Lu Ming

"Well, that's right, it's this thing." Lei Jian said affirmatively while pulling the iron sand in his palm with his fingers: "Magnet sand. It's different from pyrite like ferric oxide, this is ferric oxide. "

"Oh, I found it, so let's call it a day?" Pan Mingzhong has no idea about how much iron oxide and iron are. He doesn't want to stay in this damn place for a minute now.

After Lei Jian heard the words, he laughed, and then drew a circle in front of him with his arm: "There are at least two miles to go, measure 5 points, and dig 10 baskets to go back to count."

"Hold the grass!" Pan Mingzhong's head grew dizzy.

……

The iron sand deposits along the rivers and streams have relatively harsh ore-forming conditions.It is necessary that the upstream water flow just passes through the mining area, and then coupled with years of weathering and rock fragmentation, the iron ore can be washed and transported downstream.

Of course, this form of coastal mineral sand is usually produced in a small amount, because they are flat on the riverbed, shoal, and sea estuary, and the thickness is not enough.

But coastal placer also has many advantages.

The first is high grade.China claims to have a vast land and abundant resources, but the grade of iron ore is flawed: the average is only about 35%, and many of them have no industrial mining value.A few such as Shilu Iron Mine in Hainan with an average of 51% are already number one in China.

Compared with those iron ores in Australia and Brazil, which are more than 60% fine iron ore, it is really hard to sell.

However, the iron sand ore has been washed by water all year round, which means it has been eliminated naturally, so the grade is a little higher than that of ordinary iron ore.Like the samples obtained by Lei Jian from Xikou, the visual inspection is more than 40%.

In addition, iron ore does not need to drill deep mountains and old forests, pave roads and dig tunnels, open tunnels, pump water and gas to prevent mine caves from collapsing, so this is the most suitable mining method for crossing forces at the moment: there will be no frequent deaths, Anyone can do it with just a shovel and a basket.

It took the exploration team a morning to complete the mission.The team had to go deep into the area 2 kilometers above the mouth of the creek before collecting enough samples. More than 10 baskets of iron ore collected from the underwater and river beaches were all clearly marked by Lei Jian, and they were just waiting to be transported back to the kiln base for analysis and testing.

At the same time, Lei Jian also used a digital camera to take pictures of the terrain of the small plain at the mouth of the river.The next time a large army arrives, materials and manpower will be prepared based on these photos, and the castle and dock will be built in the shortest possible time.

……

After the Yuandou completed the task of exploring iron ore, it continued to unplug and go northward without stopping.After walking against the wind for two full days, we arrived near Hualien.

Considering that all kinds of stone mines in Hualien need to be explored in the mountains, Pan Mingzhong thinks about it—the stones can't escape there, and people can't get out if they get into the dense forest.

After passing Hualien but not entering, the next stop is Yilan.

When you arrive in Yilan, you are already close to the northeast corner of Taiwan.

The Yilan Delta Plain is the largest alluvial plain on the Taitung line—even though it only covers an area of ​​300 square kilometers.

When the Yuandou passed by here, it deliberately shifted the route a little to avoid the local Kavalan aborigines from rushing out to make trouble.

... If all goes well, the tentacles of the transmigration forces will not extend to Yilan for a long time to come.

The iron sand mine at the mouth of the Xiuguluan River is actually a little lower in latitude than Dayuan Island.In other words, go south from Dayuan, run a quarter of Taiwan's sea mileage, then bypass Kenting Cape, and go northward from the outer island shore for the same amount of distance, you can reach it.

As for going to Taipei in the future, it must be going directly north from Dayuan.Therefore, in a place like Yilan, which is located in the northeastern corner of Taiwan, that is, passing by today, the Yuandou did not do anything other than take a few distant photos.

After passing Yilan, the Yuandou sailed around Sandiaojiao in the middle of the night.There are bright lighthouses here in later generations, but of course there was no such thing in the 17th century.

After bypassing San Diaojiao, Yuandou's heading has gradually shifted from true north to northwest.After continuing to sail for 20 kilometers, you will arrive at the iconic Bitoujiao Cape in the northeast corner of Taiwan.

There is also no lighthouse at the corner of the nose. After going around, the course of the Yuandou has officially changed from east to west from now on.

Although the wind direction is still unfavorable at this time, it is much better than the previous few days, so the Yuandou can now speed up to about 4 knots and head straight for Heping Island where the Spaniards are entrenched.

The distance from Bitoujiao to Heping Island is very short, only 15 kilometers.In the 17th century, the later Heping Island was originally called Sheliao Island. After the Spaniards occupied this place, they established the city of San Salvador and changed the name of the island to San Salvador Island by the way.

It was 3 o'clock in the afternoon when the Yuandou came to Jilong (later called Keelung) Bay.Theoretically, during the time when the sun is the strongest, it is raining in Taipei; in the mist and mist, the Heping Island with a western-style castle can be seen faintly at the mouth of the Keelung River.

The location of the castle is in the southwest corner of Heping Island, which has been turned into a dock in later generations.At this time, the Yuandou did not rush into the shallow strait between Heping Island and the coast of Keelung.Although the Spanish first officer repeatedly stated that the strait could pass, the Yuandou still took the northern sea route, bypassed Zhongshanzai Island and Tongpan Island in the rain and fog, and stopped at the outer port of San Salvador at around 4:[-] pm.

After seeing the Yuandou sail lowering, a liaison boat was rowed out on the simple pier outside the castle not long after.At the same moment, Pan Mingzhong, who was standing on the deck, also took out the jointly signed letter from his pocket, and handed it to the chief mate: "Go, Lao Sang, speak clearly, so as not to cause any misunderstanding .”

Samper quickly returned to the castle in a small boat.

……

"In fact, the city of San Salvador is now under lockdown, if I understand correctly?" Antonio Valdes, the Spanish chicken coop chief, looked up and asked after carefully reading the letter in his office.

Since Spain was ruled by Arabs for hundreds of years in history, people with black hair and brown eyes are not uncommon.

Mr. Valdes, who has a big beard and thick eyebrows, is also one of them.

The coop chief Valdes, who historically led the expedition, occupied Peace Island two years ago and built the city of San Salvador.

In the recent crusade, Valdes personally led 100 soldiers and burned the Guiroushe village near the mouth of the Tamsui River.After that, the natives surrendered and were forced to relocate, and the Spaniards began to build the city of Santo Domingo in situ.

And Valdes, who was reading the letter in the office today, had originally transported the sick back to rest—it was too hot and humid near the Danshui River, mosquitoes and fleas were everywhere, and many soldiers had fever.

However, history turned a corner here: the first mate Samper appeared, and came off a junk ship.

After hearing Valdes' question, Samper bowed slightly to pay tribute, and then said: "Yes, sir, we are already in a blockade, but this is temporary."

"Well, I noticed the content of the letter. Samper, tell me, are those silks and porcelain real?"

"Sir, these are all true, and all the personnel on the Alicante can attest. And this letter, please read those signatures carefully."

"If Your Excellency Tabora agrees to a trade agreement, then we need to give up the city of San Salvador." Valdes said here, speaking a lot slower: "If the agreement cannot be reached, then we will defend the city of Salvador... "

The black-haired officer stood up at this moment, picked up the brass binoculars on the table and went out: "About these heathen weapons, what should I know?"

"Sir, this is the part I want to mention to you the most." The first mate said hurriedly as he followed the officer to the door, "On the way I came here, the pagans encountered an aboriginal The raid on the estuary, yes, you know, the kind of raid that . . . "

……

After the Yuandou waited outside the port for a full 2 ​​hours, the Spaniard's boat came to the side of the ship again.

First officer Samper brought the officer's answer this time: San Salvador City will not accept traversers to enter, nor will it provide Yuandou with food and other supplies until it receives a formal Manila evacuation order.

In addition, the Spanish side will not interfere with Yuandou's activities in other areas of the chicken coop.

"Hehehe." Pan Mingzhong couldn't help laughing after hearing this sentence.

He was very sure that the Spaniards in the castle had already been persuaded - just look at this strong reply.

Fortunately, the transversal people don't need any supplies from the Spaniards... These big pie faces can't eat enough by themselves, and those words are just swollen faces to pretend to be fat.

It is enough to get an answer from the Spaniards not to invade each other for the time being.After the Yuandou sent Samper back, it quickly pulled up its full sail and headed west in the rain and fog.

Chapter 200 Fairs

There is a reason why the Yuandou left the mouth of the Jilong River and headed west.

Because the iron ore in Taipei is located on the sand dunes on the beach between the mouth of the Wanli River and the middle corner of Jinshan.

The above location is actually in the coastal area of ​​Jinshan District in later generations of Taipei, close to the upper left corner of Taiwan.

The Yuandou is leaving now, and it is going straight to Huanggang.

Since the estuary of the Sulfur Creek connecting the Datun Mountain Volcanic Group is near the Sulfur Harbor, it was originally an important sulfur export base planned by the crossing forces. Two kinds of industrial raw materials thrived.

……

When the Yuandou came to the sea outside Huanggang, it was already dark. In the 17th century, there were still stretches of sandy beaches and lagoons in the vicinity of Huanggang, and there is no trace of the beautiful ports and tidy coastal avenues of later generations.

In the early morning of the next day, the weather finally became clear, and the Yuandou began to launch small boats to investigate the mouth of the Sulfur Creek.Surprisingly, before the Yuandou entered the mouth of the Sulfur Creek, natives were already waving and jumping on the shore.

When the boat entered the estuary and took a closer look, it turned out that it was a Ming man with his hair tied up waving his hands, followed by five or six natives wrapped in sarongs around their waists.

Lei Jian was standing at the bow of the boat, looking at the people on the shore who kept running with the boat, he couldn't help thinking of the rural aunt who was selling roast chicken in a green leather car back then.After a moment of emotion, he shook his head and said to Pan Mingzhong next to him, "It seems that the information is still accurate. There are people from Ming who live in Taipei during this period of time."

"The aborigines don't actually care about the establishment of a territory by accident. Otherwise, how did Manhattan come?" Pan Mingzhong nodded and said, "Don't the Japanese and Ming people of the senior officials all have villages? Besides, before the Dutch deliberately intensified the conflict, The merchants of the Ming Dynasty lived and ate casually in the aboriginal villages, and there was no murder incident."

"I'm afraid the ones in Taipei are not so easy to talk to."

"Yeah, let's take it one step at a time. It's better not to kill people, because if you kill someone, you'll lose your reputation."

"Well, it's not a drill, it's the old way."

"Ha ha."

... Just as the two were chatting, the Yuandou had already docked in a bend on the east bank of the Sulfur Creek under the guidance of the boat and the Ming who was running along the bank.

In the 17th century Sulfur Creek, the widest part of the water surface was far more than 40 meters away, and the water flow was turbulent - due to the high rainfall in Taipei, the Daxi River has abundant water throughout the year.

The river bend where the Yuandou docked looks like a convention and exhibition center used to receive foreign guests all the year round: the land of the river bend is flat, and in the distance there is a row of thatched sheds for temporary rest. On the open space between the boats and thatched sheds, there are A few smooth boulders and a few roots as thick as a round table...the trading desk is ready.

"Hahaha, the ancients also had a strong sense of service!" After seeing the layout here, Lei Jian laughed loudly.

Pan Mingzhong also couldn't help laughing, and said with a smile: "It seems that after thousands of years of trade, the natives have learned something after all."

"Fart, it looks like this arrangement was made by Ming people."

"Okay, okay, just go down and ask."

... When the Yuandou docked and stopped, the Fujian interpreter on board got off the boat and connected with the Ming man.

Unsurprisingly, this Ming man is a Fujianese who lives here.This person is Liao Tianding, a small businessman who also serves as the head of a small Ming village three miles away.The small village has a total of only about 10 permanent residents, and usually relies on hoarding goods and boats to attract Fujian merchants to survive.

In fact, Yuandou was discovered early this morning.Seeing this large sand ship with a deep draft and slowly launching a small boat to explore the way, Liao Tianding knew that the Yuandou was here for trade—the pirate ship was a sneak attack with a shallow draft, not this kind of style.

With the management of the local snake, things will go much smoother.Next, Liao Tianding first introduced those natives to Pan Mingzhong and the others.

Holding spears, wearing feather ornaments on their heads, jewelry on their necks, and short ramie skirts wrapped around their waists, the natives are the village chiefs and warriors of Fengli Society, a subordinate of the Ketagalan tribe closest to this place.

The Ketagalan people who used to occupy the Taipei area have long since disappeared in later generations.No way, who made this land the first place where Fujian immigrants set foot in? In the Qing Dynasty, a large number of immigrants came here, so the Ketagalan people disappeared silently.

Today, Pan Mingzhong and the others saw that the natives of Fengli Society were all wrapped in cloth aprons, so they must belong to the wealthy class of wealthy villages.Judging from the attitudes and body language of these few people, it is obvious that they have rich experience in foreign exchanges, and they are similar to those ethnic minorities in the tourist areas of later generations.

Very good, Pan Mingzhong couldn't be more satisfied with his current state.Using the aboriginal etiquette learned from Liao Tianding: After touching the forehead with the left fist a few times, a group of yellow people with black hair and black eyes recognized their relatives.The next moment, the sailors on the sandboat lifted some trade samples and placed them on the smooth stone surface.

Liao Tianding couldn't help but be overjoyed after seeing the goods produced by the Kun Fa people who claimed to be Dayuan Island maritime merchants.

These goods include not only the favorite cloths and porcelain bowls of the natives, but also some exquisite daily necessities and straw woven products.In addition, there is table salt.

It’s not that people who live by the sea can eat a lot of salt: before the invention of boiling salt in an iron pot, people by the sea can only eat a mixture of salt and mud that is bitter and astringent.

This principle is more directly reflected in the aborigines: ethnic groups that don't even have iron spear heads can't cook salt grains.As for the more technical Yantian... don't make things difficult for these naked fighters.

So when Liao Tianding saw these big bags of salt, he was still very welcome.You know, in Mingren Village, occasionally a little salt is boiled in an iron pot, which is reserved for oneself.

No way, no one knows when the next trading ship will arrive, and whether there are iron pots on board—the so-called iron materials in this era are all produced by low-temperature kilns with unqualified phosphorus and sulfur, and they are purely different from the iron pots of later generations. concept.If you let go of the cooking salt, the pot will be ruined in a short time. There are no professions like blacksmiths and tinkers here.

In addition to large-grained salt, Liao Tianding was amazed by other fine and high-quality salts.In fact, no Fujian merchant would bring this kind of salt to the natives in exchange for sulfur.Fujian itself suffers from a severe shortage of salt, not to mention the high-quality refined salt that needs several times the cost of the stove to be cooked.

Liao Tianding's astonishment seemed superfluous in the time travel crowd.The main purpose of the Yuandou's trip to Taipei was for exploration and investigation, so it didn't matter what kind of cargo it was, it brought some.After recording which products are marketable, the next ship will come, and then we can target them.

After seeing the goods on the booth, a few natives chatted a few words and left.Liao Tianding told Pan Mingzhong with a smile: This is to prepare trade goods, and the natives will come again soon.

In this case, the sailors quickly moved more cargo from the Yuandou.

At this time, Pan Mingzhong pulled the Liao aside, and carefully questioned the local customs and trade patterns.

Liao Tianding naturally knew everything: he was still counting on Yuandou Hao to give him the leftovers when he was about to leave.

According to his experience, the goods from Mingren Village and Fengli Club today will be the first wave of trade teams to arrive.

Since Mingren Village and Fengli Society have sent messengers around according to the default rules, tomorrow and the day after tomorrow will be the climax of the trade fair: nearby tribes will send people to exchange supplies.

Pan Mingzhong nodded when he heard this.Then he asked some more about volcanic sulfur.

The straight-line distance between Sulfur Harbor and Yangmingshan Forest Park is less than 10 kilometers.The entire extinct volcano group of Datun Mountain is in the park.

Yangmingshan was originally called "Grass Mountain", which generally refers to the mountainous areas around Datun Mountain, Qixing Mountain, Shamao Mountain, and Xiaoguanyin Mountain, rather than just referring to a certain mountain.The entire volcanic group has beautiful scenery, with natural scenery such as volcanic cones, craters, fumaroles, hot springs, geothermal heat, etc. Of course, the most important thing is the natural sulfur blocks.

The origin of the name "Grass Mountain" is that during the Qing Dynasty, the local government was worried that bandits would hide in the forest to steal sulfur, so they set fire to the mountain regularly, so only miscanthus grew in the entire mountain area.

The sulfur from extinct volcanoes in Taipei was an important strategic resource until the end of the Qing Dynasty: in fact, this is the only sulfur resource that can be easily obtained in China.

Of course, in the 17th century, it was not easy to enter the volcanic group: the 10-kilometer journey only refers to the periphery. To enter the core sulfur-producing area, natives still need to drill into the forest to collect it.

"It seems that we can only wait for the big troops to come and get through the Sulfur Creek." Pan Mingzhong and Liao Tianding chatted here, and basically figured out the difficulty of mining sulfur.

……

At noon that day, Mingren Village and Fengli Society, two nearby groups, brought a lot of sulfur, buckskin, dried venison, and dried fish to trade.In addition, there are some Taiwanese aboriginal staple food: millet.

The poor Spaniards declared that they would not sell grain to Yuandouhao, but the natives who saw the blue and white porcelain bowl and cotton cloth automatically sent the grain to the crossing crowd.

Pan Mingzhong said that he would not refuse anyone.

The poor trade items of the natives are just what he is satisfied with.Without enough exchange materials, facing more and more industrial products after traveling through the world, they can only increase the intensity of sulfur collection, there is no other way.

The day's trading is quickly over.

Most of the materials have agreed exchange prices, except for the refined salt brought out by the crossing crowd.This problem was quickly resolved: it didn't take long for Liao Tianding to negotiate a price with the natives.

In the evening of the same day, around 10 villagers from Mingren Village were invited to have a good meal with a large iron pot, venison, salt and five-spice powder.

During the meeting, the following agreement was reached: First, from tomorrow onwards, the Ming people who have spared their hands will send people to take the Thunder Sword team to explore the iron ore nearby.

Second: Before Yuandou leaves, it will leave an interpreter and some leftover goods in Mingren Village, so that it can continue to purchase native sulfur in the future.

As a reward, Liao Tianding and the others got a high-grade cast iron cauldron produced by the kiln area - this is very precious, because steel is currently a controlled material, and it will not appear in the usual trade list.