Tong Tuchang saw that Zhao Qianhu was busy going out, and it seemed that he could only live in Changhua County today. He asked County Magistrate He to arrange his residence, and Tong Tuchang came to the county town for a walk.

Tong Tuchang has been six years since joining Zhu Hongsan's team in Wuchang. Tong Yangjia has always managed industry, so Tong Tuchang is also familiar with industry.

This time, when he came to Changhua, the King of Chu said that Tong Tuchang was responsible for the iron ore, so he wanted to see where he worked in the next few years.

Changhua County is not big, and it seems that the residents are not rich. Most of the residents are ragged and only a few people are wearing clothes without patches along the way. The materials are mainly cotton and linen, and no one is wearing silk and satin.

Tong Tuchang sighed. This place is too poor. To be honest, he doesn't like to come, but there is no way. The second uncle Tong Yangjia is the only one who can trust now. If he doesn't help, there will be no one.

The county town is less than two miles in radius, and I took a walk around half an hour. Tong Tuchang went to the Changhua River outside the city to take a look. The river was very abundant, but the water level was not deep. The sea boat could not enter at all. It seemed that only small boats could be transported out first and transported the large boat in Changhua.

After walking around, Tong Tuchang was tired and returned to the county government to rest.

The officials in the Ming Dynasty were very slow to work, but Zhao Qianhu had not arranged the guards the next day. Tong Tuchang followed Zhu Hongsan in the past few years, and he had adapted to Zhu Hongsan's decisive style. He was very uncomfortable when he saw the procrastination of the Ming Dynasty officials.

Finally, on the third day after arriving in Changhua, Zhao Qianhu was ready and came to Tong Tuchang and said he could set off.

When Tong Tuchang left the county government office, he saw two hundred military households standing outside the door. These people were of different ages, only eleven or twelve years old, and all of them were in their fifties and sixty years old.

Tong Tuchang used to be the Wuchang Guard's clerk when he was in Wuchang, so he naturally knew the situation of the Tianxia Guard. Tong Tuchang said to his guard leader: "Plane Commander Wang, how about these military households?"

This platoon leader Wang is Wang Dazhuang who moved from south Jiangxi last year. This year, the team has been expanded and he has also become the platoon leader.

Wang Dazhuang said: "We are fifty of us can beat them five hundred times in this kind of military household."

Tong Tuchang asked, "Isn't Platoon Leader Wang bragging?"

"Haha, the King of Chu said that such military households are like ordinary farmers, and they will run away as soon as the muskets sound. What we will fight in the future are the Eight Banners of the Qing Dynasty."

Tong Tuchang is from Liaodong, so he naturally had seen the Eight Banners of the Qing Dynasty. Looking at Wang Dazhuang's arrogant look, he was a little unbelievable that the New Army could defeat the Eight Banners. After all, the combat effectiveness of the Eight Banners of the Manchus was there. The New Army had never fought any tough battles so far, and he defeated Sun Kewang's bandits when he went south.

But I can't say this in front of Wang Dazhuang, because these new troops had a blind admiration for the King of Chu.

Tong Tuchang said: "These military households are just working as laborers. If they encounter dangerous situations on the road, they still need to provide their efforts."

Wang Dazhuang bowed and said, "Don't worry, Lord Tong, we are doing this."

Seeing that everything was ready, Tong Tuchang said goodbye to County Magistrate He and Zhao Qianhu, and led more than 300 people to set off.

According to the guide, they had to go up the Changhua River and enter the mountainous area 50 miles along the Shilu River. The guide said that both sides of the Changhua River are places where Shuli is, which is better. Entering the mountainous area is where Shengli is, so everyone should be careful.

When Tong Tuchang came, Tongzhi Lu Shiyuan told him that the people of Qiongzhou had been uprising many times. From the 26th year of Hongwu to the present, there have been fourteen major uprisings, countless small ones. The most recent one was in the 41st year of Wanli, which was thirty years ago.

At that time, the people of Wanzhou, Changhua were unable to withstand the oppression of local officials and launched a major uprising that affected the entire island. Finally, the imperial court sent a large army to suppress the rebellion from Guangdong, killing tens of thousands of Shengli, and then suppressing the riot.

Now there are not many decades since that riot, and the conflict between Han and Li is still very sharp, so Tong Tuchang is also very careful. He ordered the team to move forward carefully.

The fifty miles ahead are OK. Several villages along the way are all Kuala, and many of them live in Han and Li. Tong Yangjia and others also spent money to buy a few pigs to improve their lives in several villages.

On the third day after leaving Changhua County, I finally arrived at the mouth of the Shilu River. Shilu River is the name of later generations. This river has many names, namely Jinboxi, Paianjiang, and Laohong River. It has different names in different periods. Shilu River is a name that was changed only after the discovery of Shilu Iron Mine in later generations.

The Shilu River is now full of water, and a small boat of seventy or eighty-foot mass can be fully driven in. Tong Tuchang was overjoyed when he saw it. Using water transportation can save a lot of time.

The team walked more than twenty miles along the Shilu River and came to a valley. The guide said, "Sir, Shiluling is ahead. In the Song Dynasty, this place was called Yayu Mountain. Later, copper mines were discovered here, so they became Shilu by the locals. When they grow, they turned into Shilu."

Tong Tuchang nodded and asked, "Where did you find the mining place?"

The guide said, "It's just like climbing over this mountain."

The guide took everyone into the valley and came to the mine cave. Tong Tuchang looked around and said, "Let's camp in this valley today." After that, he said to the craftsmen who came here, "Dear mining foremen, this is your business. Let's take a look around and see what you have found."

The hundred craftsmen agreed, and in groups of three or three, they scattered to the various hills to check.

In the next three days, Tong Tuchang was wandering around here, but the large iron ore mentioned by Zhu Hongsan was not discovered.

On the fourth day, Tong Tuchang was ready. If he didn't find out today, he would take the team to walk inside.

At this time, a noise came from outside the camp. One of the group of people who went out to explore the mine came back to help rescue soldiers. One of the three people in their group was killed by Sheng Li and captured one.

Tong Tuchang was furious. He didn't encounter Shengli's village along the way, but Shengli found that there were too many people on Tong Tuchang's side and didn't do anything. He didn't expect that he was waiting to be alone.

Tong Tuchang called Wang Dazhuang and said, "Platform Commander Wang, take people to see them and save them. If the other party has a small number of people, they will be killed."

Tong Tuchang is also a scholar and firmly believes in the saying "If one is not my race, one will have different hearts", so he has no good impression of the non-Han race at all.

Wang Dazhuang nodded and took people out. He went out to find the craftsman who escaped and asked, "Where did you meet Shengli?"

The craftsman's face was covered in blood and said, "Five miles away from Yingpan, we were looking for mines. Suddenly, more than a dozen Shengli rushed out of the forest, with green faces and fangs. Foreman Yang was hacked to death by them on the spot, Foreman Zhang was captured, and I ran away while they were not paying attention."

Wang Dazhuang said, "Thank you for a hard time, brothers, take us there again, I will avenge you."

The craftsman took a sip of water and said, "Okay, we must avenge Yangtou."

Wang Dazhuang led the craftsman to the scene and saw a dead body lying on the ground. This one was probably the Yangtou. There were footprints next to it.

Wang Dazhuang called the guide and asked, "Is there a Li family village here?"

The guide said with a bitter face: "There are all Shengli in this place, and the villain really doesn't know."

Wang Dazhuang didn't make things difficult for him, and said to his soldiers: "Let's follow the footprints, please pay attention, and you can't help but kill if you see that it's not our personality."

After saying that, Wang Dazhuang led the team to chase after him along the footprints.

Ten miles from the scene of the incident, the scout found a village and hurried back to report.

Wang Dazhuang led the craftsmen leading the way to the gate of the village and saw that it was a big village with about one hundred people in it. At this time, a Han man was whipping inside, and the Han man shouted for forgiveness.

Wang Dazhuang asked the craftsman beside him: "Look at if that Han man is ours?"

The craftsman looked at it and said, "It's Zhang Tou."

Wang Dazhuang nodded and came back and ordered the 50-man guards to line up the attack formation, fifteen people in one, and three teams were sent.

When he arrived at the gate of the village, Wang Dazhuang shouted: "Grenade*, two rounds!"

Fifty people threw out 100 grenade bullets in one wave. These grenade bullets were newly developed by the gunpowder factory, and their power was 60% of TNT.

The gate of the village was just a one-person-high wooden wall, and of course it was blown up by a high-explosive grenade bomb.
Chapter completed!