Turning towards Xiao Ye in the Altai Mountains, with the telescope in his hand, he surrounded and ambushed, and after killing the Tatar spies with the suffix sticking, the horse team immediately turned around and turned to the direction of Bailong Mountain; With Ye Bu Shui leading the way, he found two Tartar tribes with familiarity, and to his disappointment, there was nothing on the meadow except for the cow and sheep dung.

The tribe of the Tartars had migrated to the Hetao region, which was too far away for Xiao Ye to find a target for a retaliatory attack.

Originally, Xiao Ye, who wanted to get more saltpeter this time, didn't expect to travel unfavorably, and first lost eight personal guards, and his younger brother was also among them; Braving the drizzle, he led the horse team into the valley and ascended the winding mountain road.

When I arrived at the mountain, it was still a lake shrouded in white mist, with some people setting up sentry posts and some people setting up tents.

The rest of the guards removed the leather bags on horseback, carried iron hammers and hammers to the saltpeter pit, and began to collect saltpeter; Xiao Ye took a night and drove his horse to the opposite shore along the lakeside, wet.

Coming to the other side, "Baihu, why are the stones here all black, and there are bright spots," Ye Bushu pointed to the stones on the ground, and the shiny crystal chips on them made him very curious.

"You ask me, I don't know, go back and ask the stonemasons, maybe they understand," Xiao Ye thought for a while, jumped off the horse, "Come, let's go back with a bag of stones, maybe it will be beneficial,"

Early in the morning of the third day, the horse team slowly descended the mountain and went straight to the direction of Xiao Liuzi and them, leaving them Xiao Ye was already very uncomfortable, and it might be better to retrieve the bones.

The sergeants saw that the hundred households were full of worries, so they lit torches overnight, and after a busy day, they filled 5,000 catties of saltpeter.

On the grassy grassland, the horses were in front of the two nights, and when they approached the battlefield of the previous days, the horse team cautiously followed five miles behind; In the afternoon, when it was getting dark, in the binoculars that did not close at night, I saw four earthy yellow tents and two figures walking back and forth on the familiar high slope.

The iconic firearm was carried on his shoulder, and the crumpled and shapeless battle jacket and red military hat lifted the spirits of the two nights, "It's them, they're still alive,"

When Xiao Ye rushed to the high slope of the meadow, he saw Xiao Liuzi's black face, dirty and colorless medicine belt, and worried and dignified face, and suddenly felt a lot more relaxed; Not far from the tent, the four low tombs still made the corners of the eyes of several sergeants redden.

The slaves who escaped from the grassland died in the grassland, and it was also fate.

"Big brother, give me some water to drink, I'm dying of thirst," the first sentence of the meeting, Zuo Shi made Xiao Ye cry and laugh.

packed up the tent and set off overnight; On the way back to Shiguan, there was no trace of the Tartars, and after crossing the canyon and seeing Xiao Ye of Shiguantun, he ran into trouble again.

Today's weather is good, in the morning, the gloomy sky finally disperses the haze, and the warm sun makes people feel comfortable.

Under the greeting of the scouts, the horse team returned to the mountain, and under the joyful gaze of Huang Deshan, bags of saltpeter were put into storage, and they would be transported to the mill tomorrow, and the bags of stones were left in Xiao Ye's small courtyard.

Jumping off the horse and approaching the entrance of the hilltop wall, Xiao Ye and Wang Dali, who came up, talked in a low voice for a while, and turned his face to see a wide tent set up next to the Huang family's shop, so he asked strangely, "Uncle Wang, the Huang family has come again?" ”

"No, it's from the Tian family, it's not good to let them enter the tun, I can only wait outside for you to come back," Wang vigorously scratched the dust on his bun, and when he saw that Baihu's face was unhappy, he hurriedly said, "It was introduced by Third Young Master Huang, and I can't shirk it,"

"Well," Xiao Ye nodded, "Come over after dinner, and report to me about the official business in the tun first," Immediately, squinting and seeing the tent picked, a woman with a beautiful face walked out, Xiao Ye turned his head and went directly into the tunli.

"Oh, that's Xiao Baihu? It looks very young," Standing outside the tent, Tian Xiuxiu smiled, took a maid, and walked towards the Huang family's shop. The two guards who were waiting outside followed closely.

As the daughter of the patriarch of the Tian family, eighteen-year-old Tian Xiuxiu, although she is beautiful and intelligent, a few years ago, the two sons of the family who were engaged to her died unexpectedly.

Kefu's unfortunate life made Tian Xiuxiu, who was rejected by the ladies of the same age, unable to get the care of the aunts and elders in the family, so she also died of the idea of marrying and began to help her father take care of the family business.

On the ground in Suzhou, other families are okay, but the conflict between the Huang family and the Tian family, since the third young master of the Huang family, Huang Changzu, has turned from a secret struggle to a run on the surface.

Recently, the Huang family suddenly took out the Persian vanity mirror, the Persian crossbow, and the magical yellow plaster, and the prestige in the northwest business circle, and pulled out a high profile; Even, the new Persian fire gun that was secretly circulating made the Tian family even more stressed.

Tian Xiuxiu, who was hiding behind the scenes, learned from family news that the Huang family had not had a caravan to the grassland again recently, but where these things came from attracted her great attention; Not only her, but the other six major families also sent capable people to start watching the Huang family's every move.

They didn't know that Huang Changzu, who had been in his workshop for several days, could no longer beat and scold those craftsmen; The barrel of the gun, which is stronger than 100 steel, and the thick barrel of the firearm, there are even spiral lines, and the way the projectile fires are all poor craftsmen, who have never seen it, let alone imitate it.

You must know that among these craftsmen, there are old people who are dug from the Ministry of Industry, and their helplessness also indicates that Daming basically can't make this kind of firecracker, and the cost is too expensive.

As a local snake, with the intertwined intelligence network and the purchase of money, the Tian family finally found out that the appearance of the Huang family's goods began to emerge after the Huang family's Huang Fugui was in charge and returned to Wuguan Town from the grassland.

Recently, Huang Changzu, the third young master of the Huang family, took the caravan out and did not pass through the area of Qingfeng Valley, and the time to come back was also very tight, but then a large number of those goods appeared, which made Tian Xiuxiu gradually fall in love.

The source of the Huang family's purchase will not be too far away from Wuguan Town, at least not on the grassland, Tian Xiuxiu, who made a judgment, simply left Suzhou Mansion and came to Wuguan Town.

To do business, you have to take the lead, otherwise if other families intervene again, Tian Xiuxiu will want to cry without tears.

Sure enough, when a team of mules and horses carried yellow plaster and quietly returned to Wuguan Town, the eldest lady of the Tian family, who happened to go to the Huang family to discuss business, asked in front of the young master Huang Changzu, the third young master who couldn't hold it in front of the beauty, boasted of his fourth brother, Xiao Ye, the West Gate of Shiguantun Hundred Households in the Gravel Castle.

In front of the smiling Miss Tian family, Huang Changzu, who felt that something was wrong, reluctantly wrote a letter and handed it to Tian Xiuxiu under the soft words of begging. A good man did it to the end, he simply sent the yellow steward to lead the way, and by the way, he also brought a letter.

For the Huang family's industry, Huang Changzu is also silently making up his mind, otherwise he would not be "confused" so easily.

This time, the caravan brought by the yellow steward not only carried a large amount of sulfur saltpeter, but also a lot of lead, a full 500 catties, and the price was also discounted by 10%. I'm not afraid that Xiao Ye owes debts, but I'm afraid that I don't owe enough debts.

After lunch, Xiao Ye went to the clinic to see the wounded soldiers, and when he saw that his little sister was guarding Zuo Shi's side, he was also relieved, and after explaining Li Langzhong, he went back to the small courtyard and went to his father-in-law's house.

For a whole afternoon, Xiao Ye was with his father-in-law Yang Tianshou, discussing what outsiders did not know. Even Tian Xiuxiu, who wanted to come to visit, was politely rejected by his personal guards on the grounds of military affairs.

In the evening, Xiao Ye, together with Wang Si and all the small flags, told the story of the battle with the Tartars on the grassland, of course, the specific details in it were carefully explained by Xiao Liuzi; The defects of the individual tents, the advantages and disadvantages of the firecracker crossbow, were carefully laid out and presented in front of everyone little by little.

In order to fight with the Tartars in the future, it is just to suffer less losses.

"Hundred households, in the land temple, can you set up a side hall to put the spiritual seat of the brothers who died in the war in," Guo Erbao, a small banner from a craftsman, asked in a low voice; Because of the matter of the three coptis trees, the land temple next to the incense, the military families on the mountain all believe in it.

"This, I can discuss with Yang Zongqi, but even if I can, don't make a noise," Xiao Ye pondered for a while, nodded reluctantly, and then asked Xiao Liuzi to drag the bag of stones and called Guo Erbao, "Look at the difference between these stones and the stones here,"

In the courtyard where the torches were lit, a small stone in Guo Erbao's hand was shining on the surface under the firelight, "These are spars, listening to the elders, they are produced in the same vein as silver mines," after rubbing for a while, Guo Erbao said uncertainly.

This stone called silica in later generations, the Ming Dynasty was of little use, Guo Erbao casually threw it in the leather bag, and discussed the matter of the side hall with everyone.

After discussing the matter, Wang Dali followed behind Xiao Baihu and said apologetically, "Lord Baihu, after you left the mountain, the mill was running normally every day, but a craftsman who stole his mouth, and in the end, after work, poured a bag of wheat into the stone mill to grind his eyes, but he didn't see the flour come out, and he didn't know if it would be okay?" ”

"What? You, you are a royal official," Xiao Ye suddenly lowered his face, and was about to scold in a low voice, when he suddenly remembered that the stone mill was originally for grinding grain, and even the stones could be ground extremely delicately, no wonder the craftsman thought about it.

"Hmph, in the future, there will be no one who can take the wheat and other things casually, and use the mill stone mill casually, and if you want to grind, you will use the stone mill by the pool," Xiao Baihu, who was quite angry, had a black face in front of everyone, and angrily drove these guys away.

Only Uncle Kun, who was sitting on the side, held a teacup, looked at Xiao Ye's corrupt face, smiled faintly, and whispered a few words in his mouth.

"Uncle Kun, it's just a bunch of rough men, if you don't train a few words, they can't remember it for a long time," Xiao Ye saw Uncle Kun's smile, and then realized that he was actually a circle older than him, and he didn't show mercy when he started a fire, and sat down in a sneering manner.

The late autumn night was cold, and he was about to persuade Uncle Kun to go back to the house to rest, when Xiao Ye heard the gate of the courtyard at the gate of the courtyard, Xiao Liuzi shouted loudly, "No, my family has to go to bed late, and I will talk about it tomorrow if I have something,"

"Little Liuzi, who are you talking to," Xiao Ye's anger disappeared after drinking a cup of warm tea, and asked in a deep voice; "Lord Baihu, it's the little woman Tian Xiuxiu, disturbing your rest," Before Xiao Liuzi answered, a soft voice came from outside, soft as sand, slowly sliding past Xiao Ye's ears.

The door is not far from the courtyard, and Xiao Ye is not hypocritical, "It's Miss Tian, if you don't think it's a cup of bitter tea, it's okay to come in and talk,"

Leaving the guard outside, Tian Xiuxiu took a maid and walked lightly into the small courtyard, "Xiao Baihu is quiet, but I, a weak woman, am in a tent in the wilderness, enduring mosquito bites, and I feel sad,"

"Hehe, it's the official's ineffective handling of it, offending and offending," Xiao Ye, who said apologetic words in his mouth, sat on the stone bench with an indifferent face, but he didn't mean to stand up at all; For this uninvited guest, he is still very attentive.

But people have Brother Huang's handwritten letter in their hands, Xiao Ye can let outsiders stay on the top of the mountain overnight, it is already benevolent and righteous, as a guest to entertain, he is not in the mood yet.

In the face of Xiao Baihu's coldness, Tian Xiuxiu had no surprise, this young Baihu, everything in the Gravel Castle, she found out clearly, a young Baihu who can not deal with the top boss, without the support of food and reinforcements, after resisting the attack of the Tartars, can still live in Shiguan until now, it is impossible to have some skills in his hands.

She valued Xiao Baihu's ability, not only daring to rebel against the Tartars, but also the Persian merchant channel in his hands, or, some Persian craftsmen who were close to him.

Seeing the guests, Uncle Kun got up and motioned for the guests to take their seats.

"Xiao Baihu, I want to come to a merchant with me, and I haven't offended anything, why are you so vigilant, or is it a subsidiary of my Tian family, and you have offended Baihu?" Tian Xiuxiu, who was quick-witted, bowed to Uncle Kun very gently and sat on the stone bench opposite; The old man couldn't speak, she knew it.

Uncle Kun went back to the house to pour new tea, Xiao Ye's fingers tapped lightly on the stone table, ignoring her slight anger, "Miss Tian, this is a dangerous place on the border, and the Tartars can attack at any time, I am a military man, and I have an upright temperament, so if you have something to say, you can say it,"

The implication is that if there is nothing to do, you should go back to sleep; I still have things to do in the early morning, and I can't afford to accompany them.

"In this way, Xiao Baihu is busy with military affairs, and he has just returned from the grassland, and fatigue is inevitable, so this time your harvest, can my Tian family participate," Tian Xiuxiu saw the exhaustion on Xiao Ye's face, and unconsciously jumped into the eyes, and said the purpose of this trip.

"Harvest? It's just a disaster, half of the sergeants have been lost, almost everyone is injured, you said that your Tian family is not afraid of breaking the old book," Xiao Ye smiled self-deprecatingly, took Uncle Kun's teapot, and poured hot tea for Miss Tian with his own hands.

"Uncle Kun made tea, drink a cup and taste it," picked up the teacup and put it in Tian Xiuxiu's hand, Xiao Ye pondered for a while, "Actually, I have reached an agreement with the Huang family, and I can't give some goods to other merchants,"

"Yes, what about the other goods," Tian Xiuxiu smiled and picked up the tea lid, a faint bitterness drifted into her nose, and she was also slightly bitter in her heart, still a step too late.

"For other goods, it depends on the sincerity of Miss Tian first," Xiao Ye hadn't finished speaking, but Miss Tian's face was flushed, obviously wrong.

"It's not sincere, we rushed to Shiguan, set up a tent in the rain, and waited for you for three days, and the sincerity is more than anyone else's," After the angry words were spoken, Tian Xiuxiu didn't reflect it, and her maid began to cough non-stop.

"Uh," Xiao Ye picked up the teacup awkwardly and took a sip; I was too tired to talk to a woman, so I simply said, "I need food, silver, and sulfur, saltpeter, lead, and copper, the more the better."

"That's good, I'm also going to set up a shop in Shiguantun, and the rest is easy to say," the Tian family is different from the Huang family, the main income comes from a few mines, although they also operate other things, but the lifeblood still depends on smelting for a living.

She agreed very simply, Xiao Ye just nodded lightly, and didn't promise anything.

Tian Xiuxiu was pleasantly surprised, but she didn't realize why Xiao Baihu didn't mention the pig iron and wrought iron, which were very useful, and just began to think about his own caravan.

Like Huang Changzu's idea, Tian Xiuxiu did not continue to ask, stayed for a while, and got up to leave; Since Xiao Ye acquiesced, then next, the matter of the Tian family's shop has to deal with the Wang priest.

Huang Deshan also came in the evening, but the very eye-catching Huang shopkeeper just left some pastries and ale wine for the guards outside the door.

In the early morning, Xiao Ye walked into the mill, and Xiao Liuzi, who was carrying a big leather bag, put the bag full of stones next to the stone mill, and the guards behind him also carried in a few bags of sulfur saltpeter.

Xiao Liuzi took the torch in the hand of the guard, plugged it in, and consciously withdrew; Outside, the guards had already put martial law on all sides, and the sentry was not even far from the tent of the Tian family.

"The formula for the yellow plaster dressing is really not in his hands," Huang Deshan looked at the dimly lit mill through the window, silently pondering in the Huang family's shop.

Tian Xiuxiu stood at the door of the tent, through the cotton curtain, and was secretly thinking to herself.

The faintly rotating stone mill quickly swallowed up the big bag of stones, Xiao Ye looked at the stone mill that he hadn't seen for a few days, and found that the stone platform at the bottom had increased a little thicker.

A subtle blue light flashed, pressing the button on the grinding plate, and a delicate pattern crossed Xiao Ye's eyes, and after the seventh tent pattern turned, he actually saw a wooden handle iron bump that he had never seen before, "Earthquake Thunder".

In the Song soldier's book "General Essentials of the Martial Arts", there are a variety of hand-thrown ammunition such as thunderbolt fireballs, quinoa fireballs, poison fireballs, smoke balls, and fireballs. Now the border army of the Ming army also has an explosive weapon made of iron shells - the earth-shaking thunder.

The earth-shattering thunder with the same name, but the appearance has changed greatly, the power of this hand-thrown ammunition, Xiao Ye heard his father talk about it, mainly to scare the Tartars' war horses, and the lethality is poor.

After hesitating for a moment, Xiao Ye still pressed the button and sat aside and waited quietly.

Half an hour later, the stone platform under the stone mill, the box with increased height opened, and a square thin-skinned iron box with an earthy yellow appearance was taken out by him; opened the lock on the iron box, and what appeared in front of him was the "earth-shaking thunder" neatly stacked together.

After counting, a total of thirty, Xiao Ye closed the lid of the box, got up, pressed the button again, and took out a firearm and a projectile.

M18 long-handled grenade/bullet, this kind of "earth-shaking thunder" composed of pulling rings, pulling fire ropes, pulling fire pipes, sulfur, thunder/tubes and other parts, Xiao Ye can't see the structure inside, but he can also see that this kind of exquisite sky-shaking thunder will never be the same as the one stored in the Ming Junshen hangar.

Select one and hold it in your hand, and let the other guards send it back to Uncle Kun, Xiao Ye took the guards to the training ground; Probably knowing the huge sound of the "earth-shaking thunder", he deliberately chose a ravine in the westernmost part of the training ground, stood on the edge, and prepared to throw it down the ditch to try.

"This is the Persian Heaven-Shaking Thunder, you throw it down," handing the Heaven-Shaking Thunder to Xiao Liuzi, Xiao Ye stood away from afar, he didn't want to be shocked in his ears.

As usual, it was Xiao Liuzi, the captain of the personal guard who had almost become a tester of the new equipment, holding the earth-shaking thunder, twisting it left and right a few times, unscrewing the back cover of the wooden handle, and taking out a small drawstring; Use the fire sickle to pull the rope, even if the outer wax layer melts, but you can't light the rope, Xiao Liuzi is in a hurry.

Pulling the long drawstring vigorously, the white wax-coated drawstring was pulled out, and with it, white smoke also came out of the wooden handle.

"Throw it down," Seeing Xiao Liuzi looking at the white smoke stupidly, Xiao Baihu in the distance shouted, and the captain of the guard, who woke up, casually threw the sky-shaking thunder into the ravine in front.

"Bang," a huge explosion sounded in the wild grass below the ravine, and a large amount of rubble flew in all directions, crackling on the edge of the ditch, lifting up the damp dirt and washing the face of Xiao Liuzi Meimei.

Xiao Liuzi, whose head was empty from the sound of the explosion, stood there stunned, until Xiao Ye ran over, and then he regained his senses, and his ears were buzzing.

"You kid, you're too bold, if you don't throw it away early, this earth-shattering thunder will blow you away," Surprised by the power of the sky-shaking thunder, Xiao Ye didn't continue the experiment, but asked Xiao Liuzi to take his personal guards down to the ravine and check the scene of the explosion.

After dawn, Xiao Liuzi took his guards to the depths of the West Mountain, where there were faint explosions soon.

The movement from the edge of the training ground, not only Shiguantun was full of discussions, but also Huang Deshan and Tian Xiuxiu were also puzzled, until the next day, when they saw Xiao Baihu's personal guards, someone had an iron pimple with a wooden handle in the leather bag on their belt, and then they understood thoughtfully.

Although they didn't know the effect of the iron bump, the two of them also knew that Xiao Baihu, who came back from the grassland, seemed to have a new weapon, but they didn't understand how to use it.

In the next few days, although Xiao Ye put sulfur, saltpeter, and lead into the stone mill, Huang Deshan's tin wine pot was also put in, and after getting the 1,000 catties of copper that Tian Xiuxiu owed on credit, he did not hesitate to throw it into the stone mill.

A handful of brand-new muskets and projectiles were replaced with those in the hands of the guards, filling their ammunition magazines. The firecrackers, which were about to be scrapped, were put into the warehouse.

The yellow plaster produced in Shiguantunli is getting bigger and bigger, and the Huang family mule and horse team has also been replaced by a large team, so that Tian Xiuxiu, who is hot-eyed, began to be next door to the Huang family's shop, and also entrusted Wang Si to start building shops in the front and back yards, and Tian family shops.

didn't get Xiao Baihu's new goods, Tian Xiuxiu was not in a hurry, but went to visit Xiao Ye on time every day, chatted for a while, and after drinking a cup of warm tea, he immediately said goodbye.

"Brother Xiao, that Miss Tian, she doesn't do business in our tunli, she just turns around every day, and she doesn't feel bored," sitting on the side of the wooden bed in the stone house, Yang Mei'er sorted out Xiao Ye's clothes, and now she has become her part in addition to studying in the private school and taking care of Xiao Ye's housekeeping.

"She is a businessman, she knows what to do, and her patience is not bad," holding a book in her hand, Xiao Ye said casually, but her eyes were fixed on Mei'er's face, and the burning eyes made Mei'er, who was touched by her heart, her face turned red, and she didn't dare to raise her eyelids.

The room was quiet for a while, Xiao Ye raised his hand and pulled Mei'er and gently hugged her into her arms, "Mei'er, marry me, maybe you will be widowed," Brother Xiao'er, who had a hoarse voice, made Mei'er, who was trembling all over, her shoulders tightened, and then shrank into her sweetheart's arms.

"Life and death, I wish to follow Yelang," Yang Mei'er's glutinous and soft words made Xiao Ye's cold eyes slowly covered with a layer of mist, home in his heart, heavy but unavoidable.

On the rough hardwood table, there is a stack of oily and tough white flute paper, on which there are faint water-colored dark flowers, looming in the bright light.

The ninth pattern on the stone mill disc appeared last night.