Three days later, Yang Tianshou and a group of Shiguantun old and young, Wang Dali's five small flags, had the honor to watch a live military drill of Xiao Baihu, and even the small flag of drawing water was also put on a half-day holiday.

The two teams of heavily armed small flags, flanked by horse guards, the roar of the wheel-like firearms, and the rain of arrows splashing at the end shocked the military households of Shiguantun; In the burst of applause, Xiao Baihu was also a little dissatisfied, if it weren't for the team's training time being too short and the number of sergeants too few, he would even have the confidence to play a smooth attack formation like an outflow.

Keeping the military regulations secret, on the training ground, he was once again shouted loudly by Xiao Liuzi's guards several times.

Of course, this is in the face of an enemy with the same strength as himself, and he has to have enough projectiles, he has to not encounter heavy rain, and he has to not encounter cavalry, etc., so that Xiao Baihu, who thinks more and more, the smile on his face quickly disperses.

There are too many short handles, but it is no longer a problem to defend the rocky mountain.

The dark fort around the top of the mountain is constantly being built, and with the efforts of the five small banners under Wang Dali, it is developing towards the mountain range to the west, and the small fort with an interval of fifty battles can be avoided in Xiao Ye's opinion.

However, in this late autumn weather, the rain is so little that it can be ignored.

In five days, ten Shiguan fire guns were equipped with a personal guard team, and two monoculars were enough to make Xiao Liuzi unable to close his mouth; Of course, this kind of telescope placed in the leather bag is not allowed to be easily displayed to people in normal times.

The dew and frost were getting heavier, the autumn wind was cold, the vine grass spreading everywhere on the stone mountain stopped expanding, and the leaves of the Coptis tree also fell in large quantities, which made Li Langzhong very busy for two days.

Li Langzhong, who was under house arrest and was not allowed to go out, had Xiao Baihu's free ale, saw the terrifying fire drill, and had no worries about food and clothing, and also faded his mind to return to the Gravel Castle.

For this reason, Xiao Baihu, who was in a good mood, transferred him a few clever boys from the private school to learn to heal knife wounds, so that he could temporarily rescue the nearest emergency next time he went out, but he didn't have a doctor with the army, so he could only make do.

Outside the wall of Shiguantun, in the open space west of the exit, close to the stone wall, Wang vigorously led people to build several stone houses, the kind with windows, which were prepared for the Huang family; This kind of stone house with yellow plaster stone blocks for the wall, Xiao Ye has to count the money, five rooms are one hundred and thirty taels, and it is said that the cloth will be used to top the account.

This price is also expensive in the gravel fort, but only this one shop, the young master of the Huang family doesn't care, what he wants is to let the shop gain a firm foothold on the mountain and monopolize the sales of yellow plaster.

It's not that he didn't think about setting up a workshop here, but the fourth child of the new friend obviously has no money, and then cut off the only financial way for the family, Huang Changzu doesn't want to have a dispute with the military household, so it is difficult to entangle the tail.

Of course, the idea of gaining a foothold, that is something to be said later, is not in a hurry.

Huang Changzu also did not expect that the completion of the mill and the semi-processed crushed stone powder would soon increase the output of yellow plaster to the point of 10,000 catties a day, and the unit price would also fall immediately, to the point that he was unwilling to build a workshop.

"Drive, drive," in the spacious mill, three blindfolded horses, with thick horizontal logs on their backs, neatly marching in small steps, trotting around the stone mill; On a high wooden shelf, a craftsman with a cloth covering his face carried a bag full of fragments of stone foam and poured it into the grinding hole along a tin cylinder.

Five people added stones to the grinding eyes, five people collected the fine powder from the grinding, and under the sun, they were sweating profusely; The speed of the scalper was too slow, and Wang Dali used the healthy horse in the pen very luxuriously.

There were two large earthy yellow stone mills on each side, and there were also healthy horses spinning around to bring the coarse and coarse grinding stone particles, and some sergeants transferred them to the blue-gray stone mills. However, the low efficiency of this stone mill made Wang Dali and the craftsmen relatively speechless.

In the warehouse next to the mill, hundreds of pounds of double-layer straw bags are constantly piled up in stone houses; The craftsmen, who were quite brainy, used straw bags to solve the problem of shipping yellow plaster.

The panicked old military households who were idle in the tun had another way to get money, cut the tall artemisia grass, soaked it softly, dried it and woven it into straw bags, two layers were enough to prevent the powder from falling. Five cents a piece, one person can make six or seven a day, as long as it is strong and fine, Wang Dali is very generous to buy them all.

Xiao Baihu's mysterious actions every night have long been noticed by the sergeants, but everyone thinks that Baihu added ingredients to the stone mill, otherwise the fine powder ground by other stone mills is rough, not to mention rough, and the water is just a muddy soup.

The ancestral secret recipe is not allowed to be shown to the public, and the sergeants and craftsmen all think so, don't everyone do this.

On the ninth day of Young Master Huang Changzu's departure, the autumn rain came as soon as it was said, and in the drizzle, a caravan of the Huang family, with more than 20 carriages, hundreds of mules and horses, and a team with heavy feet, rushed to the foot of Shiguantun Mountain.

In the past few days, except for Wang Huxiaoqi's night of not collecting, it was found that there were sporadic Tartar spies in the canyon outside Shiguan, which were unceremoniously driven back to the depths of the canyon, and Shiguantun was running step by step.

The rain is cool, in addition to the sound of reading in the private school, the jingle in the blacksmith shop, the adults have been idle at night, making some side dishes and ale, a few people chatting around the house, and the crude charcoal in the brazier is also quite comfortable.

Wang Dali's five small flags, as long as they don't go to the mill, other tasks are gradually relaxed, and the five-day drill every ten days is also quite easy.

And those sergeants who were hiding in the bunker to keep watch, looking at the cold weather outside, were also secretly glad that they were either patrolling the mountains under their own small flags today, or they couldn't drink to keep out the cold.

The five small flags in Xiao Ye's hand, two of which rotate to guard the stone mountain every day, one to patrol down the mountain, and the other two to drill the infantry formation in the training ground regardless of the season, that is, the use of firearm projectiles is restricted.

As for the twenty personal guard squads, they rotated according to ten people, scimitars, spears, crossbows, firecrackers and even explored the terrain, practiced every day, and guarded the hundred households and stone mills day and night, and Xiao Liuzi was also tired and lost a lot of weight.

The bowstring in Xiao Ye's heart was very tight.

The rain for three consecutive days gave Xiao Ye a headache, and he still laughed when he saw Wang Dali and them driving horses and grinding earlier, but now, he couldn't wait, he wanted to try; The Huang family caravan is coming, and the crossbows in their hands are not enough at all, and the protective clothing should also be equipped with officers above the small flag.

Especially his own personal guards, the loss of one is something he does not want to see; Most of these are rescued slaves, and their gratitude to Xiao Ye can only be repaid with the action of blocking the knife, and Xiao Ye is quite trusting.

In the early hours of the morning, in the mill, above the blue-gray stone mill, there was a movable shed, blocking the rain, allowing Xiao Ye to praise Wang Dali's craftsmen and sergeants for their ingenuity.

Bringing three healthy horses, the guards put on iron hoops, horizontal logs, tied the horse's cloth, Xiao Yeyi, who was standing on the high shelf, waved his hand, the leather whip sounded, and the three horses ran around the stone mill quickly.

Widening his eyes and unable to see the blue light on the grinding plate, Xiao Ye waved his hand again, and the leather whip in the hand of the guard was dripping fiercely on the horse's buttocks, "Rack, rack," In the sound of horses' hooves like raindrops, Xiao Baihu, who got his wish, finally saw the subtle blue light.

"Quick, speed up the run," Xiao Ye, who shouted, held the wooden frame in his hand, and jumped to the stone mill that stood still.

Tilting his head, looking down carefully, he waited for half an hour, and just when he was about to give up, the small and shiny pattern made Xiao Ye grin and laugh silently; Sure enough, as long as you can make the stone mill turn quickly, you can see the pattern.

The doubts he had been thinking about for many days were suddenly solved.

Carefully avoiding the rotating beam, Xiao Ye reached out and randomly pressed the button on the grinding disc between the pattern transitions, then got up, "Stop,"

Sweating healthy horses, Xiao Ye is not a pity, there are many horses on the grassland, and it is easy to get them yourself; He didn't know that the Mongolian Tatars on the steppe had already been targeted at Shiguantun.

Jumping off the stone mill and waving his hand to let the guards out, Xiao Ye took out two protective clothing, originally wanted to press the crossbow, but he couldn't see it clearly from a high position, and it was inevitable that he would press it wrongly; However, protective clothing is also a nice good thing.

Xiao Ye, who still wanted to make persistent efforts, looked at the healthy horse whose body was constantly trembling and the corners of his mouth were foaming, and knew that he couldn't do it anymore, and the three horses ran like this for half an hour, and the guards estimated that they would be fine, and this horse was definitely going to die.

At dawn, the rain stopped, and under the dim sky, when Wang Dali led the sergeants to process bags of coarse powder of stone and began to pour them into the grinding eye, he found that the spirit of today's horse was too bad; Helplessly, it was replaced by scalpers, and the speed was greatly slowed down.

The stone was mined on a high slope, and the bare stone was mixed with a large amount of brownish black in the earthy yellow, which was carelessly ignored by the sergeants.

With a mining volume of 2,000 catties per day, if it weren't for the cart pulled by oxen, the sergeants would not have been able to transport it back from exhaustion.

At this point, a large pile of stones had been piled up outside the mill.

Under the surveillance and escort of the sergeants of Shiguantun, the Huang family mule team went up to Shishan in a gloomy autumn, and at this moment, Huang Deshan, the shopkeeper of the Huang family shop in Shiguantun, was also in a gloomy mood.

As the tent of the Huang family's shop in Wuguan Town, Huang Deshan had a pretty good life, but after the third prince came, he went out to do business, and his good life came to an end.

Huang Deshan is Huang Fugui's confidant, and Huang Fugui is a close confidant of the third young master, so the matter of going to Shiguantun to set up a shop was explained to him; Fortunately, the third young master was merciful, and his family was left in Wuguan Town, and he did not follow him to this wilderness.

Huang Deshan, who is in his thirties and looks loyal, wears a black jacket robe, and is very polite when he sees Xiao Baihu, and has a good relationship with the locals, which is a necessary quality for businessmen.

Led outside his shop by the sergeant, Huang Deshan was very surprised in front of the tall and solid courtyard wall and the earthy yellow stone house; Walking into the shop, the courtyard of more than two acres in the backyard is messy but the place is big enough.

There is no hurry to get the goods, but the two jobs that came with him are facing the messy shops, and the barren grass and gravel in the backyard are too high, and he doesn't know how to start, Huang Deshan also smiled bitterly.

found the priest Wang Dali, spent the usual money, the blacksmith waved his hand, a group of old men and military households with a dozen children, a meal effort, cleaned up the courtyard of the house; After the on-the-spot inspection, Wang Dali's move of distributing wages to the military households, Huang Deshan saw it, and did not say a word.

Naturally, the window frames and door panels need to be purchased from the king, and the people are ready, just waiting for the exchange of copper coins.

The shops were busy, and the sergeants of Xiao Ye, in addition to practicing the infantry formation and spear formation in the training ground, had replaced the drill of the fire gun with wooden sticks, and they held it all day long, shaking their heads at Huang Deshan.

In addition to the usual vigilance of the mill in the early morning, there is no taboo in Shiguantun, of course, it is necessary to keep the military regulations secret, and the gentleman in the private school is also constantly emphasizing that children can memorize it.

It wasn't until evening that the tightly wrapped goods on the mule carts were collected into the shop, and two cowhide tents in the backyard were piled to the brim; Most of the grain and cloth brought have been received by the Wang Wang's officials, and Li Langzhong has made an IOU.

The guards took 4,000 catties of plaster, and the mule cart team left Shiguantun the next day. The accounts were offset, and as soon as January ended, Li Langzhong also became a part-time bookkeeping tent under Wang Dali.

There are many kinds of goods in the Huang family's shop, oil, salt, sauce, vinegar tea, needle thread, brain, sugar and ale, etc., that is, a large grocery store, and the military households with copper coins in their hands come to pick and choose and buy constantly, even if it is a small amount little by little, it can't stand many people, but it gave Huang Deshan a small surprise.

Now, the old and young people of Shiguantun, in addition to the land temple, have one more place to go, squatting outside the shop, just don't buy it and watch it, who bought a pot of ale, who bought half a foot of silk cloth, within one night, everyone knows.

Only Yang Mei'er and Han Juan were buying in the shop, and each family was just talking about it secretly, after all, the military regulations were there.

The rain is cool in autumn, and the increasing yellow plaster in the mill warehouse makes Huangde Mountain go up the mountain for less than three days.

"Huang shopkeeper, Baihu asked me to find you, the yellow plaster will be pulled away as soon as possible, Xiao Baihu is righteous, the first time he traded with your family, five hundred yuan of thousands of catties of ash powder, and he didn't earn anything," the arrogant Wang Dali patted Huang Deshan's shoulder very imposingly, "My old Wang's eyes can see clearly, this time your Huang family is making a lot of money." ”

"Hehe, Secretary Wang is working hard, I'm just a little shopkeeper, just a hard-earned money," Huang Deshan smiled and took out a small tin wine jug, "A little ale wine, Brother Wang won't look down on me as a merchant,"

"Well, that's it, Brother Deshan, if you give me money, I will definitely turn my face, the military regulations of a hundred households are very strong, but half a pound of wine, it doesn't matter," Haha smiled, Wang Dali took the wine jug, turned it upside down, and strode out of the shop with a smile.

In less than half a pillar of incense, the wine jug was already placed on the stone table in Xiao Baihu's courtyard; Even if the hundreds of families are on leave, their eyes are staring at the tunli, plus the old people who are wandering around, if he wants to be stripped of his official position for half a catty of ale, he is not so stupid.

Ximen Zuoshi also entered the personal guards, and was taken by Xiao Liuzi every day to train horseback riding and playing on the mountain, running without a shadow, and during the day, you can also hear the sound of Hanjuan and Mei'er next door and some little girls, frolicking.

In the small courtyard, Xiao Ye sat on the stone bench and put down the books in his hand.

"Well, this thing is still rare," the rough-made tin wine jug, Xiao Ye was the first time he had seen it, and it fluttered lightly in his hand, shaking it, and the sound inside was loud, "The ale wine is for you, give me the wine jug at night,"

After speaking, the flask was thrown to the blacksmith, Xiao Ye picked up the yellowed book, and looked at it calmly.

The majesty of his father-in-law, he still can't resist.