This strange procession walked on the main road to Lêpandu. Eight Li people carried salt for trade on their backs, and the people were well armed - and they could encounter Ming troops or bandits on the way, both of whom were equally interested in seeking money.

There were already pedestrians passing on the road, and when they saw such a strange procession of them, they all avoided from the road, and the farmers in the fields were not disturbed, but they were still busy working before the harvest, and the water in the rice fields had been drained. The rice is almost ripe. Officers from the agricultural department who accompanied the team were estimating how much rice they could harvest.

After less than an hour of hiking, the county seat has already appeared in everyone's field of vision. In the two months since they went ashore, the local government of Daming in this city has fought fiercely, but except for a few personnel from the military group and communication group who monitor the county, most of them have seen the ruling center of this Ming Lingao County for the first time. The original tense atmosphere has disappeared, there are many fewer people on the city, the city gate is also open, and the road is full of people, a bit of a lively atmosphere. At the gate of the city, villagers set up stalls selling vegetables, chickens, ducks and firewood. A scene of tranquility.

Seeing their arrival, there seemed to be a sense of tension in the city, and Lu Rong, who led the team, saw an armor-piercing person looking at the city wall. In order to avoid unnecessary misunderstandings, the whole team did not approach the city gate, kept a distance and passed slowly, and the peasants who were originally closing the stalls and preparing to run away were relieved to see that they had passed far away without committing any crimes.

According to several captives, their mountain was more than a hundred miles away from the county seat, so they could not walk in a day. Rest for the night.

"I didn't expect the road to be so barren!" Makumin exclaimed. There are very few fields along the way, and a lot of them are meadows with large grasses that are taller than a person's head.

"Lingao itself is a small county in the middle of nowhere." Wen Desi was also in the team, but he participated in this operation purely out of curiosity and distraction, and after D-Day, he was busy holding meetings every day to review documents and draft materials, making him busier than before, and he didn't even have time to do the outdoor sports he always loved. It's a good time to take the opportunity to recover.

As for the safety issue, he didn't feel any danger, a person who did not leave the stab-proof suit, had a lot of anti-wolf spray in the bag, and liked to play with and carry a long folding knife and a 1.2-meter-long Western hand and half sword, whether it was Chinese and foreign pirates, Ming officials and soldiers, regimental training in the countryside, plus bandits, they were all scum. Not to mention that the twenty or so people around here are all armed to the teeth, except for the steel helmet - for the sake of lightness, put on a color rattan helmet, this batch of products is the industrial department after more than a month of research, and finally manufactured the first batch of finished products, the original jihua is made into a colonial style, but the products that come out are a bit different, but after installing the leather hanging, it feels okay to wear, and the hat suffix is also sewn with a sunshade cloth commonly known as the butt curtain.

"It's strange, since there is so much wasteland, weishenme has no one to reclaim it? Those captives, whether they were Li Han, were either tenants or long-term laborers. It's not that there's no water, and the land doesn't look barren. ”

"Lack of water." Wen Desi has never done farm work, and the basic truth is still clear.

"Nonsense, such a big river, lack of water?"

"The water is still in the river, and it is useful to pour it into the fields. Irrigation is a university question, it is necessary to lift water, to have channels, to repair sluices, ......"

"Weishenme doesn't open channels?"

"The water conservancy project is very difficult," explains Boon De-si, "and it is too difficult for a family to dig their own irrigation canals." In all dynasties, the government took the initiative to organize water conservancy. It will take a lot of labor and money. ”

"That's right, it's really not easy to do anything." Mu Min sighed, "Then what are you doing here?" Isn't it good to stay in the 21st century, why do you want to venture into this plane? ”

Wen Deji laughed incomprehensibly, he was embarrassed to say that he wanted to be a god when he came to this shijie. However, Mu Min obviously understood that mysterious smile as obscenity, and pouted:

"It's so annoying, you men are the most disgusting!"

Minglang, who had to follow far behind, saw that his wife was actually talking and laughing with the bandit leader Wen Zong, and he couldn't wait to rush up and give Wen Zong a machete first. These days have really depressed him, since he knew that this was Lingao in the Ming Dynasty, their family of four has been in a state of semi-house arrest. The Hainan tour of the Meihaode family of four has become a permanent tour of the Ming Dynasty - this group of crazy bandits want to come to the Ming Dynasty, but their family has no such plans!

He also hates that his wife is troublesome, he has to go to the security team to help, he wears that ugly training uniform every day, goes to work happily, and goes home very late. Hearing this, Minglang thought he was having a fever: Dad, an old Communist Party member, the old People's Navy, is now going to be in the same league with this group of people? As for my mother, she was originally a social activist, and within a few days of arriving at the Bairen camp, she got acquainted with the women here, and she was away from home every day, and a few days ago she was still talking about starting a women's welfare club and doing business.

Looking at it, only he was the worst, probably thinking that he was useless, and he was not assigned any formal work until now, but only worked with the local coolies day after day in front of a miserable "basic labor force". This time, his wife said that he was going to work in Li District, and he also hurriedly signed up, Xiao Zishan originally wanted to refuse, but after thinking about it, people are legal couples, and it seems that men are not allowed to go.

In this way, he can be regarded as following, but his wife is the "national consultant" of the team, obviously belonging to the core personnel, much higher than his backer, since the departure has been with a few people who lead the team, one will study the work, one will talk and laugh - he is very angry, the consequences are very serious!

During the lunch break, the communications group called the headquarters of Bairencheng once as usual on the field radio station to report that it was safe. It was agreed before departure that the two sides would be in contact every three hours, and that the expedition would report on where it had arrived. so that Headquarters can keep abreast of its movements. Everyone began to taste several kinds of field foods that had just been developed by the agricultural department: there were Wu Nanhai's personally made "Jinhua shortbread" with a very strange taste, there were the so-called "Japanese rice balls" with rice vinegar and dried plums, and there were walnut-sized things made one by one that I don't know what they were......

"What the hell is this!" Lu Rong ate a rice ball that was so sour that his teeth were about to fall off - although this food was not delicious, it succeeded in dispelling all his exuberant appetite after walking for half a day, and it could be regarded as having achieved an effect.

"Let's rest for a while and let's go." As soon as he spoke, he suddenly saw Mu Min walking out slowly from behind a stone and clapping his hands.

"It seems that I have lost weight, and I don't have the strength to fight-"

The journey was uneventful, but as we got closer to the Li district, the ground became more and more rugged, changing from gentle slopes to rolling hills. Pedestrians on the road are also rare, occasionally encounter Han hawkers who carry burdens, take goods to the Li District, and there are also Li people who come out to trade with goods, and they all hide far away when they see them. Lu Rong wanted to find a few people to ask about the situation in front of him, but he couldn't do it.

The pace of the procession slowed down, and the survey team members would stop from time to time to correct the map, and some would run out to pick up a few rocks and pick some plants.

The results of the exploration made them very excited: there is a distribution of coal mines, although the quality is very poor, it is lignite with a very low calorific value, and the reserves are not high, but the coal belt should extend very long to the south, and the modern Nanbao coal mine is roughly in this direction. Lignite is not very suitable for fuel, but it can be processed into very good fertilizer, and the most exciting news is that many traces of limonite veins have been released, and the burial is relatively shallow enough to be mined on a small scale open pit.

"We need to open this trade route as soon as possible." Wen Deji was very excited.

"The Ming army on the road is a nuisance." Lu Rong frowned.

Along the way, they encountered two Ming army outposts and a camp, but seeing them pass by in full armor, the soldiers guarding ignored it, and Wen Desi took the opportunity to observe the appearance of their military opponents in the future: the soldiers were all yellow and thin, not to mention the armor on their bodies, and they couldn't even find a complete piece of clothing, and they couldn't help but wonder in their hearts: with this kind of army, hundreds of people can actually hold the border of the Li District, either they are very strong in combat, or the combat effectiveness of the Li people is very poor.

"Well," Wen Deji nodded, "first negotiate the terms with the Li people, and we will send Jishu personnel, and they will be responsible for mining." By exchanging products, it is necessary to open a separate base in addition. ”

After breakfast, according to the captive, this is already the edge of the Li District, but the Han traders still come and go from time to time, and then go forward, it is Juho Village, where there is a large camp of the Ming army called the Nanluo Battalion, which is the town guard to monitor and enter the Li District to pass the Panbao Mountain, but the camp is full of Li soldiers, although there is a matter of checking and blackmailing, but there is no big problem.

Wen Desi knew from the "Li Qing Briefing" given to him by the intelligence information team that the terrain of Fanbao Mountain was treacherous, and only a one-man wide mountain path passed, and this place was the main pass dividing the border between Han and Leba. It is best not to cross this place without a safety guarantee. However, these captives are all in the north of the pass, according to what they said, Fanbao Mountain, that is, there are many Li Ju. They had different dialects and habits, and they rarely interacted with each other - only when they rebelled.