Keelung, a few months ago, was just a ruin, and now, in addition to the several piers built of pine wood at the port that stretched into the bay, there is a shipyard next to the dock, and there are several ships on the shore that are looking at the completion of the shipyard, while several dexterous sloops in the mooring area are parked there, swinging with the breeze.

Since when, the navy in Jiangbei prefers schooners because schooners can sail against the wind and do not need to take the "z" route when facing the wind like a sailboat.

Keelung is more of a progressive base than a newly emerging bay town.

In the past few months, thanks to the monsoon that went south, more and more prisoners of war were exiled here. They have overcome all obstacles here to reclaim mountain wood, build houses, towns, and reclaim wasteland. Of course, the wood and sulfur mines produced near Keelung are also important materials produced in Keelung, especially the latter, which is a must for making gunpowder.

At the entrance of the bay, Keelung Island, the entire Keelung Bay is guarding the entire Keelung Bay. A few months ago, there were hundreds of natives living here, but now they have moved out like the natives near Keelung. Although they are reluctant to move away, under the absolute contrast of strength, they still moved to the distant mountains.

Compared with the lively Keelung City on the banks of Keelung Bay, Keelung Island, located at the entrance of the bay, seems a bit deserted. Most of the people living here are soldiers. They are stationed in the Western-style fortress and guard the bay. The 12 24-jin cannons and 27 18-jin cannons above the fortress point directly at the sea, vigilantly watching the sea in the distance.

Early in the morning, a wooden sampan was moved by two sailors and leaned on Keelung Island. On the dock of Keelung Island, the hull of the "Fubo" was undulating in the wind. This cruise ship with 36 guns is the most powerful warship in Keelung Bay. In contrast, the other four sloop gun ships were like gadgets. Two of them were even built with softer cypress wood and were built on site in Keelung, and they were built only to enhance the power at sea.

Jumping from the sampan to the trestle, the two soldiers on duty immediately stood at the verge of salute when they saw the visitor. At this time, Li Le was no longer dressed as a civilian, but changed into military uniforms. He was not only the leader of the expedition, but also the captain of the infantry squadron.

"Captain Li, the Governor is waiting for you!"

Governor.

This is Shen Hefei's official title. It can be said that he was also the first official in the Zhongyi Army to manage local areas with a soldier, which also determines the difference between Keelung and other regions. The person in charge of this place is not civil officials, but military officers. As an officer, although his official title is "Governor General", it is only "Governor General General Secretary" and is completely different from the "Governor General" in the Mainland. However, his power is far more powerful than that of the "Governor General" in the Mainland. Moreover, he also holds the power of life and death among the military and civilians in Keelung. It is precisely because of this that this "Governor General Office" is to some extent the heart of Keelung, symbolizing the rule of the Loyal and Yi Army here.

When he arrived at the chief's office inside the fortress, Li Le saw the governor having breakfast there.

"Meet the sir."

When Li Le saluted, Shen Hefei looked up at him and said.

"I haven't had breakfast yet, sit down and eat together!"

His tone was unquestionable. As Governor of Keelung, he had long been accustomed to this tone, as the captain, the captain's orders were not questionable.

"Thank you, sir!"

Sitting directly opposite the governor, Li Le began to enjoy breakfast. Compared with the Zhongyi Army Land Division, the shore meals of the water fleet can be said to be extremely rich. Li Le can be said to have a deep understanding of this. When sailing on the sea, in addition to biscuits, salted fish, bacon and other meats are also necessary every day, and on land, fresh fruits and meat are also necessary.

Just like the breakfast in front of him, there were eggs, stir-frying, rice porridge, and even fruit. It is said that this was a request from the strategy, just like the soldiers of the fleet who had to drink persimmon leaf tea every day. However, Li Le was not interested in the rich breakfast placed on the table in front of him. At this time, he looked a little excited. Just as he was speaking, the voice of the governor reached his ears.

"Captain Li, have you gained anything about this expedition?"

An expedition team was sent to reconnaise near Keelung, on the one hand, to determine the power of the natives, and on the other hand, to obtain nearby resources.

"Yes, Governor!"

Li Le took out a piece of ore and put it on the table, saying:

"This is where we found the ore!"

Looking at the ore, Shen Hefei asked directly.

"What kind of mine is it? I don't know much about these."

"Lead mine!"

Lead ore!

Shen Hefei, who was eating, finally put down the chopsticks in his hand. He even stood up, picked up the ore, and asked with interest.

"Lead ore? Is there a lot of quantity?"

When he asked this, he himself did not realize that his words seemed a little excited. The reason why he was so excited was simple - the army's demand for lead was urgent!

Unlike the Zheng family army and the Qing army, muskets have now begun to become the main weapon of the Zhongyi Army. There are only two long spear squadrons in Keelung, and the others are musketeers. Muskets require gunpowder and lead pills are also needed!

There is no lead ore in Jiangbei. In order to obtain lead to the projectile, the government office can be said to have exhausted almost all methods, but whether it is purchasing from private sources or purchasing from other places through merchants, it is not a stable source. If you want to obtain a stable source, you must have lead ore.

Now that lead ore is found near Keelung, it is undoubtedly good news! Even in Shen Hefei's view, lead ore is more important than sulfur ore. After all, sulfur can be solved through other channels, such as purchasing from Japan or from Dutch merchants, and the demand is always limited, but lead pills... are really too important. Not only after leaving the lead pills, the muskets become fire sticks, but more importantly, the army has a great demand for lead.

Now that there is lead ore, if the amount is sufficient, it will save a lot of money. More importantly, Keelung has a foundation for a foothold. After all, whether it is sulfur or wood, it can be replaced by the government office. However, lead is irreplaceable, at least it is irreplaceable now. Discovering lead ore here means that the government office will increase its investment in it. The more investment, the faster the development of Keelung will be, and naturally the greater the power of his power as the governor of Keelung, and of course it is easier to attract the attention of the manager, so as to become a key member of the manager in the future.

So, whether it is public or private, this is a good thing!

“There are a lot of numbers!”

Li Le nodded excitedly.

"There is a very naked lead ore, and even the valley is full of ore washed down by mountain torrents. Most of them are lead ore. It is estimated that there may be some copper, but the content is very low and it should not be worth mining. It is estimated that if 500 laborers are invested, the first batch of lead can be produced at most next month. By the end of the year, the Military Control Bureau will no longer have to worry about lead!"

As an officer of the Army Division, Li Le knew very well that the importance of lead to musketeers was so that he rushed here in a hurry.

"So, I hope to send a development team to mine lead ore and build a lead refinery immediately! After all, if lead is released one day earlier, the Northern Expedition may be one day ahead of schedule in the future..."

For almost every officer and soldier of the Loyal Army, to some extent, the Northern Expedition was their dream, which was a dream that had been instilled in their hearts. They hoped that the Northern Expedition would restore the Central Plains. Of course, this was also the wish of all of them.

"Expel the Tartars and restore China!"

To realize this dream, you need to prepare a large amount of military supplies, and lead and gunpowder are the top priority.

"Um!"

Shen Hefei, who knew the importance of ship mines, nodded and said.

"It seems that we will have another reason to stay in Keelung by then!"

Must stay in Keelung?

The Governor's words stunned Li Le, and he asked anxiously.

"Did the Dutch call?"

"Dutch? Do they dare?"

Shen Hefei showed some sneer on his face.

"Those Dutch people are even more afraid that we will fight! After all, the power balance between the two sides is too great!"

Compared with the limited number of Dutch people, the Zhongyi Army invested nearly a hundred times the manpower in the Keelung basin area. More than 10,000 immigrants who poured into the north in a short period of time. Although they were either prisoners of war or exiled, this absolute advantage in power made the Dutch at the mouth of Tamsui River just carefully keep a distance to avoid conflicts. Even the natives who had clashed with the Dutch many times in the past and cooperated with them kept hiding in the mountains and forests to avoid the attacks of the armed forces.

Under this situation, maintaining friendly relations with the Keelung authorities has become the focus of the work of the Dutch. For them, they now hope that both sides can live in peace. For Shen Hefei, who is in Keelung, he also needs to maintain "relatively friendly" contact with the Dutch to avoid them being the help of the Qing barbarians. After all, at this stage, for the Zhongyi Army, the biggest enemy is the Qing barbarians. As for the Dutch, what they seek is only commercial interests. Moreover, according to the strategic plan, developing overseas trade is related to the future development of Jiangbei. If a conflict occurs in the Dutch now, it will pose a threat to future Haiji trade. After all, even if the Zhongyi Army resolves the Dutch in Taiwan, it will be unable to resolve the Dutch in Batavia. In this case, it is also in line with Jiangbei's interests to temporarily maintain "peace" between the two sides and avoid conflicts.

Because of this, to some extent, Shen Hefei did not mind making appropriate concessions to the Dutch in exchange for "peaceful coexistence" by the side. However, compared to him, those Dutch people who are guilty of being thieves seemed more cautious and cautious, for fear that they would be "swallowed" by Shen Hefei if they were not careful, so he would have a contemptuous tone.

"It's the Qing barbarian!"

"Qing Lu?"

Nodded, Chen Hefei said.

"The Qing emperors in Fujian have begun to build ships on a large scale and mobilize their troops to prepare for an expedition to Keelung!"

The sudden news made Li Le stunned and asked anxiously.

"This... why are they moving so fast?"

According to Li Le's estimate, Keelung would have attracted the attention of the Qing emperors in a few years, and the Qing emperors would definitely not attack Keelung. After all, they did not even explain the problem of Xiamen and Kinmen, let alone Keelung, which is far away from the ocean?

"Don't forget, where is Keelung!"

Looking at Li Le, Chen Hefei said.

"It is the place of exile. The Hou family has exiled more than 1,600 people. And now there are tens of thousands of families of exiled Qing traitors and fake officials waiting to board the ship on the mainland. The reason why the Qing barbarians are targeting this place is because of this!"

The Hou family was first exiled to Keelung, and every once in a while, there were traitors who were exiled here. It is precisely because of this that ordinary people here also have their special identities. It is precisely because of this that Chen Hefei, as the governor, took control of their power of life and death.

Now, he didn't know that the movements of the Qing army in Fujian were so big that it could not be concealed. Whether to defend Keelung or not is a problem. In Shen Hefei's view, the existence of lead ore has undoubtedly added a strong bargaining chip to defend Keelung.

"So those traitors are in panic all day long, and in order to appease the traitors, the Qing captains ordered Li Rutai to capture Keelung! They thought that as long as Keelung was taken away, the traitor's family could be avoided from being exiled overseas."

With a mocking smile on his face, Chen Hefei might not have imagined how big it is if he was not the captain, but now he knows that besides Keelung, there are many places suitable for such exiles. Even compared to Keelung, there may be a little worse there.

For example, in Nanyang, the climate there is much worse than here. Of course, he did not know that exile is just a means now! The purpose is not to exile, but to shake the foundation of the Qing Dynasty, to avoid the use of Han officials for them, and to make every effort to make suggestions for them. As for exile, it is just a means, that's all.

"What should we do now? Do we need to mobilize those people?"

The people Li Le mentioned were those prisoners of war. Although they were very cautious about using prisoners of war, it did not mean that there were no collaborators among the prisoners of war. Using prisoners to control prisoners is a basic strategy. Moreover, compared with hard labor, they were naturally willing to use swords and guns again in exchange for freedom. In several conflicts with the natives, a few people were given freedom for their meritorious service and even rewarded with a piece of wasteland of dozens of acres. Those people have always been the envy of most prisoners of war.

“Not needed yet!”

Shaking his head, Chen Hefei said seriously.
Chapter completed!