Liu Cheng hit the horse into the fence, took out the bird gun from the back of the saddle, skillfully filled the medicine, lit the fire rope, and then clamped the fire rope on the clamp, quietly waiting for the opportunity. Min Min gently kicked her mount, a three-year-old mare, not handsome, but tame in nature, running smoothly, and with good stamina, it was the best for riding and shooting.

As his mount ran, Min Min took out his horned bow and drew three more hunting arrows from Hulu, all but one of which was on the string, and the other two were in his left hand holding the bow. The horse ran faster and faster around the wild deer, Min Min's legs were forced, his buttocks were slightly off the saddle, his arms were full of horn bows, and he suddenly let go of his right hand, only to hear a whoosh, and the arrows glided like meteors. The stag sprang to the side, and the arrow stuck to the ground with its antlers, revealing only half of the shaft.

"Hey!" Almost at the same time, the knight of the paddock let out a lamenting sigh, and before the sigh could land, Minmin's second arrow had already been shot, and this time she had hit, and the half-moon-shaped arrow was deeply embedded in the stag's right hind leg, and blood immediately spurted out. The onlookers let out a cheer, almost in unison with the sighs that had preceded them.

The stag struggled and jumped twice, and rushed towards the forest on the right, but the knights on the other side immediately drove it back with spears and loud shouts, and it rushed in several other directions like this, but they were all driven back. Blood continued to flow from the wound and splashed on the ground, and soon the speed of the stag slowed down, and Min Min hit the horse after him, and an arrow hit its back at a distance of only ten paces, and the desperate stag turned around and rushed towards Min Min, the sharp antlers were like a long fork, shining with bloodthirsty light. Min Min couldn't dodge and had to pull the reins sharply. Try to turn your mount around and get between yourself and the stag in the hope that you can get a block. At this moment, I only heard "Bang!" With a bang, the male deer fell to the ground with a bang, and it turned out that Liu Cheng saw that the situation was not good, and hit the deer head with a bang, knocking it to the ground.

The onlookers calmed down for a moment, and then let out a loud cheer. Min Min jumped off his horse and pulled out the dagger at his waist and cut off the stag's ear. Walked up to Liu Chengma and offered it with both hands. Liu Cheng looked at all this with some hesitation, and Min Min resolutely painted Liu Cheng's cheek with the blood of the deer ear, and then kissed him gently.

Maybe it was because of the deer blood, the girl's kiss had a hint of salty smell, Liu Cheng hesitated slightly, then bent down and hugged the Mongolian girl on the mount, kissed back, the girl also stretched out her arm and hugged Liu Cheng's neck tightly. The two men were on horseback, as if they were connected as one.

On the way back to the city, among the accompanying knights, whether Mongols or Han Chinese, a nameless excitement swelled in the hearts of everyone. Even the most ignorant of them knew that a special relationship had arisen between their chiefs, and that, due to the special status of the two men, this new relationship would lead to the birth of a new alliance, which would be important for the entire Northwest. Even the vast region of China, from the north and south of the Tianshan Mountains to the north of China, has a profound impact. And for those who witnessed the birth of this alliance, it will undoubtedly bring great benefits, as long as they are loyal to this nascent alliance. and fight for it, and they can be rewarded with unimaginable rewards for themselves, their families, and even future generations.

"My lord, the thief leader surnamed Li has taken it!" At the gate of the city, Du Guoying's tone was quite calm, but it was not difficult for Liu Cheng to feel the excitement below from the calm surface, he turned back to Min Min and said gently: "Minmin, you go back to rest first, and I will come back to you after I finish dealing with this matter!" “

"Hmm!" The girl was very gentle at this time, she nodded, and went to her lodgings. Liu Cheng jumped off the horse and asked, "Where are the people?" “

"In the signing room behind the government office, a pole surnamed Bai saw the bounty being sent. My lord, what did you do with your face, were you injured while hunting? ”

"It's not!" Liu Cheng touched his face, and he didn't bother to explain carefully: "It was deer blood, splashed when killing prey!" ”

"Deer?" Du Guoying immediately became excited: "I didn't expect there to be deer here, I haven't eaten venison for a long time, where did you get it, my lord, I'll go and see it tomorrow." “

"Where are the deer for you to fight in the place where you have just hit the fence?" Liu Cheng said with a smile: "If you want to eat venison, you will come to me later, and I will ask the cook to leave you a hind leg!" “

"That's a good dare, thank you for your humble position!" Du Guoying was overjoyed when he heard this, and the two of them entered the gate while laughing, only to see seven or eight men squatting or standing at the root of the courtyard wall, each holding a big bowl to eat.

"It's this group, the one wearing the hood and cloak is their leader, it seems to be called Bai Wang!" Du Guoying said in a low voice: "Like a group of hungry ghosts, as soon as you enter the door, you beg for food and clothing, and I don't know which way the thief leader offended the Bodhisattva and fell into the hands of this group!" ”

"Who is behind the back saying that the master is not!" Bai Wang, who was pointed out by Du Guoying as the leader, turned around and saw that he was holding a sea bowl in his hand, which was full of multigrain rice, and a large spoonful of pickled vegetables and stewed tofu were piled up, and there were a few grains of rice on the tip of his nose, as if he was dressed as a long-term worker eating in the field.

"Hugh is rude, this is Lord Liu, the general of the left battalion in Yansui Town, and he still kneels down to salute!" Du Guoying shouted. Seeing this, Bai Wang hurriedly put the bowl aside and knelt down and kowtowed, and the others also hurriedly knelt.

"Get up and talk!" Liu Cheng smiled, and was about to ask a few words how they could hold Li Zicheng, after all, according to historical records, Li Zicheng's incident was also a matter of Chongzhen's second year at the latest, and it was not until Chongzhen's thirteenth year that he entered Henan to recruit hungry people. Such a hero was actually captured alive by a group of poles, so is there a dragon snake hidden in the grass in this group of people?

"Thank you, sir!" Bai Wang and the others stood up, a young man behind him with a freckle face and only one shoe actually grabbed his bowl as soon as he got up, and a maid next to him couldn't help but cover his mouth and laugh when he saw it, Bai Wang looked back, and his old face couldn't help but turn red, and he grabbed the other party's ear, picked it up and scolded: "Eat, eat, you know how to eat." After eating so much, I don't see you grow more than half a catty of meat, and I will lose all your face! ”

"Brother Bai, let go, your hands are heavy, you're about to tear my ears off!" The boy screamed, strange to say, although his mouth ached, the bowl in his hand did not relax at all.

"That's it!" When Liu Cheng saw this, he couldn't help laughing: "Even if it's the emperor Lao Tzu, he can't control the sky and the earth, he can't control the eating and, Bai Wang, you just let it go and let him eat!" “

Bai Wang saw Liu Cheng speak. Hurriedly let go of his hand, gently kicked his subordinates' buttocks, and scolded in a low voice: "Cheap you rabbit cub!" He turned to Liu Cheng and bowed and said, "Lord Liu, forgive me, these subordinates are all people from the mountains and wilderness, and they don't know the etiquette!" “

"It's okay!" Liu Cheng looked up and down the people behind Bai Wang for a while, and found that although the clothes on these people were very shabby, their faces were not ugly, not to mention that they were much better than ordinary hungry people, but also much better than many tenants and homesteaders. Then he asked, "Bai Wang, I see the faces of your subordinates, don't they look like they are hungry all the time?" ”

"That's what Lord Liu said! I haven't been a disciplined person since I was a child, and my father and mother left early. The few acres of thin land left behind were simply left to my brother and sister-in-law, and my family gathered some brothers to live on other livelihoods. To be honest, it's not difficult to fill up your belly on weekdays, even if you get some meat, it's common, it's just that there have been wars everywhere in the past few months. It's hard to get salt, and I often have to eat it lightly, but today I finally got it. I ate in a hurry! “

Liu Cheng couldn't help but smile when he heard this: "Oh, in the past few years, Shaanxi has been in drought for many years, and the hungry people are all over the wilderness, but you said that it is not difficult to fill a belly, but you said that you came to listen to me?" “

Bai Wang's face showed a hesitant expression: "My lord, you have to promise not to condemn before we dare to say it." “

Seeing that the other party was like this, Liu Cheng knew in his heart that there must be some illegal deed, the purpose of his original inquiry was to see if he could find one more way to make a fortune, after all, he had more than 2,000 people under his command, but the salary arrears of the imperial court were a common thing, and the way to get rich was naturally as much as possible, so he hurriedly smiled and said: "I'm not the master of the state and county, you just have to say, I will never blame!" Liu Cheng saw that Bai Wang was still hesitating, motioned to the entourage beside him to go farther, and said in a deep voice: "What you said here today is from your mouth and into my ears, and I will never say it to a third person. Speaking of this, Liu Cheng sneered, and the threat was already overflowing.

Bai Wang saw that he couldn't prevaricate, so he had to lower his voice and said: "Although we are not as rich as Chang'an, there are many nobles in our ancestors, and I just rely on the mountains to eat the mountains and rely on the water to eat the water!" ”

"How many nobles? Rely on the mountain to eat the mountain and rely on the water to eat the water? Liu Cheng was stunned for a moment, Bai Wang saw that Liu Cheng hadn't heard it yet, so he picked up a wooden stick and made a gesture of digging, Liu Cheng then understood and asked, "Nuggets?" “

"Exactly!" Bai Wang smiled bitterly: "I also know that this is a detriment to yin morality, but these years and months are almost unbearable for the living, you can't let the money be buried next to the dead, and let the living starve to death, right?" “

Hearing Bai Wang's answer, Liu Cheng couldn't help but be a little disappointed, although Emperor Wu of Wei also did this kind of "gold digging" when he was in distress during the Three Kingdoms, but the problem was that at that time, the Han Dynasty had already existed in name only, and there was no one who came to him for trouble, and it would take more than ten years for the Ming Dynasty to get to that point? If Liu Cheng dares to touch such a thing, I am afraid that he will get into trouble before he eats the benefits, and this kind of loss-making business will definitely not be possible.

Bai Wang stood aside, looking at Liu Cheng's face nervously, lest this general suddenly turn his face and deny people and take himself down, although Liu Cheng has promised not to pursue it, but as the saying goes, "The official word is two mouths, how can it be justified!" "If people want to turn their faces and deny people, can they still find a place to judge? But Liu Cheng's face was neither happy nor angry, and he couldn't see anything for a while, so he had to whisper: "My lord, my lord? ”

"Oh!" Liu Cheng came back to his senses, saw Bai Wang's anxious expression, and guessed a little bit of the other party's intentions, and said with a smile: "What you said is the same, you can't watch the living starve to death, but digging people's graves is a serious crime in the imperial court after all, if you have to do it as a last resort, it is better not to do it!" ”

Bai Wang heard Liu Cheng say this, and hurriedly smiled: "What the adults have taught is that the villain was just forced to do so in the first place, and he must change his past mistakes in the future." ”

"Hmm!" Liu Cheng nodded disapprerovingly, he naturally didn't care if Bai Wang would do this tomb robbery in the future, but he felt that it was a pity to let it go like this, so he continued to ask: "In addition to this, what other business have you done to make a living?" ”

Seeing that Liu Cheng had gently let go of such a major crime as robbing the tomb, Liu Cheng was relieved, and he guessed a little bit of Liu Cheng's intentions, and hurriedly replied: "The villain has also made fake money." ”

"Fake money?"

"Not bad!" Bai Wang saw Liu Cheng's disapproving look on his face, and hurriedly explained: "The villain is not making copper coins, but silver taels. ”

"Fake silver taels?" Liu Cheng perked up when he heard this, and hurriedly urged Bai Wang to explain in detail. It turned out that in the Ming and Qing dynasties, silver taels gradually replaced copper coins to become the currency of private circulation, so counterfeiters also gradually came up with ways to forge fake silver taels. Generally speaking, there are two ways to forge silver taels, one is to mix copper, iron, tin and other metals to make ingots, and then coat the surface with a layer of silver; An even more ingenious approach is to melt the cupronickel into ingots and then scrub them with mercury so that the surface can form a honeycomb profile similar to that of real silver ingots.

When Liu Cheng heard this, he hurriedly asked, "Is there a way to tell the difference?" “

"Tell you, my lord, that real silver ingots will have many holes like honeycombs during the manufacturing and cooling process, and these holes will be small and large, and the surface will be smooth, and there will sometimes be silver droplets in the holes. Because the fake silver ingot is mixed with copper and other metal impurities, the brass texture can be easily seen at the surface wear, and the honeycomb at the bottom is large and small, and there are no silver beads inside. ”

"I see!" Liu Cheng nodded and asked, "What about the copper coin, will you make it?" ”

Bai Wang said with a smile: "Tell my lord, the villain has a brother who used to be in the government to mint official money, but later he accidentally injured a leg and was kicked out by the government." ”

"Dare to love, this is still a thief!" Liu Cheng looked at Bai Wang, who was kneeling on the ground, and secretly thought that although this group of people was not doing a good job, they were indeed the talents they needed, and it was better to use them in their hands than to harm others outside. (To be continued.) )