Zhou Bo listened to Li Xiaoyu's idea, and thought about it for a while. He knew that Li Xiaoyu's idea was very much in line with his original intention of envisioning the establishment of a trade department, and he had read a book in the 21st century that recorded the trade problems between the Southern Song Dynasty and the Jin State at that time.

Since the Southern Song Dynasty and the Jin State became hostile, trade between the north and the south was banned by the two countries.

The Jin State did not allow northerners to do business with the Southern Song Dynasty, and the Southern Song Dynasty did not allow merchants from Jiangnan to do business with the north. Strangely, however, the nobles of the Jin Kingdom were very interested in the silk, crops, ceramics, tea, and other goods of the South, while the merchants of the South were very interested in the northern specialties such as furs, horses, Ganoderma lucidum, and ginseng.

Despite clear rules between the two countries prohibiting trade, there are still openly smuggling caravans in border cities. Although the risks taken by such caravans are great, they are often accompanied by huge benefits, so they are willing to take risks.

It is said that the prices of tea, silk, and other commodities that the nobles of the Jin Kingdom privately sought have exceeded the prices of the producing areas in the south by more than 20 to 100 times. Because Jiangnan is rich, businessmen are also very rich, and they are much more generous than Jin Guoren.

It's just that Zhou Bo now has to think about the issue of Qi State. If he organized a caravan to go to the north to buy goods, and transported them all the way to the south to sell, he would have to pass through the territory of Qi every time. You must know that the Qi State is notoriously absurd, and it is common to expropriate and extort violently. It doesn't matter if you're going, or when you're coming back. There is a possibility that money and goods will be seized. If you don't get it right, you will directly kill the caravan and leave no armor behind.

Li Xiaoyu looked at Zhou Bo with a solemn face. I couldn't help but worry in my heart.

"Zhou Zhijun, in fact, there is always a way, I just came up with some rough squares, as for the details, if you give me more time, I will definitely be able to improve it." She hurriedly asked.

"Hehe, Little Fish Lady, I think these plans of yours are very good. Of course. The details can be studied slowly in the future. I have decided that once Zhao'an is completed, the grain and grass problem will be implemented according to your three sets of plans. Details of things, you continue to think about it during this time, and you can come to ⊕ any new ideas⊕dǐngdiǎn⊕ small ⊕ said, .※.♀os_(); Talk to me. Zhou Bo smiled gently, and said to Li Xiaoyu in a very pitty tone.

Li Xiaoyu's eyes widened, and he immediately asked, "Zhou Yuanjun, have you really decided to adopt my plans?"

Zhou Bo felt that except for the third set of plans, which was more risky and more innovative, the first two sets of plans were decent, and the key was to count and plan the amount of grain and grass during implementation. So. Of course, he thinks that Li Xiaoyu's plan is still feasible.

"Well, such a big thing. Am I still joking with you?" he said with reaffirmation.

"Hehe, it seems that I really haven't been your subordinate in vain. Li Xiaoyu immediately became happy, she proved that she was indeed useful at this moment.

"But Xiaoyu lady, don't be too happy, the plan is the plan, and the real success depends on the execution. So you must think carefully about the details and don't take them lightly. Zhou Bo reminded Li Xiaoyu with a smile.

"That's natural, I'll go through the details now. After Li Xiaoyu finished speaking, he hurriedly ran away-

Until after dark, the scouts of the Yue family army had not returned, and Yue Yun and Li Shuping had gone with them, and they had not heard anything until now.

Li Xuzhong and Wang Kui both ran into the city again and came to the palace of the envoy to find Zhou Bo.

They were all worried, could it be that the Yue Family Army scout team had also been attacked by mountain bandits?

Although Zhou Bo was not sure, he still tried to think in a good direction in his heart. The Yue family's army has been fighting for many years, and the scout troops are the eyes of the army, when they exterminated Yang Qi's troops in the past, they were all so brave, how could they fall into the hands of the rabble of the Qi army in this ravine?

It's just that the news has been delayed, and people's hearts are always unresolved.

In the early hours of the next morning, the summer sun came out more diligently, so the city gates were opened relatively early. Suddenly, at this moment, a cavalry team of the Yue family's army returned to the city, led by Li Shuping and Yue Yun.

The news soon spread to the yamen, and Zhou Bogang was about to greet him in person, but how did he know that Yue Yun and Li Shuping had already followed the messenger to the yamen.

Yue Yun and Li Shuping were sloppy, both of them looked very tired, and the bloodshot in their eyes was clearly visible, so they didn't have to think about it this night. Their armor was covered with dirt and some fresh tree sap, and it seemed that they had struggled through the mountains for a long time.

Zhou Bo immediately asked the guards to prepare the clear water, and then asked, "What's the matter?" You didn't come back overnight, I thought you were also ambushed by the mountain bandits." ”

Yue Yun sneered, sat down on the seat in the lobby of the yamen with a big grin, and said, "How can the scouts of my Yue family's army eat dry rice? In order to prevent the bandits from discovering their whereabouts, we tried to slow down the search as much as possible, so we stayed overnight in the mountains. ”

At this time, the soldiers brought clean water.

Li Shuping took a big sip before handing it to Yue Yun. Li Shuping breathed a sigh of relief and said, "Thanks to our overnight stay, we finally know the inside story of these mountain bandits." ”

When Zhou Bo heard the inside story, he immediately asked strangely: "What's the matter? The mountain bandits still have an inside story, tell me quickly, what's going on?"

Li Shuping said slowly: "During the day, we finally found the nest of the mountain bandits. But if you look closely, it seems that the scale of this nest is not large, and there are only more than 100 people here. So we thought, maybe this isn't really a nest at all, it's just a sentry village. Then we continued our search. This time, I searched until dark, and I found out, and sure enough, there were other nests. ”

Yue Yun drank the water and continued, "That's right, the mountain bandits are scattered and stationed. We've done the math. There are seven small villages. Such a small village has only 100 people in it at most. There are also two large villages, one on the mountainside behind the iron mine, which is a cave structure, and the second is on a mountain peak opposite Tiekuan Mountain, which is a wooden village structure. These two large villages have gathered as many as 700 or 800 people in each village. ”

He paused and said, "In the big village, they are all mountain bandits who look like the Qi army. As for those in the small village, they look like ordinary bandits. ”

Zhou Bo heard this. Suddenly a consciousness flashed through my mind.

Li Shudian said: "Although we stayed in the mountains at night, we didn't fall asleep. In the middle of the night, at the third watch, Young Marshal Yue and I also deliberately touched the vicinity of those small villages, originally wanting to capture a live mouth and investigate where the captured survey team was kept. But unexpectedly, I heard a message. ”

Zhou Bo immediately asked, "What's the news?"

Li Shuping glanced at Yue Yun, and then said: "It turns out that the mountain bandits in these small villages were originally local mountain bandits who lived in the big village. In other words, they are the real bandits. Later, after the Qi army fled back to Qi, a Qi army remained. Occupied the stockades of these mountain bandits and dispersed all the mountain bandits. He has become the king of the big village. ”

Zhou Bo suddenly appeared in a consciousness before, and he was vaguely guessing whether this would be the case. Now that I have listened to what Li Shuping said, it seems that what I guessed is really good.

"I see, but that's good news. Zhou Bo slowly diǎn diǎn head said.

"Brother Zhou, how do you know this is good news?" Yue Yun asked.

"The mountain bandits were driven out by the Qi army, which means that they are at odds, and if we want to recruit the Anshan bandits and this group of Qi troops, we can take advantage of this diǎn. Zhou Bowei smiled and said.

"Hehe, sure enough, Brother Zhou, you guessed," Yue Yun said with a smile, "We didn't catch the prisoners last night, but when we heard a leader of the small village talking to his subordinates, they had long hated the Qi army in the big village on the mountain. Because the big village contained the livestock, grain and women they had saved for many years, and now all of them have been taken away by the Qi army, and they have nothing. ”

Zhou Bo diǎn diǎn head, said with a smile: "That's good, as long as there is a contradiction, we can divide this gang of bandits." This will help us a lot to subdue these bandits. ”

Yue Yun said again: "Actually, although these mountain bandits are all obeying the Qi army at the moment, after all, whether they use force or plot, they are not the opponents of the Qi army. It's just that in their hearts, they are naturally unconvinced. ”

Zhou Bo said: "Very good, the Su zhì of the Qi army is already very low, and the Su zhì of this gang of mountain bandits is even lower, which is more beneficial to us." ”

Yue Yun asked Zhou Bo, "Brother Zhou, what should we do next?"

Zhou Bo thought for a moment and asked, "Where are those captured survey teams now?"

Yue Yun shook his head, sighed, and said, "I haven't figured out the location yet. ”

Zhou Bo pondered for a while, then thought of a plan and said, "Tomorrow, I will ask Brother Yue to gather the people of the headquarters, and I plan to come to knock on the mountain and shake the tiger." ”

Yue Yun and Li Shuping glanced at each other and asked in unison, "How do you knock on the mountain and shake the tiger?"

Zhou Bo then slowly explained his plan.

In the early morning of the next day, Yue Yun gathered 6,000 men and horses of his headquarters outside the north gate on time. Zhou Bo also asked Li Xuzhong and Li Shuping to gather 1,000 recruits, although he knew that the recruit training was not over, but following Yue Yun's troops could also play a role in increasing momentum.

After all the people and horses were assembled, Zhou Bo personally led the team and marched towards the iron mine.

Along the way, the army had no intention of covering up its tracks, and also deliberately made the banner public, handsome and clear, the purpose was to let the mountain bandits know that the Yue family army had come to crusade against them.

At noon, the army finally reached the iron mine, which was already deep in a large forest. However, because of the cover of the trees, as far as the eye can see, the 7,000 centaurs are crowded with people, and the flags are all over the mountains. Those who don't know must have thought that there were 15,000 people coming.

Zhou Bo ordered Yue Yun and Li Shuping to each lead a lightly armed army and directly besiege those small cottages.

These small cottages are all rabble, and the number of people is not as large as the Yue family's army at all. Long before the Yue family's army attacked, the sentinels had already found traces, and at this time they had all fled without a trace.

It didn't take much effort, and both Yue Yun and Li Shuping swept through these small villages. Although the bandits fled ahead of time, they still captured some of the old, weak, sick and disabled bandits who did not escape, and throughout the attack, they shouted loudly for the bandits to hand over the captured hostages, otherwise they would level the forest before sunset.

After sweeping the small village, Yue Yun and Li Shuping both stopped moving.

Because they learned from yesterday's reconnaissance that the terrain of the two big villages hidden in the depths is very complicated, and the number of Qi troops is also quite large, and they are afraid that they will be ambushed if they attack rashly. What's more, their main purpose today is to create contradictions between the mountain bandits and the Qi army, so that these people will be divided internally.

Zhou Bo analyzed that those captured hostages would definitely not be in the small village, and once there was any benefit, the Qi army in the big village would definitely snatch it over. He came to crusade against the mountain bandits blatantly today, and he used hostages as an excuse. The mountain bandits will definitely anger the Qi army and provoke the people who should not be provoked, and demand that the Qi army release the hostages immediately.

If the plan is not as expected, the Qi army will definitely release the hostages. There are two reasons: first, the Qi army has just passed through the defeat of Xiangyang Mansion and is apprehensive to the Yuejia army, and second, the Qi army simply does not have enough troops to resist the encirclement and suppression of so many Song troops. Even if it has a geographical advantage, it can only cause some casualties, and once the Yue family army rushes forward and kills one after another, it will still have to be finished.

After Yue Yun and Li Shuping withdrew, Zhou Bo personally met with some of the mountain bandits who had been captured, and asked about some of the mountain bandits, such as why they became mountain bandits, and why they had to help and abuse them as Han Chinese.

Of course, the answer of these mountain bandits is nothing more than that they are forced by life and need to make a living.

Zhou Bo did not kill these mountain bandits, but entertained them well and gave them a good meal and drink. Then in the afternoon, he released these mountain bandits and asked the mountain bandits to bring back the message, if they don't release the hostages today, they will definitely wash the cottage in blood.

The bandits thanked Dade for a while, and then left in a hurry.

In the evening, Dashanzhai really sent the captured survey team hostages down the mountain, and asked the hostages to talk, saying that they would not dare to make trouble, and would only rob the border of Qi and would never violate the border of Song. These words are nothing more than seeing that the Song army is strong, and they have no choice but to choose Taoguang to maintain obscurity.

Although Zhou Bo didn't believe the words of the mountain bandits, because once the Yuejia army on the Guanghua Army side withdrew, and the military strength was reduced, these thieves would still not show mercy when it was time to rob.

But these are all afterthoughts, and you don't need to think about it yourself for the time being.

Zhou Bo rescued the hostages and asked them how they were doing, and if they had been mistreated on the mountain.

These hostages thought that this would be the end of it, and they even complained a little in their hearts.

But now that they saw Zhou Bo and led all the soldiers of the Guanghua Army to come to the rescue, they finally knew that Zhou Bo valued them. So he not only abandoned his previous complaints, but also was grateful to Zhou Bo.

After getting acquainted with these hostages, Zhou Bo learned that the mountain bandits in the big village are very nervous at present, and those bandits who look like the Qi army have frequent verbal conflicts with the local mountain bandits, and it is obvious that the rift between the two sides is getting bigger and bigger. It is said that the local mountain bandits complained that the Qi army had offended the Yue army, and the Qi army was dissatisfied with the mountain bandits' blatant rebellion against their rule. (To be continued.) )