The sky gradually darkened, Wang Shichong and Wei Zheng changed their costumes, dressed as two woodcutters, bowed their heads all the way and hurried, walked six or seven miles, came to the edge of a dense forest, suddenly heard three cuckoo calls in the forest, Wang Shichong followed the call back twice, under the bright moonlight, I saw the shadows in the forest, dozens of black-clothed men, with black oil paint on their faces, under the leadership of Zhang Jincheng, they all came out with knives upside down, and saluted with fists: "I have seen the lord!"

Wang Shichong nodded: "Everyone has worked hard, in Youzhou in the past few years, thanks to everyone's efforts, Wang has thanked you." As he spoke, he bowed to the men in black.

Zhang Jincheng said with a smile: "Lord, many of these are your old brothers who have followed you since the period of Bliss Villa, because most of them are from Hebei, so they finally returned to their hometown, Youzhou is your earliest shop in Hebei, and now the rice shop, bean shop, tea shop, silk and silk shop in the city have fed hundreds of brothers." ”

Wang Shichong smiled slightly: "It's not something that can't be fed, all the brothers contribute to my business bank, and it is only natural that they will be paid. ”

Zhang Jin said with a straight face: "Lord, don't worry." That's what everyone came to do at night.,We've already stepped on the abandoned ancestral hall.,There's no ambush around.,There's no secret passage in the ancestral hall.,It seems that the people who come are also going to the meeting alone.,Won't make ghosts.。 There are still more than 20 brothers watching there, and there will be no problem without warning. ”

As soon as he finished speaking, two night owl cries sounded in the distance. Zhang Jincheng's face changed slightly. Listen with your ears up. The scream was long, and it stopped after three sounds, Zhang Jincheng nodded and said, "The other party has come, three people." ”

Wang Shichong smiled: "It seems that we are making a little fuss, and those Turks cannot have our forces in the Central Plains, no matter how they prepare, they will not be able to overpower the local snakes." Kim said. Let's not let people look down on me, you and Xuan Cheng will come with me, and the other brothers will be on guard all around. ”

Zhang Jincheng nodded, turned back to a tall man and said, "Jin Shu, you take your brothers to guard around, stay fifty steps away, don't let the other party find out, once there is an emergency, I will send a signal." ”

The man's name was Zhang Jinshu, and he was Zhang Jinshu's brother. Many years ago, he came to Bliss Villa with Zhang Jincheng, and his skills were also quite athletic. Later, Zhang Jin said that he was developed, and he had to take care of his relatives and clansmen in his hometown in Hebei, and it was not convenient for him to be alone in Daxing, so he begged Wang Shichong to let this Zhang Jinshu come to Youzhou and become the captain of the commercial bank of several shops, and he could go back to his hometown in Hebei from time to time, which was also regarded as filial piety on behalf of Zhang Jin.

Zhang Jinshu said: "Big brother, don't worry, I'm watching." ”

Wang Shichong nodded, took Zhang Jincheng and Wei Zheng to continue walking, and after walking more than two miles of forest paths, he saw a dilapidated ancestral hall standing in a clearing outside the stream at the edge of the forest, and a light had been lit in the middle of the ancestral hall.

Wang Shichong walked into the ancestral hall with two of his subordinates, only to see the black-faced and bearded Turkic merchant he saw last time guarding the door, and when he saw Wang Shichong, he smiled and said: "Friend, you are finally here, those people outside, my master has been waiting for you for a long time." ”

Wang Shichong smiled: "There are some things in the city that have been delayed, so you have been waiting for a long time." As he spoke, he walked into the ancestral hall, only to see a man dressed in Hanfu standing with his hands in his hands, with his back to him, and another old man with a white goatee looked at it at a glance, and happened to collide with Wang Shichong's eyes, and the two were taken aback and blurted out: "It's you?!"

This old man with a goatee is none other than the Tiele military division who had a relationship with Wang Shichong when he eliminated Dulan Khan, Gao Baoyi of the former Northern Qi clan, when Wang Shichong fought Dulan Khan outside the White Wolf Fortress, he had communicated with Shi Shu Huxi, the think tank of the three Turkic princes, and secretly got in touch with the Tiele Department, and it was this Gao Baoyi who made the match.

Gao Baoyi first laughed: "I say who has such a heart and spirit, who can make a move is 300,000 yuan, and then give a BMW to a strong man, it turned out to be Wang Yitong who broke the Dulan Khan back then." ”

Wang Shichong also laughed, and stepped forward to hug Gao Baoyi according to the rules of the Hu people: "Master Gao, which gust of wind blew you here, I thought that this transaction was done with the Turks, but I didn't expect it to be done with your Tiele tribe." ”

Gao Baoyi shook his head, pointed to the man behind him and said, "This is Prince Ashina, the eagle of our grassland, the eldest son of the Khan of Qimin, and my current master. ”

Wang Shichong was taken aback, at this time the man also turned around, he was wearing a Han silk clothes, which fit very well, but when he turned around, it was a typical Turkic face, with a slightly dark complexion, high cheekbones, small eyes, thick eyebrows, high nose and deep eyes, and a beautiful mustache, but in those small eyes, it was shining, revealing a cunning and untamed.

As soon as Wang Shichong saw the appearance of this person, compared with his wretched Lao Tzu, he was really heaven and earth, and only such heroes and heroes would not come to the comfortable and safe Hanjia Pass, and would rather go to the Tiele tribe in the bitter cold land of Beihai and fight with Dulan Khan to the end.

The prince showed a hint of a smile and said in pure Chinese: "It turned out to be the famous Wang Shichong Wang Yitong, the hero who broke my Turks, and he has been admired for a long time. ”

According to the etiquette of the Turks, Wang Shichong pressed his hand to his chest, bowed and saluted: "I have seen Prince Dubi, I didn't expect you to speak Chinese so well." ”

Prince Dubi returned the salute and said, "In addition to Han, I can also speak Tiele dialect, Gaoche dialect, Ding Ling dialect, Khitan dialect, and even Goguryeo dialect. In the future, as the overlord of the grassland, it is natural that the languages of the surrounding countries should be able to speak. ”

Wang Shichong's heart sank, he couldn't imagine that this arrogant man was so scheming, it seemed that he was about thirty, and he would speak so many languages, and then look at his figure, especially the legs with eight characters inside. Apparently due to years of horseback riding. This one is full of energy. The ambitious guys, once they replace the Qimin Khan, will inevitably make the Turks a great threat to the Central Plains again.

But Wang Shichong's face put on a smile: "Congratulations to Prince Dubi, Mr. Gao Baoyi Gao is an outstanding talent that is rare to see in our Central Plains, and he was accepted by Prince Dubi, which is gratifying, but why did the big head of Tiele Yishiba Khan cut his love so lightly?" ”

Gao Baoyi sighed: "After the last battle of Dajin Mountain, Dulan Khan was killed by Hamichi. The Eastern Turkic group of dragons was leaderless, and the tribes of the steppe, especially the Mobei tribes, began to attack again, although the Tiele tribe took the opportunity to plunder the royal court of Dulan Khan, but was besieged by more than a dozen other tribes on the way back, and suffered heavy losses. ”

"After returning to the hometown of Mobei, he encountered the Western Turkic Bujia Khan leading his troops to attack, and the Tiele Department was just on its march route across the desert. So the remnants were rectified and the Tiele Department was attacked first. The emaciated camel was bigger than the horse, and his Western Turkic ironclad cavalry still had the advantage against the Tiele people, but the Yichuan Khan was defeated, and in order to save all the land, he was forced to agree to move west with the Bujia Khan to Yanran Mountain. And I was too old to leave the land where I had lived for decades with the Tiele tribe, to go to that wild and bitter cold land, and to become a slave of the Western Turks again, so I left the Tiele people and went to the prince of Dubi. ”

The prince of Dubi followed and said: "When my second brother and I were at the end of the road, I defected to Tiele at the end of the road, it was the Tiele people who saved us, and thanks to Mr. Gao's intercession, we have not been handed over by the Tiele people, originally Tiele was in trouble, we should go to the rescue, but at that time our brother had just returned to Monan, and my father Khan was also weak, so we could only take in Mr. Gao, but in the future, when we recover our strength, we will definitely go on an expedition to the Tianshan Mountains and rescue the Tiele tribe from the thief of Bujia Khan." ”

Wang Shichong smiled: "With the wisdom and martial arts of Prince Dubi, it is not difficult to do this." When you come back to the Central Plains, you lure powerful people with BMW, I'm afraid that you don't just want to sell horses, what do you want, but it doesn't hurt. ”

The prince nodded, and said to the bearded merchant outside, "Grihuachi, you go to the door and keep guard, I have something important to discuss with him." The merchant saluted and retreated, and Wang Shichong also asked Zhang Jincheng to retreat, leaving only Wang Shichong, Prince Dubi, Gao Baoyi and Wei Zheng in the ancestral hall.

He opened his mouth and said: "General Wang, don't say secret words in front of the Ming people, this time I came to the Central Plains, on the one hand, I want to sell horses, and after changing money, I will buy some cheap silk and daily necessities in the Central Plains, after all, although the market is closed now, the price of these things is much higher than that of the Central Plains." The second is to find some powerful people to do this pig iron transaction. ”

Wang Shichong smiled: "The pig iron trade is expressly forbidden by my Great Sui, and the emperor has an order that those who trade 100 catties of pig iron out of the customs will be beheaded, and the prince will not know it." ”

Gao Baoyi shook his head: "This decree of the Great Sui was previously aimed at those Turkic Khans who were hostile to the Great Sui, such as Sha Bolu Khan and Dulan Khan, and now the Qimin Khan is very deferent to the Great Sui, and the Great Sui has also lifted the embargo on the Turkic market, General Wang, why can't this pig iron be traded?" ”

Wang Shichong said coldly: "What Mr. Gao said is not right, now this pig iron embargo has not been lifted, but the market for daily necessities has been opened, if not, why would the two of them go far and not buy and sell this pig iron in the customs market outside the Saiwai, but come to this distant Central Plains?" I'm afraid it's not just for money, even if it's just for money, then there's no need to go out in person with the dignity of Prince Dubi and Mr. Gao. ”

Prince Dubi waved his hand: "Okay, General Wang, we don't have to beat around the bush anymore, the Great Sui Imperial Court is still not at ease with our Turks, and guards against it like a thief, so now we are also embargoing pig iron, we all know this, my father Khan is now blindly obedient, not considering the future of my Ashina tribe on the grassland, you must know that the Bujia Khan of the Western Turks is not short of pig iron, if he comes again, will we only rely on leather clothes and bone arrows to fight against the ironclad cavalry?" ”

Wei Zheng said with a smile: "Don't panic, Prince Dubi, the Great Sui has a large army in Monan, the last time that the Jiakhan crossed the desert, it was my Great Sui's army that was dispatched, and finally repelled, you are now in Monan to restore your strength and recuperate, this is also the Qimin Khan and my emperor after the discussion, now the order on the grassland has not been restored, the attack between the various tribes is still strict, if the pig iron trade is opened, I am afraid that it will exacerbate the war on the grassland." ”

The corners of Prince Dubi's mouth hooked, and he had been looking at Wei Zheng just now: "Who is this gentleman?" ”

Wang Shichong said with a smile: "This Mr. Wei Zhengwei." He is my chief staff and chief thinker. ”

Prince Dubi nodded: "Oh. It turned out to be Mr. Wei. It's disrespectful, what you just said is a bit reasonable, but I want to ask Mr. Wei, it is true that the Great Sui has a garrison in Monan, but is there a soldier of the Great Sui in Mobei? The homeland of my Turks is in the vast desert north, directly to the North Sea, not just a mere piece of desert south, without sharp armor soldiers. My father Khan can only stay in Mo Nan now, when will he be able to restore the Khan Court in Mo Bei? ”

Wei Zheng smiled slightly: "This question Prince Xuan should ask your father Khan to write to my Great Sui Emperor, asking him to open the pig iron embargo, so that we can naturally do business openly." ”

Gao Baoyi saw that the atmosphere was a little nervous, and hurriedly snorted: "Mr. Wei, this pig iron transaction is such a trivial matter, there is no need for the Great Khan to report to His Majesty the Great Sui Emperor, so as not to give birth to misunderstandings, now even if it is pig iron smuggling, there are some other tribes secretly engaged in this." There is no pig iron in the tribe of our prince, and he will suffer a great loss in battle. Especially the prince's current subordinates have moved to Mobei, helpless, if there is no iron armor and steel teeth, not to mention the unification of the desert, even a slightly stronger small tribe will not be able to surrender. ”

Wang Shichong's heart moved, and he said, "Mr. Gao, are you saying that there are other tribes that are also harvesting raw iron?" ”

Prince Dubi gritted his teeth and said: "Okay, General Wang, let's make it clear, I know that your General Wang is in Dasui, but he can call the wind and rain, he can fight, he can be an official, and his business is also big, and when I see that it is you General Wang coming, I am not to mention how happy I am in my heart." If you can trade pig iron with us, then I will definitely give you a satisfactory return. ”

Wang Shichong laughed: "Prince Dubi, I'm only afraid of this pig iron deal, I have a life to do it, I don't have a life to spend money, a hundred catties will lose my head, what you want must be more than a hundred catties." ”

The glint in Prince Dubi's eyes flashed: "Others can make this deal, why can't you?" ”

Wang Shichong put away his smile and said with a straight face: "Prince Dubi, I don't hide it, I did hear the rumor that someone in my Dasui has been secretly doing pig iron trading, and I have inquired in many ways, but I have found nothing, can you tell me who is doing this transaction, I want to see how my power and background compare with this person." If I didn't have the power to make this deal, wouldn't it cost me my life? ”

Gao Baoyi's eyebrows moved: "General Wang, do you really not know who is doing this pig iron transaction?" ”

Wang Shichong sighed: "Do you think I need to lie to you, this pig iron smuggling is in my Dasui, 100 catties of heads, 10,000 catties of extermination, I Wang Shichong has no background, it has been hard to get to today's position after these years of hard work, how dare you touch it casually, if you know who is doing this transaction, if this person I can speak, I can consider making two transactions with you in his name, as for myself, I will never dare." ”

Gao Baoyi glanced at Prince Dubi, Prince Dubi gritted his teeth, and said: "Okay, General Wang, listening to you say this, you are very sincere, last time you saved my father Khan, saved the Tiele tribe, I believe you this time, it's just today's matter, please keep it secret, otherwise you and I may not be able to protect our lives." ”

Wang Shichong nodded, turned to Wei Zheng and said, "Xuan Cheng, you can avoid it first." Wei Zheng saluted and retreated, and Gao Baoyi followed out of the gate.

"General Wang, do you know that now in the steppe, my father Khan lives in Dali City, and let our three princes, each lead the tribe, according to the ancient Turkic tradition, to conquer those tribes who do not obey the orders of my father Khan?" ”

Wang Shichong smiled: "I have heard of this, the prince should have led 40,000 tents, far away from Mobei, to pass through the tribe of Mobei, and your second brother Tong Lifu is to the east through the Khitan and Xi tribes, and the third prince is to stay in Monan and crusade against the disobedient Mohe tribe." ”

Prince Dubi sighed: "That's right, the third brother Duji, who is closest to the Great Sui, is also the first to start a pig iron smuggling business with the Sui Dynasty, the time is about two years ago, the number is about seven or eight hundred thousand catties, relying on these pig iron, to create 10,000 iron horses, in the past two years, swept all the departments in the area of Monan, almost all of them are about to unify Monan." The second brother, Tong Lifu, was unwilling to be reconciled, and also traded a lot of pig iron with Goguryeo, and for more than a year, he had beaten the Khitan and Xi tribes into obedience. Their tribe has grown to about 100,000 now. ”

"Now it's just me, lonely in the desert north, because there is no iron arrows, steel knives, copper helmets and iron armor, so it is very difficult to clean up some small and medium-sized tribes of thousands of tents, General Wang, you also know that the weak and the strong eat on the grassland, the people of the tribe are willing to follow those who continue to win battles, and there are constantly plundering big tribes, I have not conquered a few tribes now, but my own people have run a lot, and now it is barely about 40,000 accounts, if there is no iron weapon, I am afraid that after a year, I will not be able to stay in Mobei."

Wang Shichong nodded: "I see, do you know who sold your two younger brothers pig iron?" (To be continued......)