The terrain of Shizhu Xuanweisi can be said to be similar to the mountainous areas in northwest Zhejiang and Sichuan. There are also folded mountains everywhere, and mountain valleys everywhere.

Of course, there is still a little difference here from the mountainous areas in northwest Zhejiang and Sichuan. The biggest difference is that the river system here is particularly developed, and basically every large valley passes by rivers.

And these rivers are exactly what Zhugu wants.

What a great place!

He stared at the map for a while before pointing at the largest river channel in the stone pillar: "Brother-in-law, what kind of river is this? Can wheel boats be passed through the river?"

Ma Qiancheng said without hesitation: "This is Long River, we are also called Yudai River. The Long River is wide, so there is definitely no problem for passing the wheels and boats."

Longhe?

This name is good!

Zhu Qizhi looked at the map and then asked again: "Why didn't we come directly from the Long River waterway?"

Upon hearing this, Ma Qiancheng couldn't help but say embarrassedly: "This, Prince, you mainly want to see the copper mine, and the copper mine is not near the Longhe Waterway. Moreover, it is only a hundred miles to travel from Fengdu to Shizhu by land, but if you walk on the Longhe Waterway, you may not be two hundred miles to go around."

Uh, this, OK.

When he first came here, he really wanted to take a look at the copper mine first, but now he wanted to take a good look at the terrain near the Longhe Waterway.

Zhu Qizhuo said without hesitation: "Brother-in-law, hurry up and arrange for people to whip to Fengdu, and let the fleet come from the Longhe Waterway."

Upon hearing this, Ma Qiancheng immediately called a personal guard and ordered him to quickly go to Fengdu to pass the order.

Zhu Qizhuo thought about it and then asked again: "Is there a coal mine near the Longhe waterway?"

Ma Qiancheng nodded repeatedly and said, "There are still a few coal mines, right here, here, and here."

It’s good to have a coal mine. After all, both copper smelting and iron casting require coal.

Zhu Qizhi nodded slightly, and then went to Ma Qiancheng to learn about the situation near the Long River Waterway. It was not until noon that the fleet arrived from Fengdu that he hurriedly had a meal with Ma Qiancheng and others, and then boarded the boat, went down the Long River Waterway and took a closer look.

The Long River waterway is indeed quite wide, and the width of some places is even about a mile. There are many curves and the water flow is stable. It is not only suitable for boating, but also has no problem in building a dock.

There are many Tujia villages along the Long River. If you have a little transformation, it will be a solid fortress, and there is basically no problem in safety. Moreover, there are many empty mountain valleys on both sides of the river, and there are no problems whether it is used to garrison troops or build smelting sites or processing sites.

The only problem is probably that the place where the Long River flows into the Yangtze River is a bit a coincidence. It is just north of Fengdu County. If ships enter and exit, people in Fengdu County can see it.

This is actually nothing. Ma Qiancheng is ready to gain troops and conquer the land of the three prefectures. What happened to the fleet entering and leaving from the entrance of Long River? Who dares to care!

Zhu Qizhe sat down the Long River waterway on a boat, looked carefully, and saw the confluence of the Long River Yangtze River from the Shizhu Xuanwei Office station. Then he ordered the fleet to turn around, go upstream, and walk backwards.

Their back and forth really made the people in Fengdu County so strange. What are these people doing? The fleet has been moving in and out twice a day.

Zhuqizi was familiar with the terrain near the Long River waterway. On the way back, he began to mark the map, where there were coal mines, where there were empty valleys, where it was suitable for building a dock, etc., he made detailed notes.

The next morning, he took Ma Qiancheng, Bi Maokang and others to the valley where a coal mine was located, ordered people to build a temporary dock, and then went ashore to conduct on-site inspection.

This valley is quite large, not only with coal mines, but also with streams, but also with a relatively gentle terrain.

Maybe, it is precisely because there is a coal mine here, which is not very clean, so there is no one living in the valley.

This is simply a natural smelting ground!

Zhu Qizhu walked around the valley and said to Ma Qiancheng without hesitation: "Brother-in-law, send someone to build a dozen docks on the river bank outside the valley, and then clean up the valley and build some small farmyards. You can just stay in two or three hundred people. By the way, build a stone fort at the entrance of the valley first, seal the valley, and don't let outsiders come in."

This is just a trivial matter. Compared to war, there is no danger in building fortresses and farmyards. Shizhu Tusi is not without young and strong, but if too many young and strong people are recruited to fight, it will affect the reproduction and development of the entire place.

Ma Qiancheng nodded without hesitation and said, "Okay, how many people do you need."

Zhu Qidiao estimated: "Now, sending someone to Nanyang to inform Wang Zheng and Huang Weixian to prepare for the manpower and equipment to come over, it will take about a month to go back and forth. The dock will definitely be repaired in this month. It is best to build a rough one in the farmyard and the fortress at the entrance of the valley. If so many things have to be driven out in such a short time, it may take at least two or three thousand young and strong."

Ma Qiancheng nodded without hesitation and said, "Okay, I will order people to recruit young men later and let them come and start work tomorrow."

This place for copper and iron smelting was settled.

Immediately afterwards, Zhu Qizhe began to order everywhere to order Qi Jin to escort thousands of prisoners to mine copper and coal mines. He also ordered Huang Weixian to send a group of skilled smelters to build copper and iron furnaces at the smelting place to prepare for copper and iron smelting. At the same time, he ordered Wang Zheng to send some skilled craftsmen to bring some main accessories of steam machine tools to build a processing workshop here.

It took Huang Weixian and Wang Zheng to send people here, but it took Qi Jin a very fast time to escort prisoners.

After the fleet passed, within two days, the soldiers of the Qi family army rushed over with two or three thousand prisoners.

These prisoners naturally could not leave them idle. Zhu Qizhu immediately ordered the Baigang soldiers under Ma Qiancheng to take care of the two or three thousand prisoners and began to rush to mine copper, iron ore and coal mines.

Is this too rampant?

You should know that copper and iron are strictly prohibited from being mined by the court. When Fengdu magistrates and Zhongzhou magistrates naturally reported to the court immediately after receiving the news.

Although they were afraid of offending Ma Qiancheng, they had to report it. If they offended Ma Qiancheng, they might have to wear a few pairs of shoes. After all, they are officials of the court, so Ma Qiancheng would definitely not dare to do anything to them. Moreover, they are misplaced officials and left after three years of term of office. They would not have a chance to meet Ma Qiancheng in the future. If they offend them, they would offend them.

If they know that they do not report the situation, the consequences will be serious. If the court investigates them, their career will be over.

This is a blatant private mine opening. What will the court react?

The court's reaction was that there was no response!

Whether it is Qingliu or the eunuchs, they all know that the court owes Ma Qiancheng a lot of money. Moreover, the chaos in the southwest is just the time when Ma Qiancheng needs to be used.

Just a few abandoned copper mines, iron mines and coal mines can be worth a few dollars. Isn’t that my mind getting into trouble with Ma Qiancheng, who has heavy troops?

Ma Qiancheng didn't keep in charge of the court's demand for food and salary, and it would be good to ask for military merit rewards!
Chapter completed!