"That's nature!" Chesang had also seen Liu Cheng's factory in Chaoyi, and knew that this was not an excuse: "My lord, you can let that Chechen Taiji also go to Chaoyi to have a look, and he will understand that you did not mean to shirk." “

"Hmmm! That's what I'm going to do! “

"My lord, there is another benefit to this! Chechen Taiji saw your factory in Chaoyi with his own eyes and understood your strength, and it would be easy for you to join forces with him to attack Tushetu Khan, who happened to have no pasture land yet to be determined, and would definitely covet Tushetu Khan's territory. “

"But if I send troops to attack Tushetu Khan, won't the Naturalization City be empty?"

"My lord, the main force of the Jurchens should be kept to deal with the military towns of the Ming State in Liaodong and Liaoxi, and there are not many who can be invested in the western expedition, and the main forces under the command of Huang Taiji should be the Mongolian tribes that are dependent on him. The lordship was not worried about anything else, but the Tumuts and Chahars, who had already been ruled, were not attached to each other and temporarily defected. In fact, the best way to make the hearts of these two people attached is to fight a battle, as long as you win the battle, and distribute the captured livestock and property to the people, they will naturally be loyal to you. Besides, even if the Jurchens come over, you only need to cross the Yellow River west and migrate to Ningxia, and the Jurchens can still chase after them? ”

Liu Cheng nodded and did not speak. Chesan's words reminded him that it was common for the various tribes on the steppe to fight each other, loot people, livestock, and fight for pastures, and for the tribesmen, the leader who could lead them to fight in the east and west and win a hundred battles was a good leader. Tens of thousands of Chahar and Tumut tribes died under his hands, and it was useless for him to be soft, but if he could lead them to defeat other tribes and obtain rich spoils, then all the previous shortcomings would be turned into advantages. If you want to say that there are many Mongols killed, no one can compare to Genghis Khan, but the Mongols still worship them like gods, and the reason is not that under the leadership of Genghis Khan, they have almost turned the entire Eurasian continent into their pasture? Moreover, the Northern Expedition has two advantages: 1. It can add a powerful ally to itself - Chechen Taiji; 2. After taking away the strength of Tumut and Chahar, he left only the old and weak, even if the people's hearts were unstable, they had no strength to defect. As for the Guihua City, Thomas was rebuilt in the style of a European fortress, and there was heavy artillery from the Spaniards, and it was close to the Yellow River to transport supplies by water, unless Huang Taiji left Liaodong alone and besieged the city for a long time here, there was nothing he could do. Even if Huang Taiji can occupy the front and back areas for the time being, after all, he can't leave a large army to garrison, as long as he returns from Mobei, he will naturally be his own.

"That's it, I'll make a decision after I discuss it with Min Min and Chechen Taiji!" Speaking of this, Liu Cheng pointed at Ah Gui: "This person will work under you in the future, and after a few months until things calm down, you will find a way to bring his wife and children to reunite!" ”

"Thank you, sir!" Ah Gui breathed a sigh of relief when he heard this, and hurriedly kowtowed to Liu Cheng.

"Don't worry, my lord, it's just that the matter of being stabbed in disguise must be arranged, otherwise it will be difficult for Lord Lu to say it!"

"Well, I know this, you might as well give Fugu Ai a thorough ventilation, he is also an old qualification in the Chahar Department, after I get out of the division, I need someone who can hold the rudder!"

"Yes!"

After both Chesang and Ah Gui had exited the house, Liu Cheng returned to his chair and sat down, deep in thought. This suggestion of Chesan is undoubtedly a clever move, which not only avoids direct confrontation with the Houjin, but also takes the opportunity to expand its own strength, and from the perspective of time, the Houjin army must launch an offensive at least after the harvest of the crops, that is, after mid-September; And now it is June, if he agrees with Chechen Taiji, he should send troops until late July, and when he returns to the division, he may be able to attack his laziness and return to catch a little tail of the Houjin army, that is the most perfect. But after all, Daming has not crossed the desert for nearly two hundred years and marched into Mobei, can he do it?

But after all, Tushetu Khan has never fought with the Ming Dynasty, will there be people in the court who say that they are afraid of the enemy and do not fight, and they are good at provoking the border? Will later historians say that they ******** strengthen their own strength, but ignore the great enemies of the imperial court? Thinking of this, Liu Cheng's face showed an arrogant smile, Saladin was a hero of the ********** world, retaking the Holy Land of Jerusalem from the Christians, but he actually spent most of his life fighting against ******, fighting hard to unify Syria and Egypt. Isn't it the right strategy to engulf the weak and strengthen yourself before engaging the most powerful enemy? "If you don't move, you don't have to do it, you don't have to fight. The Lord shall not be angry and will not be discouraged and cause war. Move in line with the profit, and stop at the point of not the benefit. Anger can be restored, sorrow can be restored, the dead country cannot be restored, and the dead cannot be resurrected. "How good our ancestors said, in order to be a general, we should first get rid of unnecessary feelings, calmly pursue victory, and other things are not something I should consider.

Liu Chengzheng was thinking about it, and suddenly his eyes were dark, but he was covered by a pair of soft little hands.

"Guess who I am?"

"Minmin!" Liu Cheng turned around and picked up the person behind him, and heard a chuckle, the person in front of him had a beautiful face and a smile like a flower, who was it not Min Min?

"Ah Cheng, you are frowning, and what bad ideas are you holding back?"

"Hehehe!" Liu Cheng smiled when he heard this: "Dare to love in your eyes, you are thinking about how to harm people all day long? Then why would you still marry me? “

"Because Min Min is also a bad girl, naturally things gather like things, and people are divided by groups!" Min Min grinned and hugged Liu Cheng's neck and said with a smile: "Let me guess whose bad idea you are fighting this time?" Jurchens? Mongols, or you Han officials? It can't be us Jungars, right? ”

"How so?" Liu Cheng couldn't help but secretly marvel at the sharpness of the woman's intuition, but he pretended to have a smile on his face: "How come, since you and I are husband and wife, then the Jungger people are my mother's family, how can there be any reason to harm my mother's family?" ”

"We Mongolians don't have as many rules as you Han people, that is, it is common for brothers of the same milk to fight each other for the throne, not to mention the mother's family! Ah Cheng, since Min Min is married to you, he is your person. I also know that Father Khan's request has made you very embarrassed, so don't force it! “

"I can't say it at all!" Liu Cheng was also a little moved in his heart: "If it's just a workshop for making birds, it's nothing." But you have also seen in the workshops in Chaoyi, iron-making, coking, gunpowder making, hydraulic forging machines, arquebuses, and woodworking workshops, all of which add up to one or twenty large and small, and two or three thousand workers. How did your father Khan build it in a hurry, if there is only one bird's workshop, fine iron, wood or anything, and there is no forging machine, I am afraid that it will only be two or three hundred in a year, it is better to buy it from me to save more trouble. ”

"That's what you said, let me explain it to my Chechen brother! If he doesn't believe it, just let him go to the court and see it himself! “

"Well, Minmin, you're right, I'm really thinking of a plan!"

"Oh, tell me about it?" Minmin's cheeks immediately glowed red with excitement. “

"In a few days I will be stabbed and seriously injured! And in fact, I intend to unite with your brother and attack Tushetu Khan! “

Ningxia City, East Gate.

Ahmat leaned on the cushion, his head swaying up and down with the undulation of the camel sedan chair, his chin was much thicker than the last time he asked to see Liu Cheng. He used the voucher of 3,000 taels of silver given to him by Liu Cheng to buy many commodities urgently needed in the Yarkand Khanate--tea, utensils, iron farm tools, woolen wool, especially woolen wool, and the woolen products produced by the water-powered textile factory completely overwhelmed the woolen fabrics of the locals in terms of price, quality, and printing and dyeing color, and counting the jade, golden sand, livestock, and animal skins transported back from Yarkand, counting this back and forth, after deducting the expenses on the way, Ahmat had already obtained at least 200 percent of the profitsHis purse was as fat as his chin. Seeing that Ningxia City was already in sight, he could finally relax and take a good nap.

Suddenly, the camel sedan stopped, and Ahmat, who was half-asleep and half-awake, hit his head on the hard wooden support in front of him, and suddenly woke up in pain. Suddenly awakened, he lifted the curtain of the sedan and scolded: "Allah, Hadi, can't you even lead a camel?" ”

"Master, the front is blocked, we can't get through!" The servant Hadi spread his hands helplessly and pointed ahead, Ahmat looked in the direction of Hadi's finger, and sure enough, the east gate was densely packed with people, as if he was watching something. The convoy in front of it was already blocked for more than half a mile, and many horse-drawn carriages could not move on the official road.

"You go over and see what's going on? It's all blocked like this, and the government doesn't send anyone to take care of it! Ahmat complained: "Hey, it must be that Lord Liu hasn't come back from Jingshi yet, if he is there, he will definitely not let these guys be lazy and make a mess here!" ”

Hardy turned his head and smiled, since he went to Chaoyi, his lord has become a loyal fan of the general soldier Liu, the convenient traffic in Chaoyi, the dense flow of people, the high-quality and inexpensive goods gushing out of the factory like flowing water, and the orderly environment have made Ahmat admired, all of which have turned into a rolling gold stream in his eyes, especially this Lord Liu also adheres to the attitude of equivalent exchange and correspondence to businessmen, which just scratches Ahmat's itch. Even the one in this sect who is always high and above is much inferior to Zhuo.

After a while, Hardy ran back out of breath and shouted, "Oh no, no! ”

"What's wrong, didn't I teach you to speak with a beginning and an end?" Ahmat angrily rebuked that as a long-distance trader, he was very taboo about unlucky words like "not good".

"I beg your pardon, sir. More than a dozen Mongolian prisoners were being executed at the east gate, and it is said that they were caught assassinating Liu's commander-in-chief, Lord Liu, and executed outside the east gate! ”

"What? Assassinating Lord Liu? These dogs who do not believe in Allah, may they fall into Hellfire! Ahmat scolded fiercely: "What about Lord Liu? Is there something wrong? ”

"I don't know!" Hardy shook his head hesitantly: "But I heard that Mr. Liu was injured!" ”

"Damn it!" Ahmat scolded, jumped off the camel sedan with agility that did not match his fat body, and called out the name of his butler: "Maimaiti, Maimaiti!" “

"What's the matter?" The butler, who was taking care of the caravan in the back, ran over, took his hat off his sweaty head, and asked, "What's the matter?" ”

"I have important matters to enter the city, and the affairs here will be left to you, transport the goods to the warehouse, send the camels to the pen, feed the food and water, and come to my house at night to pay the errand, understand?"

"Don't worry, sir!" Maimaiti bowed respectfully.

"Hardy! Bring the camel with the gift and come with me into the city. ”

Ahmat took a lot of effort to squeeze into the east gate, and then went straight to the general soldier's mansion. When I arrived at the gate of the house, I saw that the guards were heavily guarded, and there were many more soldiers guarding the door than usual, and all of them were wearing armor and holding soldiers, looking like they were facing a great enemy. He forcibly suppressed the fear in his heart, took out the token that Liu Cheng gave him last time, and said to the officer guarding the door: "I am Ahmat, a merchant from Yarkand, I heard that the chief soldier was stabbed and wanted to visit, please pass it on." ”

The officer looked at Ahmat, and then looked at the token in his hand, and finally decided to pass it on for him, and after a while, Ahmat saw Hao Shaoqi come out, he still remembered that this black-faced officer with a full beard knew that it was Liu Cheng's close body, and hurriedly greeted him: "Lord Hao, do you remember me?" Ahmat, who invited the chief soldier to come to the mansion as a guest last time, I wonder how the lord is now? May I go in and have a visit? ”

"Your Excellency was stabbed by an assassin, and the injuries are not light!" Hao Shaoqi obviously remembered the other party, and nodded gently to Ahmat: "It's not appropriate to see guests now, Mr. Ahmat, please go back!" “

"Oooh!" Ahmat couldn't help but chuckle when he heard that Liu Cheng's injury was not light, but he also knew the severity, so he had to point to the camel behind him and say: "I just came back from Yarkand, and this camel is a gift for adults. ”

Hao Shaoqi did not shirk, waved his hand and let his subordinates lead the camel: "Mr. has a heart, I will tell you when you are better!" “

"Thank you, General Hao!" Ahmat owed a debt and did not turn to leave until Hao Shaoqi's back disappeared behind the door. At this time, he was in turmoil, it seemed that Lord Liu's injuries were not light, could it be that a financial road that he had finally opened was cut off like this? (To be continued.) )