Laoyangkou Fire Pier, the edge of the hill more than 90 miles north of the Xilong River, more than 200 miles away from the gravel fort, due north and east of a large area of low forest, into the mountain ravine wasteland, a series of dry ravines of different depths, difficult for people and horses to walk; To the west, there is a path lined with Coptis trees, which leads along the hills to the avenue, guarding the road between Shiguantun and the gravel fort.

To the south and east, there is a large undulating wasteland, mixed with sparse woods, and as far as the eye can see, verdant vines and grasses can be seen everywhere, until the banks of the Xilong River, you can see the large fields on the other side of the river, which is the tuntian of the gravel fort.

The avenue with deep ruts, and the Coptis trees planted on both sides about three feet apart, seem inconspicuous, but the three merchants also took out a lot of money to ensure the smooth flow of the avenue, but compared with the profits obtained from the workshop area, it is not worth mentioning.

But thinking about the despicable method of uprooting the Coptis tree in order to block the Tartars from going south, Xiao Ye was very dissatisfied.

As for the intertwined rhizomes of the vines and grasses deep under the road surface, no one knows, let alone cares, as long as the road is passable.

But now standing on the avenue, looking around, the vine branches hanging with emerald green broken leaves, have already surrounded the fire pier built on the high slope in the center, there is no means to curb it, maybe less than next year, this fire pier will be directly buried by the rattan grass climbing up the pier wall.

Xiao Ye knew the dangers of rattan grass and the usefulness of the fruit of rattan grass, so he sent someone to inform Wang Dali early on, and brought the branches of Coptis chinensis to Huodun and planted them on the fork in the road between Huodun and the avenue. More than a dozen forks were planted around the fire pier.

The easy activity of this kind of Coptis chinensis tree is surprising even for old people like Wang Dali and their craftsmen.

There is a flat land of more than two miles long and wide between the north slope of the fire pier and the low forest, and there was only sparse wild grass on the gravel ground, but now it is less than half a month, and it has been covered with a thick layer of vine grass.

The convoy rushed to the vicinity of the fire pier, and its own sergeants came out to greet it, without opening their mouths, Zuo Shi had already greeted the guards, as well as the craftsmen who came with Yonghetun, everyone took simple tools and began to clean up the rattan grass on this flat land.

Xiao Ye jumped off the horse, buttoned his wrist sleeves, and took a sickle, carefully cleaning the vine grass under his feet, these vine grasses that were cut down, picking the fruits on the branches, and throwing away the rest far away.

A repaired carriage with a carriage, under the escort of Xiao Liuzi and a few people, pushed and pulled up the high slope, stopped at the door of the fire pier, and the two rough girls successively carried Meier and Lena to the second floor; The room there had been cleaned up, and Zhang Zichang moved to the room downstairs.

Just when the big guys were working hard, the escort team from Shiguantun, under the leadership of Wang Dali and Wang Qing, arrived in a hurry, bringing some tools and two truckloads of yellow plaster.

The cleaning army of nearly 100 people began to clear the vines and grass on the ground with a sickle and a shovel; Fortunately, the vine grass here has spread this year, and if you wait until next year to cover it with another layer, it will be even more difficult to remove.

Li Xunwu squatted beside the carriage with great eyes, taking care of Li Shan and Li Xin'an lying on the straw mat on the side of the road, and feeding some water by the way; They wanted to help, but after being stabbed in the hand by a stinger, they were unconscious for two hours.

Sixteen (steps) long, fifteen (steps) wide for one acre, at dinner, ten acres of square sand and gravel ground, the vine grass has been cleared, the rhizomes under the stratum have also been dug out and thrown away.

A sergeant with experience in dealing with rattan grass knew that if the roots of the vine grass were not removed, after a heavy rain, or even if they remained on the ground for a few days, they would definitely come back from the dead, and their work would be in vain.

Some veterans took the hunters to the edge of the field, planted the Coptis chinensis saplings they brought, poured some water, and tomorrow they will be able to see the vibrant Coptis chinensis saplings.

The person who was stabbed by the stinger was guarded, fed some tea, and when he woke up, he was fine; The rest of the military families were busy setting up camp and cooking.

Xiao Ye had already returned to the fire pier at this time, on the platform on the top of the second floor, talking to Wang Dali, Wang Ziliang, Zhang Zichang, and Wang Qing.

"Uncle Wang, this is the new tunzi in the future, the old Yangkou Waitun, and a stone fort will also be built, the scale will be built according to the size of two quarry stone forts, and the fort wall will be calculated according to one zhang and five highs, and our plaster will no longer be sold out, and we will not have enough for ourselves," Xiao Ye pointed to the plot sorted out outside, and said to Wang Dali.

Since it was a siege, the height of the fort wall had to be halved, and Xiao Ye didn't want outsiders to find an excuse to attack.

As long as the yellow plaster is not sold out in Shiguantun, the Huang family will not say anything, and they said it earlier. Scarcity is expensive, and they wish that Shiguantun had stopped the production of plaster.

"I know," Wang Dali's dark face showed a hint of a smile, "The closer the hundred households are to Shiguantun, the more down-to-earth our hearts will be, so Hu Shibiao wants to establish his authority in Tunli, and he hasn't come back from the grassland yet,"

"Well, he was my father's old subordinate earlier, and when he comes back, it would be best if he could make sense, if he wrung it with us again, hum," Xiao Ye snorted coldly, glanced at Wang Ziliang, who was silent, and didn't say much.

Wang Ziliang nodded calmly, the meaning of Baihu is very clear, he will arrange the matter of the black hand, isn't it just twenty-one people, there are more Han people who died on the grassland, and a few more can't even splash the water.

In his opinion, it is not a good thing for Baihu to go to Yonghetun, at least there is a momentum of decision.

Hu Shibiao went to the grassland rashly, then it won't be too long to go next time, Huang Hanxiang has already planned to do it, Wang Zi thought silently in his conscience.

"Uncle Wang, a stone fort will be built here, and the plaster will be transported from the quarry, if it's not enough, I'll go to the Tian family and say it, anyway, we will use it ourselves," Xiao Ye said, suddenly patting his head, "Oops, forget about the three of them,"

"Zuo Shi, go, find Li Xunwu, doesn't he have half of the Analects, I want to see if it's true or not," waved his hand to let Zuo Shi go, Xiao Ye squinted and raised his hand, and stroked here from the direction of Shiguantun, "There are two of our territory, it is not possible to take care of it without someone, at least you must be able to write articles and write official documents,"

His two words immediately made several people around him interested, and the affairs officer who was found by the hundred households would have to deal with them in the future.

"Uncle Wang, the scale of the old sheep's mouth enclosure is to be done according to the usual tunzi, and you can't violate the law, otherwise it will be very troublesome, and it will depend on you to supervise,"

"Ziliang, you sent someone to contact Huang Fugui of the Gravel Castle a lot, some of the minerals we are in short supply, he still has a little way, the gods are easy to worship, the little ghost is difficult, it is really a little ghost that we have a chance to get scarce minerals, it doesn't matter if you spend money, I still have to ask him for help,"

"Liu Shuihe of the Gravel Fort is our man, but now he should still be a sergeant, he is our internal line, and he must remember to collect his intelligence every month,"

"Wang Qing, your escort team, this time the main thing is to assist Uncle Wang and them, to build this stone fort, in the future, your use is not here, it is in Gansu Town," just as Xiao Ye was explaining the main things in the future, the sound of footsteps on the stairs came, and he immediately said no more.

Li Xunwu, who was wearing an old green robe, followed Zuo Shi up to the platform, stepped on the blue brick ground with cloth shoes, and looked up to see that several people around the hundred households in Ximen suddenly understood in his heart.

These people should be the main characters in Shiguantun, and Ma Gui didn't come up; It seems that Li Xunwu was not idle when he was outside taking care of his two partners.

"Come on, Li Xunwu, this official will introduce you to you, they are the right hand of the official," Xiao Ye's unashamed words made Li Xunwu pout secretly, you are a small hundred households, and you dare to say that you are a right-hand man? It's been a long time sitting at the bottom of the well.

But looking at the serious looks of other people, Li Xunwu didn't dare to say more, endured the curiosity in his heart, and stepped forward to greet everyone, "Scholar Li Xunwu, the word filial piety, the family of Lijia Village, Gansu Town, I have seen you,"

His words immediately made Wang Dali burst into laughter, and Wang Qing and Zhang Zichang also grinned and didn't dare to laugh; Only Wang Ziliang relied on the scholar's posture and returned the salute.

Also, Li Xunwu's name, the first time he heard it, Xiao Ye wanted to laugh when he heard it, but if he laughed, then Li Xunwu's face would be ashamed, and he would definitely turn around and leave.

Glaring at Wang Dali, Xiao Ye introduced everyone to Li Xunwu, "Brother Xiaoren, it is these old uncles and brothers that this official can stand here alive,"

"This is the edge of the strength range of the Mongolian Tatars, the Tatar activities are rampant, even the horse thieves don't look at the officials, they attacked Yonghetun two days ago, and it has been burned out,"

"In the future, Shiguantun, as well as the newly built old Yangkou Waitun, you can discuss the internal affairs with Wang Si, and the military and money-making affairs will be managed by the officials, and the other two of you will take care of it," Xiao Ye simply handed over the civil affairs to him and Wang Dali.

In the past, because Wang Dali was illiterate, he had to come forward to deal with it, and it was also a headache, but now there is finally a showman, which is just the right thing to do, as long as he doesn't miss his own business.

"Oh, this," Li Xunwu's eyes blinked a few times, and he was speechless for a while, where could he have thought that this hundred households would let themselves be in charge of the tunzi so neatly, and the power of the officials was not big, and it was not small to say that it was small.

"Your Li Shan brother has some martial arts, so he will enter my personal guard, follow the Zuo Shiqi officer, rest for a day, go to the gravel fort the day after tomorrow, find the Huang family shopkeeper, and take your Li family villagers over first, although there is no field here, but you can still eat enough to eat if you work in the mill,"

"As for Li Xin'an, let him follow Wang Dali, be a secretary first, take care of the mill's accounts or something, and the province's monthly salary is messy," arranged things in a few words, Xiao Ye patted Li Xunwu's shoulder, and went downstairs very easily.

"This, this," Li Xunwu, who hadn't come back to his senses yet, glanced at Wang Dali, who came over with a smile, hurriedly confessed, and hurriedly chased downstairs, his cousin was still in prison.

There is Baodes in Gansu Town, as long as it is not a death row prisoner who is beheaded by the Autumn Queen, this kind of thing costs some silver taels, and it is not a big problem, it depends on whether Xiao Ye is willing to do it. The key is to find a relationship and spend money, these two points Li Xunwu is in vain.

After dinner, a series of barracks tents were set up in the open space in front of the fire pier, and Wang Qing's escort team divided half of the men to stay behind to prepare for the next day's excavation of the foundation, and the other half had to rush back to Shiguantun overnight, where the guards were still very short of people.

Although half of the sergeants of the pro-guard team, Zuo Shi, had already returned to the Jiazi Stone Fort, but for Shiguantun, the troops were still embarrassed.

Xiao Ye saw that after Mei'er and Lina drank the broth, she saw Wang Dali and Li Xunwu sitting together and muttering, so she took her guards and returned to Shiguantun overnight with Wang Qing and them.

Back in Shiguantun, Xiao Ye first went to visit his father-in-law Yang Tianshou and his sister Hanjuan, and the three of them drank tea and chatted for a while, and then got up and came to the mill in the stone castle of No. A.

Several old military households in Shiguantun, under the request of Mei'er, opened up the purchase of vine grass fruits, regardless of the size of each catty, fifteen big dollars for one catty of fruit, and the peel of the fruit was one more big dollar per catty, but the peel off belonged to Li Langzhong.

In Li Muchen's clinic, two old military households were also recruited to dry the peel and grind it into medicine for later use.

As a result, both men and women, young and old, have a job to make money, you know, in the Tianjia store outside the tun wall, the ale wine is only ten big dollars a catty, the supply is sufficient, and the rich military households can even buy Fenjiu, silk and cloth, not to mention.

The old soldiers also found three disabled sergeants, and asked Wang Dali for a warehouse next to the mill, and put the harvested fruit and the peeled kernel into a large basket, and kept a good account book; This bookkeeping is Yang Tianshou's job every day, he is a gentleman in a private school, and he can do it by sending a student, and finally he can check it.

The whole basket of kernel skins was sent to Li Muchen, he wanted to make a receipt, and the kernel was sent to the quarry mill, Wang Dali wanted to make a receipt, and the receipt was finally handed over to Mrs. Baihu to check the accounts. All these expenses are finally paid by 100 households.

In the empty mill of No. A, it was cleaned clean, and the smell of mule and horse feces and urine had long been gone.

Xiao Ye walked into the mill, and the two guards put the torches on the hanging rings on the wall and quietly retreated, probably, the hundred households were going to take the Persian goods stored here.

When the guards withdrew, the screen in front of Xiao Ye quietly lit up, and the four beautifully decorated small doors in the picture had changed slightly.

The iron gray small door on the left side of the upper part, and the scarlet square characters are written on the door railing, "Military Primary,"; The small iron-gray door on the right side of the upper part, the golden italics are shining, "Civilian primary,"

The two small iron-gray doors in the lower part were still bare and unmarked, and a faint earthy yellow smoke wafted over them.

The changes in the picture, Xiao Ye has already seen it, there is not much surprise, after silently reciting the primary level of military products, he opened the iron-gray door.

The catalogue of items revealed first was elongated a lot, but most of the numbers marked were zero, that is, they could not be seen and touched, and the names could not be opened.

After loading fire/guns, you can take 500 guns, Xiao Ye asked for 200, and the projectile was only 5,000 rounds, all of which were wanted; Forty Mauser rifles and a thousand rounds of ammunition, you're welcome. Xiao Ye, the crossbow, asked for a hundred, and two thousand arrows.

What appeared behind the Mauser rifle was a thick-barreled revolver/gun that he had never seen before, with six rounds of ammunition, and at first sight, Xiao Ye immediately liked it; It's a pity that there were not many bullets, only two hundred.

Xiao Ye now uses a revolver short fire/gun, fire cap firing type, using a 10.16 mm caliber paper bullet shell conical warhead with simple structure, reliable action, safe use, but you need to use the hand to turn the runner, which is quite inconvenient to use. On top of that, when the cartridge case is squeezed, or after being damp on a rainy day, the fire / gun becomes a dumb iron lump.

And what is this kind of Colt pistol, after the rotor bullet nest is loaded with six shiny and dangling metal bullets, the sergeant in the picture, after pressing the hammer with his thumb, pulls the trigger to fire, and then presses the hammer to shoot again.

The pistol that was not afraid of the rain and the simple way of shooting made Xiao Ye happy for a long time, only to find that although he only had 200 pistol bullets, he could take out ten.

There was no way, Xiao Ye asked for ten Colt revolvers/guns, two hundred rounds of ammunition, looked at the names of the raw materials marked on the back of the bullets, and sighed, "Copper, mercury, sulfur, where can I find it?"

Next, the twelve items were picked and selected by Xiao Ye, and after selecting some of them, they did not stop until the number marked on the back of these items was cleared; In the end, he still lacks a sufficient variety of ore, and only low iron ore is not enough.

The most important thing is that the copper material in his hand is far from enough, and the tungsten ore has no shadow. The stone mill is just a multi-functional machining center, and it cannot be physically produced out of thin air.

Opening the civil primary door, Xiao Ye's eyes immediately spent, and in a long slip of the catalog, he saw the word stone mill at a glance, which was the number C stone mill; Hey, C-shaped stone mill? That's what it's called.

Xiao Ye, who couldn't figure it out, didn't bother much, "C-shaped stone mill, six, all of them," the role of the stone mill is simply too important, not to mention anything else, that is, the military households in Shiguantun now, some of them still live on the stone grinding out of the plaster, and the Huang family is also because of the three stone mills in the quarry, so they work tirelessly to deliver coal and grain here.

Thinking of this, Xiao Ye remembered that on the stone grinding floor in front of him, there was no movement so far, and he couldn't help but be stunned for a moment, and then frantically looked around, turning around the huge stone mill several times, and was stunned that he didn't see any scum.

The torch in his hand crackled and made a faint pop, and Xiao Ye turned around the mill again in a cold sweat, only to confirm that the stone mill seemed to have played a big joke on him, and nothing was given.

Without any ordnance, he couldn't resist any of the Tartars, Jiang Jie, and horse thieves, even the guards of those merchants he couldn't face, let alone the seemingly harmless Gansu Town; Even, the soldiers' salaries are only supported by three stone mills, how can they be fed.

Xiao Ye, whose hair was dripping with beads of sweat, stared blankly at the stone mill, and suddenly his mind lit up, and he ran out of the mill with the torch in his right hand, and strode towards the arsenal.

Outside the mill, Xiao Liuzi with two personal guards, as well as a few sergeants on the side, waited quietly with a wheelbarrow, waiting for the call of the hundred households as usual.

But after a long time, he suddenly saw Baihu running out with an unkind face, Xiao Liuzi panicked, and was about to step forward to ask, when he saw Baihu turn around and run, running to the depths of the stone castle; "It's all waiting here," explained in a deep voice, and Xiao Liuzi hurriedly followed with a torch.

Guarding the arsenal were two heralds, and from a distance, they saw Baihu coming with torches, and were about to step forward to say hello, when they heard Baihu shouting, "Open the warehouse, hurry up,"

"Oh, yes, Baihu," the herald took the long key and hurriedly opened the heavy copper lock, leaving some Tartar swords, arrows, shields and the like in the arsenal, and the other ordnance was either moved to Wang Meng, or it was in Wang Ziliang's dark castle, and it was not very important to take care of it.

Otherwise, Wang Ziliang would not have sent only two heralds to fill the façade.

"Bang dang," the heavy wooden door opened, Xiao Ye looked at the black warehouse, took a deep breath, and walked in, this place was more than a hundred steps away from the mill, if it was inside, Xiao Ye couldn't imagine it.

Walking to the innermost room, he lifted the thick felt mat on the ground, lifted the heavy wooden plank, and Xiao Ye lowered his head and walked down. The basement had been emptied, and Xiao Ye, who was extremely nervous, panted and moved his steps.

In the shaking firelight, Xiao Ye saw that on the originally empty ground, the wooden planks on the left ground melted away, revealing a dark plane in all directions, and his feet stepped on it, as strong as a keystone.

On the right, a pile of earthy yellow tin boxes, neatly packed silk and cotton coats, stacked in an orderly manner, very categorical.

"Ao, this is it," Xiao Ye's legs and feet were weak, and he almost collapsed to the ground, and Xiao Liuzi, who caught up behind him, hurriedly saved Baihu, took a torch and stuck it in the hole in the wall.

With this hug, Xiao Liuzi found that the thin clothes on Baihu's body were soaked, and asked in shock, "Baihu, are you okay?"

"It's okay, little Liuzi, you go and take a look, the goods in those boxes, find the revolver/gun, which is similar to our short fire/gun/appearance," Xiao Ye wiped the cold sweat on his face, sat on the iron box, and urged the captain of the guard; When he couldn't see the goods he had just taken out, the stone in his heart couldn't fall.

"Okay," Xiao Liuzi stepped forward, opened one box after another, and the two piles of boxes outside were civilian supplies, and then went inside, boxes of rifles, fire/guns, full of thunder, and crossbows, he was amazed.

At the innermost part of the warehouse, six stone mills the size of horse-drawn carriages, C-shaped stone mills, are quietly placed against the wall.

Although he didn't know what Xiao Liuzi saw, based on his sighs from time to time, Xiao Ye had already grown a turbid breath, and it seemed that the platform on which the stone mill sent out the goods had been transferred to this underground weapons depot.

It would be better if these so-called Persian goods were transferred to the warehouse next door, but now that he is satisfied, if he comes out like this again, Xiao Ye doesn't know if he will be scared into madness.

After counting the supplies, Xiao Liuzi carried a cloth bag and followed Baihu out of the basement, "Baihu, you can't come down with a torch here in the future, it's best to hold a lantern,"

"Oh, you're right, it's the official's carelessness," Xiao Ye, who was in a good mood, responded sincerely, most of the firearms below, Xiao Liuzi is also for his own good.

After resting for one night, next, burying Uncle Kun's ashes and worshipping the spiritual seat in the land temple, Shiguantun was busy again.

Xiao Ye spent two days carefully studying the two primary product catalogs in the stone grinding pattern, and the old and young people of Jiming Village in the warehouse compound next door were also notified that they were going to move, and at the latest next spring, after the old Yangkou Stone Fort was completed, they would move over.

After all, this place is so close to Shiguan Gorge that the Tartar cavalry will definitely not miss the opportunity to retaliate.

Xiao Liuzi and Zuo Shi are now the luckiest flag officers in the pro-guards, and they are the same as Baihu, equipped with a Colt revolver/gun, but there are fewer bullets; Huang Hanxiang sent three pistols with 30 rounds of ammunition each.

This kind of pistol with a range of 50 paces is not only majestic in style and easy to shoot compared to the short gun, but also makes the guards salivate even more than the bullets that are not afraid of wind and rain. It's a pity that Baihu said that there were not many bullets, and the other pistols were sealed.

At the Shiguantun training ground, the personal guards, all of whom had been replaced with Mauser rifles, began a new training, and the guns rang out. Xiao Ye, who planned to gradually reload his rifle for his Madao Shibao Flag Team, could finally safely add breech-loading guns and short-fire guns/guns to the list of materials sold.