Li Mengkong and the three of them felt that Mingyueji was prosperous today because of the regulations similar to Mingyuezhuang, which protected the interests of small and medium-sized merchants and traveling merchants, and resisted the erosion of brokerage elders, tooth and white officials, and black and white forces.

The profit margin of the Hanjiang workshop is not high, and it mainly depends on small and medium-sized merchants and traveling merchants to survive. The Han River, west of the Danjiang Estuary, is like a young beast, swallowing rice, grain, salt, tea, iron ore and cloth every day, producing clothes, hats, shoes and socks, household iron, farm tools and paper, and absorbing nutrients from the process.

Jinghu grain merchants have a favorable geographical location and have gained a lot from the grain trade; The tea plantations in the south of the Yangtze River are all over the place, the looms are gathered, and the local large households rely on the tea silk to make a lot of money; The land of Sichuan and Shu is rich in natural treasures, rich in production, and breeds wealthy merchants in Sichuan and Shu; Fujian people went to the sea to fight for their lives, shipped out the three pieces of the Great Zhou, and then transported back the jewelry and spices, as long as they survived, they were also very profitable.

Mingyueji, the foundation is too weak, except for the iron-making workshop and ironware workshop in Mingyuezhuang, almost all of them produce handmade objects. The commodities that are not available are the biggest flaws of Mingyueji.

The gentry always want to squeeze more profits, but few people have thought that the industry in which Mingyueji does not have an advantage can withstand the toss.

Wang San relies on various advanced concepts and means to continuously optimize the management of Mingyuezhuang, reduce the loss of interests, and carefully care for the growth of Mingyueji, so as to extract a little bit of benefits. Most of them are obtained by renting shops and selling houses.

If some people are allowed to mess around, within two or three months, most of the merchants in Mingyueji will run away, and most of the workshops along the Han River will also be closed.

Li Mengkong, Zhang Wanli and Zhao Bo can only think of so much. Coincidentally, Wang San's thoughts were almost the same.

The snow in the Qinling Mountains fell all night.

The cold wind in Longxi Pass passed through the Qinling Mountains and reached the Nanyang Basin, where it weakened a lot. Mingyuezhuang is located at the junction of the southeast foot of the Qinling Mountains and Funiu Mountain, and there are mountains and forests in the north, so it is not difficult to endure in winter.

Sanwang Village in the west of Mingyuezhuang is more difficult to endure in winter. There are not many mountains here, and the mountains and forests are not dense, so they cannot effectively resist the cold wind. There must be losses and gains, and the trade road through the Qinling Mountains takes this as the starting point.

After Li Xiang woke up, he and his guards packed up the tent, and the group followed Liu Decheng and Ding Shihang to Sanwangzhai.

The wind blows the snow and lifts it to the sky.

Li Xiang and his guards disguised themselves as caravans, entered Sanwang Village, and shook off the snow slag on their bodies while looking at the west portal of Mingyuezhuang.

The walls, watchtowers and arrow houses of Sanwangzhai have been restored, the trenches have been re-dug and the ground thorn traps have been renovated. Several small mines in the vicinity were still prolific, and the shouting of coolies could be heard from time to time in the wind.

In the outer area of Sanwangzhai, there were hundreds of people and more than 20 cars. The voices of livestock and people mingled and the noise was incessant......

Li Xiang was surprised.

The thin middle-aged man stationed in Sanwangzhai was a close confidant of Liu Chengdong, who was injured in his early years and had to wait for death. After Liu Chengdong recruited An, he entrusted this old brother to Li Xiang, and of course Li Xiang couldn't be treated badly.

The chief officer of Sanwangzhai gave up the best room, and then retired from his work, thinking: Oh terrible! The little farmer came suddenly, and he had to lift his spirits. The caravan outside should also be optimistic, if something goes wrong, the eldest brother will not pick the skin of Lao Tzu!

Li Xiang called his cronies in Sanwangzhai, encouraged him, and continued to talk with Liu Decheng and Ding Shihang.

Ding Shihang was very good at talking, and when he came up, he asked first: "Master, did you sleep peacefully in the tent last night?" ”

Li Xiang took a sip of hot tea and nodded, "The wind in Qinling is indeed strong. Fortunately, a few of the guards were from Orion, and they were looking for a good place, otherwise the tent would not have been able to hold up. The tents, sleeping bags, and marching stoves are still unusable, and they have to be changed, and those people in the public school are slacking off. ”

Liu Decheng is a kind person, and he did not fall into the ground, but explained to the craftsmen in the village, "The old craftsmen can't keep up with the old brothers, and the young craftsmen work too hard, and there are some negligence." ”

Li Xiang shook his head, "Mingyue Village will not lack enemies. The old battalion must attack at any time, and the garrison may also cooperate with the battle, and if there is a problem with the marching tents and sleeping bags, at least half of them will freeze to death in such weather. ”

"As long as it is not a taboo business, the owner of the village intends to let the villagers do it. Just like this tent, it is chosen by the public middle school and the veterans together, which one is better to choose. There are also craftsmen in the village, who just had a good life for a few days, and they don't want to suffer with their brother Lao Ying. After returning home, the owner of the village stipulated that if he wanted a higher position and better treatment, he had to stay in the old camp for a while......"

The elder battalion and the guards are the foundation of Mingyuezhuang, and Li Xiang cannot afford to be sloppy.

Liu Decheng and Ding Shihang nodded again and again when they listened, they had already seen that those hypocritical craftsmen were not pleasing to the eye.

After talking about the materials in the army, Li Xiang mentioned the caravan outside, "In the cold winter, how can there be caravans passing by?" ”

Liu Decheng coughed twice and looked at Ding Shihang, Ding Shihang blushed and said, "Master, the seven caravans in the outer village are all returning from the north......"

Since Ding Shihang and Jing Xinyi opened two trade routes and earned the first pot of gold, Mingyue Zhuangmin and the displaced people along the Han River have set up armed caravans.

The Qinling Trade Road is mainly divided into two, one leads to Shangluo in the northwest of Mingyuezhuang, and the other leads to Song County in the northeast of Mingyuezhuang.

The development of the trade road was accompanied by bloodshed, which greatly accelerated the speed of Mingyuezhuang's conquest of the Qinling Mountains. The villages along the way either coveted the interests of the trade route or wanted to keep their own doors, and there were fierce clashes with the caravanserais.

The caravan sold the production of Mingyuezhuang and the salt, grain, tea and cloth to the villages along the way, and transported the rest to Shangluo and Song counties, and brought precious timber, tung oil, medicinal materials, prey, and gold, silver and copper ore on the return journey. The profit is not high, but it is relatively stable, and if you manage it well, you can also expand the caravan.

The villages in the eastern part of the Qinling Mountains fiercely resisted, fighting against swords, guns and arrows with flesh and blood, and even extreme events such as the "Luanchuan Massacre" occurred. However, the Qinling Trade Road has been opened, how can the aboriginal mountain people, who lack oil and salt, and who are malnourished, resist the endless stream of Mingyue villagers who are red-eyed to make money, and the Han River homeless people?

What's more, Li Xiang, out of long-term considerations, never forbade Zhuang Min to buy weapons other than crossbows. As long as you are not in Mingyue Castle, you can also walk around with weapons at will.

The weapon workshop directly under Mingyue Zhuang Gongzhong, as well as several private workshops, have never stopped production. Straight bows, arrows, single knives, spears and shields are the best-selling weapons, and of course there is Li Xiang's guidance.

Mingyue Zhuangmin, who wanted to live a good life but had no money to set up a workshop, relied on the preferential policies of Gongzhong to buy a large number of straight bows and arrows and single-knife spears. If you are willing to spend money, you can also buy a few pieces of bamboo armor. That is to say, from the very beginning, many killings were taken by the route of armed caravans, and if they could make money, they would do business well, and if they couldn't make money, they would have to rely on knives to speak.

The reason why the aborigines in the eastern part of the Qinling Mountains have a grudge against Mingyuezhuang is that in addition to fighting against each other, several murderous armed caravans have made great contributions.

In a few days, the mountains will be covered with heavy snow, and many caravans will dispose of their things to the villages along the way, and rush back in a hurry. Sanwangzhai can rest, so Li Xiang saw the scene in front of Sanwangzhai.

Now more than a dozen caravans active in the Qinling Mountains are all controlled by the people of Mingyuezhuang.

Qinling is Li Xiang's own land, and external forces cannot be allowed to interfere, and the workshops of the Xiang army and the displaced people can borrow the Qinling trade road to ship, but they cannot engage in their own caravans.

"Some caravans followed the old brothers' battalions, reselling weapons and booty, and doing too much evil to the villages along the way. When marching towards the Qinling Mountains in the central part of the country, it must be strictly controlled, and those killings must not be allowed to mess around. Li Xiang made up his mind that he would rather slow down the speed of attacking the Qinling Mountains than completely change his approach.

Li Xiang's worries are not superfluous. The people of Mingyuezhuang don't treat the people of Qinling Mountain as people, and of course the people of Qinling Mountain have to resist desperately.

After talking about the question of the armed caravan, Li Xiang mentioned one more thing, "Decheng, you mean that there is a big gap between the soldiers who have seen blood and the ordinary recruits?" ”

Liu Decheng nodded with a serious expression, "Soldiers who have never seen blood will sweat, pant and hold their weapons unsteadily before going into battle." After going into battle, my legs and stomach are weak, or I am stunned and don't know what to do. Some recruits cut at the enemy, their brains buzzed, and they even vomited on the spot. Just like the disciples back then, cough cough. ”

Ding Shihang also felt deeply about this, "Thanks to the good rules implemented by the little master, otherwise it would be bad." All the work such as slaughtering in the village is handed over to the recruits, cleaning up the battlefield and disposing of prisoners, and only the recruits who have never seen blood can take over, which is too useful. The coolie battalion and dungeon are also guarded by recruits, and they can train some courage to some extent. ”

"The soldiers of the old battalion are constantly changing, but there is never a shortage of brave soldiers who have seen blood, plus the care of veterans...... Except for a few ambushes, there was no collapse of the battle array. ”

Li Xiang nodded, his heart was dangerous.

In fact, Li Xiang's strict practice of recruiting soldiers in the village was mainly out of intuition. He felt that seeing blood was very important for forming combat power, but he didn't expect it to come true. On the other hand, it is to maximize the use of resources, and the process of slaughtering chickens, ducks, geese, sheep, pigs and cattle is also a kind of killing and cannot be wasted.

Only the people in the new barracks can use the knife to see the blood, and this system is slandered by the majority of Zhuang people, but strange things have happened, and there are fewer and fewer Zhuang people who are amused by this system. Most people gradually realized something, and as for how useful such a system is, it can only be seen by the wise and the wise.

Have you ever seen the scene of a stump and a broken arm, have you ever cleaned up the battlefield covered with blood, and have you ever cut people...... The gap between the recruits was so big, Li Xiang was shocked.

According to Liu Decheng's observation, a veteran can take care of one recruit at most, and if there are more, it will be dangerous to encounter emergencies.

Ding Shihang also said that although Mingyuezhuang was very diligent in the training of recruits, pulling the new barracks of Mingyuezhuang to Qinling would be a tie with the poor and white mountain people at most. If the recruits are mostly panicked, or if they encounter an unexpected situation, they can collapse at any time.

Li Xiang rubbed his brows and said in his heart: "My previous thoughts were too naïve." Always thinking about spending less money and fewer deaths, and when the time is ripe and the money is enough, he will directly send a large amount of equipment and crush the enemy army by numbers......"

"It's a mistake at the root. The Red Army of the original time and space, after decades of hard work, is invincible in the world, and he looks down on the people of the world too much! ”

"Even if you are equipped with ironclad steel knives and gunpowder bullets. Don't dare to fight hand-to-hand, seeing that the bloody legs and stomach are weak, such troops can only deliver food to the other party. A well-equipped and well-trained army is still far from a daring army, let alone an elite division. If you want a more reliable army, you still have to plan it slowly, keep sharpening, and you can't be anxious! ”

It has been less than five years since he came to Da Zhou, and Li Xiang still remembers many things.

Unscrupulous media hurt people! In Li Xiang's heart, South American grass and mud horses galloped by.

Do you want to tell the two protégés that Da Zhou is on a ball, and there is a lot of land on the ball besides Da Zhou? Li Xiang thought evilly.

That night, Li Xiang, the owner of Mingyue Village, appeared in Sanwang Village and had a banquet with his cronies, subordinates, and protégés until late at night.

Mingyuezhuang. Liu Xiadu was the first to receive the news, and he said to the recruited cronies: "Li Xiang has finally appeared, and the other six households have been notified that the plan is ahead of schedule." ”

Bright Moon Collection. Dozens of merchants got the news an hour after dark, the big merchants watched, and the small and medium-sized merchants were very anxious.

The Huang family's mansion. Huang Liren got the news in the middle of the night, and the old man crumpled the information into a ball, threw it into the fire, and said to Huang Chengen: "Talk to those martial artists and several other gentry." Whether you can take Mingyuezhuang and get rid of Li Xiang depends on before the New Year's Festival. ”

When the appointed date came, Liu Susu's team no longer hid the news of the owner's departure. Besides, a team of several hundred people entered Nanyang, and Li Xiang's whereabouts were difficult to keep secret. After half a pillar of incense, several fast horses went out of Nanyang and reported to their respective masters.

The best inn in Nanyang, Liu Susu's room.

Xiao Jiang Lan was plucking the silk thread in Liu Susu's hand, Liu Susu was holding the silk thread with both hands, moving her position from time to time, teasing Xiao Jiang Lan.

Xiao Jiang Lan was very smart and took over the silk thread in Liu Susu's hand with her small hand, and the silk thread changed shape. The little girl was happy and lost.

Drooping her little head, Jiang Lan asked Aunt Susu, "Is Uncle Li Xiang going to fight the bad guys?" ”

"yes." Liu Susu grabbed the little girl's braid and scratched it on the little girl's apple face.

"Uncle Li Xiang is very powerful, and he will definitely beat away the bad guys."

"Of course!"