Zhao Yan and their conversation did not carry Zhaoqu on their backs, but after the old man heard these words, his face suddenly turned pale, if it was a smaller mine, they might still be able to get some oil and water, but now that there is such a large mine, and there is also a copper mine, he is now worried about the safety of his clansmen, because the Great Song Dynasty will definitely send troops to protect the mines, and maybe their clansmen will be arrested for mining.

However, Zhao Yan and their next conversation quickly dispelled the worries of the old man of Zhaoqu, because when they talked about the source of the miners, the Su Zhizhou Jianyi recruited some poor people from within the Great Song Dynasty to come to mine, but the young man with a noble status recruited the natives from Jiaozhi and other countries to come to mine, the reason was that the prices of these natives were cheap, and he didn't know if it was the illusion of the old man of Zhaoqu, he always felt that the smile on the other party's face was a little ill-intentioned when he said the above words.

Zhao Yan and they were a little too excited when they talked about the development of Shilu Iron Mine, and after a while, they remembered that they were in the territory of Wulietong, and the old man of Zhaoqu was also listening, but Zhao Yan was not afraid of the old man of Zhaoqu leaking secrets, so he turned his head to him and said: "Zhaoqutou people, you have heard what we said just now, the Shilu Iron Mine in the east of you must be an imperative for us, it just so happens that you are not far from the Shilu Iron Mine here, and it is close to the sea, so if Wulietong is willing, the imperial court will build a port here, At that time, Wu Lietong will also benefit from this. ”

"Yes! Very willingly! Although Wu Lietong is a Li person, he is also a common man under the rule of the Great Song Dynasty, and Xiao Lao'er is very willing to do something for the imperial court! The old man of Zhaoqu nodded busily when he heard Zhao Yan's words, just kidding, after knowing that the output of iron ore was huge, the old man of Zhaoqu had already prepared for the worst, and now he heard that the imperial court was just going to build a port here for them. This is not a bad thing for them Wu Lietong, so he naturally will not object, and he also knows that even if he opposes it, it may be useless, and in the end it will only bring disaster to Wu Lietong, so it is better to be obedient.

Seeing that the old man of Zhaoqu was so cooperative. Zhao Yan couldn't help but nodded with satisfaction, he had heard that the Li people in Qiongzhou were disobedient to discipline, but now it seems that the other party is not as unruly as the legend, but unfortunately he forgot the identity of himself and Su Song, for the Li people of Zhaoqu, their power is too great, so big that they can't afford to resist at all.

But before Zhao Yan could be happy for too long, the old man Zhaoqu suddenly thought of something. At the moment, he frowned and said: "Ladies and gentlemen, Xiao Lao'er forgot one thing just now, Lutou Ridge, that is, the Shiluling mentioned by the nobles, is not under the jurisdiction of our Wulietong, it belongs to the territory of Fork River Mountain, speaking of which, although the power of Fork River Pass is not as good as ours, their leaders have always disliked the Han people very much, and they are quite dissatisfied with the imperial court. Therefore, if the imperial court wants to open a mine in Shiluling, I am afraid it will not be an easy task. ”

Hear the words of the old man Zhaoqu. Before Zhao Yan could speak, he saw Li Gonglin speaking first: "Do you dare to disobey the decrees of the imperial court, if they dare not cooperate at that time, then mobilize a large army to come, I don't believe they are stronger than Jiaozhi!" ”

Although Li Gonglin's words were a bit tough, they also represented the thoughts of most of the people present. Among them, Cao Song and Hu Yanping agreed very much, but the old man of Zhaoqu was taken aback, and hurriedly said: "You nobles don't know, although we Li people usually fight internally, but externally they are very united. If the imperial court destroys the Fork River Pass because of the mining incident, it will definitely attract the dissatisfaction of other Li people, although the court has a large army in charge, but after all, it will bring a lot of trouble, so the old man means that it is not as good as the court to support our Wulietong, as long as the aid gives us a batch of weapons, we Wulietong can destroy the Fork River Pass, and it will not provoke the hatred of other mountains! ”

Although the old man of Zhaoqu said that he was thinking about the court in and out of his words, but Zhao Yan and they were all human spirits, and they immediately saw through the intention of the old man of Zhaoqu, which was nothing more than wanting to destroy the fork river with the support of the imperial court, it seems that there must be a lot of contradictions between the two mountains in ordinary times, otherwise it would not have made the old man of Zhaoqu want to destroy them so hard.

However, although the old man of Zhaoqu has his own selfishness, he is indeed thinking about the court, after all, the internal struggle of the Li people is always much stronger than the army sent by the imperial court, so in the end, Zhao Yan and Su Song discussed, and immediately agreed to the request of the old man of Zhaoqu, and as a result, both sides had their own gains, and the atmosphere was more harmonious, and even in the end, the old man of Zhaoqu enthusiastically left Zhao Yan and them for dinner, and then arranged for them to stay for one night.

Originally, Zhao Yan wanted to go and see Shiluling in person, but because it was the territory of Fork River Mountain, and Fork River Pass had always rejected the Han people, so in the end he had to let the old Han of Zhaoqu send a clansman, and then let one of his guards disguise himself as a Li person, and went to Shilu Ridge with him to pick up a few stones and came back, but those stones have indeed become similar to malachite, which shows that there must be a copper mine under the mountain.

After determining the copper mine in Shiluling, Su Song and others finally believed in Zhao Yan's words, since the copper mine is available, then the super iron-rich ore that Zhao Yan said must also be in zài, and it is also an open-pit mining iron ore, which is simply a generous gift from God to Qiongzhou, relying on this rich mineral deposit alone, it is enough to make Qiongzhou one of the richest states in the Great Song Dynasty.

Next, Zhao Yan and they did not stay in Wulietong for a long time, but immediately returned to Qiongzhou City, and then Su Song reported the news to the imperial court, and asked the imperial court for permission to mine, after all, the mineral deposits of the Great Song Dynasty also belong to the scope of the state-owned enterprises, although there are also some private minerals, but after all, they are a minority, especially this time the discovery is still a super iron-rich mine, it is estimated that there is only such a single in the entire Great Song Dynasty, so the imperial court will definitely be firmly in its hands.

During this time, Zhao Ji was in a mess by the voice of opposition to the new law, he launched the law change mainly for two purposes, the first is naturally to change the law to become stronger, to solve all kinds of shortcomings within the Great Song Dynasty, which is also the purpose known to the world, as for the second one, it is more hidden, he didn't even tell Zhao Yan, that is, to change the law and seize power, because he felt that as an emperor, he had to be restricted by his courtiers everywhere, and he could not realize his ideal of expanding his territory, so he wanted to grasp all the military and political power in his hands.

In fact, with the departure of Han Qi and other old ministers from Beijing, the power has slowly been transferred to Zhao Ji, and he has achieved the purpose of seizing power, but the first goal of changing the power has not yet been achieved, but it has also aroused many people's opposition to the new law, these objections not only come from the imperial court, but also the people are complaining about the new law, and even the Empress Dowager Cao and the Empress Dowager Gao have cried to him about the danger of the new law, which makes Zhao Ji also can't help but be a little shaken.

It was also when Zhao Ji was upset about the new law, Su Song's paper finally arrived at his desk, Zhao Ji saw that Su Song was demoted to Hainan and did not forget to play the fold, thinking that he was still against the new law, and he didn't even plan to read it, but in the end, I don't know why, the ghost made the god send it or opened the fold to take a look, but it turned out to be an unexpected discovery, this fold did not say anything about the new law, but reported a great kindness to him, Qiongzhou found a copper mine, and a super large iron-rich mine.

Originally, if someone else wrote on the fold that a super-large iron-rich ore was discovered, Zhao Ji might still be a little suspicious, because before the iron ore was mined, no one could be sure of its quality, nor could it know its scale, but Su Song focused on the role of Zhao Yan in this matter, pointing out that it was because of Zhao Yan's help that they found this big mine, and at the same time, Zhao Yan was sure that this was a super-large deposit, which made Zhao Ji also convinced, and approved Su Song's twist and turn without saying a word. In addition, in order to protect the safety of this large mine, Zhao Ji also specially mobilized a forbidden army of 1,000 people to go with the officials of the Ministry of Industry.

After Zhao Yan and the others returned to Qiongzhou City from Wulietong, he discussed with Su Song about opening a shipyard in Qiongzhou, and Su Song also raised his hands in favor of this matter, and even personally went to the seaside to select a few suitable places to build a shipyard, and Zhao Yan made an appointment with him, and when he returned to Guangzhou after going to the deep-water port this time, he would allocate money and craftsmen to Qiongzhou, and then he would be troubled by Su Song to command these craftsmen to build a shipyard.

Although Su Song wanted Zhao Yan and them to stay for a few more days, he also asked Zhao Yan for more knowledge about shipbuilding, but unfortunately Zhao Yan had something to do with the deep-water port, and it was really inconvenient to stay for a long time, so he finally said goodbye to Su Song on a sunny day, and the group boarded the ship again and sailed to the deep-water port, in addition, Su Song's son Su Chong also temporarily left with Zhao Yan, and Su Song, who saw him off, stood on the dock for a long time, until Zhao Yan and their ship disappeared below the horizon, and then returned to Fuzhong to prepare for the shipyard and mining.

The deep-water port and Qiongzhou are almost at the same latitude, only separated by a Beibu Gulf in the middle, the sea conditions here are good, and the distance is not very far, so Zhao Yan and their ship left Qiongzhou all the way to the west, and it only took two days to come to the open sea of the deep-water port.

Seeing the long-awaited deep-water port, Wang Shiyue was also very excited, and immediately ordered the ships to slow down and prepare to enter the port, but just as their ships were about to enter the port, several small boats suddenly rushed out from both sides to block their way! (To be continued......)