"What do you mean, do you mean that we want to defend this pasture?" Liu Yunshui's eyes suddenly flashed with a snatching light, for him, holding Jinyintan would give him a chance to fight the Mongols.

"This was originally the land of the Ming Dynasty, but it was only when the Mongols went south that they took this grassland from Xiningwei," Li Zicheng smiled faintly, "We have now received the materials from Xiningwei, and we are the people of Xiningwei, shouldn't we take back this land?" ”

"My lord, there is no danger to defend here, in case the Mongols come, what will happen to the herdsmen who stay here?" Liu Yunshui hesitated for a moment, and couldn't help but say, "Or do we want to leave the cavalry here to protect this pasture?" ”

Li Zicheng raised his head and stared into the distance, in his memory, there was neither a military fort nor a pass in this area, and the herdsmen were indeed unable to protect themselves, it seemed that he was still too anxious, "Our cavalry is only a few dozen people, even if we stay, it is difficult to ensure the safety of the herdsmen, and Zhenhai Fort is our foundation, and the cavalry cannot be stationed here." ”

"My lord, what then?" Liu Yunshui also had no choice, so he could only ask Li Zicheng for advice, he gradually became similar to Li Guo, and when he encountered a thorny problem, he sought Li Zicheng for advice.

Li Zicheng has no good way for the time being, his soldiers are too few, and they can't fight against the Mongolian cavalry in one place, let alone divide the troops, but this problem will be solved sooner or later, "Yunshui, north of the Jinyintan grassland, there is an ancient city left over from the Han Dynasty, called 'Triangle City', do you know?" ”

"What do you mean, do you want to restore the ancient city?" Liu Yunshui didn't know about this ancient city, let alone its location, "But to restore the ancient city, it doesn't take three or two days, and it requires a lot of silver, will Wei Li agree?" When the time comes, we will have to divide our troops and garrison them, and we will only have more than 100 soldiers......"

"It's okay with the soldiers, Gonggong Wu said that as long as we give him a war horse, he will promote me to a thousand households and allow me to expand the army." Li Zicheng was worried about the silver, he didn't know if Gonggong Wu agreed to restore the ancient city, he thought about it, and he couldn't find a reason for Gonggong Wu to agree, and suddenly, he had an idea: build the city by himself.

As long as Wu Shaoling nodded and agreed, he could organize soldiers to build the city, between the ancient city and Zhenhai Fort, there was a large amount of pasture, and this pasture would be the army's own pasture, with this interest driven, the ancient city was more practical for his own army than Xiningwei.

There was a plan in his heart, but Li Zicheng's face did not change, "Yunshui, horses, cattle and sheep should be the pioneers to rush back, the matter of restoring the ancient city, I will talk about it later, I want to conduct a field investigation, and I also need Weili's consent." ”

Knowing that Li Zicheng did not give up, Liu Yunshui was relieved, he knew that in the current situation, without Wei Li's strong support, it would be impossible to restore the ancient city.

When he went back, because of the fetters of cattle and sheep, the speed of the march was extremely slow, fortunately there were no Mongolian cavalry along the way, Li Zicheng rested in Bayan Gorge for one night, slaughtered some sheep, and the soldiers had a big meal, and then rushed back to Zhenhai Fort.

This time, there were more than 200 war horses, together with the original more than 70 horses, and now the total number of war horses is close to 300, and there are some underage foals, deducting the 100 horses that will be delivered to Wu Shaoling, there are nearly 200 horses, and the number of people is close to two.

Li Zicheng does not plan to deliver a hundred war horses at one time#, if Wu Shaoling feels that the war horses are too easy, maybe the number of war horses will be increased.

On the afternoon of 14 June, Li Zicheng came to Xining, he first came to Wufu, and when he saw that he was an acquaintance, he did not make trouble and immediately reported it, and Wu Shaoling met him in his study this time.

Although Gonggong Wu knows a few words, he is by no means an elegant person, and the decorations in the study, except for some historical documents as a façade, most of them are account books, and when he met Li Zicheng in the study, most of them regarded Li Zicheng as his own person.

Li Zicheng entered the study, Wu Shaoling was holding an account book and looking at it carefully, sometimes frowning, sometimes smiling, petal-like wrinkles swimming on his face like a small snake with his eyelids, he stood in front of him, not daring to move, until Wu Shaoling raised his head, he knelt down, "Subordinates knock to see Grandpa Wu." ”

"Self-contained? Here, you're welcome, sit down! Wu Shaoling closed the account book, still on the corner of the square table, "How about it, did you get the war horse?" ”

"Back to my father-in-law, my subordinates are fortunate not to be dishonored!" Li Zicheng thanked him again and again, and only then did he drop half of his butt on a wooden chair on the side.

Wu Shaoling's face maintained a modest smile, and he couldn't see any special joy, "Are they all good horses?" What about the price? ”

"Father-in-law Hui, they are all war horses that are being used by the Mongols, and they are definitely good horses," Li Zicheng clasped his hands into fists and saluted Wu Shaoling, "The price lord is reasonable, and he said that each war horse is eighty-five taels of silver, but it is ......."

"But what?" Wu Shaoling's face turned pale, "If you have anything to say, you might as well say it directly." ”

"Father-in-law, the Mongols said that they have silver, and it is useless, and I hope that my father-in-law will allow them to use this silver to buy some food and materials, and the Mongols did not say when they would buy it, only that they would need it in the future."

Wu Shaoling pondered for a long time, and his face was relieved, "Okay, no one can do anything in the future, they can buy some grain and salt, but pig iron will not work," and said to Li Zicheng: "Zicheng, if you do this, our family will also count your credit." ”

"Thank you, father-in-law!" Li Zicheng was happy in his heart, buying a horse is also considered a military merit? Besides, what he did was a completely capitalless business, and the more than 4,000 taels of silver he bought for horses all fell into his own pocket, "His subordinates and the Mongols struggled to talk, and at this price, they refused to let go." ”

"Eighty-five taels, it's not too expensive," Wu Shaoling calculated for a while, and it was only more than four thousand taels of silver, "Where are the horses?" How is it delivered? ”

"Father-in-law, the horses will arrive tomorrow, but the Mongols are not at ease, they ask for one hand to pay the money, and the other hand to deliver, and they will be cut in Xining City."

"It's okay to deliver in Xining," Wu Shaoling nodded, his gaze stayed on Li Zicheng's face for a moment, "Zicheng, next month's fifty war horses must be delivered on time, if the hundred war horses are gathered, our family will promote you to a thousand households, and others dare not say more." ”

"Thank you, father-in-law!" Li Zicheng pretended to be and knelt down again.

"You don't need to be polite, this is our family's study, not the lobby of Weili," Wu Shaoling's face finally showed a happy smile, this smile was not the etiquette at the beginning, "As long as you follow our family, it will be a matter of time before you are promoted." ”

"The subordinates understand that the subordinates must only look forward to the father-in-law's horse!"

"What else do you want to ask for this time?" Wu Shaoling picked up the teacup, took a small sip, stuck a piece of tea in his mouth, and bit it gently.

"Father-in-law, subordinate...... Can my father-in-law allocate sufficient food and salary to his subordinates? Li Zicheng squeaked.

"Don't worry about this, since you are asked to do things, how can there be a reason for lack of food and salary?" Wu Shaoling spit out the tea foam in his mouth, "Do you have any other requirements?" ”

"Father-in-law," Li Zicheng paused for a moment, attracting Wu Shaoling's attention, and then said: "The Mongolians near Zhenhai Fort, the horses are almost sold, and if you want to buy another good horse, you must go deep into the grassland, but those places are too far away from Zhenhai Fort, and your subordinates want to ......."

"If you have anything to say, you might as well say it directly!" Hearing that it was to buy war horses, Wu Shaoling was not angry.

"The subordinates want to establish a small stronghold east of the West Sea to facilitate contact with the Mongols."

"A stronghold? Is self-formation to build a city? ”

"My subordinates heard that there is an ancient city of the Han Dynasty on the east coast of the West Sea, called Triangle City, although the castle has long been destroyed in the war, but most of the stone walls are still there, how can it be repaired, and then use this as a base to contact the Mongols, it is much more convenient," paused, and said: "Father-in-law, the war horse is the treasure of the Mongols, one or two negotiations, it is difficult to succeed." ”

Wu Shaoling spread his hands, "How much silver does it need?" We don't have many people in our hands! ”

"Father-in-law, it is summer at this time, the weather is warm, you can call the nearby herdsmen to help repair the city wall, as for the city, if you don't have time to build a military camp, you can use a camp tent for the time being, and your subordinates estimate that there are ten thousand taels of silver, maybe you can pull up the frame."

"Ten thousand taels?" Wu Shaoling's face showed displeasure, "Self-contained, 10,000 taels of silver is not a small amount, do you think this is Liaodong, there is endless silver?" ”

Ma Qiao, in order to shirk the responsibility of losing land in Xining, was willing to buy war horses from the Mongols with 10,000 taels of silver, and when it came to recovering the lost land, he had no silver, Li Zicheng knew that his arms could not twist his thighs, he did not give in, he could not get the support of Wu Shaoling, and he would definitely not be able to restore the triangle city, "Father-in-law, subordinates can let soldiers participate in the construction of the city, which can not only speed up the speed, but also save silver taels." ”

"That's fine," Wu Shaoling sighed, seemingly reluctant, "but the salary of the Xining guards is not sufficient, and our family can't support a lot of silver taels," after a pause, he said: "Give you a thousand taels to see if you can restore the city wall first, this is our family's greatest sincerity." ”

"Thank you, father-in-law!" Li Zicheng bowed his hand, a thousand taels is also good, he didn't plan to ask Wu Shaoling for silver, this eunuch who grew up in the palace, in addition to power and silver, will definitely not be interested in losing land, as long as he nods and agrees, now it is considered a thousand taels for nothing.

Li Zicheng wants to build a city this time, not to open up territory for Xiningwei, but for himself, if the triangle city restores the garrison, then pastures like Jinyintan will contribute a large number of cattle and sheep under the protection of the army, and he still has some foals in his hands, only with enough pasture, these foals will become war horses sooner or later.

The Han himself, now reduced to competing with the Mongols for pasture, Li Zicheng smiled self-deprecatingly.

Wu Shaoling thought that Li Zicheng was very satisfied with one thousand taels of silver, "Zicheng, the other fifty war horses depend on you." ”

"Father-in-law, don't worry, it's half a month at the earliest, and it's a month at the latest, and your subordinates will definitely get together fifty war horses!" Li Zicheng now has nearly three hundred war horses in his hands, and he won't need them for a while, and he will have to consume forage if he stays around, so it is better to give them to Wu Shaoling earlier, but he can't be too impatient, otherwise it will be self-defeating.