.