In later generations, the Mu Us Desert was said to be "the world's most desert rain center", and the abundant rainfall also gave the vegetation a relatively favorable condition for growth.

Not to mention other quicksand areas, at least this oasis in winter in front of Zhang Mengcheng, so that he, who is accustomed to the wind and sand in northern Shaanxi, has to sigh at the beautiful scenery outside the plug.

If you come to enjoy it in the summer when there is more rainfall, this place can definitely remind Zhang Mengcheng of some Jiangnan scenery, and the good environment makes Xiucai want to settle here.

This is not an exaggeration, in fact, Zhang Mengcheng, who has traveled for many years, does not know that there should be a beautiful summer resort of Dagou Bay near here in the future. In the late Ming Dynasty, the environmental damage was not so serious, and this oasis could even be described as a mixture of forests and grasslands.

On the contrary, in the territory of the Ming Dynasty within the border wall, not to mention the military fort of Ningsai, which has been surrounded by a lot of yellow sand. Even in Jinding Mountain, further south, whenever the wind is a little stronger, the eyes can hardly be opened when you go out, and your mouth is often full of sand when you say a word.

This day is really going on, which really makes it difficult for Zhang Mengcheng, a southerner before the crossing, to have any mood.

"Sigh ~ law."

The sound of a horse neighing made Zhang Mengcheng retract from the beautiful scenery. Fan Shunjiang found a good horse and is now happily trying to ride his favorite mount.

In the distance, some of the Ming border soldiers were driving away the captured herds. Some were guiding the rescued Han slaves, and according to the custom of the cavalry of Jindingshan, the roast mutton was divided according to a fixed portion, and prepared to serve the next lunch.

As for the Mongolian herdsmen who were attacked by the Ming army this time, whether they were the old and weak women and children who had no combat effectiveness, or those who had been cleaned up. All were starvingly tied together, guarded by several border guards and freed slaves, waiting in trepidation for their undecided future.

As for the Mongol lord, whose name meant hero, his head was piled up on the side like the other defeated who had been hacked to death.

Zhang Mengcheng's impression of this person is that his archery skills are really good, and the two arrows shot in the dark night hit Xiucai, which can be regarded as a missed arrow.

But that's about it, because the other skills haven't had time to be tested. In the surprise attack launched by the Ming army in the middle of the night, this person only had time to stand naked on the ground and shoot arrows at Zhang Mengcheng, and before he even had time to ride the war horse, he was killed by Xiucai, who rushed over quickly.

Thinking of this, Zhang Mengcheng stroked his chest again. Although the good armor was not pierced by the opponent's bow and arrows, the arrow paralysis left behind still made him faintly painful.

Even though it was a feather arrow shot in the middle of the night, it was really difficult to deal with it. But he was shot in the chest with both arrows, it seems that Lao Fan is right, his skills have indeed become a lot sluggish, and it seems that he will have to go back and exercise more seriously after that.

"Qian, thousands of households are too (big) people, (this) is a roasted leg of mutton, you can taste it, our craftsmanship."

The people who call Zhang Mengcheng by the title of Lord Qianhu are naturally not the Ming army sentry scouts who went out this time.

The person who came was the Han slave who had been rescued by Zhou Shaoteng from the Mongolian sentinel riders. The man's body did appear to be very strong, and after a simple treatment, he had eaten a full meal, and now he seemed to be fine.

And it may be because the slave owner who oppressed him for many years was killed, and his position changed, and his spirit seemed to be uplifted. Now he is handing Zhang Mengcheng a leg of mutton, and his face is also full of excitement and expectation.

"Sihai, don't always be busy around, your injuries can't move."

The name of the rescued slave was Jiang Sihai. Because he was taken captive by the Mongols at the age of thirteen, he has been a slave for nearly 20 years, and his Chinese language is more bumpy. Now wearing a tattered Mongolian leather robe, he looks more like the Tatsuko he hates and loathes.

"Don't do anything, if I don't use force, I won't bring injuries and ......hisses."

Jiang Sihai wanted to say that he didn't mind, but he forced himself, and sure enough, because of the excessive movement, he fell the roasted leg of mutton to the ground in pain.

Seeing that he and his former slave partners were proud of baking for gratitude, they actually got carried away with such a result. The original slave, who was already more distressed about food, had completely reflected the sadness in his heart at this time on his rough face that had been tortured by life.

Zhang Mengcheng didn't care, but quickly picked up the roast leg of lamb in line with the principle of landing for three seconds. After patting off some of the obvious dirt and sand on it, Xiucai bit off a piece of meat, chewed it, and swallowed it.

"It's delicious, your craftsmanship is good, thank you so much for your hospitality."

After receiving the praise and thanks of Lord Qianhu, Jiang Sihai looked distressed and sad before, but now he immediately changed to a happy smiling face, and the change in expression was really funny.

What an interesting man, although he is thirty-three years old, and he has already killed people with his own hands. But now he still has some innocence that only children have. Zhang Mengcheng had an involuntary smile on the corner of his mouth, which was a rare thing for him to wear a mask all year round.

"Okay, stretch out your arm and let me see, how can your injury heal so quickly, don't force yourself too much, good days are still in the future."

Zhang Mengcheng, who had eaten two bites of roast mutton, did not care about the oiliness on his hands and the corners of his mouth at this time, but began to check Jiang Sihai's injuries.

Although for the suturing skills taught by Artemisia Ding, Xiucai's mastery is still a little superficial. But for a relatively simple battle formation trauma like Jiang Sihai, Xiucai's medical skills are completely sufficient.

"Eh, Mrs. Xie."

Jiang Sihai's Chinese still seems to need some recovery training, otherwise he will probably be ridiculed by many people when he returns to the Ming Dynasty in the future.

Zhang Mengcheng did not choose to correct Jiang Sihai's funny mistake at this time. He carefully examined the centipede-like scar on the other party's right arm, and it looked pretty good, not re-torn by Jiang Sihai's rough nerve movements, nor did it appear to be further deteriorating such as infection.

"It's not bad, but you also have to take care of it. When the time comes, if you lose an arm, or take your life, then you will lose more than you gain. ”

After all, there are not many injuries who have undergone their own surgery, and Zhang Mengcheng doesn't want anything to happen in the end. So he reminded Jiang Sihai again and asked the other party to be aware of the danger of his injury.

"Qianhu Tairen, I want to ask if you can let me be a soldier too."

Jiang Sihai did not reply quickly to Zhang Mengcheng's advice, but after groaning for a while, he recommended himself to Zhang Mengcheng with a red face and some embarrassment.

"Oh! It's rare for you to regain your freedom, shouldn't you choose to return home? ”

Most of the slaves who had been rescued before were inexplicably excited, and they cheered with tears that they could finally return home, and Zhang Mengcheng and others did not intend to stop them. Now Jiang Sihai said that he wanted to be a soldier, which made Zhang Mengcheng a little strange.

"When I was a child, I was kidnapped by Dazi with the Jiajia people, and now the Jiajia people are tortured to death by Dazi. There is no hope of returning to my hometown, Tairen, you saved me, and it is not ambiguous to kill Dazi, I want to follow you to kill Dazi together in the future to take revenge. ”

When Jiang Sihai told his life experience, the expression on his face looked sad. But when it comes to revenge, the sparkle in his eyes is very powerful. However, he chose to take refuge, I am afraid that he is more concerned about how he should live in the future, after all, he is poor and has nothing.

"Why don't you go and ask Brother Zhou, after all, he saved you?"

Although Jiang Sihai lived under the enslavement of the Mongols for many years, while understanding the living habits of the Mongols, he secretly practiced a little riding ability. But after all, the identity of his henchman Su He is a master he hates. In order to maintain a harmonious internal relationship with his team, Zhang Mengcheng did not really want to accept this person.

"Mrs. Zhou and Mrs. Fan both said that they should listen to Tairen (Zhang Mengcheng) your brother about the expansion of soldiers under them. Only Tairen is a little special, and you don't have to worry about other things. ”

In fact, Jiang Sihai did ask Zhou Shaoteng and Fan Shunjiang about the two leaders before, because these two officers seemed to have a higher status than the relatively inexperienced and quieter Zhang Mengcheng in the previous command operations. But after receiving a reply of refusal, Jiang Sihai came to Xiucai.

"Oh~!"

Zhang Mengcheng did not reply immediately, but bit down another piece of mutton and chewed it, and then thought about it in his heart while eating. And Jiang Sihai also knew that this was related to his future, so he didn't interject at this time to interrupt Xiucai's thinking.

To be honest, because the conditions for the Zhang family to treat the soldiers are superior. Not only the tunding people of Jinding Mountain, but also other local people in Baoan County, and even many military remnants and unemployed family members of the West Road, are very interested in joining the armed forces of Jinding Mountain.

So now the Zhang family is not worried about the problem of soldiers, and Zhang Mengjin has always kept his standing armed forces in the military fort at about 700 people steadily.

Instead of blindly expanding the standing military strength under his command, the big bosses behaved very cautiously, mainly because of the pressure of military spending. After all, relying on a Jindingshan base that has only been in operation for a few years, coupled with the meager food and salary that the imperial court had at that time, it is already a very reluctant thing to maintain the current military strength.

In the past, the eldest brother and his leaders used to blindly recruit soldiers and strengthen the armed forces under their hands. But that time, he almost collapsed Jindingshan, and Zhang Mengcheng, who managed the expenses, rushed directly to the military fort, angrily saying that if the leaders continued to do nonsense, he would not do it, and finally let the leaders return to their senses.

Now Jindingshan's income is much more surplus than before. But considering that his eldest brother's official position is only a capital division, as a thief, he is too prominent in the officers and troops who lack soldiers and major generals, and it is not good after all. Therefore, all this money and food have been safely preserved in case of emergency, and the expansion of the cottage is still very careful.

But the leaders have a few places to recruit their own friends and relatives or outstanding soldiers they admire. is like Huzi, who usually doesn't like to use his brain, he has always kept a place, hoping to fool the second baby and his brother into the army, but he has not been able to do so.

Now it seems that at least Zhou Shaoteng and Fan Shunjiang are unwilling to spend their precious places on Jiang Sihai.

And Zhang Mengcheng is an exception, he is mainly responsible for the affairs of the rear base of Jinding Mountain, and he lacks a team to keep a relatively large number of soldiers under him, so if he wants to expand the number of soldiers, it is indeed more likely that he is here.

"Our people in Mali, not only Han Chinese, but also Huihui, Fanren, Luoli Huihui (gypsies), etc., are naturally indispensable to the hated Dazi. And the rules on our side are very strict, you have to be mentally prepared. ”

Zhang Mengcheng finally decided to subordinate Jiang Sihai, because since he decided to join the army in the future, he would inevitably encounter contradictions among his subordinates. In order not to panic yourself in the future, fortunately, I started to practice my wrists from now on.

"Thousand, thousand, thousand, I am very obedient and will not cause trouble. I know that there are good people in Dazi, and I won't kill everything. I'm not afraid of death, and I can herd cattle and sheep, raise horses, and pick up cow dung and horse manure. Sheep picking ....... ”

Jiang Sihai still seemed to be too simple, and Zhang Mengcheng didn't hear such obvious words. Instead, he was anxiously talking about his own goodness on the side, trying to get the Qianhu Tairen in front of him to accept him.

"Shut up, if you want to be a soldier under us, it's not enough to be afraid of death. You also have to have excellent skills, you will practice with me for a while, and after a few months to see how well you practice, I will consider whether to subordinate you. But don't worry about anything else, at least we'll take care of the food and shelter there. ”

Zhang Mengcheng saw that Jiang Sihai introduced himself to pick up feces, and he felt funny in his heart, so he temporarily changed his mind and planned to continue to hang Jiang Sihai's mind.

"Eh, I—I'm going to do my best. Thank you, thank you too. ”

Jiang Sihai didn't see anything else, but was happy that his future meal ticket had finally been settled, and he excitedly kowtowed to the Qianhu Tairen and thanked him.

Seeing Jiang Sihai's cheerful appearance, Zhang Mengcheng felt that he needed to correct the other party's mistake first. So he stopped the other party's kowtow and said, "It's not too human, it's an adult, remember it's big." ”