The hilly workshop area soon started, and even after setting up money in the grass house of the craftsman, the mill had already begun to pull stones to the li, and to the surprise of the three merchants, most of the plaster milled out by the three B stone mills was high-quality plaster; Naturally, they are more carefully controlled by the stucco ingredients in their hands.

The good stucco is pale yellow, the top grade is blue-yellow, and the high-quality is blue-gray, which can be distinguished at a glance by a craftsman.

You must know that in the Houshan Mill area, even if the ingredients used for stone grinding are high-grade ingredients, the stucco that comes out is not necessarily high-quality, which Xiao Ye is also vague about, and Baodes has nothing to say, and he can resist using stone grinding.

The official kiln will also produce defective products, at this point, the merchant thinks more open-minded than Xiao Ye, but Xiao Ye is stubborn, he is based on Wang Dali's experience, a blind crepe of an ingredient list, the winter purpose is quite insidious, all day long afraid that the merchant will come to him to ask for an explanation.

Now, with a large amount of fine stucco produced by mistake, he can safely lead his troops to drill fire/guns.

Qin Shishi led more than 20 pack horses to the Madao Stone Fort, carrying mules and horses with heavy goods, and the goods should be stored in the warehouse of the stone fort first, classified according to the needs and then transported to Bailong Lake.

Among the materials carried by the pack horses, there were not only a large number of complete sets of field uniforms, the kind of winter clothes lined with silk cotton, but also food, ordnance and ammunition, and the most eye-catching thing was that they brought more than a dozen hand warmers, as well as a large bag of black fruit cores, which Wang Meng and they tried out.

The field uniform and the sturdy earthy yellow backpack, Xiao Ye only knew after reading the catalog that as long as there was wood and charcoal, he could use a large number of them, how could he be willing to spend money to buy a mandarin duck battle jacket, and the long hem looked cumbersome to walk on.

Therefore, each sergeant of the flag team on the bright side has a set of mandarin duck battle jackets, which is for the above, and there are four sets of khaki uniforms below, two sets of single and two sets of cotton, which can be replaced by Wang Dali; According to Xiao Ye's plan, four new sets of uniforms were issued every year, but the sergeants were very happy.

Right now, Qin Shishi and the others are wearing thick uniforms of earthy yellow, carrying rifles on their shoulders, a palm-wide cowhide belt around their waists, and a large backpack of the same color behind them, which can be loaded with any ammunition provisions, a felt blanket on the outside, and a short-handled military shovel on the side, the standard Shiguan Tunhuo/spearman dress.

Rushing to the stone fort before dawn, the sentries guarding the fort wall, also in field uniforms, wearing felt hats and thick woolen scarves around their faces, were still pacing back and forth in the cold wind.

The herald was contacted from afar, and the brothers Wang Meng and Wang Hu welcomed Qin Shi and them into the stone fort, commanded the sergeant to unload the materials and count, and after the two sides drew and confirmed the escort, Qin Shi's escort military affairs were completed.

Because there was a mill here, Huang Hanxiang could make a detour to the Gobi Desert and send saltpeter and sulfur and other raw materials, and by the way, they took away the supplies, but they didn't need Shiguantun to send a flag team to escort the supplies.

There were more people in the stone fort, Wang Qing and they came over, and built a circle of military houses, and the layout of the two-layer ring made the square in the center of the fort more than half smaller.

"I said stone, what is your mule carrying on the horse, look at your care, don't even let you look at it," Wang Hu saw that his brother was seriously counting the goods, so he naturally wouldn't let go of the few mules and horses gathered in the courtyard, but the sergeant guarding was very responsible and didn't let him look through it.

"It was given by Baihu, the latest firearm, hehe, it scared me a lot at first," Qin Shishi took out a cloth bag from his arms to warm his hands, "Look, this is a new gadget from our Baihu, it's warm,"

"I'll take a look," Wang Hu's attention was quickly diverted, and when he untied the iron shell of the cloth bag, he couldn't hold it at all, and he almost threw it away with shaking his hands.

However, after Wang Meng, who was old, cleaned up the goods, his eyes were also fixed on the mule horse, and his curiosity was self-evident, Qin Shishi was helpless, and asked the sergeant to untie the cloth, "Look, this is what we have just had in a hundred households, what is it called," he couldn't remember the name for a while, Qin Shishi could only look at the dog and the monk Jiahe next to him.

"Baihu calls it the Mark new machine gun, the latest firearm, the muzzle of the gun is a foot long, but it is powerful," Shang Jiahe gestured exaggeratedly, "Five hundred steps, five hundred steps, that calf-thick stake, sweep a large area, boom,"

Looking at Wang Meng and Wang Hu's surprised expressions with satisfaction, Qin Shishi shook his head regretfully, "It's just that the bullets are expensive, and a hundred households say that a bullet costs three big money, and he can't buy too much,"

"What, three dollars a piece, what kind of bullet is this, it's just money," Wang Hu pouted in disbelief, "You don't want us to touch it, and don't use money to scare people, really,"

"Yahe, Huzi, don't say it, I don't think it's expensive," Qin Shi was a little anxious, he was an honest man, and he couldn't see that others were suspicious, so he stepped forward and opened an iron ammunition box from the basket carried by the mule and horse, grabbed the bullet chain, and revealed a bullet thicker than his thumb.

"Come, look, look, have you ever seen this kind of bullet, have you ever seen this kind of bullet, one by one the frogs at the bottom of the well," Qin Shishi, who was mocking in his mouth, said smugly, but found that no one was listening to him.

Not only Wang Meng and Wang Hu, but even the sergeants who were watching the excitement on the side all gathered around, looking at the bullet in Qin Shishi's hand, and their eyes were all staring out.

Some people didn't believe it, so they stepped forward and touched it, good guy, if this hits a person, then don't you make a hole in your body the size of a wine cup, tsk, it's so beautiful.

Hula, the sergeants rushed up, and each of them had to touch this kind of thick bullet, which directly squeezed Qin Shi out of the crowd, and even the sergeants who were resting in the military dormitory heard about it and ran out one after another to see it.

In addition to the sergeants on the sentry on the fort wall, more than forty sergeants crowded into the small courtyard, touching the long bullet chain that had pulled out the box in their hands, and the sound of admiration rang out from time to time. Even the Tartar cavalry, who smelled of it, squeezed in, stared at the thick projectile with round eyes, and screamed exaggeratedly.

In the mill in the depths of the stone fort, the sergeants who came in and out, if they hadn't completed today's task, and continued to pour ore into the stone mill and load mortar, they would have run over a long time ago.

They didn't come, but the three flag officers who started slipped over and squeezed directly into the crowd, and then burst out with screams.

"Hey, hey, don't break it for Lao Tzu, Lao Tzu still has military affairs to use it," outside the crowd, Qin Shi jumped to his feet and shouted, for fear of being touched and broken.

"Yes, stingy ghost, that thing is not muddy, everyone will pay attention," Wang Meng smiled and grabbed Qin Shi, there is basically no entertainment in this stone castle, and it is not allowed to drink and gamble, except for playing chess, big things can make the sergeants talk for days, not to mention this new firearm.

The Tartar guide sent by Huang Hanxiang did not arrive, Qin Shi could not escape, and at the request of the seven flag officers headed by Wang Meng, Qin Shi could only let his sergeants move the Makqin heavy machine gun and parts to the fort wall and assemble them after breakfast.

Hulala, the fort wall was full of sergeants watching the excitement, and they were as excited as the New Year.

Practice disassembling and disassembling a few more times, that's not a bad thing, Qin Shishi, who had an idea, commanded his sergeant on the fort wall, and disassembled a heavy two-wheeled machine gun several times, until the sergeants who watched the excitement blew the cold wind into tears.

Only the seven flag officers knew that this was the Qin flag officer training, so naturally they would not disturb and supervise, but only pointed at the machine gun in a low voice on the side.

It was easy for the machine gun to get up, and the muzzle of the gun was aimed at a mountain rock outside the fort wall, and seeing that the distance was more than four hundred steps, Qin Shi naturally sat in the position of the machine gunner.

The bullet chain pressed, Qin Shi aimed at the huge mountain rock, turned around and smiled at Wang Meng, tightened his arms, and suddenly pulled the trigger; "Tutu, tutu, tu

Look at the rocks on the opposite side, smoke and dust are flying, stone chips are scattered, and seven or eight bowl-sized gravels are shattered and crackling and falling in the wild grass.

Although it was two point shots, the fierce fire of the machine gun still made everyone stunned, if it weren't for Qin Shi's statement that he was going to go out on military affairs, Wang Hu and they would definitely rush to try their hand.

"Oops, it's so powerful, if the Tartar encounters this thing, it is estimated that a large number of people will die, and they will not be able to run,"

"That's it, if only we had one, put it on the fortress wall, and as many Tartars would die in the ditch,"

"If only this machine, the machine gun was lighter, and it would be nice to hold it alone and chase the Tartar to relieve it," the voice of someone whimsical caused the others to burst into laughter.

"Brother Shi, is there really only one machine gun in Baihu? After you go out of the military, you won't need this guy," Seeing the good things, Wang Hu's mouth was a lot sweeter, and he leaned over to the machine gun and called Qin Shi affectionately.

"Oh, now I'm calling brother, I was still screaming just now, it's not big or small," Qin Shishi won't make Wang Hu dizzy, "When did Baihu hide good things, saying that no is nothing, it's useless to think about it,"

It was two point shots, more than a dozen bullets were gone, and the painful Qin Shi asked the sergeant to pick up the bullet casings on the ground, collect them and hand them over to the mill, and send them to the grinding eye with those ores.

That's right, everyone saw that Qin Shi was resolute, and knew that in a short time, he couldn't equip this machine gun, so he could only watch with regret that people were busy.

However, the name of the Maxim machine gun, with different pronunciations, has spread in the stone fort, and even those military households have been chatting about this powerful firearm all day long.

Wang Meng Wang Hu is a flag official from a craftsman's household, and he is very interested in the two big wooden wheels, and after the two of them have seen the power of the machine gun, they have a whim in private, and after discussion, Wang Hu found Qin Shi.

"Stone, I see that the two wheels of the machine gun are too big, they can be made smaller, and mules and horses can save effort," Wang Hu pointed to the location in the warehouse next to the yard, and said very enthusiastically, as long as his suggestion can be accepted, then the next machine gun will definitely be his own flag team.

When Xiao Ye handed over the machine gun to Qin Shishi, he just told him to take care of the weapon, and the two big wooden wheels that were not close to the machine gun, Qin Shi didn't think that they were weapons, so he happily agreed.

If the transformation of the wooden wheel is good, he can save trouble and effort, and if the transformation is not good, the big deal is still carrying the big wooden wheel.

After calling seven or eight sergeants from craftsmen's households, and after studying the two large wooden wheels, Wang Hu led them to tinkle in the room, and in less than a day, the two small wooden wheels that had been reduced by more than half were made.

The wooden wheel inlaid with dense iron nails, the wedge notch of the horizontal bar and the bracket shaft are tightly occluded, and the shooter who was originally sitting on the traction beam can squat on the ground to shoot, and the iron plate erected on the gun body is naturally much higher, reducing the chance of being hit by arrows.

The only bad thing is that the shooter's line of sight is difficult to guarantee, and he has to raise his head from time to time to observe, or someone guides the shot.

Wang Hu led people to restructure the machine gun load wheel, which made Qin Shi full of praise, patting his chest and assuring that he would resolutely support the use of the next machine gun for Madao Stone Fort, but Wang Hu was very happy.

Only Wang Meng, who was watching the excitement from the sidelines, understood that Qin Shishi was fooling around, the purpose of distributing weapons to hundreds of households must be important locations and important flag teams, Wang Hu worked hard for a long time, maybe he just worked for Qin Shishibai.

Therefore, this matter of reforming the wooden wheel, it is necessary to send someone to report to 100 households, and it will attract the attention of 100 households, so there is a chance that it will not be.

Two days later, the pack team from Bailong Lake arrived, detoured from the beach next door, and the pack horse brought tens of thousands of catties of ore and smashed open a piece of ore, which had a black luster in it, which was very beautiful.

More than 50 sergeants escorted the ore to the Madao Stone Fort, and after resting for a day, they pulled a long pack team and loaded with supplies and drilled into the Gobi Desert again, leaving behind five Tartar cavalry with pigtails.

The five Tartar cavalrymen were dressed in khaki uniforms, with scimitars at their waists and short guns, and although their language was not good, they could already understand the conversation.

In the early days, Huang Hanxiang was a Tatar tribe subdued by force, but over the past year, he continued to rob and kill in the northwest foothills of the Altai Mountains, annexing other small tribes, and under the clear rewards and punishments, these Tatar slaves had a return to the Bailonghu garrison.

On the grassland, the strength is great, and the Tartars only look at whose swords and guns are powerful, and who can eat well.

With a guide who is familiar with the grassland, Qin Shi can't stay still, they have practiced the disassembly and assembly of machine guns in the past few days, and they are quite familiar, and they have not grown any longer.

In order to attack and kill Lu Yidao this time, Xiao Ye prepared a large amount of materials and ordnance for the Qin Stone team, with twenty mules and horses on the load, plus one person and two horses, the scale is no less than two flag teams.

Under the leadership of the guide, the night owl flag team set off, the sky is not beautiful, they just walked out of the ditch, facing the cold wind in the entrained snowflakes smashed down, have raised their energy.

The first snow of this winter, although the probability of the Tartar rangers appearing in the grassland was reduced, but Qin Shishi, who had not yet entered the Gobi Desert, found that it was difficult to walk on the road.

The Tartar guide, who was familiar with the grassland weather, looked at the gloomy and oppressive sky worriedly, and he told Qin Shi that he was afraid that there would be a snowstorm tonight, and it was not a good time to hurry.

I hurriedly entered the Gobi Desert, and after walking for two hours, I could not go again.

Looking for a sheltered depression, Qin Shi commanded the sergeants and set up a barracks tent, this kind of large barracks tent, when the old Yangkou Tunbao was built, it had been used by the military households, and now there are a lot left, Qin Shi brought three.

The tents folded together, the mules and horses are easy to transport, and the sergeants are quite easy to open the supports, and the three large tents can squeeze all the war horses and pack horses, and the Tartar guides are guarded inside, and the sergeants carry the supply ordnance, and get into the small barracks tents around them.

"Woo, woo," the flakes of snow in the cold wind became more and more dense, and by the time all the horses and men entered the tent, the sky was so gloomy that it was almost impossible to see a hundred meters away, and it was still noon, let alone at night, let alone to see the road.

Pull the metal zipper on the curtain of the tent door, open the lookout, and spread the felt blanket on the warm compartment tarpaulin, Qin Shi sat cross-legged on it, looked at the heavy snow outside, and took out a small wine jug from his arms.

The other sergeants were crammed into five tents to smoke dry tobacco, and Qin Shishi was happy to stay in one tent alone.

This kind of thin tent, although it seems to be light, but the heat insulation and warmth are very good, arrows can't shoot through, Bailong Lake has used a lot, last winter I didn't hear of people freezing to death, now in person, Qin Shi found that the kind of barracks tent given by the hundred households, compared to the heavy cowhide tent of the Ming army, in the heavy snow, I don't know how much.

It snowed heavily for a whole day, Qin Shi didn't care, among the materials he carried, there were hundreds of boxes of fried noodles and canned meat, plus jerky, twenty-one people, enough to cope with ten days, if the snow could last for more than ten days, he would accept his fate and obediently return to Madao Stone Fort.

However, the Tartar guide, who was waiting in the large barracks, found Qin Shi in a hurry in the snow, "Flag officer, we don't have too much forage, those horses don't have food, how can we have the strength to go on the road,"

"Oh, that's it," Qin Shishi was also dumbfounded, looking at it, the ground was covered with thick snow, and it was impossible to pick it up and give it to the horses to graze, so it would not exhaust the sergeants to death.

The helpless Qin Banner Officer could only let the Tartar guide and ride back to Madao Stone Fort for help, which was seventy or eighty miles away, and it should not be a big problem.

The next day, the snow was still falling, and the sergeants had already come out to clear the snow a few times, and although the tents were sturdy and light, the snow was gathering quickly in the depression under the cold wind, and the lookout was blocked.

The earthy yellow tent is very eye-catching in the snow, even so, the Wang Hu team who came to support still missed the route twice, if it weren't for the telescope, it is estimated that they would not be able to find the depression where Qin Shi was staying after dark.

Standing in the knee-high snow, Qin Shi looked at the approaching seven or eight black dots with emotion, no matter how strong the sergeants were, without reliable support, it was quite a terrible thing, if they accidentally ran into the depths of the grassland, the whole army would be wiped out in the blink of an eye.

Eight rough sled trailers, at first glance, were hastily made, and the traces of the wedges on each one were still there, and they were pulled by two pack horses, running fast on the snow.

Wang Hu, who was carrying a large amount of forage, finally rushed to the shelter of the depression, and his face was so frozen that he had no expression at all, and when he saw Qin Shi, he waved his hand and collapsed on the bracket.

The ten sergeants who came with him also looked frozen, and the Tartar guide who followed on horseback next to him did not look much better.

There was a large cowhide tent on the trailer, and the sergeants first dragged Wang Hu and them into their barracks tents, and then helped remove the tent and set it up, and drove sixteen pack horses into it; With enough forage, once the snow has stopped, the team can continue to drive deeper into the grassland.

In the low barracks, Wang Hu held his warm hands and shrunk in his leather jacket, drank a few sips of ale, and it took a long time to recover, "Hey, my mother, this wind blows, and I almost froze on the road,"

"Hehe, Huzi is tired, come on, drink two more sips, the ale wine given by the hundred households, and several bags," Qin Shishi handed over the wine jug with a smile, watching him pour it one by one, without the slightest distress.

"Whew," after drinking several sips, Wang Hu took a breath of wine, and a faint flush appeared on his face, "I said stone, on this snowy day, let's go back first, wait for the snow to stop and then set off, I really can't stretch out my hand,"

"You can go back, we can't do it at night, the military order of the hundred households, only after the implementation is completed, can the order be reversed, there is no halfway," Qin Shishi smiled faintly, took out a piece of dried meat, and stuffed it into Wang Hu's hand, "Eat something first,"

"Oh, I can't see it, you're still stubborn, like my brother, in the autumn you have to ask the sergeants to go to the grassland every day to cut forage, fifty pounds each time," Wang Hu muttered, biting off a piece of hard jerky and chewing vigorously.

"Your brother has a vision, otherwise we can only return now," Qin Shi looked at the sled brackets outside from the lookout, which were already covered with heavy snow, "Your flag team is not going to follow us, right?"

"That's right, 100 households have sent an order, Madao Shibao will send troops to help, if it weren't for this snow, half of the sergeants should be dispatched," Wang Hu rolled his eyes and continued to bite the jerky, but his voice was normal, "Jumping thunder brought two hundred, which is seventy percent of the inventory, two hundred boxes of fried noodles, and nothing else,"

After a night's rest, the next day the snow abated a little, but the cold wind continued, and the cowhide tents in the depression were dismantled and put on pack horses, and the small barracks tents were set up on sleighs, and the sergeants squeezed in to avoid the wind. Five or six mules and horses were tethered behind each sleigh, and supplies had been transferred to the sleighs.

Five guides led the way in groups, the others hid in the barracks to avoid the cold, Qin Shishi, who was wrapped in two layers of leather jackets, personally drove the mule-drawn cart with a whip, and the four mules and horses were in groups of two, strung together to pull the sleigh, and began to trek in the heavy snow.

Shang Tie, the banner officer of Yonghe Tunhuodun, who was marching with the team, followed the traces of the horse thief brigade at that time, and entered the grassland from the mountain path west of Qingfeng Valley, and now he can't count on it here.

According to him, the horse thief brigade went out of the mountains into the grassland, crossed a large swamp due north, and crossed a small river that was not wide, where there was an east-west mountain range, and Lu Yidao's lair was on a mountain ridge shaped like a bull's head, and they called that mountain Niutou Mountain.

After two days of walking eastward in the snow, Shang Tie finally saw the landmark, a few poplar trees hanging with snow on a raised hill, standing crookedly on a high place. A few dozen miles further on, turn south and you will reach Qingfeng Valley.

"Turn around and head north from here, and you can find Niutou Mountain after three days of horseback riding," Shang Tie, who was excited, shouted loudly, "Qin Qiguan, as long as the direction is good, you will soon be able to find the horse thief,"

"Yes, it's good to be there in five days now," Wang Hu teased in a muffled voice from the barracks tent behind the sled, who had just driven for an hour with a horsewhip, and was huddled inside to keep warm after the change.

Now that they had a goal, they had to be scouted, and the two Tartar guides, dressed in white cloaks, turned into cavalry, and ran into the snow first; At this moment, scattered snowflakes are falling intermittently in the sky.

After waiting for two teas, two more fast horses came out, and the scouts of the night owl squad set off, and then, there was a third wave of scouts to set off, and the three waves of people and horses staggered back and forth, taking turns to probe the movement ahead.

Xiao Ye's sergeant approached Niutou Mountain, and at this time on Niutou Mountain, oh, no, this place should be called Niujiao Peak, which is the name of the Mongols, in a temple on the mountainside, the voices of people were boiling, and the sound of laughter came out of the high temple wall.

This lama temple was occupied by a group of wandering horse thieves in the early years, and then Lu Yidao came, subdued the horse thieves by force, and turned himself into a horse thief.

There are thieves for a thousand days, there are no thieves for a thousand days, and for the ferocious horse thieves who are good at swimming and wandering, especially the horse thieves who must be revenged, the Tartars have not thought about exterminating them, but the terrain of Niujiao Peak is steep, and there is a water-soluble secret passage down the mountain, and several strangulations have not hurt Lu Yidao's muscles and bones.

That temple, the Tartar did not burn, and it gave the horse thief a chance to run back.

However, several small tribes that followed the large army to exterminate the horse thieves were taken advantage of by Lu Yidao to chase and die, and they were killed one after another.

The horizontal is afraid of dying, and the horse thief is the master who does not want to die, especially the strong crossbow and three-eyed fire system in the hands of Lu Yidao and the horse thief, plus the fluctuation, even the Tartar has a headache.

So, the Tartar and the horse thief were very wise to keep the well water and not the river water, and everyone lived in peace, and when they had no money or food, they went to the border towns and towns to loot, and went to the various trade roads to rob, but it was a little peaceful.

Lu Yidao, who was very powerful, did not have a few years to collect a small group of horse thieves and homeless swordsmen, let these people rob and burn, and hand in their names, and those who could survive were his subordinates, and there were thousands of capable horse thieves who had slowly accumulated.

These horse thieves usually move around in several groups, and when they encounter the target of their attack, after they are killed, they bring their belongings back to Niujiao Peak, or a designated place, in exchange for the reward of the big boss Lu Yidao; Why they value Lu Yidao's reward so much, that's a story for another time.

Before the heavy snow closed the mountain, Lu Yidao's henchman wild wolf, when wandering nearby, encountered a caravan, hundreds of horse thieves surrounded the caravan, and after killing the merchants and guards with strong bows from afar, they not only snatched more than a dozen truckloads of leather and herbs, but also caught a woman in a van.

Today is a good day for Lu Yidao to take a concubine, there is nothing to do in winter on Niujiao Peak, and when the heavy snow covers the mountain, it is natural to have a good time.

In the binoculars, looking at the rugged Niutou Mountain, which is not tall, Qin Shishi smiled and shouted to Wang Hu behind him, "Huzi, we are about to arrive,"