A good life is always very short, just like good times are always fleeting. August of the 13th year of Chongzhen came to an end in the blink of an eye, and Yang Zhen's happy and shameless life in the main town house was also approaching.

end.

At noon on August 28, the thirteenth year of Chongzhen, the autumn air was crisp and clear. Yuan Jin, Yu Liangtai, and Yu Haichao's large fleet, under the guidance of the pilot boat in the port, was lining up to sail into the West Port in Lushun Port.

Yang Zhen, who had received the news of the fleet's return earlier, had already brought Zhang Degui, Zhang Chen, Li Lu, Yang Shen and other trusted generals to wait at the newly built pier in Westport.

There were nearly 400 large and small ships entering the harbor, and they were lined up like a long queue from outside the harbor to the harbor. Each one was moving slowly and had a heavy draft. It was obvious at a glance that they were loaded with heavy cargo.

"Captain, it seems that this time, Lao Yuan and Yu Liangtai's uncle and nephew came back with a full harvest! It turns out that the governor brought back the secret agreement reached with the people of the court. His humble position was once worried that it would tie our hands and feet, but he didn't expect that,

Reaching this secret agreement has such benefits!"

Zhang Degui is definitely a competent old manager. He is usually most happy to see money coming in, and the last thing he likes to see is paying out money. At this moment, he is standing next to Yang Zhen, looking at the endless stream of people entering the port.

The ship was smiling from ear to ear.

Not long ago, Yang Zhen asked him to demolish the east wall to repair the west wall, collect a batch of grain and transport it to Laizhou Bay, and handed it over to Tang Ruowang and others, asking them to go to the refugee isolation and quarantine area in the west of Weixian County to rescue the refugees gathered there. It was very exciting at the time

It made Zhang Degui's flesh hurt for a while.

Now, when he saw the large fleet that set sail for Yingzhou Island in August coming back, and then thought about the return mission that Yang Zhen had assigned to Yuan Jin, Yu Liangtai and others before the fleet set sail, he felt extremely happy.

"Haha, yes, looking at the draft of their ship, there is no doubt that what they brought back was heavy. If it wasn't the 20,000 shi of rice, it must have been more iron ore for the Sichuan Dynasty people."

Zhang Chen, who was standing on the other side of Yang Zhen, of course knew Zhang Degui's daily worries. He knew that he was either worried about the food supplies in the Lushun Port warehouse or the ore raw materials in Lushun North City every day, so he saw him saying this.

, immediately added.

"Yeah, haha. Now, at least Beicheng Iron Works is much better off. Old man Wang Shoutang and old Uncle Pan don't have to go to the camp office to make endless noises!"

Li Lu, who also followed Yang Zhen to the Lushun Westport Pier to greet Yuan Jin and Yu Liangtai's fleet as they returned, took over Zhang Chen's words and added with a smile, which made everyone present burst into laughter.

Just a few days ago, Wang Shoutang, who was in charge of the smelting plant of the Iron Works, Wang Shen, who was in charge of the gun factory, and Pan Wenmao, who was in charge of the ammunition factory, first approached Li Lu, who was still in charge of the Central Military Affairs of the Advance Army to March in the North City of Lushun.

, and then went to Zhang Degui, who is also the general manager of the assistant marketing office of the town government, and reported the problem that the factories in Lushun North City were about to run out of raw materials.

Now the North City of Lushun has become the military production base of Jinhai Town.

The pig iron, wrought iron and other iron materials that Yang Zhen had raised and stored before he led his troops to move to the defense have long been used up.

After the army moved its defense, the naval fleet of Jinhai Town once crossed the sea to Yongping Prefecture, south of Shanhaiguan, to buy iron materials, iron ore and nitrate and sulfur supplies. Now, less than half a year has passed, and they have already been exhausted.

By the beginning of August, the secret agreement reached between Yang Zhen and the emperors and ministers of the Li Dynasty began to take effect. After Shen Qicheng's constant contact, the East Route Naval Battalion fleet led by Yu Liangtai had delivered a shipment of iron ore from Jiechuan to Lushun. .

Thanks to this input, if it had not been for this input, the smelting plant of the Lushun Beicheng Steel Works would have been forced to shut down.

Once the smelting plant of the ironworks is shut down, not only the gun manufacturing of the gun factory will be affected, but also the sulfur stocks that have been in short supply in the ammunition factory will also be affected.

Ever since Yang Zhen told Pan Wenmao and Wang Shoutang that sulfur could be produced by cooling the sulfur vapor produced by the iron smelting furnace in the smelter, Pan Wenmao and Wang Shoutang had tried it countless times as early as in Songshan City.

Later, after arriving in Lushun Beicheng, Yang Zhen gathered the military production bases together and moved the ammunition factory, smelting plant, gun factory, etc. to Lushun Beicheng, just to facilitate their joint production.

After nearly a year of exploration from Songshan City to Lushun North City, they finally found a relatively effective water cooling method.

Nowadays, more than half of the sulfur supply to the ammunition factory that Pan Wenmao is in charge comes from the smelting plant in Lushun North City.

As for the remaining part and all of the saltpetre, we still rely on the stocks accumulated in the past and the purchase and transportation of the Shanhaiguan Military Department in Yongping Prefecture, Hejian Prefecture and other places.

The southern section of the Liaodong Peninsula currently controlled by Jinhai Town does not have many high-quality large-scale mineral deposits that Yang Zhen urgently needs, such as saltpeter, sulfur, iron ore, and coal mines.

In this regard, compared with western Liaoning, the southern section of the Liaodong Peninsula, including Gaizhou, Liaoyang and other places currently controlled by the Manchu Tatars, is inferior in terms of resources and minerals.

Therefore, the basic raw materials needed by Lushun Beicheng, a military production base, currently mainly rely on imports from other places.

Since the end of May, Jinhai Town has blocked ship traffic from the Denglai area and Yongping Prefecture and other Beizhi areas where the plague also broke out, resulting in a rapid decline in iron ore, nitrate, and sulfur stocks in Lushun Beicheng.

In August, Yang Zhen restarted the immigration operation, so can he restart the purchase and import of iron ore, saltpeter, sulfur and other materials?

When Li Lu led Pan Wenmao, Wang Shoutang and others to find Yang Zhen, of course Yang Zhen agreed.

However, although Yang Zhen agreed, he took no action.

First, at that time, the two naval fleets under Yuan Jin and Yu Liangtai were on missions, which severely restricted Jinhai Town's maritime transportation capacity, and there were not many ships that could be dispatched overseas.

Secondly, whether in Denglai or Beizhi, the epidemic situation of the plague was not clear, and Yang Zhen did not dare to take the risk of sending people out to ask for shopping supplies.

In view of this situation, Yang Zhen could not withstand Wang Shoutang's and especially Pan Wenmao's repeated requests for an audience. In the end, he had to send Shen Yongzhong and others across the sea to deliver a letter, asking Dengzhou Prefecture to help collect saltpeter, sulfur and other materials. Yang Zhen opened the door at market prices. Buy.

But as of now, time is still short, and Dengzhou Prefecture is busy with epidemic prevention, so not a single shipment of saltpeter and sulfur supplies has arrived at Lushunkou by sea.

If there is no further import of ore materials, it is estimated that Wang Shoutang and Pan Wenmao will go to the main town hall in Nancheng, Lushun to complain to Yang Zhen.

Everyone watched the ship enter the port and talked about this matter. Suddenly everyone realized that the ore and materials from the Li Dynasty were so important to the survival of Jinhai Town.

The few people who accompanied Yang Zhen to greet the fleet's return were talking to each other, and several large ships at the head of the fleet had already docked at the dock one after another.

Yuan Jin and Yu Liangtai had already led a few people, following Qiu Bixian who was guiding their fleet into the port, and walked quickly in the direction of Yang Zhen and others.

"The Governor personally welcomes you, how dare someone like you take a humble position?"

From a distance away, Yuan Jin clasped his fists and said loudly to Yang Zhen. Although his words were polite, his expression and tone were extremely excited.

Obviously, Yuan Jin, Yu Liangtai and everyone accompanying them were very happy that Yang Zhen could lead the crowd to welcome them back.

"If there is anything you dare not take, you can take it!"

Yang Zhen led the waiting people up to greet him. While talking, he hugged Yuan Jin and Yu Liangtai in greeting. Then he looked at them impatiently and asked:

"How is it? You are on a business trip to Ganghwa Island, Yingzhou Island. What are the specific circumstances? Is the return going smoothly?"

Seeing that Yang Zhen was concerned about the success or failure of their fleet's trip, Yuan Jin and Yu Liangtai looked at each other, and then Yuan Jin smiled at Yang Zhen and said:

"Smooth, smooth, thanks to the governor, everything went well on this trip! Our people sent it over, and the things that belonged to us were also transported back. Moreover, Bei Zhi and Yu Shen will go to Ganghwa Island and have some unexpected gains.

!”

When the fleet entered the port, he saw that most of the ships had deep drafts and heavy hulls. He was a little worried for a moment, fearing that they would only bring back ore instead of the 20,000 shi of rice.

If this is the case, then in the next month or two, at least before the sweet potatoes are harvested, people from all walks of life in Jinhai Town and the people in various villages will probably have to tighten their belts.

Although the 20,000 shi of rice shipped back from the Li Dynasty is not a lot, with careful calculation, it can support the troops in Jinhai Town for a month and a half without food, which is of great significance.

Hearing Yuan Jin's answer with a smile on his face, Yang Zhen's heart finally dropped. Hearing him finally say that there were some unexpected gains from this trip, he laughed and asked with interest:
Chapter completed!