"Bastard, the son of the great tomorrow, he doesn't pay tribute or get along, what is it, not by curling up to defend the fortified city, but by fighting against each other, killing the Tartars and fleeing for a hundred years," Yang Tian was refuted excitedly, although Xiao Ye did not dare to agree, but he also raised his mind, and his face was relieved.

The next words of the father-in-law made Xiao Ye frightened.

Yang Tianshou, the head of the Ministry of Residence and Military Affairs during the Hongzhi period, was finally implicated because of the "dismissal of the Zen master case", Jiazi was dismissed and exiled to Suzhou Wei, and later settled in the gravel fort.

The Ministry of War, in charge of military officials' recounting, verification, pension, military briefing, inspection, patrol and other matters, and manage the ban and sea ban; And Yang Tianshou has a wide range of preferences, and he is quite involved in military training.

Yang Tianshou, who claimed to be proficient in military affairs, was guilty of serious crimes, and his wife died after giving birth, so he set up a private school in the fort and chatted to get by, and then he fell into the aftermath of marrying the Ximen family.

"If it weren't for the Holy Lord's Kuanren, my white bones would have been mottled on the side of the road a long time ago," Yang Tianshou, who sighed, nagged about his experience, picked up the teacup, and drank the cold tea in the cup in one gulp.

"Now, the Mongolian Tartars are unrepentant and have repeatedly offended the border, but the border army is getting tired day by day, and I have already been discouraged, but," Yang Tianshou looked at Xiao Ye in front of him, his eyes were blazing, "You are a small hundred households, with only fifty sergeants, you dare to fight against two hundred strong Tartar horse teams, my Mei'er, I didn't see the wrong person,"

Hahahaha, Yang Tianshou, who was laughing in the sky, sighed, got up and faced the southeast direction, and bowed, "Your Majesty, although the criminal ministers cannot serve the imperial court, they must do their best to guard the border passes, and they will not give up,"

He worshipped the diligent Emperor Xiaozong of the first dynasty, not the lustful Zhu Houzhao.

Knowing that his father-in-law turned out to be an official of the Ministry of War, Xiao Ye's defeated face also set off an excited look, what he lacked most now was a helper who knew the soldiers, not a blind break by himself.

With Yang Tianshou's encouragement, Xiao Ye eased his senses, and simply handed over the military training affairs to his father-in-law, and became a flag officer himself, following Yang Tianshou to start the daily drill.

The position of the first general flag in the hundred households has finally found a person to take responsibility, as for the clerks and waist cards, Yang Tianshou really can't look down on them.

His father-in-law, who was a former official of the Ministry of War, didn't know that his position was too much higher than his own, Xiao Ye instinctively lowered his head and no longer talked too much about the exercise.

Shiguantun, although the loss of four young and strong, two children, but first, the military families were prepared, and secondly, Xiao Ye took out all the proceeds of the capture, and after compensating the families of the dead, they ensured their monthly food supply for the old and young, and there were more and more young people on the mountain who tried to join the first general banner.

Soon, with newcomers joining, the first general flag has five small flags, as long as the injured recover and return to the team, it is a full formation.

In the mountain training ground, the formations of soldiers armed with swords and spears, round formations, and square formations are taking shape day by day. To Yang Tianshou's regret, there were no gongs, drums, trombones, no pennants fluttering, and the number of people was small, so there was no deterrence in the momentum.

In the col, the sound of firecrackers continued to sound, and the firecrackers who practiced the formation of bows and arrows, ten people in a small flag, and five people in a row, began to shoot in continuous sections amid the shouting of small flags.

In the northwest land of Suzhou, the fire pier is full of wolf smoke, the trumpet cannon is continuous, and the Ming officers and soldiers guarding the border wall pass watched the Tartars of the brigade, whip and leap horses, break through the gap in Qingfeng Valley, and rumble into the interior.

There were also border troops who organized teams and fought against the Tartars in the field, but under the heavy casualties on both sides, the Ming army retreated, and the Tartar brigade also avoided the Ming army, divided into several groups and began to attack the villages of Tunwei in various places, looting and slaughtering, staged in this bleak land.

When Xiao Ye took out another twenty sticks, the sixth small pattern on the stone grinding disc fell into darkness again, and the raw materials were exhausted again.

The yard was too noisy, and Wang Dali and his craftsmen, like madmen, threw stones into the stone mill every night, and what they wanted was the delicate yellow plaster, so Xiao Ye retreated.

The stone mill can grind out the yellow plaster, Yang Tianshou didn't know the reason, but he didn't dig deeper, he thought that other stone mills were the same; But when asked about the source of the firecrackers and crossbows, Xiao Ye still lied.

The Persian caravan that didn't exist at all had been said too many times, and Xiao Ye took it seriously.

With the cold firearm in his hand, the coarse cloth that wiped the gun fell to the ground, Xiao Ye sat in the small courtyard, looking at the bright full moon in the sky in a daze; Mei'er, who was fiddling with the tea set beside her, glanced at her fiancé's eyebrows from time to time.

Xiao Ye was very worried, he basically understood the raw materials of the stone grinding, but where to get it, it was impossible to get it in the gravel fort, and it was a blessing that the tartars didn't come; Could it be that you really went to find a non-existent Persian caravan?

The team that was originally responsible for removing rattan grass was entrusted with the important task by him, and a large amount of rattan grass was laid on the path leading to Gravel County, and even Shiguan had a lot of piles there.

For this reason, the ten-person team, four people fell one after another, and they were poured with medicinal juice and rested for a whole day.

"The main force of the Tartars has passed through Qingfeng Valley, and on the grassland, there is not much strength," in the room, Yang Tianshou under the oil lamp, holding a book, muttered in a low voice, and the light and fluttering voice was stopped in his ears word by word by Xiao Ye, who was eared and bright.

"Smack," patted the firecracker, the corners of Xiao Ye's mouth moved slightly, and he wanted to get up and leave. Huang Fugui's careless words, he remembered it in his heart.

"Brother Xiao, that Persian caravan, can you still have that beautiful mirror, Cuilan and they want it too," Mei'er asked softly with her white melon seed face, which was as white as porcelain; She now has several girlfriends on the mountain.

Originally, she was worried about Brother Xiao'er's safety and didn't have the heart to ask, but now that the mountain has returned to calm, she naturally has a plan.

"Yes, of course, soon," Xiao Ye smiled, stretched out his finger and flicked it on Mei'er's head, and ran away briskly.

The next day, Xiao Ye gathered the sergeants and announced in public that he would lead the team through the canyon outside Shiguan to meet the Persian caravan, and the defense of Shiguantun would be managed by Yang Tianshou General Banner.

The position of the general flag of Ximen Zuoshi has been taken off to his father-in-law, and the big guy has no objections, and it is difficult for outsiders to intervene in other people's family affairs. Of course, Zuo Shi didn't care at all.

The side room guarded by Uncle Kun was opened, and twenty neatly arranged firearms, projectiles full of kraft boxes, and military crossbows hung on the wall in rows, all of which Xiao Ye handed over to Yang Tianshou.

"Father-in-law, this is all the family background in the hundred households, I will go out at an uncertain time this time, Shiguantun will please, be careful of the tartars," Xiao Ye's sincere and trusting eyes made Yang Tianshou's face solemn, "Don't worry, boy, I will be optimistic about Shiguantun." ”

In the arsenal, Yang Tianshou took out a cowhide scroll from his arms and handed it to Xiao Ye, "I'm good at drawing maps, when your father was alive, he told me about the terrain outside Shiguan, and drew it on a whim, I looked for it last night, I didn't expect to use it,"

Although his father-in-law assured with confidence that Xiao Ye was a little worried, the stone mill had almost become Wang Dali's plaster tool, so he still made a decision.

The south is unreliable, and the only way to go is to go to the north, and it is inevitable to explore the way. Passive waiting for death, Xiao Ye was not convinced.

Xiao Ye took twenty sergeants carrying firearms and crossbows, rode fast horses, carried dry food and water bags, and left Shiguantun overnight.

With torches lit and scouts leading the way, avoiding the staggered vines and grasses on the ground, the horse team slowly walked into the rugged mountain path of the canyon; In this battle with the Tartars, the dead and wounded war horses made everyone on the mountain also get over the addiction of eating large pieces of meat, but there were not many war horses captured.

A total of more than 30 war horses were seized before and after, and Xiao Ye took away 25 horses, and also took away most of the good hands of the first and second small flags.

More than ten miles of rugged mountain roads, walking in the canyon, looking up can only see a little starlight in the sky, Xiao Ye with a torch in his hand from the gap of that thin line, and can't help but sigh; Such a dangerous pass was unguarded for a long time, and it was easy to defend and difficult to attack, so I gave up.

It's no wonder that the Tartars destroyed the stone pass to the point that even the entire rubble is rarely seen, there must have been fierce battles before.

Early in the morning, out of the canyon, a gust of autumn wind swept by, everyone was in good spirits, look around, the surrounding dwarf forests are connected with large shrubs, and then look north, the sparse and yellowed grassland, has appeared in front of you.

Rest in place and relax in the saddle.

"Let's go," half an hour later, Xiao Ye, who had swallowed the dry cake with his throat scraped in his mouth and put down the water bag, let out a low shout, the sergeants silently got up and cleaned up, fastened their saddles, stepped on their horses, lined up in a long line, and trotted towards the grassland in the distance.

Wang Hu and two alert sergeants had already entered the grassland an hour earlier.

Holding the cowhide roll, Xiao Ye looked at the terrain in the distance, and then compared it with the map, and couldn't help but praise his father-in-law for being really old and strong, and he had always hidden it deeply, but it was not too late until now.

With the telescope in hand, the scouts sent back by Wang Hu successively informed the hundred households and the tribes that appeared in front, but depending on the situation, they all looked like they were ready to leave.

"Every autumn, they have to go to the Hetao area to the east for the winter, or a blizzard will come down, hehe, people and animals will not survive," said an older sergeant, baring his yellow teeth, and laughed disdainfully.

The rules of life of the Tartars have always been despised by the Ming people. The touch of nomadism and agrarian consciousness can only produce more and more resentment.

Avoiding the tribes, the horse team turned northwest and galloped quickly in the direction of the Altai Mountains; After two hours of running, the root of Xiao Ye's thigh was already in hot pain, and he could only endure it if he wore out his skin.

The distance of 600 miles, coupled with the need to avoid the Tartar tribes, took five days for the horse team to reach the eastern mountain area of the Altai Mountains.

"Peng, Peng," "Whoosh, whoosh," the sound of fire guns continued to sound, and the crossbows slashed their heads and covered their faces one after another, and hundreds of young people from a Tartar tribe were beaten in front of the tent one by one and shot on the back of the horse before they could get on their horses and escape.

More than 200 old men, women and children who fled in all directions surrounded them, and killing on the grassland was as simple as hunting, but Xiao Ye stopped the killing of the sergeants, and only surrounded them from a distance; In several low, dilapidated tents, bags of mined saltpeter were found.

"Go, grab someone and ask, where is this saltpeter mined?" Soon, a little boy in a leather robe and boots was grabbed by the sergeant with a few pigtails on his head and dragged in front of Xiao Ye; The scout, who knew a few words in Turkic, kicked and beat him, and interrogated him sharply.

The lit cowhide tent, in the raging fire, the smell of burnt paste spread everywhere and did not disperse, Xiao Ye could see the endless hatred in the eyes of the little boy, especially when several sergeants pulled out short arrows on the corpses, he could even see that the little boy had bitten his lip.

The fingers on the waist knife rubbed a few times, Xiao Ye still couldn't do it, the Tartar can loot and kill unscrupulously, he can't cut and kill prisoners, he is not a beast.