"Bah, bah," in the barren grass on the rocky slope beside the avenue, the condescending knife, with six sergeants, arrogantly rushed at the approaching Ming army horse team, and opened fire first; The three sergeants who kept shooting, with a dozen earth-shattering thunderbolts on their legs, were ready to move, just waiting for the horse team to approach.

The horse team that rushed up to kill "Rumble Rumble" was not the same military academy just now, not only was it wearing iron armor, but even the war horse under the crotch had soft leather armor to protect the upper body; The cavalrymen held in their hands, the swarthy three-eyed fire system, and the fire rope coiled around their necks, stinging with green smoke.

The officer led by the horse team was dressed in bright armor, with an iron cowhide skirt on the bottom, a pointed iron helmet on his head, and a raised nasal armor in the middle of his face; Beside him, seven or eight guards were holding three-eyed fires in their hands, and they were carrying shiny rear-loading fires/guns on their backs.

At the command of the officer who led the team, seven or eight armored cavalrymen were killed, and the horse team rushed to a distance of one hundred and fifty paces from the rocky slope, and the three-eyed fire brushed at them, and the fire twist was ignited.

"Peng, Peng, Peng," under the scorching sun, a large puff of white smoke suddenly erupted in the horse team, and the knife that was half-kneeling between the two stones lay on the ground with a strange scream, "Lie down, lie down," the six sergeants beside him, holding their guns, lay tightly in the grass.

The large rain of bullets whizzed by, grazing the top of their heads, like a hurricane, crackling on the stones beside them, and the small stones that were wiped off, even if they wore thick felt hats, were very uncomfortable.

The other sergeants were also hit in the face and body by the flying stones, and their faces turned white; For a moment, the crisp gunfire was interrupted.

There is no comparison at all between the close-range firepower, the rifle that hits the only son and the three-eyed firearm with a dozen large pieces of bullets, but in terms of follow-up firepower, the three-eyed firepower cannot be compared.

Seeing the rain of bullets sweeping overhead, the knife also knew the habits of the three-eyed fire system, and hurriedly beckoned to the brethren, got up and raised his rifle, and was about to aim at the cavalry rushing up, when he saw the horse team rushing towards him, and a puff of smoke rose again.

"Bah," just fired a shot, put down the front of the war horse, the knife saw the large puff of white smoke, knew that it was broken, before he could shout a sound, he heard the eighty paces of horses, there was a roar of fire.

Being able to shoot two sections of fire in a row is the tradition/tactics of the Ming cavalry, and it is also the usual way to deal with the Tatar cavalry brigade, and it can be used on knives on them, which has already shown that the officers who lead the troops on the other side are not fools who can only eat, drink and play with women.

"Boom, boom," the rain of bullets from the twenty-pole three-eyed fire tong made the guards who were caught off guard by surprise, and the two sergeants next to Atta, the iron pellets that were swept over their faces and chests were bloody, and the projectiles the size of mung beans pierced their throats.

Enduring the sharp pain like a tearing throat, the two Mongolian men stubbornly ran out of powerful bullets, dropped their rifles, and threw themselves on the rocks, and the blood sprayed on the gray stones, and they could not stop.

The other four guards were quite clever, and their heads were retracted, but when they saw the brothers around them fall, their eyes were immediately bloodshot, and they reluctantly called out the names of the two companions.

Leaning behind the stones, listening to the sound of the approaching horses' hooves, the knife grabbed the earth-shaking thunder beside him, "Don't scream, fight with them, throw the earth-shaking thunder,"

Just as the knife shouted loudly, the officer on the opposite side and his personal guards had already raised the rear-loading gun/gun in their hands, urged the war horse under the crotch, and accelerated towards the rocky slope; As soon as the horse thief on the opposite side shows his head, they have a loaded gun/gun in their hand, ready to fire at any time.

However, subconsciously, the officer slowed down his horse and let the guards around him rush forward, and in his sense, the horse thief on the opposite side may not be so easy to deal with.

Sure enough, the guards who shouted loudly had just rushed to a distance of more than sixty steps from the rocky slope, and five or six black dots flew out of the rocky pile, "Huh? The officer looked at the black dot that had fallen, and after a hint of doubt flashed in his eyes, he suddenly became alarmed.

"Retreat, retreat immediately," in the sound of the urn, there were already impatient guards, facing the oncoming black spot, shot a projectile, Peng Peng's gunshot, crackling black spots, rolled and fell at the feet of the war horse.

The white smoke of the iron bumps made the officers and his guards suddenly wide-eyed, the other cavalry may not know, but they knew that this seemingly inconspicuous thing was the earth-shaking thunder sold by the Persians.

"Ah," in the terrible howl of several guards, the earth-shattering thunder exploded violently, and the broken iron pieces and the blown stones shot out in the dust, and the seven or eight guards who rushed to the front fell off their horses with a bang, accompanied by the wailing of their horses.

The guards, who failed to rob the success, became substitutes for the cavalry, and this sudden change caused the officers and the originally angry cavalrymen to disperse in a panic and avoid the avenue; Especially the military academy that led the way, at this moment, he was so frightened at the back that he couldn't even hold the reins of the horse.

Not surprisingly, while the cavalry was evading, the knife asked the sergeant to carry the corpses of the brothers who had died in battle, gathered his guns, turned around and ran, climbed over the low hills behind, and plunged into the woods.

Seeing that the horse thieves had just run away, the officer leading the team stopped the pursuit, and further on there were hills, the terrain was complicated and difficult to walk, and it was difficult to go on horseback; Originally, he planned to get the cavalry to dismount and fight, but before he could rush to the front of the horse thief, he was frightened back by a random bombing.

Damn, it seems that it can't catch up.

"Slap," unwilling to put the knife into the sheath, the officer took off the iron helmet, revealing a gloomy face, it was none other than Chai Mao, a hundred household officers under the command of Commander Jiang, this bearded man, looks honest, but in fact he is delicate, otherwise how can he integrate the three-stage shooting style of the fire into the cavalry's attack.

As the two cadres under Jiang Yan's officer, Chai Mao wants to compare with Li Xiong, who is full of shrewdness, others will not believe that Chai Mao has many eyes, but Chai Mao is secretly good at seizing the opportunity to make meritorious contributions, but Li Xiong is too strong.

This time, he was one step ahead, but unfortunately, the ruthless horse thief made him afraid to pursue anymore, yes, not that he couldn't chase, but he didn't dare to chase.

Annoyed, Chai Mao asked the guards to call the military academy of General Lei to the front, stared at him for a while, and resisted the urge to smash him to death with an iron helmet, "How can that horse thief have earth-shattering thunder, you didn't tell this official,"

The military academy was frightened by the thunder of the horse thief, but he would never be afraid of a hundred officers, and he raised his neck and said, "The captain of this school is not clear, the horse thieves are cunning, and I don't know their methods,"

"You," Chai Mao shook his body on the horse, eighty pieces of long iron armor, iron armor strung with cowhide ropes, rattling, hehe sneered a few times, "Okay, you also saw it, it's not that the official doesn't pursue, the horse thief escapes into the ravines and barren forests, and the cavalry is difficult to enter, so just withdraw the troops,"

As he spoke, he was about to retire.

"Ah, slow down," the military academy immediately panicked, "Chai Baihu, the horse thief has plundered General Lei's military property, if you don't chase after it, my general will be blamed in the future, but it's hard to tell,"

The two pocket watches in his arms were broken by the damn projectile, so he went back with one pocket watch to pay for it, but he was going to be beaten with a stick.

What's more, the dozen or so brothers he brought out will be the only one who survives, and in front of the general, the death penalty can be avoided, but the living crime will not escape. If you add up to the two blows, I am afraid that if you don't beat yourself to death with a military stick, you won't be able to run away if you are disabled.

As long as Chai Mao can exterminate this group of horse thieves and recover the lost goods, then General Lei may be merciful and spare himself this time.

Therefore, seeing that Chai Mao was bombed indiscriminately by the horse thieves, he actually had the intention of retreating, how could he not be in a hurry, and quickly took out the general's disguise and coerced to chase those horse thieves.

"Well," Chai Mao hesitated to pinch the iron helmet, and when he came out, Li Xiong secretly confessed that the words brought to him by Jiang Yan asked him to strangle this small group of horse thieves cleanly; However, it seems that this horse thief is fierce and fast, so it's hard to start.

Looking at the guards who were dragged back in front of him, five of them died directly, and the others were all injured, and he didn't care about the deaths and injuries of the seven or eight cavalrymen, but the guards were his own descendants, and he was very painful to die one.

"Chai Baihu, see that the horse thief fled into the ditch, there is no water source, as long as the hundred households send someone to notify the front and rear Tunzi, look at the door, I think it will only be two days, the horse thief will come out to find water," or the military academy clever, seeing that Chai Mao was unwilling to abandon the war horse and chase the horse thief on foot, he had an idea and came up with a bad idea.

This is not a bad idea, that is, along the loess avenue in the field, send a large number of sergeants to guard, tired is a little tired, but the advantages of the cavalry can be brought into play.

"The barren ditch and wilderness are not suitable for war horses to walk, what you said is right," Chai Mao listened, then nodded, and summoned a few flag officers, "You send people to the Manjiatunzi in front to inform the military households there, take care of the door, once you find a suspicious person approaching, immediately notify the cavalry along the way, and command the envoy to give a reward,"

"Inform Officer Jiang that the horse thieves have escaped into the wilderness and are being pursued, but our department has casualties and is short of manpower, please send troops to help,"

"Pick up the wounded, bury the bodies, let's wait for reinforcements on the spot,"

As for this chattering military academy, Chai Mao asked two personal guards to escort him and send him back to General Lei, who thought that General Lei, who had suffered a big loss, would inevitably send a brigade of military schools to search for this difficult horse thief along the way.

However, seeing that the horse thief was skilled in summoning fire/guns, and there was an uncommon earth-shaking thunder, Chai Mao at this moment already had a faint guess in his heart, but he could only confide in his guess when he went back to meet the officer.

If those horse thieves have been hiding in the wilderness for a long time and can still show their heads in other places, then his guess is even more certain, the strange thing of the water umbrella is not something that ordinary people can afford. The surrounding wilderness is a hundred miles in circumference, except for the Naxilong River, only there are wells in each tunzi, and the water source is obvious evidence.

There is a way that often walks by the river, how can you not get your shoes wet, the people sent by Xiao Ye, even if they change their clothes, but in the eyes of those who care, it is inevitable to find some traces.

Chai Mao did not recklessly send troops to drill the ravine, but sent people along the Loess Avenue, echoing back and forth to block the east-west road, according to his understanding, those horse thieves, like most military households, have the disease of the eye (night blindness), they will not move at night, can only walk during the day.

Just when Chai Baihu was busy contacting the tunzi and asking for reinforcements, the knife and they led the war horses and ran south for more than ten miles in the barren ditch, and finally stopped; It's not that he doesn't want to run farther, but the road is difficult, and the war horse can't stand the steep slopes and rocks on the ground.

Finding a place with relatively soft grass, a few soldiers dug a large pit with a military shovel with a pointed tip and a short handle, and untied the two brothers who had died in battle from their horses.

A red-topped felt hat was placed over the face of the deceased, and the army shovel hastily shoveled the soil to fill in the pit; Swords, guns, and daggers were to be put away and brought back, and the relics were put into leather bags, which were to be taken back and handed over to their families.

The knife took the two iron cards into his arms, and when he went back, he would hand them over to the hundred households, and the two brothers' spiritual cards and family pensions would depend on this iron card to keep accounts. There is also an iron tag around the neck of the deceased, and the body will not be found by mistake in the future.

After marking the mark, several people led the war horses and once again into a wide barren grass ditch, and in the dull squad, no one said a word except for the suppressed coughing of the two Tartar herdsmen.

It was getting dark, and they turned back and approached the avenue, and stopped at the ditch three miles away, there was no way, he was not familiar with the road to Shaanxi Xingdusi, which was more than three hundred miles away, so he could only walk along the avenue.

However, the sergeants shuttling back and forth on the Loess Avenue made the knife reluctantly put down the binoculars, and it was obvious that the military households in the front and rear camps had strengthened their vigilance, and it was impossible to fish in troubled waters and walk on the avenue.

"Rest, and we'll go later," he commanded, and the knife, which had a headache, led the group down the hill and began to rest in a hidden woodland.

Atta fastened the reins of his horse, took out a cylinder from the leather bag next to the saddle, and opened the water umbrella, which was already empty of clean water, but fortunately they had a water umbrella ready to use, so they would not risk looking for water everywhere.

Sitting casually beside the bushes, the five soldiers gnawed on the hard meatloaf with knives, and filled the water bags with the trickle of pure water; The two Tartar herdsmen each ate a can of canned meat, took the water bag handed by the sergeant, and buried the two empty iron boxes in the soil as instructed.

After taking stock of the dry food in the leather bag beside the saddle, the knife and his companions consulted, and carefully examined the weapons they carried, and then everyone took advantage of the moonlight to get up and go to the avenue; The Tartar herdsmen could not see the road under their feet at night, but they did not have night blindness with knives, and it was no problem to rush to the road at night.

At this time, there was no shadow of the Ming cavalry on the avenue.

Just when the knives went out day and night, and rushed to Shaanxi Xingdusi, Xiao Ye was in his own hundred households, looking at an oil lamp on the table with great interest, this oil lamp with glass inlaid on the wooden frame, he explained to Wang Dali, although the appearance is a little rougher, but the prototype of the first horse lantern has a real model.

If this wooden frame is replaced with iron bars, then the horse lantern will really be fearless of wind and rain in the future.

"Yes, Uncle Wang, it seems that we have a new commodity in our shop, it's called a horse lamp, a lamp that can be used on the saddle, it's very good," Xiao Ye, who was smiling, praised without hesitation.

"Hehe, it was a hundred households that gave us a glass knife, otherwise we craftsmen would not be able to do such a clever thing with this carved glass," Wang Dali pressed the object in the holster on his waist, and said with a smile on his eyebrows.

Although the craftsmen under him now have entered the army, as a blacksmith with a family handicraft, Wang Dali still does not want to see the craftsmen become coolies in the mill, and the craft has become leisure outside the business.

"The Qingming Festival is coming soon, and there will be more traders in Tunli after the spring equinox, you can arrange for people to make more of this kind of horse lantern, I believe it will sell a lot," Xiao Ye withdrew his gaze from the horse lantern and said lightly, "After the official worships his parents, he will send someone to the official office of Gansu Town to find standard instruments for weights and measures, and our craftsmen will make horse lanterns according to this kind of weights and measures,"

The weights and measures of the Ming Dynasty were made by the government to ensure the unity of the value, and those who made the scales of the bucket privately "asked for the crime according to the law", and those who knew but did not expose the "incident were investigated and questioned".

Although the Ming Dynasty's weights and measures management system was complete and the punishment was indeed severe, the local businessmen colluded with the bureaucrats and landlords to arbitrarily change the weights and measures instruments, and the list was too numerous to mention.

1 li = 15 leads, 1 lead = 10 zhang, 1 zhang = 10 feet, 1 foot = 10 inches, 1 inch = 10 points, 1 point = 10 centi, 1 hectare = 100 acres, 1 mu in the customs = 60 square zhang = 6 acres, 1 mu in the northeast = 90 square feet = 10 acres = 1.5 acres in the Guannei, 1 cubic mile = 3375 cubic meters of 1 stone = 10 buckets, 1 quintal = 100 catties, and so on.

Whether it is from the municipal unit, area unit, area unit, volume unit, or capacity unit, quality unit, the Ming Dynasty has done a very complete job, which is also one of the foundations of the initial stage of capitalism in the Ming Dynasty, but greed is the root of all evil, and greed without restraint will destroy everything; A great system of weights and measures has been ruined by the familial superstructure.

The standard of weights and measures in Xiao Ye's mind is about the same as the current one, and he doesn't want the craftsmen to change their course and learn new ones, which is to add to the snake; As long as you can adhere to a set of standards, it is enough.

"Yes, I know," Wang Dali also agreed with Xiao Ye's idea, if the scales in the hands of the craftsmen were different, then the lanterns would be made of different sizes.

Ma Deng stayed in the hundred households, and Wang Dali hurried back to Shiguantun, ready to mobilize a few craftsmen to start work on the mountain; Xiao Ye looked at the back of Uncle Wang leaving, and stood quietly for a long time with his mouth pursed.

Although Wang Hu reluctantly got married, he was worried about the female guard Luan Fengying, and Xiao Ye still knew that the woman who was rescued from the grassland looked very stubborn, and wanted to come to the future when Uncle Wang's head was big.

The weather is getting warmer, and the Eagle Talon Fort has been put on guard, and although some guards have brought a large number of vine grass transplants again, the Tartars are not so easy to talk to.

Fortunately, through the efforts of everyone, the population is gradually increasing, and there are more traders, and the military households of the two hundred households will live better and better in the future.

Shaking his head and not thinking about those troubles, Xiao Ye returned to the hall and picked up the books on the table.

It takes a long time for the No. A stone mill to repair itself, but he doesn't have so much time, so let's first study and judge how to drill the offensive and defensive tactics of this flag team.

The single flag team attacked and defended, the flag team cooperated with each other, the general flag team cooperated with each other, the hundred team cooperated with each other, and how to advance and retreat in the field against the cavalry, there were all kinds of them, and there were no long-term drills, and those sergeants rashly resisted the attack of the Tartars, and a large number of casualties were inevitable, which was also what Xiao Ye tried his best to avoid.

Fortunately, the ready-made formations and military disciplines of the Ming army are quite easy to use directly, but they save the need to pat their heads behind closed doors.

At this time, Xiao Ye, there is no longer the eagerness to go to the mill from time to time, pick and choose to find the goods, the hundred households are close to the C mill within 100 steps, he can check the information of the A stone mill at home, and there is no need to go to Shiguantun at all.

Wang Dali, who returned to Shiguan, was thinking about the horse lantern and entered the stone fort of No. 1; Although Hu Shibiao's 100 households were set up in the stone fort, he was still self-aware, and he usually returned to live in the small courtyard in the tun wall at night, saving Wang Ziliang the manpower to supervise him.

In the armory south of the hundred households, the door of the warehouse was wide open, guarded by sergeants with scimitars and short/guns, and craftsmen who came in and out from time to time pulled out a basket of gravel, and Xiao Liuzi personally supervised the carriage after being filled with gravel, pulled out of the stone fort and went to the B-shaped mill.

Since Xiao Ye was seriously ill and his health improved slightly, he gave Wang Ziliang and Xiao Liuzi a secret order to dig a secret passage in the basement of the armory and connect to the east compound outside the stone fort first.

Facing the pressure from the Thousand Households of the Gravel Castle, as well as the judgment of his father-in-law, Xiao Ye knew that this A-number Stone Castle would not be forcibly expropriated in a short time, so it was necessary to prepare for it.

The tunnels excavated in the basement are five feet wide and six feet high, making it easy for pedestrians to push wheelbarrows; In the future, the goods produced by the stone mill will be transported from the underground to the warehouse of the outer compound; When the secret tunnel is excavated at the bottom of the mountain in the future, the treasury of that compound will also be abandoned.

Below the ground in the basement, there are all earthy yellow rocks, and if you rely on the sledgehammer and iron drill in the hands of the craftsmen, I am afraid that these ten or so craftsmen will not be able to dig far in their lifetime.

But these craftsmen, who were hand-picked by the king, with nimble brains, first punched deep eyes on the rocks, tied the explosives that had been taken out of the earth-shaking thunder, wrapped them tightly in linen, sealed them with wax, and stuffed them into the stone holes.

"Peng," with a low cracking sound, large rocks were blown loose, pickaxes went up a few times, and gravel was dug out in piles; This kind of small-equivalent gunpowder breaking stone was applied by craftsmen in mines as early as the Song Dynasty, which is not a big difficulty.

However, there must be a world of difference between the explosives that escaped from the earth-shattering thunder and the power of the black fire/medicine, if it weren't for Wang Dali's careful efforts to let the craftsmen test the amount of medicine in the field, I am afraid that this basement will be killed and injured in the first blast.

In seven or eight days, more than 50 steps have been dug in the dark passage in the basement, and with the craftsmen becoming familiar with the explosives, they will dig through to the courtyard next door tonight, and they will hold the handle in their hands.

If it weren't for the fear of affecting the foundation of the stone castle wall, the secret passage was built five steps deep underground, and this short secret passage had been dug two days earlier.

"Liuzi, what's wrong?" Coming to the outside of the armory, Wang Dali saw Xiao Liuzi and asked in a deep voice, such a movement in the stone castle, he was also worried about being guessed by outsiders after a long time.

"Uncle Wang, there is still the last car, and the gravel that comes down can be transported out of the compound over there," Xiao Liuzi was wearing a thick field winter coat and pointed to the carriageway away from the fort gate, "Tonight, the entrance to the basement can be sealed,"

"Well, that's good, that's good," patted Xiao Liuzi's shoulder with a smile, Wang Dali stepped forward and whispered in the ear of this generation general banner, "Hu Shibiao is okay there,"

"No, he and his mother-in-law are now looking at their warm cellar, and the leeks in it can be cut with a stubble, that's to watch it closely," Xiao Liuzi replied with a smile, "Hu Baihu is still very eye-catching,"

"That's it," Wang Dali sighed, "Let's explain to the hundred households, if the dark passage is dug smoothly, then dig down, dig under the east mountain, it doesn't have to be too deep, it's too breath-holding,"

"Come on, Uncle Wang, you can be relieved, Uncle Cui is an old stonemason, he has already carved an outlet in the dark passage, otherwise there is no way to enter the dead end," facing the Wang brothers' Lao Tzu, although Xiao Liuzi and Wang Dali are now at the same level, they still speak as a junior, and they dare not live in vain.

The oblique underground passage leading to the outside, even if the rain enters the tuyere, it will flow down the dark channel and will not accumulate inside, from this point, you can see that Lao Cui's experience is caused.

"By the way, the platform in the basement, Baihu explained that he wanted to expand the surrounding circle, this is to tell Lao Cui, I have to go and say," suddenly remembered this matter, Wang Dali hurriedly walked into the armory, and no longer took care of Xiao Liuzi.

The platform used by the A-brand stone mill to hold out the goods, Xiao Ye remembered that it was constantly increasing, and if the stone wall next to him was blocked, he would not be able to cry.

"Oh," Xiao Liuzi replied casually, he also wondered, it seemed that he had seen that platform, but it was in the mill opposite, and at that time there seemed to be a hard platform, not as big as it is now.

If you can't figure it out, you don't want to, just take care of the things in your hands, Xiao Liuzi pressed his coat pocket with his hand, and suddenly his face changed a lot; Yesterday, Han Juan took a group of girls from the private school to play again, and by the way, she went to find some fruit to exchange for change.

The private school has moved to Laoyangkou Tunbao, which is in the military compound next door to the hundred households, but the boys and girls who are studying want to practice riding a military crossbow on horseback, and they also come to Shiguantun.

Before leaving, Han Juan secretly stuffed a round jade pendant into Xiao Liuzi's hand, and ran away with a red face; Now, it was the little six who didn't shoot the knife face-to-face with the Tartar, and he was immediately confused.

Until now, his head was still buzzing, and he was looking around with his spirit, wondering how to open his mouth to Baihu.

The sergeants took turns to go out to drill, the craftsmen in the mill sweated like rain, the hidden work of the armory, and the slow spread of the Shi family's shop were proceeding step by step; Shiguantun, which is getting deserted day by day, and the old sheep's mouth is full of people, and it seems that the two hundred households are calm.