Given the terrain and environment where Jinhai Town is located, it is impossible to have a future without a strong fleet.

Therefore, focusing on the production of guns and artillery with one hand and the construction of warships with the other were the two major strategies he had set since the beginning of his move to Jinhai Town.

Among them, the production of guns and ammunition has already been on the right track, and Yang Zhen no longer needs to worry about it.

Nowadays, the problem of warship construction has gradually opened up, which makes Yang Zhen especially happy.

Seeing that Yang Zhen praised Shen Zhixiang's achievements in supervising the shipping administration, Zhang Degui and Xu Tianchong also hurriedly came in front of Yang Zhen and praised Shen Zhixiang for his hard work during this period.

After hearing the praise from Yang Zhen and the other two people, Shen Zhixiang felt naturally even happier and smiled so hard that he couldn't even close his mouth.

If it hadn't been for the hour of Xu, he would have wanted to take Yang Zhen to the harbor on the spot to take a look at the 400-material battleships that had completed their water trials.

However, before he could make this request, Yang Zhen changed his mind and asked Zhang Degui other questions.

And he asked three questions in one go.

"Lao Zhang, is there any new progress at the Beicheng Gun Factory in Lushun? What's the situation in Denglai? Is there any news about Tang Ruowang's isolation camp in Wei County?"

Zhang Degui is the chief military officer of Jinhai South Road and the general manager of the assistant camp affairs office of the general town government. In terms of the power in his hands, he is the first person in Jinhai Town under Yang Zhen.

It can be said that all the affairs involving Jinhai Town, both inside and outside, are under his control, except for the matter of shipbuilding, which is not under his control.

Yang Zhen was a little worried that he would delay all other affairs because he had been sitting in Jinzhou City. Therefore, after learning that the warship building affairs were going smoothly, he quickly couldn't wait to ask about several other urgent matters that he was most concerned about.

.

Fortunately, Zhang Degui has always known where Yang Zhen's focus is. Although he is in Jinzhou City, he has not relaxed his supervision of the production of guns and ammunition in North City of Lushun, and has been following Fang Guangchen and Li Ji who stayed in Lushunkou.

Keep in touch with others.

"Don't worry, Governor. The Lushun Beicheng Iron Works, the Gun Factory, the Ammunition Factory, etc. have Pan Wenmao and Wang Shoutang in charge, so there won't be any problems.

"When Yuan Jin returned from Zhenjiang Fort in October last year, he not only brought the military orders from the governor, but also sent a group of prisoners. They built outer walls on the east and west sides of the North City and built several buildings.

A new factory.

"Wang Shoutang's son, named Wang Xuan, followed the method written in the Tiangong Kaiwu that the governor had ordered to purchase before, and built several stoves, and more than a dozen stoves were burning day and night.

"The various guns and cannons stored in the North City Ordnance Store in Lushun, as well as the various types of ammunition stored in the Xingang Warehouse in the mouth, have already been piled up like mountains. Even if the puppet emperor Huang Taiji of the Qing Dynasty and Dorgon came together, the governor would not have to worry about guns and shells.

It’s a question of medicine.”

"That's good, that's good, that's good!"

After hearing what Zhang Degui said, Yang Zhen said "That's good" three times in a row. At the same time, he breathed a sigh of relief in his heart.

After leaving Lushunkou, especially when he was besieged by the Qing army in Zhenjiang Fort, what Yang Zhen was most worried about was not the supply of grain and grass, but the supply of guns and ammunition.

He is very clear about the fundamental reason why he can maintain a certain advantage in the battle against the Qing Dynasty.

In addition to relying on terrain that was favorable to him in every battle, his biggest remaining reliance was the sharpness of the guns and firearms of the Eastern Expeditionary Army.

"that is--"

"Just what?"

Yang Zhen was happy when he suddenly saw Zhang Degui frowning and saying "Yes" with a wry smile. Yang Zhen's smile faltered and he quickly asked.

"Because of the war at Zhenjiang Fort, and the freezing of the northern part of the Blackwater Ocean, the floating ice on Laolongtou, Tianjinwei, and Laizhou Bay is serious, and navigation is blocked, and coal and ore from the Beizhi side cannot get through.

"

When Zhang Degui saw Yang Zhen's smile, he was afraid that Yang Zhen would think too much, so he quickly told the coal and ore reserves of several smelting plants in Lushun North City.

"For this matter, Wang Shoutang, the old man, and his son Wang Shen have sent people here every three days to deliver letters, telling me that if they don't think of a way, they will have to stop work if they don't want to.

"They also told me that if all the dozen or so blast furnaces are shut down, once the Governor takes the blame, the blame will be on me, Mr. Zhang. Governor, please judge!"

"That's it, hahahaha——"

Hearing Zhang Degui tell the truth with a wry smile, Yang Zhen felt relieved and burst into laughter.

"Of course I can't blame you, Lao Zhang, for this matter, but I can't blame Wang Shoutang and his son either. Besides, there is a reason for this, and this Governor is not that unreasonable."

The winter ice conditions in Liaodong Bay, Bohai Bay and the Black Water Ocean, that is, near the northern coast of the Yellow Sea, were always very serious in the late Ming Dynasty, especially during the Chongzhen period.

If enough coal and ore cannot be stored in the summer months, Lushunkou, which is far away from the coal and ore producing areas, will indeed face shortages of these materials in winter.

And this is one of the reasons why Yang Zhen must capture Zhenjiang Fort and then capture the area east of the Yajiang River.

Because there are not only massive amounts of high-quality iron ore there, but also massive amounts of high-quality coal mines nearby.

Therefore, only by occupying that area, and then setting up the coke and iron smelting base in Jinhai Town, and even the gun and ammunition manufacturing base, in that area can we ultimately ensure a steady supply of coal and iron.

"But don't worry, I can guarantee that this problem will be solved soon, and it will be solved once and for all. At that time, it will not be them urging you to build coal and ore, but it will be your job to urge them to build more and bigger buildings."

coke plants, iron smelting furnaces and even steel-making furnaces!”

"What does the governor mean?"

Faced with Yang Zhen's optimism and "big words", Zhang Degui was a little confused for a while.

Although he just expressed the complaints of Wang Shoutang and his son in a slightly joking tone, he had been in charge of the Associate Camp Affairs Office for so long, and he was actually very aware of the problems.

First, Lushun is too far away from existing coal and iron production areas.

Secondly, although there are nearly a thousand large and small warships at the Zhongwu Road Naval Camp in the southeast, northwest and northwest of Jinhai Town, the capacity that can be dedicated to transporting coal and iron ore across the sea is very limited.

In peacetime, they had to transport immigrants across the sea, but in times of war, they also had to specialize in transporting troops and horses and supplying ammunition, food and grass.

Therefore, although there are many ships under Jinhae Town, there are not many ships at all. They are specially used by the smelting plants under the iron and steel works.

Third, purchasing coal and iron ore in large quantities is also a considerable expense.

This means that even in the summer, even when the fleet's transportation capacity is guaranteed, Zhang Degui cannot completely relax his hands and open up reserves of coal, iron ore and other materials.

But these words made it difficult for him to complain openly to Yang Zhen in front of other people.

Because of this, when he heard Yang Zhen promise him this and also promised to solve these problems once and for all, he suddenly became confused.

"Haha, what I mean is that since there are no coal mines or iron mines in Lushunkou, we will ask the iron and steel works to go to places with coal mines and iron ores to solve the problem of coal and iron supply nearby."

What Yang Zhen said did not eliminate the doubts of Zhang Degui and others, but made them even more confused.

"What the governor means is that we send people directly to Denglai and Zunyong to mine and smelt iron on the spot?"

"What Denglai, Zunyong? I'm talking about Anzhou, Tieshan, and Jiechuan Mine!"

Zhang Degui, Shen Zhixiang, and Xu Tianchong who were present all had their eyes either on the Qinglu entrenched in Liaoshen, or on Denglai and Beizhi across the sea, but they had never taken a good look at the same distance. Haidong facing the sea.

"Then, isn't that the Chaoren's territory?!"

"Haha, how could that be the realm of the imperial court? Maybe it was before, but it is no longer the case. From now on, it will never be the case again!"

Among the people discussing matters with Yang Zhen tonight, there was no one from the court.

Therefore, there is no need for him to be secretive and save face for his subordinates and generals.

For Yang Zhen, if there are no mineral resources that he urgently needs, then that's it.

However, since I know that there are massive coal and iron resources there, I can never miss it again.

Including the national boundary line at the mouth of the Yajiang River that will be suffocated hundreds of years later, any possibility of its appearance will be completely eliminated from Yangzhen.

"The Governor is so courageous!"

"That's how it should be!"

"If that's the case, there's no need to say anything more. Since that place is called Iron Mountain, there will be no shortage of coal and iron!"

Facing Yang Zhen's calm but firm words, Shen Zhixiang, Xu Tianchong and Zhang Degui were a little stunned at first, and then quickly realized the deep meaning hidden in Yang Zhen's words.

So they praised it again, and no one felt anything was wrong anymore.

Seeing that they accepted his proposal so quickly, Yang Zhen laughed and asked Zhang Degui: "Tell me, go on, what's going on with Denglai and that foreign Japanese soldier Tang Ruowang? Is there any news?"

When Zhang Degui asked, he suddenly slapped his forehead and said with an apologetic smile: "I'm so stupid. As soon as I talk about guns and ammunition, I forget to talk about other things."

Then, he told everything he knew about the situation in the Denglai area.

"In the twenties of the twelfth lunar month two years ago, Mr. Yue, the prefect of Yuan Dynasty in Dengzhou, sent people across the sea to greet the governor. At the same time, letters were sent. The plague in Dengzhou Prefecture has disappeared, but to the west of Wei County in Laizhou Prefecture , Qingzhou Prefecture, and several northern counties of Jinan Prefecture, it is said that there are still cases of whole families falling ill and dying.

"Mr. Yue said in a letter to Fang Consultation that because of the chaos in the Central Plains of Huguang, refugees from the east have not stopped, and because we have set up several isolation camps in Wei County to provide porridge relief, since the beginning of winter last year, From Qingzhou Prefecture to Weixian County, it was already overcrowded, and countless people died, and it was impossible to tell whether they died of starvation or illness.

"As for Tang Ruowang, the foreign devil, the prefect of Yuan, Mr. Yue admired him very much and valued him very much. He said that he set up those isolation camps in Weixian County and made great contributions to stopping the plague from continuing to the east. Of course, this is a good side.

.”

Having said this, Zhang Degui paused for a moment, glanced at Yang Zhen who was listening intently, and immediately continued:

"In addition, when you sent troops to Zhenjiang Fort, Governor Yuan, Governor Yuan and Mr. Yue also sent people here several times, each time to borrow money and food, or to urge us to send ships as soon as possible to pick up those from the isolation camp from Dengzhou.

The refugees who came out alive.

"According to the previous order of the humble governor, in the past few months, we have provided financial aid to them four times in the name of loans, each time costing more than 10,000 dan. If our Jinhai Town had not had a huge potato harvest in September and October, we would have prepared
Chapter completed!