The thing that made Li Tianyang feel a headache was easily solved by their R&D Institute, Li Tianyang couldn't help but sigh secretly, it is only right for professionals to solve professional problems!

Of course, due to the limited materials, although the drill cutter given by the R&D Institute solved the problem of barrel manufacturing, the drill bit was still not used, and a special workshop was needed to produce this kind of drill bit for the use of the musket manufacturing bureau.

At the same time, after the use of water power, Li Tianyang's factory building for the Musket Manufacturing Bureau at the Jilong Mountain station had to be abandoned, and it was necessary to relocate the site near the river to build a dam and a hydraulic windmill, which made the Musket Manufacturing Bureau have to be put on hold for the time being.

The shelving that should be put on the agenda, the one that should be put on the agenda can't be delayed, there are nearly one million taels of silver in his hand at the moment, Li Tianyang will not let these silver stay in his hands and become moldy, except for gold, all the other silver jewelry has been spent by Li Tianyang lavishly.

In exchange for more than half a year, Hongmen added five "Yang Fan-type" warships, as well as more than 50 cannons of more than 36 pounds, and 70 or 80 guns of various types of 30 pounds and less powerful than the main guns.

These artillery, together with those recovered from the sea by Hongmen and already equipped in the Hongtang fleet, were already capable of arming more than eighteen "Yang Fan-type" warships.

At this stall where no one dared to challenge Hongmen for the time being, Li Tianyang gathered all this elite fleet, held it in his hands, and practiced it at any time, striving to build it into the most powerful fleet.

The Macau Francophile people have been a little irregular these days, and it seems to have something to do with the arrival of their expeditionary fleet, especially when the relationship between the Hongmen and the Dutch has become more and more good, as the Franco-Robot who once monopolized the trade between the Ming Dynasty and the West, now because of the relationship between the Hongmen people, the Dutch have also intervened, which is probably unbearable for any Western country.

However, after all, Hongmen is a native of the Ming Dynasty, and it is also strong, and the fleet of thirteen warships of the Dutch ended up with heavy losses, and even the commander of the fleet was captured by Hongmen, and the Portuguese fleet in the Far East may not be able to take Hongmen.

Unbeknownst to Li Tianyang, the representatives of the Portuguese Macao Committee had also asked their brother Spain for help, but in the end the Spaniards refused, and in the end they could only pull their fleet in the Far East over.

As the earliest Westerners to deal with Hongmen, if the Portuguese are not able to enter the ranks of Hongmen's "Yang Fan" warships in large quantities, they can deduce that Hongmen already has the ability to produce imitation Western warships on their own, and through this, it can be deduced that the culprit of the headless unjust case that attacked Macao and took away the three sea ships of the Portuguese in Macao must be Hongmen.

It is precisely because of knowing these that the Portuguese have a deeper understanding of the strength of Hongmen, and they are even more reluctant to easily turn their faces with Hongmen, plus they still have the official body of the Ming Dynasty, and they have never been liked by the Ming Dynasty, where dare to easily use force with Hongmen.

The reason why the Portuguese sent the fleet was to take advantage of the loss of the Dutch strength in the east and prepare to further attack the Dutch as an opponent.

Since the unsuccessful invasion of Dayuan Island, with the death of Li Dan, the lord of the sea, and the expulsion of Zheng Zhilong from the South China Sea by Hongmen, the life of the Dutch in the East has become more and more unpleasant.

It's just that Li Tianyang doesn't know that in the face of the sudden arrival of the Grape Man fleet, he naturally has to prepare early, and he can't be taken advantage of by others every time.

And even if Li Tianyang knew the plans and intentions of the Portuguese, I am afraid that he might not easily let the Grape people hit the Dutch hard, and now it is with the addition of the Dutch that Hongmen is left and right between the Dutch and the Portuguese, whether it is buying and selling goods or arms, he can bargain to the point that he is satisfied, but it is not a seller's market like at the beginning.

Therefore, when Li Tianyang knew that the Portuguese wanted to use force, he was afraid that he would also insert a lever to disrupt the intentions of the Portuguese.

Now the Portuguese have only summoned their own fleet, and before they have made any moves, Li Tianyang has already sent out this powerful fleet in his hands, just cruising between the seas off Macao so that the Portuguese do not dare to act rashly.

However, Li Tianyang's deterrent move gave him an unexpected harvest all of a sudden, something he dreamed of - rubber tree seeds.

Li Tianyang's search for rubber trees can be traced back to when she began planting exotic species such as potatoes, corn and peppers in Tanmen.

The reason why I thought of rubber trees was also very strange, that is, ancient shoes were generally not waterproof, although Qiongzhou is considered a tropical climate, but Li Tianyang always worries about going out to wet his shoes whenever it rains.

Therefore, he thought that he could make a pair of shoes that did not leak rain, and the leather shoes of Qixintang workshop could not leak, but leather products could not be soaked in water for a long time, and secondly, they were not breathable, so they were of little use in the hot Qiongzhou.

With the expansion of Hongmen's territory and the development of Dayuan Island, Li Tianyang is even more nostalgic for those rubber products that were once very ordinary and ordinary in later generations.

It's just that when Li Tianyang asked the Portuguese, Dutch, British and other Westerners, they also had no impression of this so-called rubber tree, as if there was no such tree in this era.

Obviously, this is impossible, and now that this era is in the Age of Discovery, even the crops such as corn and potatoes are said to have come from the distant American continent, so rubber trees must have grown between these continents.

Could it be that this rubber tree grows in Oceania where it has not yet been discovered?

For more than ten years, there has been no news of this rubber tree, and Li Tianyang even wondered if it was really as he had guessed before, the rubber tree was a unique product of Oceania in southern Asia, just like the kangaroo that was good at boxing.

Just when Li Tianyang had already despaired of this rubber tree, he didn't think that when he was the most distracted, the Portuguese from Macau gave him a surprise and really brought him the seeds of this rubber tree.

The reason why it was immediately determined that this tree was the seed of the rubber tree, the cash crop of the later generations, was thanks to a beige, elastic ball sent by the Portuguese.

Playing with the soft, hard, and elastic characteristics of this natural rubber, although it is very different from the slingshot string used when he was a child in later generations, Li Tianyang still immediately concluded that this thing was the rubber he was looking for!

(End of chapter)