The castle on the bluestone road originally did not have a gate to the north leading to the grassland, but when the Mantar broke through for the third time, it forcibly removed a section of the side wall that was more than 20 zhang long, and from here it was free to enter and exit.

It is said that when the castle is rested, this section of the side wall should be completely blocked, so as to separate the north and the south. However, Chen Yue did not do this, but ordered to set aside a passage for carriages to enter and exit, and then cut down the pine trees on the mountain to make a thick city gate, so that his army could also enter the grassland in the future.

After repairing this side wall, instead of building a two-story fortress, rows of civil houses were built next to the side wall. Based on the felled wood, they are sandwiched with wooden boards, and the middle is filled with a mass of wet soil with thatch, and a wall is built, and the roof is covered with wooden planks, and the planks are covered with dried thatch, and the thatch and the planks are glued together with wet mud. It only takes more than a month, and when the roof and mud walls are dry, it will be a house that is enough to shelter from the wind and rain. More than 300 such houses were built, each of which could accommodate soldiers with a small banner, and all the houses could accommodate more than 5,000 people if they were full.

All the earthen houses are built against the side walls, and in winter, the thick and tall side walls keep out the north wind from the hunt. In the middle of the castle, there are several houses made of stones, much higher and wider than the other earthen houses, all of which have been removed from the original abandoned castle, and these houses are the warehouses of the entire army, where a large amount of food and ordnance is stored. One of them is Chen Yue's official hall, in the middle of the house is a hall, divided into several small single rooms on both sides, is the center of the entire Qingshikou, Chen Yue and several of his staff live here.

To the south of the official hall is a large open space, which is a reserved school field, where other soldiers have to practice except for the officers and soldiers who are on duty every day.

Just when more than 1,000 officers and soldiers were busy building their own camps, Zhang Chengkai, who had been away for half a month, came back from Xuanfu, and there was also a caravan with him, bringing a large number of daily necessities.

The owner of the caravan was a middle-aged man in his thirties, named Fan Tianyu, who was a side branch of the Fan family in Shanxi. According to Zhang Chengkai, after he arrived in Xuanfu, he first visited Tang Tong, the chief soldier of Xuanfu, and heard that after Chen Yue served as the garrison of Qingshikou, Tang Tong was very enthusiastic and hospied Zhang Chengkai and his party, but when Zhang Chengkai asked for assistance with some materials, Tang Tong complained again and again, saying that he had just arrived in Xuanfu, and there were military governors and other senior officials, he did not have much real power, and the military supplies were in the hands of civilian officials, and he could not be autonomous, so he only aided a few stones of salt and some special products, and let Zhang Chengkai bring them back. However, Tang Tong introduced Fan Chun, the eldest young master of the Fan family, to Zhang Chengkai.

After learning that the Xishan Army was going to build a fort in Qingshikou, Fan Chun was very enthusiastic and immediately ordered a large amount of materials to be drawn from all over the country, and his brother Fan Tianyu personally led the team to Qingshikou with the caravan.

Fan Tianyu looks like he has read books for a few years, he is gentle and elegant, polite, and very good at talking, and often a few words can make people feel good, like a spring breeze. However, when talking about the price of goods, it is a different situation, an iron pot actually costs three coins of silver, the price is three times that of Jingshi, oil, salt, sauce and vinegar, pots and pans, bedding, cotton clothes, mats, wooden basins, and the price of all kinds of daily necessities are much higher than that of Jingshi.

"Your price is too high!" Chen Yue shook his head and said.

"My lord, you don't know, these goods are purchased from Taiyuan, Shanxi and other places, transported thousands of miles to Xuanfu, and then walked more than 200 miles from Xuanfu to here, and you have never heard of the hardships of the journey. The salary of the guards, the chewing of the centaurs, this price is already very affordable, and it is the first time I have dealt with you, and it is almost at cost to you. Fan Tianyu shouted again and again, "Your Excellency, you also know that the current situation is turbulent, and the prices of various materials are soaring, and it is difficult for us merchants to do it!" ”

If you only look at Fan Tianyu's expression and listen to his words, anyone will believe him, and then they will pay the money without hesitation. However, Chen Yue knew the temperament of Shanxi merchants in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, who made a fortune by war, smuggled a large amount of materials to the outside of the customs, and transported a large amount of military materials such as grain, iron, cloth and so on to the Mongols and even the Manchurians, and made a lot of money. It was the existence of these merchants that made the Ming Dynasty's material ban on the Manchu Mongols a null and void, and also made the Manchu Tartars have enough material supplies to launch attacks on the Ming Dynasty many times.

If it was possible, Chen Yue would like to destroy the Eight Great Jin Merchants, but not now, now the Xishan Army still has to rely on these people to transport the much-needed materials.

"Just these things, they cost eight thousand taels of silver, which is too expensive!" Chen Yue shook his head and said.

"My lord, this is a material that can meet the needs of thousands of people, everything for food and clothing, eight thousand taels, very cheap!" Fan Tianyu said aggrievedly.

"No, you have to get a 20% discount!" Chen Yue bit it to death. If you don't sell it, if you don't sell it, you will send someone to Beijing to purchase, and you will go back and forth for a maximum of twenty days, and you can have half of the silver left.

"Okay, eight percent off is eight percent off!" Fan Tianyu pondered for a while, gritted his teeth and agreed, "But I want to ask the adults to promise me one thing,"

"What's the matter?" Chen Yue asked vigilantly.

"I would like to ask your lord to allocate a piece of land to me in Bluestone Castle, and I want to build a shop here." Fan Tianyu said. There are more than 1,000 troops in Qingshi Fort, if the annual military procurement is controlled by himself, this is also a lot of silver, and from Qingshi Fort to the north, it can be traded with the Mongolian Khalkha Department, Fan Tianyu is this idea.

Chen Yue naturally knew about Fan Tianyu's calculations, but he still agreed, and allowed Fan Tianyu to build a shop here with an annual rent of one hundred taels of silver.

In June, with the construction of the side wall houses, the entire bluestone fort was finally stabilized. As the Fan family opened a shop in Bluestone Fort, the mountain people on the nearby mountains often came down the mountain to purchase daily necessities. Some of the mountain people here are the people of the nearby Tuntian, and some of them are the military households who originally fled, in order to avoid the Manchu Tartars, they chose to flee into the mountains, and now the establishment of the bluestone fort makes the Manchu Tartars and the Mongols on the steppe easily unable to cross the border wall, and many of these people also choose to go down the mountain, after all, it is very inconvenient to live in the uninhabited mountains.

For those who were willing to go down the mountain, whether they were mountain people or military households, Chen Yue gladly accepted them, did not pursue their past, and allocated fields for them to plant, and only needed to pay 30% of the harvest as field rent. Although Chen Yue knew that Li Chuang would attack Beijing in March next year, and he might not even be able to collect a field rent, but in order to appease the hearts of these people, he still mentioned it, if it was too good for them, they would be suspicious.

And with the mountain people descending the mountain, the bluestone fort gradually prospered.