Wang Huan listened, but he was not very happy, frowned and asked with some disappointment: "More than five hundred catties?" ”

Ma Wannian and Xu Goudan's triumphant faces were stunned for a moment, and they all said "grunt" in their hearts, worried that the errand was not done well, so they hurriedly got up and said: "My lord, this is a lot, the imperial court Shenji battalion only supplies 9,000 catties of gunpowder a year, and the folk gunpowder has always been strictly controlled. ”

Wang Huan noticed the difference in the expressions of the two, waved his hand, and smiled: "I don't blame you, you two have tried your best, gunpowder is a forbidden item in the imperial court, it is not easy to get, you two can find so much in such a short time, you two have no fault." ”

Hearing him say this, Ma Wannian and Xu Goudan breathed a sigh of relief, put their butts back to their seats, and smiled at each other.

Wang Huan sighed secretly in his heart, more than 500 catties of gunpowder, the quantity sounds very large, but it is the most primitive black powder, the explosion effect is several orders of magnitude worse than the yellow explosives and smokeless gunpowder in later generations, and it is very difficult to use it to blow up the mountain.

It seems that it is necessary to establish a gunpowder production plant as soon as possible and cultivate talents in this area, Wang Huan said in his heart. As a high-quality student in the mining industry, Wang Huan has a lot of experience in how to make flammable and explosive materials such as nitroglycerin, but what he lacks is raw materials and refining equipment, which must be developed by soil method, and the danger increases exponentially.

At present, the firearms unit has not yet been skimmed, Qin Liangyu's white pole soldiers are mainly cold weapons, there is no firearm configuration, and there is not even a single bird commander, so he is not in a hurry, so he can only slowly think of a way in the future.

Wang Huan praised Ma Wannian and Xu Goudan a few words, making the two complacent, and turned his gaze to Chen Ergou who was sitting in the hall.

Chen Ergou was tied to a stake by Xu Qianli's subordinates and whipped with a horsewhip, and his body was bruised, although he did not hurt his muscles and bones, he also lay on the bed for half a month before he went out of the room, and now there is still a scar on his face, extending from the right eyebrow to the root of his ear, making his face more vicious.

At this moment, he was sitting on a chair, staring at Wang Huan, waiting for his order.

Wang Huan looked at Chen Ergou and suddenly found that he couldn't recognize him a little, the childish tall and small novice in the small temple in Yangzhou had grown into a rough and heroic man, a kind of vicissitudes of life that did not match his biological age was suddenly displayed on his face, and at a glance, he would think that this was an adult martial artist.

Current affairs make people, if it weren't for running thousands of miles and surviving in danger, Chen Ergou might not have matured so quickly, and he and Xu Goudan, why not?

Sighing in his heart, Wang Huan said to Chen Ergou: "Brother Chen Xiang, is your injury still in the way?" ”

Chen Ergou grinned, pulling the scar on his face and distorting: "There is no obstacle, jubilant!" ”

Chen Ergou's real name is Chen Xiang, the second in the family, nicknamed Ergou, Wang Huan feels that Wanshou City has gradually been on track, Chen Ergou as his right-hand man, one of the most trusted people, and then Ergou Ergou's barking is inappropriate, and the title of him and Xu Goudan is changed to his real name.

It's just that Xu Goudan's name is Xu Tiezhu, which is not quite consistent with his short stature.

Wang Huan smiled with relief and said, "That's good, I have a task for you to complete." ”

Chen Xiang stood up suddenly, clenched his fists and shouted, "Please give the Counsellor an order!" ”

He has followed Ma Xintian for so many days, and he has learned a lot of rules among the generals, plus he is tall, almost the same as Li Yan, and he is full of momentum when he is serious.

Ma Xintian, who was sitting in the hall, nodded again and again, and the corners of his mouth showed a hint of a smile imperceptibly.

Wang Huan Zhengse said: "From intercepting the envoy from Chongqing Mansion to today, nearly 20 days have passed, calculate the time, Zeng Ying should have got the news and information from our side, this person has no one in his eyes, it is impossible to give up after suffering this loss, plus the heart of peeking at the silver mine will not die, sooner or later he will march into my Wanshou Valley, you take twenty people, sneak into Chongqing Mansion, be sure to report it to me as soon as his military horse sets off, can you hear clearly?" ”

Chen Xiang raised his eyebrows and replied in a rough voice: "Subordinates receive orders!" ”

In Chen Xiang's hands, there were twenty people selected from the residents of Wanshou City, all of whom were clever men, trained by Chen Ergou to teach them the knowledge of mixing in the market, and were ready to be used as spies, which came in handy at this time.

Wang Huan pondered for a while and asked Ma Xintian: "Mr. Ma Qian, how about we take advantage of the free time in the past two days to go to the Black Valley?" ”

Ma Xintian stood up and replied expressionlessly: "Yes!" ”

Early the next morning, Wang Huan, Ma Xintian, and Chen Xiang took more than a dozen personal guards and led twenty people under Chen Xiang to gallop out of Wanshou Valley on horseback, and galloped all the way along the official road. Behind the horse team, followed by three two-wheeled carriages, the carriages were tightly covered with tarpaulin, without revealing a single gap, I don't know what was loaded, but the people who drove the carriage were cautious, very cautious, and the speed was much slower than Wang Huan and others.

The east of Sichuan is mountainous, the terrain is different from the mountains of the west and north of Sichuan, the mountains are dangerous, there are many high mountains and big rivers, deep valleys and narrow ditches, the dry road is extremely difficult to walk, and the golden bull road connecting Hanzhong in Shuzhong has to fight, there is almost no flat and smooth road, either on the winding mountain road to go over the mountain or cross the ridge on the plank road erected in the mountains, so the county of eastern Sichuan Prefecture is basically poor and backward minority tribes, sparsely populated.

Riding on the horse, Wang Huan and Ma Xintian talked about the Chongqing soldiers and horses they were about to face.

"This road is so difficult, will Zeng Ying not take the dry road, but take the water road, directly along the Yangtze River to the shore in Xituo Town, and then copy the back road of my Wanshou Valley and attack from the direction of the stone pillar?" Wang Huan looked at the endless deep mountains and dense forests on the side of the road, touched his chin and asked.

Ma Xintian's eyes were cold, and he said in a deep voice: "It shouldn't be, if he dares to do this, it is equivalent to directly attacking my Tusi City, now Qin Zongbing and he are both Ming military gates, the level is comparable, Qin Zongbing is also a second-grade order, pressing him, attacking my stone pillar, it is equivalent to directly pulling the flag and rebelling, although the momentum of the Ming court is small, Zeng Ying must also take care of it." ”

Wang Huan was overjoyed, but he couldn't believe it, and frowned: "Is he really so well-behaved? ”

Ma Xintian thought about it, and replied without blushing: "Not necessarily." ”

Wang Huan's heart ached, he almost fell off the horse, hugged the horse's neck and forcibly held back a mouthful of old blood, staring at Ma Xintian's mouth and closing it, but he couldn't speak.

You poker face, don't be sure of the assertion that the old god is there, make people be careful and flutter!

Ma Xintian looked at Wang Huan's constipated expression in some surprise, and said with a dull face: "Because I believe that Zeng Ying didn't dare to provoke General Qin." He will only honestly come directly from the dry road to the Valley of Longevity. ”

Wang Huan swallowed his saliva and said with difficulty: "Is there a difference between beating us and fighting Tusi City?" We are also under the jurisdiction of the Shizhu Propaganda Envoy, we are in trouble, won't the stepmother come to the rescue? ”

"Rescue is bound to come to the rescue, but General Qin can't come." Ma Xintian's face had a rare expression, it was a faint worry, although he tried his best to suppress it, but Wang Huan clearly saw it from between his eyebrows and eyes: "The year before last, Zhang Xianzhong, the governor Chen Shiqi did not listen to the good words of the Qin general soldiers, abandoned the pass, and raised the soldiers of the whole Sichuan to fight a decisive battle with Zhang Xianzhong, and was defeated. ”

Wang Huan suddenly realized that Qin Liangyu was riddled with illness in his later years and could no longer leap on his horse to fight, but this was not mentioned in the history books.

But it's normal to think about it, no matter how fierce a person is, under the living and medical conditions of this era, at the age of seventy, it is a blessing to be able to live a trembling life, how can he still have the ability to lead the army with a knife.