Li Yan asked Hao Shiren, who was waiting outside, to call in.

After Hao Shiren came in, he bowed to Li Yan and said respectfully: "My subordinates have seen the general. ”

Li Yan raised his hand and said, "Don't be polite, get up and speak." Waiting for Hao Shiren to straighten up, Li Yan continued: "I have checked, you have done a good job in the past few months, the price of the purchase is appropriate, the quality is passable, and you have not embezzled property. You have to keep it up, and at the end of the year, it will give you a reward. ”

"General Xie." Hao Shiren hurriedly hugged his fists and said: "The villain, a person who is about to starve to death, was taken in by Gongzi and entrusted with a heavy responsibility, where do you dare to have any wrong ideas." The humble duty is only willing to be loyal to the son, in order to repay the son's life. ”

Li Yan nodded and smiled: "Then I can't let my loyal subordinates just have a good life." However, let's still scandalize and say ahead, there are rewards for doing well, and punishment is indispensable for doing badly. ”

"The general's teachings, humble duties must be kept in mind." Hao Shiren said with trepidation.

Li Yan asked, "How is the contact about the copper material?" ”

"I am incompetent, and I have only bought 2,000 catties so far." Hao Shiren bowed down and pleaded guilty.

Li Yan gave him the task of 5,000 catties, and he couldn't just build one cannon, so he had to get more back. The main thing is to be in a hurry, after this time, you will have to wait for another year, and you really can't afford to delay.

Li Yan frowned and said, "Can you get in touch with some more?" ”

Hao Shiren replied: "I am talking to a merchant, he can supply 1,500 catties, but the price is slightly higher." The asking price is four hundred taels, which is more expensive than minting money. ”

Li Yan instructed: "Continue to talk to him and tell him that we are not a one-shot deal here, and we can cooperate for a long time." It is best to negotiate before the end of October. ”

"Subordinates obey." Hao Shiren gave up his hand.

Li Yan asked again: "Have you bought other things such as tin, fine iron, saltpeter, sulfur, and flint?" ”

Hao Shiren immediately replied: "These have been purchased and put in the warehouse." ”

Li Yan was quite satisfied and said, "Well, that's good." Pay attention to the safety of safekeeping, and don't be taken advantage of by small people. ”

"The security here is fine, after all, it is such a large transit place, and there are troops stationed there. And there are enough people here, according to your instructions to work in three shifts, they are not tired, and there should be no problem in terms of safety. Hao Shiren explained.

Li Yan said: "Well, these things are a total of 1,300 taels, in addition to the 700 taels that have been paid, there are 600 taels to pay. In addition to the six hundred taels for you this time, I will leave you another thousand taels. ”

Hao Shiren knew that Li Yan already had a thorough understanding of the operation here, so he was more careful and dared not have the intention of embezzlement. He cautiously agreed: "The humble position must make good use of this money, and dare not waste it in the slightest." ”

"When you talk about business, you can pay from this." Li Yan said: "But every sum of money must be reported clearly, and it must be checked every three months." ”

"I understand my humble duties, and General Xie is compassionate." Hao Shiren immediately bowed down and thanked him. Reserving such a large amount of money for him is a trust in him, but regular inspections are a precaution against him, which really makes him a little frightened.

Li Yan sent Hao Shiren away, and ordered the soldiers to load the car first, and they had to leave early tomorrow morning.

Early the next morning, Li Yan took the convoy on the road. There is no direct road between Zhuxian Town and Qixian, so they can only make a detour to Kaifeng first, and then return to Qixian this time.

Li Yan did not enter Kaifeng again, since he had already decided to fight against the imperial court, it was better not to go to see Li Chunyu easily, so as not to implicate them.

"Stop!" When they were about to arrive in Qixian County in the afternoon, a big man flashed out of the grass on the side of the road and blocked their way. Holding the waist knife, he shouted loudly: "I opened this road, I planted this tree, if you want to cross this road, leave the road to buy money!" ”

As the big man shouted, a group of people ran out of the grass and woods, blocking both ends of the road.

Sun Sifu ordered loudly: "Array!" ”

When the soldiers saw the thieves, they prepared their bows and crossbows and spears. Li Yan's own soldiers rode on their horses and drew their swords to protect Li Yan, and the other two teams of guards began to divide into north and south sides. The pikemen stood at the front, they did not carry shields, because they all wore chain mail under their clothes.

Li Yan looked at the thief and ordered: "If anyone dares to approach twenty steps, kill immediately!" ”

The thieves all stood still with their knives and guns, but they knew the power of the crossbow arrows, and their clothes or leather armor could not stop them. Moreover, these people also have cavalry, but they didn't expect this caravan to be so strong.

A middle-aged man walked out, and after looking at it for a while, he shouted loudly: "Is Li Yan and Li Gongzi on the other side?" ”

Li Yan looked over on the horse and felt that this middle-aged man seemed to have seen it somewhere. So he nodded to Sun Sifu.

After Sun Sifu received Li Yan's signal, he shouted loudly: "It is Li Gongzi." Who are you? Don't let your people get closer to twenty paces, or you'll be killed! ”

The man handed the knife in his hand to the person next to him, and a person stepped forward and said, "The villain is Ma Tianhe." Last year, he also robbed Gongzi here, and Gongzi not only did not punish him, but also left two bags of grain for us. As he spoke, he knelt down, kowtowed to Li Yan and said, "The villain thanked the son for his life." ”

Li Yan finally remembered at this time, it was these people who shouted the same cut-out lines to rob the road last time. Then he said loudly, "It is you, get up." Since they are acquaintances, let your people withdraw first, so that they confront each other, and it is easy to cause accidental injuries. ”

The middle-aged man stood up and shouted to his people, "Stand back, put away your weapons." This is Li Gongzi, the Li Gongzi who gave us food last year. ”

The thieves were talking to each other and began to retreat. Others came out and made a gesture in the direction of Li Yan, and then left the road with the others.

Li Yan got off the horse, asked Ma Tianhe to come over, and asked curiously, "Why didn't you rob me when I came?" ”

Ma Tianhe replied: "We know so many things, they must be Li Gongzi's things, so we didn't dare to make a mistake." ”

"Then why did you come out and rob it again now?" Li Yan asked with a smile.

Ma Tianhe said embarrassedly: "What is going this way is not necessarily Li Gongzi's thing." Let's come out and see, as much as we can stay, and everyone will eat. ”

Li Yan pointed to the barren fields in the distance and asked, "With so much wasteland, won't there be grain when they are opened?" Also, this place is so close to Deqi County, why don't you go to my place? ”

Ma Tianhe said with a wry smile: "If you open it, you will also pay taxes to the government, and we are not willing to extort them." We have heard that there is a field in Qixian County, but many brothers feel that they eat meat in large pieces and drink freely in big bowls, and they don't want to go to that bitterness anymore. Brothers are the most righteous, so let's be free here. ”

Li Yan smiled: "Then let it be." If you have iron ore, copper ore, saltpeter, and sulfur in your hands, you can go to Qixian to exchange grain with me. ”

Ma Tianhe arched his hand and said: "Then thank you Gongzi for giving us this way." ”

Li Yan nodded, got on the horse and arched his hand: "Let's go first, we'll have a date later." ”

"Congratulations to Mr. Li." Ma Tianhe clasped his fists and saluted.