"Lord Jiang, then these bamboo notes ......" Yeluqi looked at the bamboo notes on the table, and looked at Jiang Liang with some expectation.

"I will send someone to the Jizhou Thorn Mansion. Jiang Wan stood up and turned his head to look at Yeluqi: "I know what you're thinking, but the barbarians can't make a big deal, that is, without these things, they may be able to prosper for a while, but it won't be long before they will be extinguished." ”

"I'm afraid I don't know how many barbarians there are!" Yeluqi snorted coldly when he heard this, and said unconvinced, although he was forced to follow Jiang Wan now, but after all, he was a disciple of the barbarian leader, so he naturally didn't want the barbarian leader to be said to be so unbearable.

"No need to know. Jiang Wan shook his head: "I know that there are a lot of barbarian sects, but so what? Sometimes, a large number of people is not necessarily a good thing, especially among the barbarians, the organization is loose, although there are many believers, but they can't give full play to the abilities of these sects, the barbarian leader doesn't have this ability, even if he has, but he alone, how can he control the entire Huangji Kingdom? There are a few people under his command who are available, and there is no person who can take charge of the overall situation, no matter how many people there are, it is just a plate of scattered sand, and there is nothing to fear. ”

"Joke, there are seventy-two generals under the command of the barbarian god, each of whom is a well-known hero, ascending to the top and shouting, and the servants gather ......" Yeluqi was unconvinced and wanted to justify.

Jiang Qiao sneered: "Rob, right? But what about when they finish grabbing? After the grain of the government is robbed, the next thing is the people's, where will they go to find food, even if they take the Huangji country, the people will not have a good livelihood, and the Central Plains will be full of devastation, this is what you want to see?

Jiang Wan asked a series of questions like pouring beans from a bamboo tube, and Yeluqi, who asked, was speechless, and didn't know how to answer for a while.

"Okay, these questions will not be discussed, I am willing to gamble and lose, and now that I have not arrived in Ji County, the leader of the barbarian tribe has already fled, and there is no need to continue the bet between you and me. ”

Jiang Wan didn't want to continue to discuss this issue, it was meaningless, the barbarian leader was at best just a gun in the hands of the family to deal with the imperial power, and it would open the prelude to the troubled times, but ending the troubled times was definitely not something that the barbarian leaders could do.

Yeluqi stood in place with a cloudy face, a little unwilling, and a little lost, and finally knelt down in front of Jiang Wan weakly, and bowed to the ground fiercely: "Yeluqi, see the lord." ”

"Get up. Jiang Wan stretched out his hand and pulled Yeluqi up: "This matter, it's not up to you, this official is in Macheng, the border land, in a short time, don't worry about me clashing with the barbarians." ”

Shaking his head, Jiang Wan didn't continue, this matter, the relationship between China and China is intertwined, the barbarian leader will not be fine before the incident, and those officials in the court who are involved in the barbarian will not sit idly by and watch the barbarian leader be taken down by the imperial court, not only the relationship of interests, but also the life of their family.

These people will do their best to suppress this matter, Tian Yue will become the one who bears the blame, Jiang Weak's goal has been achieved, he doesn't want to touch this network independently at this time, this network is too big, once he falls into it, for himself, there is no benefit, and it may even lead to death.

Yeluqi didn't speak, obviously still uncomfortable in his heart, but Jiang Qiao didn't have the heart to care anymore, so he immediately ordered someone to pack these bamboo notes and send them to the Assassin's Mansion together with the talismans that the Assassin Shi had given him before, and attached a letter to thank the Assassin History.

He gathered everyone and went to Macheng to take office, as for how the assassin dealt with this matter, it was his business, and Jiang Qiao didn't want to be too involved.

When they came, there were only twenty-six people, but now there are more than one hundred and eighty people, and after joining the recruited craftsmen, Jiang Qiao's party has more than 200 people, and they have crossed the Black Mountain all the way to the direction of Macheng.

While walking, I have to train these recruits brought by Yelucai, and I have to find a way to make some money, but fortunately, the Jiang family has some connections with several wealthy merchants in Jizhou, so I don't have to worry about the food consumed by training.

On the contrary, there was a shortage of weapons, and the broken copper and iron rivers in Yelucai's stockade were weak, so they were directly collected as iron ingots and let the craftsmen take them with them, and then return to the furnace to rebuild them after settling down in Macheng.

"After this high willow, it is less than two hundred miles away from Macheng, but the mountain road in this area is difficult to travel, and with our current marching speed, I am afraid it will take three days to arrive, and if the lord wants to continue training, it will even take five days. ”

Outside Gaoliu City, because there were too many people, and Gaoliu was a county governor, Taishou was reluctant to let a group of people enter the city, so Jiang Qiao could only find a place to settle down, Yeluqi and Yelucai stood beside Jiang Qiao and said to Jiang Qiao.

Although the two of them are also illiterate, but the addition of Yeluqi and Yelucai, the biggest use is that they can see a lot of maps, the two are different from Wang Hai, the green forest is a good emperor and a country, the four seas are home, and they have walked a lot of places, even if they haven't been, they know who to find to ask for directions.

"Five days? Jiang Wan was not in a hurry, and thought for a while: "You two go south and north, have you ever been to this horse city?"

Yeluqi and Yelucai shook their heads blankly when they heard this, most of them are active in the Central Plains on weekdays, but they rarely come to the border places.

Yeluqi thought for a while and said: "Although I have been here, I have heard some people from the barbarians say that the garrison of this horse city has been withdrawn for many years, and although it is nominally ruled by the emperor, it is in an ungoverned position. ”

"Oh?" Jiang Miao raised his eyebrows, Uncle Liang had already told him about these things, but Uncle Liang didn't know the reason, and asked at the moment, "Why is this so?"

"People of all ethnic groups in Macheng are mixed, and even there are many barbarians living there in the city, it is not easy to govern, I heard that there have been three county magistrates who have died, and later, the people who were named the mayors of Macheng did not dare to go, and the court was unwilling to send troops to go, so now this Macheng is a place where three things are not important, and many murderers will flee here for refuge. Yeluqi said in a muffled voice.

"No wonder the imperial court is willing to grant me tax exemption for three years, and the military and political power is handed over to me, so it is. Thinking of the previous visit, the Taishou didn't even mention a word, Jiang Qiao sneered in his heart, it seems that this Taishou wants to send him to death.

"Don't panic, the lord now has more than 180 sons, who have been trained by the lord these days, and they are all elite teachers, what are the difficulties in suppressing this gang of chaotic people?" Ye Lucai said with a smile.

These days, he has seen with his own eyes how his subordinates, who can't even stand in line, have become a well-trained elite army step by step under Jiang Qiao's training, a small horse city, with a population of only 3,000 households, there is nothing difficult to do at all.

"Blind self-confidence is not a good thing, the art of war is cloudy, knowing yourself and knowing that the other side can survive a hundred battles, you go so rashly, if there is really a crisis in Macheng, someone sets up an ambush in the middle of the road, how is it different from sending him to death?" Jiang Wan shook his head, besides, Taishou knew that Macheng was dangerous, but he didn't say a word, isn't it suspicious?

"That'...... Lord, what should we do?" asked Wang Hai.

Jiang Qiao groped his chin and said: "Wang Hai, you take a large army to escort those craftsmen and continue to train while walking, I will take Yeluqi, Yelucai and ten guards to arrive in Macheng pretending to be traders first, you slow down, five days later, I will send someone to contact, but ......"

Jiang Miao narrowed his eyes, looked at Ye Lucai and said: "If no one comes to contact after five days, it means that something is wrong, you take a detour and take a mountain road, attack Macheng from behind, and capture Macheng for me." ”

"Lord, is this too dangerous, it's better to ......" Wang Hai was shocked when he heard this, and hurriedly said.

"Don't worry, if I don't show my identity, there is danger in the city, and I won't refuse the passing merchants, but here, if expected, I'm afraid that someone has been targeted, you need to be cautious." Jiang said in a deep voice.

"Wow!" Wang Hai heard this, no longer refutated, and bowed.

"When are we leaving?" asked Jeruzy.

"Tonight. ”

......

The city gate of Macheng has been demolished, and there are many gaps in the city wall, not in disrepair, but by artificial demolition, when Jiang Qiao and his party of eleven people passed through the city gate, they saw two groups of people and horses beating together on the street, knives, guns, sticks, hoes and horses whipped together.

There are people from the Huangji country in the crowd, and there are also people from the barbarians mixed in, what is surprising is that it is not the battle between the barbarians and the people of the Huangji country, in the two groups of people, there are people from the Huangji country, and there are also barbarians, Jiang Liang even saw the two barbarians hugging each other and stabbing each other without the slightest softness, and in a blink of an eye, the two of them died together.

"Is it very harmonious!" looked at this scene with interest, and after a long time, Jiang Qiao said with a smile.

"......" Yeluqi and Yelucai glanced at Jiang Weak speechlessly, where did you see it.

Ignoring everyone's expressions, Jiang Weak naturally couldn't look at the problem from the same angle as them, in the eyes of others, this horse city was obviously chaotic, just entered the city, and saw a fight, and no one cared about it, the difference in public security can be seen.

However, this city, but there have been no officials in office for several years, the government exists in name only, whoever has the big fist makes sense, in Jiang Qiao's view, this situation is not unexpected, what really makes him happy is that perhaps because of the lack of official intervention, the contradiction between the barbarian emperors and the extreme countries is not as big as he imagined.

Maybe you have to stay here for a few years in the future, and the contradiction between the barbarian emperors is a problem that has to be faced, at least in this horse city, the distinction between the barbarian emperors and the kingdoms is not obvious.

Some of the people around who watched the excitement didn't seem to be worried about being affected by the fight between the two gangs, and many people also got together with great interest to talk about it, which made Jiang Qiao a little curious, it seemed that his county seat was very interesting.

"Jereuca, go and ask. Jiang Wan looked left and right and said to Yelucai.

"Wow. Yelucai understood, and hurriedly turned around and left, and asked a person from the Imperial Pole Kingdom who looked kinder and asked?

"What did he do?" Yeluqi looked at Jiang Wan blankly.

"Inquire about information. Jiang said with a smile, this is also the reason why he is willing to stay Yelucai, this person is not courageous, if he is a general, his ability is average, he can't charge into battle, and he can't strategize, but he knows how to observe words and looks, there is no great wisdom, but the little cleverness is constant, and the big things can't be counted on, but some trivial things are easier to do than those who have great wisdom.

After a while, Yelucai came back, Jiang Qiao waved his hand, signaling him not to speak yet, and led everyone to the city together, and after wrapping a small courtyard, Jiang Qiao signaled Yelucai to speak.

"Lord, the people who fought under the city before were two gangs in this horse city. Jereuca bowed.

"Gangs?" Jiang Miao raised his eyebrows in surprise, did the Emperor Dynasty already have a non-governmental organization like a gang?

"Because there have been no officials and troops to guard this horse city for a long time, it is these gangs that are really in charge of the horse city. Yelucai smiled:

"The lord probably hasn't heard of these things, in fact, part of the wealth in the barbarians is worshiped by some sect members, part is honored by the bandits secretly controlled by the barbarians, and some is raised by these gangs that are secretly controlled by the barbarians. ”

"I see. Jiang Wei nodded, he was no stranger to this model, it was like this in the history of his previous life, a group of gangs competed with each other, and in the end, the winner was king.

"There are many gangs in this Macheng, but the largest is three gangs, one of which is controlled by a barbarian tribe, there are 1,200 gangs under his command, which is very fierce, and most of the people under his command are barbarians. ”

"What about the other two?"

"The other two were pulled up by two Huangji people who came here later, one of them was named Meng Dan, who was very famous on the green forest road three years ago, once killed officials and was a bandit, and was later defeated by the imperial court of Huangji and fled here, and the other person named Dong Ping, who is a trader, and the forces under the command of the two are equal, and they have the power of seven or eight hundred people. ”

Yeluqi frowned slightly, the three gangs, with a combined manpower, turned out to be more than two thousand and nearly three thousand, which was more difficult to deal with than they imagined before.

"There are gangs, and being able to support such three large gangs means that there are advantages in this, where does this Macheng profit come from?" Jiang Qiao frowned and said, didn't he say that Macheng had only three thousand households? But now it seems that the population of only these three gangs is about this number when the gangs are combined.

However, the three major gangs of barbarians are mixed, if you only count the number of people in the Huangji Kingdom, it may not be enough, but what you see in the city today, although the horse city is dilapidated, but the streets are full of people, and even more so in the market, the business of this inn restaurant is not bad.

"This ......" Yelucai smiled bitterly and shook his head, how could he find out so much in such a short time.

"Lord, what now?" Yeluqi looked at Jiang Qiao and frowned.

The three major gangs, as well as a bunch of small gangs, with the strength in their hands, if they fight hard, they will suffer against any of them, let alone deal with three at the same time.

Jiang Wan shook his head and said: "The enemy situation is unknown, Ye Lucai, you continue to inquire about the news, there are too few things you know at present, especially those three gang leaders, what is their temperament, in addition, find a smaller gang, we will settle here now, send someone to inform Ah Li, slow down, go down to the village thirty miles outside Macheng, wait for further news, and do not enter the city without my order." ”

"Wow!" Yelucai heard this, and quickly bowed down and nodded.

Three days later, Ye Lucai has already inquired about the news, the wealth of this Macheng is divided into three parts, one is the filial piety of the traders, this part is mainly controlled by Dong Ping, he started as a businessman, and naturally knows how terrible the profits on this businessman are, I heard that even some wealthy families in Hebei have a close relationship with this Dong Ping.

It is the horse trading business, which is in the hands of the barbarian Aguli, which is not just a war horse in the popular sense, here, people are also a kind of horse, in short, it is a slave trade.

As for Meng Dan, he is mainly laborers, and in this horse city, all walks of life are his people working, whether it is Aguli or Dong Ping, if you want to work, you have to find his people.

In addition, Meng Dan also holds a vein of oblivion in his hand, and the so-called oblivion is carbon, coal has begun to be used in a few areas in the north during this period, but because of transportation, mining and other reasons, the quantity is not much, and it is not popular, but there are many sales.

Dong Ping is taking the all-you-go road, whether it is Aguli's horse or Meng Dan's oblivion, they all have to pass through his way, which is also the reason why a businessman can gain a foothold in this environment surrounded by wolves, the other two families want to survive, they can't do without Dong Ping, as for some other small gangs, they all rely on these three snorts, but there are not many people farming in this place.

Listening to Yelucai's narration, Jiang Qiao occasionally asked some questions, and after an hour, the overview of this horse city probably had some framework in his heart.

The population of Macheng is quite large, the population of the barbarian emperor is combined, three thousand households are definitely enough, and there may even be as many as five thousand, the ecological structure is similar to that of a trading city, and a city that does not focus on agriculture is very rare in this era.

In addition, the three major gangs have been able to get up and sit down to the point where they are now, and there are a lot of things involved behind this, such as Dong Ping, who has close contacts with many wealthy families behind him, although he is ranked at the bottom of the three gangs by Ye Lucai and most people, but in Jiang Qiao's view, the energy behind Dong Ping is the most terrifying of the three gangs.

Needless to say, it is the barbarians behind him, as for Meng Dan, he has no power behind him, but he is quite prestigious in the green forest, Ye Lucai's suggestion is to successfully master Ma Cheng, start with Dong Ping first, after all, this Dong Ping is the one who seems to be the best to speak.

Thinking of the previous attitude of being too guarded, Jiang Weak couldn't help sneering in his heart, if you talk about the relationship between the other party and this side, it is most likely that this Dong Ping, and once Jiang Weak takes office, he will be the one who will be hit the most, because he has something that Jiang Weak does not lack, and the Jiang family also has its own relationship network, so it is not worried about finding a market, so among the three major gangs, I am afraid that this Dong Ping is the one who least wants him to take office.

As for the other two, Jiang Qiao is more optimistic about Meng Dan, he has no background, and most of his subordinates are at the bottom, as long as he can get the support of this person, after he takes office, he can at least ensure the stability of Ma Cheng, but how to make this person work for himself willingly, it will take a lot of effort.

Jiang Weak took Yeluqi and first subdued a small gang of only about 30 people, don't look at the number of people, but in fact it is a group of rabble, Jiang Weak took control of it without much effort, although the gang is not big, but with this small gang as a foothold, it is not difficult for Jiang Weak to contact Meng Dan.