In the private residence of the Luo Dao people in Fulai Mountain, the three castle masters of the Xu family's room were gathering together for a small family meeting.

11 Xu Shibai, the second son of Changfangshu, the lord of Tunbao, said with a little dissatisfaction: "The third child is really welcome, none of the craftsmen from Fulai Mountain have left our family!" ”

"That's what he deserves." Xu Shisong, the eldest son of Changfang, said unceremoniously.

"Big brother is generous."

"If you feel distressed, next time you go to play as a striker, see if you can break the village in one fell swoop."

"Alright, what do you brothers have to fight about?" Xu Mujiang, who was sitting at the top, stopped the quarrel between his two sons, and said lightly: "The third brother has ideas, and those craftsmen are more useful in his hands." ”

"Isn't it just a musket, father, it's just an iron pipe." Xu Shibai argued loudly: "The soldiers who are waiting for us also have this musket, and it is not necessarily worse than the soldiers of the fifteenth tun!" ”

"Where did you get the gunpowder?" Xu Shisong sneered: "Without gunpowder, the fire gate gun is just a burning stick." ”

"The third child collects a large amount of sulfur and saltpeter, and those who come do not refuse, it is estimated that the gunpowder is related to these things!"

Ancient people were not fools, and among the raw materials that Xu Shiyang focused on purchasing, all the raw materials that were used in small quantities before, but now they are purchased in large amounts, are naturally related to the emergence of gunpowder.

What the hell those things were, they would know if they asked a little.

"Second brother." Xu Mujiang said softly: "Don't inquire about gunpowder. ”

"Father!" Xu Shibai craned his neck and wanted to argue.

"What the third brother buys, even if you know, you are not allowed to reveal it." The head of the house said seriously: "If you want the gunpowder formula, go find a good thing that the third brother can't refuse and exchange it with him, but you are not allowed to steal it." ”

"Why?"

"Because your Lao Tzu is the head of the Xu family." Xu Mujiang replied: "The head of the family can't just look at his side, he has to consider the interests of the whole family, understand?" ”

"Yes." The voice was still a little unconvinced.

"Both of you remember, no matter how the two of you fight, as long as the head of the family is from our long house, no matter how big his fame and achievements are Xu Shiyang, we will also be bigger than him! If he loses, we can also cut off our tail and survive! ”

Xu Mujiang is kind and instructive:

"The third brother is too aggressive, he has only been the lord of the castle for a year, first beat the Tartars and then instigated the whole family to fight the bandits, but it was a fluke that let him win all, but can he keep winning? I asked him if he had sold the Tartar captives, and the one he killed some time ago also had relatives in Dajin, and that person's father was Dajin's Meng'an. ”

"Thousands of high-ranking officials! Do you understand? Wait for the next time the Tartars come again, let alone thousands of iron horses, what will our family resist? Can Xu Shiyang win? ”

Xu Mujiang shook his head and said helplessly:

"The Han people can't beat the Tartars, if you owe the third brother too much favor, and wait for the Tartars to retaliate, do you want to send troops to save him? Can you get it back? If you steal his things, but you still don't save them, who will obey you at that time? How are you still the head of the house? ”

"Let the third brother make trouble by himself, your second uncle looks like he also supports him in making trouble, but our long house can't be too deeply involved."

"By the way, eldest brother, did you rob Luo Fugui's wife and concubine?"

"Hey......." Xu Shisong scratched his head and smiled embarrassedly.

After conquering the cottage of the Luo Dao people, everyone else went to grab money and grain, Xu Shiyang went to rob the craftsmen first, and he and Xu Shibai robbed the private house of the Luo Dao people and divided the wives and concubines of the bandit leaders.

Women are also a kind of trophy, and they are really useful, those women are frightened, and they have no intention of revenge, and they are quite interesting to do small lows one by one.

"The money and food that others have robbed will be collected and divided equally according to the rules." Xu Mujiang said: "Don't keep all the private goods you robbed in Luo Fugui's house, take them out and divide them." ”

"Father, I've used all ......."

"Then take out more treasures to compensate, don't say you didn't find it, just give it to the person surnamed Xu, and the owner of the castle with the surname doesn't need it."

"Yes."

……

Xu Shiyang didn't know that Changfang had plans to use himself as a gecko's tail, and even if he knew, he didn't care.

The long house, and even the other castle masters of the Xu family, including the second room, were just a group of unreliable allies in Xu Shiyang's eyes, and if they wanted to contribute, they had to be induced by interests.

It's like he drew a big pie for Xu Muhe to induce him to support himself.

It would be wishful thinking to expect these slave owners to stand firmly in the same trench because they all have the surname Xu.

Moreover, this vague sense of alienation has some practical benefits for Xu Shiyang at this stage.

For example, from the perspective of maintaining feudal morality, the Xu family will help him protect the secret of gunpowder.

For the same reason, Xu Shiyang, who is currently on a strong record, can also get some additional rewards.

When the various dock forts began to gradually evacuate the Fulai Mountains and return to their homes, Xu Shiyang obtained a package privately from a long house.

When I opened it, there were two ingots of gold weighing about 10 taels each, more than a dozen pieces of jewelry, and two jade pendants.

Xu Shiyang estimated that it was worth about 500 copper coins, needless to say, this was stolen goods from the homes of Luo Daoren and other bandit leaders.

"Haha, if you take it to Jiangnan, it's 800 stone grains again." Xu Shiyang is still very satisfied with this unplanned windfall, with so much food, he will be able to feed more people next year.

Well, maybe you can completely get your own pro-soldier team out of production.

Xu Shiyang picked out a blonde hairpin inlaid with pearls, intending to treat it as a gift to his first concubine Zhao Shan, and wrapped everything else intact.

For Xu Shiyang now, gold and silver jewelry are not good-looking, so it is better to quickly exchange them for various urgently needed materials.

"Oh, speaking of which, the harvest of this battle is really rich!"

Hundreds of cold weapons, a large number of iron farming tools, cloth, grain, livestock, population, craftsmen, land, and a large amount of gold and silver treasures.

and two more important loot:

1. Opportunities for safe development. Without the threat of the bandits in Fulai Mountain, the dock fort of the Xu family can already be expanded, and even some fields close to the dock fort can be connected together.

2. Reputation. In this day and age, fame is also an asset. In the past ten years, the Haoqiang family in the surrounding places suppressed by the bandits in Fulai Mountain has worked very hard, and the Xu family has decided to fight in Fulai Mountain, and the surrounding families are afraid or happy, anyway, they must look down on the Xu family.

In the future, if you can really gain control of Juzhou from the Jiangnan Imperial Court, it will be easier to integrate the power of these families.

"In this way, the benefits of war far outweigh the costs."

Xu Shiyang bared his teeth like a carnivore and said to himself:

"Gentlemen, I love war!"