As soon as it was dawn, the soldiers got up one after another, busily went to the vicinity to cut down trees, and set up two pontoon bridges over the Chagan River, which were so strong that not only people could walk, but even war horses could pass calmly.

After a hurried breakfast and a drink of the hot soup that the firefighters had prepared long ago, the sergeants did not rest, but crossed the river in an orderly manner.

Although there were only a few hundred people, when the war horses crossed the river, they were not as agile as the soldiers, and it took about a pillar of incense for the army to cross the Tea Horse River.

Along the Baoku River, but after traveling more than ten miles, they began to encounter scattered people, who were not afraid, but just looked at the Xining cavalry from a distance, as if they were paying attention.

Two of them refused to leave, and followed for a long time, but they did not dare to get too close.

Li Zicheng just wanted to ask, there are many rivers and abundant water sources here, why are there so few people, is there often war? So he sent his own soldiers up to question him.

Soon after, the soldiers brought back two plainly dressed civilians, "My lord, they are the retainers of the Great Toji Tanaka, and according to them, Tanaka was the largest Toast in the area of the Odori River!" ”

Li Zicheng was just about to speak, his eyes swept around, and he found that both of them had Caucasian characteristics, and he frowned unconsciously.

If you take a closer look, you should be considered a mixed-race person, with slightly blue pupils, deeply collapsed eye sockets, a towering and maverick nose, and that broad face, which is obviously different from the authentic Aryans, but a little like the Central Asians of later generations, especially the Kazakhs, if you don't look closely, the white characteristics on the body are not very outstanding, I don't know how many generations of hybridization with the yellow race, it has appeared now.

"Are you Han? What is your name? ”

"The villain's name is Tian Chun!"

"The villain's name is Tian Qiu, we are two brothers, and we are both retainers of the Great Toast! We are all Hui people, you ...... Maybe it's called the Lust Eye...... Tian Qiu stroked his chest with his right hand, bowed slightly, and said, "Allah bless the soldiers of the Ming Dynasty!" ”

Li Zicheng suddenly had a trace of disgust in his heart, like when he was eating porridge for breakfast, he suddenly found that the porridge was crawling by flies, but the people were praying for blessings, at least on the surface there was no hostility, so he said: "How many of you are there?" Are they all Hui people? ”

"Lord Hui, under the Great Tusi, there are more than a thousand Hui people," Tian Chun bowed slightly, also praying for blessings, "In addition, there are hundreds of Han people, who also belong to the jurisdiction of the Great Tusi!" ”

"The Han people belong to the jurisdiction of the Great Tusi?" Li Zicheng was puzzled, "Do these Han people pay taxes to Da Tusi?" Why not pay taxes to Xining? ”

"Xining?" A strange expression flashed in Tian Chun's eyes, "There is no Han government in the local area, and no Xining tax officials have come to collect taxes!" ”

"Oh!" Li Zicheng then remembered that south of Honghe Town, there is a side wall (the Great Wall), outside the side wall, there are not many Han people and arable land, the imperial court should have given up a long time ago, and I can't complain about others. ”

"Back to my lord, the Great Tusi Mansion is in Haomen Town!"

"Haomen Town?"

"From here, go north along the treasure house, after reaching the Chahan River, turn into the Chahan River Valley, cross the Daban Mountain, and then cross the Datong River, it is Haomen Town!"

Li Zicheng took the map of the army and found out the location of Haomen Town on the map, which should not be too far away, but it looked like dozens of miles.

Although the two brothers standing in front of them were Hui people, they not only could speak Chinese, but they also had no aversion to the Han people, Li Zicheng's heart throbbed, "So you know the path to Daban Pass?" When my army is on its way to conquer the Mongols, will you help us and show us the way? ”

"Conquest of the Mongols?" Tian Chun's face was happy, and said: "The Mongols rely on the speed advantage of war horses, often come to fight some grass valleys, brothers and sisters have been bullied by the Mongols, if the adults are to conquer the Mongols, our brothers are willing to lead the way for the army, that is, the big toast, and will also provide all possible help!" ”

The Hui people were also harassed by the Mongols, and they were resentful recently, but Li Zicheng did not expect that like the Han people, they are now on the opposite side of the Mongols......

If the Hui people see the strong combat effectiveness of the Han people, I don't know if they can form an invisible deterrent to them, in front of the Mongols and Hui people, Li Zicheng is not worried that the secret of the rifle will be leaked out, and now the whole of Xining and Gansu is their own territory, and they just tell the imperial court, and there is no opportunity and way.

However, Li Zicheng still had a trace of concern, so he said: "Are you a farmer or a herdsman?" ”

"We are all cultivators," Tian Qiu said: "Actually, the Han people are also cultivators, and it is said that during the Taizu period, they were all soldiers, half army and half civilian, but later...... The Han people are scattered everywhere, and the Han people who remained in Haomen Town are now only a few hundred left! ”

Since it is a cultivator, there is no problem, the territory of the big Tusi Tianzhong, north of the Daban Pass, should be near the road to Ganzhou, the last time I conquered Ganzhou, I don't know why I didn't find it, maybe the army went in a hurry, and the Hui people did not hinder the Xining army, so even if some soldiers found them, they would not care too much.

But the Han people that Tian Chun said are the soldiers of the Ming Dynasty who are also soldiers of the army and the people, which should be similar to Gansu, in order to support themselves, the soldiers implemented the military camp, but later the Ming strategy contracted, built a border wall in the area of Niangniang Mountain, gave up these lands, and some soldiers did not withdraw in time, so they settled down in the local area.

The imperial court was doing evil, not only in the Han and Tang dynasties, but even in the Taizu period, the land could not be saved.

However, for Li Zicheng, it is just an opportunity, the area of Dabanshan, at this time is almost a vacuum area, although the Hui people, Han people, and Mongols are playing here, but the forces of all parties are not large, in the eyes of the Xining army, in addition to the cavalry of the Maili cadres is a little worth paying attention to, like the more than 1,000 Hui people of the big Tusi in the middle of the field, they are no longer in the eyes at all, and there are hundreds of Han people in Haomen Town, if the strategy is right, maybe they can also be used as the internal response of the Xining army!

Haomen Town is located between Xining and Ganzhou, guarding the southern entrance of the Dadou Pull Valley, although the location is slightly off, but there are farmers here, a certain amount of cooked land has been developed, if you can open a county here, as a bridge between Xining and Ganzhou, the future will be more convenient.

This is the transportation hub between Xining and Ganzhou, and it must not fall into the hands of others!

Li Zicheng measured the number of people mentioned by the two, Kaifu is obviously insufficient, even if all the Hui people are included, it is only 2,000 people, which can only be regarded as a small town, but now the terrain is special, and the two capitals and thirteen divisions in the interior of the Ming Dynasty cannot be compared, even after hundreds of years, in this land, the population is still seriously insufficient.

A small town in the west has land equivalent to a county town in the interior, but its population is only equivalent to an administrative village.

The only reason is that there is a shortage of arable land to feed a large number of people, and in this vast land, the land that is difficult to develop such as mountains and deserts can usually reach seventy or eighty.

Even if it is a county, the population is too small, I don't know if there are people nearby, and it is far away from Xining, and there is no official road on the road, if it is attached to Xining Mansion in the future, it is really inconvenient to manage.

However, this is a matter of the future, and it is necessary to defeat the cavalry of Meligan before it is possible to plan for the future.

Li Zicheng looked at the almost uninhabited wilderness near and far, with dense hills, interspersed with unknown rivers, not to mention merchants, even ordinary people rarely see one, Tian Chun and Tian Qiu are far away from Haomen Town, what are you doing here?

He looked at the two of them and said lightly: "You are the retainers of the Great Tusi, why did you come to such a poor and remote place?" ”

Tian Chun and Tian Qiu glanced at each other, and suddenly fell to their knees, "Don't hide it from the adults, my lord can't bear the harassment of the Mongols, so he sends villains...... The villain went to Xining for help! ”

"Oh?" Li Zicheng's heart moved, and a stream of aura penetrated his brain, and he looked at the two Hui brothers with some playfulness, "Didn't the Mongols go south on a small scale?" Is it harassing you badly? ”

"My lord, the Mongols are simply not human," Tian Chun's body was still prostrate on the ground, but he raised his head slightly, peeking at Li Zicheng's face, "Every time the Mongols come to the vicinity of Haomen Town, they not only rob us of our property, but also burn, kill, and plunder, and do everything," his face suddenly revealed a trace of fear, as if the evil Mongols were in front of him, "The strong men were killed, the women were robbed, and some of the Mongols who were killed by heaven ...... them in front of their families"

Li Zicheng's face seemed to be a cold wind, and a layer of frost quickly appeared, "Then your big toast will not organize people to drive these Mongols out of Haomen Town?" ”

"The big toast also has its own house slaves, but it's a pity...... It's a pity that the Mongols have war horses, come and go like the wind, the house slaves can't resist the enemy at all, we have also gathered a large number of strong men, counting on ambushing the Mongols, but the cunning Mongols, once they find that the situation is not right, immediately ride away on horseback, and when we work, they may reappear at any time, we ...... We really can't do anything with them......"

"So, Da Tusi remembered Xining?" Li Zicheng had a gloomy face and said slowly: "Does Da Tusi pay taxes to Xining on weekdays?" ”

"Adult......" Tian Chun suddenly hesitated, "Weekdays...... No one from Xining came to Haomen, and Da Tusi said that if the adults could help drive away the Mongols, Da Tusi would definitely work ...... army."

"Get up and talk!" Li Zicheng smiled faintly and said in his heart: Da Tusi has a good calculation.

Lao Jun, in the final analysis, is just taking money to let the Xining Army work for the big Tusi, is the Xining Army reduced to someone else's mercenary? If the Mongols can be defeated, Da Tusi will definitely take out some money and grain to comfort the Xining army, but what if the Xining army is defeated?

Although the Xining Army lacks money and food, what the big toast can come up with, Li Zicheng still can't look down on!

The only thing that can interest Li Zicheng is this sentence of Da Tusi.

As long as the Xining army defeated the Mongols, the content of the labor army was not the final word of the Great Tusi, and in this era of no international law, the right to speak would always be in the hands of the victor.