Li Zicheng rode the brown and yellow high-headed horse to Xining, Ma Youshui and He Xiaomi, the two personal soldiers naturally had to follow, and there was also a small flag of soldiers as temporary guards, and all the captured materials were left in Zhenhai Fort, he wanted to explore the tone of the guard, and tried to leave the materials as much as possible, only bringing the head of the Mongols.

On the way to Xining, Li Zicheng sometimes rode fast, galloping on the grassland and mountains, sometimes stopping his horse, lingering in Huangshui or an unknown river, since coming to Daming, this day may be the most pleasant day.

Looking at the panting soldiers behind him, Li Zicheng couldn't help but smile bitterly, they all relied on the natural No. 11 bus, how could they catch up with this fast horse? In fact, the foot strength of this horse is really good, and the explosive power is significantly stronger than that of ordinary war horses, if it weren't for Wu Shaoling, no one would want to take away this war horse that he had captured with his own hands.

Li Zicheng reined in his war horse, waited for the soldiers to catch up, and then slowly walked along the south bank of Huangshui, before sunset, before rushing to Xining City.

Xining City is a military town, the residents of the city in addition to ordinary people, that is, officers and soldiers, these more than ten people with white guns into the city, it is not surprising, and they are now subordinate to Xining Wei, regarded as their own people.

After entering the city, Li Zicheng sent ten guards to find a place to spend the night and eat, and he took Ma Youshui and He Xiaoxiao to the southwest corner, which was the residence of Wu Shaoling, the eunuch guarding the town of Xining.

The two bright red vermilion lacquer doors are closed, the stone lions on both sides are covered with a golden coat by the sunset, and above the black lintel, two golden characters are hung: Wu Fu.

Wu Shaoling, as the eunuch of Xining Town, has been for some years, and has gradually controlled the military and political power of Xining Town, and even the two mansions in front of the door are soldiers of Xining Wei.

Seeing Li Zicheng leading the horse to patrol in front of the mansion, a mansion officer rushed down the steps and shouted at Li Zicheng: "Hurry up, hurry up, this is the mansion of Gonggong Wu, ordinary people, etc., are not allowed to stay here." ”

Li Zicheng handed over the war horse to Ma Youshui, and slowly saluted to Nafu Ding, "I am Li Zicheng, a hundred households who have recently reinforced, Xiningwei, and I have something important to ask to see my father-in-law, and I am tired of my brothers!" With that, he casually stuffed a piece of silver with about two taels of broken silver into his palm.

Fu Ding took the silver, checked it in his hand, and frowned again, probably thinking that the silver was too little, and said angrily: "Wait here, I'll pass it on, as for whether my father-in-law sees you, it depends on your creation." "Pushed open the vermilion lacquer door and got in.

Li Zicheng felt bored, so he looked at the Wu Mansion, the vermilion paint on the gate was brand new, obviously not long after the replacement, but the gray tiles on the roof were relatively old and had faded, I don't know how long it had been since they were replaced, Wu Shaoling should not be short of silver, he controls the entire Xining Wei, and there is no shortage of manpower, is it deliberately pretending to be poor? But he doesn't look like a low-key person, the last time he summoned himself, he just squeezed Zhao Feng into the side seat.

After a while, the mansion that had just gone in came back, "Li Zicheng, right?" It just so happens that my father-in-law is in a good mood, and it is also your creation, come with me! ”

"Thank you, brother!" Li Zicheng hurriedly tailed behind Nafu Ding, entered the vermilion lacquer gate, walked a long corridor, and then turned left and right again, before stopping at the gate of an independent small courtyard, the courtyard gate was half-hidden, the light inside was a little dim, and it was not real, Nafu Ding said: "Father-in-law is waiting inside, go in quickly." ”

Li Zicheng thanked the housekeeper, and just pushed the door in, and saw an old man dressed in black sitting on the recliner in the main hall, and a gray-clothed guy standing behind him, the old man's hair was a little gray, his face was gloomy, he didn't look at Li Zicheng, and he didn't look at Li Zicheng with his eyes, as if he was thinking about his own thoughts.

He took two steps closely, and since he entered the courtyard gate, he couldn't care about Wu Shaoling's mood at this time, turned over and knelt down in front of the chair, "Subordinate Li Zicheng knocked on his father-in-law, and may his father-in-law be as blessed as the long flowing water of the East China Sea, and his longevity will be better than that of Nanshan Mountain!" ”

"You can speak," Wu Shaoling's figure did not move, and there was almost no expression on his face, like a puppet, "Li Zicheng, you are not in Zhenhai Fort, what are you doing here to find our family?" ”

"Back to my father-in-law, my subordinates repelled a group of Mongols in the early hours of yesterday morning," Li Zicheng briefly recounted the night attack on the Mongols, "...... Because he got a war horse, he looked very majestic, and his subordinates estimated that in the whole of Xining, only his father-in-law was worthy of riding this war horse, so he personally sent it to his father-in-law! ”

"War horses? Where is it now? The corners of Wu Shaoling's mouth finally shook, but it was even more ugly than his calm face just now, "Have you ever looked for Zhao Feng?" ”

"Back to my father-in-law, the war horse is outside the gate of the mansion, and I can bring it in at any time," Li Zicheng lay on the ground, and he didn't dare to breathe, but he scolded in his heart: Ma Qiao's dead eunuch didn't let Lao Tzu get up to reply, but he said: "My subordinates have just entered Xining City, and I came directly to my father-in-law's mansion, and I didn't have time to see Lord Zhao." ”

"Ao, get up," Wu Shaoling's body leaned forward, turned back to the little servant and said: "Lead the war horse into the backyard, what kind of horse is it, our family has to see with our own eyes." He left his seat directly and went to the backyard, leaving Li Zicheng standing alone in the hall.

Li Zicheng is not standing, nor is he walking, pondering for a moment, since Wu Shaoling wants to see the horse, he might as well follow him, at the critical moment, he may be able to give some pointers, if he stays here alone, in case Wu Mansion is missing any valuables, wouldn't he be wronged as a thief?

He automatically tailed behind Wu Shaoling, and when he came to the backyard, Fu Ding had already led the war horse over, and Li Zicheng recognized it at a glance that it was the yellow horse he had sent.

"Sure enough, it's a good horse, more than one round bigger than the Mongolian horse," Wu Shaoling grinned, and when he saw Li Zicheng following behind, he asked, "How many more war horses are there?" ”

"How much?" Li Zicheng stumbled and almost fell at Wu Shaoling's feet, "Father-in-law, such a war horse, with long legs and a wide back, is rare in the world, and his subordinates gave it to his father-in-law, where will there be a second horse?" ”

"Hehe, our family forgot," Fortunately, Wu Shaoling didn't blame him, "How many other war horses did they get?" ”

"There are still three horses." Li Zicheng also wanted to intercept a few horses, so he had to be vague, and it was not a deception to count the war horses separately from ordinary horses.

"Only three?" Wu Shaoling was a little disappointed, and raised his hand to let Fu Ding take the yellow horse away, "Liaodong is in a critical situation, Your Majesty is furious, and wants to expand the Guanning cavalry, and begins to recruit horses across the country, Xining and Hetao are the first to bear the brunt, our family has sent more than 300 good war horses, and there are still more than 100 owed, and now the foals are not mature......"

"Horses?" Li Zicheng was shocked in his heart, no wonder Wu Shaoling was willing to meet him, it turned out that he had encountered a problem, and he faintly felt that he had caught up with an opportunity.

"Yes, Liaodong has endless military salaries every year, and it can't resist the Tartars, so what can little Xining do?" Wu Shaoling shook his head, his face was so gloomy that he could drip water, I don't know whether he was envious of Liaodong's military salary, or angry at the pressure of the imperial court, "Our family stays in Xining, a poor place, just for the sake of the imperial court's horse administration, but Xining grassland is too small, and there is a serious shortage of high-quality horses, so I have some experience in dealing with the Mongols, but there is a way to get some war horses?" ”

If Lao Tzu can get some war horses, will he be afraid of the Mongolian cavalry? Li Zicheng scolded secretly in his heart, but this was an opportunity to befriend Wu Shaoling, so he didn't want to let it go, pondered for a moment, and said: "My father-in-law needs a war horse, it's not impossible, but it will take some time." ”

"Then tell me, how long will it take to get a hundred war horses? And what price can be given? Wu Shaoling raised his eyes and looked at Li Zicheng, and there was some hope on his face, this hope was very weak, and he didn't even have joy, and he might still be thinking that Liaodong's large military salary was not worth him.

Price? Li Zicheng was ecstatic in his heart, he understood, Wu Shaoling was going to buy horses from the Mongols, he had planned it, just like last time, attacking the small tribes of the Mongols, doing some business, as for Wu Shaoling's silver, it is best to attribute it to himself, thinking of this, he hugged Wu Shaoling with a fist, "Father-in-law, the price of Mongolian war horses, each horse is not less than a hundred taels." ”

"If you can buy a war horse, a hundred war horses are only a few thousand taels of silver, the problem is that the Mongols value war horses more than life, and no matter how much silver they have, they will not sell them."

"Father-in-law," Li Zicheng knelt on the ground with a "poof", "There is a way for his subordinates to get fifty war horses, and the remaining fifty, can the father-in-law hand them over to Fuqiang Fort?" ”

Wu Shaoling immediately showed a look of contempt, and the corners of his mouth grinned, "Don't count on Fuqiang Fort, can they get war horses?" Don't you see that Zuo Yong and Sun Zhigang, the two subordinates of the general of 1,000, are only two or three hundred soldiers? He waved his hand again, motioning for Li Zicheng to get up and speak.

"Father-in-law, what the hell is going on?" When Li Zicheng originally saw them, he thought that the officers were eating empty salaries, and he didn't dare to ask, but now after listening to Wu Shaoling's words, I'm afraid it's not just about empty salaries.

"And not because of the Mongols? If they have the ability, Xiningwei will not gradually lose the excellent pastures of Jintan and Yintan, resulting in a serious shortage of pastures for stocking war horses," Wu Shaoling sighed, "Zicheng, you can fight, this matter of a hundred war horses, our family is counting on you, what are the conditions, just ask, our family will definitely meet you." ”

"Father-in-law," Li Zicheng's brain spun rapidly, how to maximize his own interests while getting a war horse, he soon had a draft, "The Mongols are wolves, if they can't pay attention to their combat power, they will be despised by them, they will not exchange materials with the weak, as long as our combat effectiveness is strong enough to maintain a deterrent to them, they are willing to sit down and talk, and the subordinates estimate that at that time, maybe eighty or ninety taels of silver, you can buy a war horse." ”

"Really? Self-contained, don't sell it, what do you have to do to buy a hundred war horses? Wu Shaoling's eyelids gave birth to a trace of fog, although he didn't believe Li Zicheng very much, but except for Li Zicheng, there was no other way but to rush to the doctor.

"In a word, let the subordinate hundred households have enough soldiers," Li Zicheng peeked in, and saw that Wu Shaoling's face was not angry, and continued: "Spears, shields, bows and arrows, armor, and food...... It really doesn't work, except for the food, the weapons can be paid half first, so that they can deceive the eyes of the Mongols. ”