Zhang Shilong asked Lu Hui, a businessman who often goes to Zhangye to do business, to ask, and Lu Hui said the answer very happily: "Now I trade grain in Shangxian County, using the price to Zhangye City, and I have saved 30% of the freight time over and over again, and I will arrive home in a day or two after leaving Shangxian, and there is no risk on the road, so everyone is flocking to it." The reputation of the Hexi Commercial Bank is hard in the whole northwest, they say second, no one dares to say first, if the goods are exchanged, the white strip will also be calculated with interest. ”

Zhang Shilong pondered for a moment and asked, "How do you feel when you see their army?" ”

Lu Hui was a shrewd man, and immediately replied: "Discipline is strict, and the team patrolling the streets looks different. I heard that regardless of the Han and Hu people in the army, Liang Shidu's subordinates who were unwilling to join the army were said to have paid their way home, but the surrender army that joined the Hexi Army was also killed because of disturbing the people. As for the rest, if the villain doesn't understand, he can't talk about it. ”

Lu Hui has said enough, Zhang Shilong has both civil and military skills, so he naturally knows that a well-disciplined army will definitely not be worse in combat effectiveness, Yang Chong's army fought from Gaochang to Shangxian, and almost every battle must be won, which has long been explained. Zhang Shilong asked seemingly casually: "Lu Hui, how do you say this official should get along with Yang Chong?" ”

Lu Hui wanted to scold people, you were a master of the frontier and asked me how to get along with Yang Chong, which was obviously making things difficult for me; But Lu Hui didn't dare to scold, but instead put on a smile and said in a low voice: "Adults can do business with Yang Chong." With the status of an adult, you will definitely be able to become Yang Chong's business partner, not to mention the material exchange of the five counties, as long as you can get along with the Hexi Army, you will be a rolling source of wealth in the future. Now in the Great Sui, it is safe to have money. ”

Zhang Shilong agreed with Lu Hui's last emotion, Li Yuan, the Duke of Tang Guogong, raised troops to attack Chang'an, Li Mi's Wagang army and Wang Shichong fought in Luoyang for a few months, and the final outcome of the Great Sui was not clear at all. But Zhang Shilong is a scholar, and the one he looks down on the most is a businessman, so he thought about it and said: "Lu Hui, tomorrow you will send me to Shangxian to see Yang Chong, and help me send a message, saying that I want to sell grain to him, and see what he can exchange with me." ”

Lu Hui went to Shangxian in fear, after the county guard reported it; An officer came out to inquire for a while, went in and out, and brought Lu Hui to Yang Chong. Lu Hui's feeling is that this manager is too young; Yang Chong asked Zhang Shilong again about the process of summoning Lu Hui, and said bluntly: "You go back and tell Zhang Junshou, I agree, I will buy him food, what goods does he want, or money, open a list for me." ”

When Lu Hui came out, Yang Chong specially asked him to bring two goods to Zhang Shilong, a glass fruit bowl and a wooden box of soap, and Lu Hui got two cans of soy sauce for errands. Zhang Shilong understood that the fruit plate soap was not a gift to himself, but to prove that Lu Hui had seen Yang Chong; praised Lu Hui a few words, and let Lu Hui go home. Zhang Shilong's heart actually didn't make up his mind, and the idea of attacking Yang Chong was like a poisonous weed, growing wildly in his thoughts.

Yang Chong also didn't believe in Zhang Shilong's kindness, the fast horse was less than a day's journey, this kind of thing Zhang Shilong should have sent a confidant of the Zhang family to discuss, and let an outsider come to pass the word, indicating that Zhang Shilong subconsciously had the idea of getting out of the accident. Ling Jing heard Yang Chong's suspicion and said with a smile: "Zhang Shilong wants to weigh it again, it is said that there are countless people in Guanzhong who have responded to Li Yuan, Zhang Shilong naturally has to be cautious. ”

Jiang Duo frowned and said, "Could it be that someone is making an idea that is not good for us?" The counties of Hetao were originally dominated by Hu people, and the officials were either local heroes or strong generals in the army, and it was impossible for them to be so calm about our arrival. ”

Sima Fan reminded: "The convoy of the trading house. From the current point of view, this is a loophole for us, if the goods of the trading house are hijacked, we will not be able to honor the white slip, which will be a great blow to our reputation. ”

Yang Chong was taken aback, and immediately ordered: "Send Luo Shixin and Zong Luohu to meet the convoy of the trading house in Yanchuan County." Fang Yanzao went with him, so he had an idea. ”

However, Yang Chong's arrangement was still a step late, and the convoy escorted by Qi Bige and Shi Motian was still attacked, and about 3,000 cavalry surrounded the convoy of the Hexi Commercial Bank, and the only thing that made the two of them feel at ease was that Qi Bige had noticed it early, and had already surrounded all the trucks in a circle, connected them with iron cables, erected baffles, and relied on crossbowmen to fight back. Accompanying the convoy were two hundred thunderbolts under Yang Heng; Explosives are special weapons, and even if they are transported, they are escorted by the Perak battalion themselves.

Although the crossbowmen of the trading house were veterans of a hundred battles, more than two hundred people were about the same as dealing with a small group of horse thieves, which was too far from that of three thousand fine horsemen, and although there were baffles, nearly thirty percent of the casualties had been suffered in a short time, and the coachmen and the people who could shoot arrows in the Thunderbolt battalion immediately took up their positions. The encirclement of the enemy cavalry is getting smaller and smaller; While shooting arrows and commanding, Qi Moge shouted at Shi Motian: "What are you still doing in a daze, take out all the heavenly thunders and blow them up, so that they can't fall into the hands of the enemy." ”

The first time Shi Motian encountered such a scene, he was originally a little nervous, but when he heard Qi Bige shouting, he remembered that there were a total of 500 heavenly thunderbolts escorted by this batch, all of which were in small cans, which were used to throw. Shi Motian gave an order, and the soldiers of the Perak camp ordered to take out the heavenly thunder, work in pairs, and wait for the other party to rush to a close distance; Some of them became archers and could not retreat, and ninety groups of people hid behind iron plates, one lit the fuse, and the other was responsible for throwing them out.

The Thunderbolts were trained in the army, and the accuracy and distance of the throwing were okay, although because someone was wounded while throwing, or the clay pot was hit by a flying arrow, and the thunder exploded in mid-air, or only fell twenty or thirty paces. However, most of the thunder still fell on the way of the enemy's cavalry, and suddenly there were bursts of explosions around it. Regardless of whether the bombing hit people or not, the three thousand horses were in a panic, and many people fell off their horses, trampled by the horses and howled.

The cavalry who rushed inside were so busy controlling their horses that they didn't care about shooting arrows or dodging, and most of them were shot to death by the archers of Kham. Taking advantage of the fact that the other party had no time to shoot arrows, Shi Motian did not dare to delay, and let his subordinates throw it again, and the enemy cavalry finally couldn't bear it anymore and retreated to a distance. Qi Moge shook his head, no wonder Tianjian has always disagreed to put the heavenly thunder into battle, if one of them fell in his circle and exploded just now, it would trigger the rest of the heavenly thunder, and his hundreds of people must have died unjustly.

The other party was bombed by this burst, killing six or seven hundred people, and after regrouping, he launched an attack again, this time the other party opened a very long formation, obviously, in order to avoid the indiscriminate bombardment of thunder.

(End of chapter)