In the next few days, news about this group of horse thieves kept coming, giving Jiang Anyi a sense of foreboding.

Horse thieves are mostly composed of deserters, criminals, and robbers, and most of them lack discipline and are extremely difficult to restrain them. The dart masters of Weiyuan Dart Bureau said that this group of horse thieves came and went like the wind, with outstanding kung fu and tacit cooperation, not like a rabble.

There are rules in the industry, horse thieves try to steal things without hurting people when they kill people and steal goods, and sometimes they will even leave some property for the caravan so as not to cut off the trade route and cut off the business. And this gang of horse thieves shot ruthlessly, robbed all the goods and killed people, giving Jiang Anyi the feeling that he wanted to cut off the trade between Huazhou and the Western Regions.

Huazhou is inseparable from commerce and trade for post-war reconstruction, not to mention promising the Son of Heaven to pay an extra 2 million taels of commercial taxes and 800,000 taels of customs silver to the Anxi Protectorate every year. The Gobi Desert is vast for thousands of miles, the whereabouts of horse thieves are uncertain, and it is difficult for the army to clear them, which is really a bit tricky.

In the past few days, Xinfei stayed at home, and Wang Zuoguo took people to Bingzhou to investigate the case of the loss of ordnance, for fear that Xinfei would rob her of the credit, so he cleverly asked her to sit in Huazhou. Xinfei was too lazy to compete with him, and was happy to spend more time with her husband, speaking of which, she came to Huazhou with Jiang Lang, but most days the husband and wife were busy separately, and there were not many days to get together.

Dong'er gave birth to Jiang Chenzhi, Xin Fei was secretly a little anxious, she was twenty-six years old, most women were already mothers of several children, this time she followed Jiang Anyi to Huazhou, Xin Fei actually wanted to conceive a child earlier. Sitting in front of the window, Xin Fei showed a longing smile, and when she had a child, she would be at home with her husband and children, and no longer ask about Long Wei.

In the courtyard, Jiang Anyi walked around anxiously, and discussed with Shi Qingjian for an afternoon, but he didn't come up with any good solutions. Xin Fei put down the needle and thread in her hand, poured a bowl of herbal tea and gave it to Jiang Anyi, and said thoughtfully: "Why don't I take someone to find out where this group of people came from." ”

Drinking all the herbal tea in one go, Jiang Anyi said: "This group of people is suspicious, judging from the situation reported by Hua Sima, it is likely that it is the gang of Yuan Tianjiao who rebelled against the party, Wang Zuoguo took all the people to Bingzhou, you are alone, I don't worry, I can't get out of it because of my official duties." ”

Xin Fei said with a smile: "Before the concubine met you, she took Siyu to walk the rivers and lakes, which is better than you." Since Jiang Lang has no choice, the concubine will run for you, if you don't worry, let An Yong take the personal guards with me. ”

On the way back from Wenjin County, he killed four guards, but Jiang Anyi ambushed the hearts of the guards, and the returning guards told the situation on the battlefield, and everyone felt that it was worth working for such a master.

Jiang Anyong equipped each of his guards with horses, steel knives, spears and bows, and fine scale armor. The surface of the fine scale armor is made of Bailian steel sheets, the rope is hidden under the armor piece, it is not easy to cut, the armor piece is telescopic and overlapping, can be bent and adjusted, the mobility is extremely strong, the leather goods are attached, the blunt weapon is resisted, the bow and arrow spear is pierced on it, the armor surface is hard and smooth, and the tip can be slid through, it belongs to the top class in the standard armor of Dazheng 12 Middle School, and Mingguang, chains, and mountain armor are equally famous, and only the equipment above the six-grade lieutenant is equipped, and most of the ordinary soldiers use leather armor and wooden armor.

A set of fine scale armor takes several craftsmen half a year to make, and it is worth a lot of money, Jiang Anyi took Yang Xiangliang's door, and bought 200 sets at the price of one hundred taels and distributed them to the guards, who rode tall horses every day, wearing fine scale armor and swaggering through the market, attracting the attention of the people.

The guards went to the school field to practice, not only the ordinary soldiers were red-eyed, even Mei Hongmin's eyes were hot, this whole set of equipment, everyone spent no less than two hundred taels of silver, and the equipment alone used more than 30,000 taels of silver, and the guards guarding the palace could not compare, these things were all paid by Jiang Anyi out of his own pocket, he was really rich.

The envious vision casts a sense of honor for the guards, without Jiang Anyong's supervision, these people train very hard, which makes Mei Hongmin's heart ache, how can these elites let Jiang Anyi pick them away, if he has more than 100 people, how good it would be to charge into battle and capture the flag.

Many people are enthusiastic about the treatment of the guards, and they want to join Jiang Anyong when they ask Jiang Anyong to join them, Jiang Anyong is a little moved, but Jiang Anyi said, "I'd rather be lacking than rotten, and I'll talk about it later", so that my younger brother can pay more attention to observation on weekdays, and find that the good seedlings are in mind, and I will talk about it in the next year.

Xin Fei said to take the guards together, Jiang Anyi put his mind at ease, although the guards are led by An Yong and Shishi, but Jiang Anyi will take the time to practice with the guards every ten years, Jiang Anyi has participated in the autumn hunt, has seen the elite soldiers of the sixteen guards, and his own guards are only stronger than them.

Occasionally, Jiang Anyi would compete with the guards to establish and consolidate his authority, and then drink with the guards to win over his feelings, An Yong said with jealousy that he was not as prestigious as the eldest brother who soaked with the guards all day long.

This gang of horse thieves is like a rope around Huazhou's neck, and if they are not dealt with, Huazhou will suffocate to death, and he has unconditional trust in Xinfei Jiang Anyi, and in the case of safety and security, of course, let go. The couple called An Yong and Shi Shi, and the five of them discussed until midnight before they rested separately.

The next day, Jiang Anyi came to Mei Hongmin's station, and asked to borrow a repeater after Daoming came to his intentions. Mei Hongmin's head shook like a rattle, and he refused.

"Right now, Long Wei is stepping up his investigation into the case of the loss of ordnance, and if he privately lent the repeater crossbow to the adult, if something happens, he can't argue." Jingzhong's disposition of Mei Hongmin has not yet arrived, and he is still responsible for the garrison.

Jiang Anyi already knew about Mei Hongmin's eating image, and directly offered the price: "The rental fee for one pair of five taels of silver, and ten yuan for a crossbow arrow." ”

The court guarded the repeater very tightly, and each repeater had a number on the body, which was centrally guarded by the quartermaster, received in wartime, and returned to the warehouse when it was used up. If it is lost for no reason, it will be punished according to the military law, and if it is damaged in battle, the damaged repeater must be returned, and then the quartermaster will return it to the military Sima. Of course, there are many ways to cheat, and losing in battle is the most common way, and the quartermaster can use the scrap to assemble good objects, and these strictly controlled ordnance can often be sold for a good price, and Mei Hongmin has also done the sale of ordnance.

The rent of five taels of silver is not low, Mei Hongmin is a little moved, not to mention that Jiang Anyi is used to kill horse thieves, so it is said that he should borrow it for free. Thinking of the fine scale armor on Jiang Anyi's personal guard, Mei Hongmin was determined not to let go of the opportunity to slaughter the fat pig, and blurted out: "Ten taels of silver, otherwise you don't have to talk about it." ”

Mei Hongmin's eyes showed a greedy green light, like a hungry wolf. Jiang Anyi held back the unhappiness in his heart, for the safety of his wife, the money came out, wrote down the collar, rented a hundred crossbows, bought three thousand crossbow arrows, and returned home with Mei Hongmin's smug smile.

Xin Fei and An Yong disguised themselves as merchants going to the Western Regions, driving more than 20 trucks loaded with honey fruits, and more than 100 personal guards divided into three teams before and after, leaving Cumulus Pass to the Western Regions Weiche Country. Xin Fei has the waist card of the secret guard on her body, and she is naturally free in Huazhou.

Seeing off Xinfei and them, Jiang Anyi counted the days and waited for the news.

Three days later, a visitor shifted Jiang Anyi's attention from the west to the east.

A fast horse galloped into Aino Castle near noon, and the man on the horse, whose clothes were covered with brown blood, staggered on his horse, and asked the passers-by of the road where the assassin's mansion was. Under the guidance of pedestrians, the man came to the front of the government office, saw the stone lion and the official on the high level, the man rolled down from the horse, sat up with support, and said to the official who came over: "A few poor masters, I bother you to report to Jiang Tingshi, and say that someone in Xinqi in Texas wants to see you." ”

Dezhou Xinqi is the hometown of Jiang Thorn Shi, these officials did not dare to slack off, someone helped the man to sit on the steps to rest, saw that the man's lips were chapped, and he was busy finding cold water. The man finished drinking, and someone inside rushed out and said, "Lord Jiang is invited." ”

The officials on both sides carried the man to the public hall, and Jiang Anyi stood in front of the hall to greet him. People from Xinqi County, Texas, don't need to ask if they are fellow villagers, they meet old acquaintances in other places, and they are happy events in life. When the man came closer, Jiang Anyi was stunned for a moment, and recognized that the person was Xu Anhu, the deputy chief dart of the Zhenwei Dart Bureau, who had eaten with him last time when he escorted perfume into Beijing. Why is Xu Anhu covered in blood, what happened? Isn't there something going on at home?

Jiang Anyi stepped forward to hold Xu Anhu's arm, helped him to a chair and sat down, and asked urgently, "Xu Darttou, are you injured?" Do you want to call a doctor, what happened? ”

Xu Anhu gasped for a while and said, "Some flesh injuries are okay, Xu came from Changwu County, Qi Prefecture overnight, didn't eat, and was a little weak." ”

Jiang Anyi hurriedly ordered someone to send some food, Xu Anhu took out a letter from his arms and said: "My lord, Xu followed Guo Ye to escort the goods to Huiye Mansion this time, but he was robbed in Changwu County, Qi Prefecture, Guo Ye was tied up by Xiangma, Xu killed a bloody way to report the news, this is the letter that Guo Ye handed over to me before he was arrested, let me use it as evidence." ”

After receiving the letter, Jiang Anyi recognized Zhang Keji's handwriting on the envelope. Someone sent steamed bread herbal tea, Xu Anhu gobbled it up, Jiang Anyi tore up the family letter, everything was safe at home, Zhang Keji mainly talked about the matters that Guo Huaili should pay attention to when he was based in Huiye Mansion, Jiang Anyi didn't have time to read it carefully, and put the letter in his arms.

Xu Anhu stuffed three steamed buns, a few pieces of braised pork, had goods in his stomach, and felt a lot more energetic, the doctor gave him a good gold medicine for the wound on his back, Jiang Anyi asked: "Xu Darttou, please tell Jiang what happened." ”

After the Mid-Autumn Festival, Guo Huaili came to Huiye Mansion with 80 truckloads of goods and more than 20 stewards. The goods were escorted by the Zhenwei Dart Bureau as usual, because of the relationship between the Jiang family, the Yu family and the Guo family, the Zhenwei Dart Bureau grew rapidly, from the original dozens of people to more than 300 people, and opened a branch dart bureau in Renzhou, Fangzhou and Jingshi, recruited a lot of good players, and also invited the Jiang family to worship and teach, becoming a big dart bureau in the south of the Yangtze River.

This time Guo Huaili wants to go to Huazhou to create a foundation, Wu Yingjie, the chief dart head of Zhenyuan Dart Bureau, feels that it is a good opportunity to strengthen the Dart Bureau, who does not know that the best business in the world is the Western Regions Trade, there is trade and there is a Dart Bureau, if Zhenyuan Dart Bureau can occupy a place in Huazhou with the power of Jiang Thorn History, then Zhenyuan Dart Bureau is not only the Jiangnan Dart Bureau, but it is possible to become a famous Dart Bureau of Da Zheng.

After internal discussion of the dart bureau, Guo Huaili was found, and it was decided that Xu Anhu, the deputy head of the dart, would escort the goods to Huazhou with 80 capable dart masters.

This is a win-win situation for Guo Huaili, Xu Anhu is the top master of Zhenwei Dart Game, he has dealt with the Guo family for nearly ten years, has never lost a dart, and can be trusted. In the future, he gained a foothold in Huazhou, and the Zhenwei Dart Bureau escorted the goods to rest assured of each other, and immediately patted his chest and agreed.

On August 20, we set off from Dezhou to the northwest, and there are two routes from Dezhou to Huazhou, one is Renzhou, Fangzhou, Louzhou, and Bingzhou to Huazhou, and the other is to pass through Renzhou, Jiangzhou, Qizhou to Huazhou. The former road is safer, but it is farther, and the second road is nearly 300 miles, but there are many bandits along the way.

Xu Anhu thought that he would often come and go on these two roads in the future, and it was inevitable that he would have to deal with the heroes on the mountain, so it was better to take advantage of this visit along the road to make a friendship, and it would be convenient in the future, so the dart team went to Huazhou via Renzhou, Jiangzhou, and Qizhou.

encountered a lot of robbers along the way, Xu Anhu subdued many heroes with the demon pestle in his hand, and skillfully sent money to close the relationship, and the road was smooth, Xu Anhu couldn't help but get a little carried away, drank some wine and boasted a few words when he was fighting in Changwu County. The speaker had no intention of listening, and the next day the dart team went on the road, passing through the Zhangluo Mountain at the junction of Changwu County and Yonghe County.

"The robbers hid in the mountains and forests and fired arrows, and the caravans traveled between the mountain roads with nowhere to hide, and many brothers were shot by arrows. Among those robbers, there was an archery master, and the first arrow shot the dart flag down, Xu wanted to rush forward and fight hard, but he tripped over the rope in the forest and was injured in the back. Xu Anhu's eyes widened angrily, and his fists were clenched, as if the robber was in front of him, and he wanted to pounce on him and continue to fight.

"Guo Fatzi isn't injured, right?"

"Guo Ye is fine. Guo Ye saw that many people in the dart bureau were injured, so he ordered everyone to surrender and let the thieves rob the goods. ”

"And where is he now?" Jiang Anyi asked.

Xu Anhu sighed: "The group of robbers heard that the goods belonged to the Guo family in Xinqi County, and asked if it was the Guo family who did perfume business with the Jiang family, and I thought that the thieves had an old relationship with adults, so I said yes." Unexpectedly, this gang of robbers kidnapped Guo Ye and said that he asked me to send a letter and asked your lord to send 100,000 taels of silver to ransom people. I settled the people and rushed to report to the adults overnight, asking the adults to find a way to save Guo Ye. ”

It seems that the kidnapping of Guo Huaili is aimed at himself, Jiang Anyi ordered someone to take Xu Anhu to the post house to rest, thinking about who this group of thieves is, is it the thieves of the Yuantian Sect who are doing trouble. Jiang Anyi shook his fist angrily, and the floor tiles were shattered by true qi with a "bang", if anyone injured Brother Guo, Jiang would be inseparable from him.