Li Mingxun just picked up the chopsticks. After hearing this, he immediately became alert. At that time, Shen Qiyuan and Lin Qingye asked him to send the envoy to the capital to pay homage to the emperor and promote the plan of Lianxian slaves. Although he knew that the Ming Dynasty had no strength to support the battlefield thousands of miles away, in order to cooperate with Shen Qiyuan and others in depth, he still agreed to them and sent Shen Qiyuan's envoy to Jiangnan with a schooner, and contacted Lin Shizhang's relationship with the court and successfully went to the capital.

"I wonder what happened?" Li Mingxun asked.

Lin Shizhang said, "I'm afraid it won't be possible to unite slaves." As he said, Lin Shizhang lowered his voice and said, "Mingxun, Song Jin has been defeated now, the court's finances are tight and the troops are insufficient, and peace talks have become the only choice. How can the war start again at this time?"

This is reasonable. Li Mingxun also knew that after the Battle of Songjin, Emperor Chongzhen knew that things could not be done. In addition, the chaos of the bandits in the Central Plains gradually became a general trend, so he entrusted Chen Xinjia to negotiate peace with the Qing Dynasty.

Li Mingxun, who thought something was extremely important, now heard this and did not take it seriously. From the very beginning, he knew that sinking the utensils was wishful thinking, and it was still beneficial for him to not help sinking the utensils.

"Senior, where has the messenger been now?" Li Mingxun asked.

Lin Shizhang smiled: "I returned to Nanjing last month. I originally wanted to sneak back to North Korea by myself, but I was left behind. In the past two days, the envoy received several merchants from North Korea in the villa. I guess I contacted the Shenqiyuan privately. Since you are so concerned about North Korea, I will leave it to you. Let the person you sent to you, and send it back."

Li Mingxun hurriedly thanked him. Speaking of which, the matter in North Korea should have been concluded, otherwise the situation in the north would not be able to be opened. At least Vladivostok was in a state of war, which consumed a lot of money and food from the community.

Lin Family Courtyard.

In the early morning, after Li Yiyuan got up, he practiced bowing techniques in the yard according to his past habits. The horn bow in his hand was only one meter long and his body was very small. It was made of bamboo, willow and buffalo horns. It took at least three months to complete, creating the extraordinary quality of North Korean bows and arrows. Li Yiyuan's bow is one of the finest.

The bamboo arrows were light, the tail of the pheasant feathers was colorful, and the target was thirty steps away. Li Yiyuan condensed his energy and calmed down, pulled the bow and took the arrow, and the movement was done in one go. With a whoosh, the arrow flew out and shot at the edge of the red bullseye. He shook his head slightly. If it were in the past, he would have hit the core, but he could not do it at this time.

Li Yiyuan's archery technique emphasizes the highest level of natural calmness when shooting archery and the pursuit of the unity of the heart of the arrow. However, there are too many things in this period of time that make his mind unable to calm down.

As a disciple of Chen Qiyuan, when Lee Yi-won came out of Hamkyung, Chen Qiyuan said that he would leave his life to fate and never force it. When he arrived in Nanjing, avoided the various yamen of the Ming Kingdom and successfully went to Beijing to meet Chen Xinjia, the assistant minister of the cabinet, he received courtesy from the Lord Shangguo. During the days he was waiting, because the Lord Shangguo was planning this matter, but he never thought that the Ming Dynasty was just waiting for the final outcome of the Battle of Songjin. If he won, Lianxian would not be able to take care of Jiannu, and if he lost, it would be a peace talk. Lianxian would be put on hold.

In the end, the Songjin Battle failed, and Li Yiyuan only received the Ming Dynasty's praise documents for Chen Qiyuan and others, allowing him to lie on firewood and taste gall, accumulate strength, and wait for the day of the Ming Dynasty's revival.

When Lin Shizhang stopped him, Li Yiyuan took apart a treasure that the sinking vessel gave him. There was only one sentence in the treasure: Join the fresh to make slaves, get the help of heaven, and the road to self-improvement must be based on Mingxun.

Now the Ming Dynasty is unreliable. Are the benevolent and ambitious people in North Korea relying on a merchant?

"Mr. Li, someone outside asks for a visit." The servant walked in and whispered.

Li Yiyuan smiled slightly and signaled the servant to let the guests come in. Lin Shizhang treated him very politely these days, but he had never visited him. There were guests today, so naturally they were not ordinary people. Li Yiyuan walked in when he saw someone and stood up and asked, "You should be Mr. Li Mingxun, right?"

Li Mingxun smiled: "How do you know my name? Could it be that we have seen it when we were in the North?"

Li Yiyuan smiled and shook his head: "Mr. Li was joking. It is not difficult to guess the identity of the teacher. Not to mention that the teacher is majestic and has an extraordinary temperament. Just this seven-foot-sized person is a rare one in the country."

Li Mingxun smiled: "You are polite, Lord Li."

The two sat opposite each other in the hall. When Li Mingxun saw Li Yiyuan's face was sad and asked, "Mr. Li is not going north, can Lord Shen have a decision?"

Li Yiyuan shook his head slightly: "Mr. and his master know that this trip will not have any results, but they are willing to do the next thought."

As he said that, Lee Yi-won took out a Tang newspaper from his arms and placed it in front of Lee Myung-hoon. Lee Myung-hoon picked it up and saw that it was full of the recent political changes in North Korea. In addition to Kim Zidian's promotion to the right political affairs, the biggest change within North Korea was Hamgyong Do. Choi-won Jun Shen Qiyuan was the superior of the left political affairs, supervising his teacher Hamgyong Do, taking charge of all military and political power in Hamgyong Do, and specializing in the war in the north. There are many appointments that match it. Some officials were sent to Shen Qiyuan's command. These people were close people of Shen Qiyuan, either from the clan or from the master or disciple.

There are many news about Hamkyung Road. The sinking vessels asked for a salary of 2 million taels from Hanjing, demanding an expansion of troops to prepare for war. The three armies of the 6th Water 6 had to reach 50,000 people. They wanted to build shipyards, expand naval divisions, and increase warships. They also required the official land of Hamkyung Road to be distributed to the soldiers in the battalion.

This is a whole lot, which is enough to show that the Shenqiu is going to be in power. He has controlled the military and political power of Hamgyong Do, one of the eight North Korean roads, and controlled the finances of Hamgyong Do. Although the request for wages was not fully satisfied, he also obtained the power to recruit troops and recruit wages.

"This... this is too smooth." Li Mingxun couldn't believe that since ancient times, separating one side has been a long-term process. Unless the country is in a weak state, but now that North Korea is stable, it took less than a year to complete the transformation from a senior official to separating the vassal state. It is really unreasonable.

"Jin Zidian is eager to get on the throne, and the king also chooses to default..." Li Yiyuan whispered.

Lee Myung-hoon waved his hand. He was not interested in the struggle and distribution of power within North Korea. To put it bluntly, the separatist behavior of the Sinking Vessel is very beneficial to him, which means that the biggest threat near Vladivostok has been lifted, and the two sides can cooperate more deeply. Hamkyung Dok requires the club to provide iron, salt and other military supplies, and the territory and population under the control of the Sinking Vessel can also provide guarantees for the club's expansion in the north.

The most important reason why Li Mingxun was willing to see this situation and deliberately promoted it was that the club encountered an unsolvable bottleneck in the exhibition of Nuergandusi - a shortage of people.

At the beginning of this year, a report sent by Song Laoqi from Yongning City showed that the community's population under the direct control of the North was about 20,000, and the population that accepted the trade and pro-vassal system reached 100,000. However, it should be noted that these populations were scattered among the huge land with millions of square kilometers and inconvenient transportation. Even the directly controlled population was not effectively utilized because of the scattered division. The most obvious of the one is that the metal mines in the North were not effectively opened.

Although after the beginning of spring, Song Laoqi prepared a large-scale conquest operation and obtained labor through conquering tribes, the efficiency of conquest in that area was also very low, and a lot of time was spent on the march. If the hostile tribes migrated, they would often work for several months without gain. Even if the conquest operation went smoothly, they would not be able to provide enough labor for the mines.

To obtain sufficient labor, you must obtain a population nearby. The community is now in a quiet trade with Japan, and Japan is closed to the country. It is definitely inappropriate to immigrate a large number of people. Only North Korea has this ability around it. In North Korea, one more powerful allies can add this process. In addition to immigration, Lee Myung-hoon also has the idea of ​​borrowing chickens to lay eggs.

Simply put, Shen Qiyuan has someone but lacks money, while Li Mingxun has money but lacks people. The two can complement each other well.

Lee Yi-yuan said: "My teacher said that if we expand our army and prepare for war, we need to raise our own military salaries. Hamkyung Tao is the place where we are poor, so we should ask Mr. Lee for more questions about money."

Li Mingxun smiled and said, "Mr. Shen knows me. If you talk about being versatile and versatile, I am not as good as Mr. Shen. If it is a way of breeding, I have a good idea."

As he said that, Lee Myung-hoon took out a map and showed it in front of Lee Yi-won. To Lee Yi-won's expectation, the map actually showed the location of the northern section of Hamgyong North Road and part of the Qing Dynasty. Most of them were located on both sides of the Tumen River. The tribes and mountain villages were marked very clearly and accurately. Lee Myung-hoon's hand designated the location on the North Korean side of the Tumen River.

"Hamgyong Road is a bitter and cold place. If you are farming and raising troops, it will probably not work for three or five years. However, there are a large amount of minerals in the mountains and valleys, and as long as they are mined, it will be huge wealth. And there is a bronze mountain at this location!" Li Mingxun said affirmatively.

Li Yiyuan asked in surprise: "How did you know?"

Li Mingxun smiled. In the north, he organized a prospecting team for Sambar. The first condition for Sambar's exploration was not where there were mines, but where there were people. In terms of population, of course, North Korea had the largest nearby. Taking advantage of the winter fur smuggling trade, Sambar went deep into North Korea to prospect and successfully found a copper mine in the middle of the Tumen River.

Of course, Lee Myung-hoon's guidance is also indispensable. Sambar found the largest copper mine in Korea in later generations, Huishan Qingnian Copper Mine located on the Sino-North Korea border. This copper mine is not far from the Tumen River, and there are coal mines nearby. It can transport the refined copper through the Tumen River. In North Korea, copper coins are the main currency, and the purchasing power of silver is very high. If Shen Qiyuan exchanges copper ingots for the silver in Lee Myung-hoon's hands, it will be extremely cost-effective. For Lee Myung-hoon, copper will never be enough at any time.

"This question is meaningless. You just need to tell Lord Shen about this." Li Mingxun said.

Li Yiyuan nodded slightly and did not ask any further. It obviously requires a lot of manpower to mine copper mines, but North Korea has never had few people, especially those untouchables. As long as they have money and food in their hands, countless untouchables will come, even the most bitter and cold Hamkyung Tao.

Next, Li Yiyuan fell into deep thought. As a disciple of Shenqiyuan, his career was quite smooth. He had been serving as a magistrate in Kaicheng for many years. He was one of the few good ports in North Korea. He knew about mundane affairs, but he was not so specialized in mining. He did not doubt the authenticity of this copper mine, but felt that mining was not that simple. Although it was not difficult to mine copper mines by various means with Shenqiyuan, these people always had to eat, drink, and raise soldiers.

After thinking for a while, Li Yiyuan said: "Sir, Lord Shen opened a town in Hamkyung Road, but the court only gave him 500,000 yuan in money and grain. Hamkyung Road was tired and poor, and he could not afford to raise soldiers. If he opened this large mine again, he would probably not be able to support him."

"Our club can lend to Lord Shen." Li Mingxun said with a smile.

Li Yiyuan knew that Li Mingxun was very rich and immediately asked: "How much is the silver?"

Li Mingxun smiled. The club does have money, but there are many places to spend money. Now the club is developing territories and strongholds everywhere, and even a single silver is being spent in half. Especially the club is expanding its army, which is the big part of spending money. Besides, mining is beneficial to both parties, so why do you have to pay for it yourself? In this case, Li Mingxun cannot get shares in the copper mine.

"There is no silver or one or two taels, but the club can provide you with supplies." Li Mingxun said.

"What supplies?"

"Nanyang rice, fishery products produced by the club, cured meat, and iron ingots." Li Mingxun said.

Lee Yi-won's face changed slightly. What Lee Ming-hoon said is what he wants most now. Hamkyung is the poorest place in North Korea and does not produce much grain. Now tens of thousands of troops are entering, and a large amount of grain must be transported from Seoul. Transportation of 6 places will consume a lot of grain, which is also the main factor restricting the Hamkyung Dok Exhibition.

For Li Mingxun, this is also acceptable. The blast furnace of the iron smelting plant in Dongfang Port has already produced the first iron furnace. The high output brought by the blast furnace is beyond everyone's expectations. The Northland mainly needs various iron tools. When processing capacity is limited, the iron material is very rich, and grain is not a problem. Japan's grain import channels have been opened and can be traded in a completely different way. In the Northland, the cheaper food is meat, deer hunting, whaling, catching seals, etc., which will produce a large amount of useless meat. As long as the base camp transports enough salt, the meat is almost endless. Last year, due to concerns about the Qing Dynasty's comeback, various strongholds stored a large amount of cured meat and pickled fish. When the port is frozen, these combat preparation rations can only be wasted.

"What do we need to repay your ration loans? You should know that mining may not necessarily see income immediately." Li Yiyuan said.
Chapter completed!